To Draw The Wild Card: Chapter One

"Hey, cut it out, that's no fair!" Genma whined, shifting out of his 
panda 
form for the burst of speed needed to avoid his son's incoming heat 
wave.  
Even having evaded the brunt of the wave, the man's gi smoldered in 
several 
places and he looked like a man who'd stood in the sun for a few too 
many 
days.

"Don't complain, old man.  You cheated first so now you've got to live 
with 
it." Punctuating his proclamation, Ranma punched towards his father, 
releasing a thermal void and propelling it at the frantically dodging 
martial artist.  Ranma cursed as Genma fell into one of the many pools 
that 
dotted the secluded valley that the man had dragged him to.  A moment 
later 
the misty blob struck the pool and froze it more or less solid.  Stupid 
old 
man, he knew he couldn't swim, so why had he used the pool for an 
escape?

Ranma waited, tapping his foot impatiently on the side of the bamboo 
pole he 
was balanced upon.  With nothing better to do while his deuce of a 
father 
worked himself out of the ice, the young man scratched vigorously at 
the 
small bony ridges extending from the backs of his hands to slightly 
past his 
elbows.  The normally insensitive plating could deflect small calibre 
gunfire with little difficulty, but using his dual ace abilities within 
such 
a short time of each other left them irritated and produced an itch 
that 
could last for hours.  Just another reason to pound the panda for a 
while 
longer.

Two dozen feet below, the ice that imprisoned Genma began to shudder, 
finally cracking into large blocks as the man used his limited ability 
to 
generate heat to weaken the structure and allow him to escape.  Ranma 
couldn't clearly see the form that exploded from the ice, mostly 
because of 
the hail of chips and blocks that his father threw into the air, but he 
did 
gather that his father wasn't in his human or panda shape.  Did the old 
man 
have a trick up his sleeve?  Ranma dismissed that possibility with a 
laugh.  
Genma didn't have the patience or discipline to keep that type of 
secret, 
not to mention all the times when being able to change into something 
so 
large would have aided him greatly.  No, now that he thought about it, 
Ranma 
was almost certain that his father had simply discovered a new shape 
when 
confronted with possible death trapped below the ice.

As the ice settled and the mist of melting ice dissipated, Ranma saw 
his 
father in all his glory, if that particular word could be applied to a 
man 
such as Genma.  Ranma vaguely recognized most of Genma's new form as 
something resembling that horrid singing purple dinosaur joker from 
America, 
but the multitude of tentacles were new.  Damn, the old man was even 
uglier 
than normal, and that's hard to do when you look like Genma Saotome.

"Heh, not much of an improvement," Ranma said sarcastically, smirking 
at his 
father's obvious distress.

Genma took his time in examining his appearance, looking over each 
tentacle 
with horror.  He hadn't induced the change!  Whatever had happened to 
him 
had turned him into a joker, a joker!!!  He contemplated fainting, but 
the 
overpowering urge to murder his son got in the way of that.  It was the 
boy's fault!  Ranma had caused him to change and now he was a monster.  
What 
would Nodoka think of him now?  A shudder racked his massive frame and 
he 
smothered that thought with images of cute animals and pretty flowers.  
Nodoka probably wouldn't be upset at all.  It was what she would want 
to do 
with him, not to him, that terrified him so soundly.

Genma, in a voice barely human, roared a phrase that Ranma would soon 
come 
to hear on at least a weekly basis. "Ranma, prepare to die!!!" His new 
body 
surged forward, much faster than Ranma would have believed possible, 
and the 
area around him soon whistled with the approach of about twenty 
tentacles, 
each adorned with viscious barbs or grotesque suckers.

Okay, Ranma really started to worry this time.  He'd heard of the 
incidents 
where new forms twisted the person's mind or introduced strange and 
unknown 
instincts.  Whatever his father's problem was, he had to get the man 
calmed 
down and back to his human shape before one of those tentacles ripped 
his 
guts out.  Staying clear of the whirring appendages wasn't difficult in 
the 
virtual forest of bamboo poles that littered Jusenkyou, especially for 
someone with Ranma's agility and speed, but avoiding the streams of 
acid 
that soon began squirting from each tentacle.

Finally, after nearly half an hour, Ranma noticed his father slowing 
down, 
becoming sluggish, and shooting fewer and smaller bursts of acid at 
him.  It 
made sense.  Changing into a larger formcwould be draining, but the 
size his 
father had attained couldn't possibly be fully organic.  He'd read all 
the 
required books and pamplets, and Ranma knew that oftentimes a wild card 
could substitute mass with a kind of false matter, telekinetically 
holding 
some kind of quntum particle in stasis to achieve the effect.  Right 
now 
Genma was probably closer to exhaustion than he'd ever been in his 
life, at 
least Ranma guessed so, and it would be only a matter of minutes before 
he 
reverted to his true form.

