Prelude 1:
April 30th, 2014 AD

Ranma Saotome looked down upon Tokyo from the 
slopes of Mount Fuji and sighed.  "It never ends."   He was 
in his early thirties now, in the full prime of his power and 
skill, but it wasn't enough.  No matter how strong he got, it 
never seemed to be enough.


"What never ends, Daddy?"  His eight year old 
daughter bounced up and down, tugging on his leg.  She 
had long red hair tied back loosely in a pony-tail, and soft 
blue eyes.  She wore a yellow gi much like the one her 
mother had worn when Ranma met her, though it was clear 
she'd be as tall as Auntie Kasumi, unlike her mother.  

"This could be the beginning of the end.  Three of 
them have risen, and the others won't be far behind.  Given 
the way Tokyo is tearing itself apart, there could be a forth 
under it."  He patted his daughter on the head.  "I wish we 
could have let you grow up in peace, Sayoko.  Like your 
namesake did."

"But then I'd get sick and die like she did," Sayoko 
said, staring down at the city.  Smoke was rising from parts 
of the city as a riot tore it apart.

"We didn't even think about tuberculosis when we 
went on that vacation," Akane said faintly.  She too had 
grown into the fullness of maturity, though she looked far 
more haunted than her husband.  "I cried so hard when 
Mom died.  But she didn't die because she had a peaceful 
life, Sayoko.  We'd best go, Ranma."

"I don't like running away," Ranma said softly.

"We have to get Sayoko to safety before we can go 
into this.  And even with our skills..."  She sighed.  
"Kasumi's friends will be able to watch over her."

Sayoko smiled brightly.  "I like Auntie Kasumi's 
friends.   But why do they all have tatooes on their heads?  
Can I get one?"

Very soon, Ranma was wishing he could go fight 
someone; it would have been much easier to deal with.

Opening Movement:

July 29th, 1999
10: 30 PM

Those who fear sugar, abandon all hope.  Ranma and 
Akane danced together in the midst of a throbbing horde of 
teenagers, losing themselves in rythmic motions.  It was 
their first real date.  Ranma was enjoying the dancing more 
than he had expected to; maybe it was because of being 
with Akane.  It was supposed to be a double date, but 
Ryouga and Akari had gotten lost on their way from the 
restaurant to Disco Moebius.  He didn't mind; while 
Ryouga had mostly given up on Akane, Ranma still wasn't 
entirely ready to trust him.  He and Akane were still trying 
to get their own relationship straight.

On Mount Phoenix, he had told her that he loved her, 
but they were still struggling to get past all the bad words 
and stupid fights of time past.  The date had gone well so 
far, though.  No fights, no screaming, no blows.  He felt 
like an angel must be watching over them.  

"You know, I'm surprised no one's shown up to wreck 
the date yet," Akane said.

"I told everyone we were leaving for Mount Nitaka for 
a training trip this evening."  Ranma smiled broadly.  "And 
Nabiki left fake clues to confirm that everywhere for only a 
little money."

Akane laughed loudly, her face suffused with a joy 
Ranma could stand to see more often on it.  "Good 
thinking."  She looked around.  "I wonder where Ryouga 
is."

"Probably Mount Nitaka," Ranma said, laughing 
himself.  


The music changed and soon, they were dancing close, 
both extremely nervous.  Akane's head rested on Ranma's 
shoulder, their arms about one another, as they swayed 
back and forth slowly circling the room.  It was dancing in 
only a loose sense, really just an excuse to be close; Ranma 
and Akane always needed some excuse for that.

Finally, the music ended, and they stared at each 
other, on the verge of a kiss, needing just a tiny push to 
topple over.  When a couple not looking where it was going 
smacked into Ranma from behind, they got the push.  Their 
lips met and they smooched briefly and clumsily.  When it 
was over, they stared at each other, not sure what to say or 
do.  Ranma's bladder, to his embarrassment, made the 
decision for him.  "I...uh...I'll be RIGHT back," Ranma 
said.

She smiled at him.  "Good idea.  I'd best do that 
myself."

A few minutes later, he came back; the call of nature 
had taken a little longer than expected.  Akane was still in 
the bathroom; he wasn't surprised.  Women were like that.

Fifteen minutes later, he began to worry.  When 
someone slammed into him from behind, he spun angrily 
on one foot.  "What the hell do you...oh, hi, Ryouga."

Ryouga stood there in a relatively nice white button 
up shirt and black slacks.  Akari stood by him in a light 
orange and blue dress, holding his hand.  The skirt had 
little blue pigs on it, of course.  "How'd you get back 
inside, Ranma?  I just saw you leave with Akane," Akari 
said.

"WHAT?  I was waiting here for her to get out of the 
damn bathroom!"

