Crossover Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Chaos: Ascension of Supremacy ❯ Chapter 03a ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

PATH OF CHAOS

- Lord Rance

Disclaimer: "If the Pen is mightier than the Sword, then why the heck
did we invent the Sword then?! Stab everyone in the eye with a Pen
then!"

Author Notes: Some scenes are... well... hmmm... forget it.

Chinese - []

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CHAPTER 3a - COOKING WITH STYLE
======================================================================== =====

Approximately in the year 498 A.D., in Outer Space...

The sky was dark that night. Technology and other advanced sciences were
all unknown in this day and age. That was why the people in of Earth
wasn't warned about the incoming meteors that came far from the other
side of the galaxy.

When the bright metallic rock of ice entered the atmosphere, the already
lighted fire that trailed behind it intensified and became a bright
spectacle to the unsuspecting humans.

The great meteor suddenly broke into two.

A smaller part of the meteor fell into a part known as China, where it
would be used into creating various things that may help of destroy
civilizations as we know it.

It was deep into the night, and the crater that was formed was shallow,
surrounded by a large body forests. Most of the greens were burned to a
crisp. The hole was smoking from the impact, and heat permeated into the
piece of rock itself. Suddenly, the rock cracked open, exposing a number
of odd looking black spherical shaped objects that throbbed
rhythmically. One of the dark spheres broke and split into two. A rather
quivering clawed hand with three fingers was exposed in the night air.
It was followed by another of the clawed hands, and a body that was
slimey from whatever it came from. The other spheres followed their
brethren, cracks and pops sounded off in the night, coupled by loud
shrill cries of freedom.

In the morning, only the remains of the cracked spheres and various ores
were found by a wandering holy man. He took the materials and created
the magical devices known as the Magical Cooking Utensils which was
powered by some unknown magic from the meteorite's composition.

The bigger part broke into another two parts, one of them crashed near a
Japanese deserted island, which caught the attention of some observers
from the mainlands. The other part landed in a remote area in the middle
of the main island of Japan itself, which was by this time rules by
lords and the Shogunate. These two meteors imbedded themselves deep into
the ground, which pretty much barred everyone from viewing what they
were without the help of much more modern equipments and such. So the
last two were left alone to themselves.

One burrowed itself into the ocean, just outside the shoreline of the
deserted island.

The other one dug a hole deep into the heart of Japan. Because of the
uneven terrain and some dumb weird luck, the soil and rocks that
surrounded the newly drilled hole closed in on itself.

That was more or less a thousand years ago...

Oh yeah... this will be the beginning of the whole world's headaches...
a motherload of problems...

======================================================================== =====

Cooking to conquer the world... who would've thought it would be
possible?

But in the world we live in, stranger things have happened, and people
cannot dispute with that.

The Super Chefs... China's greatest Elite Chef group, were the greatest
people in the country aside from the Emperor.

Liu Mao-Hsing of Schezuan province claimed the title at the young age of
thirteen.

This young boy was proclaimed as the new Super Chef, a rank that was
bestowed only to those who pass the Super Chef Test. It was widely known
the Super Chefs were considered almost as gods when it comes to cooking
skills, and they were ranked third of the most respected people in
China. Liu Mao-Hsing, or Mao in short, passed the Guangzhou Super Chef
Test, which was considered to be the most difficult of all the tests
that was held once every four years. His proclamation as the youngest
chef ever to win such a title brought out hope from the people of China.
Their cooking legacy was safe with this young boy.

Mao was accompanied by Mei-Li, daughter of the famous Chouyu who was the
head chef in the equally well known restaurant called Yosen Shuka. And
Shilou, the half japanese boy they have met during the initial stages of
their journey who proclaimed himself as Mao's student.

It was a fine day, with the sun shining high up in the sky. The
restaurant Mao and his little group ate in was currently thriving real
well. The aroma of good food swirled around the air. Mei-Li helped
herself with some of the morsels that they have earned quite well.
Shilou was currently gnawing on a steak bone that he had ordered and
added the now empty plate to his own stack of plates. He apparently ate
quite well. Mao was no different, who was patting his stomach in
pleasure.

They were now currently in Star Way Village, and the restaurant they
were in was called Star Way Restaurant. It was the well known dining
establishment in the village.

Mao and his friends just came from the Jade Palace, with which whom the
owner of the mansion was manipulated by an evil high class chef. The
chef cooked a forbidden substance associated with the poisonous red
mushrooms, which induces hysteria and addiction-like state. Apparently,
the chef wanted the deed for the said mansion, and Mao was just in time
to stop the evil plot to work.

"[Wow... that was good food!]" The young Super Chef commented.

Mei-Li nodded in agreement. "[Uh-huh! It's a good thing too, I was
getting hungry back when we were at the road... but Mao, do we have
enough money to pay for all of these?]"

Mao grinned at Mei-Li. "[Of course! Because of our part time work we did
back when we were at the road, we collected enough money, so don't worry
Mei-Li!]"

"[That's right!]" The white bandanna clad boy who had an x-scar across
his left cheek (viewer's perspective) said, "[We have the money right...
here?]" he trailed off as he searched his clothes for the money.

