Soun Tendo sat at the small dining table keeping a careful eye on the young
man in the formal Chinese clothes sitting quite close to the daughter he
had not seen in ten years. Said daughter, Akane Tendo, was glaring at the
man who sat directly across from her father. For some reason Akane didn't
like the man who was Ranma Saotome's father very much. And as she
continued to glare at Genma her father Soun continued to keep a watchful
eye on the boy Ranma.
In the midst of all their staring and glaring the group at the dinner table didn't notice Nabiki, Soun's middle daughter, sit down at the table next to her father. And they also didn't notice Kasumi, the eldest Tendo daughter, enter into the living room with two steaming kettles of water. Kasumi placed the kettles on the table just before sitting on the other side of her father.
"Okay I changed. So now can we get this under way? I have some important business to attend to before turning in for the night." Nabiki said get the attention of the others.
Ranma looked over at Nabiki who gave him a quick glare to let him know she still hadn't forgiven him for the furoba incident and saw she was now in a blue long sleeved shirt and a pair of casual pants. He then looked to the table and noticed the two steaming kettles. Everything he needed to be able to explain their situation to Akane's family better was there. Looking to the elder Tendo girls and then their father Soun Ranma knew it was time to start their tale.
"Alright now that everything is in place we can begin." Ranma said.
"Finally." Nabiki commented dryly.
"Nabiki where are your manners?" Kasumi chided her sister, "Go ahead Ranma."
"Thank you Kasumi." Ranma replied.
With that Ranma cleared his throat and looked over at Akane with a smile.
"Ladies first." He said.
"No you tell the first part better than I do. You go first." Akane replied.
"Alright let us begin." Ranma said.
********
The Journey
Episode Two: Explanations
********
"Where to begin? I know we'll start on the day we left for China two years ago. It was six months before we were to turn fifteen. Akane and I were enrolled in junior high school and living a pretty normal existence. Now I won't go into all the details on how I ended up camped out in a vacant lot because that in itself is a long story. Let's just say I was there waiting for someone and leave it at that. Pop then comes racing up to the lot with Akane in toe and everything we owned at the time on their backs.
"By the time pop reached the lot he tossed me my pack and began to demand I go with him and Akane. I really wasn't too keen on the idea and voiced my opinion. 'Pop what's this all about?' I demanded to know. Looking me straight in the eyes my pop told me why he was running off with us. 'I have decided we are taking our training trip a little sooner than expected.' Pop told me.
"The look on my pop's face told me not to argue with him. Two weeks later we found ourselves in China. I noticed my father had our trip perfectly planned out for he brought with him several brochures and a map of China in Japanese with several places marked on the map. After traveling around for another two weeks we found ourselves in the Qinghai province of the country. And it was here where our lives would undergo a major change." Ranma began.
********
"Aw come on pop how much longer are we going to be in China?" a fourteen- year-old Ranma wanted know with a whine.
For four weeks Ranma, Akane, and Genma had been on the road once more. Things were going great for the trio if you didn't count the occasional verbal argument between Ranma and Akane. And when the arguing got worse Ranma's father Genma would have them work out their differences by sparing with one another. It was a great way to work out their problems and get in some training. Genma would always push Ranma to get stronger and better and Akane to control her emotions. The drive to make Ranma one of the best martial artists to ever come out of the school of Anything Goes and help Akane control her violent anger after her mother's death prompted the training trip.
"We aren't leaving until we visit every single training ground circled on this map." Genma said as he crossed off the latest training ground they visited.
With the latest training ground crossed off their list Genma pulled out the brochure for the next place they would be visiting. It was the first of the four places in the Qinghai province they would be visiting. Genma called the trip to China the Great Six tour. The older martial artist believed the training grounds depicted on the old brochures he found were the six greatest training grounds in Asia. The only problem was the brochures were all in Chinese except for the names of the training grounds and where they were located those were in English. Fortunately for the trio Genma could read some English. Unfortunately for the trio Genma Saotome couldn't read or speak a lick of Mandarin Chinese.
Looking at the map Genma noticed there was a village not too far from the forested area they would be visiting. It would be a good place to rest for the evening and weasel a free meal from one of the more sympathetic souls in the village. Every village, town, and city the trio had come across during their journey always had at least one sympathetic soul. And if the town had a small inn or a bed and breakfast the poor soul Genma would take advantage of for a free meal would be the wife of the owner. Women who had a connection to the lodging industry always had a soft heart and when they saw young children they would melt and do anything to ensure the little ones had a decent meal and a place to sleep.
"But for now all we can do is travel to the nearest village and get some food and lodging." Genma told his young students.
"I certainly could go for a decent meal and a warm bed." Akane said.
"Yeah and if someone could cook better we'd be having decent meals all the time." Ranma remarked commenting on Akane's cooking skills.
"Well excuse me mister high and mighty if cooking doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you. At least I have more skill than your father." Akane replied.
Ranma began to laugh at all the times his father attempted to cook. At first Genma would actually make an attempt to cook something but after several failures resulting in pots with holes in the bottom the Saotome patriarch gave up on cooking. Now whenever it was Genma's turn to provide a meal for the trio they would try and worm a free meal out of someone and end up getting into a lot of trouble. After a while Genma would turn the simple task of getting a meal into a training game.
"Yeah the old man couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag." Ranma said with a chuckle.
Akane held back a snicker behind her hand but failed as a soft muffled chuckle escaped her lips. The image of Ranma's father stuck in a paper bag cooking for his freedom was actually quite funny.
"We need to get going. We have quite a way to go before we reach the next village." Genma said.
The trio finished breaking camp and started down the road towards the nearest village. The area they were traveling in was a combination of forests, fields, and mountains. The roads that wound through this particular section of the province were nothing more than dirt paths barely large enough for two vehicles to pass each other and those were in short supply. Usually they saw carts being pulled by oxen and small horses carrying loads of rice.
An hour into the day's travels a feeling of dread and fear came over Ranma alerting him something was wrong. The trio had gone from a forested area near the river to a dense forest at foot of a nearby group of hills. Off in the distance Ranma could hear the faint sound of heavy hoof beats slowly becoming louder signaling that a horse and rider were heading in their direction. Ranma looked over his shoulder to the road behind him and could swear he saw several horses and the glint of a sword or large knife like a machete.
"I've got the sneaking suspicion we're being followed." Ranma told the others.
"You're just being paranoid boy." Genma said.
Akane looked over at Ranma and saw him glancing over his shoulder trying to look for something in the direction they had come from.
"Are you sure there's something back there?" she asked him.
"Yeah, every so often I swear I can hear horses and I can see what might be the sun hitting a sword or a large knife like a machete." Ranma answered.
As the trio continued on their way to the next village the sound of the hoof beats became increasingly louder. Soon it sounded as though they would catch up with them very soon. And with his danger senses going off the scale Ranma took a quick glance behind himself and saw seven men on horseback with knives, machetes, and small swords. All in all they were the typical bandits.