"It sure looked and sounded like you," Ryouga said.

"I'll check inside," Akari said, and darted into the 
bathroom.  A few seconds later, she came back out.  
"Unless she went out the window, she's gone, Ranma-kun."

"Shit," Ranma said.  "She was going out the door?"  
Maybe Tsubasa is impersonating me for some reason, he 
thought.  "I'm gonna go find her then."

"You want me to come?"  Ryouga asked.

"I'll handle this," Ranma said as he plunged into the 
dance floor to head for the exit.

He got outside just in time to see Akane, with 
someone who looked suspiciously like himself, head off 
down an alleyway.  Speeding up, he reached the end of the 
alleyway, just in time to see the man making out with 
Akane against the wall.  Her arms were draped loosely 
around him and he was nuzzling her neck and cupping one 
of her breasts with his right hand.  The man could have 
been Ranma's twin for all that Ranma could tell any 
difference between himself and the man; they were even 
dressed exactly the same.

What the hell is this? he wondered, then shouted, 
"GET YOUR DIRTY PAWS OFF MY FIANCEE!"

Akane moaned faintly; it was a happy moan.  "Oh, 
Ranma," she whispered.  "I love you."

Thunder cracked, and lightning flashed in the clouds 
above, and a single drop of rain fell between the couple and 
the single.  The man turned to stare at Ranma; he had 
Ranma's face, but his eyes were hard, and at his worse, 
Ranma had never matched the man's look of hunger.  Nor 
had Ranma's lips ever been stained with the blood of 
others.  Akane's neck had a large rough bloody smear on it, 
and a trickle of blood welled up once he ceased his 
drinking.


For a moment, Ranma's blood ran cold.  What kind of 
freak was this?  A real vampire or just a nutjob?  He had to 
have some kind of supernatural trick to imitate people, 
Ranma was sure of that much.  He got into a battle stance.  
Kick ass first, ask questions later.  "You worthless shit!  I'm 
going to kick your ass to the moon!"

"Pathetic mortal," he said.  He did something to his 
left wrist with the fingernails of his right hand, then held 
that wrist to Akane's mouth.  She seemed to be sucking on 
his wrist; it creeped the hell out of Ranma, especially when 
one of her hands slid down into her skirt.   "She will need a 
vessel...you will be perfect.  I suppose I was becoming 
overly eager, anyway."

By the time he finished his little speech, Ranma's left 
foot was slamming into his forehead, sending him flying 
away from Akane with a look of shock on his face.  "Damn 
straight, you...whatever the fuck you are!"  Ranma sped up, 
cutting loose far more than he normally ever would have on 
a non-martial artist.  It helped that the man paused to lick 
his left wrist for some reason the second he recovered from 
the first blow.  This left him open for blows two, three and 
four.  While the man moved quickly, and could clearly take 
a battering, he just didn't move like he had much combat 
training.  

When he drove his fingernails into Ranma's gut and 
sliced three four inch gashes across his chest, Ranma began 
to understand why the man had never bothered to learn 
how to fight well; he relied on his magic tricks.  Ranma 
wouldn't make that mistake again, hanging just out of the 
man's reach, then darting in low or leaping over him and 
striking from behind.  The man tried to make eye contact 
once, probably for some 'jedi mind trick', so Ranma simply 
poked the man's eyes.

The man staggered back, and then Akane said, 
"R...Ranma?"

Ranma could see she had come out of...whatever the 
guy had done to her.  She was staring at the two of them, 
obviously trying to figure out which one was which.  There 
were red stains around her lips, though her tongue was 
roving about, cleaning up every droplet it could reach, 
although she clearly didn't realize she was doing this.  
"This bastard tried to rape you!"  Ranma shouted.

"He's lying!" the duplicate shouted with a voice 
exactly like his own.  "He's the duplicate!"  

Akane shuddered.  "I...I..."

And then the rain came down.  This'll show the truth, 
Ranma thought as the transformation took him.  Lagging 
only about two seconds behind him, the other man changed 
as well.  Ranma-chan cursed.  "What the hell are you?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome.  Who the hell are you?"  

Ranma-chan grinned.  "I know a simple proof.  What 
happened the first day Ranma met Akane?"

The man paused.  His voice became a little desperate.  
"I...uh...he's done something to my memories!"

Ranma-chan began to recite every detail.  Akane 
stepped forward.  "Ranma, what's going on?"

"I don't know," she said.  "But I'm pissed.  Show your 
true form, you...whatever you are!"

The woman snarled.  "So be it.  Enough of trickery.  
Face the wrath of a true..."  Fingernails turned into claws, 
and she began to grow larger, her form beginning to twist 
and contort, her skin turning to dark green and yellow 
scales.


