David Farr wrote:

      "Nothing," Ranma lied.  He had been staring to tell the truth.  Azusa?
Well, not quite.  The girl was taller for one thing.  He shuddered to
think that Mikado would have married the cute-obsessed skater.  Sure
enough, the girl had a pair of skates on.  Roller skates.

All: <shudder>
Amy: He's not the only one.
Sephiroth: The interesting question is, where did she get her intelligence?
Rarstarr: It sure as hell wasn't from Asuza.

I like Azusa!  She's just misunderstood.  A baby would help settle her
down.

*beware the rantings of a fanboy* :P

      Perfume sighed and knew that if they went to Hinako, she would side on
Mika's side for this fight.  "Whatever.  Well, what are you still
gawking at her for?  Thinking of adding another girl to your harem?"

All: <laugh>
Rarstarr: Can you see Akane lying around in a harem girls outift?
Sephiroth: Yes.

bleh, prefer some other girl... but mind your own business!

      Ranma frowned at Perfumes obvious hatred of him.  Just because he was a
little... er a lot better than her, did she have to treat him this way?
That girl had a huge ego problem.

Luna: A clear case of the pot calling the kettle black.
Rarstarr: Which is a fascinating colloquism that has lost its meaning
        since often neither pots nor kettles are black.

^_^

      Perfume fumed.  She was actually more angry at herself than Ranma for
once.  She had been surprised to hear Ranma ask her to wait for Ryoko.
It seemed even with the markers, Ryoga got lost nearly got lost this
morning.  She should have known the infamous Hibiki sense of direction
should not be trusted.  She was ashamed that someone like Ranma had to
remind her to look after her best friend.  "I'm sorry, Ryoko."

Luna: A quick lesson in not trusting appearances.
Rarstarr: Something we note that Akane stil hasn't learnt.

I won't get into that, lest I show my biases again ^_^

      Ryoko also watched Ranma speculatively.  There were instances when her
father talked about Ranma in a positive light.  She remembered him
telling her that he first met Ranma in junior high.  He had apparently
taken her father home many times just like he was doing with her now.
While her father always seemed to be angry when he related to her those
stories, Ryoko knew otherwise.  Why would a hated enemy take a person
home and to school over three hundred times?  The only reason she could
think of was that the person was either very stupid or a friend.

Amy: Or both.
Luna: That's not nice Amy. Nor realistic, think about who we're talking about
        here.
All: ...
S&A&R: Or Both.
Luna: ...

^_^

      Ranma did not notice the dark aura forming around the girl below him.
His mind was preoccupied with his upcoming confrontation with Cologne.
He knew that other than Happosai, she was probably the best in Nerima in
mastery of the art.  Happosai wouldn't be exactly his first choice of
people to train him.  He just didn't know how far he could trust with
Cologne though.  He will NOT marry, but other than that, everything else
was game.

Rarstarr: And Ranma immediately misses the fact the Happy trained his
        father.
Amy: Not to mention he helped Ranma by opposing him.

Genma's a great trainer, but no longer enough to take where Ranma wants
to go.  Unless of course Genma breaks out the yamisenken and the
umisenken.  Hmm... there's an idea.

      "I'm home!" Perfume yelled out.  She sighed as a round of applause
broke out through the room.  Immediately after stepping in she caught
sight of a dining room packed full with teenaged boys.  Yuu's fanclub
must have taken over most of Ucchan's today.  That meant most of the
boys came to the next best place.

Sephiroth: What is this, a bad American sitcom?
Rarstarr: PERFUME!
Amy: You asking for some?
Rarstarr: ... No, ever see Cheers?
Amy: No.
Rarstarr: Never mind.

Not, what I was going for, but I don't mind it.  I liked Cheers.

      Shampoo silenced him with a glance.  "It was a force of habit, nothing
more."  She smiled as her husband's will seemed to completely drain
away.  She was glad to know that he had learned in twenty years time.
Then changing her expression to an irritated one, she scowled, "Now
hurry up and clean up the tables.  There are still customers waiting in
line."

Sephiroth: What a wonderful relationship they have.
Rarstarr: At least he won't ever get to big for his boots.
Amy: What happened to the romanticism?
Rarstarr: <shrug>

Was very hard for me to write that scene.  *sob* still can't see the two
of them together.  Sorry, Shampoo!  I'll make it up to you!

      "In here," Perfume said as she walked into the closet/changing room.
Seeing the look of horror that passed Ranma's face unsettled her a bit.
Though she was still annoyed at the mess he got her in with
great-great-grandmother, she was a heart a softy.  Very much like Ryoko
in that respect.  Eiko once commented that the two of them were like
cookies.  Crusty on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  Ryoko
never let her sister into her room again after that.

