I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any of the characters, they are used here purely to create a work of writing that has nothing to do with Ranma 1/2 or the author, I fully acknowledge that Ranma 1/2 is not owned by me and that none of this is official work done by the author of Ranma 1/2. don't sue me, I'm not stealing or trying to steal any credit, just making art, nothing more.
AN:
I had finished this chapter 5 days after the first, so what did I do for the next week? I kept rewriting the chapter. I rewrote the intro FOUR separate times, and the ending three, along with who knows how many other edits.
Also, the actual story starts next chapter, this was just a very long setup so no one is confused on who the heck Xayah is and what she is doing, as well as why Genma and Ranma act differently from the official manga.
before I go, I will be posting bonus chapters that are canon, and will provide bonus plot that just sort of doesn't fit in with the tempo of the fanfic.
There's more, I had to write this chapter from a lot more perspectives and location jumps, I'm still not super happy with it but I don't think I can improve it anymore than it already is
also I write these at 2 am, bite me.
Heavy rain fell, the mist tinting the evening air with a milky white and obscuring vision to only a few meters. As the train that had just arrived opens its doors, hundreds of its passengers leave to walk under the pouring sky, protected only by their raincoats and umbrellas. Once the pushing and shoving out of the train dies down, a trio of well built martial artists appear at the door. As the group step out onto the platform, the heavy mist hides the mystical transformations that they undergo, but unable to hide the large and imposing panda that stood among them.
"I still think we should avoid cities and towns, too many eyes that can give us away." Says one.
"You said you would tell us why we had to come here when we arrived. Maybe having your hide on the line would make you take this seriously " Threatens another.
The two woman glare at the panda, incredibly suspicious of what its actions as of late could entail for the two of them. One of the women was rather tall, sporting long flowing orange locks from several year's worth of growth. She wore a dark brown cloak that covered her upper body and parts of her face and legs, as well as baggy black pants that could easily hide a knife or two with how poorly they sat on her legs. The second girl was dressed more simply, a red pigtail with a red blouse and black slacks, all with golden string to keep them from coming undone, opening or falling off.
The pair had been trained by the panda for around a decade, and as such were incredibly skilled at what they do. Faced with the pressure from two very frighting women, The panda tries to respond, but being a panda it was not suited for conversing with humans. To remedy this, the panda always carries signs with it that the panda uses to communicate, and pulls out one such sign reading 'I will explain everything later, after Xayah goes to refill her stock'
"Shoot, you're right." Xayah had been running low on supplies the last few days, and had finally completely ran out this morning. "Stay right there, I'll be back in ten minutes, I see a market over there." Finishes the girl.
The remaining duo of girl and panda watched Xayah pick up her bag and run towards where she had seen the market, jumping on rooftops to shorten the travel distance. As the two watch the girl disappear over a rooftop, the panda turns to the girl that stayed and pulls out another sign.
"let's go, I have a friend I need you to meet, I already sent them a post card of our arrival..? Hey what's the big idea, shouldn't we wait for Xayah to return first!?" She yells after reading the sign.
'They probably have someone that can cook, and we will be staying there for a while.' Reads another sign. The panda flips the sign around to show more text, as there wasn't enough space on one side to express his thoughts on.
"Years ago, we made a promise that our children would carry on our family's schools of martial arts...hold on, you want to ditch big sis because you engaged me to someone else?." The girl asks in disbelief after reading the next sign.
The panda pulls out a third sign that says. 'Have I taught you nothing? Don't doubt your father, There is a very important reason as to why we must leave right now. Trust your father, and stop calling her big sis!'
"I will call her whatever I want, she's practically family anyway. And I'm not marrying anyone either, don't I get a say in this!?"
After letting out a yell in frustration at the furry bellied beast, the girl throws a single strong punch towards the creatures gut, then turns away from it and patiently waits for her friend. Realizing that normal methods won't work, The panda decides to take a more direct approach, and puts its paws around a nearby stop sign. Yanking as hard as it can with its gargantuan strength, it pulls out the rooted sign. While the girl had yet to sense the danger, the beast takes a swing at the girls head.
