Chapter one... C&C and MST wanted, begged for, worked for, hoped for, etc.

---
                  Ranma 1/2 meets The King of Fighters:
                             Orochi's Curse
                    by Deuce (deuce@classicgaming.com)

Welcome to the what will probably be a very strange and silly kind of
story.  Well, there's no "probably," really... it's going to be a very
strange and silly kind of story.  Everyone's heard of Ranma 1/2.  Not
everyone is familiar with The King of Fighters, however.  It is a series
of fighting games created by SNK for the Neo*Geo platform.  It's filled
with a large set of very interesting characters, all of whom are developed
far beyond the scale of the games themselves.

I saw extreme potential in this merging, and hopefully, so will you once
you begin reading.  Now, if you are NOT familiar with the game and its
characters, the best course of action, obviously, is to play the games. :)
However, I realize this isn't always possible.  So, I've found a few
resources which should help fill you in.

The KOF General Info FAQ: Storyline, small character profiles
   http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/9673/KOFINFO.TXT

Chika's King of Fighters Zone: Detailed character descs, pictures
   http://members.aol.com/iorin/chika/index.html

The two of these should fill you in plenty... any further questions, please
feel free to email me and ask.
***************************************************************************

                              Chapter One:
                       Semantics and Psychokinesis

Sie looked at the dojo sign in consternation.  "Musabetsu Kakutou?" he
said.  "Sounds rather undisciplined."

Chin thwacked him lightly on the back of the head.  "Show some respect,
boy.  And never underestimate a martial arts school."  When Sie rolled his
eyes, the old man continued.  "The lack of defined forms demonstrates
adaptability, something that every martial artist needs.  The secret is to
master the balance between the two extremes."

Athena yawned.  "Whatever," she muttered.  "Can we get on with this?  Why
are we even here?"

The old Chinese master smiled mysteriously.  "Don't worry, I'm in as much
of a hurry as you are.  I need to make sure my old acquaintance is still
here though," he said, opening the gate and stepping through.  "Come on,
you two, let's go."

Athena looked around the large yard, much impressed.  To keep a place of
this size in the middle of Tokyo must have been an expensive prospect. The
house itself seemed large and comfortable, albeit there was a large amount
of patchwork in the roof, especially on the dojo in the back.

Sie turned to Athena.  "Nice place, at least.  I wonder who we're
visiting."

She shrugged.  "My tour's over, the tournament starts soon, and I'd just
like to get in some serious relaxation time before then."  Her entire
posture denoted annoyance with the entire situation.  Their master
hiccupped as he made his way to the front door.  She rolled her eyes.

"Gomen kudasai!" he called as he knocked.

An attractive Japanese girl, looking older than Athena, came to the door
and greeted them cordially.  Her voice was soft, and she seemed quite nice.
A quick scan revealed that, in this case, appearances were not deceiving.

"Welcome," said Kasumi with a smile.  "Can I help you?"

Chin chuckled and smiled.  "Yes, miss... I don't suppose you would know if
a Genma Saotome would be residing here, would you?"

She nodded, looking vaguely puzzled for a brief moment, but her smile
returned to its accustomed place almost instantly.  "Why, yes, he does, but
he is at the public baths right now," she said.  "Please, do come in."

Chin smiled and walked in, looking around.  "Thank you, miss, you are most
kind," he said.  "Would it be too inconvenient to ask if we could remain
here until he returns?"

Kasumi shook her head.  "Oh, it's no trouble at all."  She led them through
to the dining area, and said, "Ranma is here, though, if you would like to
see him."  The three visitors sat down as instructed and she set about
preparing some tea for them.

Chin brightened immediately, while his two charges seemed focused on being
sullen.  "Ranma?  As in Genma's son?" he asked enthusiastically.  "He is
here as well?"

"Hai," said Kasumi, setting down a cup of tea in front of him.  "I believe
he is in the dojo, practicing with my sister."

Sie finally spoke.  "He's a martial artist too?"

"Oh yes," smiled Kasumi, "and a very skilled one."