Then Ranma made a mistake.  He leaped from one pole that was 
dangerously 
close to his weakening father and landed on one that was dangerously 
weak 
from a glancing blow dealt earlier by the tail end of a stream of acid.  
Ranma's added weight snapped the pole immediately, giving the young ace 
no 
time to propel himself to another perch.  Oh well, he hadn't bathed in 
a few 
days and sparring all day every day definitely worked up a 'healthy' 
aroma.  
Ranma rolled himself into a ball and decided to make as big a splash as 
he 
could.

An improperly performed cannonball could sting more than a little, even 
to 
someone as toughened by his training and innate durabily as Ranma, and 
Ranma 
hadn't really been lined up for the attempt in the first place, but the 
wrenching, tearing pain that permeated his being and skewered his 
senses 
with flashes of lightning should not have occured.

Ranma surfaced, screaming and tearing at his arms.  They burned 
horribly, 
going so far beyond a mere itch that Ranma could barely remember what 
such a 
pleasant sensation ever felt like.  The shrieking and thrashing 
eventually 
lessened, though Ranma felt drained by the experience and waves of 
dizziness 
assaulted him.  He vomitted once, expelling his meager breakfast in 
seconds, 
then greatfully sank into the black abyss of his overloaded mind.

Genma gained control of himself as he watched his son, now daughter, 
thrash 
around and scream in the water.  His dinner plate sized eyes bulged and 
great fist sized tear drops welled up in them.  It was the water, it 
had to 
be.  The only explanation was that the water was somehow infected with 
the 
wildcard virus, and that meant that it wasn't Ranma's fault that Genma 
was 
now changed so thoroughly...and that meant that his son's change was 
all 
'his' fault, since he had caused the boy to fall into the water.  Sigh, 
he 
was so screwed.

****

Ranma awoke to the whistling of an untended kettle.  He sat up, 
throwing off 
the thin wool blanket that covered him, and was suprised that his head 
wasn't spinning and that he could stand without problems.

"Ah, mister customer, there you are.  You sleep well?" asked a rotund 
chinese man who wobbled into the bamboo shack through its open door.

"Uh, sure, I guess.  Do you know where my father is?" Ranma looked 
around 
the small shack, noting his and Genma's packs resting against one wall 
and 
the man's bag of signs hanging from a peg in another.

"Not to worry, boy, here I am," Genma answered with false gaiety.  
Ranma 
took notice of the tone, and prepared to bolt if needed.  His father 
always 
sounded like that when he had done something stupid and pissed lots of 
people, governments, or superhuman beings off.

Ranma glared at the man and said,"All right, spill it."

Genma sighed mournfully.  He'd have to explain eventually, and it'd be 
better to do it now when the shock would give him time to get a good 
distance away before the boy went homicidal.

*insert standard jusenkyou explanation here*

Then, while Ranma was still digesting what he'd just been told, the 
guide 
decided a demonstration was in order.  Needless to say, sprouting a 
pair of 
large breasts and losing the heat induction organs in his arms came as 
something of a suprise to Ranma.  A stunned patting down of his groin 
confirmed his fears.

Shadows played across the ridged plating of Ranma's now slender arm as 
light 
and energy were absorbed into the organ.  That wasn't a normal function 
of 
his organsim, but he knew how to use what had been provided to him.

****

Genma was creeping towards the door, trying his best to appear harmless 
and 
pathetic.  It proved to be a bad move on his part.  If he had just run 
away 
he could have escaped before his daughter gained a partial 
understanding of 
what had happened to her ace abilities.  The area directly around Genma 
darkened, first becoming shadowed despite the full sunlight that a trio 
of 
open windows allowed in, then further darkening until the man was 
surrounded 
in absolute darkness, unnatural darkness, for the caccoon that 
enshrouded 
Genma was devoid of all energy of any kind and the man only had to move 
a 
hairs breadth in any direction to feel the bonenumbing cold Ranma's new 
ability had created.

At first the encircling wall appeared static, but slowly, so slowly 
that 
Genma barely noticed at first, it began to contract.  The man's eyes 
became 
wild as he contemplated life as a flash frozen personcicle.  Just when 
his 
limbs were begginning to stiffen and Genma felt his joints locking up, 
he 
realized Ranma's error.  He'd left the cylinder uncapped.  A single 
weak, 
desperate jump was all he could manage, and it barely got him clear of 
the 
tightening wall.  Genma bounced off the ceiling and landed on the dirt 
floor 
of the hut.  His lips were blue and his entire body trembled violently.

****

Ranma, her fists clenched within twin clouds of purest darkness, looked 
down 
at her father, the cause of this demeaning transformation.  Nevermind 
that 
her control over some facets of her ace abilities had increased 
exponentially.  It would be so easy to kill him, to freeze his heart 
into a 
block of ice, to explode his brain into a puddle of gore.  Ranma 
growled, 
sounding more like an enraged squirrel in his cursed form, and kicked 
the 
unconscious man in the gut a few times.  Hmm, that felt quite nice.  
The 
girl levelled a few more sharp blows into her father.

More than a minute passed before Ranma could tear her gaze away from 
the 
beaten and bloodly man.  The urge to kill him was strong, but not 
overpowering. "Old man, one day I'm gonna get you for this," she 
promised, 
storming out of the hut.