The blow was not enough to knock the girl unconscious but it was enough to knock her off her feet, knocking the wind out of her. The panda picks up the girl and runs towards where his friend had settled down all those years ago.
An orange haired girl with green eyes leaves the market with her pack refilled. Deciding to not waste any time, she takes the same route she used to get to the market, and as she was approaching the platform where her companions agreed to wait for her, she finds...
"It's empty." She says. Knowing that Ranma wouldn't ditch her, she knew that the only one who could be responsible was a certain panda. It didn't matter though, at just about every place that they stayed in that also had a cook, she would experience something similar, and as such had developed a way to track down her missing cohort. She nods to no one in particular, and walks up to a passerby.
"Excuse me, have you seen a panda carrying around a girl that was either screaming or asleep?" Asks Xayah.
"Yeah, I thought it was weird but didn't think to much of it, probably a local custom. The panda went over that way towards the residential area." They respond. She thanked the man and jumps on to a rooftop to give chase, occasionally getting off to ask someone for directions.
"Oh how long I have waited for this day." Says a crying old man holding a postcard. He had just received a letter from his dear old friend telling him the promise they made under the same master would finally be fulfilled, what joy! The man gets up, and walks towards his daughters respective rooms. "Kasumi, Nabiki, Akane! Come to the living room." He calls
"Fiance?" Three young girls sat next to each other at the living room table, they just had their father explain to them that one of them was going to have a fiance by the end of the day. The eldest daughter Kasumi didn't look at all shaken by the words. She wore a modest dress with an apron on the front, clothes that she had many pairs of and wore everyday for household chores and going out. The middle daughter Nabiki, She wore the same poker face she always wore, as well as a pair of jeans and a short sleeved shirt. Nabiki and Kasumi took the news well, but the youngest daughter Akane did no. Akane looked at her father aghast. She was aware that according to honor she must marry whoever her father chose, but she at least wanted preparation!
Soun Tendo continues. "Yes, the son of a very good friend of mine. His name is Ranma Saotome, if one of you three girls marry him and carry on this training hall, the Tendo legacy would be secured."
"Hey, don't we get some say in who we MARRY?!" Yells Akane. She was aware that she would not, in fact, get a say in this, but she still asks anyway. Akane had enough trouble with boys at school, they were perverts who couldn't tell the difference from assault and proposal, and she sure as hell didn't want to have to spend every day with such a freak, let alone have their child.
Nabiki however, as the opportunist she is, decides to find out more about this Ranma. Who knows, she could end up scoring herself a good looking and rich husband. "You should wait until you meet him, he could be very cute."
When her father doesn't respond, Nabiki begins to get a little suspicious. Surely her own father would force her to marry someone he wouldn't approve of, right? Surely her father would thoroughly check the man that he would wed his precious daughters to? Nabiki decides to push a little deeper. "And rich too, right daddy?"
"Hahahaha... I don't know, I never met him."
Nabiki resists the urge to let her shock be known, verbally and very loudly. She was a professional, and had to deal with the worst of customers, so she had developed enough strength to keep her poker face even in the harshest of times. However, being a professional also meant knowing when to stand your ground, and when to push, and this was absolutely the time to kindly let her father know that she wasn't all to happy with how he handled her potential marriage "Hold on, you expect us to marry a man we never met? what if he ends up being 12 years old, or a total jerk? Honestly, I can't believe you daddy." Sighs Nabiki. This was unbelievable, the three sisters knew that according to honor they had to marry whoever their father chose, but they also expected to have their father at least choose a good husband. Before anyone else can get another word of protest in, the doorbell rings.
"Ooh, that must be Ranma!" Nabiki says, at which the Father gets up and runs for the door as well, yelling "Saotome, my old friend!"
