Disclaimer: Dr. Fox(both of us) do not own Ranma in any way shape or form. Ranma ½ belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz media.
Lost Together
By:
Dr. Fox
Chapter 1
DaisukiFox: Hello people of Royal Road my name is DaisukiFox! Dr.Facer and I are bringing our story here to RoyalRoad! We hope that you guys consider checking out more of our work as I'm going to try and post the next chapters really soon so we hope some of you like this and would like to see Episode 2 soon!
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Ranma was not having a good day, having walked for hours without stopping to rest or eat was bad already, doing so in her girl form while carrying a backpack full of camping gear -with no food in it, we must add- only made it worse. The only positive she could think about was the fact they were finally leaving Jusenkyo, and that the guide had offered to buy the boat tickets back to Japan as compensation for not being able to find the cursed spring that would cure them.
The one thing Ranma couldn't really understand was Genma's urgency to return to Japan; all the old man had revealed was that a friend of his was ready to give him something and that it was very valuable, a property of some sorts, it seemed. The young Saotome had figured they could sell it and use some of the money to return later for a cure and besides, it wasn't as if the curse was, deadly or anything, and Ranma knew he -or rather she at the moment- could deal with it for a couple of extra months.
She still was pretty hungry, though.
"Look around, Mr. Costumers, this is a Village of Amazons!" the guide suddenly announced, slightly distracting the girl and panda following him from their food-obsessed thoughts.
"What's that mean?" Ranma asked unenthusiastically, as she would have loved to find a cheap restaurant with an all you can eat buffet available instead of a village of 'Amazon-whatever' like this one.
"It means women here are very strong," the guide clarified. Sounds of battle were heard then, and the middle-aged Chinese could not resist the opportunity to point out the obvious. "In fact, I think there's a martial arts competition now."
Being martial artists themselves, Ranma and Genma couldn't let the chance pass to check the skills of the girls of the village, Ranma hoping to see some interesting techniques and Genma just to see if he could get something valuable out of it. They were so absorbed by the spectacle provided by the purple-haired girl and her Herculean opponent currently fighting that the pair of Saotome's absentmindedly started eating the food from the large table at the side of the arena, assuming it was ok to do it without asking, not that anyone was paying attention to them so they could ask for permission.
"Winning the competition is a big honor here," the guide explained between puffs of his pipe.
"That girl with the maces sure packs a lot of power," Ranma observed while munching on a pair of meat buns; behind her, Genma was busy stuffing his mouth with watermelon.
Alarmed by the munching sounds, the guide slowly turned to his right and saw something that made his heart skip a beat: his two customers were eating the food on the table and had already made a considerable dent on the dishes served on it.
"What… are… you… doing?" the Chinese man asked, drops of cold sweat born of fear starting to trail down his face.
Confused, Ranma stopped eating for a moment and noticed that indeed, not only was the guide looking weird at her and the panda, many of the other villagers were doing that as well. It was only then that Ranma noticed the 'First Prize' sign in front of the table, something she had missed before by focusing instead on the fight and the food.
Before the guide could elaborate or offer an explanation, a mace descended and crushed the table, hitting the spot Ranma had been seated on only a fraction of a second before. Ranma had managed to dodge the attack easily and now kneeled on the weapon, amusedly staring at the purple haired girl who spouted angry Chinese at her.
"She asks why are you stealing her prize?" the guide, who had jumped a few steps away, quickly translated, hoping that doing that would help stop an all-out fight with the Amazons, which was the one thing he really wanted to avoid.
"She also says that this is the day of their yearly martial arts tournament and that she is now the champion!" the Chinese man supplied, paying close attention to what the very angry teenage Amazon said.
"Champion, huh?" Ranma felt her confidence return as an idea formed in her head. She had seen what the mace-wielding girl could do, and the young Saotome was quite sure she could defeat her. "Then if we fight and I win, she'll be alright with me eating the food, right?"
The Amazon nodded at the translated challenge the Jusenkyo guide provided and cracked her knuckles while frowning at the stupid foreign redhead who dared to challenge her. Picking up her weapons again, the purple-haired warrior jumped back into the ring, which was nothing but a large log suspended by four thick ropes. Ranma quickly followed, and immediately adopted her preferred fighting stance.
The fight started and… ended in less than two seconds. Ranma, who had already watched her opponent fight, was confident on her superior speed, which she used to slide inside the Amazon's defenses and knock her down from the log with one swift kick to the chin.
As she was crowned the new champion, Ranma could not help but wonder why every woman in the audience seemed to be extremely afraid, and what the sinister look on her fallen adversary meant.
The only answer the defeated Amazon gave the redhead was a determined glare loaded with fury, which she followed with a soft kiss on her cheek. After this, the purple-haired warrior offered her enemy a wily smile, her mind already planning the many ways she could use to torture her before she finally killed her to avenge the humiliation she had subjected her to.
Before Ranma could ask about the meaning of this strange kiss, the guide screamed like a frightened girl and grabbed her, forcing her to run like if demons were after them to the village's exit. "We must run! You got the kiss of death!"
"Kiss of whaaa…?" Ranma tried asking, her question cut short when the guide suddenly stopped and she all but crashed on his back. Judging by the way the Chinese man was trembling; the redhead guessed that something very dangerous was in front of them.
