A few days later, Pan, Ranma, and Akane, found themselves walking through a kingdom that looked like the golden age of Siam. Large golden steeples, Dragon statues, and other artifacts all reflected an era and majesty of long ago. Ranma and Akane looked around in wonder at all the beautiful scenery and were amazed that in a modern world this whole culture had survived. Pan just kept looking between the scenery and the Dragon Radar. The radar pointed to the center of the capital city. The trio stopped in front of a gigantic ornate golden palace. The size and magnificence of the palace would have made the ancient Chinese emperors jealous.
Ranma took in the whole scene. “Nice place.”
Akane was in awe. “That’s an understatement.”
Pan was enjoying the view, but she still checked the Dragon radar. “It looks like the Dragonball is inside the palace.
The group walked up the steps to the palace entrance. A young man was standing guard there. He was wearing an imperial guard uniform wielding a menacing halberd, but wore no hat. The Dragonball hunters, upon approaching, noticed why: He had a third eye placed higher on his head in the middle of his other two.
Pan looked at the guard, “Tien?”
The young man glared at them. “No. I am Sanjuu, not Tienshinhan. What business do you have at the palace?”
“We’re here in search of a Dragonball.”
The man lowered his halberd at them. “You shall not take one of the sacred treasures of Miifan!”
Ranma stepped up with his hands held up. “Whoa! Put that pig sticker down! We just want the ball so I can be cured.”
Sanjuu looked at the pig-tailed martial artist. “You don’t look like you’re sick. Who are you people anyway?”
“Saotome Ranma.”
Akane hesitantly came forward. “Tendo Akane.”
Pan crossed her arms. “Son Pan.”
The guard turned his attention back to Pan. “Son? Are you by chance related to Son Goku?”
“Yes. He’s my grandfather.”
The young man raised his halberd back up and bowed to her. “Forgive my rudeness. The name Son is honored throughout the land of Miifan! I will take you to the emperor immediately.” He turned and motioned the others to follow him.
Ranma raised an eyebrow at Pan. “Must be nice to have your reputation proceed you.”
Pan shrugged. “It’s not me, it’s my grandparents. Usually it’s my other grandpa’s name that gets me stuff.”
Sanjuu lead Pan and company into the imperial throne room. Sanjuu went to a knee and bowed to the man on the throne. Pan didn’t recognize the emporer, but she did recognize the man dressed in Chinese clothes to his right. He had three eyes, like Sanjuu, and a large scar across his chest.
“Tienshinhan!”
The man looked at her and smiled. “Pan! It’s good to see you! I haven’t seen you in years, but I’d recognize Gohan’s daughter anywhere!”
The emperor looked at Pan. “I am also happy to see you again.”
Pan looked at the emperor. He was dressed in flowing robes and had an ornate crown on his head. Pan looked at him in search of recognition. “Have we met before?”
The emporer chuckled. “Try to picture me a lot younger and wearing white face paint.”
“Chiaotzu?”
The emperor smiled at her. “Right the first time.”
“I thought that was really your face. Nobody ever saw you without your makeup on, and you also never aged!”
“It’s an interesting story. Want to hear it?”
Pan looked at Ranma and Akane. Ranma was staring off into space with his hands behind his head, and Akane was listening intently. Pan motioned her head toward Ranma. Akane elbowed him in the ribs.
Ranma came back to reality. He looked at Akane and saw that she wanted to hear the story. “Sure, whatever.”
Chiaotzu smiled at the group and began the story of his life. “A long time ago the land of Miifan was ruled by my father. The land prospered and the people were happy. Shortly after I was born, one of my father’s advisors, Mahoutsukai Aku, began to scheme against my father. He wanted to crown for himself. He began a campaign to turn the people against my father. He spread rumors around that he was not a suitable leader and that he was a getting very ill and senile.
“My father couldn’t tell what was going on and who was behind it all. Mahoutsukai Aku had brought all of my father’s advisors to his side so they would never tell him. Mahou eventually poisoned my father to show the people that he was right about the rumors he had spread. He even cursed me to remain a child to show that my father could not produce a suitable heir.
