===========================================================
Episode 3 of the Alternate Timeline Series:

Episode 1: Murphy's Law
Episode 2: Battle Chess

Episode 3: Double Trouble v0.1

By Andy Searls

Characters are creations of Rumiko Takahashi

"spoken lines" - Japanese
<spoken lines> - Chinese
*thoughts*
===========================================================
Chapter 3 - Separate but Equal
The next morning was the first time ever that Ranma had woken up before
Ukyo.  He jumped out of bed and landed in front of his pack, nearly tripping
on the kettle he had used to change back into a guy the night before.  He
opened the pack and removed the two stones.  He removed the instructions,
put the paper down, and put the stones on top of it.  Having gotten them out
of the way, he tore through his pack for a clean change of clothes.  He had
changed, put the paper and stones in the basket of other ingredients, and
was walking down the stairs with them when he heard Ukyo's door open.

He stopped and looked back up the stairs.  Ukyo poked her head out and
yawned.  "Just a minute, Ranma, and I'll help."  Ranma waited impatiently
for Ukyo to get dressed.  She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she
stepped down to the main floor.  She took the paper out of the basket that
Ranma was holding and read through it.  "Fire and brimstone!  I hope you
don't plan to try this in _my_ store!"

"Oh, no," Ranma replied.  "I was gonna go to the empty lot down the street."

"Well, you're obviously in a hurry to get this over with, so let's go."

The two stepped out of the restaurant and Ukyo locked the door.  As they
walked down the street, she could hear Ranma singing quietly to himself.
"Never gonna be a girl again.  Never gonna be a girl again..."

She smiled and looked to see if she could see much of the sunrise.  As they
passed an alley, she saw someone walking towards them.  "Hey, Ranma.  Didn't
you say that Ryoga always wore a yellow bandanna?"

Ranma stopped humming to himself.  "Yeah, with black rectangles on it.
Why?"

Ukyo stopped and pointed down the alley.  "Because he's right there."  Ryoga
looked up, recognized Ranma, and started running towards them.

Ranma groaned.  "Oh man, why did he have to find me now.  Here, hold my
basket a sec."  He gave the basket of ingredients to Ukyo and watched as
Ryoga came closer.  Ranma stepped over to meet Ryoga in the middle of the
street, a safe distance from Ukyo and the basket.  "Hey, Ryoga, what's up?"

Ryoga hefted his umbrella threateningly at Ranma.  "You tried to tell Akane
about my curse!  You've crossed me for the last time!  Prepare to-"

"Wait a minute there, Ryoga.  I got somethin' good for ya'."

Ryoga stared at Ranma a second.  "What do you want?"

"You got me all wrong, Ryoga.  I have something for you.  Think of it as an
offer of friendship."

Ryoga folded his arms.  "An offer of friendship?  From you?  It'd better be
good."

"Oh it is."  Ranma smiled and patted Ryoga's shoulder.  "How interested
would you be in a cure?"

Ryoga's hands dropped to his sides.  "Don't even toy with me, Ranma!"

"I'm serious.  That's what Ukyo has in that basket over there.  The
instructions say that more than one person can be cured at a time."

Ryoga looked over Ranma's shoulder at Ukyo and the basket.  Ukyo smiled and
waved.  Ryoga looked back at Ranma.  "If you are trying to pull some sort of
joke, you'll be sorry."

"Hey, Ryoga, you got even when you beat me up at the school, in front of
everyone, but it's still my fault that you're cursed.  The least I can do is
share the cure with ya'."

"How can I trust you?"

"Ryoga, I'll be right there with ya'.  I wanna get cured too, ya' know."

Ryoga regarded the two for a few seconds before relaxing a bit.  "Ok.  I'll
give you a chance, but any pranks and you'll regret it."

"Relax, Ryoga," Ranma laughed, patting Ryoga's shoulder again.  "This is the
best day of our lives."

The three finished the short walk to the empty lot.  Ryoga walking behind
the two in order to keep his eye on them.  It wasn't because he didn't want
to get lost.  Really.

