Emerald Ranma
==>The story of an epic and an epic of the story<==

Chapter One
Once Again Couldn't Hurt or Could It?

(As we pick up our story, we look back in time at the history
of our Ranmaverse)
(Ranmaverse - Primary, Somewhere in Eurasia, 30,000 BC)

Two ancient cavemen stood around a burning fire.  One chewed the meat
off of a tasty bear carcass, while the other sat pounding rocks together.

The first one grunted and spit out a small piece of bone.  The second
one picked it up and chewed it for a moment before spitting it out.  The
first one looked up, then went back to his feast.

The second one pounded one stone into the piece of bone.

(Switch to Secondary Timeline)

A bright light in the sky startled two cavemen.  One dropped the flesh
he was enjoying into the dust and the other dropped his rocks.

The light faded.

(Switch to Evil Timeline)

The second caveman picked up the meat.  The first caveman grabbed it
back forcefully.  The second caveman felt a strange emotion.  He growled and
picked up a pointed stone.

(Switch back to Secondary Timeline)

The first caveman picked up the meat and continued eating.  The second
caveman looked at his rocks and grunted.  The first caveman ripped off a
chunk of his meat and gave it to his son.

They ate.

(Camera pans over a blue sky, yellow sun, green grass. We are
now viewing a universe that has different histories for a few of 
our favorite Ranma characters called: "Altaverse")
(Altaverse - Primary, Streets of Nerima, 1984)

"Give that back!" Akane chased her sister.  "Give me back my dolly!"

Nabiki didn't stop, but yelled over her shoulder "It's mine now.  You
gave it to me fair and"

(Switch to Evil Timeline)

Nabiki tripped on a girl's outstretched foot and slammed her head into
the pavement.

The girl grabbed the doll and ran away.

Akane ran up.  "Nabiki? What's wrong? Where's my dolly? Nabiki? I hate
you!"

(Switch back to Primary Timeline)

"square!" Nabiki finished.  She jumped over scattered toys and kept
running.

Akane, bawling like the little girl she was, stopped and flopped on the
floor.  "Nabiki! I hate you!"

Nabiki felt a small pang of conscience, but ignored it.

(Altaverse - Secondary, A Park in Nerima, 1996)

Ranma closed the book he was reading and took off his glasses.

He sighed.  "Now that was a good book.  Too bad the library's closed."

"What if I told you I could show a library that contained every literary
work in existence?"

Ranma leaped up at the sudden noise and whirled around to view a short
stocky man with blond hair and a greasy beard.

"Uh, sure, I guess.  Where would this library be located?"

The greasy man smiled.  "Right here."  He snapped his fingers.

(To the readers' astonishment, a new completely tiny universe is seen,
artificially created and a pocket in space-time and called: "Pocketverse")
(Pocketverse - Outertime, Somewhere, Somewhen)

Ranma-Alter found himself in a small room, with gray colored walls and
ceiling, and no door or window apparent.  He frowned and looked at the man, who
now sported dingy black robes.

Ranma decided to play it safe and ask the non-invasive questions first.
"Uh, where are we?"

"Aren't you more interested in knowing who I am?"

Ranma, a little taken aback at his thoughts being read so easily, wasn't
able to stop himself from replying.  "Ok, then, who are you?"

The man floated over closer to Ranma.  "You may call me Lord Jeram."

Ranma frowned. 'Lord' Jeram? Lord of what?

"The title refers to the country I rule over." Lord Jeram said to
Ranma's surprise.

"What?" Ranma thought. "Can he read my thoughts?"

"Not exactly," Lord Jeram said. "But your thoughts are practically being
shouted to the metaphysical skies. But not many would be able to so
easily 'hear' even those shouted thoughts. I am a Mental Master, a wearer of
the black robes of the power. I have come to this universe to talk to you."
Ranma's mind was still reeling, as he was trying to figure out exactly
what this visitor was telling him.

"Okay, but why exactly do you want to talk to me?"

"Because I have been searching and searching through many universes,
trying to find candidates for a special program I have devised."

Ranma frowned. "Oh yeah? What kind of 'program' is that?"

Lord Jeram smiled. "You'll see." He waved his hand, and instantly the
two were in another room, this one as luxurious as any Ranma had ever seen.

Magnificent pieces of art were arranged throughout the room, while every
piece of furniture, down to the smallest coaster, was a work of art.

Ranma found himself sitting in a luxurious chair, which seemed firm and downy
at the same time. The wood was a silky black, the armrests sculpted into
the fierce countenance of a pouncing panther, while the cushions seemed to
emulate the velvety nature of a great cat's luxurious pelt.

Lord Jeram sat across from him, in a similarly designed chair, calmly
observing Ranma's reaction to the room. "Like the accommodations? It
took me months to find the greatest works of panther-related art. And
after all that, he didn't even want them."

Ranma peered at the black robed man. "Who didn't want them?"

Jeram smiled slightly. "Just a friend. As it turned out, he already had
copies of most of these items already. So I used them to spruce up this
extra-dimensional subspace matrix. Before it was mostly black with
cascading energies lining the edges. A nice effect, but hardly comfortable for
guests."

Ranma breathed deeply. "As much as I appreciate this whole." He waved
his hands at the room. "Accommodation, I would like to know why you've
brought me here."

Jeram frowned. "To be perfectly honest with you, Ranma, I thought that
perhaps this place would help you transition more easily from your
universe. I'm sorry to see that you still having prolonged transitional
anxiety.
And to answer your question, that means you have a condition where if you
are displaced from your universe cluster of origin, you experience a form of
hypertension."

He sighed, and Ranma realized that he was indeed feeling
rather anxious, and he released his tight hold of the armrests of his
chair.

"Well, I suppose there's nothing to be do except be done with it."

Lord Jeram waved his hand, and before Ranma could react, he found
himself in another place.

(As we all know, time is irrelevant when you look at it the wrong way.
Therefore, although no time has passed for us, it will for at least
one Ranma, and here he comes.)
(Altaverse - Secondary, 2000 feet above Nerima, 1996)

 Ranma appeared in a flash of green light high above the streets of
Nerima.

(Switch to Evil Timeline)

 A plane flying overhead neatly decapitated him, and promptly was
disintegrated by Ranma's post-death spell.

(Switch back to Secondary Timeline)

 He peered around and slowly dropped to the ground, unseen by anyone or
anything.

(As we nearly bid farewell for now, we come across our final destination,
a universe where time moves much faster, but is otherwise similar
to Ranmaverse, called: "Fastverse")
(Fastverse - Fasttime, Saotome House, 2004)

 Ranma gazed at his wife lovingly.  "Dearest, could you make me a
sandwich?"

(Switch to Evil Timeline where time moves much slower)

 A trillionth of a trillionth of a second passed.

(And finally, switch back to Fasttime Timeline)

 Ranma's wife smiled obligingly and rubbed her husband's broken leg.
"Sure thing, love."