Ranma 1/2  Twenty Years Later:   "Arrive, Ranma-chan!   Saotome Family
Reunite!!" Part 1
by Fred Herriot
c/o Tuson Foreign Language Institute
48-15 Myongil-dong, Kangdong-gu, Seoul 134-072 Korea
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transmitted by Patrick Vera
kasuga@mnl.sequel.net
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Edited by E.B. Kushnir
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Based on "Ranma 1/2," created by Rumiko Takahashi.
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POSTER'S NOTE:  To everyone maintaining an archive of Fred's and Mike's
previous stories please replace the old version wtih this one.
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SERIES INTRODUCTION:

        Welcome  to "Ranma  1/2  Twenty Years  Later,"  a  fan fiction
sequel series  to Takahashi-sensei's most  popular anime  series!  We,
the same  team who brought you  "Urusei Yatsura - The  Senior Year" to
the Net, welcome you.

        "Ranma  20YL,"  as  we're  short-forming  the  title,  is  not
designed as a continuation  of the "classic" stories surrounding Ranma
Saotome and Akane Tendou, but  a new series designed around a new host
of characters.  While such  a series would deserve a prequel, Mike and
I decided that since we had  so few possible story ideas to put into a
"Final Ranma  1/2" series,  we would  skip such  a project  and plunge
right away into this series.

        This series is written in the light of the rumours circulating
around the  rec.arts.anime newsgroup  mentioning that "Ranma  1/2" has
finally come to an end with Ranma and Akane settling their differences
and  officially  launching  their  engagement.   To  that  end,  we're
launching this series with a  narrative flashback to the third year of
their relationship, which could take  place about a year after the end
of the  manga to  make people  feel more comfortable  about continuity
problems.

        As a  sequel series, "Ranma  20YL" will take  a different trek
than the  classic series.   This is of  course the point  of a sequel;
we're not  here to  re-hash the  loony antics of  the original.   Yes,
there are cursed shapechangers in  this series.  Yes, there is martial
arts galore, including some  more interesting variations of day-to-day
activities.   However, with a  new series begins  a new  cast with new
situations.   If  you will,  consider  this the  "Next  Generation" of
"Ranma 1/2."   If you  like this approach  to fan  fiction, then stick
around; we aim to please and surprise you.  If this type of fiction is
not right for you, stick around anyway; we might get you hooked.

        Those of you who are readers of "UY-TSY" will notice that this
series  has the  same title  approach  as our  first  "Yatsura" sequel
series, "UY Twenty Years Later."  "Ranma 20YL" was inspired in a sense
by "UY20YL" and  yes, there will be crossovers  between the two series
(in our sense  of the Takahashi multiverse,  Tomobiki and Furinkan are
neighbouring districts).  "Ranma 20YL"  is set in the year 2002, which
brings an interesting  high-tech edge to the  series as future stories
will demonstrate.  Since we  do not plan to release "UY20YL" until the
majority of the "UY-TSY" stories are in the hands of the otaku public,
we'll make note  of those "UY20YL" characters  making cameos in "Ranma
20YL."  (And no, there will be no "Maison Ikkoku 20YL," so don't ask!)

        This series will  also provide an interesting  solution to the
problems plaguing Ranma  Saotome and those others  cursed by Jusenkyou
in the  classic series:   how the power  of the cursed  springs can be
countered.  Again, this is our idea, so don't accept this as fact.  As
of the  time of this  writing, there was  no mention  of Ranma finally
finding a way  to cure himself of Nyanniichuan.   You might agree that
the solution Mike and I present is...unusual at best.

        We should  also note  that this  series is being  written with
some ignorance.   Mike and I are not exactly  sure what happens in the
latter part of the classic  series.  Hence, some events which may have
impact on  this series will  no doubt be  glossed over.   By all means
tell us if you sense a  discrepancy.  We could easily turn it into the
plot of a future story.

        Anyhow, that is enough for now, so relax and scroll on ahead!

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To that end...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!

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        Seventeen years ago.

        In  the  third  year  of  the relationship  between  wandering
kempoist Ranma Saotome and  his fiancee, Akane Tendou, the differences
between  them which  had plagued  their relationship  for so  long had
finally been  put to  rest.   To the  joy of  their relatives  and the
anguish  of those  who disapproved  of  their union,  their engagement
became official in  spirit as well as name.   At this time, Ranma felt
that he  could not  be a perfect  husband for  his future bride.   The
curse of Jusenkyou  which had become an  interesting problem for those
such as Ryouga  Hibiki, Shampoo, Mousse and  Ranma's father Genma made
Ranma feel that he was Atlas shouldering the world!

        To  that end,  Ranma proceeded  to  the valley  of  the cursed
springs to obtain that which he  had quested on and off again over the
years:  Naniichuan, the man-drown spring, in whose waters he hoped his
manhood would be  forever restored.  However,  Ranma discovered to his
horror that immersing himself in  that pond...or any pond in Jusenkyou
for that  matter...would not  work for those  already cursed.   As the
guide who worked  there informed his visitor, one  could not be cursed
more than once, which was in effect what Ranma was doing to himself.

        However,  his  visit to  Jusenkyou  was  not without  positive
results.   The guardians  of the  cursed ponds did  inform Ranma  of a
legendary tale which could provide an end to his sufferings.  The tale
revolved around a prophecy:

        "From Life unto Death,
        From Death unto New Life,
        So the Circle shall be,
        From Now unto Eternity."

        In essence, to free himself  of the curse of the drowned girl,
Ranma had to  bring new life into  this world.  Simply  put, he had to
have children.  And with Akane patiently waiting (a shocking first for
the tomboy!) in  Japan, Ranma had the partner ready  to tango.  It was
later  said that  Ranma  beat  the fastest  running  records on  Earth
getting back to Furinkan!

        However, as Ranma also learned on his quest, the children born
of  those cursed  of Jusenkyou  would  not fully  escape  the region's
magical reach.   For him, it was  easy.  Any person  who fell into the
pond of a drowned person, like  Ranma, would give birth to a child who
would grow  up to  be an  exact double of  the parent's  cursed state.
Since Ranma fell into Nyanniichuan,  his future child would be (to the
sheer  delight of  Genma  and Akane's  father  Souun)  stunning bosomy
redhead custom-made to drive the boys wild!

        For the others...Ryouga,  Mousse and Shampoo...the promise was
even better.   Their children  would be of  the same sex  and bear the
physical looks of their parents.  Further, they would inherit the best
quality of  the animal their  parents once transformed  in.  Shampoo's
daughter  could  potentially  become  a  master gymnast  thanks  to  a
feline-like  sense of  balance.    Mousse's son  could  be a  champion
swimmer.  And Ryouga's son  would be a cleanliness buff, reflective of
the pig being the cleanest species in the animal kingdom.

        In the wake  of Ranma's and Akane's  marriage and the latter's
pregnancy, everyone else finally  settled down.  Akane's eldest sister
Kasumi married  the long suffering district  chiropractor, Ono Toofuu.
With Ranma no longer able  to transform into the "pig-tailed goddess,"
kendo master  Tatewaki Kunou found  himself slipping  into the waiting
arms of  the middle  Tendou daughter Nabiki.   After a  long struggle,
Mousse finally  won Shampoo's  heart.   Finally, the  wandering Ryouga
fell in love with and  eventually married fellow rhythmic martial arts
gymnast, Kunou's sister Kodachi.

                                *    *    *

        However, unbeknownst to the  happy Saotomes, there were others
who coveted Jusenkyou's power.   As Ranma also learned on his odyssey,
those born  of people  cursed by the  ponds gain an  extra birthright:
the ability  to inherit  the power  of all one  hundred of  the cursed
ponds.  At first not believing such a promise, Ranma soon learned that
there were those who did  believe...and were willing to do anything to
obtain that power.

        The most  dangerous was named  Yung Shan...the Old  Man of the
Mountain.   A Chinese  warlord rumoured  to be several  thousand years
old, Yung Shan  was said to have been a  personal advisor to the first
Emperor.  His power had  become so great that neither the Nationalists
or the Communists  would dare challenge it.  It  was said that the Old
Man of the Mountain once had  a wife, one who drowned in the Jusenkyou
springs...the very spring later to be called Nyanniichuan.

        It  was therefore  a  double  reward to  the  Old  Man of  the
Mountain when he first learned  of Ranma Saotome and his quest to free
himself  of  the  curse of  Nyanniichuan.    The  Old  Man first  took
advantage of it by kidnapping Ranma and Akane (this was prior to their
marriage), then  taking them  to a private  hall where they  were left
alone.   It  did  not  stop there,  for  the Old  Man  had  a powerful
aphrodisiac pumped into  the room, driving the  young lovers' passions
through the roof.   Before long, the two were  returned to Japan where
Akane soon discovered she now bore Ranma's children.

        It  was almost  nine  months later  when  the Old  Man  of the
Mountain struck again.  Akane was soon to deliver twin sisters, one of
which would inherit the aftereffects  of Ranma's curse.  That was when
the Old Man's  troops attacked, kidnapping Ranma  and returning him to
China.  There,  the Old Man made  a demand:  turn  over the Heiress of
Jusenkyou (Ranma's soon-to-be-born daughter) or  die.  By that time, a
rescue force from Japan aided  by Kirin and the Lords of Luck arrived.
In  the climatic  battle, Ranma  was  nearly killed  but  succeeded in
sending Yung Shan  plummeting to his death.  At  this time, the spirit
of Nyanniichuan fled Ranma for the final time.

        In Japan  just as Ranma  and the Old  Man of  the Mountain had
their fateful confrontation, Akane went into labour.  The first child,
the one unaffected by  Jusenkyou, was delivered without complications.
A beautiful brunette,  she was named Akari Saotome.   The second child
underwent  considerable  complications   as  the  magic  bond  between
daughter and father was nearly  compromised when Ranma took blow after
blow from the more experienced  Yung Shan.  However, shortly after the
spirit  of  Nyanniichuan  fled   Ranma,  the  second  child  was  soon
delivered.   She was  a stunning  redhead, looking  like Ranma  in his
cursed state.  Delirious, believing  her husband having fallen to save
his  daughter, Akane  named the  child Ranma  Saotome  II.   Later, on
returning to Japan,  Ranma and Akane were tearfully  reunited.  He was
of course  taken aback  by the  fact that his  daughter had  his name.
Accepting  the matter,  Ranma  gave  his child  a  nickname:   Nikkou.
However, to  tell the two apart,  the child adopted  the more familiar
term "Ranma-chan."

        However, while the  first six years of  the Saotome's marriage
and raising  their family were  peaceful, peace was  shattered when it
was revealed that the Old Man of the Mountain may still be alive...and
was more  determined than ever to  claim Ranma-chan as his  own.  With
that threat, life  in the Saotome family became  hazardous at the best
of times...

        ...and that is where our story truly begins.

                                *    *    *

        Furinkan...a rainy day.

        People hurry to and fro as they duck the sudden downpour which
surprised the Tokyo area that  morning.  As befitting the start of the
new  millennium,  fashions  have  changed,  technology  has  advanced,
culture  has transformed  as  Japan plunges  into  the  growing global
society.  However, the district  appears traditional in many ways; the
houses, the  dojos, the schools,  the ramen kiosks,  the appearance of
traditional  clothing.   Unfortunately, there  are  some parts  of the
district  which  have  fallen   on  hard  times;  run-down  buildings,
cluttered streets, motorcycle and street gangs.

