The characters of Ranma ½ and Pokemon are not mine. Nor do any of the other known characters that may appear in this story.

2 B a Master by Lioconvoy

Chapter 5: Who am I?

After the group stopped for lunch Mousse started making the meal, Kasumi helped him, and Ukyo made her way to her nephew. What could she do for her? Ranma had stayed by herself for the entire first leg of their hike. During that time she hadn't thought of anything that could help the redhead. "Ranma?"

"Makoto."

"Kasumi isn't in earshot." There was no need to be so cautious. She was fairly certain the younger girl couldn't hear them.

"If I was worthy of being Ranma, my pops wouldn't have cursed me." Makoto stroked Jean Luc, who was sitting in her lap. She had originally been in a hurry to get to Pewter city, just as she had been with Viridian, but it was that hurry that left her partner unprepared. Since she couldn't be a man among man, she'd at least be a Pokemon trainer worthy of her mother. Makoto Saotome, that's who she was now, it was who she would be for the rest of her life.

"Oh come on your father is an idiot, you're more than worthy of being Ranma." Ukyo sighed, how could her nephew think she wasn't worthy of her name.

"Am I? He cursed me, and he planned on doing what I accidentally did to myself. I'm a girl, what I'm going through right now is more than proof of that." The redhead tried not to think about it. She tried really hard not to think about it. This wasn't her first time going through it, and it wouldn't be the last. Even if she was still half male, it would have only delayed it and not by much….

"What you're going through?" The youngest Cerulean sister couldn't think of anything going on that proved Ranma was a girl?

"I really don't want to talk about it." Remembering back to when she talked about it with her mother sent shivers down her spine. Her mother assured her it was a completely natural part of womanhood. At the time she wasn't a woman, not fully, now though… even if it was a normal part of being female, she never wanted to discuss or even think about it at again.

Wheels started turning in the older girl's head and she didn't like where the train of thought was going. Ranma didn't mean she was having a…. "Ranma, you haven't been a girl that long."

"It doesn't matter how long I'm a girl, my body builds up the hormones either way. Pops took me to a doctor, and we showed the doc my curse. Besides being overly surprised, he explained how it all works. This isn't my first, can we please change the subject." Even if they could unlock the curse she'd still have to go through this once a month for the rest of her life. With everything that was going on, this was the last thing she wanted to discuss.

"I'm sorry…." Ukyo could hardly believe what Ranma was going through. Still, if what she was saying was true, how did she expect to hide her curse while traveling with herself and Mousse? Wouldn't she have to spend time as a girl? "If you hadn't been locked, would you have told me and Mousse about your curse eventually?"

"That's not changing the subject." It was something she hadn't thought about. If she still could change forms, she'd have to spend some time female. How many things hadn't she thought through? Way too many to count. Getting up she turned away from her aunt and started to walk further away from the group.

"Where are you going?"

"To train, alone. Genma can have my share of lunch. "

Watching Ranma leave, she knew she utterly failed in cheering her nephew up. In fact Ranma seemed worse now. Ukyo hoped when they reached Pewter City her older sister could do something to help the cursed boy.

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Walking up to her parent's old friend she wondered if Takeshi could help her with her problem. Would he help her? Would he side with Chisato? Nodoka steeled herself and decided to try. "Hello."

"Hello Nodoka, my daughter said you were in town. What brings you here? How is your Cloudeon?" The squinty eye old man chuckled. Chisato had told him the answer to his first question already, but there wasn't reason Nodoka couldn't answer it again.

"She's doing fine, she's staying with Professor Okido right now, she's pregnant. The egg should be due anytime soon." Her Cloudeon had started as an Eevee egg her friend's father had given to her after she passed through Pewter city on her Pokemon Journey. "As for why I'm here, I'm meeting my son. He's going through some rather tough times right now."

"Your son? I thought you were meeting your sister and cousin?" Now the former gym leader was tipping his hand, but he was curious why the young woman told his daughter one thing and him another.

"Ranma is under an ancient curse. He turns into a girl with cold water and normally hot water would turn him back into a boy. I understand if you don't believe me, but Ranma is my son, not my daughter. Even if he's trapped as a girl right now, I won't make him go through with my husband's promise to your late son-in-law." The oldest of the four Cerulean sisters hoped the old man believed her. She hoped it wasn't a mistake telling him the truth.