Curiosity getting the best of her, Ranma peeked from behind the guide, only to find… a large black bag full of herbs? Looking down from the sack, however, revealed a diminutive and ancient looking woman with long white hair who reminded Ranma of a mummified monkey she had seen somewhere a few years ago. The powerful energy emanating from the tiny old woman, though, helped the young Saotome realize that she would be very stupid if she didn't take things seriously.
"It appears that cutting short my visit to Yakusai was a good idea," the old Amazon asked in perfect Japanese, which she had heard the redhead speak. "Care to tell me why you're running away from my great-granddaughter?"
"My-customer-defeated-her-and-she-gave-her-the-kiss-of-death-and-now-wants-to-kill-him!" the guide blurted out, clearly, prey to his own absolute panic.
"That's a girl behind you," the old woman observed, not missing the 'him' the guide had used. "Is she actually a man who fell at Jusenkyo?"
"Y-yes she is?" the panicked man confirmed. "Why?"
"Because it seems then that I just found a new suitor for my great-granddaughter," the old Amazon provided. "And I'm fairly sure he is a much better fighter than that blind fool."
"Suitor, what're you talking 'bout?" Ranma asked as she frowned. If she understood correctly, this ancient mummy wanted her to marry that crazy girl with the purple hair? Well, that was not happening. "I'm not interested in marrying that creepy girl!"
Deciding it was time to leave, Ranma ignored the pleas to stop the guide was shouting at her and tried to run past the old lady. That, however, did not go well, and Ranma ended up on her back, her body hurting all over. Struggling, she managed to sit up and found that no matter how much she tried, she simply couldn't stand up. It was then that, with a pang of fear, Ranma realized the old lady had hit her several times, how many she didn't know, because she simply hadn't seen it and that was not everything, the redhead was sure that the lack of response from her legs was also the fault of the old crone sneering a few steps away.
Just then, a massive panda fell unconscious at Ranma's side. Genma was a tough fighter, Ranma knew this quite well and judging by the marks on the fur, her father had taken a lot of punishment before he was finally taken down. The young Saotome gritted her teeth, she was counting on her father's help to escape this village full of crazy women and now that option was out of the picture!
"We managed to defeat the girl's pet panda, elder Cologne," a woman announced, kneeling at the older Amazon's side. "It was very well trained, I must admit."
"Chances are it is a human, so it isn't surprising," the woman called Cologne nodded, her eyes never leaving the young redhead, who by now, looked as if she was about to both explode in anger or trying to crawl out of Joketsuzoku as fast as she could. "Shampoo, come here!"
Hearing her name, the purple haired girl stepped forward and stood close to the old lady. "What Great-grandma want? Me need kill outsider now!" the girl called Shampoo stated using broken, but passable, Japanese.
"Oh, that won't be necessary," Cologne replied. "That girl is actually a man, and since he defeated you, well, you know what that means."
"Shampoo no marry stupid outsider!" the teenager Amazon contested. "He humiliates Shampoo as woman so Shampoo punishe like if he woman!"
"You have to obey custom, don't forget it," Cologne reminded his great-granddaughter, her tone of voice leaving no room for argument.
"Hmp! We see about that later!" Shampoo replied and stomped away, clearly quite unhappy about this new development and already secretly planning on a way to derail her great-grandmother's plans so she could have her revenge.
"Heh, you will have to excuse my girl here," the elder said as she looked at Ranma. "She is as stubborn as she is pretty, you see. Anyway, I'll convince her to follow tradition, so don't you worry, you two will be married very soon. Which will be good, you know? It's been a while since strong blood has been added to our village, and I'm sure your male form has a lot of potentials."
"I don't wanna marry her!" Ranma shouted then, the redhead had chosen to keep quiet as she hoped the argument would end up in her having a chance to fight that Shampoo girl again so they could fix this with a rematch, something that unfortunately didn't happen, leaving her trapped and with no visible opportunity to escape; because Ranma, as headstrong as he –currently she- was, wasn't stupid, and she knew quite well that until her legs worked again or her father decided to wake up, she was completely trapped.
"It's not as if you have another option, tradition must be followed," Cologne said and then she looked at the other Amazons around her. "Take them to our guest house. We'll have a wedding tomorrow."
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Later, on the outskirts of Joketsuzoku…
Shampoo waited outside the village's school, a rather large house she had actually fond memories of, for the classes to end, for the day. She knew that once they did the man she wanted to see and his parents, who ran the school, coincidentally, would not take long to leave as well.
A few minutes later a bell was rung and a wave of children ran out of the school; not too long after, he walked out and she approached him immediately.
"Mousse, we need to talk," she called; glad that she could speak to him using Chinese and not be forcing herself to speak Japanese like she had to in front of that brainless outsider.
The young man reacted with great enthusiasm once he realized who was calling him and promptly tried to greet Shampoo with a hug, which in return earned him a punch to the face.
"I said we need to talk, keep your arms to yourself!"
"You can't blame me for trying," Mousse argued while putting his glasses on. "What do you need?"
"A stupid foreigner challenged me during the competition and he…" Shampoo started, her hands trembling with suppressed rage. "…He won!"
