The characters of Ranma1/2 and Pokemon are not mine. Nor do any of the other known characters that may appear in this story. Hiraishin belongs to himself but has given permission to appear in this story.
2 B A Master by Lioconvoy
Chapter 1: Back on the road
Ranma took one last look at Pallet Town and walked into the forest on his way to Viridian City. On his shoulder sat Jean Luc, his Pikachu. Ranma didn't care for that name himself, but it had been the name of his Grandfather's Pikachu and he thought his mother might like it if he named his new partner in honor of him. Needless to say she was ecstatic.
Some how Ranma got the feeling his mother's definition of a man among men was her father. During the last two weeks preparing for this journey she would talk endlessly about her father, who was one of the world's greatest Pokemon Masters, or at least as she told it. Personally some of the stories sounded a bit far fetched.
Then again he was cursed to turn into a girl with cold water; maybe it was possible his grandfather had saved the world with nothing but his Pokemon and his courage. Apparently Ranma would get to meet him once he got to Cerulean City; there he'd get to see his mother again as well since she'd be visiting her family. She had taken off this morning on a Pidgeot.
As he walked further into the forest his thoughts turned from his mother back to Jean Luc. In the last two weeks they had come to an understanding. Jean Luc liked being in his pokeball as much as Ranma liked putting him in there; so long as he behaved he didn't have to be in it, which suited the both of them just fine.
Jean Luc was a pretty low level Pokemon and Ranma tried to toughen him up by teaching him the Martial Arts but he never could get it. Jean Luc did level up a bit from their spars though and he in turn gained a better endurance for electric attacks, which was a good thing 'cause Jean Luc had a habit of shocking him even when they weren't sparring.
His father's Snorlax was a completely different story. Ranma had dug him out of his pop's pack and released him from his pokeball, and then he actually put himself back in it. Professor Okido, Pallet Town's resident Pokemon Expert, had explained that it would take time for Ranma to be able to control Snorlax because of his high levels.
-v-v-v-v-
Shigeru Okido sat at his desk, petting his Eevee. His old Umbreon had passed on a few years ago but left a son behind to keep the Professor company. Sure Shigeru looked after most of the Pokemon of Pallet Town, but it wasn't the same as having his own Pokemon by his side.
"Professor Okido?"
Shigeru turned from his papers to his assistant, "Yes Ginny?"
"Sir your Grandson is missing and I can't find his Charmeleon anywhere."
Shigeru smiled, it looked like history was repeating itself indeed. Many years ago he and Saitoshi took off on a Pokemon journey that would change there lives for ever, and now their Grandchildren were doing the same thing.
-- One week ago --
Ryoga like his father preferred the Martial arts to Pokemon. However when he was given Charmander for his twelfth birthday he took good care of him, he just never aspired to go on a Pokemon Journey no matter how many times Shigeru tried to persuade him. Still Ryoga's Charmander eventually did evolve to a Charmeleon by fighting with some of the Pokemon the Professor looked after.
Then came Ranma, also a Martial artist, although unlike Kyo, Ryoga's father, Genma had been able to talk Nodoka into allowing Ranma to go out into the world to train. This gave Ranma a much better training experience than Ryoga had at home. When Ryoga found out Ranma had finally returned the first thing he did was challenge the pig-tailed boy, and lost. This annoyed Ryoga to no end, then he found out Ranma was going to become a Pokemon Trainer. That led to today. Ranma had finally gotten his Trainers license and Ryoga wanted the honor of being his first opponent.
"Ready Ranma" Shigeru's grandson scowled with his Charmeleon by his side.
"Whenever you are Ryoga." Ranma said with his Pikachu on his shoulder and a pokeball on his belt.
"Proceed" Ginny yelled telling both Ranma and Ryoga to send there Pokemon into the field.
Charmeleon ran from Ryoga's side and Pikachu leaped from Ranma's shoulder.
"Charmeleon Dig!" Ryoga yelled sending the fire lizard underground. Ranma and his Pikachu both scanned the field wondering where Charmeleon would pop up when it appeared from underneath the Pikachu knocking it back to Ranma.
It was obvious that Pikachu's level was too low compared to Charmeleon's. The poor electric rodent was K.. Ranma picked up his partner and cradled him in one arm.
"Heh that was way too easy Ranma." Ryoga smirked proud he was able to beat his childhood friend.
"It's not over yet I still have another Pokemon." Ranma said while using his free hand to take the pokeball off of his belt and releasing its resident.
Ryoga stared at the Snorlax now sitting in the field eating a watermelon. He had seen Ranma practicing with Pikachu and had always assumed that the pokeball he carried was his. This caught him off guard, Snorlax were rare and powerful Pokemon, but they were also known for being lazy as well. "Charmeleon Ember!"
The fire lizard obeyed and scorched the watermelon being eaten by Snorlax. This seemed to be a fatal mistake for Charmeleon because Snorlax got up and stood in an odd stance with his paws in front of him and then disappeared seconds later Charmeleon was flat one the ground with tracks on his back. Snorlax then reappeared in the same odd stance and then fell asleep.
