Chapter 1 – Rewrite
It had been a year since the aliens arrived on earth. They did not waste any time with pleasantries or helloes; they just enslaved everyone as soon as they arrived. It happened so fast, and no one knew what was really going on. It was impossible to come up with any strategies or counter attacks. In one Foul swoop, the alien slavers had come and turned the human race into an endangered species on its own planet.
There were only two people present on the blue planet; one bloated, bald man who lacked a sense of honor, and the other was his son. The man, Genma Saotome, wore a bandana around his head and he donned a white karate gi. His son, Ranma Saotome, had jet-black hair that he tied into a loose ponytail, and he sported a white karate gi as well. Both of them looked a little worse for wear, and their clothes were in serious need of mending. However, in light of their current situation, they paid their clothes no mind.
Now, Genma may have had no honor, but he loved his son more than he loved anything else in the whole world. He did his best to teach him his family's martial art style: the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. He even went so far as to teach his son dangerous techniques that he, himself, sealed due to their deadly nature. He desperately hoped that his son would use these techniques to survive against the harsh attacks that came with fighting against the alien slavers. Genma was a proud man, but he knew that their luck was running out, and that he may not always be there to protect his son.
They ran through the forests of China in an attempt to escape the slavers. Father and son ran side by side at a pace that would put Olympic runners to shame. Ranma looked to his father as they ran. He had spent most of his life hating the man that called himself his father, but now that Genma was the only family that he had left, he would do anything to ensure that he could stay with him. It was then that Genma stopped running and came to a halt.
"Hey, pops, what's up?" Ranma asked as he came to a stop. He almost tripped over his own to feet in doing so, and he had to regain his balance.
"Ranma my boy, you go on ahead. I'll take care of them and catch up," Genma said as he turned his back to Ranma. He stood tall and strong, he was ready to give up his life to defend his son.
"No! Are you crazy?" Ranma yelled as he grabbed his father's shoulder and forced him to turn around. "They completely out number us!"
"Do it!" Genma yelled back as he shook off Ranma's hand. "They're gaining and I don't want you getting caught!"
"No old man! I'm staying right here!" Ranma shot back. He was not about to let his only family and friend stay behind so that he could run away.
"I won't let my heir get caught and enslaved by these, these things!" Genma yelled. He put extra emphasis on the word 'things'.
"It doesn't matter," Ranma said as he shook his head in desperation. "If you're gone I won't have anybody left!"
"Are you scared Ranma?" Genma taunted. He knew exactly what to say to coax Ranma into doing what he wanted. He had been training with the boy for nine years after all. "Just like a little girl!"
"I'm not scared of nothin'!" Ranma yelled in defiance.
"Then go," Genma commanded. Once again, he turned around to face the oncoming slavers.
"Fine," Ranma said in defeat. "But if you get caught I'll kill you!"
"I'd like to see you try!" Genma said with a smile. He did not look back to face his son. He only looked ahead, for he knew that if he looked back he might start to cry. In the end, he wanted Ranma to believe that his father was the strongest man on earth.
After Genma said his final words, Ranma left. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. A tear ran down Genma's cheek as he watched his son's retreating form. He knew that his son had surpassed him in the art a long time ago, and even though he would never say it to his face, he was proud of him. He hoped against hope that Ranma would remain safe, and that they were not truly the last humans on earth.
It was then that a group of twenty creatures finally caught up with Genma. The slavers stood about seven feet tall, and they had scaly, dragon like skin. They were naturally bald creatures with red serpentine eyes and sharp fangs. They wore bulky armor made of dark metals not found on earth, but judging by how quickly the aliens ran, they armor was extremely light or they were surprisingly fast despite wearing something so cumbersome. They were all equipped with guns so that they may stun their prey and take them back to their ship.
All of the creatures fired on Genma as soon as they were within range. However, Genma survived for a year fighting against the slavers, and he knew their fighting methods. He quickly ducked behind a tree and took cover. The slavers spread out to surround him, but one of the slavers came too close and Genma lunged forward to punch him in the face. While the slaver fell backward due to Genma's powerful blow, Genma positioned himself behind his attacker and knocked him out.
