Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Third Labor (Forward to the past) ❯ Akane, master of anything goes ( Chapter 18 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Third Labor, chapter 18. "Akane, master of Anything Goes"

Disclaimer: lots of characters from a wide variety of sources. Including: "Ranma 1/2" by Rumiko Takahashi, "Prefectural Catgirl Nuku Nuku" by Pioneer, "Cutey Honey" by Go Nagai, "Sailor Moon" by Naoko Takeuchi, and "Oh My Goddess" by Kosuke Fujishima. RIFTS is by the people of Palladium, who seem to have a thing for dark and gritty and ought to come up with some other flavors for what is essentially a melting pot for crossovers. AD&D and the Forgotten Realms are all TSR, or Wizards of the Coast nowadays i suppose.

Skysaber wrote a number of these scenes.

"Yea, though I walk through the Valley Of The Shadow Of Death, I fear no evil. Cause I'm the nastiest SOB in the whole damn Valley." - unknown gamer.

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Her name, as far as anyone knew, was Ranko Saotome. A bouncy buxom redhaired girl, who usually wore her shoulder length hair in either a braid or ponytail, frequently manifested scarlet batwings, with cute little fangs and completely guileless blue eyes.

She looked a lot like Ranma Saotome's girl type form, in those universes where there was a martial artist named Ranma Saotome and that martial artist managed to fall into the Jusenkyo Spring Of Drowned Girl and gain that transformational curse. Excepting, of course, for the occasional manifestation of wings, the little fangs. Oh, and the little horns on her forehead, but those were usually hidden by her bangs. Or her baseball cap. She *was* a bit of a tomboy.

She also was not actually Ranko Saotome. She was actually the first Ginseng, which was a marionette body coupled to a cyborg life support unit from a person named Grey, then turned via the Pheonix Mage's magic into a real person - an alu-fiend. She remembered her journey (in Reluctant Bet) from the Sabre Marionette world where she was "born" an amnesiac half-demoness. She remembered visiting a world of Evangelion and being her usual chirpy helpful self. Things got kind of muddled in her mind after that.

Partly because she'd picked up another set of memories at that point. She *now* remembered being born Ranko Saotome, Ranma Saotome's little half-sister. Of meeting her good friend (though sometimes scary) Akane Tendo. Of going off to help big brother conquer China. (Well, they started it.) Ranko remembered a lifetime where she'd been born and always been a girl. She had no memories of being male, and was a bit retarded as far as developing feelings of that sort. IE: She was 14 and in many ways acted half her age.

She'd tried to be a good girl and go merge with the native version of her other self like the timelines were supposed to do.

However, she hadn't merged. Instead she'd been tossed off to the side, sort of.

If she were going to be thrown into *any* Universe, Ranko did have her preferences. The Thousand Acre Wood, where she could have tea with Mister Rabbit. Candyland. A place in the dimensional nexus of Aramar known as Nymia, where, quite frankly a perky and optimistic alu-fiend could have fit right in. For that matter, Toontown might serve to amuse.

This would not have been in her top preferences.

"I'm *sure* that's some kind of rare Pokemon!"

"Ash, don't you dare!"

"Why is it okay for *you* to catch her and not me, Misty?"

"Because I'm a girl, and that's a girl Pokemon. Is that too much work for your limited brain?"

"HEY!"

"She's even cuter than Officer Jenny..."

Ranko had no idea if she could be put in a Pokeball. It wasn't something she even wanted to try. "Would you three stop that?! Waaaah! I wanna go home!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"Never mind the motto, imagine if we brought the Boss THAT!"

"Waaaah!" Ranko went up to her maximum altitude and decided she'd get as far away from civilization as she could.

Ash blinked. "She's scared?"

"What?" Misty wasn't paying much attention. She'd dress that Pokemon like her, and then they could do all sorts of things together because they had similar builds. (Misty was dreaming.)

"She's scared, she doesn't want to be captured, and she's got a home?" Ash wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but he could occasionally rise above the results of frequent head trauma.

"Maybe she's already got a Trainer, and got lost?" Brock couldn't fit a winged girl in with being anything other than a Pokemon. Mind you, if there were species of Pokemon that looked like *that* - he had just found a new specialty!

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Akamukan/Ranma timeline:

SASAMI had enough processor capability that she could track events even while in Maintenence mode.

1:25 AM : Jared removed the Synoptic Teacher from Ranma.

2:35 AM: Figure flying overhead at 300ft tentatively identified as Toriohime. No action required.

3:37 AM: Akane Tendo arrives back at Tendo house. State: unconscious. Method of travel: carried by Happosai. SASAMI allowed the Master of Anything Goes to place his student in her bed. Despite data available on Happosai, facial expression/body language indicative of remorse noted. Medical scan indicates negative for molestation. SASAMI speculated that the thick fur still covering the youngest Tendo was responsible for that.

4:52 AM: Kasumi beginning her morning rituals. Laundry, beginning the simmering of pots for breakfast and making obento for the students. SASAMI determined that Kasumi was quite capable in her endeavors and settled back to Passive Mode.

Kasumi looked in on Akane's room, and saw that Chewbacca was in Akane's bed. Puzzled and vowing to memorize the rooms better during the next day, as she obviously had gotten lost, Kasumi decided to concentrate on the areas she *had* memorized.

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Eva Timeline:

"So what can we do about it?" Ami looked at her husband's body and tried to rein in the various emotional responses and deal with this as a Doctor. "We don't have bionics technology, and he's not exactly stable."

"You could get him to a hospital, where they'd stabilize his lifesigns, but he'd be crippled for the rest of his life. OR you can follow my advice." The woman sat on a table's edge and regarded Ami with unblinking eyes.

"What do *you* get out of it," asked Rei. "I'm not sure I trust your involvement in this is as innocent as you proclaim."

"Trust me? No, you shouldn't," the woman laughed. "The only reason you should go with this is that it is your only viable choice. The Continuua Knights are determined to return all realities to baseline. Even if they didn't start that way. They'll notice, and then..." She gestured towards the television.

"I end up going 'splut'?" Maya Ibuki asked.

Ritsuko Akagi looked pained. "I get shot and die. So does Misato. The world dies. Either we return to the world without Shinji's intervention, or we seperate out and go like *that*. Is this accurate?"

"Completely," said the woman, spreading her hands. "It's unusual for me, but I've been completely honest here. It serves my best interests in this case. Simply a matter of hopping to an Alternate, finding a videotape of the series that mirrors how your lives ended up."

Misato held up the final videotape and exchanged it with the one in the machine. "Whereas if we went with the... oh my!"

Everyone stared wide eyed at the contents of *that* tape.

"What did you say this was again?" Haruka's voice had picked up an odd husky quality and her eyes never wavered from the screen. Nor did she blink.

"This is a depiction of your lives, after a group marriage to Shinji, after he's picked up a dimensional merger or two, as a fantasy based sex comedy/drama," said the woman, flipping her hair back and raising an eyebrow. "As you can see, you keep your careers and everything, it's just that a good deal of the comedy comes from everyone juggling schedules and dealing with the latest challenger/monster/villain and the changes in society caused by having people running around with odd abilities. Oh, and the occasional alien invasion or whatever."

Haruka continued to stare until Michiru gently shook her. "Ah, yeah. Uhm."

Michiru waited. They'd discussed this before. Even with the force of Misato's wish, being engaged to Shinji was acceptable but marriage was clearly less so. Actually, Michiru didn't have nearly the same problems with the arrangement Haruka did, but she was prepared to back her lover 100%.

"OK, well, let's get busy, we've got to get going on this. Time's a wasting!" Haruka nodded, completely missing Michiru managing to somehow remain elegant while performing a facefault.

-------------

Shinji went. Sent across time and space to merge with another aspect of his being.

Ami, unsurprisingly, would *not* leave his side. She went too, fully knowing of the dangers.

Fleece had set up fairly good odds all around, but nobody would have bet on Ami remaining behind. Medical school was grueling and she couldn't really afford any time off.

Or at least she wouldn't have if "Shinji" hadn't built her a mnemonic "juku cap" that could download information directly into her mind while she was sleeping. Then scanning in texts and notes and diagrams. Two hours of her sleeping schedule gave the equivelant of six hours of book study. Ami was ahead of her course work, and by all accounts had shown her husband how very grateful she was over the past weekend.

Fleece had counted on many factors, but somehow had missed jealousy and the desire to get some quality time. Instead of Ami going alone with Shinji, she had company.

Misato pumped the action on a wicked looking rifle and checked the sights. "Okay, let's go."

Ritsuko had decided to wear her favorite leotard/lab coat combination, mirrored by Maya's choice.

Rei grumbled about the whole thing taking valuable time away from her duties, while Makoto and Minako each made private plans on who was first going to "borrow" Shinji. Usagi waved from her position at the doorway, being the sole person of the group to decide to "keep the home fires burning."

Fleece considered, but shrugged. The inclusion of Haruka and Michiru had NOT been expected. They hadn't even been GUTS project members, merely civilian security guards at NERV. Setsuna, a minor player, a teacher at the school.

"Where did you send him?" Misato asked, concern obvious on her features.

"To join with one of his other Aspects," explained Fleece, a little surprised to have a young Misato asking questions and apparently wanting to go on this trip. Not to mention Ritsuko and Maya.

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Third Labor timeline:

Honey clicked the book shut as Grey stirred. Perfect. It was just as she remembered it, but she wanted to make sure. Everything had to be perfect. Ami had apparently never thought about using *this* part of her book on dragons.

Grey stumbled and shifted back to dragonform, though it seemed clumsier and difficult somehow. He wavered, his long neck dipping as he fought to regain balance.