“After another year or so of this, Mahou made his move. He attacked the palace and killed my father. He then came after me. If it hadn’t been for my closest friend and bodyguard, Tienshinhan, I would have died then. As it was, Tien and I escaped the country and fled for our lives. Mahou sent several soldiers and assassins after us.
“Eventually Tien and I found ourselves alone and on the run. We needed to get an army to take my country back from the Evil Mahou. That’s when we met Tsuru Sennin, Kame Sennin’s greatest rival. It was his idea to hide my identity with the white makeup. You never saw me without it because it was an enchantment. As long as I wore it none of the assassins could recognize me as the rightful emperor of Miifan.
“As we trained with Tsuru Sennin, we began to realize that with heavy training Tien and I were the only army we needed. So we continued to train with the old master, even when he asked us to do questionable things. We became great martial artists and eventually it came time for the Tsuru Sennin’s school to make its mark on the world, the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai.
“At the 22nd Tenkaichi Budoukai, we met a pair of Kame Sennin’s students: A young boy named Son Goku and his friend Krillen. The final round came down to Goku and Tienshinhan. We learned after Tien used the Do Don Pa on Goku that Goku had killed Tsuru Sennin’s brother, Tao Pai Pai. Tsuru Sennin stopped at nothing for revenge and to show that he was superior to Kame Sennin. He even asked me to interfere with the final match by holding Goku in place with my powers.
“Tien noticed what I was doing and told me that it was dishonorable and told me to stop. Despite the orders of Tsuru Sennin, I let Goku free. The match raged on. Tien eventually destroyed the ring; and, even though he could not fly, Goku stayed in the fight. He kept himself aloft using a Kamehameha. The two battled in the air eventually propelling themselves semi-conscious outside of the stadium. Goku only lost because he struck a passing truck before Tienshinhan hit the ground.
“After that we forsook our unethical master and began to travel with Goku. We learned much of the Kame Sennin art and about the incredible boy Goku.
“Over the years we trained hard to return to our beloved kingdom and to help out Son Goku and the others defeat the various threats to the earth. After a while we took our leave of the group and trained in the wilderness for our return to Miifan. Eventually we made our way back and defeated Mahoutsukai Aku and his army. Upon his death, his curse on me was broken and I dropped the enchantment of Tsuru Sennin. We’ve since returned Miifan back to its former glory and prosperity.”
Ranma was rubbing his side from all the times Akane had elbowed him to keep him awake. “So, can we get that ball or what?”
The emperor looked at Ranma. “And who are you?”
“Saotome Ranma of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.”
“And your fiery companion?”
Akane bowed to the emperor. “Tendo Akane of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.”
“Different branches of the same school? How can you stand being in the same room? Tsuru Sennin and Kame Sennin would have never done that.”
Pan stepped in. “Their fathers were both students of the founder of Anything Goes Martial Arts.” She nodded toward Ranma and Akane. “These two are to be married to join the two branches.”
“How nice. Two people of two different schools who get along so well.”
Ranma got an annoyed look on his face. “I wouldn’t exactly say, ‘Getting along’.”
Akane turned to him. “If you weren’t such a pigheaded jerk, we would get along.”
Ranma turned to her. “Well, if you weren’t an uncute, macho, tomboy…”
“Pervert!”
“Unsexy!”
Chiaotzu laughed at the couple and turned to Tien. “Remind you of anyone we know?”
Tien put his hand over his three eyes looked down and shook his head and laughed.
Akane, mallet in hand, noticed the two Miifans laughing. “What’s so funny?”
Tien looked at them. “That’s the same way my wife and I used to fight before we got married. Of course she was a schizophrenic psycho…”
“What did you call me?!”
Everyone looked to the side to see a beautiful woman with long blonde hair dressed in shorts and a t-shirt enter.
Tien smiled at his wife. “A schizophrenic psycho.”
She strode over to her husband and looked him in the eye. “Well that’s funny coming from a tri-eyed freak”
Tien picked her up off the ground and gave her a kiss. After breaking the kiss, she whispered into his ear with a seductive voice, “We’ll finish this later. This a little too public for me.”
Tien put her down and introduced his wife. “This is Ranchi. Former maid of Kame Sennin.”