The lot was mostly clear, save for some grass in the corners.  The middle
portion was hard, dry dirt, and there were no trees or bushes nearby. The
lot reached from the street they were walking along to the next street over,
so there were only two buildings bordering it, one on either side.  Both of
them were only one story tall.  A perfect spot for pyrotechnics.

Ukyo put the basket down in the middle of the lot.  Ranma fished the
instructions out of the basket and looked over the last couple of
paragraphs.  He began preparing the spell, stopping only to read.  The first
pouch of gray powder was poured onto the ground in a circle that was about a
meter across.  He emptied the pouch drawing a curved line through the
circle, forming two symmetrical teardrop shapes.  A few bags of black powder
filled one of the curved teardrops, and a few bags of white powder filled
the other.  Ukyo helped Ranma carefully spread both colors evenly around the
shapes, being careful to stay inside the gray lines.  Ranma placed the black
stone in the widest part of the white teardrop, and the white stone in the
widest part of the black teardrop, completing the symbol.  Ranma noticed
that there were two pouches of gray powder left and read the instructions to
see what to do with them.  He emptied them along the curved line that
separated the black and white sides, making a small pile in the center of
the circle.  Ukyo leafed through the empty bags in the basket and held up a
glass vial.  Inside the vial was a colorless liquid and a small, off-white
rock.  She handed the vial to Ranma, who carefully removed the cap without
spilling any of the liquid.  He carefully put the vial in the pile of gray
powder in the center of the circle an stepped back.  "Um, Ukyo, you should
go back to the corner and watch from behind the neighbor's wall."  Ukyo
sighed and walked to the corner that Ranma had pointed to.

Ryoga looked up from the spell symbol.  "What now?"

Ranma kept his eyes on the vial.  "The stuff in the vial should escape into
the air fairly quickly.  We need to be ready.  Stand over there, and be
ready to duck."

Ryoga stepped to the other side of the symbol from Ranma and watched.  The
liquid in the vial evaporated quickly, exposing the small rock to air in
less than a minute.  The part of the rock that poked out of the liquid
immediately began smoking and sputtering, causing the remaining liquid to
boil away.  Once it was free of the liquid, the rock burned brightly and
spewed smoke out of the vial.  The heat of the reaction melted the vial, and
the rock fell through into the gray powder, which also began to burn.  The
smoke from the gray powder did not billow up into the air, like the smoke
from the rock.  It hovered and built up, never getting more than a few
meters from the symbol.

Ukyo watched as the gray smoke built up around the two young men.  She could
clearly see where the smoke reached some sort of barrier and stopped,
forming a kind of solid hemisphere over the middle of the yard.  She could
see both Ranma and Ryoga cough a little, but they didn't seem frightened at
all.  Soon, black and white smoke began to pour out of the symbol.  The two
shades of smoke did not mix, but swirled and spun inside the gray
hemisphere, forming complex, curvy patterns.  The gray smoke seemed to
disappear, being replaced by the white and black smoke.  The smoke grew
thicker, and she could no longer see Ranma or Ryoga inside.  Soon, it grew
so thick that it looked like a solid dome that someone had splashed black
and white paint on, except that the patterns were constantly changing.  A
breeze sent a chill down her back, not because it was cold, but because the
hemisphere of smoke was not affected by the wind.  She could hear the
hissing of the burning powders stop, and began to wonder how long she should
wait before calling out to them.  Several long seconds passed, and she
couldn't hear anything coming from the smoke.

She took a step towards it and opened her mouth to say something when a
flash from the center of the spell blinded her.  The flash was accompanied
by a loud bang.  Stunned, she closed her eyes tightly, cupping her hands
over her ears as she fell to her knees.  She waited until the spots stopped
swirling before trying to open her eyes.  Her ears were still ringing as she
blinked through tears to look into the yard.  "Ranma, are you alright?"  She
could hear nothing over the ringing, and she could barely see well enough to
tell that the smoke was gone.  After a few seconds of not hearing an answer,
Ukyo began crying.  "Ranma!  Talk to me!"  She sobbed as she crawled on her
hands and knees towards the center of the yard.  "Ranma!"  She was relieved
when she heard a groan in front of her.  She crawled forward and found Ranma
laying on his back.  She put her hand on his chest.  "Are you ok?"