When Shilou's search finally came to his pockets, his expression
dramatically fell when he felt his fingers punch through a hole in it.

The money was gone.

Mao and Mei-Lin sat straight in shock. When they finally broke out of
their trance, they immediately grabbed Shilou and almost tore into his
clothes, despite the youngest boy's protests.

The commotion attracted the attention of the proprietor of the
restaurant. A group of hired help from the restaurant circled them. The
three kids finally noticed their situation and gulped rather loudly.

"[Are you going to pay or what?]" One of the men sneered.

Mao looked apologetic as he replied, "[Uhm... no, but we could work for
it! We could cook for you, clean...]"

Mei-Li stepped up. "[We could wash dishes!]"

"[Please!]" Shilou sounded desperate, perhaps knowing that it was really
his fault they were in this predicament after all really dampened his
pride.

The group just growled and grabbed the kids. They brought them back to
the entrance and hauled them out. A rather good looking long haired
fellow with a Senior Chef insignia displayed on his left shoulder (his
perspective) walked up to them as he smoked his thin cermic pipe
luxuriously.

"[I'm the head chef of Star Way Restaurant, Senior Chef Harry. You
should be punished because you failed to pay for my services.]" Harry
announced haughtingly.

They were about to beat them up when suddenly, a soft fluttering sound
broke their bickering.

Silence reigned as the two cloaked figures stood near the commotion. One
was smaller in height than the other. After some tensed silence, the
figures moved to remove their coats.

"[It's hot out there!]" The smaller one declared loudly, inducing a mass
facefault except his companion. He was obviously male, from his voice
alone. He had long black hair that was tied in a pigtail, and blue gray
eyes that was quite weird in this part of the world. He had a small but
firmly muscled body, that was quite covered in his dark clothing. He had
a red belt that held his oversized pants as well. He looked smaller and
younger than Mao and Shilou.

"[You complain too much, Ranma.]" The taller one replied while he draped
his cloak on his arm. He had long dark hair that was tied in a low
ponytail, and kind eyes that reflected mirth and tranquility. He had
some sort of wooden sword handle on his belt. He wore some sort of a
white priest's robe from another town or country.

Chibi-Ranma snorted. "[Yeah? Try dressing in dark clothes in this heat
and we'll see who's gonna complain! Darn it Yosho, we should eat, my
stomach's rebeling on me!]"

Yosho laughed softly. "[I know. You said that in the last town, right?
Anyway, it's good that you took up the chinese and mandarin languages.
It helped you, right?]"

The small boy sighed. He remembered that his former grandfather had
convinced him to learn the language. "[Yeah yeah. Now let's eat shall
we?]"

They both turned to the silent restaurant and sweatdropped. Finally they
noticed everyone was staring at them wide-eyed and gaping. Ranma
suddenly felt defensive.

"[What?! Is there something on my face?!]"

>BAM!<

Mass facefault number 2.

"[Hey...]" Ranma's brow narrowed dramatically as he noticed the
disheveled appearances of the three kids, especially the girl. Aside
from her having her girl form's looks, his idea of defending those who
can't defend themselves immediately sprung up. He strode up to Harry,
who seemed to be in charge of the group of the harassing adults and
glared at him. "[What's with the big idea of you picking on little
kids?]"

Of course, his tone and glare would have been effective if he hadn't
looked a lot younger than those he was defending. The result was for the
group to laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

A man on Harry's right stepped forward and grinned evilly at the young
boy. "[Better get away kid, before I hurt you.]" His hand moved to push
Ranma away, but to his surprise, his hand was quickly slapped away.

"[Don't touch me.]" Ranma's soft retort was as clear as a bell amongst
the silence. Mao, Mei-Li, and Shilou struggled to stand up and gaped at
the young boy, who stood defiantly in front of those who were apparently
stronger than he was. The three of them slowly edged away from the
heated staring match towards the still calm Yosho, who gazed at the
incoming confrontation with indifference.

"[Aren't you going to help him?]" Mao asked the young boy's companion.

Yosho chuckled slightly, which earned him curious gazes from his three
fellow travelers. "[He could take an army by himself if he wanted to.
What's a few men to him then? Besides, he won't like that at all.]" The
curious gazes turned into disbelief, but nevertheless they turned their
attention back to the group.

Meanwhile, Ranma was internally pissed off. The audicity of some people
to prove their superiority over others by their size is really
deplorable. Since he became small, he felt a little bit more of sympathy
to those who were small. But now was not the time to think about it. He
still had a situation to resolve.

"[Well? Are you just going to back off and leave them alone or are you
going to pursue this? Mind you though, I might have to get rough with
you.]" Ranma sported his superior smirk, which caused those in front of
him to simmer in rage.

A lanky man on the right growled. "[You're gonna die, kid.]"

Mei-Li just stared incredilously at the boy. For some reason, there was
a tone of maturity in his words. This 'Ranma' person was really...
mysterious. Now that she scrutinized the two newcomers more, she
realized that this 'Ranma' was about eight to ten years of age, while
the one called 'Yosho' was in his twenties or older. If she heard the
boy right, he called the older one by name, which meant equality between
the two people with a huge gap of age difference. What's going on here?!