        Today, however, peace  reigns in the district  as someone runs
through the district.   People observe as a  lithe female form charges
barefoot down  the street.   Most see  a backpack, a  perfectly shaped
body and short-cut hair tied  in a roguish pig-tail.  Up close, detail
becomes more obvious; indian-red hair, a white no-sleeve Chinese-style
shirt  altered  to a  V-neck  barely  covering  an  ample bust,  baggy
trousers.   The  backpack is  large, bearing  a sleeping  bag, camping
utensils  and, strangely  enough given  the  weather, a  folded bamboo
umbrella.   Finally, covering  the skin below  the nape and  above the
breasts is a circular tattoo  affixed with the tao symbol, intertwined
dragon-and-tiger, and  one hundred  scrolls each  with the name  of an
animal  or person  in kanji.   Those  who see  the stranger  run react
differently.  Men, even married  ones, drool in unabashed lust at such
loveliness.   Women  stare  with  a mix  of  jealousy and  admiration.
Children wonder where  the stranger's parents are to  allow her to run
around without a raincoat.

        Spinning a corner, the stranger  is about to take off down the
street when  a police  whistle stops  her.   "Hold it!"  a policewoman
walks over.

        She  stops, then  walks over.    "Um...hi, there!"  she waves,
smiling.  "Is there something wrong, Officer?"

        The policewoman looks  shocked.  "Miss, it's  pouring rain and
you're stampeding  down the street without  a raincoat or  shoes!  Put
something on before you catch cold!"

        "Cold?!" the  stranger looks surprised, then  laughs.  "Rain?!
Let it rain!" she twirls like a ballerina.  "I love rain!!"

        Sweat pours down the policewoman's  head.  "Oh, by the way..."
the stranger looks  over.  "I'm looking for Furinkan  High School.  Is
this the right place?"

        "Furinkan High?" the policewoman  nods.  "Yes, it's that way!"
she nods to her right.  "Follow the girls with the green dresses."

        "Thank you!" the stranger waves, then runs off.

        The officer remains in place.  "Energetic girl, isn't she...?"

                                *    *    *

        Akari's eyes open.

        With a yawn, she rises, stretching herself.  Looking over, she
smiles at  a picture of an  older Akane Saotome, taken  two years ago.
"Good morning, Mother!" she kisses the portrait, then stands up.

        Most normal  parents would be  horrified to see  her wearing a
see-through teddy  and panties  in lieu  of pyjamas.   Akari  looks at
herself  in  the   mirror,  proud  that  at   seventeen,  she  was  so
beautiful...especially in the eyes of the man who was just promised to
her a week  before.  "Looking good!" she winks,  then proceeds to wash
and get dressed.

        A  half-hour later,  Akari  steps downstairs  to  the kitchen,
dressed in her  school uniform.  The smell  of breakfast permeates her
senses as she smiles.  "Good morning, Grandpa, Grandma."

        "Good  morning, Akari-chan,"  Nodoka Saotome  smiles  from the
grill.    Still  quite  youthful  given her  years,  Akari's  paternal
grandmother has stayed in shape.   Having moved in to help Akane raise
Akari, Nodoka  remained when  Akane disappeared, becoming  a surrogate
mother for the practically orphaned child.

        "Grandma, you  should've let me  cook today,"  Akari sits down
and begins to eat.

        "Now, now, Akari-chan," Souun  Tendou looks up from his paper.
"That's no way  for a growing girl to  behave, especially after coming
home late last night."  The patriarch of the house is now totally grey
but still  wry and  muscular, imposing  as a  legendary daimyo  in his
court.

        Akari giggles, blushing.  "Well, I almost got Hookoo-kun," she
eats her soup.

        Last night had been wonderful.  Akari almost got her fiance to
go all the way with her in  the park.  Hookoo loved her as much as she
loved him, both anxiously looking  forward to the day they would marry
and inherit  the Tendou dojo.   Some would  say too  anxious, for both
were  becoming quite  sexually active.   It  surprised Akari  that her
grandparents allowed  this to happen.   Souun had  explained that when
her parents courted,  they were sometimes cold  and indifferent to the
other,  mostly  driven   by  her  father's  curse   and  her  mother's
stubbornness.  Sometimes,  Souun, Genma and Nodoka  wondered how Ranma
and  Akane  ever  married  given  their  differences.   Akari  had  no
complaints.

        "A healthy  relationship is good for  a lasting relationship,"
Nodoka smiles as she sits, then calls out.  "Genma!!!  Breakfast!!"

        "Don't mind if I do!" an aged voice responds.

        Akari looks right to see Happousai nibbling on some bread, one
of her bras wrapped around his head.  "'Morning, Sensei," she smiles.

        The old trickster  was not getting younger.   Totally bald, he
still  dressed in  his panty-thief  uniform.   However, his  booty was
slight  this day;  the  bag  was only  half-full  and  it was  already
seven-thirty.   Akari  always felt  sorry for  Happousai, as  did many
others from her school.  While the parents and grandparents yelled and
complained, chasing the old lech  around whenever he went on his panty
raids, the younger generation  allowed Happousai his way...to a point;
after all, teenagers  had their pride, too.  The  old teacher knew now
not to push matters,  although he certainly appreciated the attention.
"You sweet  girl," Happousai  leans into  Akari.   "Going to  all that
trouble with Hookoo  and not succeeding in your  quest!  I wouldn't've
let you off that easy were I a young man!"

        Akari  sighs, feeling  his hand  caressing  her bust.   "Don't
squeeze, Sensei.  I want them unmarked."

        "You were saying?"  he smiles, holding the  lace brassiere she
had put on that morning.

        Annoyed, Akari felt herself smiling.  He had to teach her that
trick  one day.    "Enjoy," she  sighs.   "Going  after  my crotchless
panties, too?"

        "C-c-crotchless  p-p-panties...?!"  the   old  martial  artist
lustfully gags...

        ...then gets nailed with a sign!  Akari shudders as a ticklish
feeling touches her heart, then smiles.  "'Morning, Grandma Saotome!"

        Towering over  everyone is a tall  panda holding a  sign:  YOU
WEREN'T INVITED!   A second later, Happousai flies  into orbit.  "Help
me...!!!" the old master screams as he flies away!

        Genma  sits beside  his wife.   "Crotchless  panties?!" Nodoka
looks pale.  "Akari-chan, honestly!"

        "Well, I want to ensure  that Hookoo can...come in without too
much trouble," Akari slyly smiles.

        "Such  an  energetic  lass!"  Happousai  appears  beside  her,
smiling.  "Such a change from your sweet mother, Akari.  It's a wonder
that Ranma ever married Akane in the first place!"

        Genma and Nodoka panic, trying to shush the old lech...just as
a showe  of tears deluges  them!   "Oh...oh...oh...oh, Akane!!!" Souun
wails, gripping his hair and screaming to the heavens.

                                *    *    *

        As  the rain  lets up,  the stranger  charges down  the street
towards her goal.   She wondered how she could  have gone on after the
tragedies  she had  endured over  the last  year.   However,  the rain
always  revitalized   her.    It   was  like  being   pumped  up  with
amphetamines; she felt  as if she could conquer the  world.  Given her
abilities, she potentially could.   The Masters had advised her father
to  actually expose  her to  the  drugs so  she  could psychologically
prepare to  embrace Jusenkyou's awesome power.   It had  been quite an
experience even though most doctors would have screamed "drug abuse."

        Turning  a corner,  her eyes  focus on  the flat  structure of
Furinkan  High  School in  the  distant  mist.    Smiling, she  lunges
forward...then  stops  on  hearing  a  harsh voice.    "Hey,  frosh!!!
What're you doing on our street?!!"

        The  stranger stops,  looking into  a cul-de-sac...to  see two
freshman students trapped by a  half-dozen older teens, dressed in the
clothes of  other schools  or ragged civilians.   The older  teens are
monstrous, the shortest still clearing  a head taller than she.  Their
leader  could tower  over Hiromi  Yamazaki.   "Listen up,  frosh!!" he
snarls, spitting hashish-filled bile on  the ground.  "This is **our**
street!  Ya  wanna come through here,  ya gotta pay a  toll!!  Where's
the toll?!!"

        The stranger looks  at the size comparison.   The two freshmen
are about her height, without little in the way of exercise.  The male
is quite cute, with wavy brown hair properly cut.  The female has side
pigtails and freckles, just blooming  into womanhood.  Seeing the mass
and drug-induced rage  in the eyes of  the seniors...yes, the stranger
had experimented  with drugs in her  training to study  its effects on
people...she concluded  the match would  be quite  one-sided.  "Hey!!"
she snaps.  "Does that mean me, too?!"

        The seniors spin around, shocked  at the challenge.  The shock
turns to  surprise and delight on  seeing the stranger.   "Well, well,
well!" the leader cackles.  "Lookit here, guys!  Check out the babe!!"

        The  others   cackle  in  delight,   mentally  undressing  the
stranger.   She seems  neutral.  "Care  to take  a toll from  me?" she
hums.

        "Our pleasure, babe!" a man advances on her.

        The freshmen look scared...then  wince as the sounds of broken
bones and flying bodies are heard!  They look away until the last body
falls...then jolt  in surprise on  hearing the  stranger's calm voice.
"You two okay?"

        They look...to  see the seniors  crushed under  a stone fence,
bruises  all   over  their  bodies.     The   stranger  is  unscathed.
"Um...ah...wow!" the man sighs, dropping to his knees.

        "She's awesome!!" admiration appears in the girl's eyes.

        The stranger smiles, then walks  up.  "You two attend Furinkan
High?"

        "Um...yeah!" the man stands.   "We're just starting this year.
I'm Futari Gosunkugi," he bows.  "Class 1-2."

        "I'm Hiroko  Gosunkugi," the  girl bows.   "I'm also  in Class
1-2."

        "I'm  Ranma  Saotome the  Second,"  the  stranger returns  the
greeting.  "I'm looking  for someone.  I was told  I could find him at
the school."

        "Oh, we'll take  you there!" Hiroko beams.   "We've got to get
going!"

        "Y-yeah..." Futari stammers.  "Follow us!"

        The freshmen run  down the street.   Ranma-chan leaps onto the
fence and races after them.  "Wait for me!"

                                *    *    *

        Akari  arrives at  Furinkan  High  School with  a  sigh.   The
school, despite being a centre of martial arts excellence in the Tokyo
region, has not escaped the  advancements of the last twenty years.  A
new building housing an  expanding computer department sits beside the
physical  education centre.   Already  there are  many of  the student
body,  including  several  Akari  immediately  recognizes.    "Spray!!
Gel!!" she waves.  "Good morning!"

        Two Chinese people wave back.   Spray and Gel are near doubles
of  their parents  Shampoo and  Mousse, except  for the  former having
black hair and glasses and  the latter with mauve hair and clear-eyed.
"Good morning, Akari!" the former waves.

        "How are you two today?" Akari walks up.

        "We're fine!" Gel smiles.

