Disclaimer: you know the drill.
Salvation:
denotes a language other than japanese. Figure out which language from context.
[] will denote Panda signs, in later chapters.
Prologue: 8 years earlier
Genma hefted the pack a moment, and decided it wasn't nearly heavy enough. Unpacking the clothing, food, stove, pots, tent, and other gear, he exposed the rocks in the botton. A glance around their current camping spot revealed that there were plenty of suitable candidates in the area. Grabbing several large ones, he added them to the pile in the bottom of the pack. After repacking everything, he lifted it again, and was satisfied to note that it weighed at least 300 pounds.
He had been increasing the pack's weight fairly steadily over the 2 years that he and Ranma had been travelling, but he noticed that the 7 year old didn't seem to be straining to carry the pack much anymore, even during the recent swim to Africa, so it was time to up the weight a fair amount more. He headed back to the area that was being used for training, looked down into the deep hole he had dug, and noted Ranma struggling to stay standing. However, the apes he had collected were all unconscious, so it seemed that, in spite of not being fed for almost 3 days, Ranma had managed to defeat the angry simians. He briefly wondered if Ranma had been the one to get the food or not, but dismissed it as irrelevant.
"Ranma!" he called down, "Come on, son, it's time to get moving again. We're only a day or so from the next training ground." The boy looked up, nodded solemnly, and began climbing out of the pit. When he got about halfway up, Genma noticed that his arms were too sore to continue. As he clung to the wall, trying to muster the strength to do more than just hang on, Genma walked leisurely back to the campsite, and returned a few minutes later with a coil of rope. He dropped one end down, and said, "Go ahead, Ranma, grab the rope. I'll pull you the rest of the way out." However, just then, the handholds in the dirt which Ranma had been using to climb out gave, dropping loose dirt and rocks, as well as a dirty, exhausted 7 year old.
He landed on his feet, but was hit by several falling rocks, which knocked him off his feet. Unfortunately, several of the baboons in the pit woke up just then, and seeing the boy which had hurt them lying prone, proceeded to attack him. The brutality of the monkey beatdown began to worry Genma after a couple of minutes, and he called out "Grab the rope, Ranma!" The young martial artist managed to knock down two of the angry primates, and managed to make it over to the rope and grab on. Genma quickly hauled him out of the pit. He was forced to bat off a couple of the angry baboons who tenaciously held on the whole way up, but, aside from Ranma falling unconscious, which was pretty common, everything seemed all right.
Gently, he picked up his beaten, bruised, bloody, unconscious son, and carried him back to the campsite, where he tended and bandaged the wounds. Realizing that the boy was unlikely to wake up any time soon, he shouldered both packs, and, carrying his son, started hiking once more.
Unknown to Genma, the repeated trauma to the head during recent training had caused a hairline fracture in the back of his son's skull, and even with Ranma's superb healing abilities, with Genma around, this was a disaster waiting to happen.
The next day, they reached the training ground. It consisted of a large log suspended on two ropes, with numerous smaller logs similarly suspended in such a fashior that they could be made to swing into the log at various points along its trajectory.
In actuality, it wasn't a training ground at all; located in Uganda, it had been built by a group of missionaries in the late 17th century, who had very strange beliefs about how to execute witches, and, out of a fear that the missionaries would return if it wasn't maintained, several local tribes ensured that it stayed in good repair. Regardless, Genma had heard of it, and thought it would be a good training ground while they were in Africa.
Ranma had regained consciousness shortly after Genma had finished setting up camp, and they were currently eating, Genma for once allowing Ranma to eat in peace. He showed Ranma the 'training ground', and decided to explain the training. "All right, son, this is going to be some speed, skill, toughness, and strength training, all at once." Ranma looked
wide-eyed. "Really, daddy? How are we going to do that?" Genma pointed to the largest of the logs.
"You see that log? We're going to tie you to one end, and get it swinging. Then, I'm going to swing those smaller logs at you, and you're going to try to knock them all away. Remember that any which hit you are going to hurt, but it will help toughen you up. Do
you understand?" Ranma replied, "Yes, papa!" his face creased for a minute, and then he asked, "Papa, if I do well, will you teach me some new techniques?", using that cute shining-eyed pleading look that can only be achieved by children, girls, and puppies.