An errant bit of pollen floated across Ranchi’s nose. She sneezed and immediately became a brunette. “Oh, Tien. We have guests!” The tone of her voice was almost sickeningly sweet. “What are your names?”
Ranma and Akane were stunned. They finally recovered and introduced themselves to the ‘good’ Ranchi.
“Would you like some refreshments?”
“Sure!” All three said at once.”
Ranchi gave them a very sweet smile. “I’ll be right back.” She left to get them some refreshments.
Ranma turned to Akane. “Why can’t you do something like that?”
“Baka.” They started fighting again like usual.
Pan continued talking with Tien. “How did you two meet? When did you guys get married? How did all this happen?”
“When we were hanging around with Goku. She kept on trying to get me in on all her schemes. After a while she started to actually care for me, and stopped robbing everything in sight. She had given up on me when I was killed by Nappa. She went back to her old ways until she saw me on the telecast of the Cell games. I had not pursued her because I was too busy keeping the Earth safe and training to take Miifan back. She found Chiaotzu and I in the wilderness after the battle with Majin Buu. She kept on trying to start a relationship, but I told her that my duty came first. That started the fights. After a while we begun to care for each other; and, after she helped us take back Miifan, we were married. A few years later our son Sanjuu was born.”
Tien looked over and saw Akane and Ranma still fighting. He smiled at the two fighting fiancées. “They’ll get it together eventually. All they need is time.”
Chiaotzu was getting a headache from the fighting. “Ranma! What do you want the Dragonball for?”
Ranma looked away from Akane. “So I can be cured.”
“Of what?”
Akane splashed him with her canteen. Instant Ranma-Chan.
Ranma-Chan whipped around to Akane. “Would you STOP doing THAT!”
Tien and Chiaotzu was shocked. Chiaotzu recovered first. “I can see how that could be a problem. If that is all you want from the Eternal Dragon then you can have the ball. Just one thing…”
Ranma looked at him. “What?”
“I’d like to see a demonstration of your school’s art.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“A sparring match with the star pupil of the Mutaito's martial arts school.”
“Mutaito's martial arts school?”
“The original school of Tsuru and Kame Sennin. We didn’t want to be associated with Tsuru Sennin and we did not learn everything we know from Kame Sennin, so we combined the two and remade the Mutaito's martial arts school. With Kame Sennin’s consent of course.” Tien added.
“Okay. Who is it?”
Tien motioned to the young guard at the back that led them in. “Sanjuu.”
Sanjuu stepped forward and bowed.
Ranma looked him over. If he’s anything like Pan or Tien, I’m in trouble. I can feel a lot of power coming off of almost everyone in this room. It’s against my better judgment but, “Sure. Why not?”
Sanjuu bowed to Ranma. “Then we shall meet at the training field in one hour. I look forward to the demonstration.”
Ranma returned the bow. “I look forward to it as well.”
An hour later the two were standing in the middle of a large field. Sanjuu had changed into a training outfit (pants and a sash). Ranma had anticipated a hard battle and had changed into his non-weighted outfit. Pan, Akane, Tien, and Chiaotzu stood on the sidelines.
The two combatants bowed to each other and squared off. They began by circling each other, gauging each other’s movements. Sanjuu started off with a fast jab that Ranma easily deflected. Ranma returned the favor and Sanjuu deflected it as well. The two continued to feel each other out with various punches and kicks.
Sanjuu dodged another punch from Ranma. “You’re pretty good.”
Ranma jumped over the return kick. “Been training all my life.”
Sanjuu threw another kick to follow the first. “What say we take it up a notch?”
Ranma responded by catching Sanjuu’s foot and throwing him over. Sanjuu landed and rolled back to his feet in a smooth motion. Ranma smiled. “Let’s go!”
Both combatants began to shout. Akane and the others on the sidelines could feel the Ki levels of each rise to higher levels. Ranma glowed with a golden aura, while Sanjuu had white.
“HA!” Sanjuu charged Ranma leading with his fist.