Harry felt his rage reach its peak when he heard the boy's words. He
gestured to all his five men. They all nodded back and quickly launched
themselves unto the boy.

Mei-Li was probably the only one who saw Ranma smile.

Ranma flicked his cute pigtail behind his back and wove along the
multitude of fists that came barreling towards his head. He leaned a
little to the right and watched a foot that missed him for about half an
inch wide. He then leaned back and calmly caught an errant foot that
came a little close to him. He shoved the same foot towards the path of
another foot, causing two of the men to fell back in shock, their legs
interwined in a weird sense. Ranma ducked and lifted his hand upward,
tapping a fist that passed by. After he'd seen the owner of the fist
overextend his arm, the boy delivered a quick jab to the guy's stomach.
The thug felt all the air in his lungs expelled forcibly outward. He
doubled over and kneeled to the ground as he gasped for air.

The red haired girl watched in fascination as the smaller frame of the
boy just twisted and turned every now and then to avoid the blows coming
to his body. She saw the boy's hands blur for a moment, which she
thought that her eyes played tricks on her, and the punches were
deflected impressively without any visible effort.

Ranma snorted as he inclined his head a little to the right again. The
men that were set on hurting him were really pathetic. Even if he were
tied up and wore a blindfold, he could beat them without any real effort
at all. Why was he even gonna bother about this then? He wanted to
finish this quickly, and he just had the thought of the century on how
to.

Yosho's right brow twitched when Ranma shot him an evil grin. He turned
to Mei-Li and said, "[Little lady, I suggest you close your eyes on this
one. This will not end prettily.]"

Mei-Li looked at Yosho in confusion. "[What do you mean?]"

Ranma backed slightly and calculated the stances of the men. Perfect!
With a short laugh he leapt into the fray again, his foot lashed out...
right between the men's legs.

>CLONK!< >CLONK!< >CLONK!< >CLONK!< >CLONK!<

Yosho, Mao, Shilou and Harry, as well as most of the males in the crowd
that were watching the fight, winced and clutched at their groin area in
reflex. They all had one thought in mind.

<That has got to HURT!>

In a flash five men lay sprawled on the ground, their legs eagle-spread.
There were short whimpers that came from their mouths.

Yosho strode up to Ranma and sighed. "You were in a hurry, weren't you?"

Ranma looked up to him and grinned. "Oh yeah. Didn't wanna waste time on
losers."

Mao, Mei-Li and Shilou carefully approached the two strangers, and
sometimes looked on the muggers that were twitching on the ground.

"[A-no... excuse me...]" Mao said hesitantly.

Ranma turned to him. "[Yep?]"

Mei-Li bowed to Ranma. "[Uhm... thanks for the help little one. We
weren't sure if we could've gotten out of that mess.]" Turning to
Shilou, the redhead glared, "[This was all your fault, Shilou!]"

Shilou waved his arms in the air. "[H-hey! It's not my fault my pants
had a hole in the pockets!]"

Harry briskly walked up to them. "[You little brat! Those kids...]" He
pointed to the trio, "[Wanted to take off without paying! Now how are
you going to pay for this?!]"

Ranma clasped his hand in the back of his head as he looked boredly at
the Senior Chef. "[And you think beating them up is better? Feh!]"

Harry sneered. "[Why you little brat!]"

"[Harry, just forgive them.]" A voice said.

They all turned to the source of the voice and saw a man in green
clothes. He wore a light blue colored turban over his head that covered
most of his brown hair. He slowly walked up to them and flashed an
embarassed smile to the children.

Harry spat to the ground. "[Stay out of this, Igle! You have no right
to---]"

Whatever he was about to say died down when the sound of hooves pounding
on the ground interrupted his rebuttal. Soon, the crowds parted as a red
carriage stopped in front of the restaurant. The crowds broke into
murmurs.

"[That's Master Yang's carriage!]"

"[He's the owner of the Starway Restaurant!]"

"[Look! Someone's coming out!]"

Sure enough, the door of the carriage opened. A young woman, probably in
her teens, came out of the door and stepped down daintily to the ground.
She was followed by a big-set old man with gray hair and mustache.

Mei-Li saw the man called Igle's attention was currently on the girl
with long light purple hair. She noted that his look was caused by
something like fondness or love.

Harry shoved Igle aside as he quickly walked up towards the girl, lifted
her right hand to his lips and kissed it. Ranma and Yosho rolled their
eyes at Harry's quick change in demeanor.

"[Ah, Lady Laia and Master Yang! How can we help you?]" Harry's sudden
cheerfulness almost made Ranma gag.

Master Yang graced them with a wide smile. "[Ah, Harry! I came to make
sure everything about the upcoming wedding would be in order, and also,
to check up on the restaurant!]"

Harry smiled back. "[As you can see, master, the restaurant is always
the best there is. I always make sure of that!]"

Master Yang nodded in agreement and turned to his daughter Laia. "[See
that, dear? You are so lucky to have a fiance that will be an
appropriate heir to take good care of the restaurant!]"

Laia just sighed forlornly and lifted her head to look at Igle's
direction. Mei-Li noticed once again that Laia also had that 'look'. She
just knew something fishy was going on. She watched as Igle took on an
expressionless mask and bowed slightly. He then spoke up, and said, "[I
feel happy for you, Laia-san.]"