        Suddenly, a  man's breath falls on  Akari's waist-length hair.
"Hiya, gorgeous!" arms gently embrace  her from behind.  "What's a fox
like you doing in a dump like this?!"

        Spray and Gel make themselves  scarce as Akari leans back into
Hookoo Hibiki.  "Waiting for  you, handsome, what else?!" she purrs as
they kiss.  "Where've you been?!"

        "Beating up the dorks who're trying to take over the streets!"
Hookoo  sighs,  straightening   his  tiger-striped  bandanna,  looking
exactly like his father.  "Brother, they're getting worse by the day!"

        "At least they won't get in  our way," she purrs.  "Hike up my
skirt."

        They  lean against  a tree  as Hookoo's  hand work  her skirt.
Soon enough, his hand falls on bare skin.  "Eeek!" he gulps.  "Are you
wearing...?"

        "What do you think?" she purrs.

        Hookoo  pales...but  before  anything  else  can  happen,  the
incensed voice of another man is heard.  "What, do my two eyes deceive
me?"

        The  couple  sigh,  then  watch  as someone  in  casual  robes
approaches, bokan  stick in hand.   "Gouman, what do  you want?" Akari
snaps.

        "Fair  cousin, it  infuriates  me that  this  lout  would take
advantage of your  innocence in this matter," the  new arrival takes a
ready stance.  "Stand you aside and I'll teach him manners!"

        "He's my  fiance, Gouman...and  he's your cousin,  too!" Akari
counters.

        The man passes a hand through his straight brown hair, looking
very much  like his  father Tatewaki  Kunou.  "Enough!"  Gouman snaps.
"Hookoo, defend yourself!!"

        The  bokan  stick lunges.    Hookoo  shoves  Akari away,  then
counters with an umbrella like his father's.  "There are days I really
tire of you, cousin!" he growls.

        "We shall see!" Gouman hisses.

        The two duel  just as a storm of other  boys charges at Akari.
"Oh, no!" she panics.

        "AKARI SAOTOME, WE LOVE YOU!!!!" the boys scream as one.

        Taking a  ready stance, Akari  begins a  systematic assault on
the stampede of hormonally-charged students, dressed in various sports
uniforms.   Watching this from  the vice-principal's  office is Nabiki
Kunou.  She absently shoves back her bust-length brown sidebangs, then
looks over.  "Kunou-kun, come here, please."

        "What  ails you,  my love?"  Tatewaki  Kunou appears.   Unlike
Nabiki, who  dresses in a power  suit, looking very  much the would-be
executive  she  really   is,  the  former  kendo   captain  wears  his
traditional  blue  robes,  bokan  stick  in  hand.    The  Kunous  are
surprisingly  youthful   given  their   present  positions   as  chief
administrators of Furinkan High School.

        "Why did  you goad  Gouman into  doing that to  Akari?" Nabiki
points to the free-for-all outside.

        Kunou looks.   "It wounds me dearly to  believe that your wise
father would permit  Akane's beloved Akari to marry  the child of that
pig who deflowered my beloved sister," he sniffs, still incensed after
all this  time that Kodachi would  fall in love with,  much less marry
and have two children with, Ryouga Hibiki.  "I've taken it unto myself
to locate a more pleasant man for sweet Akari to marry."

        "Um...yeah," Nabiki  sighs, turning to watch  the fun outside.
"Wish I could make some money off this."

        Outside, the storm of boys continues as Ranma-chan, Futari and
Hiroko arrive at the front gate.  "Oh, man!" the male Gosunkugi gasps.
"These guys are at it again!"

        "What's with the slugfest?!" Ranma-chan looks back.

        "Oh, they're trying to  win the right to date Saotome-sempai,"
Hiroko sighs...then realizes something.   "Hey!!  Your name's Saotome,
too!"

        "Saotome?!" Ranma-chan gasps.  "As in...Akari Saotome?!!"

        The  Gosunkugi   children  nod.    "This   is  even  better!!"
Ranma-chan cheers,  then moves up  to a staggering  sumotori.  "Excuse
me, but where's Akari Saotome?"

        "Akari-can...I love you...!" he moans, then passes out!

        Ranma-chan tries  several more times  to get  the attention of
the lustful  combatants.   Every time,  she fails...and  every failure
pressures her temper into overdrive.  "Oooh...I'll settle this!!!" she
growls.

        Futari catches her backpack.  "Hold this!!" Ranma-chan orders.

        The Gosunkugis, Nabiki  and Kunou watch as  a red-haired storm
blasts her way  into the crowd trying to defeat  Akari.  Three seconds
later, all save Gouman stand,  pounded into silly putty or sliced down
by the umbrella!!  "That's enough!!!" Ranma-chan snaps.

        Not seeing her rescuer,  Akari quickly leaps to Hookoo's side.
"Let's get out of here!" she hisses.

        "Right!" Hookoo nods.

        The couple  retreats as Gouman  takes a ready  stance.  "Hold,
interloper!" the kendoist growls.  "How dare you interrupt this sacred
duel  between the  men of  Furinkan High  School  and my  sweet cousin
Akari?!  I, Gouman Kunou, the new Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, shall
not stand for this!"

        "Are you  still spouting  poetry, Gou-chan?"  Ranma-chan turns
around, shouldering the umbrella.

        For once, Gouman  is at a loss of words.   "What?!" he finally
gasps.  "No one save sweet Akari and...oh, gods!  Do my own two mortal
eyes deceive me?!"

        Ranma-chan smiles.  "It's been a while."

        "'A while?!'" the kendoist walks up.  "Dear cousin Ranma, your
gift for understatement has not disappeared in the eleven years you've
been gone!"

        They laugh  as they  embrace.   "We're seeing a  family unite,
Futari!" Hiroko sniffs back tears.

        "Y-yeah!" Futari gulps.  "W-wish I had my camera..."

        "Hey, why'd the fun stop?!"  Nabiki walks onto the front lawn.
"Gouman, who is that girl?!"

        "Look for yourself, dear Mother!" Gouman pulls away.

        Nabiki stops  on seeing her  niece standing there.   "Hi, Aunt
Nabiki," Ranma-chan giggles.

        "N-n-nikkou...?!" the vice-principal gasps.  "I...is it really
you...?!"

        Ranma-chan feels herself.  "I think I'm me!" she hums.

        Suddenly, a lustful cry is heard.  "PIG-TAILED GIRL!!!!!!"

        The  missing Saotome  daughter is  then  trapped by  a wailing
Kunou.  "Oh, how long  I've waited for you to return!!!" the principal
wails.   "My pig-tailed  goddess, you have  haunted me for  so long!!!
Now, now, we are united once again!!!"

        "***GET OFF ME!!!!***" Ranma-chan yells.

        Kunou  is back-flipped  face-first into  a tree!   "Pig-tailed
girl..." escapes from his lips as he slides to the ground.

        "Oh, brother,  he never  got it,"  Nabiki sighs,  slapping her
forehead.

        "Good  thing Dad  warned  me about  him!!"  Ranma-chan snorts.
"Hey, Gouman, what's with these dum-dums?!"

        "Ah,  forgive  me!" the  kendo  student  smiles.   "My  father
charged me with the mission to ensure that your dear sister would find
a more suitable mate than that wretch Hookoo Hibiki!!"

        "My sister  and Hookoo  dating?!" Ranma-chan  looks surprised,
then scans left and right.  "Um...where are they, anyway?!"

        "They were here just a second ago," Nabiki looks around.

        Hookoo and  Akari are now in  a bush beside  the computer lab.
"Now,  we can  be alone!"  she purrs,  hiking her  skirt up.   "C'mon,
lover...let's dance!"

        "Er...y-yeah...!" he stammers.

        "Hey, Akari!" a voice speaks from above.

        Akari  and   Hookoo  freeze   on  seeing   Ranma-chan  hanging
upside-down from  a tree, her position  giving her a full  view of her
sister's exposed  buttocks!   "You know, if  you and Hookoo  are gonna
have sex, at least wear protection," Ranma-chan crosses her arms.

        "What?!!"  Gouman smashes  a bush  aside,  staring in  rage at
Hookoo.  "You  slime, how dare you try to  seduce my poor cousin Akari
on school grounds?!!"

        "Hey,  you got  it the  wrong  way!!" Hookoo  waves  the angry
kendoist back.

        Akari looks  at Ranma-chan  in disbelief,  then with  an angry
cry,  grabs   her  cousin's   bokan  stick.     "You...you...you...YOU
PERVERT!!!!"

        Before the wooden  blade could land on  her sister, Ranma-chan
flips herself away, landing several feet away.  "Hey, hold on a second
here...!" she waves her sister back.

        "I'll teach you to butt into my business!!" Akari howls.

        Ranma-chan begins a  strange dance as she  dodges her sister's
thrusts and  cuts.   Everyone gasps in  awe.   "She's just as  good as
Akari-san is!!" a naginata welder points.

        "She's better!!" a Zen archer nods.

        "Now...will you...cut  it...out?!!" Ranma-chan  demands.  "I'm
not...here to...fight you...Akari!!"

        "You...you...you...you!!!"  Akari  snarls,  jabbing again  and
again at her sister.

        "Cousin,  control yourself!!"  Gouman demands.    "That's your
sister you attack!!"

        The sisters lock eyes.  Ranma-chan stops dodging.  Akari makes
one  final  lunge...then  halts  it  before  it  could  strike  flesh.
"You...you..." tears  spring in her  eyes as she  staggers towards her
long-missing sister,  "...why?!  Why did  you leave us?!   Why did you
and Dad leave us?!  Why...?!"

        Ranma-chan  falls to  her  knees to  catch  the  crying Akari,
tightly embracing her.  "I had to, Akari..." tears appear in her eyes.
"For your sake, for Mom's sake, for all our sakes...I had to go..."

        The two cry,  tightly embracing each other  for the first time
in eleven years.  Everyone else remains respectfully silent...

                                *    *    *

To be continued...


Ranma 1/2  Twenty Years Later:   "Arrive, Ranma-chan!   Saotome Family
Reunite!!" Part 2
by Fred Herriot
c/o Tuson Foreign Language Institute
48-15 Myongil-dong, Kangdong-gu, Seoul 134-072 Korea
**** **** ****
transmitted by Patrick Vera
kasuga@mnl.sequel.net
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
Based on "Ranma 1/2," created by Rumiko Takahashi.
**** **** ****

IN THE  FIRST PART OF  "ARRIVE RANMA-CHAN!   SAOTOME FAMILY REUNITE!!"
the happy  marriage between  Ranma and  Akane was broken  apart eleven
years ago when  the threat of the Old Man  of the Mountain loomed over
them  and their  children Ranma-chan  and Akari.    Today, Akari  is a
beautiful  seventeen-year  old girl,  cared  for  by her  grandparents
(Souun Tendou and Genma and  Nodoka Saotome), now engaged to marry her
cousin-by-marriage Hookoo  Hibiki.   Akane went missing  sometime ago.
The engagement  between Akari and  Hookoo is  something Tatewaki Kunou
does not approve  of, hence he charged his son  Gouman to organize the
men of Furinkan  High to challenge and defeat Akari  in battle for the
right  to  date her.    This  day, that  challenge  is  halted by  the
returning Ranma-chan, who has a tearful but not quite pleasant reunion
with her sister...