Normally Ranma would toss his pack to his father and try and take on the bandits by himself but that wasn't an option. With Akane on the trip Ranma knew he had to make certain nothing happened to his best friend. The pair had spent eight and a half years together growing up and Ranma wasn't about to end it all by attempting something stupid.
"Um guys don't look back but those horses are getting real close." Ranma said.
Still not believing they were being followed Genma turned around and saw the seven bandits heading straight for them. The bandits were yelling something in Mandarin to each other and were brandishing rather nasty looking weapons. A sudden wave of fear struck the older martial artist and for the first time in his life Genma Saotome forgot how to defend himself and froze.
Ranma on the other hand let his flee instinct kick in and grabbed Akane by the wrist yanking her into the trees. Hoping beyond hope his father would follow them Ranma didn't bother to look back and see if the older Saotome was behind them. The young martial artist knew he had to get Akane away from the road and the bandits as quickly as possible. And after ten minutes of running in the forest Akane finally spoke up to her friend.
"Ranma I don't hear your father anywhere behind us." Akane said.
Looking behind them Ranma saw that Akane was right Genma was nowhere to be seen.
"He probably went in a different direction. He'll find us." Ranma told her.
"But Ranma I saw the way he froze up back there. I don't think he was going anywhere anytime soon. I'm worried. We need to go back there and see if he's okay." Akane said.
"Akane those guys could still be there. And for all I know they could be trying to find us. Our best bet is to keep going in the direction we're headed in and hope we find a way out of this forest." Ranma told her sounding real serious.
"I guess you're right Ranma." Akane replied knowing their main objective was survival.
********
"Let me get this straight you never went back to see if your own dad was okay?" Nabiki asked interrupting Ranma's story.
"Nabiki we couldn't run the risk of those bandits finding us and possibly cutting us up with their knives and swords." Ranma answered her.
"Ranma's decision to run was the smartest thing he could have done in that situation." Akane added as she gave Ranma's hand a slight squeeze.
The other members of the Tendo family were hanging onto every word of Ranma's tale like little children. Akane's family wondered what this had to do with what the pair looked like when they first arrived at the house but figured they would get to that part of the story soon enough.
"So what did happen to you my friend?" Soun asked Genma.
"We'll get to that soon. Maybe I better continue the story father." Akane answered him.
"Yes do continue please Akane." Kasumi said.
********
Ranma and Akane were lucky to be alive and continued through the forests. Hours had passed since they were separated from Genma and the pair was beginning something dreadful had happened to them. Ranma had kept telling Akane they needed to push on and find a way out of the forest or at least a stream or river they could follow. With the midday sun barely peaking through the trees Ranma and Akane had their first bit of good news for the day when they spotted the river cutting through the forest. Ranma knew if they stuck to the river they would be able to find a village and be able to get some supplies.
For days the pair pushed on. Luckily for them the map Genma had been using to keep track of the training grounds they visited was in Ranma's pack. Genma had the brochures with him. After finding their bearings and locating the village they were originally traveling to on the map the pair knew what river they were near and where the next major town was located. Their best bet was to stick with the river. And that's how things were for Ranma and Akane traveling by day and sleeping at night. The pair had given up all hope on Genma Saotome.
Ranma had little time to grieve for his father because he had to concentrate on finding a way for Akane and him to survive each day. But their trip wasn't all just trying to live from day to day in a country they knew little about the pair had decided to visit the remaining training grounds on the map. It was what he believed Genma would want them to do. And it was something he wanted to do as well. The training grounds became therapy for Ranma and helped him to get over what had happened.
Time passed and another month had come and gone. Without Genma's influence in their lives Ranma and Akane found themselves getting closer to one another. The pair had made pretty good time and only had one place left to visit on the map a set of springs located in a valley below Mt. Quanjin in the Bayankala range. This was the one place above all the others that Genma had wanted to visit the most. To him the Jusenkyo springs were the granddaddy of all training grounds.
Upon arriving at the valley that housed the springs Ranma and Akane noticed a sign in both Mandarin and English announcing the name of the springs. They also noticed a small house not too far from the springs with another bilingual sign near the main door to the house. Looking at the springs themselves the pair noticed they were dotted with several bamboo poles. Putting down their packs the pair prepared to work on their balance training.
"So what are we going to do after this?" Akane wondered since they were at the last training spot marked on the map.
"I don't know. Maybe we could head back to Japan." Ranma suggested.
But before Akane could give her opinion on Ranma's suggestion they heard a voice coming from behind them.
"Ah young customers. You come see Jusenkyo." The voice said in broken Japanese.
Looking behind them Ranma and Akane saw a little old man dressed in an olive green jacket and pants with a matching hat with a red star on it, the basic Mao look.
"Yep we heard this place is a good training ground." Ranma told the guide.
"Best in area." The guide said with a proud grin.
"Ranma are you going to stand there and talk all day or are we going to spar?" Akane asked him getting a bit restless.
"Okay, okay we'll get the sparring under way." Ranma replied.
With that Ranma hopped up onto a nearby pole and began taunting Akane.
"Bet you can't keep up with me." Ranma said.
"You're on." Akane replied.
Soon the pair was hopping from pole to pole much to the chagrin of the guide.
"Wait young customers no do that! Very bad fall in springs!" the guide yelled at them.
But Ranma and Akane couldn't hear them. Out in the middle of the springs the young martial artists went into an elaborate sparring match.
"Ha! Take that Ranma!" Akane said as she connected with his midsection.
Ranma countered with his own hit to Akane's midsection with his foot. Akane lost her balance and fell off the pole she was on.
"Your balance needs working on Akane." Ranma said.
From his vantage point the guide knew exactly what had happened. The moment Akane's head broke the surface of the water it was painfully clear she had been cursed.
"Oh dear this not good." The guide said.
"Ranma you baka! You know I can barely tread water!" Akane yelled in a voice that sounded a lot different than it did a few moments ago.
Mad at Ranma for what he Akane whacked the pole he was standing on before attempting to get out of the spring. The pole began to sway and Ranma lost his footing and fell into the spring below. The guide watched on in horror as a once dark haired Ranma came out of the water with red hair and female.
"Hey just because you fell in the spring doesn't mean you can knock me in too!" Ranma yelled in a very female voice.
The pigtailed martial artist noticed something was wrong and clamped his hands over his mouth. Then once he calmed down a bit Ranma felt something strange and opened his gi top slightly and looked down. There he saw a very developed chest. From the sidelines the guide braced himself for what was about to happen. That was when Ranma screamed.
Ranma's scream brought Akane back to reality causing her to look over her own body. That was when she noticed the lack of something up top. Akane had a flat chest.
"What happened to me!" Akane demanded to know.