The remaining creatures snarled as they watched Genma knock out one of their own and use that opportunity to duck behind another tree. The leader of the pack lifted his arm and flicked his hand forward a few times to command the others to surround the tree that Genma had taken cover behind. Like before, they spread out around the tree, but this time they made sure not to get too close. They drew their guns and aimed where they believed Genma had taken cover, but to their surprise, he was not there. They looked around in confusion, to their knowledge it was impossible for a human to disappear into thin air.
Genma, however, was not an ordinary human. As soon as he made it behind the tree, he jumped high into the tree's branches. He watched the slavers from above and waited for his chance to strike. It was then that one of the slavers decided to look up and reveal Genma's position. Genma jumped down from the tree and landed on top of the slaver's head feet first. As strong as the alien was, he was not strong enough to support Genma's body weight, and his neck buckled under the pressure.
The slavers turned to their fallen comrade and watched as Genma fell to the ground. The slavers had never seen the pudgy human fall into such a weakened position in the past. One slaver decided to take full advantage of Genma's fallen state and ran over to kick him while he was down. However, to that particular slaver's horror, Genma sprung back to his feet and punched him in the face. The slaver reached for his gun, but Genma quickly reached towards the slaver and broke his arm at the elbow. The slaver writhed on the ground as Genma took his weapon.
Genma drew the gun and pointed it at the nearest slaver. This was the first time that he had the opportunity to use one of the slavers' weapons. Now that he had a gun made by the aliens' own, technology there was no way the slavers could stop him. At least, that was what he believed. He pulled what appeared to be the gun's trigger, but the gun did not fire. He feverishly pulled the trigger repeatedly, but it was to no avail. The last thing Genma felt was a sharp, burning sensation on the back of his neck before everything went black. The leader of the pack loomed over Genma as he smiled. Though he may not look like much, he could get a lot of money for someone so strong.
_
Ranma stopped running to catch his breath, but he quickly dropped into a defensive fighting stance. He could hear something following close behind him, and based off the way that things sounded, the chances of it being his father were extremely low. If he was correct, and the slavers had won, that meant that the slavers had already captured his father, and as if to confirm his suspicions, the same pack that was after him before came into view and quickly surrounded the young martial artist.
Ranma noticed that three were missing from the original twenty and smiled a cocky grin. At least his old man went down fighting. He knew that if his old man was going to go down, it was going to be swinging. He took comfort in that small fact, but that did not stop the tears from flowing down his face. It was then that it occurred to the young martial artist that he was truly alone in the world, and that there was no one left.
The first slaver that attacked Ranma shot at him from far away. Ranma quickly sidestepped the blast and shot a vacuum blade, one of the Saotome School's hidden techniques, as a counter attack. It sliced right through its intended target and chopped off another slaver's arm. It was then that all of the slavers, except for the slaver who was on the ground clutching its shoulder in pain, opened fire on the boy. They were completely unaware that humans had the ability to turn air itself into a weapon. At least, that is what the projectile attack had looked like to the slavers.
Ranma jumped high into the air and sent off two more vacuum blades towards the crowd of slavers beneath him. Two slavers fell to their deaths as the blades struck home and cut them in two. Shortly after the fallen slavers hit the ground, Ranma landed and rushed the slaver closest to him. The slaver raised his gun to shoot Ranma at point blank range, but Ranma delivered a back fist to the slaver's hand, disarmed him, and then sent a spinning whirl kick to his opponent's head to knock him out.
The leader of the group had stayed out of the fight and watched the battle from a short distance. He had wondered why they sent someone as experienced as he was to hunt down such a small number of humans, and now he had his answer. He silently waited for the boy to turn his back to him and focus on a group of his underlings. As soon as he knew that his prey's focus was off him, he delivered a swift kick to his ribs. The young earth boy fell to the ground and the slavers shot him repeatedly until they knew that he was, without a doubt, unconscious. The earth boy had taken down eleven of their own before the slavers defeated him.
