*Disclaimer* I do not own any of the Ranma 1/2 characters, to my
sorrow.
A/N: *This* means italics and this means thought.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"Ranma, pack quickly. We're going on a trip."
"Huh? Nnnrggh?"
Genma heaved a sigh at his son's lack of understanding. He grabbed a handy bucket of cold water and unceremoniously dumped it all over the half-awake Ranma, who came fully awake with a start and a girlish yelp.
"Aw man, Pops! Why did you have to do that?!" she snapped, shaking water out of her wet hair and clothes. "All right, I'm awake, I'm awake."
Genma stood with his arms crossed, looking remarkably alive for someone who had gotten up voluntarily at 4 am. "I said, pack. We're going on a training trip."
Ranma grabbed the clock and squinted at it. "Old man, it's four in the morning. Can't it wait? And do you remember what happened the *last* time we went on a training trip?" She indicated her chest meaningfully.
If it was meant to make Genma rethink his decision, the gesture was wasted. "But this time I have found a good place *in Japan*! This will make you even stronger than you are now. Believe me. I have a guidebook that talks all about it." He threw the book in front of Ranma.
She picked it up and flipped open to the dog-eared page. " 'Japan's best training grounds! It has been used for years by expert martial artists. If you think you can brave it, come along. Even if you have an illness --' What is this crap?" she yelled, and threw the book back into Genma's face. "It wounds like any other place we've been to, only worse!"
"Finish that sentence," Genma commanded, flinging the book back at Ranma.
Ranma grumbled, but read aloud, " 'Even if you have an illness, we have a magical hot spring guaranteed to cure anything! From colds to coughs to chicken pox to. . .to magical spring curses. . ."
Genma beamed. "See?"
"All right! Let's go!"
The little black piglet who had been crouched in the shadows bared its teeth. So, Ranma is going to train again? And get himself cured? How dare he! I shall come along, too, it thought. But first, I will write a good-bye note to my beloved Akane, so she knows where I have gone.
"Uhhh, good morning P-Chan. . .P-Chan! Where are you?"
Akane leaped out of bed and completely missed the note from Ryoga. In fact, it got stuck to her foot and she threw it in the wastebasket. Dressing quickly in her morning jogging outfit, she hurried downstairs tos ay a rushed, "See ya!" to Kasumi.
Nabiki was there too, but still in her pajamas. She grimaced to see Akane so awake in the morning. "Hi. You gonna look for Ranma?"
"What?"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Didn't you notice? He's gone. So is Mr. Saotome. And we don't know where they are."
"I hope they'll be all right," murmured Kasumi.
"They'll probably go run out on a restaurant again," Nabiki commented in a disapproving tone. "And then come running back here again, with whoever's mad at them hot on their heels."
Ranma's. . .gone? I wonder where he went, Akane thought. "I'm going jogging," she told her sisters. "See ya."
She jogged out of the house and around the corner, looking for a black piglet or Ranma. But she saw no sign of either of them. "That's weird," she said aloud. "Usually he's up now. . .what am I getting so worked up for?" she added to herself, unaware that this was not a good sign of her mental health. "I mean, he's an arrogant, too-good, brawling jerk who doesn't know a subtle hint when it knocks him out cold. And he can be rather pathetic sometimes. He can take care of himself. Why should I worry? Why am I worrying?" She finally noticed that she had accidentally jogged in a straight line, and was now in an area she didn't usually visit. "I'm lost. And it's all his fault, too. RANMA, YOU JERK!" she yelled, kicking a nearby tree in her fustration.
To her surprise, Ryoga fell out of it, wearing a pack. "A-Akane? What are you doing in the training grounds?"
"Training grounds?" Akane repeated. "Ryoga, this is Tokyo."
His face fell. "What? I'm not there? Dammit, I got lost again."
"Hey, have you seen Ranma?" she asked. "We can't find him or Mr. Saotome anywhere."
Ryoga stuttered. "D-didn't you ge-get a note?"
She looked confused. "No, nothing. They just vanished."
This is my lucky day! thought Ryoga excitedly, posing for a moment. Akane doesn't know where Ranma has gone. . .and he will be gone for a while. . .so I can make her mine! To Akane, he said in a serious voice, "No, I haven't. But isn't that just like him? To run out like that?"
