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Chapter 5: Family

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"MWAHAHAHHAHAAHA!!!!!! WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAUL!!!" Genma shouted, briefly realizing that it probably wasn't a good idea to shout out the master's catch phrase in the middle of a village of women, but didn't really care considering he was trying to catch their attention.

"Pops, what the hell are you doing?!" Ranma ran out of the hut Shampoo usually slept in to see his father standing on top of a nearby building with a big bag over his shoulder.

"Come, Ranma! We must flee before we are caught!" The Fat, Balding man leapt off the roof and was about to make a break for it when a fireball impacted the

ground in front of his feet.

"I'm afraid its too late for that, you are already caught. Ran, do with him as you wish." Onna-Ranma growled before leaping at the fat martial artist, attempting to hit him with a flaming fist, only to miss by a mile.

:So, She goes by the name of Ran, does she?: "Come on, Ran! You'll have to do better than that!" Ran growled and leapt at Genma again, throwing punches, kicks, and fireballs that were all dodged, blocked, and nimbly avoided.

"I taught you everything you know, Ran. You'll never be able to defeat me!" The redhead growled once more and burst into flames, turning once again into her Tigress form, Were-Ranma attacked The Fat Saotome with a new speed and ferocity as he took blows all over, his Gi also caught fire as he abandoned the bag and rolled around on the ground to put it out.

"Ok, so Jusenkyo taught you that. Fair enough." The flaming Tigress kicked Genma in the stomach and punted him towards a large group of Amazons as Ranma snuck up behind the fiery girl and bashed her over the head with his broomstick.

"No one attacks my pop!" Ranma swung the broom around again and smashed Ran in the side of the head with the weapon, sending her skidding to the side as Genma knocked out the group of amazons and approached Ran.

"I think she's unconscious..." Ran suddenly sprang to her feet and lashed out at Genma with a blow that would have taken his head off had he not dodged it at the last moment.

"YOW! Vacuum Blade!" The flaming girl was hit head on with a dulled chi blade and was knocked out by the blow, reverting back to human form and hitting the ground hard. Genma grabbed the downed girl and slung her over his shoulder as the amazons formed a circle around the three.

"What do you think you're doing? Do you really believe you will escape this village with your life, male?" Cologne addressed the Fat man as he and Ranma

looked at the women surrounding them.

"Yes, and I intend to take my 'daughter' with me as well!" Genma quickly grabbed a smoke bomb out of his pack and hurled it at the ground, surrounding him and the two teenagers in a blanket of smoke as he grabbed Ranma's arm and activated the Umi-sen-ken, running from the smoke and the village before the amazons got the smoke out of their eyes.

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Genma had stopped far from the Amazon village and dropped both Ranma and Ran as he also put their packs down.

"I don't get it pop, why did we kidnap that girl?" Genma turned to his so- called son and grabbed the bracer on his left arm, and quickly pulled it off.

"Your name is Kazuma Saotome, I am your father. A long time ago your sister Ranma, and myself went to Jusenkyo where she fell in a spring and turned into a fire monster and ran away. We just went by a village of Amazons to find that she was living there and have just taken her back." Genma then slipped the bracer back on Kazuma and left the boy's screwed up memory to work its magic as he leaned over and looked at the unconscious girl.

"I can't believe we found sis after all this time. It's hard to believe those stories about her turning into a fire monster were true." 'Kazuma' said as Genma smirked. Reprogramming his son may be dishonorable, but it was the easiest way to undo what he already told him. Genma noticed that Ranma was starting to stir and leapt up and tensed, looking at the two Saotome boys.

("Where am I?!") Onna-Ranma stared at the two, noticed Genma and tensed further.

"Sis, calm down! We're trying to help you!" Kazuma tried to grab Ranma's shoulders just to take a nasty four-punch combo that had him skidding across the ground several feet away. The redhead vaguely understood what they had said and started to remember how to speak their language, at least since the pictures had started coming to her with more clarity.

"Why I here? What enemy want?!" In a very broken Japanese, Ranma attempted to respond as the broom-wielding boy got to his feet.

"We are not your enemies, Ranma. We are your family!" Genma tried to argue with her. The name sounded better to Ran, but didn't believe what the fat human had said.

"I not Human Cub, I beast!" She shouted, her body heat rising.

"You are not a monster, Ranma! Jusenkyo cursed you to turn into that creature! You are human!" The newly Amazon girl glared at Genma before she burst into flames.

"You lie!!" Onna-Ranma leapt at the fat martial artist, preparing to deliver a fire-powered foot to his face as Shinosuke, AKA Kazuma, tackled her to the ground, ignoring the flames licking at his clothes, and his skin.