The poor guide did the only thing he could.  He climbed out from under 
his 
bed and began to straighten up the cluttered room, all the while 
avoiding 
the black cylinder that didn't show any signs of fading away.

****

Genma learned early on that it was only required a simple act of will 
to 
shift from his cursed form to that of his panda shape, then back to his 
human form.  He'd been overjoyed to make the discovery, especially when 
he 
noticed just how much water found its way to him since that day a week 
ago.  
The pleasure was short-lived, though, when Ranma learned of his 
father's 
luck.  Genma had the burns, long slashes where no fur remained on his 
panda 
shape and the exposed skin showed painful blisters.

The older man nursed his injuries, secure in the knowledge that his 
regenerative abilities would soon repair enough of the damage to allow 
him 
to become human once again.  With one last glance back at the pile of 
embers 
that had been his bag of signs, Genma hurried to catch up with Ranma, 
trying 
to figure out how to tell his son that he was hungry.

"Growf," Genma protested, patting his belly vigorously, tiny whimpers 
escaping from his muzzle.

Ranma faced the man, his brow furrowing in a moment of concentration, 
then 
smiled in satisfaction as a beam of light crashed into the ground at 
Genma's 
furred feet.  The soil soon stopped hissing and became a small pool of 
molten glass.

The panda, sweating profusely, looked up to the sky expecting another 
bolt 
fromt he heavens to strike him down, but when none came he emitted one 
last 
whine before resuming his trek with Ranma.  At least he wouldn't have 
to 
wait too long.  Ranma had to eat too.

****

Ranma felt her danger sense flare in warning.  She swept the small 
walled 
village with a quick probe, only relaxing when she felt no hostile 
emotions 
directed at her or her father.  The psychic abilities were inherented 
from 
his mother's wild card altered DNA, and they proved useful on many 
occasions, but whenever Ranma remembered the sheer power Nodoka Saotome 
could bring to bare with nothing but her mind, she felt short changed.  
Barely perceptible precognition, only slightly stronger telepathy, and 
telekinesis that barely had the power to lift a sheet of paper, all 
combined 
to aid the young martial artist in some tight situations, but the only 
really helpful trait was the walled off mind she possessed, a nearly 
impenetrable mental shield that so far had repulsed every attempt at 
intrusion except for those of her mother.

"Growf," Genma grunted, his large nose twitching excitedly.  Food!  
Somewhere nearby, a feast awaited.  Genma could clearly discern the 
scent of 
ham, duck, pork, cat, dog, and a myriad of other delectible cullinary 
delights.  Ranma seemed distracted, lost within her mind, so Genma took 
the 
opportunity, unsure of when food would present itself again for some 
time.

Ranma found where the occupants of the village were, at least the 
impression 
she got was of a great many people in a normally sparsely populated 
area.  
Excitement, anxiety, anger, and a dozen other more subtle emotions 
assaulted 
Ranma's receptive mind.  A fight, a good fight from what Ranma could 
tell.  
It had been a while since she'd faced another serious martial artist 
besides 
her father, and Genma no longer proved worthy of a challenge.  Maybe 
she 
could get in on this one.  Selfconsciously tightening the ties that 
held the 
long sleeves of her silk shirt in place, she leaped to the ceramic 
shingled 
roof of a nearby home and took off to the village's center.

****

No one noticed Genma in his panda form virtually inhaling half a ton of 
prize food, so engrossed as they were in the spectacle taking place 
upon a 
rope suspended log of larger than normal size.

****

The purple-haired warrior flowed, quite literally flowed, from one 
stance to 
another, her lithe form bending in impossible ways.  Where her hands 
should 
have been, a chinese short sword extended from one wrist and from the 
other 
grew a large metal ball.  Ranma first believed the girl to be a joker, 
but 
she dropped that idea when her 'hands' both became normal, complete 
with 
delicate fingers and purple painted nails.

The warrior's opponent glowed phosperescently from within, the 
silver-white 
aura obviously provided some sort of shield, but it wasn't very 
effective, 
losing pieces of itself with every blow from the smaller girl's 
slashing and 
bludgeoning strikes.  It was with normal hands, though, that the 
purple-haired girl jabbed the glowing woman in her no longer glowing 
throat, 
that particular area no longer protected.

Gagging and choking, hands clasped protectively around her neck, the 
woman 
couldn't counter her opponent's next move, a simple leg sweep that took 
her 
legs out from under her and caused her to fall to the turf.  Cheers 
went up 
from the crowd and Ranma's attention was drawn from the fight.  More 
than a 
dozen women floated several feet above the other spectators.  She could 
feel 
several more using telepathic skills to see the fight through the eyes 
of 
others.

Unusual didn't even begin to describe this village.  If it had drawn 
the 
wild card, most of the population should be dead and the majority of 
the 
survivors changed into mutated jokers with maybe a few aces.  There 
were no 
jokers in evidence and many many more aces than there should be.  Ranma 
wouldn't put it past some aces to take a vacation from the hectic 
outside 
world, where their lives and exploits were common news and streetside 
gossip.  She'd even visited a couple of the larger resorts that catered 
to 
wealthy jokers and aces, but she'd never heard of a rustic, get back to 
nature, retreat for others like her.