Ranma disappeared and the wind from the punch sent a gale force wind past the point where Ranma had stood. Sanjuu disappeared as well. They began to fight faster than any normal person would be able to see. A flurry of punches, kicks, blocks, and dodges. Ranma for his part was keeping up better than he thought he could.
Sanjuu decided it was time to use some special techniques. He shot up and away from Ranma and put two fingers to each temple. Ranma recognized it immediately and shielded his eyes.
“TAIYOUKEN!”
While Sanjuu had his eyes closed for his technique, Ranma dropped his Ki to nothing and flew into the sun above Sanjuu. Sanjuu opened his eyes and searched for the pig-tailed martial artist. He saw no sign of him and felt no Ki from him.
“Where’d he go?”
“MOKO TAKABISHA!”
A large Ki ball slammed into Sanjuu and he rode it all the way to the ground where it exploded. Sanjuu stood up in time to see Ranma directly in front of him.
“KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!” Ranma struck him with his full power with the chestnut fist taking care to land every blow into Sanjuu’s stomach.
Sanjuu started to feel ill. With a shout he raised his power level to full and blew Ranma back with the power. Ranma, already at his full power, was now dwarfed by the power of the young triclops. Ranma took a defensive position on the ground.
“DO DON PA!” Sanjuu raised his finger at Ranma and fired the laser beam like blast at Ranma. Ranma managed to dodge with just some minor burns.
Time to pull out my trump card. Ranma turned his aura blue. “Is that the best you got Sancho?!”
“Sanjuu!” Sanjuu charged Ranma. He was tired from all the exertion and he was sick from the chestnut fist. Ranma’s taunts only served to make him mad. His aura changed from white to red.
Sanjuu rained punches down on Ranma who was in full defensive mode. Ranma began the spiral.
Pan and Akane on the sidelines went over and grabbed onto the fence that was surrounding the training field. Pan shouted to Tien and Chiaotzu, “You might want to grab onto something!” They quickly complied not really knowing what was going on, but trusting Pan.
Then it came. “HIRYU SHOTEN HA!”
The intense heat of Sanjuu’s full power and the bitter cold that Ranma was projecting stirred up a gigantic typhoon. The observers held onto the fence for dear life. Chiaotzu thanked his foresight in putting the training field well away from the palace.
Sanjuu made the same mistake that Pan did when she first encountered the Hiryu Shoten Ha, he blew all of his Ki outward in an attempt to stop the hurricane. As long as he still had power the tornado continued. Finally Sanjuu was spent and the winds died. Sanjuu fell to the ground exhausted. A tired Ranma jumped on top of him and threw a punch directly at Sanjuu’s face. He stopped his fist mere millimeters from Sanjuu’s eyes.
“Bang! You’re Dead!”
“Well fought Saotome. I congratulate you.”
Ranma smiled and helped Sanjuu to his feet. “You pretty good to. Sorry about the Sancho crack, but I needed you hot for that last move to work.”
“All’s fair in love and war.” Sanjuu bowed.
“Hai.” Ranma returned the bow.
The two martial artists returned to the wind beaten audience. Akane was fixing her hair while Pan was trying to put hers back under her bandanna. Tien and Chiaotzu just looked at the pigtailed martial artist.
“That is indeed a powerful technique, Ranma.” Chiaotzu commented.
“It is a great technique, but the power comes from the victim. All that wind was from Sanjuu’s power.”
Chiaotzu reached inside of his robe and pulled out the five-star Dragonball and handed it to Ranma. “I think you have earned this, and I trust that you will not use this to do any harm.”
“You have my word as a martial artist.”
“I know you will, your word is not necessary. I’ll just ask one more thing.”
“What?” Do I have to fight Tien now?
“Stay and enjoy Miifan’s hospitality for tonight.”
“Sure!”
The next morning after being well fed and rested in comfortable suites, the trio of Dragonball hunters set off toward the next ball. Something seemed to be bothering Akane. Ranma flew over to her.
“Yo, Akane. What’s up?”
“You used the Umi-sen-ken on Sanjuu didn’t you.”
“What?”
“When you flew into the sun.”
“Not really. I just killed my Ki.”
“But that’s a part of the Umi-sen-ken. Ranma, you said you were going to bury those arts!”