When you answer the door expecting to find the man that you will be buried with, a lumbering mass of black and white fur carrying a restless young teen in tow is not what anyone would expect. Nabiki jumps back to put some distance between her and the door, and inadvertently letting the beast enter the house.
The four family members stare in shock at the panda. No amount of unruly customers could prepare Nabiki for a bipedal panda entering into her home, No amount of breaking bricks could prepare Akane for a bear trained in the heights of martial arts, and no amount of training for his master could prepare Soun for the prospect of the bear being Ranma Saotome. Only Kasumi stood calm, already planning out what kind of meal she should make for her fluffy guest.
"So father, is this your friend?" Asks the eldest, and Soun responds with only a violent shaking of his head, horrified at the prospect of his dear old friend secretly being a panda bear, and expecting his panda son to marry Soun's not panda daughters. Deciding to take his attention off of the panda and onto the much smaller companion it had brought along, a thought comes to Soun.
"You wouldn't be..." Asks Soun. While his question remains unfinished, everyone in the room knows what it is he wanted to say.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this." Finally responds Ranma rather hesitantly.
"Ooh, he is kind of cute." Comments Nabiki, looking for signs he could be rich as well. A quick once-over dashes her hopes; Ranma wore a baggy red blouse that couldn't have cost him more than a few hundred yen, a pair of black martial arts slacks, and he had rather unkempt hair kept in a simple pigtail. At best, Ranma was a martial artist like her father, but even then he wasn't famous so its unlikely he earned much money. At worst Ranma was a homeless bum with nothing but mildly good looks, probably came with the plan to mooch off the Tendo family if that was the case .Oblivious to his daughters pondering, Soun gives his future son-in-law a warm bear hug to show that he was welcome.
*Squeeze, Squeeze.* Ranma felt too soft to be a guy. The shocked old man pulls away from the hug.
Nabiki's Father had been so excited to marry off one of his daughters to Ranma, so what could possibly have shocked him so? Deciding to investigate, Nabiki fondles one of the fleshy masses on Ranma's chest, finding a nostalgic softness that should absolutely not be there.
"ugh Could you stop that" Ranma protests.
Nabiki turns to her Father, both disappointed and angry "Ranma's not a boy, he's a girl!" She yells
"A- A girl..?" Utters Soun as he faints.
Soun begins to wake, the sounds of voices starting to become clear. Why was Soun on the floor again? As Soun ponders why he was asleep on the floor, he begins recalling the day's events. He had received a letter from Genma Saotome, his close friend that was trained by Haposai, their brutal master. He sits down his daughters and explains that the day they were to carry on his legacy has come, something that was met with minimal enthusiasm from Akane. Finally, Ranma had arrived at the dojo, and after a warm greeting from Soun...
"Poor father, he must be so disappointed." Comments Kasumi
"You think father's disappointed? He's not the only one, look at her! some fiance." complains Nabiki.
"Stop it you two! He- She is our guest!" Intervenes Akane.
Noticing that her Father was now awake, Nabiki decides to point her venting towards the man "This is all your fault daddy. Don't you know a difference between a boy and a girl?" Finishes Nabiki.
"I assumed my friend's son was a boy." Replies the still lying man
"Does this look like a boy to you, huh daddy?" Asks Nabiki pointedly as she showily fondles the poor girl's breast again.
"Please I wish you'd stop that." Pleads Ranma quietly
Akane leaps to Ranma's defense and says "you heard what she said Nabiki, now leave her alone, a guest is a guest!" Akane then turns to Ranma and continues. "Hey, you want to go practice? My name is Akane, you want to be friends?"
Having agreed to both of the girl's requests, Ranma follows Akane into her dojo. "You study Kenpo, right?" Akane asks Ranma.
"A little." Responds Ranma.
"Well, why don't we have a spar? Just for fun." challenges Akane.