Ranma himself shouldn't really exist as he did.  Chances had been 
astronomically high that she would be born monstrouslly deformed, if 
she 
survived at all, but the scientists, Dr. Tachyon among them, believed 
that 
her mother had subconsciously manipulated her DNA while still she still 
existed as nothing more than a cluster of undefined cells.  She didn't 
even 
want to try to calculate what the odds against this gathering being a 
natural occurence could be.

The approach of an uncommonly powerful aura, even among all these aces, 
drew 
Ranma's eyes down and to the right.  The woman, if that's what 'she' 
was, 
was so shrunken and wrinkled that Ranma thought she'd encountered the 
sole 
joker in the village.  Even if she/it was a joker, there was an 
undeniable 
level of power within her/it, some intangible force that warped the 
very 
space around /herit.

It/she cackled, a creepy kind of skin tingling sound, and said,"I 
assure 
you, young one, that I am not what you would refer to as a 'joker'." 
The 
Japanese was perfect and Ranma wondered how the crone(what else could 
he 
call her) had known to speak in her natice language.  More importantly, 
how 
had the woman known her thoughts?  Ranma didn't like the idea of 
someone 
intruding into her mind, the core of her being.  Despite the woman's 
knowledge, Ranma had felt no probing and his natural shield was still 
intact.

"Then why in hell are you so ugly?" Ranma asked bluntly, unused to 
being 
caught off guard.

The wrinkled face cracked into a wry grin."Let's see what you look like 
in 
three hundred years, young woman.  Those perky breasts and that unlined 
face 
of yours will one day sag and wrinkle, then you shall know the burden 
of 
time." The woman turned back to the cheering crowd and regarded the 
purple-haired girl who was now being hoisted onto the shoulders of her 
peers. "A formidable warrior, yes?" she queried.

Ranma shrugged, unimpressed. "She's not too bad." Ranma wanted to ask 
about 
all the aces in the village, but decided to wait to hear what else this 
strange old-very old-woman had to say.

A prunish eyebrow crooked impossibly high and the woman said,"I sense 
the 
power about you, both of the gift and that of a true warrior.  Do you 
presume to question the prowess of an Amazon warrior maiden?" She 
sounded 
more intrigued and curious than offended or amused.

"I don't use my powers to fight for me, if that's what you mean.  And 
no, I 
don't really care about the girl's prowess." Ranma was beginning to 
worry 
about where her father had run off to and what trouble the worthless 
man had 
gotten himself into.

"For one so young and inexperienced, you show little respect for your 
elders," the woman said more seriously.  Cheers turned to grumbles and 
a few 
angry hisses, but the woman and Ranma paid them no immediate attention.

"I've known too many old people who don't deserve to live to 
automatically 
just assume someone who remembers running from dinosaurs is worthy of 
recognition." The growing disturbance finally caught Ranma's eye and 
she 
groaned.

Genma, still a panda, floated helplessly in the air, his face and 
prominent 
gut covered in crumbs and sauces, the remains of a sizable spread of 
food 
lying below.  She'd better straighten the mess out before the panda got 
desperate and hurt someone.  The situation looked to be apporaching 
that 
point rapidly if the thrumming battle auras and rising charge of power 
in 
the air meant anything.

"Damnit, old man, I can't ever leave you alone," Ranma snapped.  To her 
unknown conversee, she said,"Uh, be right back, gotta go save my idiot 
father."

****

Genma was trying to figure out why all the women were so pissed and 
silently 
cursing Ranma for destroying all of his signs.  It couldn't be 'that' 
time 
of the month for all of them, could it?  He prayed that he was wrong on 
that 
account and began to gather his chi energies, supplementing the power 
with 
the small amount of thermal energy he could generate with his ace 
abilities.

The pretty girl with purple hair was shouting at him in Chinese, waving 
an 
arm around before him that ended in a wickedly barbed hook that made 
Genma's 
blood curdle.  An incandescent sphere of energy appeared slightly below 
Genma's navel and he prepared to will it into the girl's brain on the 
first 
sign that she intended to use her hook.  Genma's eyes brightened, 
though, as 
he saw his daughter roughly shove the other girl aside and glare up at 
him.

"Damn you, old man.  If it weren't for mom, I'd get you fixed." Ranma 
emphasized the threat by making a scissoring motion with her index and 
middle finger.

Genma,"Growfed," pathetically and tried to shrink within himself, 
afraid 
that his son may actually try to do as he claimed.

The sudden stillness behind her, an almost supernatural silence, caused 
Ranma to turn.  She met the angry stares of dozens of women, many of 
whom 
possessed fantastic powers that could possibly rival her own(though she 
doubted it).  Oh yes, snip snip snip...

