Ch. 2 The Wild Horse Breaks Free!

Genma was starting to get worried. It was natural for Ranma to disappear for a time, but it had been almost two whole days since the last fiasco that happened. If that age changing teacher, Hinako, hadn't have gotten in the way, he might have FINALLY gotten his stupid son married to Akane.

He was sure Ranma would have come back now, either out of hunger or a need for a place to rest. But he still wasn't back yet! He had half a mind to call the police...if he wasn't afraid of them arresting him first. He was about to head out the door to try to find his good for nothing son, when all of a sudden, the door in front of him opened to reveal none other than Ranma!

"BOY! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" He shouted as he charged at his son, only to be kicked in the head by said young man.

"Hiya pop." Said Ranma as he lowered his kicking foot. When Genma got up he was about to attack his son, even though he knew it wouldn't do him any good. But when he got up, he saw Ranma kneeling on the ground. Now he was on guard, his son NEVER got on his knees in front of him like that.

"Uh...?"

"Pop." Ranma said in an oddly formal and respectful voice. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Um, what is it son?" Genma asked, not lowering his guard. Ranma looked up to his father, a sad look on his face.

"I want to apologize."

"WHA!?" The bald man exclaimed in honest shock.

"I want to apologize for the way I've acted throughout this past year. I'm sorry that I've failed to live up to my duty of honor to unite the two schools of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu. You were right, as much as it pains me to say it. If I had just married Akane like you and Tendo-san wanted, I never would have gotten into all this mess my stupid pride has gotten me into."

Genma was shocked. So shocked...he bust into tears! Finally, his son had seen the light.

"OH SON!" He exclaimed. "At long last you've come to your senses! Does this mean you're finally ready to marry Akane so we can put this whole thing to rest!?"

"Yes father!" Ranma said with conviction on in his eyes. "I'm ready to marry my one TRUE fiancé!" Genma jumped up in ecstatic joy.

"MARVELOUS! I get Tendo, we'll call a priest, set up a wedding date and..."

"No dad!" Ranma said, interrupting his father. "I don't think we should have a big wedding."

"What?" Genma said, taken aback. "Why not son?"

"Because dad, if we have a big wedding, all the other fiancés may bust in and ruin the whole thing!" Ranma said, one hand going behind his back to retrieve something. Genma thought for a moment.

"Hmm, you might be right about that boy," he said.

'Not only that, but they could ruin my whole plan for a nice cushiony retirement.'

"So pop, while I was off doing some soul searching, I decided that it might be best if me and Akane eloped. Had a private ceremony, so that no one could interrupt us." Ranma said as Genma couldn't help but nod at that logic. Clearly his son had been doing some serious thinking... or so he thought.

'No wonder he was gone so long.' The fat man thought.

"But I need one thing form you pop." Ranma said as he pulled out a piece of paper.

"If Akane and I are to get married before we reach the age of eighteen, we need the signature of an adult who believes that we are mature enough to be married like adults. And so, pop, will you please sign this marriage license for me? Please, father? For the good of the schools?"

Genma started to break down crying.

"Of course, son!" He said as he took the paper and signed on the dotted line. "There you go son! It's official now!" He said, handing the paper back to his son. Ranma took it back and smiled at the paper.

"Thank you... dad." Ranma said...And then kicked his father into the ceiling, a sadistic smile on his face.

"SUCKER!" Ranma said as he started jumping and flipping all over the house, acting like he just won three lotteries all at once.

"YAHOO! I'M FREE! FREE! I'M FREE AT LAST! YAHOOOOOO!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. His antics woke up the whole house hold. Akane took one look at Ranma, and charged at him to throw a punch at him.

"RANMA NO BAKA!" She screamed. Only for her punch to be caught by Ranma, who then pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

"It's been real fun, tomboy!" He then threw Akane to the side and yanked Soun by the hair.

"See ya later, ya good for nothing drunk old bastard!" He back flipped away and actually slapped Nabiki three times in the face.

"And GOOD REDINCE ya money grubbing bitch! Yahoo!" He said, then he jumpped in front of Kasumi.

"And Kasumi.." He started to say before grabbing her hand and shaking it. "Thanks for making my time here slightly more barrable." He said before he dashed for the door. Genma got out of the ceiling and glared daggers at Ranma.

"RANMA! What is the meaning of this!?"

"Have you lost your mind?" Soun asked the pigtailed boy. Ranma grinned at the two old men and held the paper from earlier up in front of his face.

"I'll tell ya what's up, ya assholes!" He said. He then reached for one of the corners of the paper, and pulled away the false top that covered the real document.

"According to this paper you just signed, pop...Saotome Ranma is now officially an emancipated minor!"

Genma and Soun paled until they were as white as bleached sheets. Then their mouths dropped open until they hit the floor.

"Say...what now?" Akane asked. The weight of Ranma's words hitting her like a sledge hammer. Kasumi gasped and placed her hand over her mouth. Nabiki went over to the grinning martial artist.

"Let me see that." but before she could take the paper, Ranma yanked it away from her hands.

"I'm not letting you get your hands on this. I don't trust you." But he held it up to her eyes. "But I'll let you read it."

Nabiki leaned over and read the document. She mumbled to herself as she read the paper. As she went further down the document, her eyes grew wider and wider. As she reached the end of the document, she also grew pale.

"Nabiki? How bad is it?" Soun asked his daughter. She turned to the two fathers, her eyes wide as saucers.

"Uncle Saotome..." She said.

"Y-yes child?" He answered.