Kensou grinned.  "Cool, I could use another good sparring partner," he said
with a smile.

Chin slapped his forehead lightly.  "Forgive our rudeness, miss... allow us
to introduce ourselves."  He stood.  "I am Chin Gentsai, and these are my
two students, Sie Kensou and Athena Asamiya.  We are visiting from China."

Kasumi bowed.  "I am Kasumi Tendo.  It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Athena smiled.  Only five minutes, and she found she already liked this
Kasumi girl.  "So you don't live in this big house with just your sister,
do you?" she asked casually, taking a sip of her tea.

Kasumi shook her head, "Oh no... my other sister and father live here as
well. Ranma and his father have also been staying here for quite some
time."

"Wow," said the purple-haired girl.  "I guess this place can seem crowded
at times, huh?"

Kasumi just smiled benignly.  "Oh, no... it's really not so bad.  If
anything, it makes it feel more like home."

A crash from the direction of the dojo brought the conversation to a rather
abrupt halt.  The three visitors glanced at Kasumi, but she appeared not to
react at all.

Noticing their stares, she just said, "Oh, don't worry... this happens all
the time.  You get used to it."  She took a sip of her own tea.

"So," asked the Tendo, "what brings all of you to Japan?"

Sie jumped in on this, eager to have something to do.  Besides, this girl
was nice enough.  "We're here for a tournament, actually."

Chin nodded affirmation.  "Indeed.  Have you heard of the King of Fighters
tournament?" he asked.

"I'm afraid," said Kasumi, "that I don't really keep up with martial
arts... but I'm certain Ranma-kun would know."

As if on cue, a loud and boisterous young man's voice could be heard from
the hallway.  "Yeah, well, if you weren't so violent, the dojo roof
wouldn't keep GETTING those holes in it!"

This was immediately followed by a female voice, which might have been soft
and relaxing if not for its very annoyed tone.  "If you'd just learn to
have a little common courtesy, you wouldn't always deserve the abuse."

"As if you wouldn't hit me ANYWAY."

"RANMA NO BAKA!"  This was followed by a similar crash to the one which had
been heard a short while ago.

Sie, Athena and Chin all looked questioningly at Kasumi, drops of sweat
rolling down their temples.  Kasumi just took a sip of her tea.  "It sounds
as if practice is over for now," she said with her usual smile.

Ranma stormed into the room, sporting a very large lump on top of his head.
"Kasumi-san, do we--" he began, but stopped when he noticed the three new
faces at the table.  "Oh, uh, hi," he finished lamely.

Kasumi nodded to him as he entered, then gestured to the three seated at
the table with her.  "Everyone, this is Ranma Saotome," she said.  "Ranma,
let me introduce you."

"This man is Chin Gentsai," she said, indicating the old master.  He
grinned at Ranma like a shark.

"Pleased to meet you, boy."  Ranma just gave a noncommittal grunt.

Kasumi turned her attention to Athena, "This is Athena Asamiya."  Athena
smiled at him warmly.  Best to start off on the right foot.

"Hi... it's nice to meet you," said Athena.  Wow, he's cute, she
thought.  I just hope Sie doesn't get jealous like usual.

Ranma just smiled nervously and said, "Hi."  He had an odd reaction to
Chinese girls with purple hair... wait a minute, he thought.  She looks
really familiar. But where have I seen her?

"And this," Kasumi said, indicating Sie, "is Sie Kensou."  He grinned and
waved. "They're here to see your father."

Ranma groaned inwardly.  "What'd he steal this time?" he asked.

Chin just laughed, standing up and walking over to him.  "Oh, nothing like
that, my boy," he said.  "He's an old acquaintance of mine.  I see you have
grown into a fine young man as well."

Ranma blinked.  "Have we met before?"

The old man shook his head, "Not since you were just a child.  But I
remember you very well."  He patted Ranma's shoulder.  "And it's good to
see that you've turned out so well."

Despite Ranma's ego, unexpected flattery was generally not something with
which he was prepared to deal.  That being the case, he stuttered an
awkward "thanks" as a reply, earning a light laugh.