"A man defeated you?" Mousse felt livid at this information. It wasn't that he had not contemplated the possibility; he simply never thought it would actually happen! The only consolation so far was that judging by her voice Shampoo was not happy at all about this, which meant that she probably didn't want to marry that person. "Are you going to marry him?"
"I would rather die!" the teenager Amazon swore with a steely conviction. "He is a man of no honor; let me tell you what happened…"
And so, Shampoo told Mousse about what had happened during the village's Martial Arts tournament and by the time she had finished, she had also told Mousse what she wanted him to do in order to help her extract her revenge on the man-woman who had shamed her in front of the other Amazons.
"…That is what I want you to do, Mousse," Shampoo finished. "Can you do it?"
"It shouldn't be a problem and yes, I could do it," he assured her. "But why should I do it? I'm sure Cologne wouldn't like it if she sees me doing that."
"I'd go on a date with you if you do me this one favor, Mousse," Shampoo promised, carefully choosing her words while placing her hand on his shoulder and leaning on his side a little, just to let him feel her breasts brushing against his arm for a fraction of a second. "And I would even let you fight with me again if you want; who knows? You might even win this time."
After an offer like that, coupled with the feeling of Shampoo's body so close to his, Mousse, being your typical hot-blooded teenager, found no way to refuse.
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Later still, at night…
Ranma was not happy. He had been turned back into a man and thrown into a room and had caught glimpse of the Amazons doing the same to his father. The old mummy had pressed some point on his back, which had fixed his legs and he could now walk. He, unfortunately, could not escape. And he had tried to do just that a few times already but the only time he managed to sneak out of the room by the window a group of Amazons had immediately captured him. The house they had put him in was so heavily guarded it would take someone with a set of skills he didn't have to break out of there.
Ranma heard a noise by the door and quickly separated from the window, not wanting to hint whoever it was about his intentions to try to force it open to escape later. He found two middle-aged women there, flanking the old Amazon he was now so familiar with: Cologne.
"I take it you still refuse to willingly marry my girl?" the elder Amazon asked. "Despite all the advantages doing so would grant you?"
"Of course I refuse!" Ranma shot back, he had been tempted by the old crone's offer to teach him some of her martial arts techniques, but there was one thing Ranma absolutely hated, and that was people forcing him to do something he didn't want to. "No matter what you do I won't marry that psycho granddaughter of yours!"
"That is truly unfortunate," Cologne lamented. "I had honestly hoped you wouldn't force my hand this way, young man."
Before Ranma could answer, the elder had dashed in front of him and pressed the tip of her cane on his chest, all the while grinning in a way that sent chills down the younger Saotome's spine.
"I just hit your cat's tongue pressure point, child, and I made sure to make it so it is much more effective than normal," Cologne explained with a smirk. "It will make you suffer a pain unlike anything you can imagine, and only I have the cure… which I'll give you if you accept to marry my Shampoo, of course."
Ranma scoffed, he didn't feel any different, so it was obvious the woman had failed or was simply trying to scare him. "Don't make empty threats old ghoul, this is just a stupid trick."
The only answer Cologne gave was reaching for a glass full of cold water one of her companions held which she then used to splash the young man in front of her, turning him into a very angry girl.
"Why'd you do that for?" Ranma yelled. "It's bad enough to be your captive; you didn't have to turn me into a woman!"
"Well, a woman is what you will be for the rest of your life unless you marry my little Shampoo," Cologne sentenced. "And you know quite well what she will do to you if you aren't male."
"Hah! Don't play games, I just need some hot water and I'll be back to normal!"
"Really? Be my guest and try to change back, boy," the elder invited, placing the kettle full of hot water the other Amazon in the room carried on a small table. "Go on, change back into a man."
"With pleasure!" Ranma agreed, reaching for the water and pouring it all over her head.
A piercing shriek of agony was heard then, followed by a string of short screams. Ranma was now on the floor writhing in unbearable pain. His whole body was hurting, and he couldn't remember ever hurting so much before. Much to his surprise was the fact that the hot water, even while it had made contact with his skin, had not turned him into a man.
"Now you see the horror of the cat's tongue pressure point?" Cologne attested. "It makes your body so sensitive to hot water that you won't be able to even touch lukewarm water without experiencing that much pain and your body will flinch away from it so fast it won't allow the Jusnekyo curse to trigger. So now you see, foolish boy? Unless you marry my great-granddaughter tomorrow, you will remain a girl and she will have to kill you."
"I still won't… marry that girl…" Ranma muttered, managing to crawl to a corner of the room so she could lean on the wall and sit. "I'd rather fight her again a hundred times over…"
Cologne smiled at this. "The night is long, young man, and I can still make you change your mind. Don't worry; I'll visit again, and I'll make sure to bring enough hot water with me."
Saying no more, Cologne left the room, followed by the two Amazons; as she walked through the hallways, though, the old woman sighed in disappointment. She wasn't particularly fond of senseless torture, and honestly wished that the boy would change his mind soon, for playing the part of a cold tormenter was not something the ancient warrior particularly enjoyed.