"Jusenkyo, I have heard a few rumors about it. You know the sort of things I went through with your father, there are few things I won't give a benefit of a doubt to." So the redhead was Ranma? He traveled with Satoshi, Chisato traveled with Nodoka, and now Kasumi was with Ranma. In each case it wasn't planned, somehow it just happened, one from his family and one from Satoshi's ended up together. "So you told Chisato your son is a cousin? It's probably for the best, it was Soun's dying wish that the Tendos join with the Saotomes, and my daughter is very adamant about going through with it. I doubt I could dissuade her."

"So I'm going to have to lie to her?" She didn't want to do it, but if she had to…. So many thing where going wrong with Ranma's life right now. Nodoka hated herself for making it worse; she never should have used the Seppuku contract to manipulate him.

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Mousse was very fascinated, while they were waiting for Ranma to return, they had started up a conversation on rare Pokemon. Ukyo was more than happy to accept his Feebass, but he had to accept an Eevee in return. Apparently each of the four sisters received an Eevee egg from Kasumi's grandfather, and Ukyo had neglected hers a little. Ranma's mother had evolved hers into a Cloudeon, and her other two sisters had Vaporeons. On the Eevee subject, Kasumi mentioned she once saw a Shadeon. "Dream stones are the rarest of all the evolution stones. I think there are fifteen Shadeons in the world, and you got to take care of one of them?"

"Yep, its owner had brought her to breed with my grandfather's Igneon." Kasumi was very proud of her grandpa's breeding skills; his Igneon was the very first in the world. Eevee already had water, fire, electric, physic, dark, grass, ice, flying, poison, and ghost type evolution, but it was her grandfather that found its rock type evolution.

"So now all Eevee needs is fighting, ground, bug, steel and dragon type evolutions. Maybe if you're lucky you can discover one of them Mousse." Ukyo sighed, she had one of the most versatile Pokemon in the world and she barely gave it the love and attention it needed. The older boy would take good care of it, and now she would have a Pokemon that her sisters would envy.

"Five types out of fifteen, although Eevees aren't rare they are still utterly amazing. I think if anyone can cause an Eevee to evolve into a fighting type form it would be Makoto. Genma told me she tried training Jean Luc." Although it was all signs, the large Pokemon was very talkative if you paid attention to him. The Snorlax obviously knew the same hidden weapon's technique he knew; he had to be even better at it than himself to hide all those signs on him. The one thing Mousse couldn't understand was how Genma wrote them so fast.

"Speaking of Genma… it's been three hours since Makoto took off, and an hour since Genma took off after her. Are you sure we shouldn't go looking for her ourselves?" The youngest of the four Cerulean sisters was worried about her nephew. Three hours was a long time to be off on her own.

"Makoto's more than capable of taking care of herself; she has both Jean Luc and her new Misdreavus with her. She'll be okay; we just need to stay in one place till she comes back." If Ranma was as skilled as the former Amazon thought he was, then he wouldn't have any problem with the ghost even without his Pokemon.

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What was that, the thirtieth ghost Pokemon Jean Luc took out? Makoto sighed, was this helping raise her partner's level? One thing she was certain, it was exhausting him. "You okay Jean Luc? Do you want me to bring out Kai to deal with the ghost we meet up on the way back?"

"Pika pika chu ka (I'm fine. I want to keep going.)" If Ranma could try as hard as she did the other night, then so could he.

'You won't have to deal with any ghost on the way back.' The ghost stayed away from high level Pokemon, and now that he made his presence known, they would stay away from Ranma. Genma wondered if he should teach Ranma his former master's sealed techniques. The Yamasenken might help him feel more like a man, the Umisenken wasn't quite as macho.

"Pi ka chu? (Where did you come from?)"

"Yeah you're close enough, I should have sensed you." How did her pop's Snorlax do that? She knew every thing Genma did, didn't she?

'You don't know everything I know. You also haven't mastered everything you know. You've been a little too emotional lately.'

"I haven't been able to use that technique when I'm a girl." Sighing again her smaller partner made his way to her shoulder and she started to head back to the others. Her larger Pokemon was right, if she had been using the 'Soul of Ice' technique she wouldn't keep getting so depressed. As a guy she had fully mastered the technique and could let positive emotions leak from the ice, as a girl…. As a girl she was too emotional to use the technique. Not being able to use the 'Soul of Ice' also meant she couldn't use the follow on move, but she didn't have any need for it.