"You fucked up." And with that, both fathers dropped dead, clutching their hearts. Ranma just laughed and marched towards the door.

"Now if you guys will excuse me, I have an appointment at the court house." He said, as he strutted out the front door. Nabiki managed to snap out of her stupor and walked over to the two fallen fathers.

"You know, that document isn't really final until Ranma gets it to a layer at the court house." With that said, the two downed men suddenly had new life breathed into them as they got up and charged out the door after Ranma.

Akane just stood there. Her mind trying to come to terms with what just happened. Ranma...just emancipated himself? Does that mean...the arrangement between them was really over? As this thought crossed her mind, her confusion turned into rage as she began to imagine Ranma running off with Shampoo and/or Ukyo.

"GRRRRR!" Akane growled as her battle materialized as a burning dark red flame around her body.

"THAT PERVERTED BASTARD! I BET HE DID THIS JUST SO HE COULD GO OFF WITH THOSE TWO SLUTS OF HIS!" She shouted as she charged out the door after her soon to be ex-fiancé. As the dust cloud dissipated, Kasumi and Nabiki both looked at the each other.

"Well," Kasumi said. "I guess that's it. Ranma's actually leaving."

"No he isn't." Nabiki said, back in her usual state of noncaring monotone. Kasumi looked at her sister confused.

"But Nabiki, you said that document Ranma tricked his father into signing was legitimate."

Nabikik looked back at her older sister.

"Look sis, yes that document really is real and if Ranma can get a lawyer to take his case and get a witness to attest that Genma isn't fit to be a parental guardian, then yes, he can be emancipated. But there is no way anyone in their right mind would try to help him with that. And even if they did, he'll never make it to the court house."

"Why would you say that?" Kasumi asked, concern growing in her voice. Nabiki's only response was to smirk and pull out her cellphone.

"Because I'm hedging my bet." She said as she dialed a few phone numbers and sent out a mass text to everyone who both had a phone and had something against Ranma. She put her phone away and was about to walk off when Kasumi stopped her. A seriously stern look on her face.

"Our mother would not be proud of you today." Nabiki just glared back at her sister.

"How dare you of all people pull the mom card on me."

Meanwhile, Ranma was dashing through the streets of Nerima, the biggest, goofiest smile on his face that he had ever worn in his whole life.

'That was too freaking easy!' He thought to himself. 'Now I just have to...'

His thoughts were cut off by a fist heading straight for his face! Yelping in surprise, Ranma barely managed to avoid the incoming fist and flipped away to see his rival Ryoga charging at him with full intent to murder him.

"Ryoga!?" Ranma said in shock. This was not part of the plan.

"What are you doing here?"

"Shut up bastard! How dare you do that to Akane!" Ryoga shouted as he attacked Ranma once again. Ranma bobbed and weaved to avoid Ryoga's strikes and just as he jumped over the lost boys head to deal a blow of his own, he found himself tied up.

"Hey!" Ranma shouted as he was unceremoniously pulled to the ground. He looked behind him and sure enough, there was Mousse, his near-sighted weapon using rival.

"You too Mousse?" Ranma asked sarcastically.

"Save it Saotome!" The Chinese boy said to Ranma. "I don't care if you want to emancipate yourself from your father. But I won't let you do it just so you can run away with my Shampoo!"

"Say whay!?" Ranma said.

"Don't play games with us Ranma!" Ryoga said to his old foe. "We know all about your stupid scheme and I won't let you hurt Akane's feelings just so you can marry some other woman!"

Ranma looked at his two rivals as if they had each grown an extra head each. What on Earth were they talking about.

"Look, it's true I'm trying to get emancipated, but how did you two nitwits find out about that? And what on God's blue Earth makes you think I would..." Ranma trailed off as a sudden thought came to his mind.

'Nabiki' He thought to himself. 'Of course she would try to keep me trapped here by using these two assholes.'

"Look guys..." He tried to say to them, only for Mousse to cut him off.

"Save it Ranma! This time we'll make sure you die!" The glasses wearing boy hen pulled on the chains that bound Ranma and yanked him into the air.

As Ranma was yanked through the air he called on his mastery of acrobatics to right himself and do a spin in mid-air, causing Mousse to be pulled towards him.

"Oh no you don't!" Said Ryoga as he jumped back into the fray. But as he did, Ranma turned once again so he could kick off of the lost boy and flip over the near-sighted Amazon boy, who crashed right into Ryoga. As they were all pulled down by the unavoidable pull of gravity, Ranma took this chance to channel ki into his hands and fired it at the chain, weakening it enough so he could break through it.

"Mokko Takabisha!" Ranma cried out as he fired a golden blast of ki at his two rivals. Not only blasting them away, but also propelling him enough to get back to fleeing across the district. As Ranma continued roof hoping away, he couldn't help but think what other surprises might be waiting for him around town.

'It's bad enough to have pop and Tendo-san after me, but now I have to deal with Ryoga and Mousse. And who knows who else Nabiki told about my plan.'

As Raman kept jumping, he heard a very familiar and unpleasant laugh. He turned his head and sure enough, there was Kuno Kodachi. Ranma grunted and sighed, of course that nutcase would be here.

"Oh, Ranma darling!" Cried the crazy girl. "If you wanted become a real man, why not just simply come with me so we can get married and live our lives happily ever after!" Ranma shook his head. Just how deranged and full of yourself could you get?

"Back off ya nutcase!" Ranma shot back at her from over his shoulder. "You are not my type!" Kodachi just laughed her annoying laugh.