"Y-yeah," she said, some of her previous anger returning. "It is just like that jerk to take off without a word."
"I wonder how long he'll be gone," Ryoga mused aloud. "In that case, Akane, will you. . .will you. . ."
She looked closely at him. "Will I what?"
"Will you. . .will. . .will. . .Will you eat these pork buns?" he cried, whipping out a box of them. "Please, you must be hungry after that morning run."
"Oh, thank you, Ryoga! You are so kind!" she told him, smiling. "And so thoughtful." She took a pork bun and jogged away, eating it.
I couldn't do it. . .
Two days passed, and there was still no sign of Ranma or Genma. After a while, Kasumi decided to tidy up their room. There was practically nothing to clean up, but it made her feel useful. While sweeping forlornly in the corners, her broom hit something small and hard. Intrigued, she bent down and picked it up. It was a book.
"The Martial Artist's Guidebook," she read aloud, softly. A couple of bent pages caught her eye. Flipping it open, she came upon a map with training ground locations on it. The other bent page was highlighted and marked. Kasumi went back to the map and found the marked place - The Golden Crane Recuperation Grounds. "Nabiki! Akane! Father!" she called. "I think I know where they've gone!"
Pounding feet heralded the trio's arrival. Nabiki's eyes lit up when she saw the book. "Yes! Good going, Kasumi. We should have realized they went on another training mission." She snatched the book out of her sister's hands and read it. "Did they really believe this bull?" she wondered. "Give me five minutes." She hurried off.
"Hello!" called a feminine voice from the front door.
"I'll get it," said Akane over her shoulder, hurrying over. "Oh, Mrs. Saotome! You, um, just missed Ranko. And Ranma and your husband." Well, not really, she thought.
Nodoka followed Akane back to Kasumi and Soun. "That's too bad," she fretted. "I brought both Akane and Ranko a present. Do you know when she'll be back?"
Akane's reply was interrupted by the return of Nabiki. "I got it!" she cried jubilantly. "I know where Ran - " she noticed Nodoka and hastily corrected herself " -Ranko is. She should be about here now." Everyone crowded around to look at what her finger marked. It was a town called Chance.
"I must send her a letter," said Nodoka. "She got out pen and paper and started writing.
Nabiki thought for a moment. "Tomorrow, they should be. . .here." She pointed to a star-marked place. "The Youkai Caves. Sounds ominous."
"I'm sure they can take care of themselves," said Soun.
"Finished!" said Nodoka merrily. She handed Soun the letter. "Could you please mail this out for me?"
Soun nodded. "We will mail it to the only inn at the Youkai Caves."
"Don't they usually camp out?" asked Akane.
Nabiki silently flipped open to a page and pointed. Akane leaned over and went, "Oh. It has an all-you-can-eat buffet for only 100 yen."
"Do you mind if I stay for a while?" asked Nodoka anxiously.
"Of course not," Soun replied gallantly. "Stay, um, as long as you wish."
Many, many miles away. . .
"Letter delivery to Miss Ranko Tendo!" announced the owner of the inn. There was some murmurs, all wanting to see who claimed it.
Ranma stood and walked to the man. "I know her. I'll. . .give it to her," he lied, and took it. Whereupon her returned to the table where Genma waited and started to read it.
" 'Dear Ranko (the letter read), I am so sorry we just missed each other. I just visited the Tendo household and your cousin Akane told me you had left. I hope you remember to behave in a ladylike way wherever you are (here Ranma grimaced). I have left you a present at the Tendo's, and when you get back you can claim it. Love, Nodoka.' "
He looked up in response to his father's questioning poke. "It's from Mom," he told him, feeling the familiar gut pang whenever he talked about his mother. "She's given Ranko a present, and it's waiting at the Tendo's."
"When we get back," said Genma. "This trip will make a true man out of you, my son!"
"That's what you tried to do last time, only it didn't work," Ranma informed him. "And what are you looking at?"
Genma peered at his son over the top of the pamphlet. "It's a brochure on places to visit here," he said. "They mention a training ground."