**** **** ****

And now...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!

**** **** ****

        "Well, she seems  not plagued with diseases  or anything," Ono
Toofuu hums  as he finishes  his examination.   "It's nice  to see you
back, Nikkou."

        "Thanks, Uncle Toofuu,"  Ranma-chan smiles as the chiropractor
stands and departs the nursing station at Furinkan High.

        Nabiki walks up.  "Well, now that we know you're okay, Nikkou,
mind telling us where your parents are?!"

        "Yes!" Akari looks anxious.  "Where's Mom?!  Where's Dad?!"

        Ranma-chan looks  sad.  Part  of her dreaded  her reunion with
Akari; she  did not  understand the  awesome game that  Ranma-chan had
been born to participate in.   It was wrong to ruin Akari's innocence,
yet there was really no choice.   "They were captured...a year ago.  I
don't know what's happened to them since."

        "A year  ago...?!" Akari pales.   "Mom  left a year-and-a-half
ago!  Who  captured them?!  What's  happened?!  Where are  they?!  Are
they okay?!"

        "I...don't...know!!!" Ranma-chan grits her teeth.

        "Cousin,  enough!"  Gouman  pleads.    "Your sister  has  just
returned to  us this  day!  Permit  her a  chance to catch  her breath
before you plague her with questions!!"

        "I...!" Akari looks defensive.

        "He's right,  Akari," Nabiki  sighs.   "Give Nikkou a  time to
relax, then you can bug her  about what happened to your parents.  Why
don't you take her to the bathhouse to relax."

        "Um...okay," Akari stands.  "C'mon, Ranma...this way."

        "Right," her sister follows Akari out of the nursing station.

        "What now?" Hookoo looks anxious.

        "We'll have to  wait a while," Nabiki  sighs.  "Meantime, I'll
call home and tell Daddy the good news...I hope."

                                *    *    *

        "Here  you go,"  Akari  waves Ranma-chan  into  the bathhouse,
located beside the school swimming  pool.  "We just installed this two
years ago to allow the swim team a place to relax after workouts."

        "Nice," Ranma-chan sighs, then quickly strips out of her shirt
and trousers, revealing a well-toned body.

        And no underwear as Akari quickly notices.  "Sis, where's your
bra and panties?!"

        "Huh?!" Ranma-chan looks confused.

        "These things!" she pulls her skirt up to reveal her panties.

        Ranma-chan takes a  closer look.  "Are you hurt?   I don't see
any bandages."

        Akari looks mortified.  "Do  you mind?!!" she drops her skirt,
then bashes her sister in the forehead!

        "Why'd you do that for?"

        "I don't  like people  staring at me  unless it's a  doctor or
Hookoo!!"

        Ranma-chan looks undisturbed.  "Geez...what a prude!"

        She walks into the steaming bath, slipping into the water like
she was born to it.  "Ahh...what a relief!" she sighs.

        Akari watches as her  sister unwinds, obviously exhausted from
the journey from someplace she  does not know...then her eyes focus on
Ranma-chan's  nape.    Was  it  her imagination...or  was  the  tattoo
disappearing?  "Huh?!"

        "What is it?" Ranma-chan looks over.

        What  was going  on here?    "Um...nothing!" Akari  shakes her
head.  "I'll leave you alone!"

        "Yeah, yeah."

        Akari slips out of the bathhouse, more confused than ever.  "A
disappearing tattoo?" she hums.  "Why does this sound so familiar?!"

                                *    *    *

        The  school   day  ends   with  students  parting   for  home.
Ranma-chan and Akari walk home  together.  "The place sure has changed
since we were kids," the former looks around.  "Dad won't recognize it
when he comes back."

        "You mean  you might  know where he  and Mom are?"  the latter
looks anxious.

        "Yeah," Ranma-chan nods.   "The last time I  saw them was near
the Ruquka Gie La near the Tibet-Szechwan border.  But that was over a
year ago.  Lord Kirin and the Lords of Luck are looking for them now."

        "You've got them looking for our parents?!" Akari gasps.  "Why
haven't they found them by now?!"

        "Because we're  dealing with two million  square kilometres of
territory that has to be searched!"

        "Two million?!" Akari looks surprised.

        "Hey, the Old Man could be anywhere!" Ranma-chan sighs.

        Old Man?!   Old Man of  the Mountain?!  Akari  feels her blood
freeze.  Was  that the reason her father and  Ranma-chan had to leave?
She had always  been told that just as they  were born, her father had
fought  a terrible  battle  against  the warlord  Yung  Shan near  the
Chabubrun La  in Tsinghai.   While  her grandparents and  her friends'
parents did not mention the  warlord often, there was the hint that he
could have survived his battle with Ranma Saotome.  Akari looks at her
sister.    Obviously, Ranma-chan  suspected  what  everyone else  did.
Perhaps she had  seen Yung Shan, fought against him.   Questions.  Too
many questions.   Wait  until she got  home and Ranma-chan  was united
with her grandparents.  Then there would be time for answers.

        Turning the  corner, Ranma-chan does  not react  as an elderly
woman dumps water over her.  Akari looks over...then her eyes widen as
the strange tattoo  reappeared below her sister's  nape.  "Umm..." she
looks close.

        "What is it?" Ranma-chan looks over.

        Akari immediately looks embarrassed.  "Er...ah...n-nothing!!"

        "Oh...okay!" her sister shrugs.

        Suddenly, Ranma-chan  freezes.  Akari felt  the curious tingle
in her heart.  She sees her sister bracing herself, as if she was in a
nest of thieves  and she had the  keys to Fort Knox.   Turning around,
Akari smiles.  "Hi, Grandpa!"

        Ranma-chan  jolts, then  spins  around to  see  Genma standing
behind them in his panda-body.  "'Grandpa...?'" she gasps, eyes wide.

        HOW WAS YOUR DAY? the panda raises a sign.

        "It  was okay!"  Akari pulls  Ranma-chan  over.   "Look  who I
found."

        The  panda   stares  at  his   once-missing  granddaughter  in
surprise, then another sign rises.  N-N-N-NIKKOU...?!!

        "Hi, Grandpa," Ranma-chan smiles.

        Tears  suddenly   jet  from  Genma's  eyes   as  he  bear-hugs
Ranma-chan, wailing  with joy,  grief and  relief.  Meanwhile,  in the
Tendou dojo,  Souun and  Nodoka play go.   Hearing the  wailing panda,
both bolt up in surprise.  "That's Genma!" Nodoka gasps.

        "I've  never heard  Saotome  sound like  that  before!!" Souun
bolts to his feet.  "I wonder what's wrong!  Saotome!!"

        The two  run to  the front  door as it  slides open  and Akari
steps in.  "Hi, Grandpa, Grandma," she smiles.

        "Akari, where's your grandfather?!" Souun runs up.

        "Look," she nods left.

        Souun and Nodoka  watch as Akari's sister  steps inside with a
crying Genma behind her.  LOOK WHO'S BACK!!! Genma's sign appears.

        Nodoka   pales   while   tears   appear   in   Souun's   eyes.
"N-n-nikkou...?!" he stammers,  pointing at her.   "Is it...is it...is
it really you...?!"

        "Hi, Grandpa," Ranma-chan smiles.  "I'm home."

        Instantly, she is seized by  Souun, who deluges her with tears
worthy  of Niagara  Falls!    "Where's your  parents?!   Where's  your
father?!   Where's  your mother?!!"  Souun  demands, then  shudders in
pained grief  as he runs  away.   "Oh, Akane!!   Akane!!  Akane!!   My
little crimson dragon, where are you?!!"

        "Grandpa  Tendou's  very...emotional,  isn't  he?"  Ranma-chan
giggles, looking at Genma.

        HE'S TAME TODAY, the panda visually responds.

                                *    *    *

        "EH?!?!  THE OLD MAN'S ALIVE?!?!?!"

        Souun,  Nodoka and  a now-human  Genma  stare in  disbelief at
Ranma-chan.  She had just told  them the story of how her parents were
captured in the mountains of  eastern Tibet.  "That's what I believe,"
she sighs.   "I  didn't see  Yung Shan although  Dad showed  me enough
pictures of the  creep that I'd recognize him on  sight.  But, the men
who captured Dad and Mom said they were working for the Old Man of the
Mountain...and they hinted that he  was still alive.  Supposedly, from
what I  gathered as I escaped,  he's based somewhere  in either Tibet,
Tsinghai or Sinkiang-uigur."

        "When you  escaped, you should've  come straight  here to tell
us!" Genma snaps.  "Where've you been for the past year?!"

        "No, Dad said **not** to  do that!" Ranma-chan raises her hand
in objection.

        "What?!!" Souun gasps.

        "Dad drilled it into me  every day of my training," Ranma-chan
sighs...

        Images of Ranma training his daughter appear.  "Nikkou, always
remember that if I'm captured,  you're to head straight to Jusenkyou!"
Ranma repeats  time and time again.   "Remember, your  destiny is more
important than  me, more  important that  your family,  more important
than anything else in the world!!"

        "Y-Yes, Dad..." Ranma-chan panted time and time again...

        In  the   Tendou  dojo,  everyone   stares  disbelievingly  at
Ranma-chan.  "Dad made you promise **that**?!!" Akari gasps.

        "Uh-huh," Ranma-chan nods.  "Mom agreed to it, too!"

        "A-akane, too...?!!"  Souun wails.   "Oh, Akane,  Akane!!!" he
grabs his  hair and  yanks, running around  the room like  a possessed
madman.

        "Why, that ungrateful...!!"  Genma howls.  "How  dare he imply
that we could not protect our  granddaughter?!!  I get my hands on him
and...!!"

        He  is then  buried under  the living  room  table!   "Dad was
trying to protect you, you idiot!!!" Ranma-chan snaps.

        "Protect us?!" Akari gasps.  "From who?!!"

        "The Old Man  of the Mountain, who  else?!!" Ranma-chan points
to herself.  "It's me he's after, remember?!"

        "I didn't even know!" Akari retorts.

        "Enough!!!" Nodoka barks.

        Everyone falls silent.  "I'm sure Ranma and Akane had our best
interests in mind!" the Saotome matriarch declares.  "We have no right
to do anything save respect their decision!!"

        "But, still...!!" Genma growls...

        ...then gets  judo-flipped into  the pool!   "But, nothing!!!"
Nodoka snaps as  Genma re-emerges as a  panda.  "I don't  want to hear
anything more!!"

        YES, DEAR, Genma sighs.

        "There's really  nothing to worry  about," Ranma-chan relaxes.
"Kirin and the Lords of Luck are  looking for Dad and Mom now.  All we
have to  do is  wait until  they come  pick us up,  then we  go rescue
them!"

        "Well, that seems fair," Nodoka smiles.

        Genma still looks upset.  BUT...!

        "Oh, hush, Genma!" Nodoka snaps.

        The sign spins around.  YES, DEAR.

                                *    *    *

        "All moved in...wow!" Akari gasps.