****

Author's Notes: Yay, finished!  This could be fun for a few chapters.  
Feel 
free to post complaints about excessive fics or C&C on the forum or 
e-mail 
them to me at dark_phoneix@hotmail.com



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

To Draw The Wild Card: Chapter 2

The press of an attempted psychic attack brought a scowl to Ranma's 
confused 
face.  The stance she took was loose and threatening, signalling her 
ability 
to defend herself.  A moment later Ranma had to dodge to the left as an 
axe, 
attached to the arm of the purple-haired girl, buried itself where 
she'd 
stood.  The reaction was reflexive, a rippling wave of darkness that 
instantly froze all moisture in the air and would do the same to 
anything it 
came in contact with.

Ranma's retaliatory attack would have killed her target, flash freezing  
and 
rupturing every cell in the girl's body.  She tried to pull it back in, 
but 
it hadn't been released under willed guidance, so it continued to 
shriek 
towards the Amazon.  The wave engulfed and encompassed the Amazon, 
going no 
farther and harming no one else.  Ranma cringed at her mistake, wishing 
that 
she had learned better control over her augmented powers.

The enshrouding darkness lasted for a split second, becoming brighter 
and 
brighter until nothing but the Amazon remained, unharmed, amazingly.  
The 
girl shivered and clutched at herself with hands that had grown into 
enormous flaps of furry skin.  The distance between them wasn't great, 
no 
more than ten meters, and Ranma knew that the girl shouldn't have been 
able 
to survive at that range.  The answer came when a woman floating above 
the 
crowd collapsed, the slight glow that surrounded her dying out.  As she 
fell, Ranma could feel an energy surrounding her attacker fade away, 
making 
the shivering girl's features slightly more distinct.

Outraged cries and shouts for outsider blood began to rise from the 
gathered 
Amazons.  The spectacle was over with and their champion had been 
humiliated 
on her day of victory.  Amazon honor, and more importantly, Amazon 
pride, 
had been wounded, and the only salve for such an insult, was the blood 
of 
those who had done the deed.

Ranma's hopes of getting away safely, with her father or without, went 
down 
the drain.  Her victim, slipping in the frost that had settled on the 
ground 
after Ranma's response, turned her arms into a pair of long, curving 
swords 
with a few too many serated edges.  Warriors were rallying behind the 
girl 
as she gained her footing.

A growl from behind reminded Ranma of her father.  She glanced over her 
shoulder to find that he no longer floated above the table he had so 
recently devastated with his stomach and that he was human once again.  
In 
the man's hand was a pitcher of water, cold water Ranma's senses told 
her.  
She nodded at him and prepared something that would hopefully distract 
the 
village's occupants long enough for the pair to escape.

Behind Ranma, Genma upended the pitcher of water over his head and his 
form 
was instantly replaced by that of a twenty foot tall, bipedal purple 
dinosaur with a writhing mass of tentacles emerging from his back and 
sides. 
  At almost the same time, Ranma threw her hands into the air and 
released 
sheet after sheet of pure darkness, space utterly devoid of all energy.  
The 
sheets moved in different directions, driving back Amazons with their 
insatiable chill then forming into a single wall nearly a hundred feet 
high 
and twice that in width.

Almost immediately, several patches of the wall lightened to gray, sure 
signs that some form of energy was being directed at it from the other 
side. 
  Those patched returned to black at varying rates, depending on how 
much 
energy was directed at each particular point.  By the time any of the 
Amazons thought of going over or around the barrier, Ranma and 
Genmasaur 
were nearly out of the village.  Genma allowed his tentacles free reign 
behind him as they sprayed acid randomly, forcing their pursuers to 
dodge 
frantically or shield themselves in some way or rish serious injury.

****

Ranma got a few strange looks from passersby as he and his father 
walked 
down the streets of Nerima.  He was surrounded in a tight film of light 
that 
gave off visible waves of shimmering heat.  It might draw attention, 
but at 
least it warmed the water enough before it struck him to not trigger 
the 
curse.  The field had at first been nearly invisible, but too many 
people 
were getting burnt as they bumped into him on the crowded streets of 
Tokyo, 
so Ranma made it visible and toned down the power a bit.

"Tendo and I were training with the master when the virus infected us," 
Genma explained, his voice more subdued than normal. "We were lucky, 
all of 
us.  My friend and I didn't even know we'd been affected for weeks.  
The 
Master was another matter entirely.  He'd always had a 
healthy...appetite 
for the ladies, but the wild card virus heightened his urges until they 
were 
nearly overwhelming.  He could barely control himself in the presence 
of a 
woman.  Ask Nodoka about it sometime.  The Master probably still has 
nightmares about her.  Anyway, the change did something to his chi, 
altered 
it somehow.  After the virus he could drain the chi from a woman or 
something she had touched, like a vampire." Genma shuddered. "The level 
of 
power he could access if he prepared was frightening.  It was after 
Tendo's 
girls were born that we decided to part ways with the Master.  One 
thing led 
to another and we ended up having to trap him in an abandoned bomb 
shelter 
lined with men's underwear and cardboard cut outs from a male strip 
bar.  I 
wouldn't put it past the old bastard to still be alive down there." 
Finished, Genma fell silent and trudged alongside his glowing son.