Ranma groaned. "Oh man, not again! The whole point of this trip is to *get* to a training ground, so we don't need to visit all the others on the way in!"
"Yes, we need to see this one! This has been used for thousands of years, daily, but masters. We should at least see it."
"All right," Ranma sighed, feeling the need to give in. He stuffed the letter into a pocket and got up. "Should we go see this 'famous training ground,' then?"
The training ground turned out to be an ordinary-looking, hilly piece of land. Studded here and there were dark blobs. There were monks everywhere, chanting softly, burning incense, and generally making a lot of people uncomfortable.
"Is *this* the place?" asked Ranma, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Yes," said Genma. "Those blobs are caves where, supposedly, demons roam. The caves further back have weaker demons, and the ones closest to the hospital --" indicated with a hand wave - "are the harder ones. Now, my son, do you need to go to the easy ones first, or will you take the harder ones?"
"Did you have to ask?" Ranma shot back. "The harder ones, of course. Piece of cake!"
They both took off for the cave closest to them, oblivious to the frantic cries of the monks. Ranma and Genma ran into the cave. There was silence, and then screams.
A tousle-headed girl lay facedown in a sparse, desert-like area. She opened a swollen eye, the winced with pain and shut it, then opened the other one. When that didn't hurt, she cautiously sat up to get her bearings.
She was lying a few yards away from a dark cave. Her head throbbed. She raised on hand to her forehead and was not surprised when it came away bloody.
"Where am I?" she asked. Her voice was a hoarse croak. She didn't recognize anything she saw. Nor did the clothes she wore - a Chinese shirt and pants - dredge up anything in her memory.
"Who am I?" Her voice cracked; she didn't know.
Something crinkled as she lay down again. Fishing in her pants, she drew out a slightly bloody piece of paper. The writing was legible, but hard to read with one eye. Especially when the world kept tilting.
She peered at the small, neat characters, and managed to make out, "Ranko, I am so sorry. . ." Nothing made sense, but it made her feel like she had something more than just the clothes on her back.
"This is my letter," she whispered, sliding back down into unconsciousness. "Then. . .I guess my name is Ranko."
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
A/N: Please tell me what you thought of it! I would very much appreciate your comments.
A/N: *This* means italics and this means thought.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
"Ranma, pack quickly. We're going on a trip."
"Huh? Nnnrggh?"
Genma heaved a sigh at his son's lack of understanding. He grabbed a handy bucket of cold water and unceremoniously dumped it all over the half-awake Ranma, who came fully awake with a start and a girlish yelp.
"Aw man, Pops! Why did you have to do that?!" she snapped, shaking water out of her wet hair and clothes. "All right, I'm awake, I'm awake."
Genma stood with his arms crossed, looking remarkably alive for someone who had gotten up voluntarily at 4 am. "I said, pack. We're going on a training trip."
Ranma grabbed the clock and squinted at it. "Old man, it's four in the morning. Can't it wait? And do you remember what happened the *last* time we went on a training trip?" She indicated her chest meaningfully.
If it was meant to make Genma rethink his decision, the gesture was wasted. "But this time I have found a good place *in Japan*! This will make you even stronger than you are now. Believe me. I have a guidebook that talks all about it." He threw the book in front of Ranma.
She picked it up and flipped open to the dog-eared page. " 'Japan's best training grounds! It has been used for years by expert martial artists. If you think you can brave it, come along. Even if you have an illness --' What is this crap?" she yelled, and threw the book back into Genma's face. "It wounds like any other place we've been to, only worse!"
"Finish that sentence," Genma commanded, flinging the book back at Ranma.
Ranma grumbled, but read aloud, " 'Even if you have an illness, we have a magical hot spring guaranteed to cure anything! From colds to coughs to chicken pox to. . .to magical spring curses. . ."
Genma beamed. "See?"
"All right! Let's go!"
The little black piglet who had been crouched in the shadows bared its teeth. So, Ranma is going to train again? And get himself cured? How dare he! I shall come along, too, it thought. But first, I will write a good-bye note to my beloved Akane, so she knows where I have gone.
"Uhhh, good morning P-Chan. . .P-Chan! Where are you?"
