The two men faced off against each other across the dojo,
their faces grim. They squared themselves, and paused a
moment, seeking any weaknesses in the other. The instant
stretched in the air, hung taut. Suddenly the two burst into
a flurry of motion, seemingly to flying at each other across
the floor to fall upon each other.
Their attacks seemed to flow towards each other, only to
be suddenly parted on the hastily thrown up rocks of each
others blocks. It truly was a sight to behold, until
suddenly, breathing heavily the two of them smiled and sat
on the floor with their backs to each other.
"Well Tendo, you've gotten better it seems," said one,
chuckling a rather breathlessly.
"And you've gotten worse Saotome," said Soun, in between
gulping breaths of air.
Several minutes passed in silence as the two friends
recovered from their match. "Seems like going on the
training trip with Nodoka-chan was a mistake Saotome.
You've gotten slower, and you've put on a few pounds as
well."
Genma made a half-hearted attempt to punch his friend,
which was easily dodged, and laughed. "I may have put on a
few pounds Tendo, but I'm not any slower. And it wasn't a
training trip, it's called an extended honeymoon."
"So Saotome, was I right when I said getting married was
worth cutting short the training with the master." Already
knowing the answer Soun smiled in his memory of imprisoning
the master. His smile broke into full-fledged laughter when
he saw the silly grin on his friends face, as he was
obviously caught in reminiscence of a rather different kind.
"Why don't you teach her?"
The sudden question broke Genma out of his daydream. "I
tried Tendo, I truly did. Her parents paid for the
honeymoon. A wonderful place halfway up a mountain. It had
a perfect training spot there, a clearing up near the top.
There was a brook running through it, lots of stones
sticking up out of the water. Wonderful place for balance
training I tell you. But No-chan... Well...she must be the
clumsiest woman in the world. Every time I took her back
there she just kept tripping and falling onto me. I can't
remember how many times I had to make a fire so we could
keep warm while our clothes dried." Genma sighed and
blushed slightly, at one of his apparently more interesting
memories.
Soun shook his head at Genma. Sometimes he wondered
about his friend. Sometimes he was just so...so...stupid
when it came to women. "So, it was a good training spot
then."
"Yes. There was even a small shrine over by the spring
that fed the brook to some kami or another. Uzume I think,
or perhaps Inari...though it could have been both. But in
either case No-chan insisted on taking an offering every
time we went there. To think of all the wasted food," he
finished, groaning theatrically.
"Perhaps it's just as well that you waited to marry her
until after we got rid of the master. Kei made me teach her
as much as I could after we had Kasumi. She was out for his
blood you know. I think it was when he groped one of the
nurses while she was in labor that did it."
Soun mentally snorted, of course Nodoka hadn't wanted
anything to do with the master. After Kei had told her
about what had happened on their honeymoon she'd lost all
her respect for the letch.
The sound of one child crying suddenly came from the
house, shortly followed by another, and Soun to frowned
slightly. "Well Saotome, Kei will be needing my help with
this one. I'll visit you in a couple of weeks, and we can
go out drinking or something.
Genma smiled, Soun was so whipped, and he didn't even
know it. Waving goodbye he showed himself out and began to
wander around looking for a bar to spend some quality time
in. However before he found the bar, he came upon a clock.
"Ten o'clock already," he moaned. "No-chan's gonna kill
me."
Two figures watched Genma run home with poorly veiled
smiles. This was going to be so much fun.
Prodigy
A Fanfiction by Neplusultra
All characters from Ranma1/2 belong
to Rumiko Takahashi I wish I could
have made all that. Anyone not
from Ranma is more than likely made
by me.
Chapter 00
"I'm never gonna have a hu... a hai... a boy to teach
martial arts to." Soun sobbed drunkenly on Genmas shoulder.
"Kei had 'nuther girl. Eh... Ek... Ek... A... Akane."
Genma looked down on his friend slightly blurrily and
nodded. "Well, Ruh..Ranmas a great boy. His grip's
pur...perfect and he's already crawling."
Genma's admittedly feeble attempt at cheering his friend
only made the man sob harder.
The woman sitting next to Genma at the bar paid her tab
and stood a bit wobbly. "Well," she said addressing the
two, "the answer's simple. Have them marry. Join the
schools." That said she smiled and wove her way out the
door.
"Hear that Tendo," Genma crowed. "Ranma'll marry one've
your dau... girls, and we'll join the schools. Inn't that a
great idea!"
Soun looked up at his friend and stopped sobbing. "Yea
'tome. Wunderful. Bartender, bring us some paper, and
s'more drinks."
The two men were too inebriated to wonder how the strange
woman had known about the schools. Of course, they probably
wouldn't have thought about it if they had been stone cold
sober either, so let's not dwell on that shall we.