"How come you've never told me about these people?" Ranma asked.  As 
much as 
his mother talked, he was stunned that she hadn't mentioned the 
perverted 
man before.

Genma shrugged. "It never came up, I guess.  Your mother doesn't like 
to 
talk about it much because she nearly erased the Master's mind once.  
It was 
very disturbing for her." Well, that answered that question.

Ranma let the matter drop.  Every so often he would raise his hand in 
greeting to an ace who flew by or even to the occassional joker not too 
deformed or embarassed to be seen outside of their own traditional 
neighborhoods.  When a rhinoceros-skinned man ran down the middle of 
the 
street, a large safe held in one enormous hand, Ranma tensed, ready to 
intercept the man who was casually knocking aside cars in his efforts 
to 
escape.

Genma's hand on his shoulder stopped him. "Let the authorities handle 
it, 
boy," he said, pointing to a rapidly approaching blur farther down the 
street.  It resolved into the form of a lightly tanned woman in a 
silver 
jumpsuit.  With a silver net formed from crackling electricity, the 
woman 
ensnared the joker and flew out of sight. "If you're going to get 
involved 
with that kind of thing, we'll have to get you registered with the 
city.  
There are a lot of fines for interfering without a license."

It had all happened so fast that Ranma didn't know how to react.  No 
one had 
even screamed for help and the woman had made such quick work of the 
thieving rhinoman that Ranma felt kind of useless. "Sure, no problem.  
Do 
they get paid to do that?" he asked curiously.  If he could get a job 
with 
the city, he wouldn't have to beg his mom for money like his father 
did.

"Last time I came through Tokyo the city maintained a payroll for some 
aces." Genma didn't mention that his rather extensive criminal record 
had 
kept him from being on that payroll.  Ranma's simple question told 
Genma 
just how isolated Ranma had been on their training journey and the 
infrequent visits to their home in the mountains to see his mother 
hadn't 
been very informative.  Furinkan had an unusually high number of wild 
card 
survivors-of all kinds-and Genma felt even better knowing that he'd 
enrolled 
his son there instead of the private school Nodoka had pushed for.  Of 
course it was just a coincidence that two of Tendo's daughters attended 
that 
same school.

Ranma didn't say anything to his father, since the man had a bad habit 
of 
screwing things up, but the prospect of a job of his own, actual 
financial 
independence, was very appealling.

****

"This is the place," Genma said some time later when the sun was 
disappearing behind the sky line.  The wall surrounding the compound 
was 
heavily reinforced steel, designed especially to survive in the event 
of 
superhuman assault, though its outer facade was nothing more than 
simple 
bricks.  The sign proclaiming the Tendo dojo was also metal, painted to 
resemble wood.  Genma knew of the architectural desing of his friend's 
home, 
he had watched it being built after all, but he was still amazed at 
just how 
overprotective the other man was of his daughters.

"It doesn't look like much," Ranma replied.  He was in a much better 
mood 
ever since discovering that he could partially block the effects of his 
curse for short periods of time.  It wasn't as good a fix as Genma had, 
lucky asshole that he was, though Ranma wasn't going to complain.  A 
few 
hours at a time was all he could manage before the constant use of his 
powers, even if on a relatively minor scale, caused extreme exhaustion 
and 
dizziness.  With no clouds or puddles in sight, Ranma released the 
field and 
absorbed the excess energy.

"Don't let the outer appearance fool you, boy.  Soun is nearly as 
wealthy as 
your mother and I, he just chooses to stay within the city.  His home 
and 
dojo are quite large and the land they rest on is worth more than you 
would 
believe."

"Whatever.  Let's not stand around all day.  I want to find a phone and 
tell 
mom about what happened in China." Ranma didn't really intend to do 
that 
over the phone, no, it would be much sweeter to tell her in person.  
Genma 
didn't know that, though, and he nearly fell over himself apologizing 
and 
grovelling.  Ranma eventually felt sorry for his father and told him to 
get 
up.  A pleading, crying man tends to draw a lot of attention, even more 
than 
a glowing boy. "Oh stop that already!" Ranma snapped. "I was just 
playing 
around."

Genma was up in an instant and his eyes showed no signs of his previous 
crying. "That wasn't very nice." Too scared to say anything else on the 
matter, Genma walked forward, pushing open the unlocked gate and 
heading for 
the front door of his friend's home.

****

"I'll get it, father," Kasumi said from the kitchen.  The doorbell 
chimed 
once again and she hurried to answer.  The girl had only just finished 
tying 
her apron back on when she reached the door and was opening it when she 
remembered to change her face back to its normal appearance.

An older man with a bandana tied across an obvously bald head who wore 
a 
dingy white gi and could stand to lose a few pounds stood beside a much 
younger man, a boy really.  The younger of the two was dressed in baggy 
black trousers and a red silk shirt of Chinese make that had long 
sleeves 
despite the early summer climate.  A slight gust of wind passed, 
blowing the 
boy's pigtail over his shoulder and causing his bangs to fall into his 
eyes. 
  As he reached up to push them aside, Kasumi saw the ridged back of 
his arm 
where the sleeve slid down.  Friends of Nabiki?