Honey stepped up, a glint in her eye. She still had her sword, the Silver Floret. Fingering an odd ring that Hephaestus had given her, it would have allowed her to manifest a single set of abilities of someone she had duplicated. Mainly a means of disguise, such as if she needed to fly or produce a force shield.

She'd never expected to have to use it to duplicate herself.

"Honey FLASH!"

The others eyed her uncertainly as Honey came back down wearing ornate plate armor and strode towards Grey with her sword drawn.

Honey pointed the tip of her sword at Grey, fighting a grin and doing her best solemn. Formality was called for, after all.

"By ancient law and pact, I challenge thee, O Dragon. My cause is righteous, my need is great, and so I call for a Duel Of Submission and the Challenge of Wing and Claw." Honey paused and then followed with the wording in the book. Old words that seemed to resonate in the mountain air.

Ami gaped. As she was still in dragonform, this was especially comical.

Nuku blinked and scratched her head. "Nuku think she miss something."

Grey took a deep breath and tried to focus on the figure in front of him and he felt the Frostbite segment of his personality push forward. "Challenge has been issued. And in front of witnesses. Why, human? What do you seek?"

Honey held her sword forward in salute a moment longer, then let it settle down slightly. This was all part of the ritual. "It is the Time. And there is need."

Grey considered declining. He had no reason to fight her, after all. "Challenge accepted." His eyes widened, that response coming straight from Frostbite.

Honey grinned and moved to the attack, a six foot human with a three foot blade fighting a one hundred foot long dragon.

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Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Jared wondered what there was about breakfast that was triggering his danger sense.

There was Nabiki, having used a can of tuna and a tiny amount of soysauce to give herself an "instant breakfast". She really really liked fish nowadays, and looked thoroughly content. She was dangerous, perhaps, mainly with that wild edge she'd gotten since merging with the Catfist.

There was Kasumi, bringing a steaming bowl of rice in. No danger there, unless you happened to have "quantum leaped" into her little sister. Jared's mind still boggled at the need to have created a Protection From Kasumi scroll.

Shampoo and Ukyo were in the kitchen, arguing as to whether to try Kasumi's traditional Japanese breakfast, go with breakfast okonomiyaki, or was some "too too delicious dimsum" on the menu. No real danger there. Most likely it would escalate into a catfight and hairpulling as opposed to a martial arts battle.

Akane. No danger. She was snoring, facedown in a bowl of rice. Which was why Kasumi had had to go get another.

Genma was scarfing food wildly. Hmmm. Something about him, a gleam in his eye? Something different.

Soun put his bowl down. "Hmmm. Ranma, Jared, Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi. We have come to a decision."

[That's right] read the panda sign.

"Saotome, put the rice bowl down."

"Oh, heh heh," said Genma. He should've remembered to get splashed first.

"Family honor, the honor of the school of Anything Goes martial arts, and your personal honor, all demand that the Saotome and Tendo lines be merged!" Soun was trying for stoic and dignified. Jared idly thought it made him look like he had gas.

"That's right," Genma seconded quickly. "It is a matter of honor that the pledge between families be cemented. Therefore Ranma will marry Kasumi."

"WHAT?!" Nabiki didn't have any fur to bristle but she still gave that impression.

"Oh dear," said Kasumi, nearly dropping the bowl. "Father, isn't he kind of... young? Brash? Obsessive? Loud? Opinionated? He's not exactly handsome or dashing, either."

"Gee, thanks a lot," mumbled Ranma.

"Yes, he is, that's why he's a good match." Genma nodded. "Jared, you will marry Akane."

Akane snorted awake. Her head lifted up, rice sticking to her fur. "Huh?"

"WHAT?!" If anything Jared was louder than Nabiki had been. "WHY?!"

Soun knew that Jared had some weird ideas about love, so he decided to explain for once. "You argue, she tries to hit you, you call her names, she tries to kill you. This is the sign of true and undying love, sparks that will last your entire lifetime and are a sign of your great affection for each other."

Jared blinked. Akane blinked.

"NO WAY!"

Both stopped and stared at the other as they realized they had spoken in unison. "SHUT UP!"

"Violent thug."

"Pointy eared freak! Sexchanging pervert!"

"Evil psychobitch! Butch bimbo!"

"Arrogant bastard! Stupid BOY!"

Soun and Genma smiled and nodded. Soun began crying tears of joy as he exclaimed. "You see! It is a match made with Heaven's blessings! You two are perfect for each other!"

Jared blinked. If he insulted Akane, that firmed their decision that the two were a perfect match? Well, he couldn't argue that this was OOC for the team of Soun & Genma. Then patted his "brother" on the shoulder. "That's it. I'm out of here."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to the beach to continue my recovery," Jared announced. "Sticking around *this* level of insanity? I don't think so." He *had* wanted to study Martial Arts Ranching or that Piratic stuff that the Kunos practiced in this timeline. He had lots of experience with more realistic styles, the exotic stuff? Intrigued him, quite frankly.

Enough to deal with being engaged to Akane? Doubtful. Highly doubtful.

"Like you're some prize?" Akane growled and used one of her new martial arts moves. She'd show this pervert!

Jared blinked. He felt less dressed somehow. Like...

Akane rubbed her cheek against the silk boxers, feeling a trickle of invigorating chi. "Sweetoh!" Unfortunately, as she was still furry, she also built up a static charge.

Jared's eyes went round. "She's using..."

Akane thought for a moment and made another series of lightning fast moves. "Hotcha! That's more like it!"

Nabiki checked herself, finding she was missing her undergarments, even though her usual clothing was still in place. Kasumi gasped, even more discommoded as she was wearing a dress! Ranma gulped as he realized that those were *his* boxers over there!

"Fruit Of The Loom, oh please," Akane tossed Ranma's underwear in her pocket. She hadn't even bothered with Genma or Soun's underclothes. However, her sisters garments' gave her nearly as much charge as Ranma's and Jared's was proving a regular power battery.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Nabiki, Ranma, and Kasumi chorused.

"Learning and practicing the advanced manuevers of the School. *I* am now the True Heir of Anything Goes," Akane said with a smile. "I *will* become the Master of the school and free my family of the insanity you Saotomes have brought to it!"

Kasumi merely stared at where her little sister was fondling her underclothes. Maybe she needed a completely different prescription?

Jared paused, holding up a finger. "Wait, wait wait. Let's rewind this to an earlier moment. You were saying that because Akane tries to kill me we must be destind for each other?" He asked, holding both parent's eyes locked with his.

Both of the imbeciles nodded gravely. "It is the sparks you two generate, from insulting each other and her attempts to maim you that indicate how perfect you two are for each other," Genma confirmed.

"So violence equals affection?" The boy confirmed.

"Of course it does!" Genma shouted, coming over the table in an attempt to whallop Jared. "Haven't I taught you anything?"

"Of course," Jared readily agreed, sounding far too mild. If the "canon" Ranma equated affection with insults and violence due to his upbringing via Genma, and Soun had done something similar, it would explain much. Hmmm. Maybe even where Kuno got that whole bit about beating Akane to date her, it could have been something that became known to Kuno (possibly by paying Nabiki.) "You're the best bad example anyone could ask for. Why, by doing the exact *opposite* of anything he sees you do a man could go far in polite and upright circles."

Nabiki snickered while Ranma tried hard to keep a straight face, failing but trying to anyway.

Akane was still rubbing underwear along her cheeks and was experimenting with having a pair of panties worn atop her head. Kasumi's.

Kasumi excused herself to go get dressed. And possibly bathe. She suddenly felt unclean.

Jared grinned very nastily, getting up from the table. "Why then, I think it's gone FAR too long without my showing my affection for the pair of you." He addressed the parents, suddenly powering up and shouting, eyes ablaze with fearsome delight.

"Spirit Seeker!!!!"

-------------

Elsewhere:

Cold. It was the first sensation. Dim lighting. Grey looked to see skeletal limbs. Papery skin over darn little else besides bones. Had he been thrown into a lifetime where he was being starved to death?

"Ah hahahahahahaha!"

"Kes!" "Kes-san!" "Kestral!" "You bastard!"

Grey blinked. Kestral? That was the name of his first/most recurrent player character using the Champions system. Originally a bulletproof strongman with a few odd skills like Detective Work. As the game system changed and he'd gained experience, Kestral had gone through a number of changes to try to bring the original concept within the mechanics. Someone who absorbed available energy, converting it to chi and becoming stronger and harder to injure as a result. Able to fly and regenerate damage, both by manipulating chi fields. No chi attacks, but when you were able to military press 400 tons, it wasn't as big a deal as it could have been.

"There is no escaping that deathtrap!" The voice was the same as the one who had laughed earlier. A snide sort of Christopher Lloyd on helium voice. "He's been drained to the point where a human would be starving, and now he'll die in the cold, dark, and alone. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

The lights went out, the cold increased. Made sense. No energy sources to absorb, probably struck after a hard battle, then used a magnetic bottle with shifting frequencies to draw off enough stored energy to imprison him. ~Typical.~

~Those had been girls voices. Was my DNPC there? Dang, i haven't played Champions in over 50 years (subjectively). Lets see, the last time Kestral had run into this sort of trap it had been defeated by ~

~Coordinating attacks with Brute. Oh dear. They've removed the elements that allowed for escape the last time this was used. Supervillains aren't supposed to keep trying the same thing until they got it right. ~

Eyes narrowed. ~Time to see if i can assume my true form, a silver dragon ought to break out of this without trouble.~

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Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

"Why'd you have to interrupt?" Jared asked aside of the girl.

"Because he's my DAD!" Akane shrieked, pulling Soun off the fire where he and Genma had been stripped and tied together to a stake, and patting out where sparks had caught in her fur.