Both fighters enter a stance. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." Teases Akane, although she was serious about going easy on the girl. She throws a single punch towards the girl, intentionally telegraphing it so she could more easily follow the trajectory. Ranma Easily dodges the punch without moving from her relaxed position, so Akane decides to throw a second, and harder to dodge punch. As easily as the first, the girl dodges the punch, and gives Akane a smile.
Akane throws punch and kick, all of which are dodged by Ranma. "Whats wrong, attack me!" She yells, angry that her opponent has yet to even thrown a punch of her own. After a few more missed attacks, Akane declares that she wasn't going to hold back against her guest anymore, and throws a single full power punch at the fellow martial artist. Instead of dodging like the previous times, Ranma instead decides to jump over the attack and use the wall behind her to spring board over the girl, letting her punch through the wooden plank that Ranma stood in front of.
Landing behind Akane, Ranma twists around and gently pokes the back of Akane's head, giving the girl a light giggle. It wasn't even a fight, Ranma far outclassed Akane and didn't take Akane seriously. Instead of feeling envious, Akane simply begins laughing with Ranma. What more could she do? She was utterly outclassed by Ranma, but instead of humiliating her and not holding back against a weaker opponent, Ranma shows her strength with a kind gesture.
"You're pretty good! I'm Just Glad you're a girl." Compliments Akane.
Seeing Ranma's confused face, Akane elaborates. "I'm saying I'm glad you're not a boy, I'd hate to lose to a boy."
Having finished their spar with Akane, Kasumi leads Ranma upstairs towards the guest bedroom.
"Here, you can stay here for a little bit, why don't you freshen up a bit?" Suggests Kasumi. Ranma tries to reject the proposal for a bath, but after being reminded of the earlier excersize and the sweat she had acrewed, reluctantly agrees.
"Hey Kasumi, who's that strange man in the living room?" Asks Nabiki after Ranma had left. Nabiki had just entered the hallway that led to the guest room, leaning her shoulder against the wall next to Kasumi. Nabiki was in the living room only to be surprised by a man sitting next to her crying father, a man she had never met before.
"Who knows. Oh Nabiki, you can go tell Akane she can go and have her bath now." Responds Kasumi. Nabiki nods and leaves the room, calling for her youngest sister.
Ranma splashes herself with cold water to wash avoid dirtying the bath as per traditional Japanese bathing rituals.
"ooh, that's cold." Shudders Ranma. There was no way out, Ranma would have to take a bath, so might as well do it right. Deciding she had prepared enough, Ranma lowers herself into the hot water of the bath. The hot water reverses the change Ranma had went through in that evening's rain, but this time the steam would not hide her transformation.
"Should I change back? They will freak out if they find out about this. No, they will find out later anyway, best to nip this problem in the bud, before it comes back to bite me."
Having come to a conclusion to come clean, Ranma starts to get out of the bath until:
The door slides open revealing Akane.
Akane stood in the doorway that led to the steaming hot bath, staring at the unwelcome intruder that decided to invade it. Before her stood a stark naked man, he had clearly just bathed using her facilities, and Akane would have known if there was a guest home. Akane had to deal with perverted boys at school, attacking her every morning in hordes with the hope of dating her, and possibly more. Every morning Akane would deal with the perverted horde, and every morning she hated boys more than the previous. No, Hated was too soft of a word, Akane despised boys and by extension, perverts. This was different however, at school Akane could hit them all she wanted and she would be fine, she would get away scot free and after she went home she would be safe. At home Akane was safe from perverts, that's how it should be, that was the one way she managed to maintain her sanity. So, with all of that taken into account, who was this pervert, and what was he doing in Akane's bath Naked?
Oh god, he was naked. the boy in front of her was bare for the world to see. Akane's mind raced, but no matter how she came at it, she could only see one thing: This pervert came into Akane's home, into her bath, at the exact time she would be vulnerable. The boy who stood in the bath had come here for a purpose, and had chosen the worst time for Akane to fulfill that purpose. Akane felt like throwing up, but her panic kept her from moving. She couldn't fight the man, he was well built, and the floor was wet making it a minefield of potential accidents. Slowly, and not at all calmly, Akane steps back, her shaking hidden from prying eyes by her baggy gi that she has yet to take off, thankfully. Akane closes the door to the bath, her eyes never once leaving the boy, not until the door had completely closed and blocked their views of each other.
