Part 3
Water from the Moon

Jane whistled. "Wow, that's one of the weirdest things I've ever seen."

Tom widened his eyes and then frowned at his girlfriend. "One of?" He pointed at the Japanese boy next to him. "She, I mean, HE, changed sexes just now!" He frowned at the other boy and said, "this is way beyond weird."

Jane gave him an innocent smile. "You should check the Good Time Chinese Restaurant, I think that one was weirder."

Daria gave her friend a look but didn't say anything about the Holidays. She sighed and looked at the Japanese boy for a moment. "You really are the same person?"

The boy nodded. "It's all my pop's fault."

Daria closed her eyes. "Ok, either I've gone insane or the world really doesn't work the way I thought it did."

Jane quirked her brow. "Hey, at least you get a boyfriend out of this mess."

Ranma instantly found the ceiling to be the most interesting thing ever. "Uhm."

Tom stood up. "I think I'm going crazy. I will probably go hide in my room for the next week or so." He walked to the door and waited for a moment to see if Jane was following him.

Jane looked at her boyfriend for a moment and shook her head. "Go ahead, I think I will stick around for a while, something this weird can't possibly be boring."

The boy nodded. "Ok, see you around." And he left Pizza King almost as if escaping from a serial killer.

"Not only is Young Thomas one clever fellow" Said Daria in a mock British accent, "but he's also the bravest man on Earth."

Jane tried to glare, but quickly snorted with a small smile.

Daria sighed at Ranma. "So, are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm a MAN!" Ranma almost yelled, hitting his chest in a very Tarzan-esque way. He sighed "I hate this stupid curse."

The auburn haired girl put her head on the table. "Why does this stuff happen to me?" She looked up. "Am I being punished for not believing?"

"You're asking God if he's punishing you for not believing in him." Said Jane with a thoughtful expression on her face. "That doesn't sound right."

"No, it doesn't." Admitted Daria. "But how did you end up like this?" She asked Ranma, looking at his eyes.

The boy looked at her and smiled nervously. "Well... it all started in China. As you know, me and pop travel around the world learning every Martial Art we can and also search for famous and dangerous training grounds to improve our skills." He sighed. "A few weeks ago my stupid father led us to a place called... Jusenkyo. There are several pools and if you fall in one of those pools..." He sighed. "It's a cursed training ground."

"Cursed." Said Jane, "like, magic."

"Right. So, when we got there, my father just goes and doesn't mind the guide and starts fighting me." Daria thought that he wasn't telling them the full story, and made a mental note to investigate later about that. "I kick his ass and send him to one of the pools. Imagine my surprise when he came back as a giant panda."

Jane arched an eyebrow. "Giant Panda?"

Daria nodded. "So, that was your dad?"

"Right. Stupid old man." The boy grumbled and then cursed in Japanese. "Anyway, he catches me unprepared and kicks me to another pool."

"Let me guess, that second pool changes peoples sexes."

The boy sighed. "Not exactly, but... yes, that's the case with me. The spring I fell in is called 'Spring of Drowned Girl', my pop fell on the 'Spring of Drowned Panda'." He pointed at the glass that he had used to spash himself. "Cold water activates the curse, Hot water cancels it."

Jane smiled at Daria. "I got to see his old man turn into a panda, that ought to be funny or at least inspiring."

Daria frowned. "You don't realize that my life may be over?"

Jane frowned. "You're starting to sound like Quinn." She eyed her friend suspiciously. "Should I check for pods?"

Ranma blinked. "Why would your life be over?" He looked worried. "Are you ill?"

Daria glared at the taller girl and then at the Japanese boy. "My parents will force us to marry, you dopes."

Jane quirked an eyebrow at her friend, took a swallow of her Ultra Cola and sighed. "Maybe you could have him fake being a girl, he did a pretty good job bofore, right?"

Daria looked at Ranma, as if considering Jane's idea.

The boy shook his head. "Uh, uh. No way. I'm a man, I shouldn't have to be a girl when I'm not one!"

Daria nodded. "Besides, her, I mean, his, father is back at home. He's probably telling about this to my dad right now."

Ranma's eyebrows furrowed. "No offence to you or your sister, but I don't have time for marriage right now, I need to go back to China and get a cure."

"And how are you going to do that?" Asked Jane, somewhat confused.

Ranma opened and closed his mouth several times. Considering his expression, Daria and Jane almost thought he was about to squeak 'I'm the QB' or something similar. Thankfully, he didn't.