The leader ordered what was left of his men to take the earth boy to their ship, and he made certain that they kept him separated from his father. Never in his life had anyone killed so many of his men before. Just the thought of losing so many men was absurd to him. He knew that he could sell the earth boy for much more than his father, but it just was not worth the lives of his men. However, he smiled regardless. The slavers had finally conquered earth. They could even take a small vacation when they were finished selling the goods.
_
Ranma awoke two days after his fight with the slavers. He attempted to get up but two small hands attached to a pair of slender arms immediately reached out and pushed him down. He took a deep breath to clear his head, but he quickly exhaled the air his lungs had taken in when he realized that breathing caused a sharp pain to shoot through his ribs where the slaver's leader had kicked him. He slowly opened his eyes to try to find out who restricted his movement.
The sight of a young woman, seemingly around his age, greeted Ranma as she looked down at him with worry. She had long black hair tied back in a ponytail, and a beautiful pair of hazel colored eyes. The second thing he noticed was that her skin was as white as snow. She definitely was not from Japan. Ranma tried to greet the girl that seemed to have tended to his injuries, but his mouth was dry and it was hard to swallow. He coughed uncontrollably and could not even choke out a proper introduction.
"You shouldn't move," the girl said. Her voice was soft and soothing. Despite Ranma's position, it made him feel at ease. He gave up on talking and remained silent until he finally found his voice again.
"They got me didn't they?" He asked. He already knew the answer.
"Yes they did," The girl, answered. "What did you do to them? They beat you really badly when they brought you here."
"I took out ten of their guys," Ranma smiled. He may have lost, but he still felt that he had some bragging rights. "Eleven if you count the guy whose arm I cut off."
"You killed some of them?" The girl asked, horrified. She believed that it was impossible to fight back against the salvers. Even if it were possible, the punishment for resisting must have been severe.
"Yes," Ranma answered. He was in pain, but his smiled never wavered. "I did."
"How?" The girl asked in slight disbelief. "They have guns and armor. They're really strong!"
"I'm strong too. I've been trained in the martial arts all of my life," Ranma said. He was not used to talking with anyone other than his father, and it was fun for him to brag about his exploits. "By the way, are we in space?"
"Yes. We're off to some planet to be sold." The girl answered with a sad look on her face. "I've been to planets like this before."
"So you must have been taken early," Ranma said in a serious tone as his smile faded from his face.
"I was one of the first ones that they took," The girl said with a nod. "There are so many races out there. My brother was bought by a katar'l-katar'l."
"A what?" Ranma questioned. He had never heard of anything called a katar'l-katar'l before.
"It's a cat like alien," The girl explained. "But they look very much like humans despite their feline qualities."
"Oh," Ranma said. It may not have been the most intelligent of words, but it fit his state of mind all the same. In truth, he did not much care what the different aliens looked like. He just wanted to go home.*
Shortly after the girl explained what a katar'l-katar'l was to Ranma, two little girls ran over to him. They seemed rather cheerful considering the fact that they were captives. Even more so, if they knew that the aliens were going to sell them into slavery. One of the girls had black hair that came down to her waist, and the other had shorter hair that she tied into two cute little pigtails. Both girls' clothes were tattered and dirty, but they did not seem to mind.
"Katy, is the boy up yet?" The girl with long hair asked.
"Yes he's up, but he needs his rest," The girl that had tended to Ranma answered. Apparently, her name was Katy. "So run along now and talk to Ryoga."
"Okay!" Both the little girls cheered before running off. Ranma watched them as they ran around cheerfully before they disappeared from his line of vision.
"Did you say Ryoga?" Ranma asked after the girls had left. "His last name wouldn't happen to be Hibiki would it?"
"Yes," Katy answered. "Why?"