"Oh it tragic very tragic! Young miss fall in Nannichuan spring of drowned man. Very tragic tale of man fall in many year ago." The guide began, "Young sir fall in Nyannichuan spring of drowned girl. Very tragic tale of girl fall in fifteen hundred year ago. You fall in now you cursed"
As Ranma and Akane got out of the springs they began to gripe and complain about their current situation while the guide ran into his home. They were not a pair of happy campers.
"This is just great. I don't want to be a girl." Ranma complained.
"You think I like being stuck as a guy." Akane yelled at Ranma.
When the pair reached the guide he poured the contents of a hot kettle he had with him over their heads. In a few quick moments Ranma and Akane were back to their normal selves.
"So then we're cured?" Ranma asked the guide.
"I sorry but there no cure." The guide said.
"Oh this is just great!" Akane gripped.
"Then what are we supposed to do about this?" Ranma wanted to know.
The guide then explained to them how the curse worked.
"Cold water turn you into curse form. Hot water turn you back. That how curse work." He said.
"So then all we have to do is avoid cold water." Akane mused.
"That not easy thing to do." The guide said.
For the next couple of days Akane and Ranma stayed at the springs with the guide working on their training. The pair of newly cursed martial artists had no idea what they were going to next. The thought of returning to Japan had crossed their minds but they didn't know where they would go or what they would do once they got there.
"So what are we going to do now Ranma?" Akane asked him one morning.
"I have no idea. I really have no idea." Ranma said.
The guide couldn't help overhearing what they were talking about and made a suggestion.
"There village nearby. I can take you there. Maybe you stay there for a while. Whole village practice martial arts." He suggested.
Upon hearing about the village full of martial artists Ranma and Akane knew where they wanted to go next. The opportunity to learn new techniques was too good to pass up.
"Lead the way old man." Ranma said.
"Sounds like an interesting place." Akane added.
With that said the guide lead the pair to Joketsuzoku the village of the Amazons. Upon reaching the village Ranma and Akane noticed the large number of females with weapons. Most of them had staffs while a few had clubs and bonbories. The guide wasn't kidding when he said it was a village full of martial artists. Ranma and Akane knew they would be able to learn a few things from the villagers.
"Young customers this is village of Amazons." The guide told them.
It was then that a young woman around their age with purple hair styled with two buns and the rest hanging freely came up to the trio. She was dressed in green Chinese pants with a matching shirt and a pair of training slippers. In her hands she carried her bonbories.
"What you do here?" she asked in Japanese just as bad as the guide's.
"I show young customers village of Amazons." The guide told her.
"It only spring guide." The girl said.
The girl then turned her attention to Ranma and Akane and tried to find out why they were with the guide from Jusenkyo.
"You visit springs yes?" she asked them.
"Yes we visited the springs." Akane answered her.
"You fall in yes?" she asked trying to strike up a conversation.
"Unfortunately the answer to that is yes." Ranma replied.
"You martial artists?" the girl wondered.
"Yeah we study martial arts." Ranma said.
"We've been on a training trip through China with Ranma's father." Akane added.
The girl looked around and didn't see anyone else with Ranma and Akane and the guide and wondered where this father Akane had mentioned was.
"Were father?" she asked.
The girl waited patiently for an answer and after a few brief moments of silence it was Akane who finally gave one seeing Ranma's reaction to the question.
"He's no longer with us. We were ambushed by bandits and were forced to split up. Ranma and I thought his father would catch up with us but it never happened. After a few days of traveling by foot we declared him dead and decided to go on with our lives." Akane explained.
"That sad. He your father too yes?" the girl asked.
"No he wasn't my father but he was my sensei." Akane replied.
The girl could tell she liked the pair of martial artists and knew they would need a place to stay for a while. With no mention of a mother for Ranma and parents for Akane the girl figured they must be orphans. And judging from the looks of them the girl figured Ranma and Akane were pretty good with martial arts. Maybe she could convince one of the elders in the village to allow them to stay.
"You stay here in village. We go see Great Grandmother. She let you stay." The girl said.
"Thanks. By the way I'm Akane and this is Ranma." Akane replied.
"Me Xian Pu." The girl said introducing herself.
"Shampoo? What sort of name is Shampoo?" Ranma asked.
"Silly Ranma. Not Shampoo it Xian. Xian Pu." Shampoo corrected him.
"Xian that's a real nice name." Akane said.
********
"Xian took us to see her great grandmother Ku Lon who was one of the village elders. After explaining our situation to her Ku Lon allowed us to stay with her and Xian as their guests. And during the next meeting of the village elders Ku Lon brought up our situation to them. She told them how she could see great potential in both of us and how it could be brought out with proper training. She also said since we didn't seem to have any parents it would only be right that she adopt us into the Amazon tribe so we would have a home.
"The elders said they would consider the adoption only after they saw what sort of martial arts skills Ranma and I possessed. And until then they would allow us to stay with Ku Lon and Xian as their guests. A few days after our arrival at the village we were brought before the elders to have our martial arts skills evaluated. We each went before the council separately and showed them everything we knew. And after a long deliberation the council decided to make us members of their tribe.
"But of course that came with a small catch. There were certain tasks we had to perform and duties we would have to take on. We agreed to perform the duties and complete the tasks every Amazon must perform before coming of age. After completing those tasks we were made members of the tribe and became a part of Ku Lon's family." Akane said.
"Wow that's quite a story." Nabiki commented quite amazed at what she heard.
"It's not over yet." Akane replied.
Ranma then picked up the story once again.
"For the next year and a half Akane and I along with Xian learned all we could from Ku Lon including how to speak and understand Mandarin Chinese. And also during that time we were witness to an actual Amazon wedding when Xian married her childhood friend Mut Su. They even had a baby girl they named Rin. Things were going pretty good for us and we didn't see the guide again until the day of the annual village tournament. That's when we received an unexpected visitor. Somebody had returned from beyond the grave to make our lives miserable. And to add injury to insult he ruined the tournament. Luckily for him Xian couldn't compete this year because it was still too soon after childbirth. If it were her victory feast he had ruined she would have killed him.
"Now there are things we saw in the village that we promised not to mention to anyone outside the tribe. But around the time of the tournament threats from a nearby warrior tribe were beginning to mount and they needed every single member of the tribe to help defend the village. And since we were members of the tribe we were expected to help with the village defense. But this baka of a father of mine decided we needed to leave real fast for some reason. And he wouldn't let us explain anything to him." Ranma said.
"I was rightfully taking back what was mine, my son and my student. Besides, I have a pact to fulfill and I'll be damned if I don't go through with it. As I have said time and time again it's a matter of Saotome family pride and honor." Genma replied.
"Honor my butt old man you just won't listen to us." Akane complained.
Once again the glaring match between Genma and Ranma and Akane was well underway. Soun understood some of what was angering Ranma and Akane but he felt as though there was something they weren't telling everyone.
"So Genma my friend where were you all that time?" Soun asked Genma.