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A few hours later…
Ranma was starting to fear that she would have to obey that old mummy. Cologne had not visited again yet, but her promise to return with more hot water still ran on her ears, and it made her shudder just by remembering the horrible pain she had felt and would most likely feel again once that old witch returned. The redhead hated to feel so defenseless and wished she could punch the Jusenkyo guide on the face for taking the route that passed through this village.
A click-clack caught her attention then, and she looked to her right to find a man about her age, wearing a robe with oversized sleeves, crouched on her windowsill. He adjusted his glasses and stared at her for a moment before he entered the room.
"So you're that 'Ranma' girl who defeated Shampoo…" he said flatly. "I'm Mousse; I'm here to help you escape."
"I'm a boy!" Ranma stressed, but then realized this guy wanted to assist her. "Wait, why would you help me?"
"Because I can't let any other man take Shampoo away from me."
"Are you her boyfriend or something?"
The young Chinese smiled. "Something like that. She will be my wife, I can assure you that. Anyway, I took care of the Amazons watching the house, stick to the left and you'll find a series of alleys you can use to escape the town."
"How'd you beat them? They're pretty tough!" Ranma asked, having a hard time believing this guy was stronger than she was.
"Knock-out darts," Mousse said while handing the redhead a rope. "Now hurry and leave before the guard shifts!"
"What about my dad?" Ranma remembered, not that she couldn't escape without him, but Genma was still her father and she couldn't just leave him here. "Will we help him?"
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"That man next door? They won't kill him," Mousse told her. "They'll question him and then they'll probably use him to bait you back here, but they won't murder him unless he's too stupid and pisses them off. Now hurry, there isn't much time!"
"But… that's not all," Ranma frowned. "That old witch did something to me and now I can't touch hot water! I have to get the cure from her!"
Mousse was starting to lose his patience, would this girl never leave? She was putting them both in danger by not taking the chance to escape. "Look, whatever the elder did I'm sure you can find a cure in Yakusai, the herbalists there have cures for everything!"
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I am sure! Now leave already, this is as dangerous for me as it is for you!" the near-sighted teenager urged. "And if you're still worried about your father you can always sneak back into the village later!"
The expression of urgency in Mousse's face finally convinced Ranma that he was really risking a lot by doing this, and she decided that she couldn't let his gesture go to waste. Nodding, the redhead grabbed the rope and after securing it on the bed, she slid down to the street and ran for the alleys to the left.
Mousse jumped down and sank into the shadows; quite satisfied that he had managed to get his job done without any further trouble, the young Chinese rushed back to his house. He had already done his part, now it was up to Shampoo to finish the plan and intercept and finish that poor Ranma guy. Not that Mousse felt any sorry for him, of course.
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Not too long after…
Ranma stopped for a moment to catch her breath; she had been running like crazy and had finally managed to put a good distance between herself and the town of those crazy Amazons. Thanks to the dim light provided by the full moon, she noticed that stood at the edge of a not so deep precipice, and a road leading down was just ahead of her. With some luck, she would find a nice place to hide for a couple of days while she prepared a plan to rescue her father. With even better luck, she would be able to find someone willing to help her; perhaps she could even contact that Mousse guy again.
"Good, stupid outsider finally show up," a voice Ranma didn't expect to hear so soon announced. "Shampoo tired of waiting. Is you ready to die, girl?"
Ranma gritted her teeth as she regarded the Amazon behind her. The Amazon's persistence was really infuriating, and the young Saotome had decided that she was not going to put up with her insanity anymore. "You know, I've had it with you and your crazy laws! Leave me the hell alone!"
"Not until Shampoo kills and ends kiss of death," the purple-haired warrior answered, swinging the sword she carried in a dangerous way. "And only way to end kiss of death is when you dead!"
Saying no more, Shampoo rushed at the redhead, attacking with such ferocity that Ranma found herself on the defensive, and dodging the sharp edge of her opponent's sword as best as she could, quickly became her main priority. Still, the redhead was not truly worried; all she needed was to bid her time so she could find an opening that would allow her to knock Shampoo out with one swift punch or kick.
There was, however, something Ranma had not taken into account. Shampoo was familiar with the terrain, and she wasn't. The purple-haired warrior had decided to fight smart this time and had used the advantage her weapon gave her to the fullest, she had managed to push the obnoxious foreigner back several steps and when she was sure that the redhead was at the edge of the cliff, Shampoo instantly redoubled her efforts.
Her tactic worked. Ranma, who as we stated was not familiar with the area, had miscalculated and slid back to dodge a very fast horizontal slash of Shampoo's sword, and realized too late that she had just lost her footing. Her arms flailing desperately, the young Saotome tried to regain her balance but it was too late.
She fell down the precipice and only by some miracle fell on the river below, instead of hitting the sharp rocks just a few meters closer to the wall of the cliff. Above, a satisfied Shampoo smiled. She had heard the splash and suspected that Ranma had survived, but she was also sure that after such a fall, the redhead would not be in the best of conditions, so she would let her suffer the pain of her wounds for the night; but tomorrow, Shampoo would hunt Ranma again, and she would kill the stupid outsider then. Her wounded Amazon honor demanded it.
