A Long Journey

Ranma ½ is the property and invention of Rumiko Takahashi. The following story is not produced for any monetary or personal gain.

Keep in mind the journey is almost always more interesting than the destination.

Journey

Part One: Back to the Real World

Chapter 1

Ranma gracefully somersaulted over his opponent, landed lightly on the huge pack and waited. The boy whose pack he was balancing on immediately turned around to face the direction he had seen his hated foe go in. Of course being who he was he actually turned to face a random direction. Not that this mattered considering where his enemy actually was. "Ranma you coward! How dare you run out on a fight like that. Come back and face me like a man."

"C'mon P-chan, not that I don't appreciate you entertaining me or nothin' but why're after me this time?" Ryouga, realizing he had been made a fool of yet again, threw off his pack in a single smooth motion, hoping to catch his foe by surprise. His pack flew in a straight line for 30 feet before impacting and demolishing a brick wall. Looking intently at the devastation for any sign of movement, he at first did not notice the person slightly behind him shaking his head and tsking to himself. "Miss Kragowa is not going to be happy about that. That's the third time this month she's had to fix her wall."

"Ranma how dare you treat Akane that way. Don't you know how much time she spent making that meal for you?" Ryouga screamed while swinging his umbrella with one hand and throwing his bandanas in his other.

"Hey I can't help it if I had to defend myself against that sludge she tried to feed me! I mean after it ate the table it started to lunge at me. A chi blast was all that saved my life!" Ranma loudly declaimed while easily dodging the bandanas and umbrella while occasionally guiding the closer blows away with a delicate tap.

"Prepare to die!" Ryouga was unaware that during the combat he had been carefully led. When Ranma stepped aside the umbrella continued forward to demolish the public fountain he had been standing in front of. The destroyed fountain began to spray everyone within five feet with cold water.

"Bwee...Bwee!!!" screamed an enraged Ryouga in his new piglet form.

"Man, maybe that plan wasn't such a great idea," stated a disgusted Ranma-chan from her position next to the piglet as it tried to gnaw on her foot. "It would have been better to simply beat you silly, at least then I'd be dry."

"Ranma!! Are you picking on P-chan again? What did I tell you about picking on my pet before, you pervert!" Ranma-chan shivered as he heard the voice behind him. No, it couldn't be. She'd just raced across Nerima to escape Akane and her cooking. It just wasn't natural. "If you leave P-chan alone and try the new recipe I have for you I may not mallet you. Yet." The last part was delivered in a whisper that Ranma-chan didn't think she was supposed to hear.

"I am sooo out of here," she stated while giving 'P-chan' a kick that sent him across the park. She saw an enraged Akane start running towards him, a huge mallet in her hand. Just as she was about to tear off sprinting into the distance she was engulfed in a splash of light.

To the others watching, it appeared that Ranma-chan was covered in a descending cylinder of pure white light. The beam then dwindled to a thin beam and disappeared.

Akane was left staring in bewilderment at the place Ranma-chan last was. "Ranma?" she said in a small voice.

"What pervert girl do with Airen?" asked a well built blue haired girl.

"Shampoo? What happened? If this is one of your magic tricks..." Akane's voice trailed off. Shampoo and her great great great (etc) grandmother had been known to use magic to try to entrap Ranma but these attempts had usually been limited to drugs and potions. She'd never done anything as spectacular as what she'd just seen. This combined with the fact that Shampoo appeared just as confused as she herself was encouraged her consider that Shampoo may be innocent. This time at least.

"Talk to pervert girl later. Shampoo go to great Grandmother now."

"Wait a minute! I am not letting you out of my sight if you might know something about that...thing."

Shampoo just shrugged her shoulders. If the violent pervert girl wanted to follow her around she didn't care. She had more important things to consider. Her husband had just vanished in a flash of light and it was her duty as an Amazon to find him and drag him back to her village. He simply didn't realize how lucky he was to have her as wife, but he would learn. As soon as great Grandmother found him.

Forgotten, a small black piglet wandered dazedly from the park making small 'bweeing' noises. If anyone had been able to understand they would have heard it muttering about training journeys and vengeance.