()()()
"No! Absolutely not, I won't let you do this Genma.
He's my son too. I won't let you take him away from me,
he's too young."
"But No-chan...," the man whined plaintively, "you saw
him earlier. He already knows the basics, and he just
turned three. If I could train him, imagine what a fighter
he could be if I could train him as hard as possible."
Genma's eyes were bright, staring off into the distance of
some imagined future only he could see.
Nodoka sighed, the argument had been going on for hours
now, and they given up differing arguments long ago and had
fallen back on sounding like broken records capable only of
repeating their last statement. Something had to be done,
and by the look in his eyes Genma was incapable of making a
move. "But Genama, why can't you train him here, with me?
Surely a growing boy needs his mother."
"No-chan. Why can't you understand. If I were to train
him here with you, would you comfort him when he cried? Hug
him when he was hurt? Calm him when he wakes from
nightmares?"
"O..of course I would."
"That's why I can't train him here with you. Women are
weak, and if I let him stay here with you, your weakness
would infect him and he would never be what he could.
He..."
Nodoka tuned her husband out, knowing how long he could
go on about the weakness of women. It was the one bad thing
about him, the chauvinism. But he was the most wonderful,
manly, man she'd ever found. Why, her heart still went all
aflutter when she remembered their first meeting. He led
the way when he and his friend came through the windows of
the bathhouse. How, out of all the women in there, he'd
looked at no one else the entire way to the floor. Ah, it
made her knees weak just to think about it.
"No-chan. No-chan!" Genma gently shook his wife's
shoulder.
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that Genma dear. I missed that
last bit, what was it again?"
"I asked if you'd let us go if we both signed this
contract." So saying he handed her a piece of much erased
paper.
Nodokas eyes grew wide as she read the proposed contract.
It was stupid...it was idiotic, no sane human being would
carry out on the propositions it contained. It also showed
just how serious her husband was. "Ok, I'll let you go my
husband, " she said, fearing he would just take her son and
go if she said otherwise. "Just promise to bring him back
to me"
Genma just stared at his wife, he'd thought he would have
to end up kidnapping his own son in the end. Shaking
himself out of it he smiled. "Come on No-chan, let's go to
bed."
Nodoka found herself giggling, she had married such a
manly man.
()()()
Genma stared down at his sleeping son. At the age of
seven he'd already mastered the basics of the school, and
had gone on to learn the most advanced forms he knew. It
was incredible. True, the boy wasn't able to beat him yet,
but he was more trouble than any seven year old child had
any right being.
Coming to a sudden decision Genma squared his shoulders.
Tomorrow he would take his son out of school and they would
travel to some of the more famous martial arts dojos around
Japan. School was only a distraction anyway, if the boy was
this good having gone to school, he could have been that
much better if he could devote all his energies to training.
()()()
Genma puffed lightly as he raced through the forest. He
heard Ranma not far behind him and frowned slightly, the boy
should have been further off than that. He had been looking
forward to a short rest at the edge of the woods.
Apparently it's time for some heavier weights. As he ran,
he thought about what they would do next. The Saito dojo
was the last spot he'd planed on visiting, and they were
there years earlier than he'd planed.
He broke through the woods, and looked out at the village
nestled at the southern foot of the mountain. Very
picturesque, very quaint.
Ranma broke through the trees behind him and stopped.
Barely out of breath he recovered in just a few seconds.
"Come on boy, I know exactly where we're going. The Saito
Dojo is right over there," he said, pointing at a largish
compound on the outskirts of the village.
"I'm ready pops."
Genma spared his smiling son a backwards glance. Ranma
was entirely too cocky for his own good, he needed a good
beating from someone his own age to take him down a peg or
two. It's far to easy to wave off a beating from someone
older than you as stemming from their experience. Maybe
they should go to China next. Surely someone there would be
better than his son. Or at least at first. It was a short,
quiet walk from there to the Saito dojo. Genma could hear
the sounds of training coming from inside, and knocked on
the gate.
It didn't take long before the gate was opened by a
smiling woman. As soon as she saw Genma however, the smile
dropped off her face as if it had never been there. "You're
not welcome here dog," she said, her voice ice cold as she
glared at him.
He reached out and grabbed the gate before she could
close it in his face. "I may not be welcome here, but you
don't turn down challenges, and that's what we're here to
do."
"What's this," said an older man coming from inside, "the
honourless dog has come back to nip at his masters heels?
Or have you finally slunk back with your tail between your
legs?"
Genma had to bite his tongue, his fingernails digging
painfully into his palms. "I have come back for no other
reason than this Yoichi, tell him boy."