Ranma groaned again.  "Did someone get the number on that truck?"

"How do you feel?"  Ukyo helped Ranma sit up.

Ranma rubbed his temples and looked at Ukyo.  "Ugh, I've got a splittin'
headache.  How about you?"

"I can see a little now, and the ringing is beginning to go away."

"Ringing?  What happened?"

"Didn't you see the flash?  Or hear the bang?"

Ranma shook his head.  "I must a' passed out."

Ukyo sighed.  "Well, at least you're all right."  She squinted around the
yard.  The morning sun still seemed unbearably bright.  "I hope my eyes get
better.  Can you see Ryoga anywhere?"  They were answered by a groan, but it
didn't sound like Ryoga.  Ranma looked at the symbol.  The two spheres were
split into four pieces each, like orange slices.  The black sphere shards
sat in a teardrop of black ashes, and the white sphere shards sat in a
teardrop of white ashes.  The core of each stone was a smaller sphere of the
opposite color.  Ranma looked beyond the remains of the spell and saw Ryoga
roll over and sit up.  Ranma and Ukyo head the groan again, but it
definitely didn't come from Ryoga.  Ukyo squinted around the yard.  "Who's
there?"  Ranma turned around and looked at the figure that was laying down
behind him.  She looked so familiar, but it took him a moment to realize who
he was looking at.  The figure sat up, and Ukyo was able to tell that the
person had red hair.  Ukyo rubbed her eyes and tried to blink the spots away
so she could get a better look.  Ranma silently watched as the person held
her temples.

She groaned again.  "Oooh, did someone get the number of that truck?"  She
looked at her red hair.  Her eyes went wide and she looked down at her
chest.  "Oh, no!" she moaned.  "It didn't work!  Ukyo, I'm-"  She stopped
short as she looked up and saw the two people in front of her.  She rubbed
her eyes again and looked at the young man.  "Who are you?"

The young man finally found his voice.  "I'm Ranma."

She shook her head vehemently.  "No, you're not.  I'm..."  Her voice trailed
off as she was suddenly unsure of herself.

Ukyo, still unable to see clearly and frustrated at not being able to figure
things out by the conversation, yelled over the ringing in her ears.  "Will
somebody tell me what happened?  Who are you?"

The redhead spoke so softly, Ukyo almost couldn't understand.  "I'm Ranma."

Ukyo shook her head.  This wasn't making any sense.  "How can both of you be
Ranma?"

She was answered by a squeal.  Ranma and Ranma looked over at Ryoga, who was
quietly trying to soothe an angry black piglet.

  **  **  **

Akane knocked on the door to Nabiki's room.  There was no answer.  Akane
knocked again, more loudly.  There still was no answer.  *That's funny,* she
thought.  *Kasumi was sure that Nabiki was in her room.*  She leaned her
head closer and could hear the muffled sounds of music.  "Headphones," she
grunted, and banged her fist on the door.

A moment later, Nabiki opened the door and looked out at Akane.  "Yeah, what
is it?"

"I'm looking for P-Chan.  I haven't seen him since last night." Akane
sighed.  "I hope he hasn't wandered off."

"I'm sure he's around somewhere."  Nabiki bit her lip for a second before
saying more.  "Do you remember the last time Ranma was here?"

"Yeah.  He went nuts over P-Chan.  He actually seemed to be jealous of the
little piglet.  Can you imagine?"

Nabiki nodded.  "Oh yeah, I can imagine."

Akane looked at Nabiki wearily.  "You know something, don't you?"

Nabiki put her hand on her chest.  "Moi?  Now what could I possibly know?"

"Come on, spill it.  It's about Ranma and P-Chan, isn't it?"