        Ranma-chan has now moved into  Nabiki's old room.  After their
marriage, Ranma and Akane lived in the latter's room with Genma moving
back with  his wife  in another  part of Furinkan.   After  Kasumi and
Nabiki married and moved out, the former's room became the nursery and
the  latter's was  made a  guest room.   In  the wake  of Ranma-chan's
departure,  the nursery  became Akari's  room.   After  Akane  left to
locate her husband, Genma and  Nodoka moved into her room.  Presently,
Ranma-chan  has cleared  out the  drapes, fixed  the furniture  to her
tastes and packed  her clothes away.  Pictures now  adorn the wall and
her  nightstand.   Everyone  quickly recognizes  photos  of  Ranma and
Akane, but not  the others.  "Who's the guy?"  Akari indicates a photo
of a handsome eighteen-year old aikidoist.

        "Oh,  that's Koomori  Kankookyaku,"  Ranma-chan  sighs.   "Dad
wants me to marry him."

        "I've never heard of them," Souun hums.

        "I have,"  Nodoka holds  up a  finger.  "The  Kankookyakus are
wandering aikido masters.   Once in their lives, they  have to spend a
year abroad training with masters  of other styles before returning to
be acknowledged as teachers.  It's said to build character."

        Genma laughs.  "Ah, that's my son!" he beams.  "He always knew
how to pick them!  It'll be a wonderful marriage!!"

        "Um...I  don't  want to  talk  about  marriage now,  Grandpa,"
Ranma-chan sighs.

        "But..."

        "Now, now,  Genma," Nodoka  interrupts.   "Nikkou's exhausted.
She doesn't want to think about nice things like that just yet!"

        "Oh, okay!" Genma nods.

        "Wow!!"  Akari sees  a  picture of  Ranma-chan  with  a famous
mustached American martial arts master.   "You trained with him?!" she
points.

        "Uh-huh,"  Ranma-chan   shows  her   passport.     "I've  been
everywhere.   The States,  China, Taiwan,  North and South  Korea, the
Philippines, France,  Vietnam, Thailand, India, even  Russia and parts
of Africa."

        The  passport confirms  her statement.   "I  wish I  went with
you," Akari sighs, awed by the extent of her sister's travels.

        "Who's   this?"   Nodoka   points   to   a  painting   of   an
ethereal-looking woman shown dressed in a opaque gown on the seashore.

        Ranma-chan looks sad.  "I...don't want to talk about it."

        Everyone notices  her depressed look.   "Hey, I  got an idea,"
Akari moves over.  "Let's go to  the dojo and spar a bit.  I could use
a good partner."

        "Um...sure!" Ranma-chan nods.

        Moments later, the two step into the Tendou dojo hall.  It has
not changed save for pictures  of Ranma and Akane having been added to
the shrine  in the head  of the room.   The two slip  off their shoes,
bow, then  step inside.   "I called  some friends over,"  Akari lights
candles in front  of her parents' pictures.   "Since you'll be staying
here, you might as  well get to meet the gang.   They may be idiots on
occasion, but they're okay."

        "Sure," Ranma-chan nods.

        "I'm here!" Hookoo's voice calls out.

        "Hookoo-kun!!" Akari  walks over to  embrace her  fiance as he
steps in, carrying one of his father's umbrellas.

        "Hi, sweetie!" he purrs as they kiss.

        Ranma-chan  sighs, but  smiles as  Hookoo  introduces himself.
Next to arrive is Gouman.  "I have come at your request, dear cousin!"
he declares as he steps inside, in robes with bokan stick.

        "Hi, Gouman," Akari smiles.

        Spray  and  Gel  come  next,  both bearing  samples  of  their
parents' vast  arsenal.   "We're here!"  the latter smiles.   "Where's
Ranma?"

        "She's right here!" Akari does the introductions.

        Ranma-chan  smiles as  she  greets the  twins  in near-perfect
Mandarin.  Both are quite  surprised.  "We never really get the chance
to speak our  own language since we  were born and lived  here all our
lives,"  Spray blushes,  her glasses  sitting on  her forehead.   "You
really sound native, Ranma."

        "That's the armour you're talking to," Gel interrupts.

        Spray puts on her glasses,  realizing that she was not talking
to Ranma-chan.  "Don't mind  my sister," Gel smiles.  "She could never
learn to wear those glasses straight!"

        "Um...it's okay!" Ranma-chan giggles.

        "We're here!!" a woman's voice announces.

        "Come on in, Nishiko," Akari smiles.

        Entering the room is a  beautiful seventeen year old girl with
long red-brown hair  in a ponytail distantly  resembling Ukyou Kuonji.
She is dressed in a  rhythmic martial arts gymnastics uniform with all
the necessary  weapons.  "Hi,  Ranma-chan," she smiles.   "I'm Nishiko
Peyton.  Remember me?"

        "Oh, that's  right!" Ranma-chan  giggles.  "Dad's  pen-pal did
marry Aunt Ukyou, didn't he?!"

        "Yeah,"  Nishiko smiles...then  her whip  lashes out  to snare
Gouman!  "Going somewhere, Gou-chan?!"

        "Hey!!" Gouman gasps.  "Let me go, Nishiko!  Let me go!!"

        A  tanuki  statue crashes  into  Gouman's  head,  tossed by  a
handsome  red-haired  man in  a  kempoist's  gi.    "So!!" he  snarls.
"Trying to seduce my sister, eh, Kunou?!!"

        "Wait, wait!!" Gouman waves his incensed assailant away.  "You
got  it  the   wrong  way!!    You  don't   understand!!    You  don't
understand...eh?!"

        "Hello, Spray,"  the man coos,  having leapt  over to lovingly
hold the Chinese warrior-maiden in his arms.  "I've missed you."

        "Kitakaze, cut  it out!!"  Spray tries half-heartedly  to free
herself.  "You know you can't marry me until you defeat me in battle!"

        Kitakaze  looks incensed.   "I,  assault  the woman  I love?!!
Never!!  Dad would hang me on the spot if I did that!"

        Spray seems not to mind  his attention to her despite what she
said.     "That's  my   brother,"  Nishiko  explains   to  Ranma-chan.
"Kitakaze's been trying to land Spray for a long time."

        "Um...yeah!" Ranma-chan giggles.  "Dad did say that Mousse had
a hell of a time trying to marry Shampoo."

        "Okay,  everyone!"   Akari  claps  her  hands   to  get  their
attention.  "I  asked you here to  help me see how  good my sister is!
She's been everywhere you can imagine, so I hope you're ready!!"

        Everyone  nods.   Meanwhile, back  in  the Tendou  home, Souun
entertains a host of old  friends and relatives.  "Finally, we'll have
Ranma-kun  and Akane  back  where they  belong!"  Ukyou  Peyton, still
stunning in  her thirties and  after two children  and maintaining the
standards of  the Ucchan, serves  some of her  okonomiyaki to everyone
else.

        "It must  be balanced  however with young  Ranma's information
about Master Shan's possible  return," Cologne sips tea, seated beside
Happousai.  The  aged matriarch of the Nyu-che-zuu  has not changed in
seventeen years.

        "Agreed,"  Ryouga   Hibiki  grunts,  gobbling   down  some  of
Shampoo's chow mein.  While his hair is flecked with grey, he is still
wryly muscular  and insanely  strong.  "I  had a suspicion  we weren't
finished with the old geezer seventeen years ago even after what Ranma
did to him!"

        "He's survived  everything the Emperors,  the Nationalists and
the Maoists  threw at him," Mousse  rubs his eyes, his  glasses on his
forehead.   "Don't worry, Ryouga.   Even his accursed luck  has to run
out sooner or later."

        "That Kasumi you speak to, husband!" Shampoo snaps.

        Mousse adjusts  his glasses  to see  Kasumi Toofuu  looking at
her.  "Oh, I'm sorry, Kasumi.  I didn't see you there."

        "You should've long  obtained contacts, Mousse," Kasumi passes
some sukiyaki to  Kodachi Hibiki.  She,  while still quite attractive,
is starting  to lose her  features to the  ages.  "It  would make your
life easier."

        "I need an awfully strong prescription," Mousse chuckles.

        "You  should  get combat  glasses  like  George say!"  Shampoo
sighs.

        Ukyou's husband,  a handsome  red-haired kempoist in  his late
thirties born and  raised in Vancouver, had  trained in a Tendou-style
school when he  was a teenager before  moving to Tokyo.   A pen-pal of
Ranma's since both were children,  he visited Furinkan one day to meet
his  friend...and wound  up enthralled  with the  stunning okonomiyaki
shop proprietor along the way.   "Well, he's been working at trying to
get Spray's eyes corrected first,  Shampoo," George smiles.  "It's all
the better for her to keep Kitakaze enthralled without glasses ruining
those beautiful eyes of hers."

        "What  about *my*  beautiful eyes?!"  Ukyou  playfully growls,
punching her husband in the side.

        George mock-yelps in pain.   "It no right to have maiden marry
man  who not  beat her  in  battle!" Shampoo  shudders,  sitting down.
Despite twins and the hassles  of running the Nekohanten, she has also
maintained the physical beauty which  made her a favourite among local
men when she was a teenager.

        "Now, now,  dear," her great-grandmother  sighs.   "We have to
adjust to accept other people's ways.  Pay it no mind."

        "Yes, Great-grandma," Shampoo nods.

        "Where are the kids anyway?!" Happousai looks around.

        "They're training  with Akari  to see  how good her  sister is
after all of Ranma-kun's training,"  Kodachi sips tea.  Like the other
female cast of the classic series, she is still stunning, having shorn
her ponytail to make her a curious reflection of her husband, complete
with bandanna.

        "Oh, they'll do fine...!" Souun laughs...

        ...just as a  giant explosion is heard!!   Everyone is blasted
down by the shockwave of air as smoke filters in from the direction of
the dojo.  "What the heck was that?!!" Ryouga gasps.

        Everyone runs  out...to see the  dojo now a  pile of shattered
wood and buried bodies!  The only one still on her feet is Ranma-chan,
who looks  quite embarrassed.   "I'm  sorry!!" she  wails.   "I always
forget my own strength!"

        "M-m-m-my d-d-d-dojo...!!" Souun collapses to his knees, tears
flowing down his cheeks.  "My p-p-poor dojo...!"

        "Are you sure she's not a Dojo Destroyer?!" Nabiki gulps.

        "What did Ranma do with  that girl?!!" George shakes his head.
"Teach her a new way of doing the bakusai tenketsu?!"

        "Or the hiryuu shootenha!" Genma hums.

        Cologne's eyes focus  on Ranma-chan's tattoo.   "Oh, so *that*
explains it," the matriarch quietly muses...

                                *    *    *

        "I said I was sorry!!" Ranma-chan whines.

        "Sorry?!!" Akari snaps as they  walk into the bathroom.  "What
were you trying to do?!!  Kill us?!!"

        "I got excited  and I freaked out!!"  Ranma-chan strips out of
her clothes, then walks into the bath.  "Sue me!"

        "You're lucky Grandpa Tendou  was impressed!" Akari strips and
follows her sister into the bath.   "Or you'd be paying for it for the
rest of your life!!  I  get to inherit this place when I marry Hookoo,
remember?!"

        "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Ranma-chan slides into the warm water.

        Akari watches as the tattoo fades from view.  "What the...?!!"
she gasps.

        "What's wrong?!" her sister looks up.