"I'll make a long story short and cut to the chase. The bandits messed me up pretty good and left me on the side of the road with nothing but my old brochures ironically enough. After a while I was found by an old couple on their way back to the village we were originally headed for. I woke up four days later wrapped in bandages in the local clinic. By some miracle the local doctor could speak pretty darn good Japanese. I spent some time recovering from my injuries and when I was well enough I began my search for Ranma and Akane." Genma began.
"You mean you took a year and a half to find my baby girl Saotome?" Soun wondered.
"Well I figured they would go to the remaining training grounds on the map and began my search there. With no map and no knowledge of Mandarin Chinese it was difficult finding my way around the Chinese countryside. So of course it took me some time to find them. And after hitting all the other training grounds looking for them I came upon Jusenkyo where I met the guide who watches over the springs." Genma replied.
"Tell them how you became cursed pop." Ranma said still glaring at Genma.
"They really don't need to hear that." Genma replied.
"I think they do old man." Akane said.
With a glare at Ranma and Akane and a heavy sigh Genma told Soun and his eldest daughters how he became cursed at Jusenkyo.
"When I got to the springs I decided to brush up on my balance training. I was going along real well until I lost my balance and fell into one of the springs. The guide explained to me what had happened and what spring I fell in. He said it was called Shonmaoniichuan the spring of the drowned panda. A couple of days later he took me to a nearby village where I was reunited with my son and Akane. I figured the best course of action was to return Akane to her family and so we set out to return to Japan. And that pretty much what happened." Genma said.
Soun and his oldest daughters sat there for a moment taking in everything they hear. It was hard to believe everything Ranma, Akane, and Genma had told them.
"So let me get this straight cold water activates your curses and warm water changes you back?" Nabiki asked trying to understand things.
"Yep allow me to demonstrate." Ranma said as he grabbed hold of his father and flung him into the koi pond outside the living room.
Genma hit the pond with a splash and when he came out he was a panda once again. From out of nowhere Genma pulled out one of his signs.
"What was that for?" the sign said.
"You deserved it pop." Ranma replied.
With a growl Genma threw Ranma into the pond and when he came back into the room he was the red head once more. Seeing the red head with her sister more than convinced Nabiki they were telling the truth before about who was who.
"And warm water changes you back?" Soun asked.
"Yep." Ranma said as she poured the still steaming kettle over Genma's head.
"Grooooowwwwlllll-ouch warm not boiling!" Genma said as he changed back.
Ranma then took the second kettle and poured it over her head and changed back to his male self once more. Actually seeing the transformation take place was quite an amazing site for Soun and his oldest daughters. And they were a bit surprised at how calm Ranma was about being cursed.
"The water is a bit too hot Kasumi. It doesn't have to be boiling." Ranma said.
Soun then looked over at Ranma and tried not to cry another one of his patented cries. The Tendo patriarch had so much to thank Ranma for.
"Thank you Ranma for watching out for my baby girl. You don't know what this means to me." Soun said with watery eyes.
"I only did what I thought would be the right thing to do." Ranma replied.
"Now that that's out of the way we can get down to the business of fulfilling our pact Saotome." Genma said to his old friend.
"Quite right Soun. Ranma my boy before any of you were born Akane's father and I made a pact to join the two schools of Anything Goes. That joining would take place through the marriage between one of my children and one of Soun's children. So to get straight to the point one of Soun's oldest daughters will become your fiancé. You and Akane act too much like brother and sister to be betrothed to one another." Genma told Ranma.
With a big grin on his face Soun properly introduced his other daughters to Ranma.
"Ranma my I present my daughters Kasumi age nineteen and Nabiki age seventeen. Now then which one will become your fiancé?" Soun said.
"Neither." Ranma replied.
Everyone but Akane was shocked to hear Ranma refuse Kasumi and Nabiki.
"What?" they asked shocked at what they heard not quite believing it.
"No offense but I can't marry either one of them." Ranma said.
"And why is that boy?" Genma demanded to know.
"Because I already married someone in Joketsuzoku." Ranma told him.
Upon hearing that Soun became very angry and let his battle aura rise. Soon Ranma found himself face to face with a very large demon headed Soun.
"You dare to dishonor my family Ranma!" the demon Soun yelled.
"Who was it boy?" Genma wanted to know.
"It was me old man!" Akane yelled at Genma, "We would have told you in the first place if you only listened to us! But no you baka you had to drag us off spouting all that honor junk!"
Akane then grabbed one of the kettles and whacked Genma over the head with it.
"Stupid baka." She griped.
"Don't you think that was a bit uncalled for Akane?" Kasumi asked her.
"He's had that coming to him ever since Joketsuzoku." Ranma said calmly.
When the realization of Akane's words sunk in Soun lost his demon head and began to cry patented cry number one my little girl has grown up.
"Whaaaaaaa! Akane is a married woman now!" Soun bawled.
"Um I don't know how legal an Amazon marriage is here dad but if you must know we got married the same time Xian and Mu did a little over a year ago." Akane said.
"Oh my. Well, welcome to the family Ranma." Kasumi said with a smile.
********
You asked for it and here you have it another installment of The Journey. My four reviewers should be happy to see this. First off I want to thank them for the reviews and the proprietors of the Ranma ½ Perfect Edition for all the useful information they have on characters, locations, attacks, and items as well as info on the anime and manga. I'll be going to them to help get the correct names of things for the entire series. Keep them coming.
As you have seen in this episode Akane and Ranma are married as well as Shampoo and Mousse. And as you can see they had a baby named Rin Su or Rinse. Because they're married and friends with our favorite couple there's going to be another Amazon coming after someone in the Tendo dojo. I bet we all know who that will be. If you're wondering yes Shampoo and Mousse will have curses and they will have gotten them after Ranma and Akane left the village. And yes there will be a cursed Ryouga in the story as well as Ukyo too.
Genma in this episode was a bit reluctant to tell the entire story of what happened to him after the bandits. We'll go into that story in a latter episode. Now I know some of you are wondering what happened to the Saotome final attack of run away. Well as you saw Ranma practiced it perfectly while Genma froze in his tracks. Ranma told him not to look back. I need that incident to take place to not only give the story some color but also to separate Ranma and Akane from Genma's influence. It forced them to grow up quite a bit when they thought Genma was dead and fall in love too. The story of their time in the Amazon village will also be featured in a future episode.
Seeing as how I plan to somewhat follow the original storyline concerning who gets introduced when Ranma will have a rivalry with Kuno. But what will be the trigger for this rivalry in the first place? And will Kuno go after Akane? Also even though Ranma is used to his curse will he still be a magnet for water (i.e. the little old lady cleansing her home from evil spirits each morning)? And what attacks will Ranma and Akane know having studied under Cologne for over a year?