Nabiki put a finger to her head.  "Well, not exactly.  It's kinda more about
Ryoga and P-Chan."

Akane furrowed her brow.  "Ranma was saying something about Ryoga...."  Her
voice trailed off as she tried to remember what he had said.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the front door.  A few seconds
later, Kasumi called up the stairs.  "Akane, Ryoga is here to see you."

Nabiki watched Akane run down the hall and around the corner.  She could
hear her footsteps thump down the stairs.  Akane's voice carried through the
house.  "Hi Ryoga.  Oh, you found P-Chan!  How wonderful!"  Nabiki ran after
her sister.  She had to see this for herself.

  **  **  **

Both Ranmas and Ukyo stepped into U-chan's and sat down at the counter.  The
boy-type Ranma put the basket with the stone shards down on the counter.
The girl-type Ranma noticed that Ukyo needed a little help finding the
barstool.  "Are you sure you're okay, U-chan?" she said.

Ukyo nodded.  "I feel ok.  I want to know who both of you are and what
happened."

"Well, gee, U-chan," the boy-type Ranma said.  "I dunno where she came from,
but I'm the original."

"Don't be so sure," the girl-type Ranma replied.  "From my point of view,
the spell was a disaster.  Instead of curing me, I'm now in the same cursed
form I was trying to get rid of."

"Hey," the boy-type Ranma said.  "At least it seemed to work fine for me."

The girl-type Ranma sighed sadly.  "Well, I'm happy for you."

Ukyo coughed.  "Ranma..."

Both Ranmas answered in unison.  "Yeah?"

"No, I mean Ranma.  I mean..."  Ukyo held her head.  "You know.  One of you
needs to change your name before I go crazy."

The boy-type Ranma answered first.  "How about Ran-chan and Ran-kun?"

Ukyo thought for a bit.  "Um, ... no."

The girl-type Ranma spoke quietly.  "You can call me 'Ranko'."

Ukyo stared blankly at the redhead.  "Are you sure?"

Ranko nodded.  "I'm not sure if we're both stuck as we are.  Even so, since
I'm girl-type now, I guess I don't mind.  I probably should get used to it
sooner rather than later."

Ranma looked over Ukyo's shoulder.  "Whadya mean you don't know if we're
both stuck?"

"Well, the spell didn't really explain how it worked.  It didn't say that
we'd be separated like this.  It just said that I... that we would ... get
rid of it."  Ranko looked down at her hands.  "And now I might be stuck this
way."

Ranma walked around the counter.  "You don't know that.  Wait a minute."  He
grabbed a large cup in the kitchen and filled it with cold water.  He walked
back out to the counter and poured it on himself.  He got wet.

Ukyo blinked.  "What happened?"

Ranma released a sigh of contentment.  "Nothing."  He walked back to the
kitchen and filled the cup with warm water.  He returned to the counter and
poured the water onto Ranko.  She got wet.  Her shoulders dropped.

Ukyo looked in Ranko's general direction.  "Well?"

Ranko looked up at Ukyo, and then to Ranma.  She waved her hand in front of
Ukyo's face.  Ukyo moved her head a little.  "What was that?"

"Ukyo,"  Ranko said calmly, her hands in her lap.  "How many fingers am I
holding up."

Ukyo squinted in Ranko's direction.  She concentrated for a few seconds and
then sighed.  "Um, two?  I guess my eyes aren't getting much better."

Ranko took Ukyo's arm and stood up.  "We need to get you to the doctor."
Ukyo didn't resist.

Ranma helped Ranko guide Ukyo out of U-chan's.  "There's the doctor the
Tendo family goes to," he suggested.  "I think I know where he is."

Ranko nodded.  "Yeah, I know."

Ranma looked at Ranko.  "Oh yeah.  Um, ...right."

It didn't take them long to find Dr. Tofu's clinic.  It was still morning,
and they didn't have to wait long to be seen.  Dr. Tofu walked up to the
trio as his previous patient waved and left.  "So, what can I do for you?"