"What in the world was that Ranma!" Ryoga couldn't believe his eyes, that wasn't a Pokemon move was it?
"How should I know? I didn't tell Snorlax to do that." It was rather plain to see that Ranma honestly was just as baffled as Ryoga.
"Well it looks like Ranma is the winner." Ginny proclaimed.
--The Present--
"Good luck on your Journey Ryoga." Shigeru smiled to himself.
-v-v-v-v-
"If Ranma can get strong by a training journey then so will I." Ryoga and his Charmeleon set off in the opposite direction of Ranma.
"Char lon mel" Charmeleon spoke up remembering his own defeat.
"We'll both get stronger, and get revenge on Ranma and his Snorlax."
-v-v-v-v-
"I wonder how much farther to Viridian City." Ranma commented to Jean Luc.
"Pika."
Although the pigtailed trainer didn't exactly know what his partner just said, he could guess that he didn't have a clue either.
"Hey you!"
That wasn't Jean Luc, Ranma looked up and in a near by tree he saw a girl about his age standing on a branch. She jump down and landed perfectly on her feet. Taking a look at the girl, she was wearing blue shorts and a equally blue t-shirt, around her waist was a belt pack that girls seemed to wear apposed to back packs. Why they did this Ranma had no clue. She was rather cute though with her hair in a pony-tail. "Yeah? What ya want?"
"How much farther is it to Pallet town?"
"It's about the two hour or so walk from here" Ranma wasn't an expert, but the girl seemed a bit annoyed, but she was the one who flagged him down with a 'Hey you.'
"Two hours! I knew I should have tried harder to talk my father into allowing me to get a bike. He said I was too young to have a boyfriend, I'm sixteen! And what does that have to do with a bike!" The girl waved her hands in the air frustrated. "I'm Ukyo."
It was a bit odd the girl was now introducing herself, but Ranma decided to follow in suit. "I'm Ranma. You know, I think my mom mentioned that my gramps met his future wife by totaling her bike."
"Really? Still I'm sixteen! Mom said Nodoka met her husband when she was sixteen. Then again dads never spoke highly of Genma, maybe he's afraid I'd end up making a mistake like that." She pouted what was so wrong about her meeting a guy. Ukyo looked at the trainer in front of her. He wore a strange red sleeveless shirt, blue jeans, and a pair of running shoes. On his back he carried a larger backpack than most boys carried and on his shoulder was a Pikachu.
"Did you say Genma? Do you mean Genma Saotome?" Both of them had introduced themselves with their first names only…so the girl didn't know he was a Saotome. Still she said his dad married her sister, and that she was sixteen? How old was his mom?
"Um, yeah. My dad calls him a bum. He took my nephew from sis and she's never seen him again. Why?" The pony tailed girl tilted her head, her bother-in-law wasn't a infamous criminal or something was he?
Ranma blinked. This girl, Ukyo, she was his Aunt? What to say about this, should he say anything? He looked at Jean Luc hoping his partner had an answer.
"Chu"
"Is something wrong?" Ranma was looking at his Pokemon and not her. Why?
"Aunty Ucchan?" In an instant the girl in front of him fainted. "Jean Luc, I don't think I should have done that."
"Chu pika pika"
Ranma got the impression his Pikachu agreed with him.
-v-v-v-v-
Ukyo opened her eyes to see the forest ceiling above her. She was laying on a sleeping bag…what happened…oh yeah the boy had called her 'Aunty Ukyo'. The cute boy who appeared to be her age called her his aunt. Something was very wrong with that picture. Okay, her sisters never mentioned their ages, but she knew the gaps between each of them. There was three years between Nodoka and Haruka, five years between Haruka and Kimiko, and she didn't have the slightest clue how much older Kimiko was than her… "THIS MAKE NO SENSE!"
"What makes no sense?" Ranma sat next to Ukyo tending to a camp fire. While waiting for his aunt to wake up it had started to get dark. Although he wasn't that far from home, there was no point in heading back and this small clearing seemed a perfect place to camp out at.
"You can't be my nephew, I know my sisters look young, but there is no way Nodoka is old enough to have a sixteen year old." Math wasn't her favorite subject, but Nodoka met Genma at sixteen and they were married a year later, Genma was two years older than Nodoka. Her nephew…she never learned his name, was born a year after that. So Nodoka was 18 when she had her son…if Ranma here was her son then that would make her 34, Haruka would be 31, and Kimiko would be 26. That meant…that meant there was ten years between her and Kimiko…Kimiko only looked 18...she knew her sisters were older than they looked but that much older?
"But I'm the son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome. I may not be the brightest, but what are the chances of their being another Genma/Nodoka Saotome couple?" Still the fact he had an aunt his own age was pretty weird too.
"I refuse to believe it. I know I was young when my older sister married, but if what you're saying is true…I wasn't even born at that point." In her mind it was impossible, yes he parents looked old, but not that old. "Stop playing with me, who are you really?"