"I used to go to school with him," Ranma explained with a cheerful smile. "He was one of my best friends!"
"Really?" Katy asked. It was rare for people to reunite with each other once the slavers took them. "I'll go get him later."
"Thanks," Ranma said. "One more question though?"
"What is it?" Katy asked. The boy that she had tended to held up pretty well to all of the new information that his new situation forced him to take in.
"You're American," Ranma said. He had noticed earlier that Katy belonged to one of the western continents, but one thing still bugged him. "How am I talking to you when I don't know your language but I keep hearing you speak it?"
"That's simple." Katy laughed. Everyone was always confused at first. "When they capture us they implant this thing into our head that allows us to understand each other. That way we'll know the languages of our new masters."
"Ya know, you're taking this awfully lightly," Ranma said. He failed to notice that he was the one that took things too lightly.
"I've been here for close to a year," Katy sighed. She had already grown used to her new life. It was then that Ranma decided to stretch his legs. "DON'T GET UP!"
"I'm feeling okay now," Ranma whined. "I heal quickly."
"I still think you should rest," Katy said in an exasperated tone. She did not know what to do if Ranma kept trying to get up. He would never heal if he did not allow his body to rest. Unfortunately, someone had different plans for the young martial artist.
"RANMA SAOTOME," bellowed a familiar, rage filled voice. "PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Hey Ryoga!" Ranma greeted as he sat straight up in his makeshift bed. "What's up?"
The voice belonged to none other than Ryoga Hibiki, Ranma's old childhood friend. Ryoga Hibiki was a young boy about Ranma's height and build. He had black hair and he kept a yellow bandana tied around his forehead. He also wore a simple, yellow, long sleeve shirt and green, baggy pants. The slavers had a tough time capturing him due to his monstrous strength.
Ryoga lunged at Ranma with all of his might. Ranma, despite the pain he was in, jumped out of the way and flipped over Ryoga's head. Ranma cringed a bit when he landed, and he subconsciously brought his left hand to his bruised ribs. Even Ryoga could tell that Ranma was in pain, but that would never quench his anger. Ryoga thanked his lucky stars for having given him the chance to punch in Ranma's face one last time.
"C'mon man!" Ranma yelled. He had expected a friendly reunion when he heard that he and Ryoga were on the same ship. "We haven't seen each other in years! What are ya so mad about?"
"Why weren't you at our duel Ranma?" Ryoga yelled in frustration. He fully expected his first attack to knock Ranma dead.
"I was at the duel Ryoga," Ranma answered. One could feel the annoyance practically oozing from his voice.
"Not when I got there!" Ryoga shot back.
"I waited three days!" Ranma whined. He threw his hands up in the air to emphasize his point, but he quickly brought them back down with a flinch due to the pain that it caused to his ribs.
"Oh sure!" Ryoga yelled as he took an offensive fighting position. "You waited three days! But when I got there on the fourth day you had already turned tale and left for china with your father!"
Ryoga rushed forward and tossed another strong punch Ranma's way. Ranma grabbed Ryoga's punch and tossed Ryoga across the room. Immediately after throwing Ryoga, Ranma wished that he had not moved at all. Pain shot through Ranma's side as he dropped to one knee. Perhaps Katy was right, and he should rest after all. Luckily, for him, he threw Ryoga behind a large group on inmates. It would take Ryoga forever and a day to find him again with his bad sense of direction.
"Are you okay?" Katy asked as she rushed to his side. "Ryoga's usually so kind to the other slaves."
"I'll be okay," Ranma said as he allowed himself to fall on his back. "I just need to rest a bit."
"I believe it," Katy said. "What you said earlier, I mean."
"Believe what?" Ranma asked. Katy would have to be a bit more specific if she wanted Ranma to know what she meant.
"That it took him four days to get to the duel." She clarified. She noticed that Ranma was trying to get up again so she decided to give him a hand.
"The duel was in the empty lot behind his house." Ranma said. He wanted her to know just how bad Ryoga's sense of direction really was.