Ranma stepped from behind his father, "In the name of the
Saotome School of Anything Goes, I challenge your school."
"So dog, what bitch did you get this pup off of? She so
ashamed of what she did that she gave him to you?"
"Yoichi," Genma near shouted. "Say what you will of me,
but leave my wife out of it. Do you accept our challenge or
not?"
Yoichi sighed, "Very well, at least I'll get some
entertainment out of seeing what petty tricks you've taught
this pup of yours. Come to the dojo."
The dojo wasn't anything special really, but it was
decently large, and the class that the Saotome's interrupted
was one of the higher level ones. Yoichi stepped forward,
"Class, we have a challenger today. The pup of Genma
Saotome," there was a hissing intake of breath from the
class at his name, "Jiro, do you think you can handle it?"
One of the students, apparently Jiro, bowed, "I'd be
honored master."
"Very well. Class, to the sides. Jiro, pup, center."
Ranma didn't move.
"What's the matter pup? Afraid are you?"
"I ain't afraid. But my name's not pup. It's Ranma."
"Oho, our pup has a spine. Very well. Jiro, Ranma," he
sneered the name, "Center."
The two in question moved to the center of the dojo.
Ranma was still small, at ten hadn't hit his full growth
yet, nor did show much evidence of muscle. Jiro on the
other hand stood almost as tall as Genma, tall indeed for
Japan, and would have done well in professional wrestling
with the muscles he had. Neither side had any doubt about
their winning the bout.
"In honor of the Saotome's style, anything goes in this
fight, ok Jiro," Yoichi said, winking at his student.
"Ready. Fight!"
Ranma was right, there really wasn't any doubt about the
winner.
()()()
"Pops? Why didn't we stick around like usual?"
"Boy, you know we have a schedule to keep. We only have
until you're sixteen before I have to take you home."
"But Pops, we've already gone to the training grounds in
Japan."
"Don't be so small minded boy. Japan isn't the whole
world, there are still hundreds of training grounds in
China, not to mention the rest of the world."
"Oh, ok," Ranma dropped it, not really wanting another
lecture. After a few minutes of silence he thought of
something that had bothered him back in the town, "Um, Pops.
How did they know you back there?"
Genma didn't say anything for a while, but when he did
his voice was the even calm of a man speaking through
tightly controlled anger, "I grew up there boy, and I don't
want you to ever talk about it again."
Ranma, for once, wisely kept his peace.
()()()
The fifteen year old Gosunkugi Hikaru was something of a
shrimp. He was mabey five and a half feet tall, and might
have weighed one-hundred pounds though that was being rather
optimistic really. Of course that was why he was currently
surrounded by three bullies while on his way to school, it
didn't really help that he was the new kid either.
Unfortunately for the young Hikaru he was as unable to
put up anything resembling a fight as he looked. This was a
fact that he was painfully aware of, which, of course was
why he was meekly handing over the weeks lunch money to his
new classmates pleasing them to no end. Sadly for the
delinquent teens, this was about the time when a certain
Tendo Akane came upon the scene like an angel of justice
come down from heaven. As she tore into the bullies and
came to the deliverance of Hikaru, one of the slightly more
intelligent bullies realized that there really wasn't much
difference between an angel of justice and a really cute,
long haired girl ... with really pointy knuckles.
Akane looked down at the boy she'd just saved, smiled and
held out her hand to help him up. "You're the new kid
aren't you? Um, Hikaru right?"
"Um, yea. We just moved here last week." His blush was
noticeable as two ugly blotches on his too pale cheeks.
"Well, my dad teaches martial arts down the street here,
you can't miss it. There's the sign out front. I'm sure he
could teach you something to help protect you from those
bullies, he's a great teacher and I might not be here for
you every day you know." So saying she smiled and walked
off towards school trailing a goofily grinning Hikaru in her
wake.
()()()
Ranma stretched. The faint predawn light filtering
through the window of his room he slowly got up out of his
bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. One of his
duties as a student under Master Absalom Smith was to make
the middle aged man breakfast.
He had expected this morning to be no different from any
other morning had been since he'd begun his studies here
when he was eleven. He would make an omelet of mushrooms,
onion and some garlic for his Master, and one that only had
mushrooms and tomatoes for himself. The Master would
usually Show up by the time Ranma was done with his food,
looking very unhappy at the world. Absalom Smith was not
exactly a morning person. He would stumble down the stairs,
his unusual, wolf-like yellow eyes squinted, and his shock
of silver-white hair standing up in some of the most
unusual formations.