"I'm really Ranma Saotome. I've been on a training journey with my pop since I was four, and I just got home a little over a week ago. For reasons I'd rather not go into, my mom decided I needed to go on a Pokemon journey." Even if this girl was his aunt, she didn't need to know about his curse.
"Pika pik pika chu."
Turning to his partner besides him, some how he got the feeling Jean Luc wanted him to tell her about his curse. There was no way he was going to do it. "That's our secret, okay Jean Luc?"
"You understand him?" Ukyo sat upright and looked to who Ranma was talking to, it was his Pikachu, had he just replied to his Pokemon?
"Not really, I guess I kinda get a feeling of what he's trying to say though. I probably get that from my mom, she seems to understand Mimey." While he was studying to get his license he observed his mother have lots of conversations with Mimey, it was pretty weird at first, but then working with Jean Luc he started to be able to understand him, not to the point where he knew exactly what his Pikachu was saying, but he always had an impression of what it was trying to pass on.
Lowering her head…there was no denying it, Mimey was her sisters first Pokemon, and Nodoka did understand it. Ranma was her nephew. "If you call me Aunty Ucchan again I'll hurt you."
"So you accept I'm your nephew? Can I call you Ucchan?"
"…I guess, but only if I can call you Ranchan" If he was going to give her a nickname she was going to give him one, besides Ucchan was better than U-ko. Her sisters used to call her that saying she needed to be reminded she was a girl.
Ranchan? It sounded a bit girly to him, but why not. "Hey I have dinner ready, you hungry?"
"Yeah, thank you." Ukyo smiled, he didn't protest about the nickname, it was really too bad he was her nephew. Still, there was nothing wrong with her getting to know her family, she could wait to see her older sister a little longer.
-v-v-v-v-
Ranma opened his eyes as the sun started shining though the trees. Sleeping on the ground wasn't comfortable but he figured the right thing was to let Ukyo use the sleeping bag. Raising his head he looked for Jean Luc, the Pikachu had gotten into the habit of sleeping on his chest, he wasn't there? Standing up he examined himself, he still had his Pokedex, but he was missing the pokeball for his father's Snorlax. Both his Pokemon…Team Rocket came to his mind but out here? "Ukyo! Wake up!"
Ukyo slowly awakened, Ranma's sleeping bag was pretty worn, but surprisingly comfortable. Looking around she saw her nephew digging though his bag for some reason. "What's wrong?"
"Jean Luc is missing, and so is my father's Snorlax. It doesn't look like I'm missing anything else, check your stuff too." Professor Okido warned him, and he still wasn't prepared. How could he have let this happen? After Ukyo got up from his sleeping bag, he started rolling it up. He would catch the thieves and get his Pikachu back; he would not abandon his partner.
"They got my Pokemon too, and my Water Stone!" Ukyo was furious, it had taken her forever to save up for the Water Stone, the only reason she hadn't used it yet was she wanted her Staryu to learn some more moves first.
"Muh huh huh huh huh huh huh!"
Ranma looked up standing on a high branch of a tree were two men. One was clad in black: boots, spandex, cape, mask, and bandana; upon his chest was a large red 'R' and as well smaller red 'R's were randomly placed on the bandana. The second man, the laughing one, wore white: boots, jeans, t-shit, and jacket; on the jacket's sleeves were large red 'R'. Unlike the first you could see the second one's face, he had a red goatee, short red hair and black framed glasses. "Team Rocket!"
"To send the world into devastation"
"To disrupt the peace within our Nation"
"To Obey the orders of the Boss above"
"To Steal the Pokemon the Trainers love"
"Hiraishin!"
"Lio"
"Team Rocket rocking at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or we shall fight!"
"Give us back our Pokemon!" The pigtailed trainer couldn't believe this, they had already robbed them and now Team Rocket returned to the scene of the crime.
"Now why would we do that?" Lio smiled, another successful nab; eight Pokemon and a Water Stone. Holding up the sack with the couple's items the elder rocket couldn't help but be smug.
"Finders keepers, looser weepers. Ha ha, I love how stupid you guys look." Hiraishin smiled widely, sure they could have just left with the ill gotten gains, but half the fun of being a Rocket was rubbing in the fact that the people they steal from are stupid.
"Shampoo, thief attack!"
Ranma watched in horror…a Meowth appeared out of nowhere and stole the bag with his Pokemon. "CATTTTT!"
"Ranma?" Ukyo was in shock. Everything was happening so fast first Team Rocket appeared, then a Meowth grabs their stuff, and now Ranma was running away. What in the world what going on?
-v-
Lio's Corner:
-Nice place to end the first chapter huh? Yep there's a self insert, don't worry Hiraishin and I won't be too constant in the story.
-For those wondering about my other works; I think I know what I'm going to do with Out There, Personality is still being held up by Hiraishin, and I think I may give up on Slay Ranma it's been stale too long and I'm just not sure what I wanted to do with it.
Update 22 Mar 09:
-Minor revision, mostly spelling errors and simple grammar mistakes.