"Right." Jared pulled out a list, making a notation. "So figuring out Martial Arts Tribal Sacrifice by trial and error is a no-go. Pity, those two morons deserve the treatment."

Akane was busily trying to wipe the barbeque sauce off of her father, who was gibbering in terror.

"You weren't *really* going to eat him, were you?" Nabiki asked, lounging on the roof of her house, safely out of panty-snatching range of her little sister. She was a bit put off that her sister's speed had somehow increased to that point. If she wasn't caught off guard, Nabiki was sure that she was still much faster than Akane. How long that would remain was another question.

Jared made a face. "Yech!" He grimaced, putting away his notebook. "No, I was just going to get them nice and sunburt, then chase them along a beach with a whip and let them have their choice between a pack of wild dogs and the sharks. Not," he hastened to add, "that I didn't have full faith in their ability to escape. But I think the point really ought to have been made." The redhead shook his head sadly. "Frankly, nothing less would ever really manage to express our displeasure in a way they could realize."

Nabiki kicked around the concept and decided that he was right. She wasn't too happy with the parents pulling this latest bonehead manuever, however, especially as Kasumi had departed into her room and hadn't been seen since. No doubt in shock over suddenly becoming Ranma's fiancee.

While Akane was distracted with using Ranma's boxers to clear the sauce off of her father Jared snuck over and reclaimed the rest of the underwear, taking hers for good measure and jumping up to the roof, rejoining Nabiki and Ranma.

"Ugh." Ranma made a face. "What you want *hers* for?"

Jared was idly swinging the pair of blue panties around one finger. "Because, my dear brother. The best defensive spells require something of a focus as to what they're to defend against, and as far as *what* to take for that focus... well, it really only seemed fair play. Turnabout, you realize."

Jared got a suddenly distant look on his face, one of wonderment, then turned to Nabiki. "Quick! Get me a phone book!"

Even Nabiki was doubtful, hesitating to ask. "What for?"

The redheaded boy laughed softly to himself and, glowing with a grin, answered. "Because, since turnabout is fair play, it's really time and *past* time we started arranging for our dear and lonely fathers to start getting engaged to people. People like, oh say, pro wrestlers, winners of women's sumo tournaments, perhaps a few gothic horror freaks, and a reasonable sampling of trees, rocks and animals for the sake of it."

Both others slowly dawned grins of feral amusement.

Jared's grin was *very* nasty. "After all, the moment *we* marry we become head of household, right? If not I can arrange it. So what's to prevent us from seeing that our dear yet dotty parents aren't properly taken care of in their advancing years? Say, by a select choice of fiancees to show them how much we honor and respect the geezers?"

Nabiki's grin was vicious, her tail was lashing and she was struggling to contain a purr. "It would take some time to find the *right* ones."

Ranma's smile was almost as bad as he added. "We wouldn't want them to misunderstand the depth of our gratitude."

Jared nodded. "You guys start the works. I've got to return something to Kasumi." He held up a pair of plain white cotton panties and a very modest pink silk bra, then phased through the floor beneath him.

--------------

Third Labor timeline:

Grey gasped and seemed to flick in and out briefly.

Honey struck.

She had counted on several factors evening the fight. One, she could fight all out and not do permanent damage. Second, Grey's reluctance to fight back. Especially when he didn't have a clue as to why he was fighting. Third, Grey was quite wobbly at the moment.

Cutey Honey had always fought for life and love, to protect the happiness and lives of others. Now she was fighting to grab a little happiness herself. While he had his problems, Grey was a bit better than Chokkei. Especially now that Chokkei only had eyes for his newest girlfriend.

Her sword slashed into tender tissues just above one eye, opening a small cut. There was a resulting bellow of unexpected pain, and Grey threw his head back. Just as Honey had planned.

For a brief moment, a soft place where neck met hinge of the jaw was exposed. Honey's sword stabbed out, where she could dimple it and call for the dragon to surrender.

At least that was the plan.

Plans rarely survive the battle, something Honey *should* have remembered.

-------------

Akamukan/Ranma timeline:

Jared was sitting on the wall overhanging the back yard, nursing a red slap mark on his left cheek. There were times when Kasumi had faded *just* enough into the background that he nearly forgot she wasn't some chess piece performing routine household functions, but a human being who had to eat and bathe and... change clothes.

It had turned into something of an embarrassing fiasco, not helped the least bit by the fact that he was too used to being married to duplicates of her and had stopped to comment on her appearance.

The cheek stung a little in memory.

There came a jangle of spurs and Jared raised his eyes to greet the black horse and black rider, who was standing in the street before him. Black Bart paused to spit expressively in the dust. "It ain't right."

Jared nodded agreement silently.

Bart shifted to get his pistols more comfortably riding on his hip, cocking his head at the youngster and shaking his head. "Y'all been a hero up til now, but sneekin' in ta the lass' chambers..."

"Villainous." Jared agreed, nodding again.

Bart shook his head. "An ya ain't got the right. Y'all been workin on a hero's liscence up til now. It ain't proper to change roles mid-story."

The redhead grew thoughtful at the phrase, bringing his head up a trifle. "Unless it was a Second Act Catastrophe that the Hero has to spend the Third Act overcoming."

Bart looked thoughtful at that. "Hmmm. Tragic flaw, eh? Mebbee."

Jared looked at the thoughtful villain and wondered if he should cast an ESP spell. Just when he thought he had a handle on the Heir Of Martial Arts Stage Villainry, the moustached figure would do something unexpected. Like calling off a cattle stampede to have tea with Kasumi and discuss the merits of various blends of Earl Grey.

"Still." Bart ventured, glancing away from the gaze of the "Hero". "It ain't sumthin Ah can let ya off easy on."

Jared pursed his lips thoughtfully. "True. That would be the whole point of it being the mid-story setback, wouldn't it? The lady's honor has been challenged, hasn't it? I've got to do something to make that right or fail and leave these parts."

Black Bart eyed him. "That teacher done taught ya well, ain't he? Ya'll have the setup licked." He paused to give a villainous glare. "Ah reckon we can settle this one of two ways. You either get run outta town, er since that pappy o' hers been so worked up about ya marryin into 'is family anyhow, that ya'll make a right and proper proposal to her."

A red eyebrow lifted. "In which case I get challenged for the right to her hand, is that it?"

The heir to Martial Arts Stage Villainry grinned in a practiced and properly menacing way. "Somethin like that." He agreed.

Jared frowned, inwardly thinking. ~The trouble here is that I've got plenty of trouble *failing* at contests like these! If I don't string it out with an honest attempt, I don't remain around here long enough to learn the final techniques of Martial Art Ranching, which are enormously useful. But I don't terribly want to *succeed* either, as Bart here has something of a romance budding with Kasumi that would do BOTH of them good! Hmm...~ Much considering took place. ~Actually what I need here is a stand-in, someone to fail *for* me. Now who do I know that can bollix practically anything?~

Put that way the answer was perfectly obvious.

The elf looked up to see Bart still waiting for him to decide. He nodded.

"I'll do the honorable thing." He answered, then was surprised by how Bart failed to react to the vague yet reassuring phrasing. A little more uneasily, he added. "I'll speak to her father about switching the engagement for her to me."

Black Bart looked him over appraisingly, then nodded, turning his horse away. "You do that. Then Ah'll see to it that Ah git that engagement from ya by fair means er foul."

Jared nodded, smiling slightly and wishing good things for the man. "May the best man win."

Bart raised an offended hand to his chest in a gesture of reproach. "Please! Ah'd never stoop to winnin by them terms!"

The redhead smiled as the villain rode away. Definitely a touch more class than the villains he usually ran into.

---------------

Timeline HE-SM-CH 401001:

Doctor Gabe gloated to his audience, each caged in such a way that their powers were contained. He'd struck quickly, decisively, and with overwhelming power just after the "heroes" had successfully defended the city of Nara from giant poison-gas-emitting bioengineered cockroaches unleashed by the villain Biomass as part of an eco-terrorist plot.

He'd even got that secret agent/flunkie that kept showing up around Kestral. He'd removed their clothing, partly because they had all sorts of gadgets and devices incorporated into them. Mainly though, because having a bunch of buxom naked girls in hanging cages was one of his many fantasies.

"Now that I've dealt with my old foe," cackled Doctor Gabe, "who shall I deal with next? You, I think." He struck a lever and one cage began lowering.

"Why us? We've never crossed paths! You're an AMERICAN supervillain anyway!" The girl in the lowering cage looked down at the bubbling brew below her and flinched.

"When Kestral was declared legally dead after his slip with that one reporter, and he ended up fleeing the country rather than become part of a governmentally controlled program, naturally his old enemies kept track of him." Doctor Gabe grinned. "That's a form of liquid latex by the way. It'll bond immediately to human skin, forming a clear protective glaze. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll find a good place to display you after you've finished hardening."

Some things were traditional in the superhero genre. The Last Minute Rescue, for example.

Ice shattered as a silver dragon exited the cage holding Kestral. Many heroes screamed. So did Doctor Gabe.

The heroes arriving In The Nick Of Time, however, merely attacked the villain's pet monster. It was clearly more dangerous than Doctor Gabe, after all.

The dragon had enough time to consider how badly his sense of timing sucked before he was knocked out by a proton disruptor. Then, to everyone's surprise, faded out in a physical sense as well.

-----------

Third Labor timeline

The Silver Floret dropped from nerveless fingers. "w-wh-what?!"

Ami frowned and sniffed the air, still in dragonform. "You intended to hold the sword up to his neck, demand his surrender, and that way you'd not only have him taking you seriously, but you'd have the terms of the Duel to get him to come back to your home plane and help you fight criminals there, right?"

Honey nodded, not really caring at this point if she were beaten on by the others.