"I still believe it," Katy sighed. She too, witnessed Ryoga's bad sense of direction first hand. "And I thought you two were friends."
"So did I," Ranma sighed. It would seem that Katy's sigh had become contagious. "Anyway he's probably lost in the crowd or something. Let's get something to eat."
"We get fed twice a day," Katy told Ranma. Ranma still did not seem to grasp his current situation.
"Only twice?" Ranma asked in disbelief. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner happened to be Ranma's favorite parts of the day.
"We get fed once for breakfast and once for dinner," Katy explained. "And we don't get seconds, in case you were wondering."
"That sucks," Ranma complained. How could they expect him to survive on only two meals a day?
"We 'are' slave you know." Katy said. She put extra emphasis on the word 'are' to help get her point across.
"Yeah, but still!" Ranma tried. However, his complaints fell on deaf ears. No matter how much he complained to Katy, his situation would never improve.
"Any way, we should be arriving on the planet tomorrow," Katy said. She knew that the slavers would try to sell Ranma as soon as possible. "Go get some sleep."
"Okay," Ranma said as he made his way to the makeshift bed that he slept on earlier. "Can you wake me up when it's time for dinner?"
"Of course," Katy smiled.
"Thank you," Ranma said as he lay down. "Goodnight."
With those final words, Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts, fell asleep.
_
The next day Ranma woke to the sensation of having his hands bound and cuffed. Afterwards the slavers led him, as well as the other slaves, to a large stand where they held auctions. The slavers proceeded to put Ranma in a line with the other slaves so that auctioneers may view him at their leisure. One by one, the slaves walked down from the stand with their new masters. Ranma was dumbfounded when he noticed how many different types of Alien races there were in the universe. He learned the names of most of the alien races through hearsay amongst the crowd, as well as idle chat amongst the other slaves. He made sure to pay close attention to one race's name especially; an alien known as an Oni had purchased Katy later on in the day. He finally made a new friend, but fate deemed it necessary to take her away from him just as it did his father.
Eventually, a Juraian noble came to inspect Ranma. At least, Ranma believed that the man was a Juraian noble. To his understanding, Juraian nobles were all arrogant, extremely wealthy, and annoyingly flamboyant. In that regard, Ranma preferred the Oni whose race seemed down to earth, laid back, and easy going. Furthermore, the Oni seemed to have the interesting quirk of wearing tiger striped clothing. If an alien must purchase Ranma, Ranma hoped that his new master would be someone like the Oni.
"What is your name boy?" The Juraian asked. The noble's voice gave away that the man was a snob, and Ranma's nose could barely take the smell of the man's cologne.
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma answered in a cheeky tone. "What's yours?"
"You will watch your tone with me, slave!" The noble practically hissed. He picked up right away that Ranma held no respect for him.
"You will watch your tone with me, slave!" Ranma mocked. He tried to make his voice sound a bit higher so that he could match the man's voice. However, Ranma's voice just did not go that high.
"Be silent," The noble ordered. He began to furrow his brow in anger.
"Be silent," Ranma mimicked. All the while, he had a giant grin on his face.
"Stop it!" The noble yelled.
Ranma continued to mock the noble in front of him. If he learned one thing from his father, it was how to get under someone's skin and make their blood boil. Eventually the noble had enough, and the Juraian took a swing at Ranma. Ranma easily sidestepped the noble's pathetic attempt at a punch and popped the Juraian in the chin with a well-placed snap kick. The kick knocked the Juraian noble off the auction stands and out of his own consciousness. Ranma stood tall and smiled at his small accomplishment, but that victory was short lived and he quickly lost his own conscious state after he felt a fierce, shocking sensation on the back of his neck. As Ranma drifted into la-la land, he made a quick mental note of his current situation. "Don't hit the customers after mocking them."