Genma nodded. "I'll tell you what. If you do well, I'll take you to a temple, and we'll find a new style for you to learn." Ranma bounced excitedly, and cried "Yay!"
Genma indulged in a moment of enjoyment at his son's excitement, and then sternly told his son, "Now, Ranma, remember what I've told you about emotions." The boy settled down almost immediately, and said, "They're a weakness. Sorry, papa." The bandana'ed
martial artist patted his son on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay, son. Now, get some rest. We'll be starting early tomorrow." "Okay, papa."
As the new day dawned, several members of a local tribe had come to investigate the people who were camping at the Altar of the Pale Demons, as the place was called in the local tongue. They saw a foreigner with a white outfit and bandana strapping a young boy
in a similar outfit to the Sacrificial Altar. One native turned to his fellows. Why is that boy being sacrificed, I wonder? Another responded, Hell if I know. But that kid looks excited, for some reason. A third mused, you don't think they're too dumb to know
it's an execution device?. The first turned to the third, and raised an eyebrow Could anyone REALLY be THAT dumb?. In morbid fascination, they watched the proceedings.
Once Ranma was strapped on, and the log was set swinging, Genma got behind the first cluster of smaller logs, and asked, "ready, Ranma?", and, at his son's nod, he swung the first of the logs.
Tied to the log by ropes crossing his chest to minimize the hindrance to his fighting skill, Ranma started to knock the heavy logs away before they could hit him. Soon, though, dozens of logs were swinging towards him, and, finally, one made it through his flurry of attacks. It so happened that it caught him in the ribs, but he ignored the painful blow. Moments later, another caught him in his lower stomach, but again, he shrugged it off. After that, he managed to hold his own for nearly 10 minutes before one slipped through his guard, striking right below the solar plexus, and stunning him for just a moment.
A moment was too long, though, as he began to get pummeled against the large log, by the numerous smaller logs. Indeed, they were impacting hard enough to crack the log behind his back. As the logs began to lose momentum, Genma changed positions so that he could push them again. Frustrated by the fact that his son hadn't fully recovered his guard yet, and was still taking a fair number of hits, he shoved one of the logs much harder than he had intended, and it caught Ranma in the face with enough force to split the log he was tied against fully in two. Further, the force propelled him back against a tree behind him, where he impacted with an unpleasant 'crunch'. The smaller log fell away, also split, and the young boy stayed suspended a moment, before sliding down the tree, leaving a red smear.
Oh, that's bad. Commented the second native. Not gonna survive a wound like that. commented the third. The first was still in shock the boy had lasted so long.
In moments, Genma was by his son's side. "Ranma! Are you all right?" he asked, panicked, but to no avail. The closest thing he got to a response was a feeble twitch from his son. Probing the wound, he found that a section of the skull in the back, near the top
of the head, was definitely fractured. Realizing that his son's life was in more danger than, perhaps, he'd ever placed it in before, he quickly cleaned the wound as best he could, and bandaged it tightly. He grabbed his gear in moments, and, gently cradling his son, took off at top speed towards the nearest city.
Several hours later, he reached the main hospital in Kampala. The doctors examined the wound, and said they could treat it, but that Ranma might be left in a coma. As Ranma was rushed into a room for emergency treatment, Genma finally collapsed into a chair and
cried. True, it was because if Nodoka found out about this, his life was forfeit, but he cried, nonetheless.
Ranma had been in the hospital for almost a month, during which time Genma rarely left his side. He indeed had slipped into a coma, and the doctors were unsure if he'd ever recover from the trauma. They were shocked to observe how quickly the comatose boy healed, however, and even noticed that the damaged bone was growing back thicker and denser than before. However, x-rays had revealed that slivers of bone had been embedded in the brain, and, although the extent of damage was unknown, they feared that it might permanently affect the boy.