Setsuna decided that the blonde woman was going through enough angst and had kicked herself enough by this point. "He lost the dragonform, your blade went in, but it wasn't enough to kill him instantly."

Honey wordlessly made a gesture at the area currently conspicuous by the absence of a body. Alive or dead.

"It looked like some sort of summoning spell," commented Ami. She arched her long neck. "So, he's offplane again. He'll try to make his way back."

"He'll be in the city of New Lindisfarne at least by 905 AD where he rejoins us and a few others," added Setsuna.

Nuku Nuku transformed. "Oh? Let's go then!"

-------------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

"This is embarrassing." Jared confessed from the garden area where he'd used his role as a Prince of the Silver Millenium to do a summoning.

Grey uncurled from where he'd curled up in a tight ball to glower at him.

"Look, I'm sorry." Jared raised his hands apologetically.

Grey grumbled and went back to a curled up ball, hugging his knees.

"Hey, it was a dimensional resonance! I'm new at this whole d-hopping magic thing. Besides, the fabric of this place seemed so similar that I thought.... Look, all the other spells had worked fine. How was *I* to know that it was only one school that was effected?"

It was clear Grey wasn't the least bit mollified.

"Um..." Jared sweatdropped, reaching for something he could say. "I wanted you to take my place trying to marry Kasumi, alright? You both would have been happy."

"And how," Grey asked, fitting the exact amount of contempt and disappointment into the words to make it very clear how displeased he was. "Am I supposed to do that?" Ignoring the other problems he had with this arrangement for the moment.

The redhaired mage twiddled his fingers, plainly at a loss.

Grey began looking around for a rope.

Jared raised his head. "No, don't kill yourself. I'll fix it in a few weeks, after I've done the research on how to so I don't mess up again. That doesn't fix *my* problem, but I'll deal with it like a man. Hey, I'll even return you to when and where you left, okay? Think of it as a short vacation."

Grey smoothed his girl's school uniform in a gesture of displeasure, and said. "Somehow this isn't my idea of fun." Well, at least Ami wasn't here to see him like this. He'd die of embarassment.

Jared considered. "Okay, how about this. I let you take part in arranging marriage meetings for Genma and Soun, and *you* get to choose potential brides. We've decided the old goons are too lonely and need to be married off by their loving offspring. Deal?"

Grey stopped in mid-sigh, Jared was obviously trying. Frankly the further away from the team of Soun and Genma he could get, the better off all three of them would be. Marrying Soun and Genma off meant that they'd also have to find a new husband for Nodoka. Or maybe he could call the office and have Kimiko show up. Heh. The Valkyrie version he'd called up during his Second Labor. *She* wouldn't put up with any of this nonsense.

Jared added. "AND Akane is running around, the real one this time, taking lessons from Happosai and stealing girl's (and men's) underwear. She ran afoul of a hair growth potion and now looks like a wookie, you could trounce her and no one would even care. Plus, you've still got that powerarmor out in the shed. C'mon, it ain't *that* bad!"

Grey favored the mage with a sidelong look and gazed back at the mirror he'd been facing, which showed Akane's features gazing back at the dimension traveler. There were no two ways around it. If he left this Universe like this, without resolving whatever had caused it, and without trying to organize his various selves into one being, he'd be even worse screwed up than he was now. "Okay. Fine. Let's just get this over with. And how are you going to explain TWO Akane Tendos, anyway?"

"Ah ha!" The Pheonix Mage nodded. "I have a plan. Don't worry, nothing can go wrong with this!"

---------

Waterdeep:

"Rigee?!"

R igel Maerklos of the city of Waterdeep straightened. "That was... strange."

"I'll say," Rimshot took a "salt shaker" out of his utility belt and pressed a button on the side. "Hmmm. Looks like it was some form of magical summoning. VERY powerful in nature."

Wispara Deunen had very little idea what was going on, despite being an elf and therefore used to seeing all sorts of magic on a regular basis. So she merely hovered protectively near her boyfriend/fiance/soulmate and looked concerned.

"So, uhm, what about... this one?" Rimshot asked, returning to the task they'd been about previously.

Rigel looked at the picture, and as he had on several of the others, nodded. "Right. Know her. She's one of the clerics up at Candlekeep. Name of Amarlee Ocean-eyes. Nice girl, sort of a minor sage dealing with medicine."

Rimshot nodded, as this was a picture of one of *his* acquaintances, a "rogue scientist" named Amy who was based out of the Barony Of Hope in the Colorado Baronies. And who had turned out to be one of a growing list of people who had intersected more than one of their lives apparently. "And this one."

Rigel looked at the picture, blinked, then looked at Wisp. "Wisp. Look, here's a picture of you as a human."

Wisp looked over this portrait of another version of herself, suppressing a quick surge of jealousy. Elves tended to be short and slender. The girl in the picture resembled her, but was clearly taller and *much* "bustier". "Hmmmph. Doesn't look like me at all!"

Rigel kept his disagreement to himself. "This other version of Wisp? Is she also a friend of yours?"

Rimshot nodded. "Yeah, I noticed the resemblence but the differences are kind of large too. In my world she's a Glitter Boy pilot named Ree Fukami..."

-------------

Pokemon World

A ripple continued on, the Summoning further spreading and touching on other Realities. Ranko reacted as if shot, clutching her head and dropping like a stone.

"Never, *ever*..." One of Jared's multiple versions of himself was cautioning himself, as he appeared on a grassy field dressed only in a furry pair of briefs and boots, looking odd with his flaming hair, and continuing on to say, "approach a valkyrie for directions in the middle of one of their parties!" He shivered, and not from cold. Taking a map from a subspace pocket he began to turn it around. "So how am I going to find my way back to Jupiter? I'm sure that got me off course. How she stole my uniform so fast..."

It was a good thing he'd kept a change of clothes in that Hoi Hoi Cappsule. (Odd the useful little trinkets one could find in your RRO Survival Pack.) The bad thing was that the clothes were a familiar looking Chinese outfit gotten during his impersonation of Ranma. A quick toss of the capsule, a lightning-fast change of clothes.

"See! There's another one!"

Jared realized anew, his head momentarily stuck inside the shirt, that fast was not always fast enough.

*WHACK!*

"It's obviously not the same type, you clown!" ~Actually even Professor Oak doesn't look that good!~ Misty absent mindedly wiped drool after seeing all that well toned martial artist flesh.

Ash was rubbing his head. "So it's another super-rare type of pokemon. Who cares?" He brought himslf up in a declaration pose. "I'm gunna catch it."

"Ash, don't you dare!" Misty got ready to launch a pokeball of her own. "This one's mine!"

"Why is it okay for *you* to catch this one and not me, Misty? *This* one isn't a girl!"

Misty was blushing furiously. "Because, well I'm a girl, that's why!"

Both of the boys looked at each other and blinked, making no sense at all out of that.

Jared was on the cusp of adding a statement to this, perhaps in the form of a fireball, when the buzz of bat wings and a barreling form came rushing out of the sky to smite him powerfully in the front, hanging on for dear life as the demoness wailed. "Waaaah!" There came muttered wailings and sobs, but around the bellybutton of the alu-field Jared was having a hard time seeing anything, much less understand her - except for one fact, she was in trouble and in need of his support.

That merited response, of whatever level of firepower was needed to do the job.

Though he had to use magic to where she was merely glomped onto his side and he could deal with anything. Jared could now see Ranko pointing, not at the three staring dumbstruck trainers confronting him. No, she was pointing down the path she had come.

The trio of pokemon trainers were standing dumbstruck.

"Are they a related species?" Brock asked.

Misty smirked. "STARYU! GO!" She threw her pokeball, manifesting a starfish-shaped critter.

Jared spent a moment in thought, pointing a finger at the creature, then snapping his fingers. "Cold Snap!"

The ice-encrusted creature landed ungracefully on the ground.

"OH NO! MY STARYU!" Misty wailed.

Ash seemed to be struggling with some concept, especially as he was pointing a gadget at them.

"No pokemon type found," announced the device.

"They're not pokemon?!"

"Shut up, Ash! Of course they're pokemon!" Misty drew another pair of pokeballs. "STARMIE! BODY SLAM!"

"Psyduck?!" said the particularly stupid looking creature that popped out of the other pokeball.

"You get the male, I'll capture the female," announced Brock. "ONIX GO!"

Jared grumbled slightly. They wanted pokemon? A spell was readied. Oh, they'd have their pokemon all right.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"Never mind that, now we've got TWO of them!!"

Oh! Jared noticed the two who had been pursuing Ranko and got a ***TERRIBLE*** whim, even as the Starmie and the Onix raced towards him and the ducklike creature ran around in circles. He pulled out a pokeball and shouted. "Mara! I choose you!"

All five pokemon trainers got a little ill seeing a flame-haired, pointy-eared, humanoid pokemon (obviously just an evolved form of the littler female one or maybe they came in male and female verstions like Nidoran) use a pokeball to summon what looked to all appearances as a perfectly normal human woman (with her hair currently hiding her demon-first class markings).

Then Jared hauled out five empty pokeballs. "Make sure you don't beat them up *too* much, Mara. We wouldn't want them fainting."

There were many many times that Ash Ketchum was a clueless wonder. There were some times when he had a better clue than the people around him. He fled at his highest speed while his companions gawked.

It didn't really help that much, but it *was* one of his brighter moments.

---------

Third Labor Timeline, 817 AD:

Like his father, he was tall and muscular and could fight like a raging bull. Unlike his father, he'd spent a lot of his life learning from the priests. Where his father brawled, the son fought a bit more gracefully. His father was a farmer who had left his farm to follow the priests to their new home and begin anew. The son had tried his hand at farming, but had proven to have another fate than tied to the land.