Putting her back to the door, Akane did a once over of the events that had taken what felt like minutes, but in reality had only been a few seconds. There was a pervert in the Bath, He was undressed, and he had come when Akane would also be in tha bath. Akane ignored that she didn't really have a schedule for when she bathed, instead letting her panic control her thought process.
Oh god, there was a naked pervert in the bath waiting for Akane. Akane doesn't feel like throwing up this time, instead finally getting enough self control back to do something else.
The fat panda was hiding here, at the Tendo dojo. The forgotten companion had searched through all of Nerima to find where her friend was taken to, and had finally arrived at her destination. She walks up to the door of the house that was next to the dojo, and raps her knuckles on the high quality wood.
"Hello there." A certain motherly figure opens the door.
"Hello, I'm looking for a friend, is Ranma Saotome here? They're wearing a read blouse and black slacks." Asks the visitor. She had just ran back and forth throughout an entire city, jumping from rooftop to rooftop to ground to rooftop again, She was incredibly tired and not in any mood for pleasantries, if this wasn't the house then she would knock on someone else's door.
"Ah, are you referring to Ranma-chan?" Confirming her beliefs that her friend was indeed here, Xayah follows Kasumi inside, being led to the dinner table where an elderly man wearing a dirty white gi and a white bandana sat. Xayah ignores Genma, still mad that she got left behind again, and turns to Kasumi.
"So, about Ranma..."
"Oh, Ranma went up to take a hot bath, she should be down in a few minutes." Replies Kasumi
nearly face faults. If Ranma was taking a hot bath and they referred to Ranma as 'Ranma-chan', then they were in for quite a shock when Ranma came out. Obviously, convincing someone that who they were looking at was Ranma would be a monumental task even to someone who knew Ranma well, so convincing these strangers would be nigh impossible. Xayah looks to her left and is reminded that Genma was still here, and that gives her an idea. Xayah calls over Kasumi and asks for a glass of cold water, but before she could move everyone is stopped in their tracks.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" A drum-shattering scream resounds throughout the house, followed by a rapid stomping of feet down the stairs approaching Xayah's position. Xayah grips the handle of her katana, ready to jump at any moment. Xayah instead finds that An enraged Akane sliding into the room.
"ARGH, I'LL KILL THAT PERVERT!" She yells, rage and malice filling her voice. Akane had ran into the room at full speed, and then picked the very much heavy living room table above her head as if prepared to use it as a blunt weapon.
"Akane, what's going on?" Asks Nabiki. Normally Akane is only this riled up during her morning excersize, when the perverted army attacks her. This was their home though, so it made no sense for her to panic like this, unless...
"There's a pervert in the bathtub!" Explains Akane. This isn't enough information for Nabiki. Akane was strong enough to deal with any old pervert, and certainly had the experience to back it up. So why was Akane running away from a pervert? Since she said 'a pervert', then that means there is just one. No, Nabiki needs more information about what happened, or more specifically, what didn't happen and why.
"Jeez Akane, why didn't you just clobber him then?"
Akane glares at Nabiki. "Because I got scared, is that alright?!" Yells Akane pointedly, not really looking for an answer for her rhetorical question.
"Oh dear, I sure hope Ranma's alright, I think she is still in the bath." comments Kasumi
well, at least that answered Nabiki's question. Wait no, Akane didn't get scared, especially against a lone attacker. Nabiki wanted to know why Akane got scared, what could possibly be so scary about a single pervert? Did that pervert do something so disgusting and gross that even Akane got frightened? Before Nabiki can press for more details, a man walks into the living room wearing Ranma's clothes.