"Oh my dearest Ranma-darling! Stop playing hard to get." She said as she lashed out with her ribbon. Ranma dodged her attempts to catch him and jumped down back to street level.

"Wait! Come back my love!" Kodachi cried as she leapt after the object of her heart's desire. But as she came down to the streets, she was hit on the head, knocking her unconscious. Ranma walked out from around the corner of a building and looked down at his rat-tailed stalker.

"If you had as much brains as you do junk in your trunk, you would have seen that last blow coming." He said as he jogged off in a random direction. As he did, Ranma couldn't help wonder, did his other fiancés know about his immanent emancipation? His question was answered when he heard a familiar bike bell.

"Nihao Ranma!" Ranma deadpanned. "Shampoo hear about you being free from angry home wrecker, so now we go home to get married, yes?

"No you crazy Amazon bimbo! Ranma shouted at the purple haired girl. "It may be true that I'm about to become an emancipated minor, but that doesn't mean I'm doing it to marry you!"

"That's right you foreign slut!" Came the voice of Ukyo. "If Ran-chan is going to marry anybody it's going to be his cute fiancé! Namely me!"

Ranma face plamed at hearing that. Sure, he expected this to happen, but he wasn't planning on it happening this quickly. As he was thinking this, Ukyo pulled up beside him.

"Ran-chan, I'm glad you finally decided to get rid of that angry gorilla Akane, I'm really surprised that you'd go so far as to emancipate yourself. But still, now that you're about legally become an adult, maybe we can finally tie the knot?"

Ukyo soon found herself on the receiving end of a hit to the head by Shampoo.

"Stupid tranny no good for Ranma. Shampoo is best girl." The Amazon said. Ukyo took her spatula and began swiping at her like an annoying fly. As this was going on, Ranma took the opportunity to make a quick turn and sneak away from the two arguing women.

Ranma sighed, but he knew that he only bought himself a brief reprieve from the madness. He was proven right once again by the appearance of Genma and Soun pouncing on him from behind and tackling him to the ground.

"Got cha boy!" Said Genma.

"Sorry son, but this foolishness must be stopped!" Cried Soun. Ranma growled and flung the two older men off of him.

"Listen you two," Ranma said facing them. "I've put up with a lot from you idiots and I can't stand it anymore! I'm cutting my losses and ditching you and this stupid arranged marriage of yours once and for all!"

And with that, Ranma took off once again but this time with the two stubborn fathers in hot pursuit. As Ranma kept roof hoping away, with Soun and Genma calling after him, he saw Ryoga and Mousse coming from the other direction. Smirking, Ranma got an idea.

"Tell you what, boys! If you want me, then come and get me!" Ranma said as he headed towards the ground. The fathers and his two rivals followed after him, anger flashing on their faces. But as they turned a corner, they were all hit by a splash of water. Soun was fine, but Genma, Ryoga and Mousse turned into their respective cursed forms.

Soun looked up and sure enough, up in a nearby window, there was the old ladle lady throwing water out onto the street. Soun glared at the old woman.

"That boy is too smart for his own good." Soun looked towards Genma, who was fuming at being made a fool of once again by his own son.

"Come Saotome! We mustn't let Ranma get away!" He said as he grabbed the panda and rushed off in the direction he thought Ranma headed off in, while pig Ryoga and duck Mousse followed right behind them. Ranma peered out from behind another building, looking at the boneheads he had just tricked.

"Heh heh heh! That takes care of them for a while." He said as he prepared to dash off, but stopped in his tracks when he heard a very unpleasant laugh.

"Ooooooohhhh ho ho ho ho!" Came the annoying laugh of Kodachi. Ranma paled as he ran to hide from the crazy gymnast.

"OH Ranma-darling! Where are you, my love!" Cried the psycho girl. "I don't know who knocked me out before, but I will never allow whoever it was to take you away from me!" She then glared even more.

"But if it happened to be that red-headed harlot! OOOOHHHHH!"

Ranma deadpanned at that. 'If only she knew that that red-headed harlot was meee...'

Ranma cut off his own thoughts as an idea started to form in his mind. He slowly started to grin as the gears in his head began to turn. He walked over to a nearby restaurant and went into the bathroom to splash himself with cold water, turning him into his female form. Afterwards, Ranma went back out into the street and started fixing herself up.

First, she undid her hair so that it flowed freely down her back. Then she unbuttoned her shirt a little bit to show off some of her cleavage. Then she pulled the legs of her pants up so that she could show more of her slender legs. After she was done, she looked at herself in her reflection.

"Damn. I look good." She said as she wiggled her eyes at herself. "Now, it's showtime."

As Kodachi continued to hop from one roof to the other, she heard the familiar voice of her most hated rival.

"Oh, Ranma my love! I'm so happy that you've finally cut yourself free of that horrible monster Akane! I know that your heart is still devided but, if it means being with you, then I'll be more than happy to share you with that amazon Shampoo. Once she agrees, then you and I can finally run away and live happily ever after! Even if I must share your heart with another. As long as it's not that scrawny ass slut Kodachi." Came the voice of the red-headed pig-tailed girl. Kodachi growled at the words she heard.

"WHAT!" She screamed. She dashed over to where the voice came from, and saw her most hated enemy. Speaking to the silhouette of HER Ranma. Now, she was mad!

"YOU GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU BITCH!" She screamed as she charged at the red-haired girl. Ranma, seeing that her plan had worked, jumped away as the angry gymnast came charging at her.

"Who are you calling a bitch you second rate has been!" Ranma said to Kodachi, trying not to let her laughter seep through her act.