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Early next day…
Gentle waves from the stream pushed against the unconscious form of Ranma. Her arms were sprawled out to her sides, her head tilted to the side while she slumbered in her unconscious world. Though her complexion was that of a sleeping beauty, the inside of her mind was utter chaos; memories jumping around and vanishing from place to place trying to organize themselves.
Ranma gasped for air as she sat up from the river, panting as she seemed rather shocked for some reason. "Gah!" she cried, feeling fragmented thoughts spread throughout her head. "My head!" Ranma whined, placing her hands on each side of her head. It was then that she noticed the shrill sound emitting from her throat.
"Wait... have I always sounded like this?" she said to herself, removing her hands from her head and looking up; pondering the question she asked herself. "Or is this normal?" she questioned, unsure of her tone.
With her eyes, she surveyed the area and concluded that she had no idea where she was. "Huh..." she said, looking into the river's reflective surface; with an almost cat-like curiosity she reached out her hand and touched her reflection, watching as the contact with it sent ripples throughout its body.
"I-I'm a girl..." Ranma stated, looking down at her chest region and taking both of her hands to weigh her assets. Testing this out only resulted in a moan from the red-headed girl, making her retract her hands and blush ever so lightly. "Gotta' avoid touching these."
Ranma stood from her seated position and twisted her hips, inspecting the rest of her body, "Huh... I'm a real looker," she commented. It was then that she paused to try and remember her name, not to mention her entire background.
She narrowed her eyes, forcing the thoughts through her head. All that came out were bits and pieces of her shattered identity, not many things were concrete. Certain aspects of her remained, though, like her more basic instincts and manners... but then there was also the fact that she knew she was good at martial arts; she just couldn't remember where she'd learned or who had trained her. Wanting to test this skill, Ranma took a deep breath before sighing and clapping her hands together, taking an offensive stance.
The first thing that came to her was the ability to throw fists. "Hiya!" she shouted, releasing a torrent of fists each just as quickly as the other. "Whoa!" Ranma shouted, excited with her abilities.
It was then that her actions triggered something in her mind, vague images of something called the Joketsuzoku Amazons; visions of them sprouted from her mind and instilled her with panic and fear. The people that flushed through her memory wanted her dead, for what reason? She couldn't tell.
It dawned on her that these Joketsuzoku people might still be on the prowl and she quickly shifted her head from side to side, a frightened look on her face. Nodding her head she began walking aimlessly; anywhere was better than here.
Her entire duration of walking Ranma tried to recall past events but all failed at every turn. All she could make out was that someone had told her to visit Yakusai the herbalists' village. Suddenly it hit Ranma like a sack of hammers, why did she even want to go to Yakusai This was far too confusing for her, what with her lack of any memories, 'That's it! This Yakusai place probably has somethin' for me to get my memories back!' Ranma thought. She just needed to go to this Yakusai place and get them to use their herbal expertise on her, her memories would most likely return!
"Yeah!" Ranma shouted, pumping her fist in the air, her bright blue eyes staring at the sky above her. Now all she had to do was find the location and she'd be home free, which caused her to stop for a moment. "Damn it! I ain't got a clue where it is!" Ranma shouted before slapping her forehead with her palm. 'These memory problems are killing me... why can't I just remember who I am?' she thought with a groan and slouching forward.
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Not too far away...
Shampoo returned to the site where she last fought her foreign opponent. This was not going to be easy, she knew that the moment she went down the cliff and scouted the area for any signs of the redhead from yesterday. "Where is stupid cursed boy?" she asked herself.
She didn't need to think for long, because the sounds of someone's voice traveled in her ears, alerting her to Ranma's location. Though she only had a vague idea of where the redhead could be; she just needed a little more and she could pinpoint her. Though was this foreigner really that stupid? The possibilities just didn't seem to be in her favor.
"Damn! I ain't got a clue where it is!"
Shampoo widened her eyes, shocked that maybe this cursed boy was just as stupid as she made him out to be. This was unimportant since she was now given a more specific location from the redhead's voice. She knew that she could track him and with her most likely weakened condition; Shampoo would simply need one good slash of her dadao and her target would cease to be a problem.
"I'm coming for you..." Shampoo whispered in her native tongue.
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Seconds later...
With her palm on her chin and her arm on her hips, Ranma tried to consider her possible directions she could take. Everything she knew about the area was limited to quite literally nothing. The most she knew was to avoid the direction she came from, but that still left a few other possibilities for her to take, none seemed any different from the other.
"Hm... maybe datta' way?" Ranma asked pointing in, said random direction. "Or maybe this one?"
Ranma was so absorbed in going to her next direction that she hadn't noticed Shampoo until the Amazon gave out a battle cry before trying to slice her from down the middle. "Hiya!"
Luckily Ranma was able to duck and roll out of harm's way; her martial arts and survival instincts saving her at the last moment. "What the hecks' wrong wit ya'!" Ranma shouted whilst in a kneeling position. "You could've killed me!"
"Is point, stupid!" Shampoo replied, jumping back and holding her sword with both hands firmly by the handle. She was absolutely sure she would feel Ranma's flesh on her blade; as such is the brutal nature of Shampoo's culture.