Luna: ",she was at heart a softy." You forgot the t on at.
Rarstarr: Is it me, or did that last line make very little sense?

Eiko is Ryoko's sister.  Eiko inadvertantly bad mouthed her... thus the
last line.

      "Er... I was just about to," Perfume muttered as she quickly left the
room.  She was surprisingly pleased to note that Ranma's female form had
nothing on her own.  She was also disturbed to note that the image of
Ranma's female form threatened to shift to that of his male one.  With
the top off.  She was still NOT going to marry him.

All: HAHAHAHA!
Rarstarr: Yeah, right, bet it doesn't last.
Amy: How much?
Rarstarr: ...

I wouldn't go for it.  Not a safe bet how will get who yet!

                      * * * * *

      Cologne glanced up at noted Ranma's eyes shifting between her and
Perfume.  Ranma must think her to demand marriage to Perfume.  No,
Cologne had learned slightly from her mistakes.  She had tried to fix
that problem later on by not taking any action in making Ranma bend to
her will.  She even went so far as to teach him a few techniques without
making him promise to marry Shampoo.  However, it was too late by then.
He became wary of her and worse, Shampoo, after the full-body-cat-tongue
incident.

Luna: The first two sentences have a few problems. Proof read them.
Rarstarr: Nice insight into Colonge there.

I always liked her.

All: <groan>
Amy: Ranma has to learn to start having conversations in private.
Luna: Or not having them at all.

How else will he practice his most powerful art?  Foot in mouth is a
very hard move to preform.

                      * * * * *

      "You're what!" Soun cried out in anger.  His demon head held in check
as he knew Hinako disapproved of it.

Rarstarr: Can anyone tell me why everyone matches Soun and Hinako?
A&S&L: <shake heads>

Probably because of the manga storyline.  The gist of it is that Hinako
has a crush on him.

      Genma pulled his long time friend aside.  He whispered, "Tendo, I think
you should think this over.  This is a great opportunity.  We can have
Meiko go with them to cook and clean.  As his fianc�e, it's her duty to
take care of him."

Rarstarr: At least she can cook. Can't she?

Only one Akane in the family is enough. ^_^

      Genma looked down and in his hands he found a marker and a sign.  He
opted the easy way out.  He grabbed his drink and splashed it over
himself.  [I'm just a panda,] he wrote.

All: <laugh>
Rarstarr: Only an idiot writes signs.
Amy: Stop ripping off by ads.
Sephiroth: What was the original?
Rarstarr: "Only an idiot drinks and drives." Paid for by the NZ police.

Heh

      Actually, Meiko wasn't exactly mad, but felt that she had to make a
show of it for appearance sake at least.  She didn't want Ranma to think
she was easy.  A training trip in Ranma's element was a great way to
find out what he was like.  Images of her and him sparring danced in her
head.  Maybe she would get into trouble and he would rescue her just
like in all those stories.  Ohhh!  She would just die if that happened.

Amy: Swoon maybe, but I doubt die.
Sephiroth: Playing hard to get is a good way to lose the game.
Rarstarr: Yeah look at Akane, Tifa, --
Luna: That's enough David.
Rarstarr: HEY! You're not supposed to use my real name!

Ami, I didn't mean that literally!  Sometimes, hard to get pays off.

      Ryoko didn't know if she liked the idea of a confrontation between her
best friend and Ranma again.  He really wasn't all that bad a guy.  She
had better go along.  Just to keep an eye on Meiko and her best friend,
nothing else she told herself.  Well, she might take the opportunity to
thank him for taking her to school and back home today.  But that's all.

Rarstarr: You know I have real problems with Ryoko, every time I read about
        her I see her floating along.
Amy: Been reading too much "No Need for Tenchi"?

Never thought of that.  I guess she resembles her somewhat.

      His chance finally came when Cologne patted her stomach and smoked on
her pipe contently after dinner.  "That was a fine meal, Ranma.  You
make a fine wife... er husband for my Perfume."  Cologne smiled inwardly
as she saw Ranma nearly choke on his rice.  It was nice to know that he
still had the same weaknesses.

Rarstarr: Why would Cologne make that mistake. She comes from a society
        where that is the husband's work.
Amy: That's a good question. Its not as if they've dropped the old ways.
Sephiroth: More to the point, why didn't the Amazons go home? It couldn't
        be for honor, Ranma was effectively dead.

I know, but Cologne is just goading Ranma.  As for not going back to
Joketsuzoku, they had no body to prove Ranma's death.  When Shampoo
first went back, she was empty handed also.  She ended up going back to
Nerima.