"Run Ranma my love! I'll meet up with you at the court house with Shampoo!" Ranma pretends to shout out to the other him. Snickering to herself as she jumps away from the crazy gymnast. Kodachi, still seeing red, chased after the red head, not even noticing that there was no sign of Ranma.

"You bitch! I will NEVER allow you and that Chinese slut to spirit my Ranma-sama away! And I have absolutely no intention of sharing him with ANYONE! Least of all YOU!"

Ranma hid another snicker at that. If only she knew. Calming herself, Ranma prepared to go back into her act.

"Ranma doesn't like you, you crazy bitch!" She said. "And I would happily share him if it meant sparing him from seeing you and Akane and Ukyo making out in front of him."

At that last comment, Kodachi nearly fell to the ground. Did she just hear her right? Her and Akane? Making...out!?

"Say...what?" She asked. Ranma grinned as she prepaired to lay the icing on the cake.

"Don't play dumb with me. I know all about you, Ukyo and Akane having your secret love affair. Akane told me all about it. And I refuse to let my Ranma-kun suffer from watching you three be a gay couple in front of him all the time."

Kodachi's brain stopped working for a minute. Then, slowly, her rage bubbled and bubbled until it exploded in a dark purple battle aura around her body.

"I! AM! NOT! GAY!" She screamed as she dashed at Ranma, clawing at her like she was a wild animal. "I WILL KILL YOU, AKANE AND THAT CROSS-DRESSING TRAMP FOR SPREADING THAT RUMOR!"

Ranma bounced away from the savage blows of his stalker as he/she headed in a direction that, hopefully, would bring the two of them to the place she intended them to be. Then, with blinding speed, Ranma did a spinning kick that knocked Kodachi straight into a clothing line and caused her to get tangled up. Laughing at the rat-tailed girls plight, Ranma bent over and spanked her butt at the crazy rich chick.

"So long miss Kodachi. I'll tell Ranma-kun that you, Akane and Ukyo will be happy together after we leave." And with that, the gender changing boy dashed away once again. Anger flowing through her like never before, Kodachi began to rip and tear at the clothing line holding.

Meanwhile, Ranma had found what, or rather who, he/she was looking for. Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo where still arguing as they were when she left them. Ranma was finding it hard to hold back her laughter at the scheme she was about to attempt. Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, she took in one last long breath and did a very impressive impersonation of Kodachi.

"OOOHHH ho ho ho! Oh Ranma-sama! At long last we can be together! I told you that those three stupid sluts would never be able to stop us!"

The three in question stopped their arguing when they heard what sounded like Kodachi's voice. Was she actually talking to Ranma!? It couldn't be.

"Oh I know Ranma-darling, that dumb gorilla tank Akane and her gay friend Ukyo are probably too busy making out in front of the boy's locker room at school to bother going after us now. And that dumb slut Shampoo is probably whoring herself out to customers right now so she can make change for a single yen."

Now all three of the girls were seeing red. Not only did they just hear Kodachi apparently talking to Ranma, but they had just heard her insult them and call them either gay or cheap prostitutes. All three girls were exploding with red auras as they growled.

"SHAMPOO IS NOT A PROSTITUTE!" Screamed the Amazon.

"I AM NOT GAY!" Screamed Ukyo. And Akane...Just charged the voice at full speed like a crimson flaming bullet.

"DIE!" She cried at the top of her lungs. As for the young impressionist, he was hightailing it back to where he left Kodachi. Ranma laughed to herself, everything was going according to plan.

'Suckers.' She thought to herself. 'Just like I planned. Now to get out of the way of the fireworks.'

And with that thought, Ranma slipped into the sewer and waited for the right moment to slip away. But first, she wanted to see how this works out. Above where she was hidden, the three fiancés had bumped into the very person who they were looking for. Kodachi looked up to see her enemies and growled. Normally she would gloat and taunt her foes, but she was way too pissed off.

"DIE YOU HARLETTES!" She cried out as she lashed out with her ribbon, channeling her ki into it to turn it into a sharpened blade. The three young women dodged the attack and launched their own attacks at the psycho gymnast.

"SHAMPOO IS NOT PROSTITUTE YOU HOMEWRECKER!" Screamed the Amazon heiress as she lashed out with a flying kick. Kodachi dodged it and was about to retaliate, but she found herself being attacked by Ukyo from behind.

"YOU BITCH! I AM NOT A LESBIAN! AND I HAVE NO INTEREST IN AKANE!" She said as she struck with her spatula. Kodachi got hit in the head and sent straight to the ground. On the way down, Akane clenched her fist and struck out with a strong punch that sent Kodachi flying into a nearby building.

"I COULD CARE LESS ABOUT THAT PERVERET! BUT I WOULD NEVER MAKE OUT WITH ANOTHER GIRL!" Cried the angry tomboy. Kodachi shook her head and tried to get back in the fight, only to see Akane coming at her again with a flying kick. She dodged the kick and struck out with her own kick to the back of Akane's head.

"It's fine that you're not a lesbian, but don't go filling my Ranma's head with the idea that I'M ONE!" She said as she was about to strike Akane with a club she pulled out of nowhere. But before she could strike, she was hit in the face with a sack of flour. As Kodachi fell back, Ukyo landed her own kick and then spun into a spinning strike with her spatula.

"You can think whatever you want, but I'm not letting you spirit my Ran-chan away with him thinking I would go and cheat on him with the likes of Akane!" She said as she attacked with a barrage of wild swings.

Kodachi righted herself in the air and dodged the attacks of the angry chef. While they kept up their little brawl, Shampoo snuck up behind them and struck Ukyo in the back, sending her flying into the rat-tailed psycho.