"Ranma, its true! I've seen Jusenkyo, and the springs that cursed you. Please, stop trying to kill our father, he's spent all this time trying to find you! We both have!" Ranma's fiery aura vanished as her mind was filled with more pictures. A young child with black hair standing on a pole and fighting his father, landing in a large pool of water and being transformed into a beast, leaving the waters surrounded in a familiar fire and chasing the father into the woods. Ran now recognized these images, knowing what they meant, but she refused to believe it as she hurled Kazuma off of herself with a wall of fire.

"NO!!! I not Human!!! No matter what pictures say!!" Kazuma got back up when Ran suddenly transformed into her Oni form, staring down the fat martial artist

before running off into the woods.

"Hurry, Kazuma. We have to find her before the amazons do!" Genma shouted and ran into the forest, followed by Kazuma.

Several weeks had passed, and Ran was still trying to run from Genma and Kazuma. Every now and then the amazons would find the two and slow them down, but they still stuck close on the fiery girl's tail as she soon found herself in a small down near the ocean.

"Ran no let them catch...Enemy not family..." The redhead jumped up onto the building next to her as she saw Kazuma walking around in the streets below her, carrying his broom.

"Ran! Ranma!!! Where are you?" The Broom wielding boy continued to look around while Ran jumped over to the next building, only to run right into Genma's large belly.

"Kazuma! Get up here." Shinosuke soon joined them on the roof as he looked at Ran, who seemed ready to torch the both of them at any second.

"Come on, Ran. We just want to take you home!" Kazuma reasoned as Ran stared the two down.

"Ran have no home. Ran not human!" Ranma snarled.

"She's right, you know, she isn't human." Kazuma and Genma turned to see a man with black and white hair looking at them, wearing dragon scaled armor and a long cape.

"She is a beast, and my bride. Now stand aside if you value your lives." Three others joined them on the roof, a boy that looked like he had wolf ears, a man that was striped like a tiger, and a woman that looked relatively normal, aside from the glowing arrow she was pointing at Genma's heart. Ran quickly hid behind Kazuma, not wanting to be shot by one of Basil's arrows. Those things would really hurt when she was in human form.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" Kazuma shouted as he stood in front of Ranma-Chan protectively.

"I am Prince Herb of the musk dynasty, and if you don't hand over my bride, you shall both die horrible deaths." Genma was going to make a break for it when he heard 'prince' and 'bride' in the same sentence, at which point Yen notes appeared in his eyes.

"You're a prince are ya? And you want to marry my daughter. Well I give you my blessing!" Genma was promptly bashed over the head with a broom.

"Pops! What the hell are you doin'?!" Kazuma shouted.

"Quiet boy! This guy is a prince! He's probably loaded with cash!" Herb smiled before getting closer to Genma.

"Indeed I am." The prince then grabbed Genma by the collar of his Gi and held him off the ground. "But the day you get your hands on a single yen will be a cold day in hell, indeed." Genma laughed nervously before reaching into his Gi.

"In that case, CATCH!" A small explosive was hurled directly into Herbs eyes as it exploded into a cloud of pepper. The musk prince screamed in agony and dropped Genma, just as Basil released her arrow, barely missing Genma as it pierced through his fluttering Gi and broke straight through the solid cement roof of the building as the three Saotomes made a break for it.

"Mint, Lime! Don't let them escape! Basil, I want the fat one alive, so I can torture him personally!!" Herb's three lackeys began chase after the Saotomes, Mint's speed far surpassed any of them as he was quickly gaining while Lime was simply breaking through any obstacles without even slowing down.

"Damn, they're inhuman!" Genma shouted in annoyance as they were approaching the coast of the ocean.

"Water! Animal men no like water!" She exclaimed and dived in, followed by Genma and Kazuma as they all swam as fast as they could. Mint and Lime stopped in their tracks as they got to the edge of the water, not wanting to activate their curses while basil followed, already in curse form.

"Don't think I'll let you get away!" She began firing Arrows from shallow water out to the Saotomes, but couldn't get a good shot with the waves when they three swam out of sight.

"Damn it!" She said, climbing out of the water and looking at Mint and lime.

"Go fetch lord Herb, I'll go looking for a boat...What are you two staring at?" She noticed the wide eyes as the eagle woman looked down at her torso, seeing that her white shirt was now totally clear, leaving her Female 'parts' visible to any who wanted to see.

Whap! Pow!

"Get your eyes off my chest and go get lord herb! Perverts."

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Many days and many nights of almost constant swimming passed as the three Saotomes reached shore on a Japanese beach before collapsing from exhaustion. They lay there for nearly 2 hours, regaining enough strength to stand.

"Where are we?" The drenched redhead asked, not recognizing anything she saw.

"We're home. I don't believe it! We actually swam all the way back! WOO HOO!! We did it!!" Kazuma started cheering while Genma and Ran stood up.

"Hey pop, can we go back home to mom now?" Genma lost the emotion on his face as Ran looked at him and Kazuma in confusion.

"Mom? What is mom?" She asked as the broom-wielding boy looked at him.