Genma began to introduce himself and his son, but he had only barely 
spoken 
when a long-haired man charged through the doorway, nearly running 
Kasumi 
down in the process, and tightly embraced him.

"Genma!" the man wailed, slapping his friend on the back repeatedly.

"Soun!" Genma cried, laughing gaily.

Ranma dismissed the embarassing sight and turned back to the attractive 
brown-haired girl.  Despite the overly modest dress she wore, Ranma 
could 
still discern the shapely figure hidden beneath it. "Hi, I'm Ranma 
Saotome," 
he said. "The fat guy is my father."

"Pleased to meet you, Ranma.  I'm Kasumi Tendo.  Won't you come in?" 
Kasumi 
asked warmly.  She silently hoped that her father could get control of 
himself before he made another neighborhood wide scene like last time.

****

In a state bordering on ecstasy, Ranma shoved another of the delicious 
cookies into his mouth, following it with a large swallow of milk. 
"Wow," 
was all the young man could say about the cookies.

"They are rather good, aren't they.  I'll be sure to give Akane your 
complements when she gets home from school." Kasumi bustled about her 
kitchen, retrieving ingredients from various cupboards and putting a 
pair of 
pots of water on the stove to boil.

Outside, the sound of the two men reaquanting themselves with one 
another 
momentarily increased in volume.  Ranma and Kasumi exchanged knowing 
glances 
and Ranma said,"This is probably all my old man's fault.  His stupidity 
is 
infectious."

"Father always has been excitable," Kasumi added.

Meaningless small talk was exchanged and two plates of cookies met 
their 
demise until the two men, both exhausted, plodded into the kitchen for 
something to drink.

The two teens looked up from the table when the men entered. "...grown 
into 
a fine boy," Genma was saying. "Surpassed me in the art sometime last 
year 
and he just keeps getting better.  And his powers," Genma mock 
whistled,"are 
unbelievable."

"You finally admitted it, I can't believe it," Ranma remarked 
sarcastically, 
a broad grin spread across his face.

Genma turned to face his son and started making gagging noises deep in 
his 
throat, as if allowing his son to hear his complements somehow deeply 
wounded him.  Wounded pride, anyway.

Soun laughed a bit weakly and said to his old friend,"Genma, old boy, 
you 
did fall into that one."

Genma was by now clutching his throat and turning blue.

"Mister Saotome!" Kasumi shouted in alarm, jumping up to administer 
aide to 
the ailing man.  Ranma's arm caught hers and he waved her aside.

Getting kicked in the head seemed to fix Genma's condition quite 
handily.

"You just gotta know how to handle these things, you know?" Smirking, 
Ranma 
kicked his unconscious father once more then introduced himself to 
Soun.

At Soun's behest, Ranma dragged Genma into the parlor, a comfortable 
room 
dominated by a large shogi board that rested between two piles of 
overstuffed cushions.  They all took seats around a small table, except 
for 
Genma who groaned occassionally in his sleep and had to be propped up 
against the table so as not to fall over.

"I've waited so long for this day," Soun proclaimed, tears flowing 
freely 
down his cheeks to be caught in the short cropped beard that he wore. 
"I 
know you haven't met my other daughters yet, Ranma, but that shouldn't 
be a 
problem.  It's obvious that you get along well with Kasumi and she's 
long 
past the age where she should have found a husband.  So, what do you 
say, 
should the wedding be held this evening or would you like to a wait a 
few 
days?"

Totally confused, Ranma asked,"Huh?"

Kasumi tilted her head at her father quizzically, understanding what he 
was 
insinuating, but still too shocked by his question to respond.

Oblivious to the danger, Soun answered. "The engagement, of course.  
Nevermind, you must have forgotten.  Years back, Genma and I made a 
solemn 
promise to unite out lines and join the two schools of Anything Goes 
Martial 
Arts.  Isn't that grand?" Soun hopped to his feet and began dancing 
around 
while waving little multi-colored flags about.

"Father, I really think you should re-" Kasumi began, only to be cut 
off by 
Ranma.

"I'll be right back," he said, glaring darkly at his insensent father.

****

Genma awoke with a shattering scream, his buttocks smoking merrily.  
Ranma 
ceased the beam of heat and asked,"What's this about a marriage?"

Thinking fast, Genma stuttered,"Your mother suggested it.  Soun and I 
were 
against the idea at first, but Nodoka was insistent and you know how 
she can 
be." It was a bald faced lie with not a single sliver of truth to it.  
Nodoka didn't even know of the engagement and Genma was profoundly 
thankful 
for that.

If he were more gullible, Ranma might have believed Genma, but he'd 
learned 
long ago not to trust the man.  His face screwed up in concentration as 
he 
reached out with his mind for his mother's.  His telepathic powers 
would 
never have allowed him to transmit so much as single word over such a 
great 
distance, but Nodoka Saotome was another matter entirely.  She had, on 
more 
than one occassion, communicated with people on the other side of the 
planet.

The attempt at connection succeeded faster than Ranma had hoped and his 
mother mentally asked,'Ranma, are you in trouble?'