Ranma wondered if his father was doing okay. He hadn't been out there lately. His duties as one of the priesthood, and an Engineer Third Class tended to keep him busy.

The great earthen walls and battlements reflected the priests' philosophy of "Enduring Strength" and their successes in summoning spirits of the earth. Elementals they were called, though only the most enlightened members of the priests could bring them forth.

Ranma continued his walk, nodding at the various merchants and mendicants that scurried about. There was still much to do. Let those who cared about such things make much of the Holy Lands. As was pointed out by one of the engineers, changing the past was impossible, shaping the future - a necessity.

"Raaaanmmmaaa!" A distant figure hailed before running towards him. Ranma smiled slightly and waited, acknowledging a few knowing smirks from passerby with a nod of his head.

The girl practically leapt upon him, hugging him to her tightly.

"Lands sake," said one of the older women to her companion, "girls nowadays, they just act completely scandalous. In *my* day, we had dignity."

"Have ye seen the way they dance nowadays," the companion asked with a sniff. "Tis' terrible it is."

Ukyo unhooked herself from her True Love to glitter dangerously at the two. "Oh, be off wit' ye. I be sure that ye had your own share of scandal, Madria! Now let me get some time wit' me friend here, eh?"

Ranma looked down at the forest green eyes of his redheaded companion, a year younger and full of fire. "Ah, my dear lass, what are ye up to today that has gotten' ye all wound up?"

"Priest Keian said something was up and he did call off the hunt early," said Ukyo with a wink. "Not sure what they be doing, but there's talk about sending out explorer teams now."

"They be talking about that since we arrived at these islands," Ranma scoffed and held out a hand for his lady to take. He spent a moment enjoying the way her smaller and daintier hand fit inside his own as they walked. "Admittedly, these lands lack many things we'll need, but I've seen little evidence the Council will go for it until *after* the Outer Wall be finished. 'Look to your defense first' as they say."

"Ah, but they be serious this time," said the redhead with a pout that managed to scowl. "And ye be knowin that I've long wanted to go explore that large continent. Why, there could be a thousand wonders we canna even imagine in such a land!"

"Hmmph," agreed Ranma, worried that Ukyo *would* go and leave him behind for several years. He couldn't see himself going off on that sort of thing with all his duties here. "Well then I..." Ranma's voice broke off as he realized something was happening.

After a moment, Ukyo realized something was up to as the rest of the crowd glanced up. The birds had gone quiet.

Air slammed into the outer village as first one, then a second and third, long winged form shot overhead at high speeds. The glittering bodies pulled up after their passage, thereby bleeding speed in order to loop slowly back around.

Ranma smiled and glanced at the girl beside him. She nodded and they began running towards the Gathering Hall.

Another prophesy fulfilled.

---------------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Jared presented this on brilliant, hello-I-typically-live-or-die-by-making-good-plans-on-short-notice inspiration ala veteran AD&D adventurer style.

He quirked an eyebrow over a confident grin. "The basics of that plan would be as follows: One, Akane isn't really acting at all like herself, nor does she look much like she used to. Two, You at least act like *a* version people recognize as Akane, by being as unlike her as possible your first trip. You also happen to look like she does in the form accepted by her friends and associates. Three, If anyone is to be taken as an imposter, it's her, not you. Given their choice, most people would probably *prefer* the version you present. We don't have to say anything. In fact the less we say the better because people tend to trust their own opinions more than other's words and if we don't say anything we can't be disproven."

The mage adopted a fiery grin. "More to the point, people would *rather* you be Akane than the real one. I can think of guys offhand who would take you over the real one even if they *knew* what had happened! If we let this slide through on it's own momentum the only damage control vector is Akane, and frankly I'd *prefer* an excuse to go up against her in a few fights."

He cracked his knuckles. "That being the case, there are several advantages. One, you get to catch up on your Ranching skills. Two, we get to fight with Akane without anyone thinking anything of it. Three, we get to make her life not conform to her wishes even if she gets it back. Four, you and I have few reasons to argue. If you and I don't fight then the Duncecap Duo are less likely to object to when I attempt to transfer my engagement to Kasumi (on honor oath) and *that* will set them up for you running off into the nearest nunnery, if you so like.

"So what do you think?"

Grey immediately disliked several aspects of this plan. Unfortunately he wasn't able to think of any alternatives.

----------

A pokemon world:

There were many things an outsider might question about a mainline Pokemon world that the natives never wondered about.

How come there *were* pokemon for one thing? How smart the critters were, since many seemed to understand if not speak the human language. How some had qualities of reptile or amphibian or mammal or even plant? That the vast majority were egglaying no matter whether they had mammallian or whatever traits? How could such a thing be? And howcome nobody knew how many kinds of pokemon there were? How come some came with what looked like mechanical parts (such as the Blastoise water cannon and Primeapes manacles) and some had powers that were elemental in nature?

Especially nobody really asked how come some people were *exact* duplicates of others. There were numerous Officer Jennys and Nurse Joys to be found, practically every city had at least one. Most people accepted the "sisters and cousins" story without so much as blinking, never mind that the genetic variance between each Joy or Jenny was so small as to be almost unmeasurable. There were others, after all, who looked and sounded and acted much the same. There were four identical versions of Delia Ketchum, for example. So it was merely accepted that this happened.

It was accepted because nobody knew the Truth, and everyone's interests were (at the moment) best served by not knowing the Truth.

Especially the Joys and Jennys.

Most, if you asked, thought this was Earth. Ask them of the ancient ship "Mega-road" and they'd tell you of ancient creation myths. Ask them of ancient civilizations, and they'd shrug and tell you to ask an archaeologist. Poke-mopolis might be brought up by a few who remembered something of a news article on that subject.

Of ancient civilizations that mixed genetic engineering and magic, and had risen and fallen only to rise and fall again, and of humans coming to this world and not understanding what they had found, there were few who knew *that* sort of thing.

Even most of the Joys and Jennys did not know of their special heritage. That they were, in fact, the results of early human exploration of that ancient technology. Still, most of them felt some primal connection with pokemon and with the technology that centered on them.

Still, those who knew the Terrible Truth knew that the society around them was fragile. Giovanni and his Team Rocket, the various Leagues, the inhuman near-deities lurking about the edges, all had their parts to play and as long as nothing upset the balance everyone was relatively content.

Anything that upset that balance was a matter of concern for They Who Knew and their subordinates.

Especially the Joys and Jennys.

And so the Nurse Joy of the Rocky Point PokeCenter was a little alarmed at her unannounced visitors coming in. She was one of those who had bits and pieces of the Truth, and frankly it scared the crap out of her at times.

On odd moments from time to time there came in a stray; a pokemon that had been lost or escaped from its trainer somehow, yet had gotten injured and somehow recalled that Pokemon Centers would make them healthier again. And so every so often a wild pokemon would wander in seeking help. It was actually part of her joy in the position as caregiver and healer of pokemon that those rare events happened, they showed her how much these creatures had learned to trust her.

But when that happened it was pretty much in direct proportion to how rare the pokemon was. She'd seen a few pidgeys, one or two bulbasaurs, and a precious scattering of others in this manner in her time working at her Center.

Her awe at having an *increadibly* rare set, not even in the pokedex, wander in all faithful and full of trust made her wonder what her cousins (also called Nurse Joy, all working at other pokemon centers) had been up to!

Then she'd gotten a good look at the two and had tried to keep from showing her desire to run into the background screaming. One had hair that looked as if it was flaming. The other had red batlike wings and piercing blue eyes that seemed filled with pain.

Her foot casually tapped a button. The Elemental Lords, even more powerful than the Elemental Birds, had obviously just walked into her PokeCenter. They had taken human form, but some distant rational corner of her mind noted that it was probably easier to deal with humans wearing that guise. One didn't crush the insects until after the conversation was over that way. If she died here, her brain sucked dry by what she guessed was a Ghost or Psychic Type, or was burned to ash by the Flame Lord, at least one of her cousins or sibs would know and come by to take over the clinic.

The idea that she was not to be recycled occurred to her when the humanoid pokemon had slipped the boundaries to the next track over, handing her his pokeballs to deal with like any trainer. Nurse Joy twitched slightly as she took them, praying silently to the god of the humans that she wasn't being asked to put herself into one. Maybe they were returning some lost pokeballs, someone who had dared to attack an unknown, and had either fled or been flash-fried for their trouble. She hoped it wasn't anyone she knew.

She was not prepared to open up the first one to find Ash inside.

Ash waved a hand to her in greeting. "Hey, ya gotta cheeseburger?"

Nurse Joy fainted.

Ranko, seeing the faint, threw a pokeball at the girl.

Jared made her put the Nurse back.

-----------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

As a complete shock to those who knew him, Jared approached their parents with humble looks and traditional attire, and without any fanfare, celestial music, glorious wings of angels, obstentuous shows of wealth, dancing animals, or any other showy displays, asked within Kasumi's hearing if the engagement he had could be switch to her, while Ranma was switched to Nabiki.

'Akane' and Nabiki both fervently jumped on this idea with their full (and in some cases MORE than full) agreement. Ranma added that he thought it would be nice, and Genma and Soun typically turned to each other, and did something amazingly stupid.

"I don't know who this imposter is, boy, but you're marrying Akane and that's that. Kasumi will marry Ranma," Genma intoned solemnly. "As for this fake Akane..."

Akane-g blinked a couple of times, then fixed Jared with a glinting eye. Akane-n wiped fur out of her eyes and grumbled.

"Hang on, I'm tired of this," Akane-g fumbled at her side for a bottle and quickly mixed three vials of fluid together, then sniffed at it. Finally she walked straight over to Akane-n, grabbed her hand and sloshed some of the mixture onto the native's hand.