'The Soul of Ice was developed by women. Your father's master stole the technique from Mousse's village. If someone like Shampoo can master it, why can't you?' This morning their former Amazon friend mentioned he wanted to teach Ranma some of his village's techniques. He hadn't told Mousse, but the boy had nothing to teach Ranma. Happosai passed on his stolen techniques to the human Genma, and his former master had already passed them on to Ranma.

"What!?" The… it was developed by women? How many other moves had his father taught him that were developed by 'weak' women? The Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken? The Crouch of the White Tiger? If the Amazon could master the 'Soul of Ice' and they were females all their life, then there was no reason why she couldn't re-master it.

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Mousse watched the two ponytailed girls make dinner. Kasumi helped at every meal but the three of them had been trading off at each meal. Ranma was the best cook out of the three of them; apparently aside from teaching his son the Art the human Genma taught Ranma some of the finer points of womanhood. Ranma could cook, clean, and was very… poor Ranma he would make an excellent wife.

"To think Makoto was the one who was in a rush to get to Pewter City." Ukyo sighed as she finished dinner. She hoped her nephew would return soon. What was she doing?

"Well it's a good thing she's training; my brother never loses to a girl." It was out of jealousy that her mother and grandfather made Akane promise that he wouldn't go out with a girl unless she honestly beat him. Kasumi didn't think Akane was right for Makoto, but the redhead would beat her brother.

"Jean Luc's levels are kind of low; I think the Misdreavus might be more effective though." The former Amazon understood Ranma wanted to focus on his Pikachu, but there would be many opponents that using Jean Luc against would put the redhead at a serious disadvantage.

"My father beat Kasumi's grandfather with his Pikachu, I think Makoto wants to imitate that victory." Considering the pigtailed girl was trying to prove herself manly in her sister's eyes, it made sense.

"Makoto will beat Akane. She won't even have to use Genma." The youngest Tendo put confidence in her words. The older two might not have faith in Makoto, but she was sure the redhead was a strong trainer.

"If I was allowed to, I wouldn't even have to use Jean Luc." It looked like they made it just in time for dinner. Makoto joined the others as her aunt handed both her and Genma plates. After skipping lunch she was really hungry.

"I don't doubt that. You seem to be in a better mood." Mousse couldn't put a finger on it, but Ranma seemed more confident in herself. She felt, more like she did when she was a guy. Genma must have said, or signed, something to cheer her up.

"So tomorrow we started heading to Pewter City so you can beat my brother." Kasumi was really looking forward to the battle. In the six hours Makoto was gone, she was sure her Pokemon had only gotten stronger.

"No, I'm sorry to delay your trip home Kasumi, but I need to do a little more training. I'm going to start after dinner, but I don't think I'll finish by tomorrow morning. This clearing isn't so bad, so I'd like to stay here another day." One day; she would re-master the Soul of Ice in one day. Genma promised her if she could re-master the technique he would teach her the two forms her father had created. Knowing her pops they were anything but girly. Yes, she accepted she was Makoto now, but she was still a Saotome.

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Takeshi looked at Natsumi, the poor Vulpix wasn't doing very well. He had made both his daughter and grandson wait before giving them a Pokemon because they simply wanted a random one he had raised.

Akane was a gym leader through and through. He enjoyed proving himself superior to other trainers. What he couldn't understand is why the boy was so popular. Both he and Chisato had to work for relationships, but Chisato's oldest had girls chasing after him by the dozen.

Nabiki loved her father. She was the only one of the three children that asked him to teach them the Art. At seven years old he started to train her, unfortunately the middle child only had three years with her father as her master. He wasn't sure why Nabiki turned to money as a comfort, but when she thought no one was watching she still practiced what her father taught her.

Kasumi had a love for Pokemon that surpassed even his own. At four she was already helping him and Chisato. She was very close with the Ninetails that gave birth to Natsumi, and was apart of the young Vulpix's life since the day she hatched. Natsumi couldn't wait for Kasumi to earn eight badges. She couldn't even wait for his youngest granddaughter to return with Ranma. Tonight he would have to drop Natsumi off.

Should he let Nodoka know he was leaving? No, if she left with him Chisato might grow suspicious. He couldn't tell her how to be a good parent, and if she knew what he was doing behind her back, she would try to change for the wrong reasons.

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Waking up, Kasumi felt something on top of her. After lifting her head she saw the most unexpected site. It was Natsumi! How had the little Vulpix escaped her grandfather? It didn't really matter, she was here. Slowly getting out of the sleeping bag Mousse provided her with, she hugged the fire Pokemon. "It's so good to see you."