        Akari points.   "That's the  third time I've  seen that tattoo
appear and disappear every time you get splashed with water!!"

        "Oh...?" Ranma-chan  looks down,  then realizes what  Akari is
speaking of.  "Oh!  Oh, that!!  Um...it's a long story."

        "A long story?!" Akari looks confused.

                                *    *    *

        "A disappearing tattoo?!" Souun looks surprised.

        Akari  has   informed  her   grandparents  about  Ranma-chan's
mysterious tattoo.   "Are you saying this  thing disappears every time
she  gets splashed  with  water?!"  Genma looks  concerned.   "Hot  or
cold?!"

        "Hot  water,"  Akari  nods.    "When  it's  cold,  the  tattoo
appears."

        The  three elderly  kempoists hum  at  that revelation.   "You
realize what this means, do you?" Nodoka crosses her arms.

        "Undoubtedly," Genma nods.

        "Nikkou...has been to Jusenkyou," Souun concludes.  "And she's
fallen into one of the ponds!"

        "But,  she doesn't  change like  Grandpa Saotome  does," Akari
notes.

        "True," Genma adjusts his glasses.  "Nikkou!!!"

        "What's  up, Grandpa?"  Ranma-chan  joins  them, brushing  her
teeth.

        "Sit down, child," Souun sighs.

        Ranma-chan sits.   "Nikkou..."  Nodoka breathes in,  then look
anxious.  "In your training, did you ever go to...Jusenkyou?"

        "Uh-huh," she nods.

        The three  elders look very  anxious.  "Did  you...did you see
the Training Ground of Accursed Springs itself?" Genma leans up.

        "Oh, yes," Ranma-chan nods.

        Everyone pauses,  then Souun  places a  hand on  her shoulder.
"Did you  actually fall into one  of the springs, Nikkou?   Be honest,
now!"

        "Nope," Ranma-chan smiles.

        Everyone breathes in relief.   "I dived into **all** of them,"
she adds.

        An H-bomb blast occurs!!!!  "***ALL OF THEM?!?!?!***" everyone
screams.

        "Sure,"  Ranma-chan nods.   "Dad  was  cursed by  the springs,
remember!   Because I'm a  child of one  cursed by  Jusenkyou, I'm not
affected!"

        "Then, explain this!!" Akari douses her with cold water.

        The  tattoo   appears.    "Explain   what?"  Ranma-chan  looks
confused.

        "That tattoo!" Akari points.

        "Oh, this," Ranma-chan  looks down, then sighs.   There was no
escape from this now.  "I better show you, instead."

        She stands, then walks onto the front porch.  "Show us what?!"
Akari follows her.

        Ranma-chan smiles as if she  is about to reveal the universe's
greatest secret as she firmly  takes both of Akari's hands.  "Come fly
with me, Akari!"

        "F-f-fly...?!" Akari stammers...

        ...then screams  as gravity  seemingly disappears  around her,
the earth and the Tendou  home dropping away from her feet at dizzying
speeds!!  A moment later,  Akari is propelled further into the evening
sky  as Ranma-chan,  unsupported by  any  visible artificial  means of
levitation, drops  away from  her.   Akari shrieks  in mortal  fear as
gravity seizes her again, pulling her in a fatal dive towards becoming
street pizza!   Before she could  fall a hundred  metres, Akari gently
lands in  Ranma-chan's outstretched  arms.   The sisters look  at each
other, the  former frazzled  by what she  went through and  the latter
laughing.  "Relax, Akari!  I've got you!!"

        "Y-y-you got  m-m-me...?!" Akari stammers, then  looks down to
see Furinkan a half-kilometre below!  "WHO'S GOT YOU?!?!?!"

                                *    *    *

To be concluded...


Ranma 1/2  Twenty Years Later:   "Arrive, Ranma-chan!   Saotome Family
Reunite!!" Part 3
by Fred Herriot
c/o Tuson Foreign Language Institute
48-15 Myongil-dong, Kangdong-gu, Seoul 134-072 Korea
**** **** ****
transmitted by Patrick Vera
kasuga@mnl.sequel.net
**** **** ****
Edited by E.B. Kushnir
**** **** ****
Based on "Ranma 1/2," created by Rumiko Takahashi.
**** **** ****

IN THE SECOND PART OF  "ARRIVE RANMA-CHAN!  SAOTOME FAMILY REUNITE!!,"
Ranma-chan  is found  to  be  quite healthy  after  her journey,  then
reveals that her parents have  been captured by Yung Shan, the Old Man
of  the Mountain.   Akari  also  notices that  whenever  Ranma-chan is
splashed  with  cold  water,   her  mysterious  tattoo  appears,  then
disappears when splashed with hot water.  Ranma-chan soon demonstrates
why when she  reveals that she had trained  in Jusenkyou, falling into
ALL ONE HUNDRED of the cursed ponds.  The effect becomes very apparent
when  Ranma-chan  demonstrates  that   she  can  fly  without  outside
artificial means!

**** **** ****

Thus...ON WITH THE SHOW!!!!

**** **** ****

        "Sh-sh-sh-SHE  CAN FLY!!!!!!"  Souun  howls as  he,  Genma and
Nodoka watch from the front porch of the Tendou home.

        "What is she?!" Nodoka gasps.  "Superman?!!"

        Suddenly seeing Akari fall, Genma  runs forward.  "I have you,
Akari-chan!!"  he wails...then  falls  into the  pool,  emerging  as a
panda!

        A half-kilometre up, Akari  is caught by Ranma-chan, who takes
her on a lazy course around Furinkan.  "Well, what do you think?!" the
latter smiles.

        "How...how...how...how...?!" Akari stammers, still frazzled by
the fact that her sister can fly.

        "There were a  half-dozen birds who drowned  in Jusenkyou over
the last  three thousand years,"  her sister explains  as they descend
towards the Tendou home.   "I can fly as fast as  a duck hawk, soar as
long as an albatross and hover like a hummingbird!"

        Landing, Ranma-chan  places the  shaking Akari on  the ground,
then  walks  over  to the  large  cherry  tree.    "Watch this!!"  she
smiles...as one hand rips out the tree with unbelievable ease!

        Everyone gapes  as Ranma-chan  throws the  tree into  the air,
then soars  after it.   Catching the tree,  she lands,  then places it
back in the hole where it came from.  "She must be as strong as a bull
elephant!" Nodoka gasps.

        Ranma-chan then  dives into the  pool, sinking  to the bottom.
Everyone watches  as the  air bubbles  leave her  lungs...then without
change of  skin colour, she  takes in a  deep lungfull.   "What is she
doing?!!" Souun panics.

        Ranma-chan stands,  then exhales the water  into Genma's face.
"Breathing underwater...like a fish!" Akari shudders.

        "Those were just some of  the tricks I can do now," Ranma-chan
breathes in after  the water has cleared her lungs.   "Step inside and
I'll show you something else."

        Everyone moves  into the living  room.   Ranma-chan closes the
door behind them, remaining outside.   The four sit in the living room
as silence descends on them.  Moments tick past.  "What's she doing?!"
Akari tightly hugs her legs.

        "This gets stranger by the minute," Souun shudders.

        A feeble knock is heard.  "Come in!" Nodoka responds.

        The door slides  open and a tall,  aged woman shuffles inside,
dressed in  homespun rags and  a bonnet covering  her head,  a cane in
hand.  "Can I help you, ma'am?" Nodoka stands.

        "H-have  y-you s-seen  my gr-grandchild  h-here?"  the elderly
woman intones in a cracking voice.

        "Um...no!" Nodoka smiles.  "Did you see a red-haired girl with
a pig-tail outside?"

        "Wh-why...she's right here," the old woman smiles.

        Everyone  freaks as  the  "old" woman  yanks  off  her bonnet,
revealing Ranma-chan!  "Surprise!!"

        An explosion occurs!!  HOW?!! Genma's sign appears.

        "Simple,"  Ranma-chan  slips  out  of  the  rags,  then  sits.
"Animals  weren't  the  only   creatures  who  drowned  in  Jusenkyou,
remember."

        "Incredible!!"  Souun  gasps.    "She  acted so  well,  I  was
fooled!"

        "As was I!!" Nodoka confirms.

        "Wait  a moment,  here!" Akari  slams her  hand on  the table.
"How is it you got all these weirdo powers?!"

        "She is the Heiress of Jusenkyou, Akari," someone speaks.

        Everyone sees  Cologne and Happousai standing  at the doorway.
"Sensei!" Souun looks surprised.  "What are you two doing here?!"

        "We  can explain  everything," the  Chinese  matriarch smiles.
"Ranma  here  is  the  first  Heiress  of Jusenkyou  to  emerge  in  a
millennium."

        "'Heiress of Jusenkyou?!'" Akari looks confused.

        The two sit  beside Ranma-chan.  "Oh,  yes," Happousai smiles.
"You see,  the children  of those cursed  by Jusenkyou are  granted an
extra  boon if  they  desire to  take  it.   It  is said  that  once a
generation, one can return to  the cursed springs and claim the powers
and abilities of all one  hundred victims of Jusenkyou.  What you just
saw tonight was a sample of how such power could be put to use."

        "Wait a moment," Nodoka holds  up a finger in objection.  "You
mean to say this power  of Nikkou's...could have actually been granted
to anyone?!"

        "Yes, but only  *one* person in a  generation of children born
of those cursed  by Jusenkyou," Happousai nods.   "In our case, Ranma,
Ryouga, Shampoo  and Mousse.  One  of their children  could become the
Heir or Heiress."

        "Why...it could've been me!" Akari points to herself.

        "Yes," Cologne  nods.  "Or  Hookoo, Miwakuteki,  Spray or Gel.
However, as  we have  long known,  young Ranma  here bears  a distinct
resemblance to Master Shan's long-deceased  wife.  That made her a far
more tempting target than yourself or the others, Akari."

        "That doesn't  still excuse what  Ranma did  eleven years ago,
taking Nikkou away and leaving Akane and Akari behind!!" Souun snaps.

        "How would you like it if the power of Jusenkyou fell into the
hands of the Old Man of the Mountain?!" Ranma-chan counters.

        The  three aged  kempoists pale.    "I didn't  think  so," the
Heiress leans back.  "And this  isn't like the time Sensei took you to
China to fight the Lords  of Luck, pretending this was a possible move
for world  domination.   With Jusenkyou's  power backing him  up, Yung
Shan could do anything!"

        Silence falls over the room  as the implications of what could
have happened  finally sink  in.   "I see..." Souun  looks down.   "An
awesome power matched to excellent training and teamed with one of the
greatest evils ever known!  Horrifying!!"

        "Agreed," Nodoka nods.

        Suddenly, Genma stands and walks  out of the room.  "Saotome,"
Souun looks surprised.  "What's wrong?"

        The panda  does not  answer.  "I'll  go see what's  wrong with
him," Akari stands and steps out of the room.

        "Now,  I  understand  why  Ranma  ordered you  to  proceed  to
Jusenkyou after  he and Akane were  captured," Nodoka sighs.   "If you
had fallen into  the hands of the  Old Man of the  Mountain, who knows
what could've happened."