_
The next day Ranma woke to the sound of two little girls crying. Ranma remembered that Katy hat told him that their names were Natsumi and Yuri. If he remembered correctly, Natsumi was the girl with long hair, and Yuri was the girl with the short pigtails. However, he remembered those little girls as being overly cheerful, and they were able to play on a slave ship as though they were in a playground back on earth. Of course, Ranma was inclined to find out what had happened to them. No matter what their ages might be Ranma could never stand the sight of a crying girl.
"What's wrong you two?" Ranma asked as he slowly rose from his makeshift bed.
"K-Katy was s-sold yesterday," Natsumi said in between sobs.
"She took care of us," Yuri cried. "She was like our big sister."
"Um, I could take care of you," Ranma offered. He could tell that the five year olds in front of him were not as carefree as he had originally thought. It broke his heart to see them so distraught.
"Really?" Yuri asked. She tried to stop her tears, but only a little.
"Sure! That is until I get sold," Ranma said with a huge smile. He had meant to cheer the girls up again, but his last sentence only made them cry harder. "Hey, C'mon, I'm sure I won't get sold for a while. I mean, I did just knock out a Juraian noble the other day. I'm pretty sure everyone's too scared to buy me now!"
"Y-you did?" Natsumi asked.
"Yes, I did," Ranma answered. "That's why I came back early the other day. At least, I think I came back early."
"You'll really take care of us?" Yuri asked as hope returned to her eyes.
"Sure," Ranma said as he pointed to his chest with his thumb. "You can even call me onii-chan or whatever you want!"
"Really?" both girls squealed in unison.
"Really," Ranma said with an enthusiastic nod.
"Okay, Ranma-nii-chan!" Yuri said with a huge smile.
The girls still had tears in their eyes, but Ranma could tell that he had succeeded in cheering them up a bit. He always wanted to have a little brother or sister, and now he had two. Now all he had to do was find a way to stop the aliens from buying him. As long as he continued to knock out any would-be buyers, everything should work out just fine. At least, that is what Ranma believed.
"RANMA SAOTOME," Rang the familiar voice of Ryoga Hibiki. "PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Not now," Ranma said to himself. Ryoga seemed to have a knack for barging in at the wrong time. "What did I do this time?"
"Because of you," Ryoga started as he rushed Ranma. "Katy was sold and Natsumi and Yuri don't have anyone to look after them anymore!"
"But Ryoga-san," Yuri said. "Ranma-nii-chan said that he would look after us!"
"That still doesn't give him the right to do what he did!" Ryoga yelled. Today would be the day that he taught Ranma a lesson. "Take this Ranma!"
Ryoga tried to throw a series of punches at Ranma to throw him off his guard. Ranma, however, just deflected the punches with ease and then knocked Ryoga back a few feet with a swift sidekick to his chest. Ranma and his father, along with a guide, came across an abandoned Amazon village in China. While they stayed in that village, Genma found a stockpile of old Chinese scrolls filled with ancient martial arts techniques that the guide translated for them. After learning all of the techniques in those scrolls, defeating Ryoga was child's play.
Ryoga, however, was never one to give up. He came back at Ranma with a flying sidekick aimed straight at his skull. Ranma ducked Ryoga's kick and allowed the angry, yellow clad martial artist pass right over him. As soon as Ryoga landed, he dashed towards Ranma's back in another attempt to strike Ranma. All the while, Ranma waited until the last possible second and delivered an extremely high back kick that hit Ryoga right in the face. That attack would have knocked anyone senseless, but Ryoga had no sense in the first place and the attack did not disturb him much; it just made him angrier.
"Is that all you've got, man?" Ranma asked as he turned around with a smirk. "I thought that you would be a lot stronger than this."
"Shut up you!" Ryoga yelled as he attempted to strike Ranma with a roundhouse kick. Ranma, tired of the fight, jumped over Ryoga's kick and delivered a jump snap kick to Ryoga's chin. While Ryoga's head jerked back due to the force of Ranma's kick, Ranma landed and delivered a hard blow to Ryoga's solar plexus. After that treacherous blow Ryoga finally fell to the ground, defeated.