Sie stood up and walked over.  "Kasumi-san tells me you're something of a
martial artist," he said in in a very noticeable Kansai dialect.  He
sounded a lot like Ukyou to Ranma's ears.  "Is this true?"

Ranma grinned confidently.  Here was familiar territory.  "You bet," he
said. "How about you folks?"

Sie just gave a little smile and shrugged.  "We keep ourselves in
training," he said evasively.  "Care to spar?"

"Sure thing!" said Ranma eagerly.  "It'll be nice to have a real sparring
partner around instead of that kawaikune tomboy."

Sie pointed behind him.  "I take it you mean her."

Ranma turned and saw Akane standing in the doorway, blue battle aura
raging.  He could almost feel its heat from several feet away.  Keeping
this in mind, he backpedaled, and nearly bowled Sie over.

"WHO are you calling a kawaikune tomboy?!" demanded Akane.

Well, thought Athena, these two get along just wonderfully....

Now, Ranma knew his role in these scenes, and he played it admirably
well.  This was particularly because he was willing to pour so much effort
into his work, and thus, he was quite convincing to everyone but
himself.  But he continued regardless, already knowing the outcome.  Still,
the show must go on.

"I think it was YOU, Akane," he said.  "After all, only a tomboy like you
would get her jollies from breaking stuff all the time and hitting people."

"Hah!" said Akane.  "As if you're not the same way!"  Athena, Chin and Sie
all looked on with varying degrees of amazement at this interplay.

Ranma smirked.  "That's different.  I'm a guy."

Akane generated a bucket of water from seemingly nowhere.  The three
visitors observed, much impressed.  Kasumi just set about refilling cups of
tea where necessary, having had a couple of years' worth of practice at
ignoring this sort of thing.  Ranma cringed slightly, knowing (once again)
what the script demanded of him.

"Not for long, you're not!" yelled Akane, and doused Ranma with the
water.  Sie gaped at the result, as did Athena.  Chin's eyes widened to the
point where they were actually visible under his shaggy white bangs.

"Damn it, Akane, what'd you go and do that for?" yelled the now-female
Ranma. The three Chinese folk stared.  Where once there was a tall,
handsome Japanese boy, there was now a short, beautiful Japanese girl.

This girl turned to Sie.  "There, you see what I mean?" she said.  Sie did
not respond.  "Hey, you okay?"

Finally, Chin managed to speak.  "You've been to Jusenkyo!"

Ranma blinked, as did Akane.  Kasumi just smiled and walked off to the
kitchen, presumably to get some hot water.

"You know about Jusenkyo?" said Ranma and Akane in unison, the fire of
their argument doused by the discovery (if not by the water).  Chin nodded
intelligently.

"I thought Jusenkyo was a myth," said Sie.

Chin shook his head.  "No, it is no myth, sadly," he murmured.  "Many an
unfortunate soul has fallen victim to its curse."  The old man looked
directly at Ranma.  "It would appear you are one of them."

Ranma rolled her eyes.  "Gee, what gave me away?"

Athena hmmmed.  What a shame, she thought.  He was really cute as a guy.

Akane elbowed him in the ribs.  "Don't be so rude to our guests!"  Ranma
stood, rubbing the point of impact, and muttered some unintelligible
remark.  More than likely, it was an insult, but Akane decided to let it
pass.

"I'm so sorry," said Akane, "I should have introduced myself.  I'm Akane
Tendo."

The three Chinese visitors went the rounds of introduction once more, and
when Athena introduced herself, Akane's eyes nearly popped out of their
sockets.

"Athena?" she asked in amazement as she walked over to get a good look at
the purple-haired girl.  "THE Athena Asamiya?"

Athena smiled.  "The very same."

Ranma hmmed.  "I thought that name sounded familiar."

Akane did what most people do when confronted face-to-face with favorite
public figures.  She babbled.  "Oh, wow, I never thought I'd ever get to
meet you!" she exuded.  "It's such an honor to have you here!  Can I get
you anything?"