Ranma gasped and leaned back, this woman was clearly an insane psycho looking to kill anyone. "You're sick!" she shouted right before Shampoo took the redhead's retort as an opening, attempting another slash. Being as quick as she was, Ranma widened the gap in distance between them and took that as her means of escape.
Shampoo felt her heart race; it was the thrill of the hunt she was feeling. Although her logical side tried to reason with her, such as... why was Ranma running instead of dodging her and looking for an opening? Not to mention... why didn't her redheaded foe have any broken limbs? Had she been so lucky she hadn't hit the rocks when she fell from the cliff? It didn't matter now, Shampoo had become a predator and Ranma was her prey.
"Is too, too fun..." she whispered, taking on a sinister smile as she gave chase.
Something didn't feel right to Ranma, this running felt awkward to her. Though what could she do? She didn't know anything about this girl and what she could have up her sleeve. There was a good chance that she was only holding back and was trying to trick Ranma into a false sense of security. This was her best option and she would take it.
Ranma took a sharp intake of air when she heard the sounds of someone jumping from tree to tree, 'She's a ninja!' Ranma thought. Today just wasn't her day. "Nyaaaaa!" Ranma cried.
Now Shampoo was closing in on her enemy, she just needed to jump a few more trees and she'd be finished. Admittedly that was kind of bad because she liked to see her target struggle before she'd silence them but like many good chases; it must come to an end. Jumping down, Shampoo brought her sword over her head and aimed to finish her dimwitted prey.
The redhead took this as her opportunity and turned around, throwing herself back and scooping up some dirt in her hand, only to throw it in the eyes of her pursuer as soon as she landed.
Shampoo cringed and retracted her sword to try and wipe the stinging dirt from her eyes but sadly for her Ranma was back on the run and before Shampoo could even begin to wipe her eyes clean she felt herself lose balance from the back of her heel and fell to the ground; her sword flying out of her hands.
Ranma was glad that she had been able to formulate a plan to stall her homicidal friend just long enough for her to make her daring escape. She wasn't sure how much ground she could cover but whatever it took, it didn't matter to her. As long as she could get away and find out who she really was.
Back with the disorientated Amazon, she was still trying to fully wipe the dirt from her eyes. The only thing was when she fell, she hit the back of her head and her back was jabbed by a nearby root from a tree. She was still trying to compose herself and find her weapon.
Shampoo slowly rose to her feet and gritted her teeth, trying to see through her eyes while dealing with some mild head trauma and least she forgets... her sore back, "Shampoo kill!" she exclaimed, looking around for her sword. Not only was she in intense pain, she was also humiliated by Ranma's tactic. The foreigner had made her look foolish, not once but twice now, she would have her revenge... in due time.
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Several minutes later…
The clever redhead had gained some great distance between her and that madwoman. What could have happened for someone like that to completely discard the fact that she was a living being? How could a girl who was so pretty possibly be a savage blood-thirsty, killing machine? Ranma figured it wasn't worth thinking about too much right now, she knew that however far she got; she had to go further than that.
She had gone as far as running until her lungs burned with exhaustion. Even though she hadn't taken into account how ridiculously far she had gone, if anyone were to actually take the time to analyze how inhuman it seemed for anyone to run for that amount of time and speed, they might see that they're way above average limits.
Ranma was at the point where she was crawling, her chest heaving as she continued; she then spotted what appeared to be a… tent? Slowly, she forced herself to continue and entered it, without regards to the owner of said tent. There were also a few things she failed to notice, such as the fact that the remains of a campfire were close by to her. In her tired state of mind, all she could do was close her eyes and rest. She would deal with the owner of the tent when the time came.
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Nearby...
Ryoga Hibiki was on a quest and perhaps it wasn't his main quest but it was a quest in need of doing: returning to his campsite. The entire morning was spent just trying to get back to his tent and his backpack full of food. It didn't matter to him whether or not he would be attacked in the forest, as long as he had the necessary energy to fend for himself.
At this rate, he was bound to get tired soon. "Where... is... it...!" Ryoga groaned, placing his hands on his stomach. "I know it was here somewhere..." the boy commented, gritting his teeth, his belly begging for food. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he spotted his tent and rushed over to it, smiling with tears of joy when approaching his camp.
When he reached it he dropped down to his knees and was preparing to pull his bag out from the tent and feast on whatever he could. "Finally!" Ryoga exclaimed; that was until he was greeted with the sight of a beautiful, almost angelic redheaded girl sleeping in his tent.
Ryoga took a second to stare at her and felt enchanted by the way her cute little mouth would breathe in air and how her hair was soaked in sweat and least but certainly not least, her impressive chest region which was only emphasized by her rhythmic breathing. It was overwhelming for him to see her, so much so that he gasped and fall back away from his tent.
"Ah!" he screamed, sitting up and covering his nose with his hand, forcing his blood not to leak.
"Huh?" Ranma groaned, having half-crawled out of the tent and looking at the lost boy in front of her. "Who're you?" she asked with her tired expression.
Another situation like the previous was happening; since the girl had crawled over to him he was able to see her chest from his position. His nose twitched and he quickly turned away, unable to hide the bleeding anymore. "D-damn it...!" Ryoga groaned. 'She's gonna' think I'm some stupid pervert!' he thought, depressed that his first impression with the only girl he's seen for miles, was this.