“Akane. I…I didn’t use the attacks. I just used the stealth. He had so much more power than me. I had to use something to give me an advantage.”
“I understand but you must not break your word again. People won’t trust you that way.”
Ranma swallowed. You mean you won’t trust me. Like she trusts me now… “Okay. Umi-sen-ken and Yama-sen-ken are dead forever. I will die the last practitioner of the art. I give my word as a martial artist.”
Akane smiled at him. “Thank you, Ranma.”
Ranma looked ahead and continued the flight. She is cute when she smiles. Too bad she doesn’t smile often enough.
Pan didn’t hear what they were talking about, but she did hear them talking in a civilized tone. The biggest surprise was that Akane was actually smiling when they stopped talking. Tien’s words came back to her, ‘All they need is time.’
Pan checked the Dragon radar for the next ball. She looked at the radar and again and did some quick calculations. She shook her head. Oh great. It’s back in Nerima. It wasn’t there when we started. Oh well… “Ranma, Akane. I got good news and bad news.”
Ranma caught up to her. “What’s the good news?”
“The next ball is some place where we know the layout and most of what to expect.”
Akane flew up to her other side. “What’s the bad news?”
“It’s back where we started: Nerima.”
Ranma and Akane nearly fell from the mid-air facefault.
“Why didn’t we get that one first?!” Ranma demanded.
“It just got there. Someone must have just got it and brought it in.”
Ranma snapped his fingers. “Ryoga! He’s the only one around there that wonders the world. He probably picked it up on one of his ‘journeys’.”
“That would make sense.” Akane agreed.
Pan sighed. “Then I guess it’s back to Nerima.”
They turned to change their direction and Pan noticed something on the ground.
“Ranma, look down there.” She pointed down below them. “What do you see?”
Ranma looked. “Nothing.”
“Exactly. There was a city there when were coming into Miifan and now there’s a crater!”
“Let’s check it out.”
Ranma lead them down. All around them was death and destruction. Buildings reduced to rubble. No sign of life at all.
Akane cupped her hands over her mouth. “Oh my God! Who would do such a thing?”
“Over here!” Ranma was pulling some rubble out of the way.
Pan and Akane rushed beside him and helped him remove the rubble. They found what Ranma was looking for. There was a man buried in the rubble.
“I could just barely feel his Ki. He’s the only living thing within a mile.” Ranma looked down at the man while Akane and Pan tried to fix up his wounds. “What happened here?”
The man looked at the pigtailed martial artist. “A man…in red…red eyes…silver hair (cough) destroyed our village. (Cough, cough) He destroyed everything in sight. (Hack) He kept on shouting, ‘Where’s Capital City’ and he killed everyone he found.”
Akane looked at the man. “That’s awful.”
The man grabbed Ranma’s collar. “He must be stopped. He’ll destroy everything. (Cough, cough, wheeze)” With that, the life of the man drained away.
Ranma laid the man on the ground and looked at Pan. “With the Dragonballs, we get three wishes right?”
“Yeah.” Pan answered. She saw where Ranma was going. “We just found a use for one of the others.”
They buried the old man and set off to return to Nerima. This time they were a lot more determined.
A few days later they arrived back home to Nerima. They decided they had better get the Dragonball first rather than go home because if Ryoga really did have it, it wouldn’t be in town long. In fact, they were surprised it had stayed in one place this long if Ryoga had it.
They walked toward the ball. Ranma kept on getting the feeling that he had been here before. He also, for some odd reason, felt his dad should be popping out to douse him with water. What the?
Akane turned toward Ranma. “Isn’t this the area where your mother lives?”
Ranma blinked. “Yeah, you’re right.”
Pan looked at Ranma. “You haven’t mentioned your mother before. Is she nice?”
“As long as you like Seppuku…”
Pan was a little startled. “What was that?”
Akane waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Oh his stupid father promised her that he would make Ranma a ‘Man Among Men’ if she let him take Ranma away when he was little. Or else he and Ranma would commit Seppuku.”
Pan was a lot startled. “What kind of person would do something stupid like that?!”