"If you ask Shampoo, me think you both perfect for each other." She said as she laughed at the crumbled heap that was the two other girls. "Dumb tranny is perfect for crazy girl."

"TRANNY!" Screamed Ukyo. She got up and charged at the purple haired girl.

"I'M A CROSSDRESSER! NOT! A! TRANSEXUALLLLLL!" She screamed as she swiped wildly at the Amazon. Kodachi started laughing at the two, but was forced to stop when they were sent flying back at her by non-other than Akane.

"You three are just PERFECT for each other. You're all CRAZY!" She exclaimed. "And Ranma won't be going ANYWHERE with any of you, because when I find him, I'm going to KILL HIM!"

The three proned girls got up and charged at the anger addicted school girl. As the four girls soon found themselves in a brawl, Ranma snuck out of the sewer and looked at her handiwork. She couldn't help but snicker at what she had caused.

"Boy, crazy girls sure are easy to manipulate when you know what buttons to press."

She kept chuckling to herself as she walked off the nearest place to get some hot water. After going in and switching back to his male form, Ranma walked out and fixed his clothes back to normal. But as he was fixing his hair, he saw his reflection in a nearby window.

"Huh, maybe I should let my hair down more often." He said to himself. But, he still decided to put it back into his signature pigtail and after taking one last look at the four crazy girls, he shook his head and ran off.

"Well, that's that." He said as he headed off. But as he did, he soon found himself surrounded by Soun, Genma, Ryoga and Mousse, the last three being back in their normal.

"Uh ohhhhhh..." He said. He back walked away and then took off as fast as his legs could take him.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Ranma yelled as he took off, Genma and the others hot on his tail.

Ranma was mentally kicking himself. How could he be so stupid as to let his guard down!? He should have known that these four would be back on his tail. Now he has to deal with them right after dealing with the fiancé brigade. He had to think of a way to deal with these creeps fast, he needed a chance to breath and think. As he was thinking this, he noticed a bomb in the road.

'Wait...BPMB!?' Ranma thought to himself. It was one of Happosai's bombs!

"YIKES!"

He said as he jumped and backflipped away as the other four wondered why he did that. Only to scream in terror as they saw the bomb in front of them explode. Ranma panted for breath after landing from his jump, he heard the familiar laugh of the founder of the Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu and looked to see him right above his head.

"Hey ya old freak!" He said to the short old man. Happosai looked down at the boy who was his heir.

"Hello Ranma. Heard about what you did to your father. Quite impressive." He said, before dropping his smile.

"Howeve..." He jumped down and attacked the young man. "I draw the line at you leaving the dojo and depriving me of the opportunity of seeing your hot female bod!"

Ranma chuffed and parried the attacks of the old pervert. Ever since dealing with Herb he noticed that the old man was getting easier to block and defend against. He still doubted that he could beat the old freak if he ever used full power, but in this instance, Ranma was confident he could win against the creep.

Ranma blocked a kick from the old man and turned it into a grab before throwing him to the side. Ranma chuckled but tensed when he felt the presence of Genma and the others behind him. Turning around, Ranma was only barely able to dodge roll away from the other four goons as they dog pilled him.

"Stop running Ranma!" Ryoga shouted at his rival. Genma glared at his disobedient son.

"Boy! When will you stop all of this foolishness and just..."

"Save it old man!" Ranma said as he back fisted Happosai, who was trying to jump him from behind him. "I'm being the most serious I've ever been! The only one being foolish is you and your drunk friend!"

Soun was starting to get mad. He had done nothing but be nice to this boy, and here he was insulting him like this!?

"Listen to me son..." Soun began but Ranma cut him off.

"No! You listen you drunken idiot!" Ranma shouted at the former master level fighter. "Ever since your wife died, you just let yourself turn from a respectable fighter to washed out has been. Your eldest daughter gave up her whole future just to take care of you, your middle daughter turned herself into a greedy blackmailing slut to make ends meet and it turned her into one of the biggest monsters I've ever met! And Akane..." Ranma trailed off.

"You just gave up on her." He said. "She was the hope for your school. She kept training even after all your other students left because you refused to train them! She begged you to keep training her and you just gave up! On her! On your school! And worst of all, on yourself! The Tendo Musabetsu Kakuto Ryu is dead! You have nothing to offer me, so I have no reason to stay around!"

Soun was taken aback. Ranma had never used tht tone with him. He wanted to rebuke what Ranma had just said, but the more he thought about it, the more Ranma's words started to hit home. Kasumi had a full scholarship, but she chose to stay at home. He didn't want to believe that Nabiki was as bad as Ranma and so many others have said, but he had noticed many things Nabiki had done over the years. But he was either too drunk or just didn't care enough to notice.

And Akane...But before he could continue with his revelations, Happosai and Genma jumped in and attacked Ranma.

"Shut your mouth boy!" Genma said as he attacked. Ranma dodged but was forced to block and defend against the shrunken old masters barrage of attacks as well as Ryoga's and Mousses. One on one, he could take them, but all of them at once...he was in trouble.

"While you may have a point with Soun, I won't let you get away from me that easily!" Said Happosai.

"I could care less about the old drunk's life problems. All I care about is beating Ranma here and now!" Mousse said as he unleashed his arsenal of weapons. Ranma deflected the oncoming weapons back at Mousse and at the others. Soun was broken out of his thoughts by the oncoming weapons, Genma panicked at the attack and Happosai was forced to jump out of the way to avoid being skewered.