Then, one day, he woke up. The doctors couldn't explain it, and were shocked to find that he seemed to be fine. They explained to Genma how lucky he was, and that his son seemed to be fine, but he should be on the lookout for personality changes, memory loss, or anything like that, as it could indicate serious brain damage that wasn't immediately appearent. It never occurred to them that Ranma's incredible ability to heal might actually include brain tissue... nor would they have expected that, as with any other damaged tissue, Ranma's body wouldn't simply rebuild it, but would rebuild it better and stronger. Nor would anyone suspect, least of all Genma.
Nonetheless, two days later, Genma snuck Ranma out of the hospital to avoid paying the bills, and, realizing that the people he'd made agreements with about Ranma marrying their daughters would probably come looking for him soon, decided that Uganda had no more to offer them on their training trip, and so, they moved on to greener pastures.
Over the next few months, Ranma had some problems with serious headaches, but, being trained to ignore pain, never mentioned it to anyone. There were also a
few odd experiences, thoughts, and memories that he seemed to have over the next few years, but he always dismissed them quickly.
8 long years passed. In fact, almost 8 years to the day after Ranma's injury, they visited a little known chinese training ground called "Jusenkyo". When Ranma emerged from the pool of drowned girl, he screamed. When he screamed, though, something else happened. A flash in Genma's head of empathy, as he instantly remembered all the things he'd said about girls to Ranma, and all the training he'd given him about females. Then, in perhaps the first instance of genuine empathy in his life, Genma realized exactly how Ranma must feel at that moment. An instant later, he saw the now female Ranma look at him, and realized exactly how much of it was his fault, and that he was in extreme danger. As fast as he had ever moved in his life, the human in panda form turned and ran for his life.
------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Wheee! Another A/U started, that could run for a long time, if I like how it goes! Ummm, yeah, I don't really know where this came from, except in some fanfics I've read recently (and in the manga, which I reread a lot), no one ever seems to understand Ranma's point of view. He either gets blamed for things, or he simply doesn't get listened to. So, I decided to see what would happen if... er... well, you'll see.
This prologue was mostly just to show how much of a living hell Ranma's life was on the training trip. I guess you could call this a sympathy fic. Oh well, it'll get funnier (I hope) in a chapter or two, when I start rewriting events from the manga.
Salvation:
denotes a language other than japanese. Figure out which language from context.
[] will denote Panda signs, in later chapters.
Prologue: 8 years earlier
Genma hefted the pack a moment, and decided it wasn't nearly heavy enough. Unpacking the clothing, food, stove, pots, tent, and other gear, he exposed the rocks in the botton. A glance around their current camping spot revealed that there were plenty of suitable candidates in the area. Grabbing several large ones, he added them to the pile in the bottom of the pack. After repacking everything, he lifted it again, and was satisfied to note that it weighed at least 300 pounds.
He had been increasing the pack's weight fairly steadily over the 2 years that he and Ranma had been travelling, but he noticed that the 7 year old didn't seem to be straining to carry the pack much anymore, even during the recent swim to Africa, so it was time to up the weight a fair amount more. He headed back to the area that was being used for training, looked down into the deep hole he had dug, and noted Ranma struggling to stay standing. However, the apes he had collected were all unconscious, so it seemed that, in spite of not being fed for almost 3 days, Ranma had managed to defeat the angry simians. He briefly wondered if Ranma had been the one to get the food or not, but dismissed it as irrelevant.
"Ranma!" he called down, "Come on, son, it's time to get moving again. We're only a day or so from the next training ground." The boy looked up, nodded solemnly, and began climbing out of the pit. When he got about halfway up, Genma noticed that his arms were too sore to continue. As he clung to the wall, trying to muster the strength to do more than just hang on, Genma walked leisurely back to the campsite, and returned a few minutes later with a coil of rope. He dropped one end down, and said, "Go ahead, Ranma, grab the rope. I'll pull you the rest of the way out." However, just then, the handholds in the dirt which Ranma had been using to climb out gave, dropping loose dirt and rocks, as well as a dirty, exhausted 7 year old.