"Who is that?" Asks Kasumi. Akane glared at the boy. How dare he wear Ranma's clothes! Now that she had her father here, she could easily beat the pervert in a fight, she just had to ask her father for help. Just as Akane was about to open her mouth and declare the pervert, Ranma spoke first.
"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."
"I can explain everything, this is my dear old friend Genma Saotome, his son, Ranma Saotome, and uh, who are you?" Asks Soun after introducing two of his guests, but only now realizing there was a third.
"Xayah, Xayah Mihailavna." She answers.
"I didn't say anything because I doubted you would believe me, I don't think telling you I'm a guy who turns into a girl would make for a great first impression." Explains Ranma apologetically.
Ranma looks over to Akane, who he had frightened in the bath. Ranma himself was too scared of doing anything, and simply stood there until she started screaming for her life. Akane looked Pissed, it was understandable after what happened, but it hurt to be stared at as if he was a perverted freak. He had enough insults and put downs from his father, Ranma didn't need his first friend in a long while to look at him like he would attack her at any moment. Ranma had made a friend, and he completely ruined her opinion of him in only a few hours, even if it was a complete accident.
Despite not being privy to Ranma's inner struggle, Xayah had more or less understood what had happened; Ranma was accepted as a girl by Akane, he goes to take a hot bath, and Akane walks in on him only to find out Ranma's true gender, of course Akane's first reaction was that a pervert broke into her bath, and she freaks out. If Xayah and Ranma were to stay here for a little while, they absolutely needed to smooth this misunderstanding out to avoid trouble down the line, and that starts with explaining the situation clearly and diffusing the situation.
"I think you three need a demonstration." Says Xayah, as she picks up a nearby basin. Xayah could tell that Ranma understood her plan based off of the look of horror that passes on his face, but she knows that this is necessary to avoid sleeping on the streets, so she continues. Filling the basin with water from a nearby pond, Xayah walks back to where Ranma was sitting and splashes him with water.
Everyone gasps as the transformation happens before their eyes. Ranma loses an inch in height, and his hair turns red where the water touches it, which was everywhere. As Ranma stops shrinking, his shoulders pull inwards, pushing out his flesh until they form two large lumps on his chest. Ranma's waist shrinks, and the mass goes towards his hips, splaying his legs outward. His muscled fingers shorten and thin, turning his hands dainty and feminine, while his face softens and turns round. The transformation is finalized when Ranma gives a very uncomfortable wince, signifying that the last remnant of masculinity has left Ranma's body.
A crying Genma interrupts everyone's shock, bumbling about how he can't bare to see his son like this. How could he not? Genma had tried to raise his son in his image of a man amongst men, and here he is, being a girl.
"Shouldn't have taken him to that training ground Genma, you can't even read Chinese." Scolds Xayah, and then dumps water on him to turn him into a panda as punishment. Genma panda thrashes around angrily, but unable to form a sentence to ask for some more hot water to change back.
"You sure have some strange friends" Comments Kasumi.
"They weren't always like this." Corrects Soun. "This happened to them while in China, something terrible happened to them during a dangerous training excersize."
After Xayah subdue Genma, she turns her head to face Soun. "I'll give you the complete story."
"So old man, this the place?"
After a long and arduous journey to and through China, Ranma and co had finally arrived at the cursed training ground. The first hurdle was convincing Xayah to come along, as Normally she would be against anything cursed or haunted, threatning to withhold food from Genma if he decided to go. The issue was easily solved with no one from the trio being able to read the Chinese pamphlet except for the address, so Xayah had no reason to be suspicious of the spring training grounds. The second hurdle was having to swim through an ocean to get to china in the first place. Genma was unable to afford a plane, and had no idea how to get around the security involved with stealing a boat. This however, proved to be a huge mistake as Genma had overestimated his endurance, and almost drowned on his way to China, having to be pulled the last few kilometers to shore. The last hurdle was getting through China to the spring. Ocean currents were stronger than any trained body, and the group ended up far off course from where they had intended to land. To find the springs, Genma had to run around pointing to his pamphlet hoping the locals would understand what he was asking of them, until finally he arrived at his destination.