"HEY!" Akane-n punched the other girl hard enough to bounce her off the ceiling. "WHAT WAS THE BIG IDEA?!" Akane-n then started rubbing the goo out of her fur, only to get wide eyed as she saw bare skin where hair had been a moment ago.

Akane-g frowned but kept the bottle from spilling as she landed. "There ya go, Akane. How about we make a deal? I'll give you the rest of this alchemical Shaving Cream if you just keep quiet and stop stealing my..."

Akane-n blurred and vanished. So did the bottle in Akane-g's hands.

"Could have told you that wouldn't work," said Jared, sotto voce.

Nabiki was suddenly and abruptly in Akane-g's face, sniffing.

"Nabiki?!" Akane-g backed up but the feline Tendo kept looming up in her face.

"You're the demon that got exorcised from Akane earlier!" Nabiki announced. "I knew it!"

"aaaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!" The scream from the bathroom indicated something untoward had happened.

"Oh my," said Kasumi, unable to resist.

"Bets that she tried drinking it?" Jared said in the following silence.

"Nah, she's not *that* much of an idiot," Akane-g said, then realized she was defending the native Akane. "This really stinks, you know."

"Be a man about it! Oh sorry," Jared replied.

"This is the part of Akane that Voodoo-boy drove out of my daughter?" asked Soun pointing at Akane-g. Jared and Akane-g were surprised by the anger in the Tendo patriarch's voice.

"Yes," said Jared, proving how rattled he was by Soun Tendo coming to a correct conclusion.

Nabiki smirked. "I did tell you about that rumor, didn't I?"

Jared stared at where Akane-g was being hugged by a wailing Soun. "No, I must have missed that one."

"You've just been listening to all the ones repeating your '1001 Things I'd Rather Do With Akane Than Be Engaged To Her' speech," Nabiki said, with a nod. "The talk about School was that Gos botched it. An exorcism is supposed to drive out an evil spirit, leaving the good. With what everyone saw, and how Akane's been acting, the talk's been that Gosunkugi exorcised the good part and left the evil spirit in charge."

Jared thought about that and began to shake.

Nabiki blinked. He was that upset about idle gossip and speculation?

"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha!" (wheeze, *thud*!)

Akane-g mumbled something from where she was encased. Whether it was a protest or a request for air wasn't clear.

"So, Jared will marry Akane?" Genma asked Soun, wondering if his old buddy was even listening.

"No, Ranma will marry Nabiki. I'm just so overjoyed that my Akane has returned to me!" Soun's tears soaked the hair of the girl buried in his embrace. "Kasumi will marry Jared. I don't suppose you've got two more sons? We could marry both Akanes off to them!"

Akane-g mumbled something else and appeared to be struggling to get out.

"No, but I *do* have an idea, Tendo!" Genma smirked.

Kasumi was merely confused. "Excuse me?"

-------------

Pokemon Timeline:

"BUGROM!" James griped, using his heavy claws to dig a furrow in the soil. "BUG BUG BUGROM!"

Ash nodded, but as he hadn't actually attacked either the Mage or the girl, he'd gotten off easy. All he had to do was pull weeds and dig postholes. Heck, his mother had him do stuff like this all the time back in Pallet Town. This was no problem actually.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said, glad that he'd been able to argue for clemency with the spellcaster. As Pikachu was fond of saying (mainly to other pokemon) Ash had a head of clay but a heart of gold. And frankly there were worse punishments than being stuffed in a pokeball and forced to work in a garden.

"Can you understand what he's saying?" Ash asked his closest friend, not having been turned into a pokemon, he couldn't understand a word the transformed James was saying. Of course he lowered his voice as much as possible.

"Pi pi pika," Pikachu said with a nod. He didn't elaborate though. James was still griping and complaining. Privately, Pikachu thought that James might be gender dysphoric and would approach the mage about being turned female when he was returned to human. Though James seemed to actually be griping more to keep up appearances than anything else.

Ash stood briefly, wiping sweat off his forehead and glancing towards where his Trainer was. He wondered if that Mage guy was serious about making him battle Misty. This could be a problem. Ash regarded Misty as annoying, picky, fond of putting him down, and way too loud at times, but he liked her anyway.

-------------------

Perhaps the funnest thing, Jared contemplated to himself as he sipped on a spiced apple cider Kasumi had served to him, was that the Pokedexes were simple machines. Specifically, information storage and retrieval systems with no great effort at security. It had been child's play to have the Cell Slicer hack in and deposit information.

He could have done a great deal more than he had.

Sitting at a sumptuous outdoor cafe he'd created for his group, he was taking mild amusement in the crowd of onlookers they'd gathered.
Specifically, the young man who was pointing a trembling pokedex at him.

Loud enough for the crowd to hear the machine faithfully reported.
*PHEONIX MAGE, EVOLVED BRIGHT ELF OF THE FIRE TYPE. POSSESSES GREAT MAGICAL AND PHYSICAL ABILITIES, ENOUGH TO LEVEL TOWNS FULL OF LESSER POKEMASTERS. HAS NOTHING TO FEAR FROM ANY KNOWN POKEMON OR ANYTHING LESS THAN WORLD-SHATTERING CATASTROPHES.*

There was a collective gulp at that, and the wavering pokedex swerved to point at Ukyo.

*UKYO, EVOLVED HUMAN, ALSO OF THE FIRE TYPE. ABLE TO DWELL IN FLAMING LAVA AND HAS THE POWER TO RESIST MOST FIRE ATTACKS WHILE LAUNCHING HER OWN. SHE IS ALSO SKILLED IN CLOSE COMBAT FIGHTING AND MAKES A TRULY DELICIOUS JAPANESE PIZZA.*

Ukyo frowned briefly and mouthed the phrase 'Japanese pizza' as if it were distasteful.

Kasumi flew in on a little whirlwind that was her preferred mode of travel anymore and the pokedex got pointed her way while she faithfully
served a tray of treats.

*KASUMI, EVOLVED HUMAN OF THE WIND TYPE. A SKILLED DOMESTIC AND HOUSEWIFE WHO IS ABLE TO GENERATE GUSTS OF WIND AND BLASTS OF FORCE AS WELL AS GENERATE TORNADOES, A TECHNIQUE SHE HAS PERFECTED FOR CLEANING AS OPPOSED TO VACUUMING OR SWEEPING.*

This time the pokedex wandered of it's own accord while the owner was still in shock, too confused at the imagery to function.

*RANKO, EVOLVED FORM OF GINSENG. NOT STRICTLY A COMBAT POKEMON, ANYONE WHO THREATENS HER FACES THE WRATH OF THE PHEONIX MAGE AND OTHER EVOLVED HUMANS SUCH AS SHAMPOO, NABIKI AND KASUMI, UKYO, AND POTENTIALLY OTHERS.*

Finally, the pokedex wandered over to where the small crowd of familiar figures was going through exercise routines or chopping vegetables. By chance it focused on one of them.

*MISTY, MERMAID. HUMAN EVOLVED TO WATER TYPE. NO FURTHER DATA IS AVAILABLE. THE MAGE HAS OFFERED TO TURN HER BACK BUT MERMAID HAS SO FAR REFUSED.*

Shampoo splashed up out of the pond that guarded the gazebo in which the crew rested at their ease. "Underwater palace is finished now! We all go to sleep, yes?"

Jared finished his cider. "Yes, by all means. I have a feeling we'll need it. Things are shaping up to be interesting for our brief stay here."

-------------------

Ranko considered. First that girl with pink hair had fainted, and as she'd seen "big brother" do, so had she done. She'd put the girl in a pokeball and hoped they could be friends later.

Then some girl with blue hair had come up, yelling at them while brandishing a pair of handcuffs. Shampoo had held up a hand, and several hundred gallons of water had jetted out and knocked the girl down. So, naturally, Ranko had remembered that "when in Osaka do as they do" and had put the blue haired girl in a pokeball.

It was weird, but it appealed to a sense of irony.

Though "big brother" Jared had made her put both back. Still, Ranko was hoping they could be good friends.

Ranko blinked as something came down the road at high speed, it looked like a unicorn with a flaming mane. And on it was... "BIG BROTHER!?!"

Ranma Saotome, aka the "Gym Destroyer" was rather surprised to see a batwinged version of his girl form come flying at him at high speeds. He was so befuddled by this he actually let his guard down for a moment.

Raiden saw a girl who looked an awful lot like Ranma's girl form and snickered. Wait till the girls caught up on *this* one.

------------------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Grey was confused. This wasn't an abnormal state of affairs but it was particularly bad right at the moment.

"He" was currently "she" - having re-entered a timeline where he had previously been a spirit "quantum leaped" into Akane Tendo, on being summoned to it again by the Pheonix Mage he was now Akane Tendo's physical twin.

Except that the native Akane had turned furry due to drinking a topical magical potion, then had turned completely bald by taking the antidote in the same fashion. Well, at least she didn't need to shave her tongue any more. Akane had curled up in a miserable little ball until Grey had applied a mixture to her scalp. She now looked a lot like the post-Ryoga's haircut Akane while Grey looked like the pre-haircut version.

Which wasn't fair as Grey definitely preferred having short hair herself but would prefer it if casual observers could tell the two of them apart. Therefore she would merely endure the necessity of having to wash and brush, braid etc, this mass of hair. She'd tried the braid at least. Up until Happosai got ahold of it, it wasn't a problem.

Jared, on finding out that Grey wasn't that interested in staying here and kicking Akane around, had tried to reverse his summons. The only one surprised by its failure had been Jared himself.

Grey had slapped a nametag reading "Hi, call me Grey. i just look like Akane Tendo." It wasn't until the class had started that she realized she had to rewrite it using the kanji as her use of hiragana was considered childish within the subculture of Japanese high school.