Once Ranma was done with his breakfast, in an agreement
worked out between his father and Master Absalom years ago,
he was to go train with his father until mid-morning. They
had come to the agreement shortly after the fourteenth time
his father had failed trying to reclaim him, after allowing
Ranma to be trained as Master Absaloms student in exchange
for dinner one night. And after training solely in Anything
Goes for several hours he was turned over to Master Absalom
for instruction. The afternoon was reserved for sparing
with the only other student there, Hibiki Ryouga.
This morning, however, proved to be different. Ranma
walked into the kitchen to see his middle aged gaijin of a
teacher immaculately groomed, and already seated at the
table with two mushroom, onion and garlic omelets prepared.
"Master, what ... ," Ranma haltingly began after a
stunned moment.
"Please Ranma. Just Absalom. You're done with studying
under me," he began in a somber tone, "You have learned all
there is to my Eight Heavenly Fists style."
"Master ... ," Ranma managed before he was hit between
the eyes by an airborne spoon. "I mean Absalom. Wasn't it
The Fists of the Eight Elemental Dragons yesterday?"
The man nodded sagely, "You're right Ranma it was. But
doesn't the new name sound so much cooler," he grinned as
Ranma shook his head. "The name doesn't matter Ranma. Eat,
I have something to tell you.
"As of this morning, I have been teaching you for the
past five years, and a better student I've never had. You
know all the forms and all the meditations flawlessly. But,
there is an aspect of my school that you just can't teach.
At some point you just have to go out into the world and
actually learn instead of just being taught to know
something.
"So, as soon as you are done with breakfast, I want you
out of my house. And don't bother trying to come back, you
won't be able to find your way. When you've learned what
you need, I'll find you. I packed your bag with everything
you'll need. It's waiting for you outside." He finished,
and calmly began to eat his omelet.
Ranma was speechless, befuddled, flabbergasted and even
a little bit hurt. He'd actually managed to loose his appetite,
though that might have had something to do with the general
makeup of his omelet.
He sat at the table watching his Master, no Absalom, eat
his breakfast for several minutes before he stood up from
the table and headed towards the door.
"Oh, Ranma, wait one second." Wiping his mouth with the
back of one hand Absalom stood up and walked over to Ranma.
"There are still plenty of training sites here in China you
and your father could visit. I've taken the liberty of
collecting some guides and maps to some of them for your
father. Here." He pressed a small bundle wrapped in a
handkerchief into Ranma's hand, turned around and went back
to the table to finish his breakfast.
If Ranma had stayed for just a few more minutes to see
the grin that practically split the face of his one time
teacher, he would probably just thrown the package away.
()()()
Several short weeks later, at Mt. Quanjing, in the
Bayankala range of the Qinghai province, Ranma and his
father followed a dumpy chinese guide in a Maoist outfit
down into a valley. They passed through a thick layer of
fog, and looked out over a valley floor covered with
hundreds of springs, each with one or more shafts of bamboo
protruding from their placid waters.
"Here sir. Is legendary 'Training Ground of Accursed
Springs' Jusenkyo," the dumpy guide said in accented
japanese, pointing out over the valley floor.
Genma shrugged his pack onto the ground and leapt to the
top of one of the shafts of bamboo. "Well Ranma. Are you
ready? I want to see just how sloppy the last five years of
soft living have made you."
"I thought I showed you just how soft I was yesterday
morning pops," he snorted derisively. Carefully placing his
pack on the ground, he had barely jumped on top of one of
the poles when his father leapt at him.
The guide, meanwhile, just sighed at his customers. Why
did all these martial artists insist upon traveling to any
training ground that had the word 'accursed' or 'forbidden'
in the name. Didn't they ever think that the places had
earned their titles?
The guide was snapped out of his reverie by a loud
splash. "Oh sir. You knock father in 'Spring of Drowned
Panda' shonmaoniichuan! There is tragic legend, very
tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand years ago.
Now whoever fall in that spring ... take body of panda," he
dutifully rattled off from memory, managing to sound only
slightly bored.
For his part, seeing a large panda leap from the pool he
had just knocked his father into, rattled Ranma. Rattled
him enough to miss seeing the panda leap at him and knock
him back towards one of the many other springs. His mind
went numb as the waters enfolded him. There was a curious
tightening sensation, then nothing.
As he dragged himself onto land, he vaguely heard the
guide rattling off something about a spring of drowned
nyasomethingoranother. His curious detachment fled as soon
as he looked down at herself. Fists clenched tightly by her
side, Ranma looked up at the sky and shouted to the heavens,
"If I ever find your cottage again Absalom I'm going to kill
you!"