Ryoga batted away the weapons and went straight for Ranma, knowing that he was probably one of the only two people hear that could handle him in a straight up fight. But as the fight went on, Ryoga couldn't help but notice that Ranma wasn't giving this fight his all. In fact, he was playing nothing but defense, he wasn't even actually fighting back.

'Something's not right. Why isn't Ranma fighting back?' Ryoga thought to himself. But he wasn't going to get his answer just yet. Ranma ducked and tripped him up and dashed away. But as he did, an angry Akane jumped out of nowhere and attacked him.'

"Found you, you BASTARD!" She shouted she attempted to knock Ranma's head off.

"YIPE!" Ranma said as he ducked under her attack. Said punch ended up landing right in Mousse's face.

"STAY OUT OF THE WAY!" She screamed, only to get a chop to the back of her head by Ranma.

"Cool off, tomboy." He said, and then side-stepped an attack by Ukyo.

"Ranma! Just marry me already!" She said, only for Shampoo to use her as a springboard to launch at Ranma.

"Airen! Stop playing hard to get with Shampoo!" Ranma dodged, grabbed Shampoo's leg and then used her momentum to spin and throw her back at Ukyo.

"Get a clue you..." Ranma didn't get a chance to finish as Kodachi wrapped him up with her ribbon.

"NOW YOU'RE GOING TO MARRY ME RANMA-DARLING!" Ranma flipped with the momentum of her pull and then kicked her hard in the gut.

"BACK OFF!" He shouted. He was about to try to escape the ribbon, only for it to be sliced. Ranma looked down, caught off guard by what had just happened.

"Huh?" He said.

"I say neigh foul sister!" Came the voice of Kuno Tatewaki. Ranma and the others were all shocked by the samurai wannabe's sudden appearance.

"Kuno?" Ranma asked. "What are you doing here?"

Kuno looked back at Ranma, then back to the gathered crowd of Nerima's worst.

"Go Saotome. Make a break for it." The kendo goon said. Ranma and the others all nearly fell to the ground in shock.

"Wha?" Kuno looked back at Ranma.

"Don't get the wrong idea. This is not a show of friendship. I've heard about your emancipation and your eminent departure from the Tendo dojo, so I'm doing this to give you a chance to leave with your honor. And once you're gone, the fierce tigress Tendo Akane and the pig-tailed girl will be free and finally be mine!"

Ranma sweat dropped. Of course that's why Kuno was helping him out. He never would change, but Ranma was not above using his enemy to his advantage.

"Thanks pal. See ya." Ranma said as he jumped away as fast as his body could take him. Kuno scoffed at his hated enemy and glared at the other members of Nerima's worst.

"Come scoundrels! Come and face...AAAAWWWWWW!" Was all Kuno was able to say before he was trampled by the group of people. Ranma looked back over his shoulder and shook his head.

'Of course. All that samurai nitwit could give me was a whole two seconds.' Ranma thought as he did his best to shake his pursuers.

'I was hoping to only have to deal with these goons one or two at a time. But now I have to deal with all of them at once. Come on Ranma, use your head. You need to buy some more time.'

Ranma's thoughts were cut short when, just as he was making a turn, he felt a stabbing pain in his shoulder. Ranma yelped in pain as he fell and tumbled to the ground, clutching his shoulder. It felt dislocated, not a pleasant feeling. He looked up and saw the chuckling form of Shampoo's great-grandmother, Cologne.

"Hello son-in-law." Said the overconfident old crone. "Trying to sneak away without taking your fiancé with you? Don't you think that's a bit cruel?"

Ranma growled at the aged amazon as he struck his shoulder hard enough to pop his shoulder back into place.

"Your crazy great-granddaughter is not my fiance. And if you think you can stop me, you've got another thing coming, you old hag!" Ranma said as he took up a fighting stance. Cologne shook her head in dismay.

"A stubborn fighter to the end, eh Ranma? Fine, if that's how you want it..." She then jumped down towards Ranma and lashed out with her cane.

Ranma was ready for her this time, however, and side-stepped her assault before grabbing her cane and with a quick movement, disarmed her and batted her away with it. Cologne was slightly surprised.

"Well, someone's been practicing." She said before she struck her cane with a finger, causing it to fall apart. Ranma tossed the broken cane pieces aside and began to parry Cologne's attempts to attack him.

Ranma couldn't help but think back to his spar with Akisame. Compared to that, this was nowhere near as exciting. He knew Cologne was holding back, the problem was that since he was holding back himself so as not to wear himself out, he had no idea how much the old ghoul was holding out on him. As these thoughts ran through his head, Ranma sensed the familiar sensation of incoming fiancés behind him and rolled to the side, causing the four crazy girls, led by Shampoo, to crash right into Cologne.

"Ha ha ha haaah! A five girl pile up! Ha aha! Old Happosai would lose his stack over this."

As if to prove his point, out came Happosai, eyes boulging out of his head at the sight of the four pretty young girls, and to some extent the old woman he used to love, in a dog pile on the ground.

"How SWEET!" He cried as Ranma bonked him on the head.

"Called it." Ranma said to himself.

"GRAB HIM!" Came the voice of Genma as he and the other three men tried to pounce on him. Ranma managed to dodge at the last minute and dashed away once again. Genma and the others growled as they got up and gave chase once again.

Not long afterwards, just as Ranma was starting to think that he had FINALLY outsmarted his pursuers, an explosion hit him from the ground in front of him! Ranma recoiled as Ryoga popped out of the ground and charged at him. As he tried to get his baring's back, he felt his feet be pulled out from under him by a rope. He managed to see Mousse smirking at him from behind him.