Ranma hadn't even told his mother of his curse yet, afraid of what the 
psychic backlash would do to him, but he had to get this whole marriage 
mess 
straightened out as soon as possible. 'No, mom, not really.  Sorry to 
disturb you, but I'm about to kill pop and you should probably know 
why.'

Ranma sensed Nodoka's mental chuckle. 'I'm sure he deserves it, but you 
really should tell me why.'

'Did you know that he's got me engaged to some girl I've never even met 
before.  She seems nice and all, but that's not the point.' Ranma 
wished he 
could cover his ears for what he thought would be an earthshaking 
mental 
scream.

The scream never came.  Instead, after nearly a minute of silence, 
Nodoka 
said,'Where are you now, son?' The thought held more than a bit of 
steel in 
it and Ranma wondered if he should kill Genma now or just wait and 
watch the 
show when his mother got ahold of the old man.

'Nerima, Tokyo, some place called the Tendo dojo,' Ranma answered.

'Ah, I know the...oh, THOSE two.  I expected more of Soun than 
something 
this hair-brained.  Just hold tight, Ranma.  Play along with Genma and 
I'll 
straighten everything out as soon as I can get back to Japan.'

'Where are you?' Play along with him, huh?  Well, that could be fun, 
but 
he'd have to get Kasumi in on it too.  She was too nice to string 
along.

'I'm in New York having a meeting with an old friend of mine.' Ranma 
got a 
momentary flash of a tall black man with a shaved head and a bulging 
forehead. 'I'll finish up here and be back within the week.'

'A week?' Ranma didn't know if he could keep the act up for that long.

'Possibly two, though I doubt it will take quite that long.'

Ranma sighed resignedly and agreed to his mother's plan.  A short 
farewell 
and they broke the link.  Ranma shook his head to clear it of mental 
static 
and looked down at his father who was eying him apprehensively.  No 
more 
than a few seconds had passed since the long distance conversation 
began and 
Genma had no way of knowing that it had transpired.

"You better as hell not be lying to me.  Now, let's talk about waiting 
to 
the last minute to tell me about something like this engagement 
business." 
Ranma cracked his knuckles lazily and rolled his sleeves up.

****

"Daddy, why is there a boy in the front yard trying to cook a panda?" 
Akane 
asked.  She'd hurried into the house to get away from the smell of 
burning 
hair.  She would have stopped the boy and saved the tortured animal, 
but she 
really needed to pee, then she would save the pitiful creature.

The girl didn't get her answer until she returned from the bathroom and 
had 
slipped into her yellow gi. "That's just my old friend Genma and his 
son 
Ranma.  Ranma's a little upset about the engagement and he's taking it 
out 
on Genma.  Genma's a tough old coot, so he'll be all right."

"So he's not an evil criminal bent on torturing poor animals who can't 
defend themselves?" she asked regretfully. Ther est of Soun's response 
took 
a few moments to filter through into her mind. "What engagement?!"

Soun waved the question aside casually. "The one between Ranma and 
Kasumi.  
Genma wasn't very wise in withholding the information from his son, but 
Genma never was the most farthinking of men." He completely ignored the 
fact 
that he hadn't said a thing about the engagement to any of his 
daughters.

Akane didn't stick around to ask any other questions of the man.  She 
headed 
for the kitchen, and inevitably Kasumi, where the answers would make 
more 
sense.

"Kasumi, there you are!" Akane nearly shouted at her sister.

"Welcome home, Akane.  How was your day?" the cheerful girl asked.  She 
pulled a pan of brownies from the oven and sat them aside to cool.

"Nevermind that.  Kasumi, what's this about an engagement?" Akane 
wouldn't 
let any boys take advantage of her helpless sister.

Kasumi giggled. "Isn't it silly?  Father and Mister Saotome think they 
can 
make Ranma and me get married.  Ranma called his mother and she said to 
just 
play along until she could get here.  We're just going to act like we 
agree 
to the engagement.  It'll be fun."

"So he's not a pervert boy who wants to take advantage of you?" she 
asked 
mournfully.  If only she could find a reason to punish the boy, maybe 
then 
Nabiki would see that she was strong enough to work with her.  She 
couldn't 
even pound on him for cruelty to animals.  The panda, if she understood 
correctly, was really Ranma's father and that evil man deserved 
whatever he 
got.  Hey, that wasn't such a bad idea.  Her father had played a part 
in 
this too.

"Okay, that's fine, I guess.  If you hear daddy scream, it'll just be 
me 
punishing him." Akane snapped her fingers, calling into existance a 
bullwhip.

****

Author's Notes:  I've decided to have this begin a few weeks before the 
Mother-Swarm invasion that takes place in the second book of the Wild 
Card 
series.  If you don't know what that is, imagine an invasion of aliens 
that 
come in all shapes and sizes and are controlled by a giant living 
asteroid.  
That's a big oversimplification, but it's close enough and I'll explain 
better in the chapters that have the Swarm in them.  C&C welcome at 
dark_phoneix@hotmail.com