Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ use it merely for entertainment purposes.
At the Tendo Dojo after an hour of pleading, by Genma, threats, by Nodoka, and beatings, by Ranma; thing settled enough to talk about what had happened. Sitting around the table were Soun at the head, to his right a very lumpy Genma, Nodoka and Ranma, to Soun's left were his daughters and off to the side were Eugene, Shampoo and Ukyou silently watching the events.
Nabiki was the first to start things off. "So how did you two meet?" she asked directing her question to Ranma and his Mother.
"Ironically the same way I met his Father," Nodoka answered. "He fell from the sky and hit the pavement right in front of me. At the time he was a girl. I took him…her…Ranma to a local doctor to see if Ranma was injured."
"And the Doc said I was fine just like I told ya," Ranma interjected.
"Don't interrupt Ranma," Nodoka lightly scolded.
"Sorry Mom," Ranma replied.
"Now, after Ranma gave…her name," it was easy to tell Nodoka had trouble dealing with Ranma's curse, not that anyone could blame her really. But she pressed on anyway, "The receptionist made a comment about Ranma being my relative. From there everything happened rather quickly…"
The two red heads started at each other in shock. Both were wondering how it was possible to be related to the other and noticing for the first time that they did look a lot like each other. "Maybe she's Pop's sister," Ranma-chan thought. "That would explain why I got red hair in my cursed form."
"This isn't possible," Nodoka thought. "I married into the Saotome Clan. She can't be of my birth family." She then took a long look at Ranma, "But Nanako does have a point, Ranma does…wait her name is Ranma? But that's my Son's…what's going on?" Speaking out loud Nodoka asks, "Excuse me but are you really a Saotome?"
"Yeah," Ranma-chan answered. "Hey are you like my Aunt of somethin'. Cause Pop never told me he had a Sister."
"And just who is you're Father?" Nodoka asked while feeling a sever sense of dread coming on.
"Saotome Genma," Ranma-chan answered.
Nodoka began to shake at Ranm-chan's answer. "N…no, that can't be true!" she began to deny. "You can't be Ranma! You can't be my Son!" She began to back away from Ranma-chan repeating what she just said over and over again. After a couple of steps she trip over chair and the world went black.
Nodoka later woke up with a dark haired boy leaning over her with Dr. Yoshima and Nanako standing off to the side with looks of disbelief on their faces. "What happened? Where did…? Who are you?" she asked the dark haired boy. She then noticed something about the boy's hairstyle and noted how similar it was to the girl's with her Son's name. She then looked into his eyes and saw the same blue eyes the girl had. "Who are you?"
Ranma helped Nodoka up then started to scratch the base of his pigtail. "Saotome Ranma, sorry about this. Um Mom." Nodoka for the second time that day lost consciousness.
"After I was awakened by Dr. Yoshima Ranma demonstrated his…condition to me, several times. Then had several examinations by the Doctor." Nodoka said. Ranma silently shuddered at all the questions and tests the Doctor ran on him. "After that I spent several hours talking with him and discussing the mess Genma made of his life during their training trip." She shot her still lumpy husband a cold glare that made the fat man shudder in fear and chill.
"Speaking of which," Eugene decided to speak up. "What is this about a contract?"
"Contract?" Nodoka asked. "What contract?"
"The Seppuku Contract," Genma spoke up managing to prove his stupidity. "I left it on the table when I took the Boy."
"You made my Son sign a Seppuku Contract," Nodoka said in a very calm and very slow voice.
"Um…no?" Genma lied, badly.
"You should feel lucky that I never found that Contract!" Nodoka shouted. "If I had I would have tracked you to the ends of the Earth! How could you be so stupid to ever think I would want that! Especially after…" she then began to cry. "After Akira."
"Um Mom?" Ranma asked uneasily, "Who's Akira?"
"He would have been you're older brother," Nodoka answered still with tears in her eyes. "He was still born and died before taking his first breath." Her crying increased again and when Genma tried to touch her she jerked away and Ranma caught her before she could fall. After several minutes of silence Nodoka calmed down again, "I may still make you do it anyway Genma after everything Ranma has told. Especially after what you did to those young ladies, the curse and that Neko-ken." Taking a deep breath to relieve some tension Nodoka turned to the Tendo Patriarch. "As I stated Ranma has told be about his life and that includes the various marriage agreements…"
Before Nodoka could continue Soun jumped in, "Then you will give your consent to Ranma and Akane's marriage!" He then started wailing, "WWWHHHAAA! I'm so happy the Schools will be joined!"
