Disclaimer: The playground is by Rumiko Takahashi, I'm only swinging on
the monkey bars. Remember to leave the grounds cleaner than you found
them and please don't feed the Trolls.

This story is archived at http://www.kawaiikunee.com/slp/

Release 1.2 (Nov. 25, 2000)

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Author's Notes: Or, Just what the Fsck is going on here anyway? 

At the beginning of September, 1998, our two family dogs, aged 13 and
11, died within 10 days of each other. The second, largely, of grief.
We buried them in the back yard, late at night, when it was cool. And
now you know where the inspiration for the prologue scene came from.
 
This is a fic whose ending, 6 fic months away, I have known for more
than 8 real world months. If it seems polished, it's because I've worn
most of the rough edges away in my head, before ever setting fingers to
keyboard.

This is also a fic which was produced because of a deep and terrible
annoyance at Alternafics of the form "This changes, nothing else
changes, and we will now retell the origin story with everything the
same, except for what's different."

Finally, this is a fic written by the unabashed romantic in me. You
have been warned.

Questions: 
1.) What's the deal with Ranma, huh, why's he so good?

He's been training with competent people, even harder than in canon,
for more than, on his time line, 10 years. He's good!

2.) But a little bloodthirsty, huh?

He thinks he's gotten the Neko-ken under control, but he hasn't
entirely, also there are some philosophical issues which may show up
later.

3.) Okay, the Neko-ken, what's up with that?

This alternate diverges at the Neko-ken training, which Genma, for
reasons unknown, conducts a year later than in canon. Everything up to
that point is the same, after is very different.

4.) Yeah, and...?

The training, instead of the canon insanity, made him more than
slightly psychopathic. Unfortunately^HFortunately Genma avoided a
well-deserved culling^Htragedy, but only because Ranma beat him up, and
then left.

Genma made Ranma promise to return to challenge for mastery of the
Saotome Ryu in 6 years (6 months are left at the start of chapter 1)
and specified that this would take place at this wonderful training
ground he'd heard of. Ranma spent the first 6 months in a temple on
Honshu, getting the Neko-ken under control. Then he traveled to
Jhusenkyou to spy out the lay of the land. So he's had the curse for 5
(real-world) years now and has gone through puberty in both forms (due
to his means of transport, he has actually experienced around ten years
in that time). He thinks of himself as male, but of variable gender. If
that seems confusing, it's because you can't change like that yourself.

5.) Okay, so about the sword?
 
Without Genma's interference, and with the longer time-span, Ranma has
traveled much farther and trained in many more skills, weapons and
special moves than in canon. (Remember that, in the Manga, Ranma
learned _all_ his 'super-normal' tricks in less than two years. RAALS
starts a real-world year after the Manga does, and gives Ranma _five_
years of training on his time-line beyond that ....) 

6.) A list of special moves?

Largely irrelevant, assume he can do most anything one way or another.

His raw power level, at the start of the series, is somewhat above his
maximum power level at the end of the Manga, i.e. he can blow up
smallish mountains. His breadth of knowledge would probably stun
Cologne. 

On the gripping hand, it's all just special effects anyway, y'know? Sit
back, relax, enjoy the show. It'll knock your socks off; or, at least,
pull at 'em real hard.

7.) Irrelevant? Huh? Whaddaya mean, 'special effects'?

Sigh. This is going to get _heavily_ into theory, which I have
forgotten the technical terms for. If not interested, skip down now.

It is important to remember that a story is not an RPG scenario, and
vice-versa. Ranma does not have a Strength Score, nor is he blessed
with dots in Celerity. He's just strong and fast.

_How_ strong and _how_ fast depends on how strong and fast the author
writes him to be. That is, he's strong enough to do _some_ things and
fast enough to do _some_ things, but not strong or fast enough to do
others. Which? Doesn't really matter. Whichever the author wants.

See, the essence of a story, _any_ story, is in the _characters_.
Specifically, in the _decisions_ that the characters make. The choices
they take, the ones they _don't_, the reasons _why_, and the results
that the characters get.

Wile E. Coyote is a villain, and a comic villain at that. His decisions
are _always_ wrong. The Roadrunner is a comic hero, and his decisions
are _always_ right. It doesn't really matter how or why they get that
way, they just are. And that's just fine, for comedy.