He landed on his feet, but was hit by several falling rocks, which knocked him off his feet. Unfortunately, several of the baboons in the pit woke up just then, and seeing the boy which had hurt them lying prone, proceeded to attack him. The brutality of the monkey beatdown began to worry Genma after a couple of minutes, and he called out "Grab the rope, Ranma!" The young martial artist managed to knock down two of the angry primates, and managed to make it over to the rope and grab on. Genma quickly hauled him out of the pit. He was forced to bat off a couple of the angry baboons who tenaciously held on the whole way up, but, aside from Ranma falling unconscious, which was pretty common, everything seemed all right.
Gently, he picked up his beaten, bruised, bloody, unconscious son, and carried him back to the campsite, where he tended and bandaged the wounds. Realizing that the boy was unlikely to wake up any time soon, he shouldered both packs, and, carrying his son, started hiking once more.
Unknown to Genma, the repeated trauma to the head during recent training had caused a hairline fracture in the back of his son's skull, and even with Ranma's superb healing abilities, with Genma around, this was a disaster waiting to happen.
The next day, they reached the training ground. It consisted of a large log suspended on two ropes, with numerous smaller logs similarly suspended in such a fashior that they could be made to swing into the log at various points along its trajectory.
In actuality, it wasn't a training ground at all; located in Uganda, it had been built by a group of missionaries in the late 17th century, who had very strange beliefs about how to execute witches, and, out of a fear that the missionaries would return if it wasn't maintained, several local tribes ensured that it stayed in good repair. Regardless, Genma had heard of it, and thought it would be a good training ground while they were in Africa.
Ranma had regained consciousness shortly after Genma had finished setting up camp, and they were currently eating, Genma for once allowing Ranma to eat in peace. He showed Ranma the 'training ground', and decided to explain the training. "All right, son, this is going to be some speed, skill, toughness, and strength training, all at once." Ranma looked
wide-eyed. "Really, daddy? How are we going to do that?" Genma pointed to the largest of the logs.
"You see that log? We're going to tie you to one end, and get it swinging. Then, I'm going to swing those smaller logs at you, and you're going to try to knock them all away. Remember that any which hit you are going to hurt, but it will help toughen you up. Do
you understand?" Ranma replied, "Yes, papa!" his face creased for a minute, and then he asked, "Papa, if I do well, will you teach me some new techniques?", using that cute shining-eyed pleading look that can only be achieved by children, girls, and puppies.
Genma nodded. "I'll tell you what. If you do well, I'll take you to a temple, and we'll find a new style for you to learn." Ranma bounced excitedly, and cried "Yay!"
Genma indulged in a moment of enjoyment at his son's excitement, and then sternly told his son, "Now, Ranma, remember what I've told you about emotions." The boy settled down almost immediately, and said, "They're a weakness. Sorry, papa." The bandana'ed
martial artist patted his son on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay, son. Now, get some rest. We'll be starting early tomorrow." "Okay, papa."
As the new day dawned, several members of a local tribe had come to investigate the people who were camping at the Altar of the Pale Demons, as the place was called in the local tongue. They saw a foreigner with a white outfit and bandana strapping a young boy
in a similar outfit to the Sacrificial Altar. One native turned to his fellows. Why is that boy being sacrificed, I wonder? Another responded, Hell if I know. But that kid looks excited, for some reason. A third mused, you don't think they're too dumb to know
it's an execution device?. The first turned to the third, and raised an eyebrow Could anyone REALLY be THAT dumb?. In morbid fascination, they watched the proceedings.
Once Ranma was strapped on, and the log was set swinging, Genma got behind the first cluster of smaller logs, and asked, "ready, Ranma?", and, at his son's nod, he swung the first of the logs.
Tied to the log by ropes crossing his chest to minimize the hindrance to his fighting skill, Ranma started to knock the heavy logs away before they could hit him. Soon, though, dozens of logs were swinging towards him, and, finally, one made it through his flurry of attacks. It so happened that it caught him in the ribs, but he ignored the painful blow. Moments later, another caught him in his lower stomach, but again, he shrugged it off. After that, he managed to hold his own for nearly 10 minutes before one slipped through his guard, striking right below the solar plexus, and stunning him for just a moment.