"Here sirs we come to famous training ground cursed springs Jusenkyo." Introduces the guide with accented Japanese. During Genma's frantic attempts to get locals to understand where he wanted to go and that he needed directions, he managed to find a guide who spoke Japanese and was willing to take him to the springs for very little pay. The training ground was very simple looking, and if not for it being called the cursed springs, would have likely lost most if not all of its popularity. The training ground itself was composed of many small individual pools, only slightly larger than the length of a full grown man, and bamboo poles sticking out about three to five meters in length.
Having arrived at their destination, Genma jumps to one of the bambo poles and motions for Ranma to do the same. Genma himself had no idea what kind of training was involved with the springs, but figured that he could wing it.
"Careful Ranma, something about the name tells me those springs are bad news." Warns Xayah.
"Yeah yeah, I'll be fine big sis, you know my balance is first rate, I won't fall in." Says Ranma in attempt to ease the worry of his companion. Hearing Ranma call Xayah 'big sis' used to grate on Genma's nerves, probably because she and Ranma weren't related by blood. It didn't matter to Xayah though, she practically grew up with Ranma and being seen as family by him warmed her heart. Turning away from Xayah, Ranma jumps after his father and lands on a nearby pole. Letting Ranma and Genma continue their training, Xayah begins preparing food for the two martial artists, waiting for them to finish for Genma to train her as well.
"Hey sirs, you can't go there! very bad if you fall in spring!" Pleads the guide.
Xayah noticed the guide's desperation, and pays closer attention to the battle that was about to unfold, preparing to leap in and catch Ranma should he get knocked off his perch. Genma however, was far to stubborn and ignores the warning. He launches and attack at Ranma, jumping off his own pole and planning to knock Ranma off of his and take his spot. This plan doesn't go as well as Genma had hoped, as Ranma easily parries the blow and while Genma is still airborne, counters with his own kick, dropping Genma into a nearby spring.
"Whats wrong pops, tired already?" Taunts Ranma.
Xayah relaxes, since Genma fell into the spring the training for Ranma would likely be over for a little while. However, after Genma doesn't surface after a few seconds both Ranma and Xayah begin to worry that he may have drowned, neither wanted to lose their teacher and be left with half baked martial arts. Xayah begins preparing to get into the pool and drag Genma out herself when a Panda bursts out of the water, roaring and charging at Ranma. Neither Ranma nor Xayah were prepared enough for the bizarre turn of events, and Ranma gets knocked into the outer most spring, Xayah too shocked to respond until it was too late. Running towards the spring, Xayah curses under her breath, reprimanding herself for her own negligence. Just as Xayah reaches the spring, a young busty girl pops out of the pool wearing a dirty and worn white gi, similar to the one the panda was wearing.
"Move, You're in the way." Says Xayah coldly as she pushes the girl the side and prepares to dive into the spring. That was Ranma's gi.
Just as Xayah prepares to jump into the pool, she notices that no one else but the girl were inside. The girl was wearing Ranma's gi, it had the same stitches and grease marks as his, but why was this girl wearing it, and how?
"Uh oh, you fell into spring of drowned girl, terrible tragedy of young girl drowning in pool one thousand five hundred years ago. You young girl now!"
So that's it, the curse of this training ground, then this young girl must be... And that Panda...
"You're Ranma?" Asks Xayah.
Ranma, who had been preoccupied staring in pure abject horror at her-his new assets in the way that a fisherman would stare at the eldrich horror rising from the depths of the abyss, pries his attention away and stares at Xayah.
"And you're Genma?" She continues, and being met by garbled noises that vaguely sounded like an agreement.
"Oh Genma, This is why your grave will be shallow." Starts Xayah.