Athena blushed slightly, having never QUITE grown accustomed to this sort
of treatment.  She smiled at Akane.  "Thank you, but you don't have to go
out of your way for me."

"Nonsense," said the youngest Tendo, "you three are our guests!  How long
will you be in Nerima?"

"I'm actually not sure," said Athena.  "I guess as long as the tournament
goes on."  She shrugged.  "So probably a couple of weeks."

Ranma's ears perked up at this.  "Tournament?  You mean the King of
Fighters?"

Chin chuckled.  "Quite so, my... um, boy," he said.  "You are familiar with
it?"

"Actually, a guy I know talked me into registering."

Akane blinked.  "You didn't tell me about this.  Who talked you into it?"

"I didn't figure it was a big deal," smirked Ranma.  "Ryouga came up to me
the other day with the flyer and asked me if I wanted in."

Akane's eyes narrowed.  "Ryouga?  The same Ryouga who's always on about
wanting to kill you?  The one you keep picking on?"

"That would be him."

"Soooo," muttered Akane, "why did he come to you?  Wouldn't you just be
more competition?"

"Because, dear girl," said Chin, "the tournament is teams only.  Athena,
Sie and myself have been attending for some years now."

Ranma gaped.  "You guys are in the tournament too?"

"Don't underestimate us," laughed Sie.  "We've held our own for a long
time. Presenting the Psycho Soldier team.

"That's us, by the way," he quickly amended.

Ranma grinned in a mock-teasing fashion.  "I can't say I've ever seen an
idol singer martial artist before," she laughed.

A thought struck her.  "Uh... you don't practice 'Martial Arts Idol
Singing,' do you?"  She'd learned some ridiculous martial arts, and seen
even more, but that was just way too damn much.

Athena's eyesbrows knit.  "Um... no.  I practice Wu Shu."

Chin placed his hand on his chest.  "I am, if I say so myself--"

"And he does," interjected Sie, earning him a swat on the arm from his
master.

"I am a master of Drunken style Kung Fu," finished the elderly man.

Sie pointed his thumb at himself and gave a confident smile.  "Wu Shu and
Kung Fu, myself."

Ranma grinned like a shark.  "Cool!  Let's see how it stands up against
Musabetsu Kakutou.  Hey Sie, you up for sparring?"

"Sure, why not?"

This ought to be interesting, thought Athena, Chin and Akane all at once.

Ranma dashed off to the kitchen.  "Just let me get some hot water!" she
called as she left the room.

"So is this common with you guys?" asked Athena.

Akane sighed.  "Yes, unfortunately, it is."

                                    ***

Chin, Athena and Akane sat at one side of the dojo as Sie and the
once-again-male Ranma squared off.  Both looked supremely confident in
their own abilities.  Each felt he had the situation entirely in
hand.  There was no chance of losing.

"So, want to go full-contact?" asked Sie.

"I was hoping you'd ask that," replied Ranma.  "I'm game if you are."

Sie dropped into his combat stance.  "You bet.  Come on, attack me."

Ever the type to charge headlong into a fight, Ranma obliged eagerly, and
aimed a punch at Sie's chest.  Unfortunately, before it had halfway reached
its mark, Sie was no longer there.  He had neatly dodged the strike,
seemingly before it could really have been obvious where he was aiming.

"Not bad!" said Ranma.  "Try this on for size!"  He launched a series of
kicks, but each time, Sie dodged calmly, and Ranma never once came close.

Akane burst into a fit of helpless laughter.  Ranma turned and glared at
her. "What's so funny!" he demanded.

"You know," she called from the sidelines, "you're finally getting a dose
of your own medicine.  She grinned at him in a combination of playfulness
and maliciousness.  "You have no idea how refreshing it is."

Ranma found this remarkably distracting.  He didn't like being laughed at,
particularly when it came to martial arts.  Athena was smiling at him in a
very amused fashion, and as was typical of him, when he was annoyed, he
tended to fight harder... albeit not always smarter.  Well, let us be
honest here. Not often smarter.

Athena leaned over to Akane.  "I take it this has happened before?"

"Oh, all the time," replied Akane, still giggling.