()()()
Seated comfortably in front of a fire, in his nice comfy
chair, a one Absalom Smith paused in his reading, cocked his
head as if listening to something very faint, and smiled.
their faces grim. They squared themselves, and paused a
moment, seeking any weaknesses in the other. The instant
stretched in the air, hung taut. Suddenly the two burst into
a flurry of motion, seemingly to flying at each other across
the floor to fall upon each other.
Their attacks seemed to flow towards each other, only to
be suddenly parted on the hastily thrown up rocks of each
others blocks. It truly was a sight to behold, until
suddenly, breathing heavily the two of them smiled and sat
on the floor with their backs to each other.
"Well Tendo, you've gotten better it seems," said one,
chuckling a rather breathlessly.
"And you've gotten worse Saotome," said Soun, in between
gulping breaths of air.
Several minutes passed in silence as the two friends
recovered from their match. "Seems like going on the
training trip with Nodoka-chan was a mistake Saotome.
You've gotten slower, and you've put on a few pounds as
well."
Genma made a half-hearted attempt to punch his friend,
which was easily dodged, and laughed. "I may have put on a
few pounds Tendo, but I'm not any slower. And it wasn't a
training trip, it's called an extended honeymoon."
"So Saotome, was I right when I said getting married was
worth cutting short the training with the master." Already
knowing the answer Soun smiled in his memory of imprisoning
the master. His smile broke into full-fledged laughter when
he saw the silly grin on his friends face, as he was
obviously caught in reminiscence of a rather different kind.
"Why don't you teach her?"
The sudden question broke Genma out of his daydream. "I
tried Tendo, I truly did. Her parents paid for the
honeymoon. A wonderful place halfway up a mountain. It had
a perfect training spot there, a clearing up near the top.
There was a brook running through it, lots of stones
sticking up out of the water. Wonderful place for balance
training I tell you. But No-chan... Well...she must be the
clumsiest woman in the world. Every time I took her back
there she just kept tripping and falling onto me. I can't
remember how many times I had to make a fire so we could
keep warm while our clothes dried." Genma sighed and
blushed slightly, at one of his apparently more interesting
memories.
Soun shook his head at Genma. Sometimes he wondered
about his friend. Sometimes he was just so...so...stupid
when it came to women. "So, it was a good training spot
then."
"Yes. There was even a small shrine over by the spring
that fed the brook to some kami or another. Uzume I think,
or perhaps Inari...though it could have been both. But in
either case No-chan insisted on taking an offering every
time we went there. To think of all the wasted food," he
finished, groaning theatrically.
"Perhaps it's just as well that you waited to marry her
until after we got rid of the master. Kei made me teach her
as much as I could after we had Kasumi. She was out for his
blood you know. I think it was when he groped one of the
nurses while she was in labor that did it."
Soun mentally snorted, of course Nodoka hadn't wanted
anything to do with the master. After Kei had told her
about what had happened on their honeymoon she'd lost all
her respect for the letch.
The sound of one child crying suddenly came from the
house, shortly followed by another, and Soun to frowned
slightly. "Well Saotome, Kei will be needing my help with
this one. I'll visit you in a couple of weeks, and we can
go out drinking or something.
Genma smiled, Soun was so whipped, and he didn't even
know it. Waving goodbye he showed himself out and began to
wander around looking for a bar to spend some quality time
in. However before he found the bar, he came upon a clock.
"Ten o'clock already," he moaned. "No-chan's gonna kill
me."
Two figures watched Genma run home with poorly veiled
smiles. This was going to be so much fun.
Prodigy
A Fanfiction by Neplusultra
All characters from Ranma1/2 belong
to Rumiko Takahashi I wish I could
have made all that. Anyone not
from Ranma is more than likely made
by me.
Chapter 00
"I'm never gonna have a hu... a hai... a boy to teach
martial arts to." Soun sobbed drunkenly on Genmas shoulder.
"Kei had 'nuther girl. Eh... Ek... Ek... A... Akane."
Genma looked down on his friend slightly blurrily and
nodded. "Well, Ruh..Ranmas a great boy. His grip's
pur...perfect and he's already crawling."
Genma's admittedly feeble attempt at cheering his friend
only made the man sob harder.
The woman sitting next to Genma at the bar paid her tab
and stood a bit wobbly. "Well," she said addressing the
two, "the answer's simple. Have them marry. Join the
schools." That said she smiled and wove her way out the
door.
"Hear that Tendo," Genma crowed. "Ranma'll marry one've
your dau... girls, and we'll join the schools. Inn't that a
great idea!"
Soun looked up at his friend and stopped sobbing. "Yea
'tome. Wunderful. Bartender, bring us some paper, and
s'more drinks."
The two men were too inebriated to wonder how the strange
woman had known about the schools. Of course, they probably
wouldn't have thought about it if they had been stone cold
sober either, so let's not dwell on that shall we.
