Ranma ½: The Madness of Ryoga! Pt. 2

The company ran out onto the porch and saw the two boys floating face down in the water. Genma jumped in and grabbed both boys,brought them inside. He laid them down on the floor.

Akane leaned over them but heard nothing, touching her ear to their mouths. "They're not breathing!" she said loudly and scared.

Soun Tendo started to panic. Akane started mouth-to-mouth recessation on Ranma, and Genma Saotome did the same to Ryoga. Both boys coughed up water.

"Aw yuck!" Ryoga wiped his mouth of fur and animal spit. "That's disgustin', Pop!"

Ranma looked at Akane and couldn't believe he had touched lips with her. "Thank you, Akane, you saved me," he said.

"You weren't breathing," she said. Then she noticed his body. "Your body, it's changed!"

He screamed, panicked. Oh no! I changed into P-Chan. But wait! I can't have, I can talk to her.

Butwhen he looked at his body he noticed he was wearing Ranma's clothes. Huh?

He turned to… Ryoga? But how can he be over there, if he was here?

"Ranma?" he said to the other.

The other looked at him. "Ryoga?"

"Are you two okay?" Akane asked.

"No, we're not!" Ranma said.

"What happened?" Ryoga asked.

And Kasumi told them.

"How is this possible?" Ryoga said. "You have my body."

"And you have mine," Ranma said. "The lightning strike, it must've done something when we fell into the water."

"But how come you're—I'm not female?"

Ryoga, in Ranma's body, wondered the same thing about his body. How come he hadn't changed into P-Chan?

"The lightning in conjunction with the water must've switched your consciousness with each other," Happosai said, suddenly appearing in the tea room from the hallway. "It's a freak of nature, but it has been known to happen from time to time. Ryoga's mind is inside Ranma's body and vice versa."

"How do we switch them back?" Akane asked.

"I don't know," Happosai said. "I've never known a Switcharoo to be reversed."

"Switcharoo?" Ranma, in Ryoga's body, said.

"That's what this is, it's called a Switcharoo. It's been happening for thousands of years. It can't be explained, as I said it's a freak of nature. And no one has been able to reverse the process. I'm afraid you two are stuck in each other's bodies."

"No way," Ranma said. "I aint being stuck in this wimp of a body for the rest of my life, I want my body back!"

"Shut-up, Ranma! And I am not a wimp!"

Ranma let out a couple of oinks, knowing how it would anger Ryoga.

Ryoga retaliated by getting to his feet and grabbing Ranma by his shirt, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Anytime, bacon-bits. I'm game when you are. I'll beat you even in your own body."

Ryoga smirked. "Not likely. For once, you're not match for me. And I'll prove it in YOUR body."

"Will you two stop fighting," Akane said. "Honestly, even after this, you're still at each other's throats."

Kasumi had a thoughtful look on her face and Nabiki noticed it, and said, "What's the matter, sis?"

"Why is Ranma, or Ryoga, not female? He fell into the water. He should have stayed the same. He's a boy now."

"I was wonderin' bout that myself," Ranma, or rather Ranma in Ryoga's body, said. He picked up a bucket of water. Ryoga looked at him shocked of what he was about to do.

"No, don't Ranma!" Ryoga cried out, putting his hands in front, as if that would stop the water from splashing him.

Then he splashed Ryoga with it, but he didn't change.

"Hey, my curse is gone!" Ranma said.

Ryoga growled at him angry. Even though he didn't change, he didn't like be used as a guinea pig to test a theory. What if he had changed? He'd be a buxom girl right now and that would be totally embarrassing.

"How is that possible?" Nabiki wondered.

"When they fell into the water and it was hit by the lightning, it must have done something to their molecular structure and nullified Ranma's curse," Happosai said. "Don't ask me how."

Ranma snorted dissatisfied. "Now that's not fair!" he said.