So what's next on the docket for out favorite couple? Can you say school? That's right Ranma you and Akane are going to high school. Nihao Furinkan High here's Ranma and Akane. And of course the infamous Blue Thunder will be there too. So tune in for the next episode of The Journey episode three: The Blue Thunder of Furinkan.
In the midst of all their staring and glaring the group at the dinner table didn't notice Nabiki, Soun's middle daughter, sit down at the table next to her father. And they also didn't notice Kasumi, the eldest Tendo daughter, enter into the living room with two steaming kettles of water. Kasumi placed the kettles on the table just before sitting on the other side of her father.
"Okay I changed. So now can we get this under way? I have some important business to attend to before turning in for the night." Nabiki said get the attention of the others.
Ranma looked over at Nabiki who gave him a quick glare to let him know she still hadn't forgiven him for the furoba incident and saw she was now in a blue long sleeved shirt and a pair of casual pants. He then looked to the table and noticed the two steaming kettles. Everything he needed to be able to explain their situation to Akane's family better was there. Looking to the elder Tendo girls and then their father Soun Ranma knew it was time to start their tale.
"Alright now that everything is in place we can begin." Ranma said.
"Finally." Nabiki commented dryly.
"Nabiki where are your manners?" Kasumi chided her sister, "Go ahead Ranma."
"Thank you Kasumi." Ranma replied.
With that Ranma cleared his throat and looked over at Akane with a smile.
"Ladies first." He said.
"No you tell the first part better than I do. You go first." Akane replied.
"Alright let us begin." Ranma said.
********
The Journey
Episode Two: Explanations
********
"Where to begin? I know we'll start on the day we left for China two years ago. It was six months before we were to turn fifteen. Akane and I were enrolled in junior high school and living a pretty normal existence. Now I won't go into all the details on how I ended up camped out in a vacant lot because that in itself is a long story. Let's just say I was there waiting for someone and leave it at that. Pop then comes racing up to the lot with Akane in toe and everything we owned at the time on their backs.
"By the time pop reached the lot he tossed me my pack and began to demand I go with him and Akane. I really wasn't too keen on the idea and voiced my opinion. 'Pop what's this all about?' I demanded to know. Looking me straight in the eyes my pop told me why he was running off with us. 'I have decided we are taking our training trip a little sooner than expected.' Pop told me.
"The look on my pop's face told me not to argue with him. Two weeks later we found ourselves in China. I noticed my father had our trip perfectly planned out for he brought with him several brochures and a map of China in Japanese with several places marked on the map. After traveling around for another two weeks we found ourselves in the Qinghai province of the country. And it was here where our lives would undergo a major change." Ranma began.
********
"Aw come on pop how much longer are we going to be in China?" a fourteen- year-old Ranma wanted know with a whine.
For four weeks Ranma, Akane, and Genma had been on the road once more. Things were going great for the trio if you didn't count the occasional verbal argument between Ranma and Akane. And when the arguing got worse Ranma's father Genma would have them work out their differences by sparing with one another. It was a great way to work out their problems and get in some training. Genma would always push Ranma to get stronger and better and Akane to control her emotions. The drive to make Ranma one of the best martial artists to ever come out of the school of Anything Goes and help Akane control her violent anger after her mother's death prompted the training trip.
"We aren't leaving until we visit every single training ground circled on this map." Genma said as he crossed off the latest training ground they visited.
With the latest training ground crossed off their list Genma pulled out the brochure for the next place they would be visiting. It was the first of the four places in the Qinghai province they would be visiting. Genma called the trip to China the Great Six tour. The older martial artist believed the training grounds depicted on the old brochures he found were the six greatest training grounds in Asia. The only problem was the brochures were all in Chinese except for the names of the training grounds and where they were located those were in English. Fortunately for the trio Genma could read some English. Unfortunately for the trio Genma Saotome couldn't read or speak a lick of Mandarin Chinese.
Looking at the map Genma noticed there was a village not too far from the forested area they would be visiting. It would be a good place to rest for the evening and weasel a free meal from one of the more sympathetic souls in the village. Every village, town, and city the trio had come across during their journey always had at least one sympathetic soul. And if the town had a small inn or a bed and breakfast the poor soul Genma would take advantage of for a free meal would be the wife of the owner. Women who had a connection to the lodging industry always had a soft heart and when they saw young children they would melt and do anything to ensure the little ones had a decent meal and a place to sleep.
"But for now all we can do is travel to the nearest village and get some food and lodging." Genma told his young students.
"I certainly could go for a decent meal and a warm bed." Akane said.
"Yeah and if someone could cook better we'd be having decent meals all the time." Ranma remarked commenting on Akane's cooking skills.
"Well excuse me mister high and mighty if cooking doesn't come naturally to me like it does for you. At least I have more skill than your father." Akane replied.
Ranma began to laugh at all the times his father attempted to cook. At first Genma would actually make an attempt to cook something but after several failures resulting in pots with holes in the bottom the Saotome patriarch gave up on cooking. Now whenever it was Genma's turn to provide a meal for the trio they would try and worm a free meal out of someone and end up getting into a lot of trouble. After a while Genma would turn the simple task of getting a meal into a training game.
"Yeah the old man couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag." Ranma said with a chuckle.
Akane held back a snicker behind her hand but failed as a soft muffled chuckle escaped her lips. The image of Ranma's father stuck in a paper bag cooking for his freedom was actually quite funny.
"We need to get going. We have quite a way to go before we reach the next village." Genma said.
The trio finished breaking camp and started down the road towards the nearest village. The area they were traveling in was a combination of forests, fields, and mountains. The roads that wound through this particular section of the province were nothing more than dirt paths barely large enough for two vehicles to pass each other and those were in short supply. Usually they saw carts being pulled by oxen and small horses carrying loads of rice.
An hour into the day's travels a feeling of dread and fear came over Ranma alerting him something was wrong. The trio had gone from a forested area near the river to a dense forest at foot of a nearby group of hills. Off in the distance Ranma could hear the faint sound of heavy hoof beats slowly becoming louder signaling that a horse and rider were heading in their direction. Ranma looked over his shoulder to the road behind him and could swear he saw several horses and the glint of a sword or large knife like a machete.
"I've got the sneaking suspicion we're being followed." Ranma told the others.
"You're just being paranoid boy." Genma said.
Akane looked over at Ranma and saw him glancing over his shoulder trying to look for something in the direction they had come from.
"Are you sure there's something back there?" she asked him.
"Yeah, every so often I swear I can hear horses and I can see what might be the sun hitting a sword or a large knife like a machete." Ranma answered.
As the trio continued on their way to the next village the sound of the hoof beats became increasingly louder. Soon it sounded as though they would catch up with them very soon. And with his danger senses going off the scale Ranma took a quick glance behind himself and saw seven men on horseback with knives, machetes, and small swords. All in all they were the typical bandits.