"That'll teach him." Ranma snorted. He did not mind sparring every now and again, but sometimes Ryoga took things excessively far.
"Wow, Ranma-nii-chan, You're strong!" Yuri cheered as she ran up and hugged Ranma's leg.
"Of course I am Yuri," Ranma bragged. "I'm the best!"
"Could you teach us how to do that?" Natsumi asked. "I want to be able to flip in the air and do cool things like that too!"
"Sure, I guess I could," Ranma said as he placed his right index finger to his chin in thought. "When do you wanna start?
"Now!" They both yelled.
"Okay. Do as I do," Ranma said as he dropped into a basic martial arts stance. He bent his knees so that his legs were at ninety-degree angles. It almost looked as though he were sitting on an invisible chair. "This is always the first stance that most people learn. It's called the Horse Stance."
Natsumi and Yuri both tried to mimic Ranma, but their stances looked rather sloppy. When Ranma noticed, he got out of his stance and corrected Natsumi and Yuri's stances. Once they had the Horse Stance down, he taught them another basic martial arts stance that was easy to learn. This process continued for about an hour or so before Ranma told them to call it quits. He did not want to overwork the poor girls, just give them a small workout. He knew that they had a lot of excess energy and that they could probably take it, but he did not want to take any risks.
Ranma liked the girls. It was nice to have some friends with him while he was a prisoner, and he could only hope that his father had made some new friends of his own as well. He silently wondered what his father was doing, but he quickly banished those thoughts from his mind. If he knew his father, Genma probably sat around and did nothing all day. Though he admitted that his father was strong, he could never imagine anyone ever wanting to buy the man. He was far too lazy to make a good slave.
_
On another ship, Genma sat his day away and did absolutely nothing. However, to say that he did absolutely nothing may not be entirely correct. He spent the entirety of his stay on the slaver's ship in deep meditative thought. There had to be a way to find his son and get back to earth. He desperately hoped that Ranma was still on earth, but Genma knew that there were far too many slavers for Ranma to handle on his own. It was not until Genma heard a familiar voice the he finally broke out of his meditation.
"Saotome!" A tall man with shoulder length, black hair and a mustache cried. He ran to Genma with open arms, and three young girls followed close behind him. "Is that you Saotome?"
"Yes, it is!" Genma cried as he turned around and embraced his old friend. "Is that really you Tendo?"
"Oh, it's so good to see you Saotome." The mustached man, Soun Tendo, cried. "I thought I'd never see you again. Where is your son Ranma?"
"They took him to a different ship," Genma said. His tears flowed, but his voice was as hard as stone. "They told me that he had taken out eleven of his captors, and he killed most of them. I took out three, myself. They must have been scared of our great power and separated us!"
"There is no way he could have taken out eleven!" One of the girls that followed Soun yelled. She had long black hair, and she seemed to be quite the tomboy. "I only took out one, and I'm the best martial artist in Nerima!"
"Who is this Tendo?" Genma asked.
"Oh! Let me introduce you," Soun said. He pointed to each girl as he gave his introduction. "This is my youngest daughter, Akane. She is fifteen."
"Hmph," Akane snorted. She did not like the man that her father was introducing her to, and she made little effort to hide it.
"This is my middle daughter, Nabiki." Sound introduced. "She's sixteen."
"Hi there," Nabiki said with a short wave. She may not have been the friendliest of people, but she was certainly more amiable than her younger sister was. She had short brown hair and a bob cut.
"And this," Soun continued. "Is my eldest daughter, Kasumi. She's nineteen."
"How do you do?" Kasumi asked with a short bow. She had long brown hair that she tied back into a ponytail. She was the friendliest and most feminine out of the three sisters.
"And this is my best friend, Genma," Soun said to finish his introduction. "It's been so long!"
"You have three very lovely daughters Tendo." Genma said with a nod. "And as for what you said earlier, Akane. My son, Ranma has been training for close to ten years in the art. We traveled from training ground to training ground, he fought opponent after opponent, and he soaked up every bit of information that he could. We even found an abandoned village with many ancient techniques hidden within it."