As he hit the ground, Genma, Soun, Happosai, and the rest of the Nerima Wrecking crew jumped out of nowhere and dogpiled him.

"AHA! We've finally got you boy!" Said Genma triumphantly.

"Yes! Now we can finally put this whole insane idea of yours to rest." Soun agreed with his old friend.

"Yeah, Rest in PEICE!" Said Akane as she readied her mallet to smash Ranma flat.

"Hold on Akane!" Soun said, trying to calm his daughter down. "First, let's get that document." And with that, he, Genma and the others started looking on Ranma's person for the emancipation document.

"Hey," Happosai said after a few seconds of searching. "Where is the document?"

Sure enough, the document in question was nowhere to be found. Ranma just laid there looking like he was trying hard not to laugh at a funny joke he had just heard.

"Alright boy, where's the document?" Genma said as he held Ranma by the collar. Ranma just looked at his father with an innocent look.

"Document? What document? I have no idea what you're talking about." He said, the ghost of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Don't play stupid, stupid!" Akane said, forcing Genma out of her way. "That stupid document you tricked your father into signing that started this whole mess!"

"Ohhhhhh..." Ranma said as if he finally understood. "That document. Hmmm."

He thought for a moment.

"Why not check the courthouse? I mean, we did pass it like five times by now."

All the members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew suddenly went wide eyed and dumbfounded.

"Say...what?" Akane said as her arms went limp. Ranma chuckled.

"Oh, you mean you didn't notice? We've been going around in circles for almost three hours now." Ranma said as he enjoyed the stupefied looks on his gathered enemies.

"B-but...how? When?" Ukyo said, trying to get her brain to wrap around how Ranma had just tricked them.

"Heh heh heh." Ranma chuckled. "Oh, well, you see, right after I left the Tendo dojo, I handed the document off to a friend of mine who I met during my time away from this Hellhole of a town. He took the document to the courthouse where a lawyer he hired was waiting for him. MY job was just to keep you guys busy while they settled all the legal mumbo jumbo. I kept going round in circles around town so I could look into the courthouse to see just how things were going. They should be done right about now, I think."

Everyone was shocked! Ranma had outsmarted them all! And he had done it before the whole chase had even got started! Cologne couldn't help but laugh. She knew the boy was unpredictable, but this went beyond what she thought he was capable of.

"LAIR!" Akane screamed. "Just what sane person in the right mind would even want to be friends with you!? Let alone help you!?" Ranma shrugged.

"Beats me. Honestly, I was just as surprised as you."

Genma was going pale. Then he went red with rage!

"BOY!" Genma screamed. All his rage exploded at the very idea that his son had ruined all of his carefully laid plans.

"I WILL NOT LET YOU RUIN ALL THE PLANS I MADE FOR MY RETIREMENT!" He screamed, his anger reaching heights no one thought was possible. Ranma held up his hands.

"Hold on! Wait wait wait! Don't I at least get one last word? Maybe three?" He asked with a sheepish smile.

"Say it now and forever hold your piece you little bastardous waste of my sperm!" Genma said. Ranma grinned and thrust his fist upwards.

"HIRYU SHOUTEN HA!" He shouted as a twister appeared out of nowhere and sucked up all of the wrecking crew except for Ranma. Cologne and Happosai were even more shocked. Not only did Ranma lead them around in circles, he led them in a spiral and got everyone all riled up so that he could use the Hiryu Shouten Ha on them!

Genma and Soun screamed in panic, Ryoga in shock, Mousse in surprise, and the fiances a mixture of all the above.

"Not again!" Mousse shouted as he tried to struggle against the vortex of wind.

"AIREN! Why you do this to Shampooooooooo!" Shampoo shouted as the vortex sucked her into the air. Kodachi just closed her eyes and started chanting like it would save her.

"There's no place like home. There's no place like home! There's no place like home!" She kept saying over and over.

"RANMA NO BAKA!" Screamed Akane, her anger and fury adding fuel to the technique.

"Akane! Calm yourself child!" Cologne tried to tell the girl. "You're only making things worse for UUUUUSSSSSSSSSSS!"

The twister kept pulling them up and spinning them around as Ranma just laid on the ground and watched. He couldn't help but laugh at what had just happened. He highly doubted Cologne expected him to use the very technique she had taught him to get the better of the old ghoul. Ranma got up and used what strength he had left to limp away. By the time the twister faded away and dropped the group of suckers, they were too exhausted to do anything but land in a heap.

Ranma really wished he could have stuck around to see the looks on their faces, but he still had an important mission to finish. The courthouse was in sight as he started to gt some of his strength back. But as he got closer to the courthouse, he noticed someone standing there waiting for him...Nabiki.

Ranma growled. One last obstacle to overcome before he could finally be free of this hellhole. Standing up as straight as he could, Ranma marched right up to the courthouse to face the woman who wanted nothing more than to keep milking him for all he was worth.

"Don't tell me you want to fight me Nabiki. Even if I'm exhausted, we both know one hit is all it would take for me to beat you."

Nabiki didn't flinch or smile. But she kept her usual air of confidence and superiority about her, looking as if she still held all the cards in her hand.

"Look Saotome," She started. "I'll admit, this is by far your smartest scheme ever. But no matter how much you planned this out, you're still not going to win this time."

Ranma narrowed his eyes at the greedy woman.

"And just how do you figure that, little miss blackmailer?" She scoffed at his retort.