Ranma shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, I dunno. Maybe the same guy that sold me for food when I was a baby and then kidnapped me back. The same guy who agreed to give me another fiancée for an okonomiyaki cart. The same guy who left that same fiancée on the side of the road on a decision I made when I was five years old and thought that girl was a guy. Or maybe it’s that guy that keeps groveling at the feet of a shriveled old pervert. Or the guy who repeatedly dropped me into a pit of hungry cats with fish tied to me. Y’know it could be the guy that got me cursed in the first place! Or…”
Pan put her hand over Ranma’s mouth. “Okay! I get the point! We’ll just dodge your mother.”
“Actually I was thinking the opposite. If I can meet her without pop around, I might actually be able to be a man for her. Usually every time I meet her I’m a…”
Splash!
“…girl.” Ranma-Chan looked around to see that stinking old lady that keeps throwing water into the street. What is her deal anyways? I swear she knows about the curses and just does that to spite us.
“Ranko! Akane!”
The trio turned to see Saotome Nodoka approaching from down the street.
Ranma-Chan crossed her arms. Every stinking time!
Mrs. Saotome approach the group. “Ranko, Akane, it’s good to see you both again! And who is your new friend?”
Pan bowed to the older woman. “Son Pan. Pleased to meet you.”
“You kids must be starved. Why don’t you come to my house for some dinner.”
“Okay!” The three girls answered.
As they walked to Nodoka’s place, Pan fell back to where Ranma-Chan was walking with her head down. “Why don’t you just tell her?”
Ranma-Chan winced. “Take a look at what she’s carrying.”
Pan looked and noticed that Nodoka was carrying a long wrapped package. “What about it?”
“That’s the Saotome family katana. If I introduce myself as her long lost son in girl form, she’ll bust out that katana and a tanto and it’s Seppuku Time. That’s just not on my list of things to do today.”
“Okay, I see. We could slip off real quick and get some hot water for you. Then you could introduce yourself without having to cut yourself open.”
“Not quite. She’s pretty smart. As soon as Ranko disappears and Ranma appears, she’ll figure it out. It’s better if just go along for now. I’ll change back after dinner and go back to her house as Ranma and introduce myself.”
“I guess that sounds good.”
They arrived at Nodoka’s and walked in. On a coffee table in the middle of the room, lying on a small pillow, was the six-star Dragonball.
“The Dragonball!” Ranma-Chan shouted. So Ryoga didn’t have it after all, but how did mom get it?”
“Oh, you like my new decoration. It was sent to me by one of my old school mates overseas. What did you call it?”
“It’s a Dragonball. There are seven in all.”
“Only seven in the entire world. Then it’s quite a collector’s item.”
Pan decided to join the conversation. “Yeah, and if you get all seven together, you can summon the eternal dragon and get three wishes.”
Nodoka covered her mouth and giggled. “That sounds like a fairy tale, but it would be nice if it was true.”
“How so?” Ranma-Chan asked.
“I’d gather all the balls myself and wish to see my son again.” Nodoka looked down in sorrow.
Ranma-Chan put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll see him again. Maybe even today, he could just come walking in out of the blue.”
Nodoka put her hand on top of Ranma-Chan’s. “That would be so nice, Ranko.”
Pan put her bag down next to the coffee table and the ball on the table began to glow. Oh crap, I forgot about that.
Nodoka noticed the change in the ball. “What’s going on with my Dragonball? I’ve never seen anything do that before.”
Pan looked over at Ranma-Chan. She just shrugged her shoulders in a ‘Why not?’ gesture. Pan reached into her pack and produced the other Dragonballs. “We’ve already been collecting them. They always glow when they are close to other Dragonballs.”
“That means that they might actually be for real. Why are you gathering them?”
“Umm…To help some villagers. Their town was devastated and we’re going to wish them and their town back.”
“Pan, I know I haven’t known you for long, but could you do something for me?”
Pan looked at the older woman. “Sure.”
“If I give you my Dragonball, can you use one of the wishes to bring my son back to me? I know it’s selfish of me, but I really want to see him again.”
Pan gave Ranma-Chan a sly smile. “I’d love to do that for you Mrs. Saotome. I’m sure that Ranma would love to see you as well.”