Before she could finish, however, Ranma-chan 
punched her in the head about a hundred times.  She 
paused, then collapsed, frozen in mid-transformation, a 
hideous mockery of something yet more horrible.  Akane 
staggered over to Ranma-chan.  "I feel so tired."

She put an arm around Akane's shoulders.  "Did it hurt 
you?"  She looked at Akane's neck, which was still 
bleeding a trickle.  "Shit."  She ripped off one of her 
sleeves, and tried to tie it in place as a bandage.  "We'd 
better get you to Dr. Tofu."

"He...he...I thought...I thought it was you.  The way 
you touched me was so..."  She shuddered.  "Is it alive?"

"I guess we can't let this damn thing go running 
around...we'd better get a cop."

"I think it's dead," Akane said faintly, staring at it with 
a horrified fascination.  

Ranma bent to check its pulse.  "Oh fuck...it's dead!  I 
killed it!  Geez, you'd think a vampire could take more of a 
beating than Kunou..."  His brain tried desperately to 
wander and avoid the thought of what had just happened.

When it bit his wrist, he learned differently.  For a  
moment, there was only agony, and then ecstasy washed 
through him.  He wanted nothing more than to kneel 
forever with it slowly draining his blood.  The entire 
universe contracted and became his wrist, the source of all 
his pleasure.  

Then Akane drove a foot into the thing's eye.  "LET 
GO OF RANMA!" she screamed.

It let go, spurting blood from the caved in socket.  An 
ordinary man would have died soon afterwards.  It wasn't 
ordinary.  It was, however, beaten, rolling back and 
running, finishing its transformation into a monstrous 
parody of humanity as it fled.

Ranma tried to run after it, but his legs wobbled.  
"Damnation."

Together, he and Akane hobbled to Dr. Tofu's.

*******************

11: 30 PM

Akane lay asleep on one of Dr. Tofu's tables as Ranma 
drank the same broth Tofu had given her.  "Do you have 
any idea what that thing was?"

"Trouble.  And the harbinger of more trouble."

"Huh?"  Ranma asked.  The broth was bitter, but it felt 
more filling than some eight-course meals he had had.

"It was likely a vampire of some kind, and it will 
likely come back.  I suggest not leaving Akane alone any 
more than you can help.  And coming up with some 
recognition sign so it can't pass as you again."

"Yeah, it even was able to copy my curse."  He 
yawned.  "Geez, now I'm sleepy."

"Take a little nap," Tofu said.  "You'll wake up in a 
few minutes ready to go home."

Sleep took him as Tofu rambled on about vampires.


**********************




Ranma vs. the Sabbat

Akane -- Brujah 10
Celerity 1
Potence 3
Presence 1

Daisuke -- Malkavian 10 
Dementation 1 
Obfuscate 3

Genma--Gangrel  7
Animalism 2
Fortitude 2
Protean 3

Hiroshi -- Lasombra 8
Dominate 2
Obtenebration 2

Kodachi--Tzmisce 7 
Animalism 1
Auspex  2 
Fortitude 2
Vicissitude 3

Kunou--Pander 12
Celerity 2
Fortitude 1
Potence 2

Nabiki--Ventrue  12
Dominate 3, Fortitude 1, Presence 1

Ryouga--Gangrel 12
Animalism 2
Fortitude 3
Potence 3

Sayuri -- Lasombra 9
Dominate 3
Potence 1

Tsubasa--Toreador 8
Celerity 1
Obfuscate 3 
Vicisitude 1

Ukyou -- Toreador 9
Celerity 4

Yuka -- Tzmisce 10
Vicissitude 3
Animalism 2

Auspex 1


The Opposition Squad

The Akashics:

Ranma Saotome
Arete 4
Correspondence 1, Forces 4, Life 3, Mind 1, Prime 3, Time 
3

Soun Tendo
Arete 3
Forces 3, Mind 2, Prime 2

Cologne
Arete 8
Correspondence 4, Entropy 3, Forces 5, Life 5, Matter 3, 
Mind 4, Prime 3, Spirit 4, Time 3

Shampoo
Arete 4
Forces 3, Life 4, Mind 3, Prime 2, Spirit 2, Time 3

Mousse
Arete 4
Forces 3, Matter 4, Mind 1, Prime 2, Time 3

Konatsu
Arete 3
Forces 3, Life 3, Matter 3, Mind 2, Prime 2

The other magi:
Kasumi Tendo
Celestial Chorus
Arete 4
Forces 3, Mind 2, Prime 3, Spirit 4, Time 2

The Principal
Cult of Ecstasy
Arete 5
Correspondence 4, Life 3,  Matter 5, Prime 3, Time 2

The Shapechangers:
Akari 
Rank 3 Werepig Philodox