Ranma just harrumphed and turned back to Sie.  "Okay, let's try this
again." Sie just shrugged and grinned disarmingly.  Unfortunately, Ranma
was at his best when unarmed.

"Ikuze, Sie!" cried Ranma.  "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"  Ranma felt
certain that there was no way his opponent could possibly dodge all of the
hundreds of punches he was throwing.

But....

Well, actually, there was no "but."  There was no way Sie could possibly
dodge all of the hundreds of punches Ranma was throwing.  He was hit quite
a few times, marvelled at the technique, and collapsed to the ground in a
heap.  "Okay," he wheezed.  "I give."

Ranma grinned down at him and extended his hand.  "Sorry about that, bud,"
he said.  "I underestimated you at first."

Sie got slowly to his feet.  "Well, evidently I did the same to you," he
said, smiling back.  "Still, pretty interesting fight.  We'll have to try
it again."

Ranma nodded, clapping Kensou's shoulder lightly.  "I'll be looking forward
to it."  He turned away and began to walk toward Chin and the girls.

The Chinese boy suddenly wore a grin not unlike the one Akane was wearing
only a few moments before.  "By the way, Ranma," he said.  "You still
underestimate me...."

This brought the young Saotome up short.  "Huh?"

In the blink of an eye, Sie brought his fists together in front of his
face, and ducked down into a crouch as he swept them to either
side.  "CHOUKYUUDAN YA!" he cried, and a sphere of blue ki-energy went
hurtling at Ranma at amazing speed.

Ranma tried to dodge, but the orb clipped his side.  It didn't really do
any damage, but it did sting like crazy.  "OW!" he said
intelligently.  "Man, what the hell was that?"

Chin and Athena clapped.  Much to Ranma's annoyance, so did Akane.  Sie
laughed good-naturedly.  "Just one of the techniques I can use," he
said.  "I figure now we're even.  Besides, you left yourself open."

Ranma thought on this for a moment.  "I guess you're right.  You'll have to
teach me that sometime."

The Chinese boy blinked.  "Uh, that could be a little difficult."  This was
a question he didn't think he'd ever been asked before.

Chin nodded, speaking up finally.  "Very true."

"Oh come on!" said Ranma.  "I've never seen a technique yet that I couldn't
learn."  This was mostly true.  Ranma did have a fascinating knack for
learning techniques at remarkable speed.

"I do not doubt your talents, boy," said Chin in all seriousness, "but my
students here have abilities which you do not."

Ranma folded his arms, smirking.  "Which are?"  He never took comments like
this lightly.  He was RANMA!  He was the BEST!  He was FULL OF
HIMSELF!  But most people knew this, especially Akane.

*We're psychic,* came Athena's voice in his head.  Not really taking notice
of the fact that her mouth wasn't moving, Ranma simply laughed somewhat
derisively.

"Yeah, sure," he said, smirking.  "And I'm Jackie Chan.  Come on, what's
the real reason?"

"Uh, Ranma?" said Akane.  "No one said anything."

"Huh?" replied Ranma.  "Whaddya mean?  Athena here just told me they were
psychic...."  Slowly, the truth dawned on him.  In truth, it was not at all
unlike the way old ketchup comes from its bottle.  Sluggish, red and
zesty.  Red and zesty had nothing to do with Ranma's state of mind at the
moment, but it seemed appropriate, regardless.

Akane was staring at Ranma as if he was crazy.  Sie was smirking.  Athena
held her hand over her mouth, and her shoulders quaked with silent
laughter.  Chin just gave his characteristic toothy grin and laughed.  "You
get the point now, Ranma?" he asked.

Akane grumbled, "Am I missing something here?"

*Not a whole lot,* came an ethereal voice in her mind.  It was Sie.  Akane
blinked in a panic and gaped at him, momentarily speechless.

"How... how did you do that?" she uttered when words returned to her.

"The three of us," said Chin, "are psychic.  These two children are more
naturally talented than I, but it is because of their natural gift that
they are able to do many of the things they do."