"I never said I was consenting to that," Nodoka said flatly causing Soun to stop rather abruptly. "From what I have heard just about all of the marriages proposals have legitimate claims. As things stand I will need to discuss these claims with all the concerned parties." Looking at Ukyou and Shampoo, she stated, "And since they are already here we can begin."
"Mrs. Saotome," Eugene spoke up. "If you are going to talk about the marriage agreements then my Cousin and mine Great Grandmother should be here. She is the head of the family."
"Yes that would be prudent," Nodoka nodded. "We can wait until you can bring her here, Young Man."
"You can call me Eugene Mrs. Saotome," Eugene replied.
"Only if you and the others calls me Aunty," Nodoka beamed. Just about everyone sweat dropped at that.
"Ok Mrs.…I mean Aunty," Eugene said. "Common Shampoo we need to get Grandma." The Cousins stood up and bowed before exiting the house.
After they left Nodoka turned toward Ukyou, "Shouldn't you get your parents as well?"
"My Father put all the authority of deciding what I should do with Genma and Ran-chan, Aunty," Ukyou answered. Nodoka made a slight frown at the news but let the matter drop for now.
While everyone was meeting Nodoka at the Tendo Dojo another meeting was taking place at the Neko Haten. Eugene's parents and three other Amazons had arrived and were discussing the current situation with Cologne. "It's worse than you think Joe," Cologne answered. "Son-in-Law had many other marriage arrangements made by his Father Genma. And to top it off Genma had subjected his Son to several training methods that have been banned for decades."
"Like what Grandmother?" Mei Lynn asked.
"The most prominent is the Neko-ken," Cologne answered honestly.
"That idiot!" Joe exclaimed. "I knew Genma was a moron but I never thought even he would be stupid enough to train him that technique! I mean Christ the technique says that it's forbidden in every single one of the manuals!"
"Apparently the copy he had said that the technique was forbidden on the last page and Genma did not bother to read it," Cologne stated. "But that is not the only problem that affects Amazon affairs."
"What else?" Joe said pinching his nose he had a major headache and had a feeling that it was about to get worse.
"Your old Master has come back and has picked Son-in-Law as his Heir," Cologne answered. "And with the artifacts Happosai stole…"
"His Heir can be held responsible for his actions," Joe concluded. "And if the other Elders find out then Ranma, Shampoo, and you would be forced to face the consequences."
"Correct," Cologne nodded.
"Then why were you spared?" Liner asked Joe.
"I was never his Heir," Joe answered. "I was his student but I we came to an agreement that I would not be his Heir and that my School would be its own. If I so wished I could rejoin the Founder School of Anything Goes but I never saw the need and after I learned he was 'who he should not be named' tried to find out where he was to try and convince him to return the artifacts. Never could find him though."
"That was because your training partners sealed him inside of a cave for ten years," Cologne told him. "Do you really think you can convince him to return them? He can be quite stubborn in keeping what he has stolen."
"I believe I know a way to do it," Joe said. "But I will hold that to myself until the time is right."
It was at this time Shampoo and Eugene entered the restaurant. The first thing the Cousins noticed was who were talking with Cologne, "Mom! Dad! Ling-Ling! Lung-Lung!"
Before he could continue Liner made herself known by doing what all Amazons did to ones they were attracted to, "Eugene!" she glomped onto him faster then anyone could blink.
"Good to see you too Liner," Eugene sighed. He resigned to Liner being attached to him for another half an hour at least. He was used to seeing it, his Mother would often still do the same to his Father after their training trips.
"So what brings you two back here?" Cologne asked. "Has Son-in-Law returned?"
"Yes Great Grandmother," Shampoo answered. "Airen bring his Mother too."
"And she wants to see you Grandma," Eugene answered. "They're at the Tendo Dojo right now." Eugene looked at his parents next, "And Tendo has gotten it in his head that all three Schools should be joined."