Akane leaped out of bed and completely missed the note from Ryoga. In fact, it got stuck to her foot and she threw it in the wastebasket. Dressing quickly in her morning jogging outfit, she hurried downstairs tos ay a rushed, "See ya!" to Kasumi.
Nabiki was there too, but still in her pajamas. She grimaced to see Akane so awake in the morning. "Hi. You gonna look for Ranma?"
"What?"
Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Didn't you notice? He's gone. So is Mr. Saotome. And we don't know where they are."
"I hope they'll be all right," murmured Kasumi.
"They'll probably go run out on a restaurant again," Nabiki commented in a disapproving tone. "And then come running back here again, with whoever's mad at them hot on their heels."
Ranma's. . .gone? I wonder where he went, Akane thought. "I'm going jogging," she told her sisters. "See ya."
She jogged out of the house and around the corner, looking for a black piglet or Ranma. But she saw no sign of either of them. "That's weird," she said aloud. "Usually he's up now. . .what am I getting so worked up for?" she added to herself, unaware that this was not a good sign of her mental health. "I mean, he's an arrogant, too-good, brawling jerk who doesn't know a subtle hint when it knocks him out cold. And he can be rather pathetic sometimes. He can take care of himself. Why should I worry? Why am I worrying?" She finally noticed that she had accidentally jogged in a straight line, and was now in an area she didn't usually visit. "I'm lost. And it's all his fault, too. RANMA, YOU JERK!" she yelled, kicking a nearby tree in her fustration.
To her surprise, Ryoga fell out of it, wearing a pack. "A-Akane? What are you doing in the training grounds?"
"Training grounds?" Akane repeated. "Ryoga, this is Tokyo."
His face fell. "What? I'm not there? Dammit, I got lost again."
"Hey, have you seen Ranma?" she asked. "We can't find him or Mr. Saotome anywhere."
Ryoga stuttered. "D-didn't you ge-get a note?"
She looked confused. "No, nothing. They just vanished."
This is my lucky day! thought Ryoga excitedly, posing for a moment. Akane doesn't know where Ranma has gone. . .and he will be gone for a while. . .so I can make her mine! To Akane, he said in a serious voice, "No, I haven't. But isn't that just like him? To run out like that?"
"Y-yeah," she said, some of her previous anger returning. "It is just like that jerk to take off without a word."
"I wonder how long he'll be gone," Ryoga mused aloud. "In that case, Akane, will you. . .will you. . ."
She looked closely at him. "Will I what?"
"Will you. . .will. . .will. . .Will you eat these pork buns?" he cried, whipping out a box of them. "Please, you must be hungry after that morning run."
"Oh, thank you, Ryoga! You are so kind!" she told him, smiling. "And so thoughtful." She took a pork bun and jogged away, eating it.
I couldn't do it. . .
Two days passed, and there was still no sign of Ranma or Genma. After a while, Kasumi decided to tidy up their room. There was practically nothing to clean up, but it made her feel useful. While sweeping forlornly in the corners, her broom hit something small and hard. Intrigued, she bent down and picked it up. It was a book.
"The Martial Artist's Guidebook," she read aloud, softly. A couple of bent pages caught her eye. Flipping it open, she came upon a map with training ground locations on it. The other bent page was highlighted and marked. Kasumi went back to the map and found the marked place - The Golden Crane Recuperation Grounds. "Nabiki! Akane! Father!" she called. "I think I know where they've gone!"
Pounding feet heralded the trio's arrival. Nabiki's eyes lit up when she saw the book. "Yes! Good going, Kasumi. We should have realized they went on another training mission." She snatched the book out of her sister's hands and read it. "Did they really believe this bull?" she wondered. "Give me five minutes." She hurried off.
"Hello!" called a feminine voice from the front door.
"I'll get it," said Akane over her shoulder, hurrying over. "Oh, Mrs. Saotome! You, um, just missed Ranko. And Ranma and your husband." Well, not really, she thought.
Nodoka followed Akane back to Kasumi and Soun. "That's too bad," she fretted. "I brought both Akane and Ranko a present. Do you know when she'll be back?"
Akane's reply was interrupted by the return of Nabiki. "I got it!" she cried jubilantly. "I know where Ran - " she noticed Nodoka and hastily corrected herself " -Ranko is. She should be about here now." Everyone crowded around to look at what her finger marked. It was a town called Chance.