The sad girl just closed her eyes and lowered her gaze once again.

Mei-Li just stared at the sight thoughtfully. She had deduced a lot of
things in this little confrontation. Her musings were cut short when she
realized that the old man Laia was with started to refer to them.

"[What was happening here? Why the crowd?]" Master Yang asked as he
gestured to the group of five (Ranma, Yosho, Mao, Mei-Li and Shilou).
Shilou gathered his wits and proudly stepped up to the man.

"[Are you in charge here?]" Shilou asked. When he saw Master Yang nod,
he continued, "[Then could we should be asking you to allow us to pay
for the meals we ate by working in your kitchen, right?]"

"[Master Yang...]" Harry cut Shilou's speech, which earned him a glare
from the small boy, "[They were about to run and leave the bill, so we
should punis---]"

"[We said we're going to work for it didn't we?]" Shilou retorted. Mao
and Mei-Li nodded in agreement.

Before the agitated Senior Chef could reply, the owner of Starway
Restaurant already nodded his consent and said, "[That is alright,
Harry. I don't want any troubles so near to the day of the wedding. Just
send them up to my mansion later.]"

Once again, Ranma and Yosho rolled their eyes as Harry flashed a really
obvious faked smile and nodded. "[Of course! That's a great idea, Master
Yang!]" Harry reminded Ranma of how Genma once was... a startling
likeness. So... fake.

After Ranma had seen that the three kids (actually, they were all
looking older than he was) he turned to Yosho, who nodded, and started
walking to the exit of the village. Just as they were about to get out
of the now thinning crowd, a voice called out to them.

"[Hey, mister! Wait!]" A female voice, apparently.

Ranma turned and watched as redhead ran towards them. She was followed
by the bluehaired boy who wore a red cloth hat and another younger boy
who had a white bandanna and x-scar on the face.

When the trio finally reached them, it was Yosho who spoke. "[Yes,
children? Is there anything we can do for you?]"

Mei-Li struggled to catch her breath for a while. When she did, she
looked into the pigtailed boy's blue-gray eyes and said, "[We haven't
thanked you for saving us.]"

Ranma just scratched his head. "[Uhmm... yes you did. Just a while ago,
back there before the old guy came.]"

Mei-Li blinked. "[Oh. Are you travelers? Do you have any place to
stay?]"

Yosho smiled at them. "[Ah. Yes, we are travelers. And no, we don't have
a place to stay. We planned on camping outside to spend the night. We
found a nice patch of trees near the village that's ideal for camping.]"

Mao shook his head. "[No way. Just come with us. We're travelers also
anyway. You can work can you?]"

Ranma thought for a moment. "[Well... I dunno.]"

Yosho patted Ranma's shoulder and said, "[No need to journey alone, when
you can be with company.]"

The pigtailed boy sighed and looked at the expectant look on Mei-Li and
Mao's faces. He nodded. "[Alright. If that's okay with you.]"

Mao smiled happily. "[Of course! The more the merrier!]"

======================================================================== =====

"[By the way,]" Mei-Li said as they walked back into the village, "[My
name's Mei-Li.]"

"[Oh! How rude of us! I'm Liu Mao-Hsing, a traveling chef.]" The red
hatted bluehaired boy added.

"[I'm Shilou, apprentice to Mao!]" Shilou announced proudly.

Ranma nodded. "[I'm Ranma, and my companion...]"

"[Yosho.]" The long blackhaired man finished for him.

Shilou suddenly appeared beside Ranma, which quite unnerved him a bit.
"[Hey, how'd you do all those cool moves?!]"

Ranma had a blank look for a moment, then finally nodded in recognition.
"[Ah! Martial arts. Been training since I could walk.]"

Mei-Li was awed. "[Wow... someone as young as you and you're already
pretty good.]" She was really very observant, because she noticed Ranma
had winced when she commented on his age. It would seem he didn't really
agree with that. She planned on asking about that later on.

"[You're not Chinese, are you?]" Mei-Li asked.

Ranma smiled. "[Yeah... we came from Japan. We're on a training trip.]"

Mao looked curious instantly. He was on a training trip too. "[What kind
of training trip?]"

"[Martial arts training trip.]" Yosho replied. Silence ensued once again
for a bit.

"[Where are we going anyway?]" Ranma broke the short silence.

Mao pointed to a tall structure right in the far end of the town, across
the small river. "[We're going to that mansion. I'm going to work as a
cook, while you can help Mei-Li and Shilou with whatever they might ask
them to do.]"

Ranma grinned. "[Sure no prob. Yosho could use a little more speed
training though...]"

The tall man snorted. "[If you remember, I beat you in that last spar.]"

The pigtailed boy crossed his arms across his chest. "[Only because my
reach was a little off at that time. It won't happen again and you know
it.]" And with that, he walked a bit quicker and catched up to Mao and
Shilou, who went a little bit further ahead.

Mei-Li smirked as her gaze trailed the boy. "[Definitely a fighter.
Cocky, isn't he?]"

Yosho just sighed, much to the surprise of the redhead. "[He's loyal to
his Martial Arts, and he's also correct in that assumption.]"