Normally Ranma would toss his pack to his father and try and take on the bandits by himself but that wasn't an option. With Akane on the trip Ranma knew he had to make certain nothing happened to his best friend. The pair had spent eight and a half years together growing up and Ranma wasn't about to end it all by attempting something stupid.
"Um guys don't look back but those horses are getting real close." Ranma said.
Still not believing they were being followed Genma turned around and saw the seven bandits heading straight for them. The bandits were yelling something in Mandarin to each other and were brandishing rather nasty looking weapons. A sudden wave of fear struck the older martial artist and for the first time in his life Genma Saotome forgot how to defend himself and froze.
Ranma on the other hand let his flee instinct kick in and grabbed Akane by the wrist yanking her into the trees. Hoping beyond hope his father would follow them Ranma didn't bother to look back and see if the older Saotome was behind them. The young martial artist knew he had to get Akane away from the road and the bandits as quickly as possible. And after ten minutes of running in the forest Akane finally spoke up to her friend.
"Ranma I don't hear your father anywhere behind us." Akane said.
Looking behind them Ranma saw that Akane was right Genma was nowhere to be seen.
"He probably went in a different direction. He'll find us." Ranma told her.
"But Ranma I saw the way he froze up back there. I don't think he was going anywhere anytime soon. I'm worried. We need to go back there and see if he's okay." Akane said.
"Akane those guys could still be there. And for all I know they could be trying to find us. Our best bet is to keep going in the direction we're headed in and hope we find a way out of this forest." Ranma told her sounding real serious.
"I guess you're right Ranma." Akane replied knowing their main objective was survival.
********
"Let me get this straight you never went back to see if your own dad was okay?" Nabiki asked interrupting Ranma's story.
"Nabiki we couldn't run the risk of those bandits finding us and possibly cutting us up with their knives and swords." Ranma answered her.
"Ranma's decision to run was the smartest thing he could have done in that situation." Akane added as she gave Ranma's hand a slight squeeze.
The other members of the Tendo family were hanging onto every word of Ranma's tale like little children. Akane's family wondered what this had to do with what the pair looked like when they first arrived at the house but figured they would get to that part of the story soon enough.
"So what did happen to you my friend?" Soun asked Genma.
"We'll get to that soon. Maybe I better continue the story father." Akane answered him.
"Yes do continue please Akane." Kasumi said.
********
Ranma and Akane were lucky to be alive and continued through the forests. Hours had passed since they were separated from Genma and the pair was beginning something dreadful had happened to them. Ranma had kept telling Akane they needed to push on and find a way out of the forest or at least a stream or river they could follow. With the midday sun barely peaking through the trees Ranma and Akane had their first bit of good news for the day when they spotted the river cutting through the forest. Ranma knew if they stuck to the river they would be able to find a village and be able to get some supplies.
For days the pair pushed on. Luckily for them the map Genma had been using to keep track of the training grounds they visited was in Ranma's pack. Genma had the brochures with him. After finding their bearings and locating the village they were originally traveling to on the map the pair knew what river they were near and where the next major town was located. Their best bet was to stick with the river. And that's how things were for Ranma and Akane traveling by day and sleeping at night. The pair had given up all hope on Genma Saotome.
Ranma had little time to grieve for his father because he had to concentrate on finding a way for Akane and him to survive each day. But their trip wasn't all just trying to live from day to day in a country they knew little about the pair had decided to visit the remaining training grounds on the map. It was what he believed Genma would want them to do. And it was something he wanted to do as well. The training grounds became therapy for Ranma and helped him to get over what had happened.
Time passed and another month had come and gone. Without Genma's influence in their lives Ranma and Akane found themselves getting closer to one another. The pair had made pretty good time and only had one place left to visit on the map a set of springs located in a valley below Mt. Quanjin in the Bayankala range. This was the one place above all the others that Genma had wanted to visit the most. To him the Jusenkyo springs were the granddaddy of all training grounds.
Upon arriving at the valley that housed the springs Ranma and Akane noticed a sign in both Mandarin and English announcing the name of the springs. They also noticed a small house not too far from the springs with another bilingual sign near the main door to the house. Looking at the springs themselves the pair noticed they were dotted with several bamboo poles. Putting down their packs the pair prepared to work on their balance training.
"So what are we going to do after this?" Akane wondered since they were at the last training spot marked on the map.
"I don't know. Maybe we could head back to Japan." Ranma suggested.
But before Akane could give her opinion on Ranma's suggestion they heard a voice coming from behind them.
"Ah young customers. You come see Jusenkyo." The voice said in broken Japanese.
Looking behind them Ranma and Akane saw a little old man dressed in an olive green jacket and pants with a matching hat with a red star on it, the basic Mao look.
"Yep we heard this place is a good training ground." Ranma told the guide.
"Best in area." The guide said with a proud grin.
"Ranma are you going to stand there and talk all day or are we going to spar?" Akane asked him getting a bit restless.
"Okay, okay we'll get the sparring under way." Ranma replied.
With that Ranma hopped up onto a nearby pole and began taunting Akane.
"Bet you can't keep up with me." Ranma said.
"You're on." Akane replied.
Soon the pair was hopping from pole to pole much to the chagrin of the guide.
"Wait young customers no do that! Very bad fall in springs!" the guide yelled at them.
But Ranma and Akane couldn't hear them. Out in the middle of the springs the young martial artists went into an elaborate sparring match.
"Ha! Take that Ranma!" Akane said as she connected with his midsection.
Ranma countered with his own hit to Akane's midsection with his foot. Akane lost her balance and fell off the pole she was on.
"Your balance needs working on Akane." Ranma said.
From his vantage point the guide knew exactly what had happened. The moment Akane's head broke the surface of the water it was painfully clear she had been cursed.
"Oh dear this not good." The guide said.
"Ranma you baka! You know I can barely tread water!" Akane yelled in a voice that sounded a lot different than it did a few moments ago.
Mad at Ranma for what he Akane whacked the pole he was standing on before attempting to get out of the spring. The pole began to sway and Ranma lost his footing and fell into the spring below. The guide watched on in horror as a once dark haired Ranma came out of the water with red hair and female.
"Hey just because you fell in the spring doesn't mean you can knock me in too!" Ranma yelled in a very female voice.
The pigtailed martial artist noticed something was wrong and clamped his hands over his mouth. Then once he calmed down a bit Ranma felt something strange and opened his gi top slightly and looked down. There he saw a very developed chest. From the sidelines the guide braced himself for what was about to happen. That was when Ranma screamed.
Ranma's scream brought Akane back to reality causing her to look over her own body. That was when she noticed the lack of something up top. Akane had a flat chest.
"What happened to me!" Akane demanded to know.
"Oh it tragic very tragic! Young miss fall in Nannichuan spring of drowned man. Very tragic tale of man fall in many year ago." The guide began, "Young sir fall in Nyannichuan spring of drowned girl. Very tragic tale of girl fall in fifteen hundred year ago. You fall in now you cursed"
As Ranma and Akane got out of the springs they began to gripe and complain about their current situation while the guide ran into his home. They were not a pair of happy campers.