It was time to wake up wasn't it? Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, Ukyo saw their youngest companion hugging a Vulpix. Looking over to her nephew, Ranma sat in the same meditative stance she had been in last night. "Makoto did you sleep at all?"

"Huh?" The youngest Tendo looked at the redhead. Going over and touching the older girl to try to wake her up, the redhead felt frozen. "Makoto's really cold."

"What?" Was there something wrong with her? The oldest of the three girls was worried. "I'm going to get Mousse."

Watching the older ponytailed girl leave the tent, Kasumi couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with Makoto.

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Mousse exited the tent and frowned. If he didn't know better... Ranma was using the 'Soul of Ice' but how would Ranma know that technique? It was also strange how deep the meditation was, Amazons didn't meditate to use the Soul of Ice. This wasn't the normal technique, it was modified somehow. One thing he was sure of though was that Ranma wasn't in any trouble.

"Is Makoto okay?" With Jean Luc on her shoulder and Natsumi in her arms, Kasumi hoped the older girl would be okay. Nabiki sat in a similar position from time to time, but normally she was asleep and could be easily woken up. She had tried shaking Makoto, but the older girl didn't seem phased.

"What's wrong with her?" After they had ate, her nephew went straight to meditating. She had thought the training Ranma was talking about was Pokemon oriented, but instead it seemed like it was for the martial arts.

"Nothings wrong. She's training her mind. The meditation is deep, but she's not in any trouble." He'd have to have a talk with Genma. The Snorlax might have an explanation for him. One thing came to his mind though... the other day he thought the human Genma was as bad as Happosai. Could it be that Ranma's father was the pupil of the terrible master. Could it be that Ranma already knew all he had to teach her. To think Happosai not only stole his tribe's secrets, but also added them to his school, and he passed them on to his students.

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Finally she was here. Looking around the void Makoto sort of wished she had a better imagination. The deepest recess of her mind was nothing but empty space. She had to have had some imagination though, she was no longer wearing the jeans and sleeveless shirt she was wearing before; now she was dressed in a sailor top, and a long pleated green skirt. Why was she wearing these clothes.

"That's a good question."

"I think it looks good on her."

"Him."

"She's a girl, she's accepted that."

"He's not in his right state of mind."

In cartoons, people had angels and devils over their shoulders representing their inner good and evil. In real life she had similar voices inside her head, although she wasn't sure which was good and which was evil. There was a third one that showed up from time to time too. Hopefully she wouldn't see the third one while she was here. The male dressed as she would normally dress except he wore his long hair down, the female dressed in a green princess gown and wore her hair in a ponytail. The third voice was a black furred … "Gee, I think the fact that I'm not the only voice in my head means I'm never in my right mind."

"It's not like we talk to you when you aren't in here." It wasn't as if Ranma truly understood what they were. The male persona mused; at some level he did have to understand or else the three of them wouldn't exist.

"Makoto, we are not separate personalities or anything. We're…"

"Stop that, if he was ready to understand we wouldn't have to tell him. Don't call him Makoto." The princess was always trying to spoil everything. It would be more better for Ranma to learn on his own.

"She's decided to be Makoto Saotome so I think we should both refer to her by that name." The female persona sighed. Why did the male have to be so stubborn. Makoto was finally embracing her destiny, what was wrong about that?

"If that was truly the case then I'd be a girl right now as well. Ranma's still not entirely sure who he is." He really hoped he'd continue to remain male. He was who Ranma was now, he wouldn't deny that thanks to the curse he was part girl, but when all was said and done he was a guy.

"How come you guys can hear my thoughts in here, but I can only hear what you say out loud." The male voice was right. She wasn't sure who she was. Yesterday she accepted that she was a girl, but that could have been the hormones talking more than herself. That was why she entered into such a deep state of meditation despite the fact she didn't need to be in one for the 'Soul of Ice'.

"We are you, but you aren't us." Not yet at least. Ranma had the potential to be either him or the princess, and now with the curse he could even become a mixture of the two of them. The first and third choices were acceptable, the second was not, the princess already had one lifetime. There had been a fourth option thanks to their father, the cat came into existence here, but also thanks to their father the curse weakened the cat's claim on Ranma.

"Why would I ever speak in such riddles?" The princess was her? Looking at the female voice she always wondered where she came from. The girl had been present since the first time she journeyed this deep into her mind, and that was before she was cursed.

"He believes it's for the best that you learn things on your own than have the answers given to you." They had all the answers to Makoto's question, why couldn't they give them to her when she did this soul searching. That was the reason she came this deep into her mind.