"Hmmm," said Ranma.  "So that's why you were able to dodge all of my
attacks so easily, right?"

"That's right," said Sie.  Noticing the slightly worried look that crossed
both Ranma and Akane's faces, he waved a hand in what he hoped was a
calming gesture. "We don't do any mind-reading unless we have permission."

"One thing Master Chin has taught us," said Athena, "is to respect the
privacy of others.  We only use telepathy for communication and to give us
an edge in combat."  She gave a sly grin.  "You don't have to worry about
us uncovering any deep, dark secrets."

Both Ranma and Akane gave slight sighs of relief.  Akane spoke
first.  "Well, how about we go back in the house to wait for
Saotome-no-ojisama to come back?  He and Father should be back soon, I
think."

                                    ***

The five sat around and talked for awhile, getting along surprisingly
well.  As was fairly typical, chin took out his sake jug and got slightly
drunk, dozing lightly a short while later.  Sie and Ranma sat discussing
martial arts, while Akane took Athena up to her room and the two discussed
what the others could only assume was "girl talk."  Ranma got a rather evil
idea at the mention of this.

"Hey Sie," he said, "how about you use those powers of yours to listen in
on what it is they're talking about?"  Perhaps psychic powers would help
him understand women a little better, he thought ruefully.

Sie looked at him in shock.  "Are you kidding?  Doing that would violate
their privacy!"

Ranma nudged him in the ribs.  "Oh c'mon, don't tell me you're not
curious.  And who knows, you might just help men win the war between the
sexes."

"There's no way!  If they found out, they'd kill me!" replied the Chinese
boy vehemently.  "Besides, Athena's put up a mental screen against my
listening in." Ranma just laughed, then stopped and turned as he heard the
familiar sound of the front door opening.

"Tadaima!" came Soun Tendo's voice.  Chin blinked awake slowly at the noise
as Soun and Genma walked into the sitting area.

"Oh, hello," said Soun cautiously, but congenially.  "I wasn't aware we had
guests."

"Yeah," said Ranma, gesturing to the Chinese boy.  "Sie here and his master
are here visiting from China."  At a nudge from Sie, he amended, "His
friend Athena is here too.  They're up in Akane's room."

Soun nodded and smiled.  "Pleased to meet you, then... I'm Soun Tendo,
Akane's father.  And this," he said, motioning to Genma, "is Genma Saotome,
Ranma's father."

"So!" said Sie, hopping up and walking over to Ranma's father.  "You're the
guy that master Chin is here to see!"

Genma blinked at the young boy.  "Chin?" he said curiously, trying to
stretch his memory.  "I'm afraid I don't recall offhand."

Ranma stood as well and walked over.  "That means he probably owes your
master some money or something."  He gave his father a knowing glare.

Genma shook his head vehemently.  "Seriously!  I don't remember!"

Ranma got into his father face.  "Suuuuure, oyaji!  And I suppose you
didn't make any promises you couldn't keep either, huh?!"

"Of course not!" decried the elder Saotome.  "You should show more respect
for your father, Ranma!"  He folded his arms and looked at his son down his
nose.

"Yeah, once you start earning it, old man."

A cheerful (albeit somewhat shaky) voice came from the corner.  "Genma-san!
It's been so long, you haven't changed a bit though!"  Chin hiccupped as he
grinned at Genma.

At the site of the new arrival, Genma stared and stammered.  "Um...
Gentsai-san?  Is that you?"

Soun looked on curiously.  "So you do know him!" he said.

"Um, yes," said Genma unsteadily.  This was particularly interesting since
it was Chin, not he, who had been drinking.  "We're old drinking buddies
from when I took Ranma to China."  Soun and Chin both stared at Genma, with
varying degrees of suspicion, doubt, concern... actually, running the gamut
of the typical "uncertain" emotions.  The elder Saotome's mind, however,
was much more focused.  Unfortunately, that focus was almost entirely on
nervousness, so it did him little good.

During this stare-off, Akane and Athena came back downstairs, giggling like
lifelong friends.  Athena looked up at Ranma and Akane's fathers and said,
"Hey, it looks like you were right, Akane... they are back."