"[Eh?]" Mei-Li whined in confusion. "[What does that mean?]"

Yosho looked at her calmly. "[It means, he really will have an easier
time in beat me the next time. He has this talent of adjusting real
quickly. Do not doubt that for a second. When it comes to learning new
skills and adaptations, he's probably the best. So far, most of my
surprise attacks worked only twice or thrice, before he learns them and
defends against them.]"

Mei-Li fell silent in contemplation once again as they continued to
trudge towards the towering gondola.

======================================================================== =====

A serene aura bathed the surroundings outside the backyard of the
Starway Mansion. The three-story five thousand square meters of land
sported an ochre walled and yellow roofed building. Around the huge
building was a generous portion of land that was riddled with grass and
trees. When one viewed on the top floors, the long narrow river of Small
Galaxy, named after its magnificence of glittering spectacle at night,
that separated the mountainous area of where the mansion was located
from the valley of the village proper. One distinct bridge closed this
gap, which connected the two parts of the village.

It was still light outside, and it was quite in the middle of the
afternoon. Mao, Mei-Li and Shilou left to tend for the needs in the
mansion. Meanwhile Ranma and Yosho broke off and went to entertain
themselves at the backyard, where the huge trees were located.

When they knocked at the gates a while ago, they were greeted and
introduced formally to Lady Laia and the owner of the mansion, Master
Yang. Mao was immediately drafted into the kitchen, while Mei-Li and
Shilou assisted in the preparation for the wedding. Ranma and Yosho were
left with nothing to do, so they were offered to go on a tour, which was
politely declined. They insisted that a nice view of the trees they saw
while they trekked towards the mansion would suffice, so they were
obliged in their request.

Ranma and Yosho walked side by side as they passed through the groves of
the old trees. Yosho was at home here, for his planet had forests upon
forests of Juraian space trees. The holy groves that housed their trees
were the homes of their souls, a part of themselves. Juraians have
counterparts with these trees, which were also the source of their slow
ageing and also their spaceships.

Ranma was still trying to cope with the feeling of his sudden loss. He
knew exactly what he lost, which was Akane. He still remembered that
time before he voluntarily flung himself into this time, whenever this
was. He just wanted to lash out at everyone, and he felt scared when he
almost lost control over his emotions.

All his life, he was trained to reign in his emotions. A martial artist
was supposed to know when and where to expose them. The tidal waves of
emotions that lashed out on his wall of control almost destroyed the
reigns he set himself up. He was sure that he heard himself that he
wanted to strangle Ryoga to death. He considered the pigboy his friend,
and to come back just to find out that your friend managed to sneak past
his love's defenses --- yes he had accepted it a long time ago. He loved
Akane, and now he lost that one as well. Every vision he had of his
future at that time collapsed instantly, and the Saiyajin blood that
coursed through his veins boiled in defiance and anger.

Control. Right now his control was a little bit at a loss. His life was
chaotic, that much he knew, but this was just too much for him to handle
right now. He couldn't even get himself to look into Akane's guilty eyes
at that time.

He never cheated, even amidst the belief otherwise of Akane. Shampoo's
glomp is really an Amazon work of art... one captured in it would be
near impossible to pry lose. You have to touch a certain no-no part to
be able to break the hold, but as he said, it was a no-no. The brand of
the pervert would never leave his name if he did that, so he just wisely
sat still and let the glomp take its course, even going as far as
wishing for Akane to punt him away. That's how amazing that technique
was.

His best friend Ukyou, now here lay a conflict. Actually, a conflict
when it came to honor. Ranma wasn't really able to picture the
okonomiyaki chef as a woman he would want to marry, but rather he viewed
her as 'one of the guys'. But her claim was as legitimate as it goes,
because Genma stole her yatai. Even using Ranma's childish innocence as
a blaming point. His father was a good martial artist, but as a human
being he failed miserably. The bad thing with that was Genma being
nonchalant about it.

Kodachi... nevermind. He really hadn't wanted the gymnast anyway. No
offense to her, she's just plain nuts sometimes. Her delusions were
probably best blamed on the toxic fumes that she probably inhaled while
making those potions she so obviously were proud of. And there's also
the fact that she was a Kuno... and for some reason insanity flowed in
the family. And the laugh... ugh.

Ranma never felt so lost before, so broken. That's what he felt when he
first appeared at the old shrine all those months ago. He met his future
adoptive grandfather, though now he couldn't bring himself to call him
that. They agreed, rather, Yosho pounded it into ihs skull that he under
no circumstances should be called 'grandpa'. Yosho had a point though,
for he looked a little older than Ranma's true age.

And then there's this problem with his own body. A Jusenkyo curse,
age-reduced to a toddler, alien hybrid to boot... such chaos for someone
oh so young. His shape changing curse he already accepted it. No matter
how he tried, fate seemed to deflect all possible means of being cured.

Actually, he was quite grateful when Happosai drank the barrel of
Nannichuan. He only found out about the combining curses when Trunks and
he returned from the future. He also wondered why he even tried to
bother looking for a cure, after all his curse was an advantage in some
occasions. Besides, variety is best.

Ranma mentally slapped himself. Pervert.