      Cologne nodded approvingly.  It seemed her son-in-law already had in
mind of what he needed to learn in order to beat his former rivals.  She
estimated a year maybe sooner before Ranma could give those men a decent
challenge.  "As a martial artist, you already know all the major nerve
points and have used them in battle.  I could teach you a style of
shiatsu fighting that will enable you to hit nerve points in the most
effective combination.  These can make a person laugh, mute, asphyxiate,
among other things.  You already know the first step to this method.
The amaguriken.  The next step is for you to be able to do as many
things possible during the amaguriken."

Amy: She's forgotten a lot about Ranma.
Rarstarr: Yes, this is the person who learnt the Hiryu Shoten Ha in three
        days.

Ryoga does have twenty years on Ranma.  And Ryoga's profession is the
master of the Hibiki School of Anything Goes.  A year is very generous.

      Eiko, Meiko, and Ryoko sat in bored silence as they watched Ranma go
through the learning techniques.  Ryoko frowned as she watched Perfume
examine him intently, looking for any and all weaknesses Ranma might
display.  Maybe a bit too intently, Ryoko thought.  She had better stop
this before it got ugly.  "You know, Perfume, I think you've got him all
wrong.  Well, he's still an egotistical jerk, but he's not so bad that
we should try and beat him up."

Rarstarr: Why not? You're not going to kill him and in Ranma's case, what
        doesn't kill him really does make him stronger.

^_^ very true.

      "Really, I sure you have him all wrong... huh?  I'm right?  You don't
hate him anymore?"  Ryoko was sure that her friend despised him.  Why
else was Perfume paying so much attention to him?

All: <sigh>
Amy: You sure this isn't that Ryoko, she does seem about as perceptive.

What do you expect from the daughter of Akane and Ryoga.  The both of
them aren't exactly very good at relationships. :P

      "Actually, I didn't do anything all day.  Perfume, you trained with
Cologne all day and must be tired.  The same with you Meiko.  You helped
Ranma cook and clean.  I guess, I should pull some weight here on this
training trip."  Ryoko, in turn, stepped in front of Meiko.

All: <laugh>
Amy: Poor Ranma, these girls are just lining up to date him.
Rarstarr: <groans>

Not dating yet.  At least one of them probably will though :P

      Ryoko was impressed by that.  "That's fast.  It took daddy almost a
whole day when he was hit."

Rarstarr: And this is Ryoga we're talking about, I think.
Amy: You having problems with the family trees?
Rarstarr: About as much as Magneto and the Summers family tree.
Amy: Pardon?
Rarstarr: Never mind, it'd take too long to explain.

Yeah, Ryoga.

      "Not that bad they say.  I couldn't imagine how it would feel to be in
his position.  His fianc�es all married and with children as old as he
is.  Poor Ranma.  What he needs is the love, caring, and understanding
of some good friends to go through this tough period in his life," Meiko
said.

All: ...
Sephiroth: A Ranma character who is sweet and understanding?
Rarstarr: And not Kasumi?
Amy: <raises eyebrow> Fascinating.

She's not exactly perfect as I hope to show soon.

      Lotion looked around her and wasn't impressed.  This Super Market
didn't look like a very developed area.  She should get going to the
nearest city.

Rarstarr: Cute, very cute.
Amy: You never say that about me.
Rarstarr: Cute, very cute.
Amy: ...

I thought so too.

Rarstarr: I think you're rushing your plot. Any one of the plots you're
        starting has the potential to make a full story.
Amy: He is of course talking about:
        a) The return of Ranma and his knew bunch of fiancees.
        b) Lotion.
        c) This Ken guy.
        d) Spice.
        e) Ranma getting back at his old friends.
Sephiroth: While its too late to change it now, unles you want to go back
        and do a rewrite, I'd suggest saving either b,c or d till later.
Rarstarr: At the very least slow down one of them. From the looks of things
        everything is going to explode at once.
Luna: Another way to offset this would be to space out their scenes between
        the primary plot instead of having them all at the end.
Rarstarr: Other than that, some good ideas.
Amy: And excuse us for making fun of parts of your work. Remember Rarstarr
        only MSTs work he likes or thinks has lots of potential.

Heh, just giving out little teasers.  The characters won't join up at
the same time and some might not for awhile yet.

[The group stand at look at each other.]
Sephiroth: I must go.
Rarstarr: Okay, time for some leaving music then.

[Rartarr pulls out a remote and presses a button. "One Winged Angel" starts
playing, only its more impressive than it was before.]

Rarstarr: I got the orchestra version today.

[Sephiroth turns and strides from the room.]

Amy: <Pouts> Still no music for me.

[Rartarr presses another button on the remote and a different song starts.]

Rarstarr: Moons Revenge, best I can do you.
Amy: <hugs Rarstarr> Thanks.
Rarstarr: Ah...
-----------
Rarstarr,
David Farr
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~djfarr/
djfarr@ihug.co.nz

Tbanks for the help!