"Really, now that is interesting," Soun commented. The thought of learning ancient techniques excited Soun.
"I wasn't able to learn them all, but Ranma did," Genma said as he puffed out his chest with pride. "I even taught him the Saotome School's forbidden techniques. You may be the best in Nerima young lady, but my son is the best of his generation, if not the world."
"I could beat him." Akane growled. "He's just some boy!"
"A boy with the world's most deadly techniques at his disposal," Genma said with a sloppy grin.
"We must get him back Saotome!" Soun cried as he clutched onto Genma's shoulders. "For our two schools must be joined!"
"You are right Tendo! This is Genma's-" Genma yelled. He trailed the end of his sentence a bit so that his friend could finish it for him.
"And Soun's- " Soun continued without skipping a beat. They hugged onto each other's shoulders as they spoke.
"Operation get the groom!" They shouted in unison.
"What?" All three girls shouted in unison as well. However, their shouts were not as planned and practiced as their fathers' were.
"A long time ago Saotome and I agreed that our two schools would be united by his son marrying one of my daughters," Soun explained with a happy smile.
"Father," Kasumi asked. "How is he going to marry any of us? Space is so large, and we're slaves now."
"I don't know," Soun admitted. "But we'll find away!"
"What does he look like?" Nabiki asked. "Is he cute?"
"Nabiki!" Akane screamed in disgust.
"Here's his picture," Genma said. He took out a picture that he kept hidden in his sleeve. Nabiki took the photograph from Genma and inspected it for a few seconds before returning the item back to its rightful owner.
"I approve," Nabiki said with a smile. Akane just glared at her older sister vehemently.
"Well," Tendo said happily. "That solves which one he's going to marry!"
"Mr. Saotome, do you still have any scrolls from that village you came across?" Akane asked hopefully. If Ranma learned ancient fighting techniques, Akane wanted to prove that she was every bit as capable as he was.
"Nope," Genma said as he shook his head. "Those are all in the village. There were too many for us to carry so we learned what we could and left."
"Oh." Akane said in disappointment.
"Don't worry," Genma said to comfort the girl. "You probably wouldn't be able to learn most of them anyway!"
"What?" Akane screamed. Obviously, his comment had an opposite effect on Akane. Genma suffered from foot-in-mouth syndrome; something hereditary in the Saotome family. "Ranma learned them! Why can't I?"
"You don't have the proper chi training," Genma answered as nicely as possible. He did not want to make the girl any angrier. "I don't sense that you have the necessary chi control to master most of the techniques found on those scrolls. Unless you can mask it well, that is."
"How strong is Ranma Mr. Saotome?" Nabiki asked.
"He could beat both your father and me up with ease." Genma answered as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes.
"That strong, huh?" Nabiki asked. She wanted to confirm that Genma wasn't over exaggerating.
"Yes." Genma said with a nod of his head.
"Wow." Nabiki said with a whimsy smile.
"You sure raised a fine boy Saotome," Soun laughed as he patted Genma's shoulders. "You raised a fine boy indeed!"
"Thanks Soun!" Genma said.
Nope. Ranma's father, Genma Saotome, had nothing to do at all.
End Chapter 1 – Rewrite
AN: Okay, I've decided to rewrite all of the chapters that got messed up by . That would be all of them except for "No Need for Tenchi!" It may take a short while, but I should have them all up eventually. If there's any errors I'm sorry. I consider this to be a rough draft. I'm actually kind of sleep deprived right now -_-.
Anyway, read and review. For those that remember how this chapter used to be, please tell me if you liked the changes I made...or tell me if you hated them. Believe it or not, I really do listen to you guys and try to better myself through your reviews. If you do find HUGE errors please tell me. I'll correct them when I get the chance.
* Genma never taught Ranma the Neko-ken. Ranma also never went to Jusenkyo.