()()()
"No! Absolutely not, I won't let you do this Genma.
He's my son too. I won't let you take him away from me,
he's too young."
"But No-chan...," the man whined plaintively, "you saw
him earlier. He already knows the basics, and he just
turned three. If I could train him, imagine what a fighter
he could be if I could train him as hard as possible."
Genma's eyes were bright, staring off into the distance of
some imagined future only he could see.
Nodoka sighed, the argument had been going on for hours
now, and they given up differing arguments long ago and had
fallen back on sounding like broken records capable only of
repeating their last statement. Something had to be done,
and by the look in his eyes Genma was incapable of making a
move. "But Genama, why can't you train him here, with me?
Surely a growing boy needs his mother."
"No-chan. Why can't you understand. If I were to train
him here with you, would you comfort him when he cried? Hug
him when he was hurt? Calm him when he wakes from
nightmares?"
"O..of course I would."
"That's why I can't train him here with you. Women are
weak, and if I let him stay here with you, your weakness
would infect him and he would never be what he could.
He..."
Nodoka tuned her husband out, knowing how long he could
go on about the weakness of women. It was the one bad thing
about him, the chauvinism. But he was the most wonderful,
manly, man she'd ever found. Why, her heart still went all
aflutter when she remembered their first meeting. He led
the way when he and his friend came through the windows of
the bathhouse. How, out of all the women in there, he'd
looked at no one else the entire way to the floor. Ah, it
made her knees weak just to think about it.
"No-chan. No-chan!" Genma gently shook his wife's
shoulder.
"Ah, yes. Sorry about that Genma dear. I missed that
last bit, what was it again?"
"I asked if you'd let us go if we both signed this
contract." So saying he handed her a piece of much erased
paper.
Nodokas eyes grew wide as she read the proposed contract.
It was stupid...it was idiotic, no sane human being would
carry out on the propositions it contained. It also showed
just how serious her husband was. "Ok, I'll let you go my
husband, " she said, fearing he would just take her son and
go if she said otherwise. "Just promise to bring him back
to me"
Genma just stared at his wife, he'd thought he would have
to end up kidnapping his own son in the end. Shaking
himself out of it he smiled. "Come on No-chan, let's go to
bed."
Nodoka found herself giggling, she had married such a
manly man.
()()()
Genma stared down at his sleeping son. At the age of
seven he'd already mastered the basics of the school, and
had gone on to learn the most advanced forms he knew. It
was incredible. True, the boy wasn't able to beat him yet,
but he was more trouble than any seven year old child had
any right being.
Coming to a sudden decision Genma squared his shoulders.
Tomorrow he would take his son out of school and they would
travel to some of the more famous martial arts dojos around
Japan. School was only a distraction anyway, if the boy was
this good having gone to school, he could have been that
much better if he could devote all his energies to training.
()()()
Genma puffed lightly as he raced through the forest. He
heard Ranma not far behind him and frowned slightly, the boy
should have been further off than that. He had been looking
forward to a short rest at the edge of the woods.
Apparently it's time for some heavier weights. As he ran,
he thought about what they would do next. The Saito dojo
was the last spot he'd planed on visiting, and they were
there years earlier than he'd planed.
He broke through the woods, and looked out at the village
nestled at the southern foot of the mountain. Very
picturesque, very quaint.
Ranma broke through the trees behind him and stopped.
Barely out of breath he recovered in just a few seconds.
"Come on boy, I know exactly where we're going. The Saito
Dojo is right over there," he said, pointing at a largish
compound on the outskirts of the village.
"I'm ready pops."
Genma spared his smiling son a backwards glance. Ranma
was entirely too cocky for his own good, he needed a good
beating from someone his own age to take him down a peg or
two. It's far to easy to wave off a beating from someone
older than you as stemming from their experience. Maybe
they should go to China next. Surely someone there would be
better than his son. Or at least at first. It was a short,
quiet walk from there to the Saito dojo. Genma could hear
the sounds of training coming from inside, and knocked on
the gate.
It didn't take long before the gate was opened by a
smiling woman. As soon as she saw Genma however, the smile
dropped off her face as if it had never been there. "You're
not welcome here dog," she said, her voice ice cold as she
glared at him.
He reached out and grabbed the gate before she could
close it in his face. "I may not be welcome here, but you
don't turn down challenges, and that's what we're here to
do."
"What's this," said an older man coming from inside, "the
honourless dog has come back to nip at his masters heels?
Or have you finally slunk back with your tail between your
legs?"
Genma had to bite his tongue, his fingernails digging
painfully into his palms. "I have come back for no other
reason than this Yoichi, tell him boy."