Other than that, she was having a few problems and everyone else could tell she was distracted. This was because it wasn't just one mind in one body.

The dimensional mergers had taken their toll, and now several of the personas were merging but leaving the individual confused. He (or she) was now definitely no longer simply the Grey who had once been turned into an incubus by a god of mischief.

He was Grey, reluctant incubus turned not so reluctant cyborg, worker at the Rival Relief Office and adventurer. He was Mamoru Tengoku, who had grown up in the Sabre Marionette J world as Gennai's pupil and an expert on repairing marionettes. He was Nebula, aka Basalt, the Silver Millenium Knight Of Duty who had briefly been the consort of a Queen. He was Frostbite, the silver dragon priest of healing from Aramar who had once been married to a version of Shampoo named Xian Tili. He was Shinji Mizuno, the half-angel albino clone who had married Ami Mizuno - the Alpha Unit. He was Kestral, the energy absorbing superhero whose secret identity had been married to Lightning, that world's version of Makoto Kino. He was also Tsue, the martial artist who had grown up idolizing his fiancee - the Sailorjin Princess - Usagi Son. He was the subsititute Ranma Saotome who had grown up with his mother Nodoka, his father Genma, and his fiancees Ukyo Kuonji, Makoto Kino, and Rei Hino. He was also Orion/Grey, Minako Aino's "pet cat" who had later been revealed to be a dragon and reluctant conquerer of China.

She was also a bimbo named Naga who had been a member of Team Rocket. She was Ginseng III, a female android built and programmed with memories based on Grey. She was the member of the Rebel Alliance, B Wing pilot Artemis Gray. She was the homely peasant lass Delilah who had spent her entire life in service to her Queen until the French Revolution cut that short (in more ways than one.) She was Noa, a pokemon trainer who had specialized in "cute" pokemon like Eevee and Ponyta.

As Naga was just plain crazy, Delilah was fluff, Ginseng III an emotionless android who had later turned male, Noa had been killed by a splinter group of pokemon thieves known as Team Hard Rocket, and Artemis had died in the assault on the second Death Star, the overall pattern emerging was male. Except for the body, of course, which was most definitely female.

Some of these lives had been different, some *very* different. The persona of Naga was quickly fading, most of the other personalities viewing merger with Naga as completely unacceptable.

"Who am i?" the question came through all the remaining personas.

She was moping in gym class, trying to ignore the whisper of comments about the idea of their being two Akanes now, when something registered.

Evil.

Not the sanitized villainry of Black Bart (who wasn't nearly as evil as he liked to act) nor the dark lechery of Happosai. This wasn't someone being bad, or naughty, or lecherous. It was not the darkness of Akane's anger or her more hentai leanings that found open expression as she moved to master her family's Art.

It was Evil. The sort of pure, unsullied, no nonsense, straight out Evil that hadn't bothered to mask itself because the average Neriman was about as psychically sensitive as a dead slug. Grey couldn't tell where it was, but it was nearby.

"Akai," called Yuka. "Stop woolgathering. It's your turn." She pointed to the high bar.

Grey blinked, disliking the yellow tee with red bloomers that was the Furinkan High School Girls Gym Uniform. And that no one would call her Grey, but she'd gotten the nickname "Akai" for some reason. When in Rome, or Tokyo, do as the Tokyoites do. But it was so *tacky!* Well, in order to find that Evil, maybe trying a different form?

Grey leapt, ignoring the jeering call that she was going to fall short. And willed the change, figuring that her current reserves would allow her to maintain the form long enough for an aerial survey. And completely forgetting the audience in concentrating to find this new menace.

The T-shirt burst along the back as golden wings sprouted to beat the air. The sparkling golden field surrounding her turned her skin and hair that color, as Akane lifted to a few dozen feet above the ground. Hovering, she attempted to discern the direction of the Evil as well as its distance. There was some indication that it was within the school grounds itself, and then the Evil hid itself.

Disappointed, Grey landed again.

Missing the open jaws from the girls' gym class. Missing the way the teacher was mumbling something about the "intra mural championship". Completely ignoring the way the softball fell out of the catcher's glove and the nearby boys playing baseball completely forgot about their own game. Or the way that Tatewaki Kuno ran to fetch ink and paper, saying something about his "golden angel." (Not that he was giving up on the Pigtailed Girl, the Firehaired Lass, or the beauteous Black Fox (Ukyo Kuonji)).

Akai, Grey realized that it was just a name and she'd have to get used to it, slowly began to notice all the stares and dismissed the wings and transformation. Then very nearly fainted from the strain.

If this had happened in an American school, people would have crowded closer, examining the girl. The ACLU would have barred her from the school grounds, lawsuits would have been likely. Stones would likely have been thrown, resulting in a clash between pro and anti forces. It would have been likely that a number of those looking her over would have plucked feathers from her wings, but that everything would have blown over eventually.

This being Japan, Akai quickly found herself shunned while the various cliques and factions figured out what to do.

Martial artists wantonly destroying property, no problem. Death threats and Chinese Amazons, nothing to be concerned over. Cattle stampede? Ho hum.

Evidence that the rumor about the good Akane being exorcised by that bum Gosunkugi, leaving the evil one behind? That Tatewaki Kuno was *right*?!

This went beyond amazing.

-------------

Third Labor timeline 818 AD:

Ami and Nuku kept to their dragonforms for the most part. For one thing, until they decided to go forward in time, dragons simply aged better. Unfortunately as Setsuna had stated she had some mysterious "business" and vanished, that left two dragons and a human in a bit of a situation.

More so for Honey than the dragons.

Honey had continually been unable to shift to dragon, until finally Ami had hit across what all deemed the correct answer.

Being human had been something Honey had secretly dreamed of for many years. Now that she *was* human, it was difficult for her to relinquish it - even briefly.

Of course, sometimes the popular answer isn't the correct one.

Honey was reminded this as she stood on the peak of a cliff, facing a raging sea, while a thunderstorm raged around her. She felt the hail pelting her naked skin in wonder, as she had always heard you couldn't feel such things in a dream.

"Human."

Honey had faced demons and goons and yoma, she turned, settling into a defensive stance.

The dragon was long and golden, about 30 feet in length and glowing in the dim light. "human," it repeated.

Honey swallowed, wanting to clad herself in armor and brandish a sword. Or at least find something to wear. "Who are you?"

"I am I. You are you," the dragon said, head cocked in curiosity. "I am you. You are me. We are us."

Honey blinked at this. "I don't... Oh. You're an Aspect of me."

"As You are an Aspect of me," the dragon said. "I have heard your call, and I have fallen. To be One with you is possible. The question remains why?"

"Uhm well, I..." Honey started trying to think of another way to explain it.

"Know you, human self, I once wore human guise to fight evil." The dragon shifted and now two human Honey Kisaragi faced each other. "I was a champion of the Light, and did fell many things of darkness till at last I was oe'erwhelmed. Why should I become one with you and not proceed to my reward?"

Honey considered, and opened herself mentally to this other self. Relating the battles she'd done and continued to fight. Then caught herself. "It isn't right for you to keep from your reward. You have earned your rest warrior, take it. I will find another way."

The transformed dragon laughed. "Well answered. It seems we are close enow. Very well, I return to the fray. Where Injustice rules, may they tremble at our coming!"

Honey merged and knew that Ami and Setsuna and Nuku had merged with Aspects of themselves as well, but those hadn't been quite as awake as hers. Hers had been experienced and powerful, a warrior in much the same line of work as she was.

Stepping quietly outside, Honey shifted and took to the air.

It was true what they said, after all.

Dragons *did* have more fun.

-------

a pokemon world:

"I see," said the Mage, putting down a cup of hot cider. "That rather *does* put a different slant on things."

"Pi pipi pika chu!" Raiden continued. "Pika pika chu pika pi!"

"So it's not enslavement, you can always 'jump ship' and go off on your own. More a symbiotic relationship." Jared repeated mainly for the benefit of P-Ranma. "Got you. What about the fights and such?"

"Pi pipi chu pika chu!" Holding a little pikachu-sized cup in between his hands, Raiden nodded sagely and explained the situation.

"Ah, that would make sense." Jared nodded. The fight system was simply the best one that had been found so far for gaining experience. Not perfect by a long shot, but it was a least common denominator among the various subspecies to gain experience, thereby "levels" thereby gaining strength. Gaining strength increased the pokemon's own status.

"Pii pika chu, pika pi!" Raiden continued, pointing out that the local humans were such loud and clumsy creatures that they were easily avoided by creatures that preferred scratching out a living for themselves in the wild.

"So, you'll turn them loose? It struck me as kinda nuts when I first encountered it, but that's just the way they do things around here," P-Ranma pointed out.

"I *could* but there's a problem," acknowledged Jared. "Originally I thought up the transformation of those thieves as a punishment. And that one girl was quite upset at me, and tried hitting me after I'd turned her loose."

"A problem?" P-Ranma asked.

"Jessie *wanted* to be a Chansey. Apparently she had dreams of becoming a pokemon nurse at one time, and couldn't make it as a human version for various reasons. She *could* afford to attend a school for Chanseys but didn't make the cut due to a lack of special abilities. She's happier now and better adjusted *as* a pokemon." Jared gave a "what can I do" shrug. "James I can switch back from being a Bugrom, but I think he was happier as a rare Bug type than as a human. Meowth wasn't changed, he's just been spending a lot of time sleeping in his pokeball. And then there's Misty..."

"Misty's the girl who attacked you?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, well," Jared didn't feel comfortable with this situation. "Uhm. She doesn't want to admit it, but I had an ESP spell going. Being that boy's pokemon is kind of a turn on for her."

Ranma blinked, trying to make sense out of it. Raiden understood and just let out a long "piiiika?!"