        "I have  actually heard  of one  Heiress succumbing  to Master
Shan's  power," Cologne  puffs her  pipe.   "When the  Guardians later
learned  of  her  betrayal of  the  oaths  an  Heiress  once takes  on
acquiring  her  powers,  the  punishment  they dealt  her  was...quite
severe."

        Everyone shivers as a cold wind blows...

                                *    *    *

        "Grandpa?" Akari leans into Genma's bedroom.

        Restored  to human  form, the  aged  patriarch of  the Saotome
family sits cross-legged  on his bed, tears of  shame flowing down his
face.    "My   fault..."  he  hisses  to   himself,  not  hearing  his
granddaughter.  "How could I've been so arrogant...?"

        Akari  steps   inside,  then  sits   beside  her  grandfather.
"Grandpa...?"

        "I  was so  dedicated to  teaching  Ranma..." he  ignores her,
"...dedicated  to  ensuring he  understood  the  true  meaning of  the
martial spirit!   How could  I've blinded myself  to the  danger?  Why
didn't I foresee what could happen?  How...?!"

        He  falls silent  as  Akari  reaches over  to  gently hug  her
grandfather.  "It's okay, Grandpa...no one blames you..."

                                *    *    *

        The next morning, everyone save Ranma-chan is at the breakfast
table  enjoying a  quiet  meal in  the  wake of  the  previous night's
revelations.  Akari looks around as she serves food.  "Where's Ranma?"

        "Nikkou's  still washing,  I  believe," Nodoka  sips  her miso
soup.

        "'Morning!" Ranma-chan walks into the living room brushing her
teeth...dressed only in her trousers!

        Souun gags,  nearly choking  on his toast.   Genma pays  it no
mind  as he  reads the  paper.   Nodoka  and Akari  are understandably
shocked.  "Ranma!!" the latter snaps.  "Put a shirt on...eep!"

        "Good  morning!"  the  door   slides  open  and  Hookoo  looks
inside...then freezes on seeing her cousin's well-endowed chest.

        "Oh, hi, Hookoo,"  Ranma-chan brushes her teeth,  acting as if
being topless was the most natural thing of all.

        Hookoo faints,  blood exploding  from his  nose!   "Oh, ick!!"
Ranma-chan  winces on  feeling the  hemorrhaging on  her skin.   "Stop
bleeding over me!"

        "If you'd  wear a  shirt, he  wouldn't've bled on  you!" Akari
snaps.

        "On a warm day like  this?!" her sister looks surprised.  "I'd
be more comfortable nude!"

        Akari faints!  Souun remains  frozen in place, his state being
quickly noticed  by the  Saotomes.  "It  was simpler twenty  years ago
when Ranma paraded around topless  as a girl," Genma sighs.  "Just add
hot water."

        "How enjoyable,"  Nodoka sighs.   "Souun, aren't  you going to
eat the rest of that toast?"

        The patriarch  of the Tendou  family remains  frozen in place.
"Didn't Dad know how to raise that girl **as** a girl?!!" Akari growls
as she drags the half-conscious Hookoo into the living room.

        "Well, your mother was quite tomboyish when she was your age,"
Genma  chuckles.   "Although not  as exhibitionist  as your  sister is
now."

        "Akane...Akane...!" Souun moans, tears flowing down his face.

        Everyone ignores him.   "There, satisfied!" Ranma-chan returns
after washing herself and slipping on a tank-top.

        "That's better!" Akari sighs.   "Breakfast is on!  I'm heading
out."

        "Where to?" Ranma-chan  sits down and begins  nibbling on some
sushi.

        "You'll see!" Akari drags Hookoo to his feet.  "I'll be back!"

        The two leave.  "I wonder what she has in mind," Genma hums.

                                *    *    *

        "Are you sure about this, Akari?" Yaiba Sokuryoku twigs one of
his moustache  handlebars, looking  at a  picture.   "This is  quite a
change.   It took you so  long to grow  your hair to the  length it is
now."

        Sokuryoku  was   the  district's  most  popular   barber.    A
martial-arts master with several  decades experience, he diverged from
his  kendo studies  to better  utilize  his skills  in  practicing his
passion,  hairstyling.    He  was  not  just fast,  he  was  fast  and
efficient.  Further, he could talk your ears off on any topic, a trait
that made him popular with  the gossip-hungry high school students who
composed the majority of his customers.  Akari looks over.  "I'm going
to be heading out soon to  rescue my parents, Sensei.  I might as well
look the part."

        "Oh, alright," the barber  places the picture down, then picks
up a highly balanced  pair of scissors and a comb.   "I'll do my best.
One must look good when one is seeing one's parents for the first time
in years.  By the way,  did you hear about what the St. Bacchus girl's
gymnastics team  did this  time when  they went  up against  the Taian
School in Tomobiki?"

        "No, tell me," Akari nods, closing her eyes as the blades lash
out...

                                *    *    *

        "I'm back!!" Akari calls out as she steps inside.

        "Oh,  I  didn't  know  you  went out,  Nikkou,"  Nodoka  walks
past...then stops.  "What the...?!  Akari?!!"

        Akari smiles.  "Like it?!"

        Nodoka   stares   at   her   granddaughter   for   a   moment.
"It's...um...it's quite  radical," the  matriarch giggles,  then looks
upstairs.  "Souun!!  Genma!!  Come down and see Akari!"

        "What is  it, Nodoka...oh, hi,  Nikkou!" Souun nods  as he and
Genma (as panda) step downstairs.

        Both halt  as they  suddenly realize  their mistake.   AKARI?!
Genma raises his sign, eyes wide at the sight.

        "Hey, I'm the brunette in  this family!" Akari huffs with mock
anger, then smiles.  "Ranma's the redhead!"

        "Um...oh,  my!"  Souun giggles.    "You  two  really are  twin
sisters, aren't you?!"

        "Did someone call my name?!" Ranma-chan steps downstairs, then
sees Akari.  "Oh, you got your hair cut!"

        "Like it?!" Akari smiles.

        Silence for a moment, then  her sister nods.  "You really look
a lot like  Dad, you know," Ranma-chan sighs.   "He'll be happy to see
you."

        Save for the hair colour and clothing preferences, the sisters
are now  identical, right down to  the number of knots  in Akari's new
pig-tail.  "Well, I want to look  my part when we go get Dad and Mom,"
she giggles.  "By the way,  when are we going to look for our parents,
anyway...?!"

        Akari is answered by a  clap of thunder, followed by the drone
of an engine.  The sky  darkens as a boat-shaped shadow falls over the
Tendou home.   "Ask and  ye shall receive,"  Ranma-chan steps outside.
"Kirin!!"

        The  balloon-ship  of the  Lords  of  Luck  descends from  the
heavens.   At the prow stands  their ruler, Kirin,  accompanied by his
wife Lychee.   "Ho,  Heiress of  Jusenkyou!!" the  martialŠarts prince
laughs, raising his trademark  chopsticks in salutation.  "Success has
finally smiled on  us!  Come...it is time to  face the ageless monster
Yung Shan in his den!!"

        Ranma-chan  splashes herself,  then  takes Akari  in  hand and
soars aboard  the balloon-ship.  "Thank  you for coming  so soon," the
Heiress bows to Kirin.

        "As  your father  and I  agreed years  ago," Kirin  nods, then
notices Akari.  "Eh?!  And who might this brave warrior be?!"

        Ranma-chan  does  the  introductions  as  a boarding  ramp  is
lowered by Ebiten to allow Souun, Genma and Nodoka aboard.  The prince
of the  Lords of  Luck smiles  as he gives  Akari an  appraising look.
"You  are the  spitting  image  of both  your  parents, Akari,"  Kirin
smiles.  "Do not be angry at your father for his decision to take your
sister away.  If  you understood the true power of  the Old Man of the
Mountain  as I  and  the  other Lords  of  Luck do  to  our  cost, the
reasoning becomes as clear as crystal!"

        "Lychee!!!"  Happousai screams  as he  bounds out  of nowhere,
lecherously grinning as  he gropes for her long skirt.   "It's been so
long, my sweet!  Come to my arms!!"

        "No touch!!"  she smashes  him with  a megaphone.   "You never
learn, Happousai!  Jasmine, sit on him!!"

        The aged master  is soon crushed under  the weight of Lychee's
elephant Jasmine.   Kirin's diminutive aide walks  up.  "Master Kirin,
Ranma's other friends have arrived," Ebiten bows.

        "You guys came!"  Akari runs over to take  Hookoo in her arms,
having boarded with his father.

        "We wouldn't  miss this for  the world," Hookoo  laughs.  "Mom
and Miwakuteki  couldn't make it.   Both're busy because  of that flap
with Taian."

        "If that shameless  sister of yours didn't  get lost along the
way,"  Akari kisses  him.   "Honestly, she's  worse than  that Seiteki
Ozuno from Tomobiki!"

        "Could  anything be  worse  than that?!"  Gouman  sighs  as he
boards with his father, along with Mousse, Shampoo, Gel and Spray.

        "You're  not going  to  walk out  on  me like  that,  are you,
Gou-chan?!" Nishiko suddenly appears, wrapping the young kendoist with
her ribbon!

        "N-nishiko...!"  Gouman  gasps   as  his  would-be  girlfriend
embraces him from behind.

        Out  of  nowhere comes  her  brother.    "Touching my  sister,
Kunou?!" Kitakaze growls, cracking his knuckles.

        "Hey, hey, time  out, people!!" Gel waves  them down.  "C'mon!
We got work to do and people to rescue!  Relax!!"

        Everyone  calms down.   "Kitakaze  may  be cute,  but  he's as
bull-headed as that Lan's idiot sons," Spray sighs.

        "At  least he  doesn't transform  into  red-furred tiger-bulls
like those two twits do," Akari crosses her arms.

        Kirin walks up.  "Are we all here?!" he looks around.

        "Ukyou  and George  couldn't make  it,"  Ryouga sighs.   "They
still have the Ucchan to run."

        "Great-grandma stay, too," Shampoo adds.  "We all here."

        "Very well,  then," the  prince looks  to his aide.   "Ebiten!
Raise the sail!  We're off to China!!"

        "As you  wish, Master," the diminutive  spear-fighter runs off
to man the controls.

        Everyone cheers as the balloon-ship turns into the sunset...

                                *    *    *

        Days later, the balloon-ship  arcs his way across the plateaus
of Shensi  and Kansu toward  the mountains of  the Bayan  Kara Shan in
Tsinghai and Szechwan.   Their final destination  is a remote mountain
near the village of Lantsien near the Tsinghai-Tibet border almost two
hundred kilometres from  the location of Ranma  and Akane's kidnapping
by  Yung  Shan's  troops a  year  before.    The  Lords of  Luck  take
alternating watches in the crow's nest for any possible traps awaiting
them.   A  depressed Akari  watches the  ground pass  several thousand
metres below.  Just below the ship, Ranma-chan soars alongside several
hawks who  have come to investigate  the nature of  the curious aerial
intruders.  "Lucky girl," she sighs.  "I'm stuck to the ground and she
can just fly away from it all without hesitation."

        "It is not always good luck," Kirin walks over.

        Akari jolts in surprise.  "What do you mean?"