"I must send her a letter," said Nodoka. "She got out pen and paper and started writing.
Nabiki thought for a moment. "Tomorrow, they should be. . .here." She pointed to a star-marked place. "The Youkai Caves. Sounds ominous."
"I'm sure they can take care of themselves," said Soun.
"Finished!" said Nodoka merrily. She handed Soun the letter. "Could you please mail this out for me?"
Soun nodded. "We will mail it to the only inn at the Youkai Caves."
"Don't they usually camp out?" asked Akane.
Nabiki silently flipped open to a page and pointed. Akane leaned over and went, "Oh. It has an all-you-can-eat buffet for only 100 yen."
"Do you mind if I stay for a while?" asked Nodoka anxiously.
"Of course not," Soun replied gallantly. "Stay, um, as long as you wish."
Many, many miles away. . .
"Letter delivery to Miss Ranko Tendo!" announced the owner of the inn. There was some murmurs, all wanting to see who claimed it.
Ranma stood and walked to the man. "I know her. I'll. . .give it to her," he lied, and took it. Whereupon her returned to the table where Genma waited and started to read it.
" 'Dear Ranko (the letter read), I am so sorry we just missed each other. I just visited the Tendo household and your cousin Akane told me you had left. I hope you remember to behave in a ladylike way wherever you are (here Ranma grimaced). I have left you a present at the Tendo's, and when you get back you can claim it. Love, Nodoka.' "
He looked up in response to his father's questioning poke. "It's from Mom," he told him, feeling the familiar gut pang whenever he talked about his mother. "She's given Ranko a present, and it's waiting at the Tendo's."
"When we get back," said Genma. "This trip will make a true man out of you, my son!"
"That's what you tried to do last time, only it didn't work," Ranma informed him. "And what are you looking at?"
Genma peered at his son over the top of the pamphlet. "It's a brochure on places to visit here," he said. "They mention a training ground."
Ranma groaned. "Oh man, not again! The whole point of this trip is to *get* to a training ground, so we don't need to visit all the others on the way in!"
"Yes, we need to see this one! This has been used for thousands of years, daily, but masters. We should at least see it."
"All right," Ranma sighed, feeling the need to give in. He stuffed the letter into a pocket and got up. "Should we go see this 'famous training ground,' then?"
The training ground turned out to be an ordinary-looking, hilly piece of land. Studded here and there were dark blobs. There were monks everywhere, chanting softly, burning incense, and generally making a lot of people uncomfortable.
"Is *this* the place?" asked Ranma, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.
"Yes," said Genma. "Those blobs are caves where, supposedly, demons roam. The caves further back have weaker demons, and the ones closest to the hospital --" indicated with a hand wave - "are the harder ones. Now, my son, do you need to go to the easy ones first, or will you take the harder ones?"
"Did you have to ask?" Ranma shot back. "The harder ones, of course. Piece of cake!"
They both took off for the cave closest to them, oblivious to the frantic cries of the monks. Ranma and Genma ran into the cave. There was silence, and then screams.
A tousle-headed girl lay facedown in a sparse, desert-like area. She opened a swollen eye, the winced with pain and shut it, then opened the other one. When that didn't hurt, she cautiously sat up to get her bearings.
She was lying a few yards away from a dark cave. Her head throbbed. She raised on hand to her forehead and was not surprised when it came away bloody.
"Where am I?" she asked. Her voice was a hoarse croak. She didn't recognize anything she saw. Nor did the clothes she wore - a Chinese shirt and pants - dredge up anything in her memory.
"Who am I?" Her voice cracked; she didn't know.
Something crinkled as she lay down again. Fishing in her pants, she drew out a slightly bloody piece of paper. The writing was legible, but hard to read with one eye. Especially when the world kept tilting.
She peered at the small, neat characters, and managed to make out, "Ranko, I am so sorry. . ." Nothing made sense, but it made her feel like she had something more than just the clothes on her back.
"This is my letter," she whispered, sliding back down into unconsciousness. "Then. . .I guess my name is Ranko."
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
A/N: Please tell me what you thought of it! I would very much appreciate your comments.