Ranma stepped from behind his father, "In the name of the
Saotome School of Anything Goes, I challenge your school."
"So dog, what bitch did you get this pup off of? She so
ashamed of what she did that she gave him to you?"
"Yoichi," Genma near shouted. "Say what you will of me,
but leave my wife out of it. Do you accept our challenge or
not?"
Yoichi sighed, "Very well, at least I'll get some
entertainment out of seeing what petty tricks you've taught
this pup of yours. Come to the dojo."
The dojo wasn't anything special really, but it was
decently large, and the class that the Saotome's interrupted
was one of the higher level ones. Yoichi stepped forward,
"Class, we have a challenger today. The pup of Genma
Saotome," there was a hissing intake of breath from the
class at his name, "Jiro, do you think you can handle it?"
One of the students, apparently Jiro, bowed, "I'd be
honored master."
"Very well. Class, to the sides. Jiro, pup, center."
Ranma didn't move.
"What's the matter pup? Afraid are you?"
"I ain't afraid. But my name's not pup. It's Ranma."
"Oho, our pup has a spine. Very well. Jiro, Ranma," he
sneered the name, "Center."
The two in question moved to the center of the dojo.
Ranma was still small, at ten hadn't hit his full growth
yet, nor did show much evidence of muscle. Jiro on the
other hand stood almost as tall as Genma, tall indeed for
Japan, and would have done well in professional wrestling
with the muscles he had. Neither side had any doubt about
their winning the bout.
"In honor of the Saotome's style, anything goes in this
fight, ok Jiro," Yoichi said, winking at his student.
"Ready. Fight!"
Ranma was right, there really wasn't any doubt about the
winner.
()()()
"Pops? Why didn't we stick around like usual?"
"Boy, you know we have a schedule to keep. We only have
until you're sixteen before I have to take you home."
"But Pops, we've already gone to the training grounds in
Japan."
"Don't be so small minded boy. Japan isn't the whole
world, there are still hundreds of training grounds in
China, not to mention the rest of the world."
"Oh, ok," Ranma dropped it, not really wanting another
lecture. After a few minutes of silence he thought of
something that had bothered him back in the town, "Um, Pops.
How did they know you back there?"
Genma didn't say anything for a while, but when he did
his voice was the even calm of a man speaking through
tightly controlled anger, "I grew up there boy, and I don't
want you to ever talk about it again."
Ranma, for once, wisely kept his peace.
()()()
The fifteen year old Gosunkugi Hikaru was something of a
shrimp. He was mabey five and a half feet tall, and might
have weighed one-hundred pounds though that was being rather
optimistic really. Of course that was why he was currently
surrounded by three bullies while on his way to school, it
didn't really help that he was the new kid either.
Unfortunately for the young Hikaru he was as unable to
put up anything resembling a fight as he looked. This was a
fact that he was painfully aware of, which, of course was
why he was meekly handing over the weeks lunch money to his
new classmates pleasing them to no end. Sadly for the
delinquent teens, this was about the time when a certain
Tendo Akane came upon the scene like an angel of justice
come down from heaven. As she tore into the bullies and
came to the deliverance of Hikaru, one of the slightly more
intelligent bullies realized that there really wasn't much
difference between an angel of justice and a really cute,
long haired girl ... with really pointy knuckles.
Akane looked down at the boy she'd just saved, smiled and
held out her hand to help him up. "You're the new kid
aren't you? Um, Hikaru right?"
"Um, yea. We just moved here last week." His blush was
noticeable as two ugly blotches on his too pale cheeks.
"Well, my dad teaches martial arts down the street here,
you can't miss it. There's the sign out front. I'm sure he
could teach you something to help protect you from those
bullies, he's a great teacher and I might not be here for
you every day you know." So saying she smiled and walked
off towards school trailing a goofily grinning Hikaru in her
wake.
()()()
Ranma stretched. The faint predawn light filtering
through the window of his room he slowly got up out of his
bed and made his way downstairs to the kitchen. One of his
duties as a student under Master Absalom Smith was to make
the middle aged man breakfast.
He had expected this morning to be no different from any
other morning had been since he'd begun his studies here
when he was eleven. He would make an omelet of mushrooms,
onion and some garlic for his Master, and one that only had
mushrooms and tomatoes for himself. The Master would
usually Show up by the time Ranma was done with his food,
looking very unhappy at the world. Absalom Smith was not
exactly a morning person. He would stumble down the stairs,
his unusual, wolf-like yellow eyes squinted, and his shock
of silver-white hair standing up in some of the most
unusual formations.