“Do you know my Ranma?”
“Uhh…Sure.”
Why can’t she lie? Ranma-Chan asked herself.
“What kind of person is he?”
“Oh, he’s pretty manly. He has tons of girls chasing after him. He is strong and determined. He’d fight anything to help someone in need. He always defends the weak, and he is a great martial artist. Heck, he even managed to beat me.”
Ranma-Chan lost all feeling in her body. Oh crap!
“Beat up a girl. That’s not very manly.”
Ranma-Chan could feel the blade opening up her intestines.
“Oh it is to beat me!” Pan was trying desperately to recover. “I’m Son Pan. I’m the granddaughter of two Tenkaichi Budoukai champions. To beat me in a fight is very impressive.”
“But how strong can you be?”
“I’ve defeated every student at my grandpa’s dojo, male and female. In fact Ranma is one of only a handful of people that have defeated me in my lifetime.”
“I guess then it could still be considered manly to fight you then.”
Pan smiled at her. “Very.”
They stayed and had dinner with Nodoka. They talked some about their journey and this and that. They picked up their stuff and the Dragonball and walked out of the house. They walked a couple of blocks and Ranma-Chan held them up. She reached for her own canteen and heated it up with her Ki. She splashed herself and turned back into Ranma.
“I’m going back to mom’s house.” He handed his pack to Pan. “Hold my stuff until I get back.”
Akane put a hand on his shoulder. “Good luck, Ranma.”
Ranma put a hand on hers. “Thanks Akane. Here goes nothing.”
Ranma leapt the rooftops and went back to his mother’s house. Just as he was about to knock on the door, he was splashed. He looked up and saw his mother leaning out the window holding a washbasin. Ranma-Chan shook her head. The gods hate me.
“I’m so sorry Ranko!” Nodoka called down. “I didn’t see you there. Did you forget something?”
“I thought I had.” Ranma-Chan hung her head.
“Hold on, I’ll be right down!”
Nodoka opened the front door and let the pigtailed redhead in. “Is something wrong, Ranko?”
“Oh nothing, Auntie Saotome. Just…uh…”
“Ranko, you can talk to me.”
“Auntie, what if…What if Ranma…What if something, y’know, happened to him. What if he didn’t look quite like you expect?”
“Like what?”
“What if he was…like cursed…uh… scarred, or something like that?”
“Oh, Ranko. It doesn’t matter what my son looks like. I’m sure that no matter what he looks like, he’s still the man my husband raised on the inside. Besides, some girls like men with scars.”
“Uh, Sure.” If only it was scars…
Nodoka laid her hands on the shorter girl’s shoulders and knelt down to eye level with her. “Ranko, can I ask you something?”
Ranma-Chan blinked at her. “Sure.”
“You know Ranma, don’t you? Please tell me the truth.”
“Yes.” Better than anyone.
“What is wrong with my son? What is so horrible that I can’t see him?”
“Uh…He’s…” Ranma-Chan couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Are you in love with him, Ranko?”
“No! It’s not like that!”
“Ranko, he is promised to Akane…”
“I’m telling you it’s not like that! He’s…like my brother! I couldn’t love him like that.” Nice recovery, Ranma-Chan thought.
“Well, what do you think of him and Akane?”
“Oh they’re okay. But she can just be so uncute and harsh sometimes and…”
“You don’t think they’re right for each other?”
“…”
“Ranko?”
“I think they do care about each other. I think they would get along a lot better if they didn’t work so hard to hurt each other. I…I also think they would have got together a long time ago if their father’s didn’t push them so.” I guess I never saw it before, but that’s all the truth.
“But do you think they are right for each other?”
Ranma-Chan swallowed hard. “Yeah. I think they are right for each other. They are both very strong and very proud. I…I think they need each other.”
“This is all very hard for you isn’t it, Ranko. I think you do have some feelings for him.”
She’s misinterpreting my hesitation. Not that I want to tell her the truth. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t.” That’s true enough. “But I think he’s going to be a lot happier with Akane then me. In fact, if all goes well with this Dragonball search, he won’t have to see me again.”