"Why do you say that? You're finally cured." Akane said. Then she realized the situation. "Oh." Then she smiled. "It isn't that bad. We'll find a way to get you back to your own bodies somehow. And we you do, you'll be cured, Ranma!"

"If it could be done, there's a problem," Happosai said.

Both Ranma and Ryoga looked at him with concern. "And why's that?" Ranma asked.

"Because in order for things to return back to the way they were, everything must return back to the way it was, and that includes the curse."

"So you're sayin' we're stuck this way then? And there's no way to change back!"

"For now, yes," he said. "But I assure you, I'll do everything I can to help. I can't bear not to touch those lovely buxom breasts again. So firm, so round—"

"Pervert!" Ranma said, with narrow, angry eyes.

Ryoga sighed. If they did find a way to change back, he'd once again be cursed with the pig. But if he stayed in Ranma's body, he'd never change again. Was living in someone else's body worth being rid of the curse forever?

Ryoga stood on his feet and Ranma watched him. "And where are you goin'?" he said.

"To contemplate my situation," he said.

"There's nuthin' to contemplate," Ranma said. "We're changin' back, and we'll use the freaks old magic mirror to do it. We'll go back a few minutes ago and stop you from slipping on the porch and taking me with you."

"Ranma, do you want to be cursed for the rest of your life? This is a way to nullify everything in one fail swoop. No more being afraid of water. Life back to normal."

"Life doesn't bother me, I like my life, and I want my own body back." Ranma got to his feet. "C'mon; to the old man's magic mirror, we're gonna reverse this thing right now."

"No," Ryoga said, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm not going back to the way I was. I can finally have a normal life. It'll take some time to get used to being in your body, but I'm sure I can handle it."

"Are you nuts?" Ranma said. "Listen, I'm not being you for the rest of my life. I have my own life to live. I've spent sixteen years in that body and I'm not gonna discard it on a whim just to rid myself of some stupid curse. Give me back my body, Ryoga, or I'll take it from you."

"Just try it, Ranma," he said. "'Cause I'm not giving it up-- you'll goin' hafta fight me for it!"

"With pleasure," Ranma said, holding up a squeezed fist and gritting his teeth, smilingwith almost angry delight. "In the Dojo... NOW!"

"The dojo is flooded, Ranma," Kasumi explained.

"Everywhere is flooded," Nabiki added.

"Then right here," he said. "I'll fight him anywhere!

"Ryoga, why don't you want to change back?" Akane asked him.

"'Cause he's cursed too," Ranma said, crossing his arms across his chest andsmirking thinly.

Ryoga's mouth dropped with shock at Ranma's betrayal of his secret.

Akane expressed her shock of the news by looking at him wide-eyed and with her mouth agape. "You fell into Jusenkyo springs too, Ryoga?" she said.

"You said you'd never tell a soul about that, the warrior's code, remember?"

"Things are different now. I want my body back and I'll do anything to get it, and if that means rating out a friend, then that's what I gotta do, eh P-Chan?"

Akane's face went pale. "Ryoga? You're P-Chan? Oh my god, then all those times I changed in front of…it was you?"

"I wasn't my fault, Akane, believe me. I followed Ranma to Jusenkyo and he hit me over a cliff into one of the springs. I came searching for him and then found you. I didn't have the heart to tell you, 'cause… because I love you! And I want to be with you. I want to be more than just your pet P-Chan, I want to be your husband." Akane was totally shocked by Ryoga's sudden confession. She was speechless.

"Hey!" Genma interjected.

"Akane belongs to me," Ranma said. "She's my fiancée!"

"Once I kill you, she'll belong to me," Ryoga said. "Then I'll use the nanban mirror to go back in time and take your place and she'll believe I am you and we'll get married, and I'll be the husband she's always wanted. Everyone will live happily ever after."

"Hey! Who says I want to get married!" Akane broke-in.

"You're insane!" Ranma said.

"No, just idealistic!" he said. "Now for the first time in my entire life I'm happier than I've ever been!" He smiled sadistically. "Time to die, Saotome!"

TBC