Once Ranma was done with his breakfast, in an agreement
worked out between his father and Master Absalom years ago,
he was to go train with his father until mid-morning. They
had come to the agreement shortly after the fourteenth time
his father had failed trying to reclaim him, after allowing
Ranma to be trained as Master Absaloms student in exchange
for dinner one night. And after training solely in Anything
Goes for several hours he was turned over to Master Absalom
for instruction. The afternoon was reserved for sparing
with the only other student there, Hibiki Ryouga.
This morning, however, proved to be different. Ranma
walked into the kitchen to see his middle aged gaijin of a
teacher immaculately groomed, and already seated at the
table with two mushroom, onion and garlic omelets prepared.
"Master, what ... ," Ranma haltingly began after a
stunned moment.
"Please Ranma. Just Absalom. You're done with studying
under me," he began in a somber tone, "You have learned all
there is to my Eight Heavenly Fists style."
"Master ... ," Ranma managed before he was hit between
the eyes by an airborne spoon. "I mean Absalom. Wasn't it
The Fists of the Eight Elemental Dragons yesterday?"
The man nodded sagely, "You're right Ranma it was. But
doesn't the new name sound so much cooler," he grinned as
Ranma shook his head. "The name doesn't matter Ranma. Eat,
I have something to tell you.
"As of this morning, I have been teaching you for the
past five years, and a better student I've never had. You
know all the forms and all the meditations flawlessly. But,
there is an aspect of my school that you just can't teach.
At some point you just have to go out into the world and
actually learn instead of just being taught to know
something.
"So, as soon as you are done with breakfast, I want you
out of my house. And don't bother trying to come back, you
won't be able to find your way. When you've learned what
you need, I'll find you. I packed your bag with everything
you'll need. It's waiting for you outside." He finished,
and calmly began to eat his omelet.
Ranma was speechless, befuddled, flabbergasted and even
a little bit hurt. He'd actually managed to loose his appetite,
though that might have had something to do with the general
makeup of his omelet.
He sat at the table watching his Master, no Absalom, eat
his breakfast for several minutes before he stood up from
the table and headed towards the door.
"Oh, Ranma, wait one second." Wiping his mouth with the
back of one hand Absalom stood up and walked over to Ranma.
"There are still plenty of training sites here in China you
and your father could visit. I've taken the liberty of
collecting some guides and maps to some of them for your
father. Here." He pressed a small bundle wrapped in a
handkerchief into Ranma's hand, turned around and went back
to the table to finish his breakfast.
If Ranma had stayed for just a few more minutes to see
the grin that practically split the face of his one time
teacher, he would probably just thrown the package away.
()()()
Several short weeks later, at Mt. Quanjing, in the
Bayankala range of the Qinghai province, Ranma and his
father followed a dumpy chinese guide in a Maoist outfit
down into a valley. They passed through a thick layer of
fog, and looked out over a valley floor covered with
hundreds of springs, each with one or more shafts of bamboo
protruding from their placid waters.
"Here sir. Is legendary 'Training Ground of Accursed
Springs' Jusenkyo," the dumpy guide said in accented
japanese, pointing out over the valley floor.
Genma shrugged his pack onto the ground and leapt to the
top of one of the shafts of bamboo. "Well Ranma. Are you
ready? I want to see just how sloppy the last five years of
soft living have made you."
"I thought I showed you just how soft I was yesterday
morning pops," he snorted derisively. Carefully placing his
pack on the ground, he had barely jumped on top of one of
the poles when his father leapt at him.
The guide, meanwhile, just sighed at his customers. Why
did all these martial artists insist upon traveling to any
training ground that had the word 'accursed' or 'forbidden'
in the name. Didn't they ever think that the places had
earned their titles?
The guide was snapped out of his reverie by a loud
splash. "Oh sir. You knock father in 'Spring of Drowned
Panda' shonmaoniichuan! There is tragic legend, very
tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand years ago.
Now whoever fall in that spring ... take body of panda," he
dutifully rattled off from memory, managing to sound only
slightly bored.
For his part, seeing a large panda leap from the pool he
had just knocked his father into, rattled Ranma. Rattled
him enough to miss seeing the panda leap at him and knock
him back towards one of the many other springs. His mind
went numb as the waters enfolded him. There was a curious
tightening sensation, then nothing.
As he dragged himself onto land, he vaguely heard the
guide rattling off something about a spring of drowned
nyasomethingoranother. His curious detachment fled as soon
as he looked down at herself. Fists clenched tightly by her
side, Ranma looked up at the sky and shouted to the heavens,
"If I ever find your cottage again Absalom I'm going to kill
you!"
()()()
Seated comfortably in front of a fire, in his nice comfy
chair, a one Absalom Smith paused in his reading, cocked his
head as if listening to something very faint, and smiled.