Ranko stood up and pulled on Ukyo's arm.  "We had a kind of accident."

Ukyo stood up and smiled blankly.  Dr. Tofu stepped up and looked at her.
Ukyo uncomfortably grabbed her elbow.  Dr. Tofu looked Ukyo over before
waving his hand in front of her face.  He noted her reaction.  "Hmm, ok.
Why don't we come into this room..."  He led Ukyo into his examination room,
and Ranma and Ranko followed.  "Can you tell me what happened with your
eyes?"

Ranko shuffled her feet.  "It's a long story."

Dr. Tofu looked at Ranma and Ranko again.  "There's something familiar about
you two.  Are you related?"

Ranma answered first.  "Yeah.  In a way.  You see, we were working on this
spell... and I... I mean Ranko... I mean we were... um."

Ranko finished.  "What he's trying to say is that he and I are the same
person.  We made a spell to try to cure our curse, and ended up like this.
We're fine, but Ukyo saw the spell, and now she can't see very well."

Dr. Tofu looked at Ranma and Ranko for a moment, deciding to dismiss the
discussion for the moment.  He turned to Ukyo.  "How close to the spell were
you standing?"

Ukyo sighed.  "Um, I dunno.  I was outside the part where the smoke was."

"Would you say 10 meters?  20?  50?"

"Um, maybe 10 meters when the flash went off."

"The flash?"  Dr. Tofu looked over Ukyo's face.  "You would think that
something powerful enough to blind you would have burned your face a bit at
that range."

"It didn't feel hot."

"Close your eyes."  Ukyo did.  "What do you see?"

"I see shapes, swirls."

"What colors are they?"

"Black and white."

Dr. Tofu blinked.  "Really?  No other colors?"  She shook her head.  He
turned to Ranko.  "What kind of spell did you cast?"

Ranko tried to remember the name.  "Um, Hanasu Tataru, or something like
that."

"A separation spell, you say?  Well, it appears to have worked.  I would
have to look at some of my books, but I would say that you probably caught
some sort of eddy in the spell."

Ranma furrowed his brow.  "Eddy?"

"If I remember correctly, separation spells usually only affect people in a
certain area.  However, the borders of the spell are not always clear, and
the magic can cover more area than just the effects that you can see."

"You mean the smoke," Ukyo offered.

"Exactly.  Even though you were standing outside the smoke, some of the
magic of the spell probably reached beyond the smoke and got in you."

Ranko looked at Ukyo.  "Wouldn't that have 'separated' her, too?"

"Not necessarily.  If she was outside the smoke, she must have been far
enough to avoid the brunt of the spell, but the flash she saw was likely to
be more than just light."

"So," Ukyo said.  "What does this mean, exactly?"

"The good news," Dr. Tofu explained, "is that there might be some sort of
cure.  I'll look through my books and see what I can find."

"What if there ain't none?" Ranma asked.

"Usually the side effects of a spell can be reversed by breaking the spell."

Ranko blinked.  "You mean if Ranma and I reverse our cure Ukyo will be able
to see again?"

"Well, there's no guarantees, of course, but that's usually how they work.
On the other hand, this could be temporary, and wear off by itself."

Ranko sighed.  "You don't sound too confident that it will."

"Well, magic of this type is usually permanent.  Again, I can't say for sure
until I find out more."

Ranko stepped over to Ukyo and held her shoulders.  "Oh, U-chan, I'm so
sorry this happened."

Ukyo took Ranko's hands in hers.  "Ranma, Ranko, I want you to know that we
can try everything else, but I don't want you to break your cure.  You
worked so hard to get rid of that curse, and it was my own fault for getting
too close."

Ranma stared at Ukyo and Ranko quietly.  *Oh, Ukyo,* he thought.  *What have
I done?*

Dr. Tofu put his hand on Ukyo's shoulder.  "That's about all I can say for
the moment.  I will look through my books and tell you if I find anything."
He turned to Ranko.  "Now, why on earth would you want to do this to
yourself?"