        The martial-arts prince watches the Heiress of Jusenkyou play.
"Your sister has  not led an easy life.   Your father understood quite
well the  sacrifices she would have  to make before  she could embrace
the power  of Jusenkyou  and assume  her place as  one of  the world's
great martial artists."

        "But, it  could've been  any of  us," Akari sighs.   "Besides,
what about  the fact  that my  sister looks like  the Old  Man's wife.
Giving her  the power of Jusenkyou  would just make  her more tempting
for that old creep to come after."

        "You were  born the  day your  father faced  Yung Shan  in the
mountains to  protect your sister's life,"  Kirin sighs.   "Yes, it is
true that you could have become the Heiress, undergo the same rigorous
training that your sister has gone, travelled the world and sought out
the  knowledge  of  all  the   great  masters  of  a  dozen  and  more
disciplines.  However,  it was your sister  who directly inherited the
curse of Jusenkyou from your father.  Had your father fallen in battle
before the spirit of Nyanniichuan  fled him, you would've been an only
child and your mother a widow."

        "That  still doesn't  explain  why everyone  went  to  so much
trouble," Akari sighs.  "Why break my family apart?"

        "It is hard  to make you understand," Kirin  looks down.  "You
have never had to contend with  Yung Shan.  The man is a monster, more
blood-thirsty than Stalin and more  evil than Hitler.  Had your sister
perished, the Old Man would've  soon discovered your existence, not to
mention  the children  of your  father's  friends Hibiki,  Shampoo and
Mousse.  Any one of  them would've been suitable to obtain Jusenkyou's
power, that  is true.   In the meantime,  he would  have rampaged over
half a  continent, made miserable the  lives of billions  as he vented
his anger  on not  obtaining the  **proper** child  to become  his pet
slave...or worse, his wife reborn."

        Akari shudders.  "By making himself and your sister disappear,
your father  ensured that Yung  Shan would've  dedicated his resources
away from imposing his will  on millions of innocents in the mountains
of China.  That is not  to mention stretching his power as far away as
India, Afghanistan,  Russia, Mongolia  and Vietnam.   Had  he obtained
either you  or the others,  he could have  become a  new Genghis Khan,
forging  an empire  of misery,  slavery,  death and  destruction which
could've conquered  all of Eurasia  and places  beyond, plunging Earth
into a new  Dark Age.  That  would've not done well  given the growing
galactic and intergalactic contacts we presently possess."

        "So by leaving Japan...?" Akari hums.

        "Your father  and sister  diverted Yung Shan's  attention away
from building  his empire," Kirin  concludes.  "That  gave the Chinese
government time to build its resources, gather its strength.  The time
will come when the Maoists will  arise and move to strike down the Old
Man  of the  Mountain.   At  the  same  time, the  remainder  of Earth
advanced steadily ahead, growing  in technology, culture and spirit so
that the evil of those such  as Yung Shan could not return to threaten
humanity with  widespread destruction  on the  scale of World  War Two
ever  again."   The  prince  looks  at her.    "What  is one  family's
happiness compared to the destiny of a world?"

        Nodding, Kirin heads below.   Akari looks over the rail to see
Ranma-chan still playing  with the hawks.   Until her sister's return,
all she ever  dreamed of was for her parents  and sister to return and
they live  a normal life  as a united  family.  Kirin's  words added a
frightening dimension  to Akari's  new world.   Somewhere in  the vast
mountains ahead  was a man  capable of unspeakable  crimes, ageless by
normal mortal understanding,  thirsty for the ultimate  power, a power
Akari Saotome could herself  have inherited had events seventeen years
ago not have gone so well for her family.

        Looking down, Akari watches her sister.  Cologne had mentioned
a previous Heiress  having fallen in disgrace when the  Old Man of the
Mountain reached out with his  dark talons and snared her.  The lesson
was not lost  on her.  With great  power comes greater responsibility.
Ranma-chan had been blessed with opportunities to push herself, extend
herself, reach out and take in all the various martial art disciplines
had to  offer before  she went to  Jusenkyou to claim  her birthright.
What would have  happened if it was  Akari and if she  had fallen into
Yung Shan's grasp?  The answer did not please her.

        "To there, but for the  grace of God, go I..." Akari whispers,
a tear flowing down her cheek.  No matter what, it still hurt...

                                *    *    *

        "There!!!"  Lychee points,  having  assumed the  watch  in the
crow's nest with Shampoo.  "I see the hill!!"

        Everyone runs  to the  prow, seeing  a slender,  tall mountain
rise from the fog.   It had taken them another  day to get to Lantsien
and a half-day  more to crawl towards the source  waters of the Mekong
River and their  target.  The mountain's  crooked features present the
feeling  of a  skeletal  finger stabbing  accusingly  to  the heavens.
"Yeah, this  looks like  a place where  that bastard would  hang out!"
Ryouga growls.

        "I don't see any guards anywhere," Mousse adjusts his glasses.
"I've got a funny feeling about this place!"

        "Could  they've  abandoned this  place  after  you found  it?"
Nodoka looks at Kirin.

        "Possible," the prince  grimly nods.  "Yung  Shan has hundreds
of bases  scattered over six provinces  that we know of.   Heaven only
knows what he has that's still a secret."

        "I'm  going  down  to  take  a look,"  Ranma-chan  mounts  the
guardrail, then leaps into the foggy abyss.

        "Nikkou, be careful!!" Nodoka calls.

        "I'll be fine!" her granddaughter answers before disappearing.

        "Slow us down, Ebiten!!" Kirin barks.

        "Yes, Master," the diminutive warrior adjusts the controls.

        Silence falls  over the  scene as  the balloon-ship  shifts to
hover.  A  minute, two passes.  "I don't  hear anything," Mousse looks
around.  "Then again, this fog's like pea soup!"

        "Akane!!!"  Souun cries  into the  fog.   "Ranma!!!    Are you
here?!!"

        His voice  echoes off  a dozen  mountains.   Suddenly, another
voice echoes back.  "Hey!  Down here!  Come on down!"

        "What the...?!" Genma gasps.  "That's Ranma!!"

        "Ranma!!!" Nodoka cries.  "Where are you?!!"

        Suddenly, the fog  parts, revealing a stable  plateau a couple
of hundred metres  below the ship's keel.  Everyone  sees a small tent
composed of fragmented  building parts and canvas.   Standing in front
of the  tent's door is  what appears  to be a  man waving.   "There he
is!!!" Souun points.

        "Hang on, son!!!"  Genma grabs a boarding  rope and leaps into
the abyss, rapelling down to the ground.

        The balloon-ship descends as everyone brace themselves.  Genma
lands in a deep pond some distance from the makeshift camp.  Emerging,
the giant  panda marches steadily  towards the waiting  figure.  "Hey,
Pop!" the man smiles.  "What're you staring at?!  It's me!"

        Genma's eyes narrow  as he looks left and  right, then back at
the man.   Ranma  is still  whipcord lean, with  greying hairs  in his
temples and  his face weathered by  years on the road.   R-RANMA?! the
panda raises a sign.

        "Yeah, relax!" his son laughs.  "The Old Man's troops vamoosed
three months ago!  There's no one here but Akane and the kids!"

        "Akane?!!"  Souun  appears in  front  of  Ranma, grabbing  his
son-in-law  by his  shirt  collar.   "Where?!!    Where's my  Akane?!!
Akane!!!  Akane!!!"

        "I'm  right here,  Dad!"  Akane Saotome  emerges,  followed by
Ranma-chan.   With  her  silver-streaked hair  now  past  her shoulder
blades, Souun's youngest daughter  has become more feminine.  Further,
she has two bundles in hand.

        "A-a-akane...?!"    Souun   gasps,    then   wails.       "Oh,
Akane...Akane...Akane!!"

        Everyone sighs  as the Tendou patriarch  runs around, grabbing
his hair and screaming like a lunatic.  "I see Dad hasn't changed that
much," Akane sighs, joining her husband and father-in-law.

        "Yeah!" Ranma laughs.  "I kinda missed the old guy!"

        "Ranma!!" Ryouga  runs up with  everyone else.   "Where's Yung
Shan's people?!  We thought you were captured!!"

        "Tripped outta  here," Ranma  thumbs west towards  the Tanglha
Shan forming the Tibet-Tsinghai border.   "Akane chases them out three
months ago."

        "How?!" Nodoka gasps.

        "Well, what do you think these are?" Akane smiles, showing the
bundles to everyone else.

        Everyone  gasps on  seeing  two sleeping  babies.    "Mom, you
mean...?!" Akari gasps.

        "Yep," Akane nods.  "You and Nikkou have two little brothers!"

        Genma shudders,  then wails, showering everyone  else with his
tears.  "Boy,  this is pretty disappointing,  isn't it?!" Hookoo ducks
the shower.

        "Yeah!" Kitakaze nods.

        The panda continues  to wail as Ranma  notices the daughter he
has not seen in twelve years.  "Akari..."

        Akari braces herself  as her father walks up.   "Hi, Dad," she
smiles, then crying, leaps into his arms.  "Oh, Daddy, I missed you!!"

        Ranma  sighs as  he  gently embraces  her,  feeling Ranma-chan
embrace him from behind.  "I missed you, too, Akari.  We all did."

        Laughter echoes  from everyone else  as they  rejoice in their
reunion...

                                *    *    *

        ...not  conceiving of  the fact  that  they are  being watched
through  high-powered binoculars  from  a distant  mountaintop  to the
south.   Cruel eyes narrow  as a woman lets  out a huff  on seeing her
master's  captives now  on the  road to  freedom.   An aide  walks up.
"Mistress Fukushu," he  bows.  "Should we not go  down and capture the
Heiress for the Master?"

        "No," she hands the binoculars  to him.  "Master Shan does not
desire the  Saotome brat anytime  soon.  We'll  just have  to wait for
another day!"  Turning, she sighs.  "Back to Jing Zheng Shan!"

        "Yes, m'lady," he bows as they leave...

                           *** The Beginning ***

**** **** ****

WRITER'S NOTES:

        The  third  part of  this  story  contains  two references  to
"Urusei Yatsura Twenty Years Later."

1)      Seiteki Ozuno is the daughter of Sakura and Tsubame.  By 2001,
the  former Shinto  shrine maiden  is now  Principal of  Tomobiki High
School.   Her  Western-occult  trained husband  now  teaches  at Tokyo
University.   Seiteki is a  wild, highly energetic  girl possessing an
unsatiable libido.  Her fondest  wish is to pillow her teacher...Ataru
Moroboshi (who's married  to Lum and has four  children by this time)!
It is said that she has vowed to pillow every boy in school before she
graduates.  Seiteki is very  well-endowed and is quick to strip out of
her clothes when she attempts to gain the attention of a boy.

2)      By 2001,  Lan has  married Rei.   They have three  children to
date attending Tomobiki High School.   Her two oldest are Lin and Len,
twin brothers  who are in Seiteki's  class.  Both  have their father's
polymorphing abilities.  Their sister,  Lon, is a freshman at Tomobiki
High.  Lan dotes over Lon, ensuring that she remains unfettered by all
the  weird goings-on  native  to  that school.    To  ensure that  her
innocence is not  lost, Lan instructed Lin  and Len to beat  up on any
boy who so much as **touches** Lon.

**** **** ****