For drama, you have to engender tension in the reader. That is, either
you must make the reader unsure that the character will make the right
decision, or you must make the reader unsure of just what the right
decision _is_.

Heraklese is the mightiest of mortals, but even his great strength is
no match for the instant regeneration of the Hydra. Will Heraklese see
the solution, or will the Hydra eat him? Lancelot du Lac is the
mightiest and most chivalrous knight on life, but will his honor stand
the test of his forbidden love for Guenhavere? (Lancelot, by the way,
comes out of Mallory as a Failed Hero. That is, he makes the _wrong_
decision, thus leading to catastrophe.)

Ranma Nibunnoichi is, in common with most Anime-Manga, a story of
internal conflict. Ranma has many solutions to his problems, but is
caught between many conflicting imperatives that prevent him from using
any of them. These conflicts between imperatives are the engine that
drives the drama of the series (and not Ranma's conflicts alone, of
course).

Observe, for example, in the story arc that introduces us to the Kachuu
Tenshin Amaguriken, that the primary source of conflict is internal to
Ranma himself. 

Ranma's motivation for seeking the Phoenix Pill is entirely internal to
himself. Cologne (his 'opponent' in the arc) informs him of the
technique and teaches him how to train for it. 

No-one important is pushing him from behind, no-one is in any danger if
he fails to stick his (her?) burned hands in the piranha tank, Nodoka
hasn't even made a token appearance yet, and, in the end, the Chestnut
Fist isn't even the means by which Cologne relents. For all we are
actually _told_ in the Manga, _any_ sufficient display of 'fighting
spirit' would have done as well. Ranma doesn't even (specifically)
_use_ the technique very often thereafter.

The point is not the technique. The point is the internal strength
which Ranma displays during the training, and that it proves Ranma's
heroic position. This also explains, incidentally, why Ryouga's Bakusai
Tenketsu training sequence is given less play: Ryouga serves the story
purpose of _failure_ to complement Ranma's success, so Takahashi don't
need to spend nearly as much time proving an essential heroism that she
already knows he will fall short of.

This last point also serves to illustrate another factor, which is that
the actions a character takes also depend, to an extent, upon their
place in the story and on what is happening (story-wise) at hat point
in time. Ranma, when Akane's life is on the line, can pull enormous
power-ups out of his butt, yet still be beaten like a drum by Ryouga or
Taro when less-critical matters are at stake. Ryouga or Taro, by
contrast, could not even dream of matching blows with Saffron,
regardless of the stakes. Ranma is the hero, Ryouga and Taro are not.

The author, of course, gets to decide who the heros are, which is a
part of the fun of fan-ficing to begin with. Many fan-fics have changed
character roles, which is fine.

In RAALS specifically, the reason the Ranma's special effects are not
important is simple: as of the beginning of the fic, Ranma is not the
hero. Ranma serves the initial role of mentor, Roy Fokker to Our Hero's
Max and Rick. (No, she is not going to take shrapnel, ignore it and
bleed to death in the middle of the fic. Please.) So, like Cologne in
the Manga, she is as powerful as she needs to be.

Eventually, of course, Ranma will regain her hero's stature. But then,
eventually, a lot of things will happen. In the mean time, sit back,
relax, and enjoy the show. And don't sweat the small stuff. I'm keeping
track, and I do know what I'm doing. I promise.

8.) Usagi? Kitsune?

From Stan Sakai's _Usagi Yojimbo_, which incidentally, you should
immediately run out and buy all twelve books of. Right now. Go on. I'll
wait. ... Oh. *Sigh*.

9.) Isn't that going a little far afield?

No. The glass part of the amulet Ranma holds up in the Prologue is a
cracked mirror, if that helps. Crossovers can be expected to be
present, in great numbers and to weird effect. And I'm not gonna
apologize for 'em, either. Nyah.

10.) The kata Ranma's doing in his apartment? Bargain, Prize, Price? 

Ask Granny Weatherwax. Or Jason Ogg, for that matter.

11.) Further questions?

Direct them to hallcon@mindspring.com, I'll try to answer as fast as
possible. (Which may not be as fast as either of us would like,
but....)

12.) One last thing.

Yes ....

12.a.) Why butterflies?

Well, I _like_ butterflies, you see.

'Til next chapter,

Eric Hallstrom, 01/16/2001