by Kestral, the original author of this chapter.
(_NOTE: _Ifa writer would like to use this chapter to make a story other than one that makes Nabiki a sex slave, go to Tenchi Universe, also on CHYOA.)
“Yeah, right, like this’d work,” Ranma said. That he’d taken the battered old brass lamp to the most secluded place he knew of (the top of the Flem building - where he kept his “favorite possessions that Akane and Nabiki and Oyaji must never ever find”).
With most teenage boys this would be a small box under the bed or concealed under the shelf where their futon was stored and would contain dojinshi and a skin mag, as well as items that had a special personal significance. In Ranma’s case it included what little money he could accumulate, a few non-pornographic photographs, and a little item that he knew was important but had no idea what it was or where he’d gotten it from.
The little cigar box was still there. Ranma looked at the lamp then carefully checked around. Mainly he didn’t want anyone seeing him and saying how stupid or gullible he was for trying to summon a genie out of an old Arabic style brass lamp.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma rubbed the lamp. He nearly dropped it as smoke started pouring out and coalescing into the shape of a genie?!
Som little voice in his head was saying when something is too good to be true, it’s about to bite you in the tail. There was hope, though, too. Maybe, just once, something good had happened to him? Was that too much to hope for?
“What kinda genie are ya, anyway?” Ranma asked cautiously, hope and the beginnings of cynicism warring within him.
Smoke poured out and solidified into a curvaceous blonde girl clad in next to nothing. “Hello! I’m here to grant you a wish!”
Ranma blinked at the genie. “A wish? I thought it was supposed to be three wishes.”
“Yes!” the bouncy blonde girl agreed. “It used to be three wishes, but times change, you know? Too many people were just screwing themselves up with three wishes and there were some problems and - oh, it was just a mess!”
“So...I could be rid of my curse?” Ranma had been disappointed a lot over the past few months, he wasn’t getting his hope up.
“You have to say the magic word,” said the genie, pointing at a chalkboard with the word “WISH” written in nice block letters in English, then in Arabic, Japanese, and Egyptian. “You only get the one wish and there are a few provisos and such.”
“Huh?”
“Limits,” explained the genie kindly.
“Oh. What kinda limits?” Ranma asked, understanding now.
“Okay, these are different from the ones we genies used to have, but, like I said, ‘times change’ - so:”
Poof!
The chalkboard changed so it read:
Terms & Conditions of Use:
Genie Wish (1)
Rule #1: You can’t simply wish for more wishes. Not permitted. Not gonna happen.
Rule #2: The power of Life & Death is not within the province of this particular genie. He’d have to contact an outside source - and if that’s a no go - you’d have wasted your wish. So no killings, and no resurrections.
Rule #3: All wishes will comply with the Law of Conservation of Magick, least amount of magic required to reach the specified result.
Rule #4: No run-on wishes.
Rule #5: No intrinsic world-wide changes in personality allowed. World peace would require everyone in the world to either be dead or mellowed out to the point of near catatonia.
“Other than that, you got it,” the genie said, waving a hand and causing the blackboard to vanish. She also overbalanced and fell on her perky little face “Owie.”
Ranma felt a chill. Every stinking time he found a way for the curse to cured, something would go horribly wrong and he’d be back at square one. He just knew it. If he tried to word it correctly, it would get screwed up. Heck, this could potentially solve all his problems if he got it right.
Now, how could he do this and not suffer for it?