Chapter two of Soun and Genma's… Operation Conquer the World!

"Pops! This stuff is just… stupid!" yelled a young man with long black hair tied back in a pigtail. Ranma Saotome was frustrated, Martial Arts he could grasp, and easily at that, but this Quantum Logic…

"Come on boy! You can do it, I know you can!" Genma said encouraging his son with sweeping, grandiose gestures. "All you need to do is apply yourself to it like the Art, that's what the Art was anyway, just a stepping-stone to this!"

Ranma snorted, "Yeah right pops."

Like there could be anything higher than Martial Arts! Heck, their family name was in one of the traditions: The Saotome School of Anything Martial Arts. 'I'd always thought that mastering the Art and taking over the Saotome School was my destiny, but now pops is going on about this Quantum Logic. It's just all too confusing… I'd rather just do something straightforward like the Art.' Ranma thought to himself, stewing in his discontentment.

"All right boy! If you want to be like this we'll train like this was part of the Art." Genma said at last. "In fact, we'll even stop a few places on our way to the Tendo dojo!"

"Tendo dojo?" Ranma asked, he'd never heard of the place but something struck a chord within him, as if he were being called by destiny to go there.

"Yes, the Tendo dojo. Soun Tendo and I are old friends and he really wants to meet you." Genma smiled a sly smile that Ranma completely missed. "In fact I'll bet he already considers you family."

- - - - - - - - - -

It was a hot and somewhat humid day, ninety-nine degrees and ninety-nine percent humidity, at the Tendo training hall… in other words it felt like Hell when the knock on the door came.

Kasumi's yell of surprise caused the rest of the family to immediately come running. There bursting through the door was a giant panda carrying a body slumped over it's shoulder.

"Daddy, is that your friend?" Nabiki asked dryly.

Soun shook his head violently in the negative, he had no idea what a panda would be doing here carrying a body. Maybe it was a crazy animal that had escaped from the zoo and was on a rage induced spree of terror against the people that had imprisoned him for so long! Soun burst into tears, he was too young to die.

"Gwrof!!" the panda said, causing Soun to faint and his three daughters jump back in fright… until a sign appeared in his paw… then they just stared in shock and wonder before passing out like their father.

Genma sighed as he removed the cheesy panda mask. Yes, his friend was much the same, he thought shrugging, laying the unconscious form of his son… daughter? ah, whatever down next to the unconscious Tendos.

- - - - - - - - - -

Genma and Ranma were trudging along the mountainous Chinese landscape when they finally found a valley. The legendary training ground of Jusenkyo lay before them, bamboo poles sticking out of calm pools of water all bathed in a light mist. The guide was about to say something when Genma silenced him.

"Here we are boy!!" Genma said as he took off his pack and set it on the ground behind him and sat down in a nice grassy clearing just a couple of paces from one of the ponds as he began to unpack several books from the pack he'd just been carrying.

Ranma meanwhile, had jumped onto one of the bamboo poles shooting out of one of the pools. "Hey pops, are we going to do some training or not?" he shouted down at his father.

"Foolish boy! We're not here for martial arts training, we're here for Quantum Logic training!" Genma snapped at his son, all that time hiking here and the boy hadn't listened to a single word he'd said. Well, if he wasn't going to learn Quantum Logic then he wasn't going to train in martial arts either… at least not until he'd at least made an effort to learn the True Art.

Ranma hopped off the pole don to the ground right in front of Genma. "Oh, come on pops! That stuffs just a bunch of hooey! Let's just do some good old martial arts training."

Genma looked up at the boy and sighed, if he'd only put half that energy into Quantum Logic he'd have already learned the basics and been well on to mastering it. "No, boy, we're going to do some more Quantum Logic."

"Dad! Besides not makin sense that stuff's boring! Just like my life!" Ranma yelled excitedly, his head popped up as he exclaimed, "I wish my life was more interestin!"

Genma just calmly stood up and pushed Ranma, not a hard push, just a small push to make him step back and onto the surface of one of the glassy clear pools. He was quite tired of the boy complaining about his boring life…

"Wha-aaaa!" Ranma cried as he windmilled his arms in a futile ttempt not to fall. fell backward into one of the pools.

The Chinese guide ran up in excitement and suddenly spoke in broken English "Oh, too bad! Mr. Customer fall into Nyannichuan, ancient Spring of Drowned Girl, where, one thousand five hundred year, ago girl fall in spring and drown. Now whoever fall in pool take body of young girl."

"What'd you do that for pops!?" Ranma shrieked in her new voice.

"It's the First rule of Quantum Logic, my boy, don't say something without meaning it!" Genma replied laughing as he snagged his pack and ran from his enraged offspring.

- - - - - - - - - -

Soun sipped his cup of tea as he listened intently to his friend's story. He was still a little upset that he'd been tricked by a cheesy panda mask, but besides that all was well, he could still marry Ranma to one of his daughters as the curse could be reversed with hot water.

"That story is sad, Saotome. But if you had only pushed your son into the spring of drowned penguin…" Soun said as he trailed off into thoughts that would probably best be left out but will be included anyway. 'Or if PenPen fell into the spring of drowned girl… ah hell, Ranma turns into a girl, spring of drowned man would work too!'

Genma raised an eyebrow, "I'm not even going to try Tendo," Genma shook his head, sometimes his friend had some strange ides. "I'm not even going to try."

Soun laughed and then cleared his throat "Anyway! Now Ranma, to attend to the reason your father brought you here anyway…"

"What?" Ranma asked suspiciously, he felt his sixth-sense flare up warning him of impending doom. "Pops what didn't you tell me?"

Ranma looked over at his father how was wearing the panda mask again and holding up a sign that said 'Nothing!', Ranma just had to sigh and turn back to Soun.

"Ranma these are my three daughters," Soun began with a sweeping motion that included his three daughters, and PenPen, who were now sitting at the table. "This is Kasumi, she's nineteen." Soun indicated his oldest daughter with a gesture.

"Hi!" Kasumi said cheerfully with a sweet smile as she waved. Ranma couldn't help but notice her long brown-blond hair.

"And this is Nabiki! She's sixteen." Soun indicated his middle daughter, who just nodded at Ranma.

"And last is Akane, she's my little sixteen year old girl!" Soun said gesturing in the direction of the last daughter as tears welled up in his eyes.

"This is Akane huh?" Ranma said as he pulled himself up and looked at the figure Soun had indicated. "I don't know she looks kinda like a big penguin to me…"

"Ranma!" Akane yelled as she flipped the table up and hit him over the head with it. "I'm over here, that's PenPen!"