"Hey... you okay, pal?" Ranma asked, tilting her head to the side while panting ever so lightly.
Ryoga wanted to take up this opportunity to find some sort of excuse but was unable to think on the spot. "Y-yeah... I-I, um... er..." he said, looking to the side while the trickle of blood continued to go down his nose and onto the side of his cheek.
Ranma narrowed her eyes a bit and just remembered that the tent she was currently in didn't belong to her. "Oh! Geez... I'm sorry, I didn't mean ta' run into your tent or whatever, ya' see..." Ranma said, looking to the side and sighing once. "It's kinda' hard to say..."
Ryoga was surprised to see that she wasn't going to call him a pervert or anything; in fact it was almost as if she was naïve about the entire thing and wanted to show that she had some manners, even though she did invade his property, she was still willing to try and explain the situation rather than trying to make him feel awkward about his nose bleeding.
Ryoga blushed softly before looking to the side and pouting a bit, using his sleeve to quickly wipe the blood off of his nose and cheek, "It's alright; I guess it's none of my business."
Ranma sighed and placed a hand on her head, she knew that she could get away with not telling him and although she barely knew this boy she could tell that he was socially awkward around women, especially around one like her. "Nah... I got in your tent, so... looks like I made it your business."
Ryoga wanted to protest that, in order to seem chivalrous but was cut short when the redhead raised her hand, halting him.
"Look..." Ranma paused, blinking her eyes. "What did you say yer name was?"
Ryoga shook his head while answering the following. "I never said my name..."
Ranma sighed and slapped her forehead, groaning in annoyance. "That's right..." Ranma said, lowering her head in defeat, "sorry, I have trouble rememberin' stuff."
The lost boy shook his head and felt that maybe he should get the introductions started. "Well, I'm Ryoga, Ryoga Hibiki."
Ranma fully crawled out from Ryoga's tent and sat down crossed legged, working the kinks in her neck while doing so. Her slumber had been a bit of a troubled one and therefore made her toss and turn and in the process it also caused the first few of her shirt buttons to become undone.
Ryoga's breathing became deep as his eyes wandered a bit, that was up till his sense of decency sparked back up and he averted his eyes.
Ranma wasn't blind, she noticed where his eyes landed and she had to admit that it did make her a bit nervous that this strange boy was staring at her. She took this as her chance to cover up her undone shirt and then stuck out her hand. "Nice to meet ya'."
Ryoga felt his left eye twitch, the beauty of a redhead had been buttoning up her shirt. Did that mean she knew where he was looking? Why didn't she call him on it or call him some kind of perverted boy who needs to learn some manners? Sure, he was usually more composed than this but this was a unique moment that forced him into this awkward behavior.
Feeling that it was best not to probe, Ryoga reached out his hand and shook it. "A-and what's your name?"
Ranma lowered her head for a moment, still shaking Ryoga's hand, "My name?" Ranma asked, looking up at the sky. The question was difficult for her to even ponder at the moment. Ranma closed her eyes and tried to force some part of her memory through, unfortunately, all she was able to uncover was 'Ran' to her name. "I don't remember anything except Ran... so maybe..." she pondered a bit more before figuring that maybe she was 'Ranko' since she was a girl. "Ranko?"
When she finished giving her name to him, she noticed that their hands were still interlocked. She noted the expression on his face and quickly retracted her hand. "Uh... anyway, I gotta' tell you why I was in your tent..."
Ryoga returned to an even breathing level and nodded his head in approval.
"You see, Ryoga... when I woke up, I didn't have any memory of who I was, all I can tell is that I was probably a martial artist since I can fight but anything besides that and my name is all I can remember. Then I remembered the name of this group of dangerous women called the Joketsuzoku amazons and figured I'd stay away from them and go to this other place I remembered, called..." Ranko scratched her head, making sure she indeed remembered the name. "Yakusai, the herbalist's village!… And when I was tryin' to get there… I stopped to think about it and turns out I ain't got the foggiest idea where Yakusai is."
Ryoga listened to Ranko's explanation with an intense stare, not only because he was interested in her story but because there was something about her that he couldn't quite figure out. It was as if he perhaps knew her at some point in her life… but what confused him more was that she didn't have the image of anyone he ever met. So… why was it that this girl seemed so familiar? "Go on…"
"Yeah… well, when I was think'in and stuff… some crazy chick jumped straight outta' nowhere and tried to kill me!" Ranko exclaimed. "So, I tried to run and then threw some dirt in her eyes to get her off my trail and I got so tired that I saw your tent here and, I guess you can tell the rest, huh?" Ranko said, chuckling somewhat nervously.
Excitement arose in Ryoga's chest, he could help her. He could help this adorable, although somewhat familiar girl gets to her destination. Though he had to wonder why she wanted to go to a herbalists' village. Did they maybe have herbs that could restore her memory? Would it be rude of him to ask? And, if they had a cure for memory loss, could they also have one for his terrible sense of direction? "Why do you want to get to Yakusai?"
"Cause oughtta' have something for me to remember who I am... and who knows? Maybe I have some family there."
Ryoga crossed his arms, the memory part of what she said made sense. The part of her having family seemed a bit off. "Let me ask you something... can you speak, Chinese?"