Probably, Happosai knew of the complications, that's why he drank the
damned thing. But he wasn't about to thank the old pervert just yet. He
was responsible for Ranma's predicament in the first place.

Oh boy, speaking of predicaments. He has yet to meet his real mother,
and according to some of the things he heard from his grandpa back in
the future, Tokimi was a goddess of chaos. Makes sense though, chaos
ruled his life so chaos must be his mother. They also mentioned her dark
intentions for the entire universe, which he felt that it must've been
highly overrated. Evil or not, blood was thicker than water. Not that he
was about to pledge his life for evil anyway. He just believed that his
mother was just misguided. Most people are.

Ranma already mentioned this to Yosho, who at first almost lobbed his
head off. The Juraian prince was enraged to find out that he was the
'devil spawn' of the 'evil Tokimi'. But after calming him down (beating
him to submission, just barely won against that) they talked about it
and Yosho finally gave him the benefit of the doubt.

His curse was met with nonchalance, and Ranma was a bit grateful for
that. When he thought about it, it was not really all that weird
compared to being an alien prince who pursued a very powerful
spacepirate (well, he said Ryoko was a demon actually, but Ranma
corrected his assumption) all over the galaxy and ended up in this far
away planet. Not to mention getting stranded when your space ship blew
up, and left only a seedling afterwards.

For the months that they traveled together, Yosho had been watching him
like a hawk does his prey. It was only after three months of travel did
the Juraian prince finally accepted that Ranma wasn't evil. Ranma even
managed to make Yosho spar against him, and they traded secrets. It was
only fair afterall.

They planned on searching for the forest that those ageing mushrooms
were from. Actually, more like hoping to stumble into it. Yosho made a
valid point at some random time. He stated that Ranma should just let
his body age normally. Ranma wasn't about to go anywhere in the first
place. The pigtailed boy was about to retort but stopped himself. It was
rather easier that way. His body was to age only up to about nineteen to
twenty, then slow down dramatically up to twenty-two or so, then stop
all together. Yosho was a proof of that.

Yosho watched Ranma in the corners of his eyes as they walked up the
dirt path. Earlier, he was greatly awed as to how much of the foliage
existed in this planet. He planted his spacetree Funaho, back in the
forest situated near the Masaki Shrine. The soil here was not as rich as
those in his homeplanet Jurai, but it was passable. It would take some
time before the tree took its roots in this planets, but it was on its
way. He felt for his belt buckle, and smiled when he groped the one he
seeked. The Master Key Tenchi-ken... his energy sword and legacy.
Outside, it looked just like a piece of old tree bark that was shaped
like a hilt of a sword. But this piece of wood was made from the
strongest of the Juraian spacetrees. His Tenchi-ken also had on its tip
the three gems the space pirate Ryoko used to get her power. He planned
on keeping the gems to prevent the so-called 'demon' from reawakening
once again.

Yosho saw Ranma's expressions as it changed from awe to indifference,
then depression. When he first met the pigtailed kid, he felt the strong
connection to Jurai from him. Yosho also found out how Ranma got into
this world, and that the boy was his own grandson in the future. When
Yosho asked Ranma to explain his presence, the boy did not hesitate. It
was as if he knew that he was persistent as hell when it comes to
secrets. It came to little surprise when he found out about Ranma's
heritage, although he was a bit wary of Ranma's direct connection to
Tokimi. He wanted to kill him at first, but after being defeated in
battle (his first in years!) and was not killed for it, he just had to
give the boy some degree of trust. He also respected the amount of
control Ranma had, after all his explanations and stories, Yosho just
respected Ranma for still being sane.

The Juraian prince offered to teach the young Juraian. At first, Yosho's
reason was because it just won't do if someone as strong as Ranma should
be left gallivanting around the world with those powers unrestrained and
untrained. This was where he found out that Ranma was also part
Saiyajin, and some other race that was not clarified even to Ranma. But
as time went on, he began to enjoy his spars with the little boy, well,
young man if the stories were really true. Those ageing mushrooms were
interesting enough though, as interesting as his Jusenkyo curse. He felt
sorry for the young man though, who had four curses all at once...
Jusenkyo, Age, Species, and of course the old chinese proverb: 'May you
live in interesting times'.

Yosho sighed. <Such hardship for one so young.>

Ranma turned to Yosho when he heard the prince sigh. "Thinking about
something, Yosho?" he asked in their native tongue.

Yosho grinned at the boy. "Yeah. Reminiscing, I guess."

Unknown to them, two shadows followed them as Ranma and Yosho entered
the miniature forest of the mansion. They have been observing the duo
for quite some time now.

Mei-Li and Shilou left Mao to take care of the banquet after they talked
to Lady Laia. There they found out about Laia and Igle's relationship,
and Igle's supposed to be upcoming proposal to the purple haired girl
via his gift of a Pearl Bangle. Pearls were rare in this part of China
because of its distance from the ocean, so a pearl gift was a very
special way to express one's love in these parts.