"This is just great. I don't want to be a girl." Ranma complained.
"You think I like being stuck as a guy." Akane yelled at Ranma.
When the pair reached the guide he poured the contents of a hot kettle he had with him over their heads. In a few quick moments Ranma and Akane were back to their normal selves.
"So then we're cured?" Ranma asked the guide.
"I sorry but there no cure." The guide said.
"Oh this is just great!" Akane gripped.
"Then what are we supposed to do about this?" Ranma wanted to know.
The guide then explained to them how the curse worked.
"Cold water turn you into curse form. Hot water turn you back. That how curse work." He said.
"So then all we have to do is avoid cold water." Akane mused.
"That not easy thing to do." The guide said.
For the next couple of days Akane and Ranma stayed at the springs with the guide working on their training. The pair of newly cursed martial artists had no idea what they were going to next. The thought of returning to Japan had crossed their minds but they didn't know where they would go or what they would do once they got there.
"So what are we going to do now Ranma?" Akane asked him one morning.
"I have no idea. I really have no idea." Ranma said.
The guide couldn't help overhearing what they were talking about and made a suggestion.
"There village nearby. I can take you there. Maybe you stay there for a while. Whole village practice martial arts." He suggested.
Upon hearing about the village full of martial artists Ranma and Akane knew where they wanted to go next. The opportunity to learn new techniques was too good to pass up.
"Lead the way old man." Ranma said.
"Sounds like an interesting place." Akane added.
With that said the guide lead the pair to Joketsuzoku the village of the Amazons. Upon reaching the village Ranma and Akane noticed the large number of females with weapons. Most of them had staffs while a few had clubs and bonbories. The guide wasn't kidding when he said it was a village full of martial artists. Ranma and Akane knew they would be able to learn a few things from the villagers.
"Young customers this is village of Amazons." The guide told them.
It was then that a young woman around their age with purple hair styled with two buns and the rest hanging freely came up to the trio. She was dressed in green Chinese pants with a matching shirt and a pair of training slippers. In her hands she carried her bonbories.
"What you do here?" she asked in Japanese just as bad as the guide's.
"I show young customers village of Amazons." The guide told her.
"It only spring guide." The girl said.
The girl then turned her attention to Ranma and Akane and tried to find out why they were with the guide from Jusenkyo.
"You visit springs yes?" she asked them.
"Yes we visited the springs." Akane answered her.
"You fall in yes?" she asked trying to strike up a conversation.
"Unfortunately the answer to that is yes." Ranma replied.
"You martial artists?" the girl wondered.
"Yeah we study martial arts." Ranma said.
"We've been on a training trip through China with Ranma's father." Akane added.
The girl looked around and didn't see anyone else with Ranma and Akane and the guide and wondered where this father Akane had mentioned was.
"Were father?" she asked.
The girl waited patiently for an answer and after a few brief moments of silence it was Akane who finally gave one seeing Ranma's reaction to the question.
"He's no longer with us. We were ambushed by bandits and were forced to split up. Ranma and I thought his father would catch up with us but it never happened. After a few days of traveling by foot we declared him dead and decided to go on with our lives." Akane explained.
"That sad. He your father too yes?" the girl asked.
"No he wasn't my father but he was my sensei." Akane replied.
The girl could tell she liked the pair of martial artists and knew they would need a place to stay for a while. With no mention of a mother for Ranma and parents for Akane the girl figured they must be orphans. And judging from the looks of them the girl figured Ranma and Akane were pretty good with martial arts. Maybe she could convince one of the elders in the village to allow them to stay.
"You stay here in village. We go see Great Grandmother. She let you stay." The girl said.
"Thanks. By the way I'm Akane and this is Ranma." Akane replied.
"Me Xian Pu." The girl said introducing herself.
"Shampoo? What sort of name is Shampoo?" Ranma asked.
"Silly Ranma. Not Shampoo it Xian. Xian Pu." Shampoo corrected him.
"Xian that's a real nice name." Akane said.
********
"Xian took us to see her great grandmother Ku Lon who was one of the village elders. After explaining our situation to her Ku Lon allowed us to stay with her and Xian as their guests. And during the next meeting of the village elders Ku Lon brought up our situation to them. She told them how she could see great potential in both of us and how it could be brought out with proper training. She also said since we didn't seem to have any parents it would only be right that she adopt us into the Amazon tribe so we would have a home.
"The elders said they would consider the adoption only after they saw what sort of martial arts skills Ranma and I possessed. And until then they would allow us to stay with Ku Lon and Xian as their guests. A few days after our arrival at the village we were brought before the elders to have our martial arts skills evaluated. We each went before the council separately and showed them everything we knew. And after a long deliberation the council decided to make us members of their tribe.
"But of course that came with a small catch. There were certain tasks we had to perform and duties we would have to take on. We agreed to perform the duties and complete the tasks every Amazon must perform before coming of age. After completing those tasks we were made members of the tribe and became a part of Ku Lon's family." Akane said.
"Wow that's quite a story." Nabiki commented quite amazed at what she heard.
"It's not over yet." Akane replied.
Ranma then picked up the story once again.
"For the next year and a half Akane and I along with Xian learned all we could from Ku Lon including how to speak and understand Mandarin Chinese. And also during that time we were witness to an actual Amazon wedding when Xian married her childhood friend Mut Su. They even had a baby girl they named Rin. Things were going pretty good for us and we didn't see the guide again until the day of the annual village tournament. That's when we received an unexpected visitor. Somebody had returned from beyond the grave to make our lives miserable. And to add injury to insult he ruined the tournament. Luckily for him Xian couldn't compete this year because it was still too soon after childbirth. If it were her victory feast he had ruined she would have killed him.
"Now there are things we saw in the village that we promised not to mention to anyone outside the tribe. But around the time of the tournament threats from a nearby warrior tribe were beginning to mount and they needed every single member of the tribe to help defend the village. And since we were members of the tribe we were expected to help with the village defense. But this baka of a father of mine decided we needed to leave real fast for some reason. And he wouldn't let us explain anything to him." Ranma said.
"I was rightfully taking back what was mine, my son and my student. Besides, I have a pact to fulfill and I'll be damned if I don't go through with it. As I have said time and time again it's a matter of Saotome family pride and honor." Genma replied.
"Honor my butt old man you just won't listen to us." Akane complained.
Once again the glaring match between Genma and Ranma and Akane was well underway. Soun understood some of what was angering Ranma and Akane but he felt as though there was something they weren't telling everyone.
"So Genma my friend where were you all that time?" Soun asked Genma.