Daria sighed and looked at the remaining of her Pizza. "I lost my appetite."

Ranma immediately took the food and ate it. "Thmim tamste rilmmsly mood!"

Jane smiled. "Daria, you hit jackpot. The boy has a black hole in his stomach."

Daria glared at no one in particular and got up. "Come on, Ranma, we're going home. Maybe I can reason with mom and make her see that this is just insane."

Ranma swallowed and nodded. "You mean me marrying you or your sister?" He frowned. "Pop did say it was a matter of Giri, that's honor by the way. I don't really like it, but-" he interrupted himself and looked nervously at Daria. "Not that I think you're ugly or anything, but I want a cure before I do anything."

Daria didn't bother to reply and started walking to the door. "Coming Jane? The show could be amusing."

The artist shook her head. "I'll pass, Tom will probably need someone to help him cope, or something like that."

"Suit yourself."

"So, here we go again!" Said a cheerful Jake as he pointed at the strange man next to him. He was Japanese, was obviously balding (and hiding it with an old piece of cloth) and was a little chubby but otherwise pretty muscular man. He was wearing a pair of funny looking round glasses. "This is Genma Saotome, my old friend."

The Japanese man smiled and waved at the Morgendorffers. "And this is my son, Ranma" He said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Quinn blinked. "Wasn't Ranma a girl?"

Ranma coughed on his hand. "Eh, that was me. It's... complicated."

Genma looked at his son and smiled. "Well, let's uncomplicate it then!" He motioned to Jake and the other man quickly went to get a glass of cold water. He splashed Ranma.

The change was almost instantaneous. The tall muscular boy vanished and in his place a petite girl appeared.

"My own son... so humiliating. So humiliating." Sobbed the balding man.

The girl glared at both older men. "There was no need to do that!" She jumped over their heads, opened the water line. With great skill he made it splash only Genma, leaving everyone else dry.

The big Panda growled at the boy. He took a sign out of nowhere that said something in Japanese. The boy retorted and they seemed to discuss something.

Quinn looked at Daria. "Did he just turn into a Panda?"

Daria was eating pop-corn. She silently nodded. "Jane should've come."

Helen sighed. For a second she looked like she was having second thoughts about the whole thing. "Well, Mr. Saotome did say that the curse is reversible. Is that right, Ranma?"

The boy turned girl nodded and tapped the hot water line. After it heated enough she splashed herself, turning into a man. He grinned at his father and splashed him again.

Genma growled. His clothes were a mess and his glasses were hanging from his left ear. "Now boy, that's not a toy! Show some respect to your father!"

"Respect, yea, right." The boy rolled his eyes and accepted a towel from Jake, he dried himself as best as he could and took a seat next to his father.

Daria sighed. "So this whole thing is real." She turned to her father. "Why are we being forced to marry him, again?"

Jake smiled. "I didn't tell you, but its-"

Genma interrupted. "Family Honor!"

Daria raised an eyebrow. "Very Traditional Japanese for someone so... weird. But we're not Japanese, why would we care about family honor?"

Quinn looked at her sister and silently cheered her on.

Jake sighed. "It's..." He looked at Helen and they nodded to each other. "It's your grandfather, Mad Dog, lousy evil son of a-"

"Jake!"

The man looked around, as if just noticing that he wasn't alone. "Ah, where was I? Right, my father."

"And my master" Added Genma.

"They were, friends, or something. But being a pair of evildoers, they like to screw people up." He sighed and glared to the floor. "Well, Mad Dog had a fortune but you girls won't receive a penny of it unless one of you marry Ranma."

Daria raised an eyebrow. "So you're not forcing your daughters to marry against their will because you like money."

"Well, I admit that being family with Saotome would be jiggy." He looked at Quinn. "Did I say that right?"

Daria closed her eyes and sighed. She opened them again and continued. "You're whoring us?"

"Daria!" Helen snapped. "That's a horrible thing to say! Besides that money would let you do whatever you want with life later."

Daria glared at her mother. "How much are we talking about?"

"Five million. Whoever marries Ranma would get Three, the rest is divided among the family."

Daria noticed a flash of greediness in Genma's eyes. But nodded to herself upon noticing that Ranma seemed bored with it all. She wasn't sure if he didn't care about money or simply wasn't smart enough to know how much that was.

Jake smiled. "Now that that's settled..." He turned to Ranma. "Who're you going to choose?"

Ranma sighed to himself. Looked at both girls and quickly voiced his answer.