"First of all, even if you could find a lawyer crazy enough to take your case, your still need someone to verify that your dad is not suited to continue serving as your legal guardian. Plus, even if you get emancipated, you'd still be stuck here in Nerima, and you'd have no job, cause nobody in town would want to hire you, and you'd have no place to stay unless you room with one of your fiances."

Nabiki smirked. She was sure she had him beat now. Ranma was clever, but he was just a dumb jock. She was the brains here in Nerima, and no one could outsmart her. Even if Ranma had a lawyer she couldn't bribe or blackmail, his plan was full of holes. But to her surprise, he just crossed his arms and returned her smirk with one of his own.

"Oh is that so?" He said. "Well guess what? One, I've been camping and living off the land all my life, I can live off the land for as long as I need to. Second, I already have someone who's willing to let me crash at their place. And third, as for getting out of Nerima and having a witness, I already have one that is more than willing to give me a helping hand."

"Pss. Oh yeah? And who in the hell would help you without any ulterior motives?" She asked with a broader smirk.

"That, would be me, Miss Tendo." Came a mature voice. Nabiki went wide eyed and lost her smile. She turned around, and she saw to her horror, Ninomiya Hinako.

"Hiya teach." Ranma said with a wave. She smiled at him and returned his wave.

"Hello Saotome-san." As she said this, a man Nabiki had never seen stepped out next to her. The man was young looking, late 20's or early30's, with shaggy dark brown hair and white featureless eyes.

"Hey Akisame-sensei!" Ranma said, his smile getting bigger. "So, how did it go?"

Akisame smiled at his young friend.

"Well Ranma, you'll be happy to know that, not only are you officially emancipated, but your transfer is complete as well."

"YEAHOO!" Ranma screamed as he jumped for joy. Nabiki was flabergasted. Who ws this guy? She'd never seen him before. And what transfer were they talking about?

"What transfer?" She asked. Akisame just kept smiling.

"Why, Ranma's transfer to a new school of course." Was all he said. Nabiki's jaw dropped.

"Wha-wha-who? What? How?HUH!?" Was all she could say. Ranma just slapped her hard on the back.

"Whelp! It's been real Nabs! But all fun must come to an end! So long, sucker!" He said as he kicked her hard in the butt and knocked her right into the doo. Akisame dropped his smile and shook his head.

"Ranma," He said. "Was that really necessary?"

"Let me answer that for you Ranma." Hinako said. "Yes."

"Well, if that's all settled, Ranma, I think it's time for us to head for home." Akisame said. Ranma nodded his head. But before he and Akisame headed off, he turned back to Hinako.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye teach." Ranma said to the one person who had actually helped him. Hinako gave a sad smile as she flung her arms around Ranma in a tight hug.

"Try not to cause too much trouble, ok Ranma?" She said to him. Ranma smiled and returned her hug.

"Nooooooo promises their teach." He said with his trademark grin. "But I'll try."

Hinako laughed a little. Then, out of nowhere, kissed his cheek. Ranma blushed brighter than he ever had before.

"Huh?" Was all he could say.

"For luck." Hinako said to him. Then she looked at Akisame.

"Promise me you'll take good care of him Koetsuji-san." Akisame smiled and nodded his head.

"You have my word Ninomiya-san. As well as the word of all the masters of Ryozapaku."

She smiled and gave Ranma one last hug.

"Goodbye Ranma-kun." She said. Ranma hugged her back.

"Sayanora teach. You know, you're probably the only teacher around here that I actually kind of liked."

And with that, Ranma and Akisame turned on their heels and walked off. Hinako shed a single tear as she watched them walk away. She wasn't sure if the world was ready for a free Ranma. But that's exactly what it was about to get.

Meanwhile, back at Ryozanpaku, everyone was celebrating Kenichi officially moving in. Kenichi couldn't help but sigh at how the masters had basically tricked him into wanting to move in. But he also couldn't help but notice that they were one master short.

"Um, where's Koetsuji-sensei?" He asked. The elder, Hayato, couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, he's out finishing up a little errand. He should be back soon." As he said that, Akisame walked through the door.

"Hello everyone!" He said with his signature smile. Everyone greeted the white eyed man, but Kenichi and Miu were curios.

"Hey Akisame! Where have you been all day?" Miu asked.

"Yeah, it's not like you to be gone for so long." Kenichi added in. At that, Akisame grinned.

"Oh, I was just out tying up loose ends. In fact," He looked over to the hallway he just came from. "Come on in!"

And that's when Ranma walked out from behind him.

"Heyo!" Ranma said as he gave them a wave.

"Ranma-chan!" Appachai said jumping for joy.

"Hey...Nice too...see you...Ranma." Shigure said in er usual tone, but the hint of a smile could be seen tugging at her lips.

"Oh hey, you actually made it kid! Congrats!" Said Sakaki, chugging down his beer.

"Ranma!? What are you doing here?" Kenichi asked the other young man. Ranma grinned.

"Well, let's just say that as of right now, it looks like you guys and I are gonna be roomies." He said giving them a wink.

"Roomies!?" Miu and Kenichi said in shock. Akisame took this opportunity to step in.

"That's right. As of this moment, Ranma will officially be moving in as Ryozanpakus second disciple." The masters cheered buy Kenichi and Miu were even more taken aback.

"HUH!?" They both cried. After explaining what had happened back in Nerima, and celebrating a little with the masters, Miu showed Ranma and Kenichi were they would be sleeping.

Ranma laid down on his futon looking up at the ceiling, smiling.

"A whole new life starts right now." Were the last words he said before closing his eyes and having the first real good night's sleep he had had in far too many years.