“You don’t have to run, Ranko. You’ll still be welcome here. I’m sure that Ranma and Akane will still be friends with you.”
“I’ll still be in touch. Trust me.”
“I do, Ranko. Well, do you want to see if you forgot everything?”
“No. I got everything. I guess I just needed to talk. I really need to catch up with Akane and Pan.”
“Okay, Ranko. Have a nice trip.”
Ranma-Chan turned to leave. “Thank you.”
“And Ranko…”
“Yes.”
“Tell my son that I love him and that I can’t wait to see the man he has become.”
“I will. Thanks again.”
As Nodoka watched ‘Ranko’ leave, she couldn’t help but feel that something more important had happened here than what appeared on the surface. She also thought that Ranko was acting more and more like an honorable man, than the little girl she appeared to be. I hope she is happy with the outcome. I’ll pray for her when I visit the Saotome ancestral grave in a couple weeks.
Ranma-Chan rounded the corner and pulled the same canteen-warming trick she did before with a rain barrel and turned back into a man. Someday mom. He swore. Someday I’ll be there for you, and I’ll be the Man Among Men that you always wanted me to be.
Ranma made it back to the Tendo Dojo where Akane and Pan were waiting for him at the gates. Akane noticed the slightly downcast look on his face. “Didn’t go well?”
“Yeah, you know me: The old water magnet. I got splashed before I got to tell her. Her and ‘Ranko’ ended up having a chat.”
Pan looked at her watch. “What took you so long?”
“We had a long talk that has given me a few things to think about. Let’s just say hi to everyone and get some sleep.”
“We do have some good news.” Akane spoke up.
“What?”
“The last two Dragonballs are together.”
“Why do I have this sudden sinking feeling that there is bad news to go along with that good news?”
“You’re right. They’re moving. They are also moving very erratically.”
“Great, so we have to fly around the world a few times to try to catch some maniac with our balls.”
Pan shook her head. “We’ll worry about that in the morning. Let’s just get some food and rest and we’ll tackle all that tomorrow.”
Akane and Ranma agreed and they went in to rest for the evening, for tomorrow would hopefully bring an end to their journey.
Piccolo was very tired. He and Ryoga had spent a month (their time) in the Room of Spirit and Time. It’s a good thing that Piccolo’s time limit was up in this room; otherwise Ryoga would drive all sanity from him. Yes, the boy was very strong and already an excellent fighter, but he was driving the Namek crazy with his odd obsessions and habit of getting lost every time he turned around. Piccolo had finally decided to give the boy weighted shoulder pads and cape that had a muffler on them so he wouldn’t have to listen to him. He had also put a 500 meter leash on him, so he could find him if he lost him again in the infinite room. Wasted an entire week trying to find that boy! This is the last time I do charity work.
Ryoga was doing several mid-air katas. His movements were a lot more fluid then they were before his training. Even though the gravity and heat of this place were near unbearable by an ordinary human, Ryoga found this to be a bit of heaven. Here it was at the end of an entire month and he hadn’t been transformed into a pig. Being a normal human being for an entire month! He couldn’t remember the last time he had been so happy. He had also had some time to think about his relationships with Akane and Akari.
Somewhere in all those beatings that Piccolo had given him, something had finally been driven home. In Akari, he had a woman who, if she didn’t already, would love him. Akari didn’t mind that he changed into a pig. In fact, that’s one of the things that attracted her to him. He no longer needed to be Akane’s P-Chan. He had found someone to care about and would return that care.
Also, he feared Akane’s rage when she found out that her little cute P-Chan and he were one and the same. If I thought the beatings she gave Ranma were bad, mine would be ten times as worse. Plus she wouldn’t take care to make sure I wasn’t hurt like she does with Ranma. Something else that had been driven home was that Ranma and Akane did care for each other and he had no right to interfere with that. I guess taking a month of beatings from the Namek had done some good.
Even though Ryoga had settled out his love life he still had a score to settle with Ranma Saotome. Ranma had repeatedly made fun of and humiliated him. Ranma was also the reason why he was cursed. Ranma was also pretty much the reason for all of the bad things that had ever happened in his life. Next time they met, Ranma would pay!