"Weird huh? She complains about his decision making ability, but apparently prefers him taking charge. He also listens to her more now that she's a pokemon, despite the language barrier." Jared shook his head. "It's better than some relationships I've seen, but it's just plain bizarre in many respects."

"Oh," said Ranma, not that he was able to understand women anyway.

---------

Ranma/Akumakun timeline:

Ranma brushed the lint off of Jared's cloak while Nabiki straightened his tie.

"You don't have to help, you know." Jared sighed, adding cufflinks to the ensemble.

Ranma *vigorously* shook his head. "Uh uh! NO WAY! If this doesn't go right then *I* have to deal with figuring out how not to marry her. You're NOT screwing this up!" Ranma grumbled something about knowing what Saotome luck was like concerning women wanting this to land on the good side of that relatively one-sided coin.

"I still think Kasumi would prefer you in Japanese attire." Nabiki sniffed.

"I'd turn to ooze and vanish away in a puff of steam." Jared corrected. Knowing they had no way to tell if that was true, he added. "Actually no, but a very good friend told me that she would prefer western attire for a western date. She herself wears a housedress style most of the time that isn't very traditional."

He stopped himself before adding how western things were *likely* to get with Black Bart lurking out there somewhere.

Nabiki sniffed at Ranma. "Hey, Ranma, what's that... smell...?!"

Ranma blinked. "Smell? I dunno. I..."

"Urrrrr?!" Nabiki urrred.

Jared blinked. Nabiki's eyes were glassy and dilated, she did a shiver that ended up going the length of her tail, and she was now sniffing all over Ranma. 1+1+1 = "Ranma, check your pockets, I think the comedy team of Soun and Genma stuffed some catnip in your pants."

"Uh oh," said Ranma, summing it up.

Jared left the room, hoping that SASAMI would find a way to calm Nabiki down. He didn't want his clothes to get shredded, which might very well become a possibility with Nabiki getting all catty like that.

"No! No! Down girl! Nabiki! Don't!"

Jared stood to the side as Ukyo and Shampoo came running and went into the room, intent on pulling that alley cat off their Ranma.

"MrrrrrrrooooooooooOOOOOOOoooW!"

Jared shook his head, then forgot the events in the room behind him as Kasumi left her own room. "Wow!"

Gone was the frumpy housedress and maternal air. Kasumi had gone for an elegant look. "Uhm."

Kasumi smiled shyly. "Are you ready then?"

Jared nodded, trying to think of what it was that had riveted his attention just a few minutes ago.

------

Krieger was the sort to never leave a job half done.

Akane was something of a failure in his mind. He'd never taken a student (not to say that he'd taken many students) and not seen it through to the day where they had their own little stretch of the prairie. Some had been better than others, true. Actually, considering the number of pupils he'd taught it might better be said that Mr. Larry Bean hadn't done as well as Hoss Cowchucker.

Hoss was now a hired hand on someone else's property after losing everything down to his pants in a drunken bet and Mr. Bean had leveraged his farm into a career in accountancy and now worked at a major firm with little hope of advancement because of the hopeless bow legs that were his last vestige of ranching. But those failures had come about because of flaws in the original material, one had been an escaped mental patient with superhero pretensions and the other sold insurance. Getting either one of them in a pair of jeans had been a major effort. And in spite of how those had later turned sour Krieger had stuck it out for as long as it took to get them their big-buckled belts.

Akane had been his golden dream.

Truth be told, she'd brought him better. That first Saotome kid had known more about ranching from day one than he'd even been able to *brand* into either of his first two pupils, and the next was as fast a learner as a chalk slate with an angel doin' the drawing. But Akane had been the Dream.

Krieger had darn near given it all in and hung up his boots when the girl had gone plum loco after a perfectly ordinary kidnapping and rescue maneuver. The spirit done left him when she gave up ranching with nary a good word ta say about it.

Oh, sure'n he'd heard the rumors. Might even be there was some truth to 'em. But watchin' that loco gal, he'd known that a true practitioner of the Japanese version of Martial Arts Ranchin' couldn't do a darn thing about it.

Sure, he'd let her sister come take lessons. But that Nabiki girl just weren't on the same page as Akane. Heck, he wasn't even sure she was in the same book. Kept getting greedy then would go and try to prove she wasn't that way. He'd a switched her on over to the Town Gambler as *his* apprentice iffn he'd had enough gumption left ta follow through on what he'd made his mind up on. But he was just plum tuckered out.

There'd been barely enough left of him ta send them Saotome kids the rounds with the other instructors, seein' they were as well rounded as a man could get in the West. They'd gone and he'd crumpled, barely keepin' up the appearances whenever they'd stop by fer a spell. Right cordial, they were, though Krieger still hadn't made his mind up whether Sherry and Ranko an' Jared an' Ranma were two boys an two sisters, 'er cousins, 'er what all. Never could seem to scare the four of 'em together in once place for very long. It made his head spin. Turn his back fer a deep breath and when he'd turned around he'd have lost one an turned up another. Very active family, whatever their confounded relations were.

Blast it all! A man had a *right* ta look on a youngster an wish ta all get out ta git her schoolin done right! A proper heir ta The Old West School a Martial Art Ranching. Anyone could tell jest by lookin at 'em that the Saotome kids would always view it as a useful side discipline, they'd never jest stick to it till it stuck ta their bones an make it a real way o life!

Sure, they might know the techniques better now, either boy could rope a cow quicker than any man west a the Pacific, an the gals could braid an spin like industrial machinery. They were whirlwinds... well, the Saotome chicks were. That Nabiki'd sit on the hearth er in a warm sunbeam an talk about free this an free that an purr.

Couldn't make up his mind whether she was his student er a housepet.

But Akane... When even Black Bart had given up kidnapping her, Krieger knew it was hopeless. There weren't nothin left iffn a good ol fashioned villain couldn't muster up enough bluster ta want ta tie her down ta the railroad tracks 'er run her on a log down a sawmill somewhere.

He had ta do right by the Saotome kids. They'd earned it, right enough. Even had Tales o' the West croppin up now, what with those shotgun marriages, rigged proposals, Bart threatenin' ta run one of 'em outta town... Nah, they were set up right an proper. All one of em needed was a run in with a gunslinger and a badge, then he'd have ta haul himself up by his boots an teach 'em the rest. But after that he might as well admit that he wasn't good fer it anymore an mosey on outta town a broken man.

Akane had gotten her farm, been standin up ta Black Bart tryin ta take it from her, had a few rope tricks and a good head on her shoulders, even been willin ta learn what it took ta run a ranch all by herself, without hiring hands ta do it for her.

Krieger had stuck by her when she'd earned her land, knowing that she was good fer more, that this was the Golden Student, that she'd be the one ta take over the school for him once he'd taught it to her complete.

Krieger sat on his porch looking out across the prairie and cursed the fact that they already had a town drunk so worthless and pathetic that no man'd ever be able ta take over his position. Elsewise he'd be in a mood ta try.

That was when the rancher heard a nicker and a cloud o dust came riding up, carrying before it a familiar face with a pleasant smile an a heart full o goodness inside. Seein it the rancher gave up thinkin an let out a warhoot a delight, wavin his five gallon hat fer all the man was worth.

His student rode the range again.

========

for 3rd rules AD&D
Wispara Deunan, female elf Rog9: Size M (4 ft., 6 in. tall); HD 9d6; hp 40; Init +6 (+2 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative); Spd 30 ft.; AC 12 (+2 Dex); Attack +7/+2 melee, or +10/+5 ranged; SV Fort +2, Ref +10, Will +3; AL CG; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 9, Int 11, Wis 9, Cha 12. Languages Spoken: Common, Elven. Feats: Dodge, Improved Initiative, Mobility, Quick Draw.
Appraise 5, Balance 9, Climb 9, Decipher Script 8, Disable Device 7, Escape Artist 9, Hide 9, Listen 8, Move Silently 10, Open Lock 9, Perform 4, Pickpocket 7, Search 12, Spot 9, Swim 2, Tumble 8, Use Magic Device 7, Use Rope 6, Wilderness Lore 2, Craft: Weaving 8.
Special Equipment: dagger +1/+4 vs tiny; rapier +2; ring of protection +1
Wispara Deunan is short for an elf, extremely so. She carries herself much larger, for the most part. She is sometimes mistaken for a Tallfellow halfling, to her continual annoyance. Wispara is a refugee from her homeland, though she refuses to talk about it, other than to declaim that it wasn't her fault. Wispara gets along fairly well with the drow priestesses of Eilistrae under Waterdeep, though this is mainly on an individual basis.
Wispara's reason for being a bit of an outcast is actually her own birth. It seems her mother wasn't quite faithful to her father, and she is of mixed elf birth. A Sun Elf, but with a trace of Moon Elf in her. As someone shunned by her heritage, Wispara can relate to the good aligned drow of the Promenade.
Wisp is an Analogue or Aspect of Minako. She's somewhat jealous of human women (for their height and bustlines mainly), and is fairly possessive and protective towards "her Rigee".

As for the "Fist Of The Pikachu" crossover, that Nurse Joy may not have been correct about a lot things anyway. She could have been a conspiracy theorist, or merely read too many issues of the Poke-Inquirer. The Ranma of that story may encounter Jessie & James again, post Jessie's transformation, or Ash's group after Misty changes back. Or maybe Misty's still a Mermaid when they cross paths again and retrieving the Change Amulet from Team Rocket becomes a chapter of Hung Nguyen's work-in-progress. (It's up to him.)

BTW: Magmarashi (from Reluctant Bet) is the evolved form of Hinorashi, which in the American namings is Cyndaquil. So, now that they've released the American name for Sasami's pokemon in RB: Quilava.

==================