Ranko shook her head, not sure what he was getting at.
"Then you probably don't have any family here... when I was walking around a few days ago I came across a few towns, and let me tell you... they weren't Japanese," he explained.
Ranko blinked, they were in an entirely different country? She knew what language she was speaking so she assumed that she was in a forest in Japan. It just never crossed her mind to think that she'd be in an entirely different country! There was more mystery shrouded in her background... and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.
Ryoga watched Ranko's various expressions and was able to tell that perhaps she was scared to figure out who she was. There was something about how fragile she looked… it looked out-of-place but it wasn't so out-of-place that he didn't like it. The best way for Ryoga to express it would be, rare. Feeling rather bold, the lost boy reached out and brought his hands to the redhead's shoulders. "Ranko! Let me take you to Yakusai!"
"Huh!" Ranko blinked, blushing brightly. "I-I barely know ya' and you're already wanting to help me!" she demanded, half-shouting.
"I see what you're saying, Ranko... but it's on my honor as a martial artist; I have to help!" Ryoga announced.
Ranko's eyes widened when she saw how strong-willed he seemed about helping her and she knew that he must have been a decent fellow. Why else would he be okay with the fact that she hiding in his tent and not threaten to make her leave? And even she had to accept that fact that this boy could be her key to getting her memories back or was it something else entirely? There was something about this man she couldn't quite explain.
"Okay... but I can take care of myself, y'know..." Ranko replied, scuffing.
Ryoga nodded his head with a slight tinge of red to his cheeks. It was then that both felt something deep within them.
Their stomachs were growling. The two sat there in a calm silence, feeling embarrassed.
"Got anything to eat?" Ranko asked.
"Y-yeah..." Ryoga replied.
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A while later...
Shampoo came back to the village, hanging her head in shame. The nerve of that fake woman! She had the gall to throw dirt in her eyes and then to leave without finishing her off and using that moment of weakness to its fullest. Shampoo was so ashamed of her blundering that she felt that maybe death would have been too good a thing for her right now... but it helped fuel her determination.
Upon entering the village she spotted her great-grandmother. The elder Amazon inspected the condition of her great-granddaughter and found herself snickering. "I see she's more of a challenge than previously thought..."
Shampoo jolted her head to Cologne's eyes and glared. "You is knowing... fake woman escape great-grandmother too," Shampoo countered.
Cologne's expression remained blank before she responded. "A minor setback, child... a minor setback." with that she clanked the bottom of her cane to the ground. "You will thank me in due time, whether or not you consider her a 'fake woman' you will come to appreciate our traditions when the child you've born is the strongest in all of our tribe..."
Shampoo narrowed her eyes before huffing and turning away, "We is seeing..."
It was then that Mousse came from the corner of a house, standing with his arms in his sleeves.
Shampoo passed him by before saying, "Come, Mousse..."
The young man nodded and followed in silence, attentively listening to her as she recalled the events from earlier that day.
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Not too long after…
Genma woke up with a very mean headache. The middle-aged man was no weak by any means, but the women he'd fought the day before had pummeled him without holding back at all, probably because they imagined he was an animal and didn't realize he was a man until his son told them about their curse. The Saotome patriarch rubbed his neck and left shoulder, still sore from the beating, and looked out the window. He was still in the same town as yesterday, and they had put him in a rather comfortable room. Both things were good, as he had expected them to throw him into a pit or to skin him and take his panda fur as a prize. Now, if he could only get something to eat, he could start trying to figure out a way to get him and Ranma out of town.
Even though leaving the kid here for a while as punishment for causing all of this would be a fitting punishment, Genma couldn't do that. The time to take Ranma to meet Soun's children was approaching, and Genma was not going to let the chance of getting the Tendo dojo pass him by. He had already planned using it as his main source of income for his retirement, and even if he had to share it with Soun it wouldn't matter much, as Genma was sure Ranma would be such a fine and popular teacher that students from all over Japan would come to the Tendo dojo begging him to be their sensei.
But to accomplish that, he would have to escape this hellish town full of devil women first.
"You're awake, that's good," a voice called from the door. "Because we have a lot of things to talk about."
Genma turned from the window and found a small, very old woman standing at the threshold. He took in a deep breath and swallowed, the elder was pulsing with power, and that made his skin crawl. Not in the way the old master would, of course, nobody could scare him as much as Happosai, but the way this woman's power flooded the room came darn close.
"What sort of things?" Genma probed, managing somewhat to appear unafraid and in control.
"How strong your son is, for one. How long it will take him to come back to try rescuing you, for another," Cologne supplied. "Would you like something to eat? I'm sure you can tell me what I want during breakfast."
"Food would be good, as for what you want to know, it will depend on the questions you ask," Genma smiled, free food was always enticing, as was the fact that they expected Ranma to rescue him, which meant they wouldn't kill him or hurt him. The best part of all was hearing that Ranma had escaped, for Genma knew his son would not abandon him.
It was unfortunate then, that Genma had no idea what had happened to Ranma the night before.
To be continued…
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Now, who do we know with a tent or camping stuff? Too many people it could be. lolz
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Prescribing fluff from the Doctor~
Dr.Fox~