Joe shook his head, "Just another problem that needs to be cleaned up."
"I think I'll be closing up now," Cologne said.
"Hey," Eugene called, "Where's Mousse at?"
"I put Mr. Part Timer in his cage for attacking Joe when he thought he was Son-in-Law," Cologne answered. "I swear I may just break down and pay for his eye surgery myself if he attacks one more person like that." There was a happy quack from the kitchen indicating that Mousse heard the statement.
A half an hour later everyone returned to the Tendo Dojo. Because of the space needed to fit everyone the meeting was being held in the Dojo itself. Once everyone was settled the Amazon group was seated along the wall to right of the family shrine and the Tendos Saotomes and Ukyou were seated to the left of the shrine. "Now to begin," Joe started. "My Son will only marry some one that he chooses. So unless he chooses to marry one of your daughters and they agree, Tendo, our Schools will remain separate."
"WWWWHAAAAA!" was Soun's response.
"Now that is out of the way," Nodoka spoke up. "We can move onto the real business at hand." Everyone agreed, though some, namely Genma, only reluctantly. "I think it would be best to lay out all problems first and then go from there." No one disagreed and Nodoka began, "First Genma made a pact with the Tendo Clan that their Schools of Anything Goes is to be united. Second Genma made an agreement to the Kuonji to marry Ranma and Ukyou and accepted her yatti as a dowry and sold it soon after. Then there are the events that caused Ranma to become 'married' to Shampoo through his and Genma's actions. Plus various other marriage promises that he made." She paused for a moment then continued. "Because of his actions Ranma is honor bond to marry a Tendo through Giri, a Kuonji Ukyou through contract and Shampoo through Amazon Tribal Law. If Ranma marries one of the Tendo's our Clan can face legal action through breach of contract to the Kuonji and face repercussions from the Amazons. If he marries Ukyou he will dishonor our Clan and face the same consequences from the Amazons if he married one of the daughters. And if he marries Shampoo our Clan faces dishonor from the Tendo and breach of Contract from the Kuonji."
"And to add to that," Cologne spoke up. "Because of the actions of Happosai his branch of Anything Goes is at odds with the Amazons. He has taken Ranma as his Heir and as a result can face punishment because of Happosai's actions. And just for the record," Cologne looked to Nabiki, "This does not affect Joe and his School because his Branch is independent of Happosai's. This can be solved if Ranma were to marry Shampoo. As Happosai's Heir Ranma will inherit everything that Happosai owns when he succeeds him. If Ranma marries Shampoo then the artifacts will be returned to us and the quarrel with the Founder Anything Goes will be settled."
"So as things stand Ranma cannot make any decision in terms of who he should choose," Nodoka concluded. "If he does the consequences would ruin everyone."
"He must marry Akane!" Soun jumped in. "Our Schools must be joined!"
"Be silent Tendo!" Joe said. "This is much too serious for your and Genma's usually blundering!" Joe then stood up and moved to door of the Dojo and slid it open revealing Happosai sitting there obviously listening in on the conversation taking place. "Hello Master. Under normal circumstances I would say it is good to see you. However…"
"These are not normal circumstances," Happosai said.
"Is there anyway you will return the artifacts you took?" Joe asked. "It will resolve at least some of the problems here."
"No," Happosai's simple and direct answer.
"Then Happosai, Grand Master of the Anything Goes Founding School, I Roberts Joe Master of the Roberts Anything Goes School of Martial Arts challenge you for the title of Grand Master and ownership of your School," Joe announced surprising everyone in the Dojo, except for Happosai. Apparently he had been expecting this.
"Very well I accept," Happosai answered. "However if you loose you must turn over any and all techniques your School has acquired or made since you broke from my School. Do you accept?"
"Yes," Joe answered without hesitation. Happosai nodded and Joe turned to Cologne. "We will need a judge of sufficient skill and power. Elder Cologne of the Joketsuzoku Amazons will you preside over the Challenge."
"I shall," Cologne bowed and Joe and Happosai returned the bow. "The Challenge will commence in five days time at the abandoned construction site near our Restaurant. Until then all mater concerning the Amazons and the School of Anything Goes shall be postponed as I and the participants must prepare."