A moment was too long, though, as he began to get pummeled against the large log, by the numerous smaller logs. Indeed, they were impacting hard enough to crack the log behind his back. As the logs began to lose momentum, Genma changed positions so that he could push them again. Frustrated by the fact that his son hadn't fully recovered his guard yet, and was still taking a fair number of hits, he shoved one of the logs much harder than he had intended, and it caught Ranma in the face with enough force to split the log he was tied against fully in two. Further, the force propelled him back against a tree behind him, where he impacted with an unpleasant 'crunch'. The smaller log fell away, also split, and the young boy stayed suspended a moment, before sliding down the tree, leaving a red smear.
Oh, that's bad. Commented the second native. Not gonna survive a wound like that. commented the third. The first was still in shock the boy had lasted so long.
In moments, Genma was by his son's side. "Ranma! Are you all right?" he asked, panicked, but to no avail. The closest thing he got to a response was a feeble twitch from his son. Probing the wound, he found that a section of the skull in the back, near the top
of the head, was definitely fractured. Realizing that his son's life was in more danger than, perhaps, he'd ever placed it in before, he quickly cleaned the wound as best he could, and bandaged it tightly. He grabbed his gear in moments, and, gently cradling his son, took off at top speed towards the nearest city.
Several hours later, he reached the main hospital in Kampala. The doctors examined the wound, and said they could treat it, but that Ranma might be left in a coma. As Ranma was rushed into a room for emergency treatment, Genma finally collapsed into a chair and
cried. True, it was because if Nodoka found out about this, his life was forfeit, but he cried, nonetheless.
Ranma had been in the hospital for almost a month, during which time Genma rarely left his side. He indeed had slipped into a coma, and the doctors were unsure if he'd ever recover from the trauma. They were shocked to observe how quickly the comatose boy healed, however, and even noticed that the damaged bone was growing back thicker and denser than before. However, x-rays had revealed that slivers of bone had been embedded in the brain, and, although the extent of damage was unknown, they feared that it might permanently affect the boy.
Then, one day, he woke up. The doctors couldn't explain it, and were shocked to find that he seemed to be fine. They explained to Genma how lucky he was, and that his son seemed to be fine, but he should be on the lookout for personality changes, memory loss, or anything like that, as it could indicate serious brain damage that wasn't immediately appearent. It never occurred to them that Ranma's incredible ability to heal might actually include brain tissue... nor would they have expected that, as with any other damaged tissue, Ranma's body wouldn't simply rebuild it, but would rebuild it better and stronger. Nor would anyone suspect, least of all Genma.
Nonetheless, two days later, Genma snuck Ranma out of the hospital to avoid paying the bills, and, realizing that the people he'd made agreements with about Ranma marrying their daughters would probably come looking for him soon, decided that Uganda had no more to offer them on their training trip, and so, they moved on to greener pastures.
Over the next few months, Ranma had some problems with serious headaches, but, being trained to ignore pain, never mentioned it to anyone. There were also a
few odd experiences, thoughts, and memories that he seemed to have over the next few years, but he always dismissed them quickly.
8 long years passed. In fact, almost 8 years to the day after Ranma's injury, they visited a little known chinese training ground called "Jusenkyo". When Ranma emerged from the pool of drowned girl, he screamed. When he screamed, though, something else happened. A flash in Genma's head of empathy, as he instantly remembered all the things he'd said about girls to Ranma, and all the training he'd given him about females. Then, in perhaps the first instance of genuine empathy in his life, Genma realized exactly how Ranma must feel at that moment. An instant later, he saw the now female Ranma look at him, and realized exactly how much of it was his fault, and that he was in extreme danger. As fast as he had ever moved in his life, the human in panda form turned and ran for his life.
------------------------------------------------------
Author's Note: Wheee! Another A/U started, that could run for a long time, if I like how it goes! Ummm, yeah, I don't really know where this came from, except in some fanfics I've read recently (and in the manga, which I reread a lot), no one ever seems to understand Ranma's point of view. He either gets blamed for things, or he simply doesn't get listened to. So, I decided to see what would happen if... er... well, you'll see.
This prologue was mostly just to show how much of a living hell Ranma's life was on the training trip. I guess you could call this a sympathy fic. Oh well, it'll get funnier (I hope) in a chapter or two, when I start rewriting events from the manga.