Genma visibly shudders. Xayah hadn't attacked him right then and there, but reminders of his mistake followed him everyday in the form of Xayah's cooking. Only after a week and a lot of begging did Genma manage to get a meal that didn't have shards of glass in it.
"This is all your fault old man, you can't even read Chinese, but went to that stupid spring anyway." Complains Ranma.
Genma didn't like Ranma's complaining. To Genma, it meant that his boy that he had raised was becoming soft, becoming a girl, becoming unmanly. He needed to reprimand Ranma to keep his manly son on the right path. Genma picks Ranma up and launches him towards the pond that rested in front of the Tendo household.
"Ranma, you sound like a girl, were you not prepared to lose your life for the sake of the art?!"
"My life, yes, my manhood is another story!" Counters Ranma in a high pitched voice, splashing his dear old dad to turn him into a panda. Oh the struggles of fatherhood.
Sensing a fight was about to break out, Xayah Calls Soun over to pour hot water on her two companions.
"Hot water turns them back to human and male forms respectfully." Explains Xayah again. Soun picks up a kettle and brings it over to the two cursed victims, pouring the water on Genma first.
"Youch!" Yells Genma, steam rising from his body. "It needn't be that hot."
Soun walks over to Ranma, and attempts to pour the water on him as well.
"Yeah the water needs to be hot, but not BOILING!" Yells Ranma, almost getting burnt like his father, but dodging at the last second.
Soun Laughs and pats Ranma's shoulder "Ha ha ha, your problem isn't so bad after all."
Soun then turns Ranma to his three daughters, who had thus far been watching the show without making so much as a sound.
"Here, my oldest daughter Kasumi, she's nineteen, my middle daughter Nabiki, she's seventeen, And my youngest daughter Akane, she's sixteen. Pick anyone you want, she's to be your fiance."
A loud crack resounds throughout the room, and everyone looks at Xayah. Just seconds before, Xayah had been calmly sipping her tea, holding the cup in her hand. When Soun declared that Ranma would be getting a fiance, Xayah's head immediately snapped to look at Genma, only to find him cowering behind his friend. Xayah had figured out why Genma ditched her at the train station, he was planning to engage Ranma against his will, and knew that Xayah would leap to Ranma's defense. As such, Genma decided to ditch Xayah, mooch off of his friend for food, and get his son married to a girl he didn't chose.
"It's family honor, I engaged Ranma to Soun's daughter before he was born and honor dictates that Ranma must see this through!" Genma defends himself.
Xayah curses under her breath, if family honor is at play then Xayah can't do much to fight against it. Well, it wasn't as bad as some of Genma's other ideas, and aside from the blatant greed, was pretty much harmless to Ranma if the girl wasn't so bad.
"Well, Akane seems like the wisest choice." Says Kasumi, followed by an agreement from Nabiki
Well she looks nice, maybe this whole engagement thing will be fine after all.
"Me? Marry that PERVERT!? Never!"
-Too many witnesses. I doubt I could give her food without raising suspicion, maybe when she is asleep?
Before Xayah can react to having her childhood friend be insulted unfairly, Ranma counters back.
"I'll take the blame for not locking the doors, but I'm not a pervert."
"You saw me in the nude you leech!" Yells Akane accusingly.
"No I didn't you hadn't taken your gi off before you entered the room." Replies Ranma, taken aback but not backing down.
What Ranma had just said was true, Akane hadn't taken off her gi before entering the bath. Akane flushes red with both anger and embarrassment, and Ranma resists insulting her to get back at being called a pervert. Xayah watches as Akane can do nothing more than to glare at Ranma, still upset about the whole incident but not having anything physical to track her anger back to Ranma.
CLAP "Well then, how about we start getting ready for the night? Xayah dear, do you have a place to stay or would you like to share the guest room?" Kasumi interrupts, to which Xayah answers that she would be ok sharing a room with two other people. While Nabiki had been content to just sit back and watch the show, Kasumi had guests to take care of, so she decided that while entertaining, it was best to finish her perpetration before it was too late in the night.