Ranko fidgited uncomfortably.  "Well, it's kind of a long story..."

  **  **  **

By the time the trio got back to U-chan's, it was almost lunch.  A number of
customers were standing around the front door, peering inside to see what
was going on.  Ranko appologized to them, unlocked the door, and helped Ukyo
in.  Ukyo stopped in the doorway and turned around.  "I've been in a little
accident, but I'm ok.  I don't want to abandon the people who have done so
much for U-chan's.  We will do our best to serve you as we have in the
past."

There were several supportive voices from the crowd as the three stepped
inside.  Ranma turned on the "OPEN" sign and propped the door open.  The
customers filed in and sat themselves as Ranma and Ranko helped Ukyo into
the kitchen.  Ranma took Ukyo's hand.  "You sure you wanna try this?"

Ukyo nodded.  "We don't know how long I'll be this way.  We might as well
start dealing with it now."

"Yeah," Ranko added.  "We can handle this."

"I know _we_ can," Ranma replied.  "But who's gonna cook?"

Ranko stepped up behind Ukyo.  "I will, and Ukyo will help me."

Ukyo smiled.  "Well, let's not keep our hungry customers waiting.  Ranma,
could you get the counter ready?"  Ranma patted Ukyo's shoulder and walked
out of the kitchen.  "Ranko, Ranma usually helped me start by getting one of
those bags of flour."

Ranko hefted a bag.  "I know Ukyo.  It's me, remember?"

Ukyo snapped her fingers.  "Oh yeah.  You know, it's not that difficult to
remember who you are when you two are separated, but when you're together, I
keep thinking that you're someone else."

"So you think that Ranma is the original, and that I'm some sort of copy?  A
fake?"

"Oh Ranko, I'm sorry.  I didn't mean it that way."

"That's all right.  I thought the cure would help me get rid of my
girl-type.  Instead, I'm stuck with it."  Ranko sighed.  "At least I don't
have to worry about changing back and forth."

Ukyo reached out and patted Ranko's back.  "Come on, Ranko.  Let's go see
how well you can cook."

Ranko smiled a wry grin.  "Remember who you're talking to."

"Well, we have to start somewhere."

Lunch went by without any major disasters.  Even under Ukyo's guidance,
Ranko burned a few orders, but most of the customers said that her cooking
wasn't half bad.  The evening customers were even more positive.  A number
of them recognized Ranko from the the time the restaurant belonged to Nobu.
They were happy to see her back.  Ukyo was surprised at how quickly Ranko
seemed to take to the Kounji School of Okonomyaki.  Then she remembered
again that Ranko was really Ranma.  A Ranma.  One of the Ranmas.  She sighed
and bumped into the doorway.  This was going to take some time to get used
to.

At the end of the day, Ranma and Ranko closed the restaurant and quickly had
the place cleaned and ready for the next day.  Ukyo sat at the bottom of the
stairway, feeling a bit helpless.  She was happy to see that the two could
finish things up at least as quickly as she had with Ranma in the past.

Ranko kneeled in front of Ukyo.  "Well, we got the place cleaned. The dishes
are put away.  The money in the register is counted.  We're ready for
tomorrow."

Ukyo blinked.  It didn't help.  "You counted out the register and put the
dishes away, too?"

"I know you usually deal with that in the mornings, but I thought it might
help to get ahead in the chores for once."

Ukyo smiled.  "Sugar, I would love to teach you how to handle a _real_
spatula."

"I'll take that as an offer and accept.  The Kounji School of Okonomyaki
isn't complete without knowing how to handle that thing."  Ranko thought a
bit, looking at the battle spatula that hung behind the counter.  "In fact,
I look forward to it."

===========================
End of chapter 3

C&C welcome at searlsa@jps.net
www.jps.net/searlsa


-Andy Searls
  graduate, Borg Institute of Technology

If violence is not solving your
problems you're just not using enough of it.
     -Misato

/********************************************
When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.
********************************************/

http://www.jps.net/searlsa