They were about to step out of the mansion when they spied on Ranma and
Yosho at the backyard exit. The two wanderers just exited, so Mei-Li and
Shilou decided to follow them. They have no idea who these people were,
so gathering some information from them seems to be adequate as of the
moment. Their breaths caught in their throats when they came upon the
sight of a heavily greened forest just behind the mansion. They saw that
Ranma and Yosho were also awed by the sight. Their thoughtful looks that
reflected in their faces proved to be so.

Their contemplations were cut short when Ranma finally spoke. Mei-Li
scrunched her face in confusion. It wasn't chinese, and she hadn't ever
heard of such dialect before. The man called Yosho also answered in the
same tongue. Mei-Li turned to Shilou, who had this shocked look on his
face. She tapped on his shoulder, which caused him to swivel his face
towards hers and saw her unvoiced question.

Shilou nodded and whispered fiercely, "[There were speaking in
Japanese...]".

Mei-Li cocked her head to one side, momentarily ignoring her two
targets' conversation for now. "[Japanese? As in Japan? You're half
japanese right? Can you understand them?]"

Shilou nodded once again. "[Yeah. Good thing mom taught me when I was
younger. It will come in handy with these two. Don't worry, I'll
translate for you.]".

They both turned their attentions back to the conversation, with Shilou
doing the translations for Mei-Li.

Back to the small clearing, the two travelers snickered.

"The look on your face alone when I beat you... hahaha!" Ranma clutched
at his sides as he laughed a bit.

Yosho snorted. "Pure luck, that's what it is! By the way, why are you
not using your disguise field? Surely, you can do it in your sleep
right?"

Ranma immediately sobered. "Yeah. I just figured being a kid without
having the difficulties would be nice for a change. Besides, this way,
women won't come after me again!"

Their two shadows became quite interested in that one. <Disguise field?>
the two thought at the same time.

Yosho groaned. "Spare me the explanations, Ranma. Your ego is showing
again."

Ranma hmphed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Yeah, well, let's
see you handle being chased by women all the time."

Yosho sighed in exasperation. "Whatever."

Ranma grinned. "Say, wanna spar? I still can't figure out some of your
techniques."

Yosho smiled back. "Well, even you can't take in those techniques at one
glance. Are you going to use a weapon?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nah... that's for next time."

The ponytailed man suddenly reached into the sleeves of his robe, and
pulled out a wooden stick... much to the surprise and curiosity of
Mei-Li and Shilou. Ranma leapt back a bit and leaned over to his normal
battle stance, meaning, none at all.

"You better use your disguise field. You must also practice on all forms
you know." Yosho said seriously. Ranma just nodded and closed his eyes,
in which for a moment, nothing happened. Then all of the sudden, a faint
glow of blue outlined Ranma's frame.

Mei-Li's eyes widened as she watched the small boy grow in height. His
face also lost the slight baby fat and became older, about Yosho's age if
she wasn't mistaken. His muscles swelled as his clothes grew with his
body. His pigtail also grew in length and is now reaching below his neck.
The only constant in his look were his blue-gray eyes when Ranma opened
them. Shilou was just plain stunned, so much that he fell silent.

Ranma looked down on himself and looked back at Yosho, who was grinning
triumphantly. "There, you happy?" he snapped, which caused Yosho's
bright face to brighten up some more.

With a small yell, the two warriors leapt to each other, one with a
bokken raised, the other with his foot extended for a kick.

The two spectators in the dark shadows of the bushes were treated into a
what was called a high speed fight. Blurs and clacks of wood against
flesh resonated all over the confines of the clearing. Mei-Li and
Shilou, not fighters in any sense, only saw momentary flashes of white
and dark blue. The ground beneath the two blurs were littered with
debris and small craters, and some more craters appeared after some
time. Exactly thirteen minutes of non-stop fighting (I timed it of
course, not them) did wonders to the landscape.

They focused their attentions once again on the field as the two forms
materialized a bit far away from each other. Ranma, in his older body,
was alright in a sense, but a bit tired as indicated in his labored
breathing. Yosho on the other side held his bokken, whose tip was
splintered and the sharp side flattened unevenly, which seemed like it
was from a being hit by a blunt object. They were both tired,
apparently.

Finally, Yosho stood up straighter, while Ranma fell down to one knee.
The pigtailed boy carefully unwrapped his white sash and tossed it
aside. Underneath the white cloak, another sash which was colored red
emerged. Much to Mei-Li and Shilou's growing surprise (again), the sash
twitched and uncoiled itself from Ranma's waist. The somewhat
sash-looking red thing swung on the air all over the boy's back. He
grunted as he stroke his tail and leveled a glare to Yosho's smirking
expression.

"That was uncalled for, ya know." Ranma winced once again as he touched
a sore spot on his tail. He forgot to focus his ki on his tail once
again, hence his untimely defeat.

Yosho threw the ruined bokken aside and grinned. "Sorry about that, but
as you always say, 'Anything Goes' right? I took the advantage of
hitting your special appendage right there."

Ranma stood up shakily and complained loudly, "Yeah yeah, but you didn't
have to use your special technique just to pound on that one spot on my
tail. No matter how resilient it is from attacks, they still sting."

Yosho just shook his head and reached into his sleeves again. This time,
instead of a bokken, he took out a water balloon. How did he get that?
Ask him. He looked up to Ranma mischievously, who was still inspected
his tail with an annoyed expression. Yosho lifted up the balloon over
his head, and threw it.