"Our mother! I haven't seen her in ten years!" Ran's head suddenly filled with images of a young woman playing with her young.

"If Ran really Human cub, Ran want see mother!" Genma began to sweat, last time he checked, Nodoka was only aware of having one child, that child was supposed to be a boy named Ranma. How was he gonna make her believe she had two children, and that Ranma was really a girl:I'm in deep shit...I hope Nodoka is still as gullible as she used to be.:

"I wish we could, but we've been gone so long, I can't seem to remember were she lives! Heh heh, I guess I'm getting forgetful in my old age."

"Pop, you're 38 years old." Kazuma said, suspiciously.

"I know that son, but forgetfulness runs in our family! If you weren't wearing that bracer, you wouldn't even be able to remember your own name!" :Good save there, Genma!: The fat man said as Kazuma considered that.

"I guess you've got a point."

"Well, Maybe my old friend Soun Tendo knows where she lives! Why don't we just stop by his dojo and ask him!" Genma said as he headed off towards the Tendo dojo.

"Pop, why is it that you can remember where your best friend lives, but not your wife?"

"Because boy. That man faced the greatest terror in this world with me at that place he now calls.. home." Genma and Kazuma began walking, soon being followed by Ran as they headed to the Tendo dojo.

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[Soun, I'm returning from China with my children, we should show up soon, Genma. a teary-eyed man read over the post card several times, making sure it was real.

"At last! Genma is coming, the schools can finally be joined! Oh how I've waited for this day!" Soun stood and ran throughout the house.

"Kentarou!"(1) Soun moved the curtain into the kitchen, to see a 19-year- old boy cooking dinner.

"Yeah, what is it, dad?" said the gentle looking young man.

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"Genzinan!"(2) Soun opened the door to his middle child's room, seeing him at his desk, reading a manga.

"Huh?"

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Soun opened the door to his daughter's room, only to find it empty. "Akane! Where is that girl?"

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A young girl can be seen jogging down the street as she makes a hard turn into the Tendo dojo, quickly puts on a Gi, and begins to shatter cinder blocks.

"YA!!"

Crash!!

The stone was easy broken as a chunk flew across the room and landed under the foot of a 17-year-old boy with a camera, snapping pictures of his younger sister.

"There you go again, I don't know what those guys at school see in a tomboy like you, but they're buying the pictures, so I don't complain." Akane growled and punted a large chunk of cinderblock at her elder brother.

"Shut up, Genzi!" Genzinan barely managed to dodge the block before regaining his composure.

"Hey, that was quite an impressive kick, you nearly took my head off. Oh yeah, dad's called a family meeting, he wants to tell us all something." Genzinan walked back inside, soon followed by Akane.

"Fiancé?!" Akane shouted as she stared at her father.

"Yes, The child of a good friend of mine. They should be here any minute." Soun said with a grin as Akane growled.

"Don't we get any say in who we marry!?"

"Don't jump the gun, Kane. You never know, it could be a girl, then we'd be stuck with her." Genzinan said as Kentarou thought about it.

"I wonder if she's good looking? Will she be older than me? I'd hate that." He wondered aloud.

"So pop, what's this mystery kid like?" Genzi asked.

"Is it a guy or a girl?" Ken added.

"Ha ha! I have no idea, I've never met him...or her." Genzi's eyebrow was twitching.

"So for all you know, you could have engaged us to a sumo wrestler?" Genzi said sarcastically when they heard yelling and arguing at the door.

"Must be them." Kentarou said as he stood and looked down the hall as a boy with a push broom strapped to his back came running in.

"Do you have any buckets of water?!" Ken looked a little confused as he handed over the pale and watched the broomed boy run back the other way, a splash and a roar of anger that seemed feminine could be heard as the same boy and a much fatter man ran down the hall.

"AHH!!! SHE'S GONNA KILL US!!!" Kazuma shouted as a drenched Ran came running after them.

"Fat man die!" She shouted. The two men ran back around and into the room and hid next to the door when the girl rounded the corner and was smacked in the back of the head with Kazuma's broom.

"Genma, my old friend! It's good to see you!" Soun said as he hugged the fat man.

"It's good to see you too, Soun. These are my children, Kazuma and Ranma." Ran got back up and rubbed the back of her head in pain.

"Why Kazu hit so hard?" She asked in annoyance. Soun then sat everyone down and began to talk.

"I think we should get back to the matter of the engagement..." Ken spoke up before Soun could finish.

"As the oldest, I feel it is my duty to be the one that follows the agreement between families, and has to marry Ranma." Genzi then spoke up.

"As the oldest, it is your duty to move out and find your own damn girl. I think I should be the one to marry her." Ken pushed Genzi out of the way.

"Screw you, she's mine!"

"Hell no, I saw her first!"

'Liar!" before the argument could continue any further, both of the Tendo men found themselves the targets of Ran's Fireball as they were hurled from the house and landed in the Koi pond.

"Now that, they had coming..."

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