Akane poked her gently in the shoulder.  "Oh come on, like you wouldn't be
able to tell anyway."  The two girls grinned at each other.  Athena liked
Akane, she seemed to be really nice.  She seemed rather hostile toward
Ranma, at least outwardly.  She was very curious about this, but refused to
give into the temptation to scan Akane's mind for the truth.

Truth be told, she thought Akane was lucky.  Ranma seemed really nice, and
he was a great martial artist and a major hunk besides.  And they were
engaged! Meanwhile, the guy she liked was hopelessly in love with someone
else.  Oh well. And she had her partner who fawned over her constantly,
always asking her out. She was nice enough, but he could be so... ANNOYING!

These thoughts were interrupted as she noticed the ominous silence in the
room.  She could see that the man in the white gi was sweating from
nervousness.  One didn't need psychic powers to be able to notice
that.  "Uh...," she said, "Did we come in at a bad time?"

Ranma shook his head, "Oh, actually I think your timing is perfect.  I
think this is about to get interesting."

Chin walked over to Genma and reached up unsteadily to pat him on the
shoulder.  "I was almost afraid you'd forgotten me, old friend!" he
laughed.  "Don't tell me that you can't remember our little wager!"

Ranma and Akane both glared at Genma, who withered at the mention of a
wager, and wracked his brain in search of an easy way out of this.  This
could get really bad, really fast.  It was very likely to, in fact....

Soun stood calmly, gazing at his old friend with a remarkably placid
expression. His thoughts were in turmoil though.  Generally, they went
something like this:  "I don't know the whole story yet... Saotome-kun may
not have done anything wrong... mustn't lose my temper... MUST...
CONTROL... HEAD OF DEATH...."  To his credit, none of this inner struggle
showed on his face.

"Okay, oyaji, what did you do THIS time?" spat Ranma.

Chin laughed again and grabbed Ranma's arm and dragged him over to Athena
and Akane.  "My boy, your father lost a wager with me some years ago... and
in order to make good on that promise, you and Athena are to be
married!"  He gave Ranma a shove and sent him almost tumbling into Athena.

He would have fallen atop her, if a little telekinetic "push" hadn't kept
him upright.  "OYAJIIIIIII!!!!!" he screamed in irritation.

"SAOTOME-KUUUUUUUUUN!!!!" screamed Soun in outrage.

"SENSEEEEEEEIIIII!!!!!" screamed Athena in amazement.

Chin and Genma both decided that discretion was the better part of valor in
this situation, and wisely ran like hell.  "HEEEEEEEEELP!!!!" they both
screamed in desperation.  Soun, Athena and Ranma took off in hot pursuit,
and chased them out of sight, leaving Sie and Akane alone in the room.

"Uh...," said Sie helplessly, "I take it this has happened before?"

Akane's gaping mouth finally managed to close enough to form words.  "More
often than you'd believe, Kensou-san...."  She sat down heavily, wondering
who she should hit first when they got back....

                                    ***
                              TO BE CONTINUED

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Well, there's chapter one.  Granted, the "new fiancee" bit is used pretty
often, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve, trust me.  Plus, we're dealing
with a true psychic (as opposed to Kodachi, "true psychotic").  I am aware
that this chapter is very focused on the Psycho Soldier team.  Fear not,
more characters will be showing up very soon.

Many many thanks to Kevin Eav for being my pre-prereader and offering lots
of helpful suggestions and encouragement. :)

Thanks to all my other prereaders too, for helping me to improve this from
the rather contrived first draft.  And also, thanks to everyone who saw my
original prologue and encouraged me to keep going!  Hopefully this will
continue to garner interest... and maybe convince a few people to take up
playing King of Fighters. :)
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      Systems of Choice: Neo*Geo, TurboGrafx-16 and PlayStation
The Ninja Gaiden Home Page: http://www.classicgaming.com/ninjagaiden/
            My Fanfiction: http://www.scsn.net/users/deuce/
       "How beautiful is death.  Death and his brother, sleep."
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