"I guess, he has a point. I enjoy solving problems on my own, it's not like I can trust the things that are just handed to me." The answer handed to her by her father were more often or not wrong. The male really was more like herself then the princess. As she thought that though her clothes changed to resemble his, she was still unfortunately female.

"You see, he's not Makoto."

"Maybe she isn't, but maybe she is; just her clothes changed."

"Is my name really such a big deal?" She was sure she could be herself now, but going by the name her father gave her…

"Look I don't care about what Genma thought of us. Ranma is our name, pretending otherwise is giving up. I've never been one for giving up. Are you?"

"So stubborn. Like Ranma, Makoto is a perfectly normal name for a boy or a girl. Why do you cling to the name that fat fool gave us."

The male persona turned from the princess and from Ranma. He wanted to explain his reasoning, but… Ranma had to make the decision on his own. Genma, the human, thought Ranma was unworthy to be his son, but Ranma could show him he was wrong. To use a new name would be running away from who he is. "I am Ranma Saotome."

Makoto wasn't sure how to respond to that statement. She had come this deep into her mind to get answers but instead she had new questions. The male persona had been right though, she needed to figure things out for herself. "Thank you both."

"Makoto…" It was too late. Makoto had disappeared to a higher level of her subconscious where she nor the male persona could communicate with her. The princess frowned, they were both aware of what was going on around Makoto even if she herself wasn't. Makoto needed her power but she couldn't use that power as Ranma. "You may have doom the world."

"No, I don't think so." The male person looked at the princess and then turned and walked away. Ranma was her reincarnation, but Ranma didn't need to be her to use her power. He was sure of it.

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Mousse sat looking through a Pokemon book while Ukyo stared at the tent she shared with Ranma and Kasumi. Their youngest companion was out with Genma and Jean Luc, training Natsumi. The Snorlax promised to talk to him after Kasumi went to sleep that night, so for now he was still wondering whether or not Ranma was an heir to Happosai.

"Do you really think the training will take all day?" Ukyo didn't like what Ranma was doing at all. The fact that her nephew was frozen and in such a deep trance couldn't be good.

"I don't know. I'm still not entirely sure what Ranma is trying to accomplish." Kasumi wasn't in the area so the former Amazon saw no need to refer to the cursed boy as Makoto. Ukyo had mentioned in private that Ranma wanted to be Makoto, but at the time she also mentioned Ranma was going through something uniquely female. It was possible Ranma didn't truly think her thoughts out.

"You think we should keep calling her that?" She agreed, Ranma's acceptance of the name she gave her, just to fool Kasumi, seemed wrong. The youngest Cerulean sister didn't want her nephew to stop being herself and become someone else.

"I think we should just tell Kasumi the truth and save calling her Makoto for when we're around the other Tendos." The little girl looked up to Ranma and after the last day and a half, he believed she'd accept the truth about Makoto.

"I don't know about that." Who knew what would happen to Kasumi's hero worship if she knew the girl she admired so much was really a boy. That and, what made Mousse believe Kasumi would accept that Ranma was anything but the girl she admired? Ukyo shook her head.

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Lio's Corner:

-I started work on this chapter as soon as I finished the previous one. However like the previous one it took some time to hammer out exactly what I wanted to go on.

-mythicalprogrammer: Genma(p) isn't your typical Snorlax, but he is quite strong.

-ranma girl 14: Ranma won't kick Akane's ass, although expect one shoe to be on the other foot.

-KaitonLocke: If you guys got these chapter straight from me I can assure you there would be a lot of butchered grammar. Fortunately J.C. St. Patrick and Wray Loflin help me make the chapters readable.

-Requiem the Relentless: Sorry, like giving Ranma Pokemon powers I thought making Genma(h) an actual Pokemon would be too ridiculous. Maybe other fic writers can pull it off, but I'm afraid I can't.

-solo77: Sorry, Mousse is getting the Eevee. It was my intention that with the exception of Mumu-chan, the Amazon be a Normal type trainer. Since he's giving Ukyo his Feebas, I thought an Eevee be a fair trade.

-Someone will be getting a Machop, but it won't be Ranma. The party is going to lose one member and gain another.

-Feel free to continue suggesting Pokemon for Ranma, and make some suggestions Kasumi too.

-The next chapter will be something a little different, stay tuned.

Update 22 Mar 09:

-Correction and a major revision of the scene with Ranma deep within his mind.