"I'll make a long story short and cut to the chase. The bandits messed me up pretty good and left me on the side of the road with nothing but my old brochures ironically enough. After a while I was found by an old couple on their way back to the village we were originally headed for. I woke up four days later wrapped in bandages in the local clinic. By some miracle the local doctor could speak pretty darn good Japanese. I spent some time recovering from my injuries and when I was well enough I began my search for Ranma and Akane." Genma began.
"You mean you took a year and a half to find my baby girl Saotome?" Soun wondered.
"Well I figured they would go to the remaining training grounds on the map and began my search there. With no map and no knowledge of Mandarin Chinese it was difficult finding my way around the Chinese countryside. So of course it took me some time to find them. And after hitting all the other training grounds looking for them I came upon Jusenkyo where I met the guide who watches over the springs." Genma replied.
"Tell them how you became cursed pop." Ranma said still glaring at Genma.
"They really don't need to hear that." Genma replied.
"I think they do old man." Akane said.
With a glare at Ranma and Akane and a heavy sigh Genma told Soun and his eldest daughters how he became cursed at Jusenkyo.
"When I got to the springs I decided to brush up on my balance training. I was going along real well until I lost my balance and fell into one of the springs. The guide explained to me what had happened and what spring I fell in. He said it was called Shonmaoniichuan the spring of the drowned panda. A couple of days later he took me to a nearby village where I was reunited with my son and Akane. I figured the best course of action was to return Akane to her family and so we set out to return to Japan. And that pretty much what happened." Genma said.
Soun and his oldest daughters sat there for a moment taking in everything they hear. It was hard to believe everything Ranma, Akane, and Genma had told them.
"So let me get this straight cold water activates your curses and warm water changes you back?" Nabiki asked trying to understand things.
"Yep allow me to demonstrate." Ranma said as he grabbed hold of his father and flung him into the koi pond outside the living room.
Genma hit the pond with a splash and when he came out he was a panda once again. From out of nowhere Genma pulled out one of his signs.
"What was that for?" the sign said.
"You deserved it pop." Ranma replied.
With a growl Genma threw Ranma into the pond and when he came back into the room he was the red head once more. Seeing the red head with her sister more than convinced Nabiki they were telling the truth before about who was who.
"And warm water changes you back?" Soun asked.
"Yep." Ranma said as she poured the still steaming kettle over Genma's head.
"Grooooowwwwlllll-ouch warm not boiling!" Genma said as he changed back.
Ranma then took the second kettle and poured it over her head and changed back to his male self once more. Actually seeing the transformation take place was quite an amazing site for Soun and his oldest daughters. And they were a bit surprised at how calm Ranma was about being cursed.
"The water is a bit too hot Kasumi. It doesn't have to be boiling." Ranma said.
Soun then looked over at Ranma and tried not to cry another one of his patented cries. The Tendo patriarch had so much to thank Ranma for.
"Thank you Ranma for watching out for my baby girl. You don't know what this means to me." Soun said with watery eyes.
"I only did what I thought would be the right thing to do." Ranma replied.
"Now that that's out of the way we can get down to the business of fulfilling our pact Saotome." Genma said to his old friend.
"Quite right Soun. Ranma my boy before any of you were born Akane's father and I made a pact to join the two schools of Anything Goes. That joining would take place through the marriage between one of my children and one of Soun's children. So to get straight to the point one of Soun's oldest daughters will become your fiancé. You and Akane act too much like brother and sister to be betrothed to one another." Genma told Ranma.
With a big grin on his face Soun properly introduced his other daughters to Ranma.
"Ranma my I present my daughters Kasumi age nineteen and Nabiki age seventeen. Now then which one will become your fiancé?" Soun said.
"Neither." Ranma replied.
Everyone but Akane was shocked to hear Ranma refuse Kasumi and Nabiki.
"What?" they asked shocked at what they heard not quite believing it.
"No offense but I can't marry either one of them." Ranma said.
"And why is that boy?" Genma demanded to know.
"Because I already married someone in Joketsuzoku." Ranma told him.
Upon hearing that Soun became very angry and let his battle aura rise. Soon Ranma found himself face to face with a very large demon headed Soun.
"You dare to dishonor my family Ranma!" the demon Soun yelled.
"Who was it boy?" Genma wanted to know.
"It was me old man!" Akane yelled at Genma, "We would have told you in the first place if you only listened to us! But no you baka you had to drag us off spouting all that honor junk!"
Akane then grabbed one of the kettles and whacked Genma over the head with it.
"Stupid baka." She griped.
"Don't you think that was a bit uncalled for Akane?" Kasumi asked her.
"He's had that coming to him ever since Joketsuzoku." Ranma said calmly.
When the realization of Akane's words sunk in Soun lost his demon head and began to cry patented cry number one my little girl has grown up.
"Whaaaaaaa! Akane is a married woman now!" Soun bawled.
"Um I don't know how legal an Amazon marriage is here dad but if you must know we got married the same time Xian and Mu did a little over a year ago." Akane said.
"Oh my. Well, welcome to the family Ranma." Kasumi said with a smile.
********
You asked for it and here you have it another installment of The Journey. My four reviewers should be happy to see this. First off I want to thank them for the reviews and the proprietors of the Ranma ½ Perfect Edition for all the useful information they have on characters, locations, attacks, and items as well as info on the anime and manga. I'll be going to them to help get the correct names of things for the entire series. Keep them coming.
As you have seen in this episode Akane and Ranma are married as well as Shampoo and Mousse. And as you can see they had a baby named Rin Su or Rinse. Because they're married and friends with our favorite couple there's going to be another Amazon coming after someone in the Tendo dojo. I bet we all know who that will be. If you're wondering yes Shampoo and Mousse will have curses and they will have gotten them after Ranma and Akane left the village. And yes there will be a cursed Ryouga in the story as well as Ukyo too.
Genma in this episode was a bit reluctant to tell the entire story of what happened to him after the bandits. We'll go into that story in a latter episode. Now I know some of you are wondering what happened to the Saotome final attack of run away. Well as you saw Ranma practiced it perfectly while Genma froze in his tracks. Ranma told him not to look back. I need that incident to take place to not only give the story some color but also to separate Ranma and Akane from Genma's influence. It forced them to grow up quite a bit when they thought Genma was dead and fall in love too. The story of their time in the Amazon village will also be featured in a future episode.
Seeing as how I plan to somewhat follow the original storyline concerning who gets introduced when Ranma will have a rivalry with Kuno. But what will be the trigger for this rivalry in the first place? And will Kuno go after Akane? Also even though Ranma is used to his curse will he still be a magnet for water (i.e. the little old lady cleansing her home from evil spirits each morning)? And what attacks will Ranma and Akane know having studied under Cologne for over a year?
So what's next on the docket for out favorite couple? Can you say school? That's right Ranma you and Akane are going to high school. Nihao Furinkan High here's Ranma and Akane. And of course the infamous Blue Thunder will be there too. So tune in for the next episode of The Journey episode three: The Blue Thunder of Furinkan.