Straight into Ranma's face.

>SPLASH!<

Instant Onna-Ranma. "Watcha do that for?!" Her high pitched voice echoed
across the clearing.

This time, loud gasps were heard from the bushes, which also shook for
some reason. This sound combined with the rustling noise alerted the two
combatants of other presences at the area.

Onna-Ranma blurred.

Mei-Li and Shilou panicked, after they saw the redhaired female Ranma
disappear in an instant. Suddenly, they felt some taps on their
shoulders. They slowly turned and paled.

Onna-Ranma stood right behind them, tapping her foot. "[Spying, eh?]"

When they failed to answer, the pigtailed redhead grabbed the two
stunned-into-silence teens by the scruffs of their necks and carried
them to where the amused Yosho stood.

"[Mei-Li! Shilou! How are you this afternoon?]" Yosho asked a little bit
too cheerfully.

At this point, Shilou started to fidget and panic. "[I-it wasn't what
you think! We didn't see anything! It was an accident! Waaaaahh! Don't
get rid of us!!! It was Mei-Li's fault---urk.]" Ranma pulled her
tightened fist back from Shilou's head, who slumped down to the ground
in a blissful sleep.

Yosho bopped Onna-Ranma's head. "[Idiot. That was way too much.]"

Onna-Ranma snorted. "[He's annoying.]"

Finally, Mei-Li turned to face an almost mirror image of her own face,
only... her counterpart's chest were a bit more... ahem. Anyway. Mei-Li
looked into Onna-Ranma's blue-gray eyes and asked, "[H-how?]"

Onna-Ranma sighed as she sat down beside Mei-Li, who thankfully was too
stunned to flinch away. "[It's a curse. I turn into a girl with cold
water, while hot water changes me back to a guy.]"

Mei-Li still looked unconvinced. "[C-curse? As in m-magic?]"

Onna-Ranma nodded. "[Yeah, you can say that. There is a training ground
here in China that has a hundred different springs with bamboo poles
sticking out of them. You balance unto those poles and spar over them.
But the problem is, the springs are cursed. When you get wet into those
springs, you get turned into those who drowned in them. I was splashed
in the Spring of Drowned Girl. Compared to the other springs, I kinda
thought I lucked out. The other springs there have animal curses in
them. Imagine if I fell into the Spring of Drowned Pig.]" She winced at
the memory.

The green-eyed redhead sat there as she digested the information fed
into her brain. Beside the two redheads, Shilou still lay unconscious.
Mei-Li suddenly straightened as she remembered something.

"[You grew. How did you do that? You grew up from being a child into
that firm body.]" Mei-Li's eyes widened and her cheeks reddened when she
realized what she just said.

Onna-Ranma's cute face grimaced. "[That... is a bit harder to explain.
You see, I really am at this body's real age. I was reverted to a
child's body after I ate some age-altering mushrooms. My friend Yosho
taught me how to use my ki to alter my age and appearance so I may not
feel too bad about being transformed into a child.]"

"[So... you're really that old?]" Mei-Li asked as she pointedly looked
over Onna-Ranma's current older form.

Onna-Ranma smiled. "[More or less.]"

Mei-Li's face brightened. "[Wow... real magic. Can you get back to being
a male again?]"

Onna-Ranma was about to answer when a splash of hot water drowned her, I
mean, his reply. Ranma sputtered for a bit, which caused Mei-Li to
giggle, and glared at Yosho. Ranma turned back to Mei-Li and said, "[By
the way, could you keep this form of mine a secret? The one where I get
older? I want the others to keep on thinking I'm a child. As for the
reason... I dunno. Ask me another time when I have the answer to that
one. Regarding me becoming female, it would be hard to keep that one,
because I have little to no control whatsoever over the Jusenkyo curse.
You see, I became some sort of a water magnet when I got cursed. Water
finds me in odd and mysterious ways.]"

The redhead nodded her agreement. "[Alright. It's a secret then. Don't
worry, we'll tell Shilou about it also. By the way, you are Japanese
right? Shilou understood some of what you were saying a while ago. He's
half Japanese...]"

Ranma shrugged. "[That's right. We came here in China for training.]"

Mei-Li sighed. "[Wow... I knew there was something about you when we
first met. I mean, the way you took care of yourself was so mature, much
more so than your physical age.]"

Just then, Mei-Li's attention went to the wriggling appendage that hung
at Ranma's lower back. The redhead shakily pointed a finger at it and
said, "[A t-tail... is that real?]"

Ranma groaned and looked down to his tail, willing it to wrap around his
torso, which did so. "[Yeah... strange ain't it? One thing's for sure.
I'm not human. I guess you're gonna run around and scream bloody hell
right? Sorry for keeping this from you, but I can't risk on people
knowing too much about me and stuff.]"

Mei-Li shook her head. "[No... not really. I mean, it's really weird and
all but... I think I can handle it. And so what if you're not human?
Wait... what are you then?]"

Ranma shrugged. "[You won't believe me even if I tell you. Let's just
say that I am not from this world.]" <Well, actually even Yosho is also
one, but no sense in putting him into the spotlight now right?>

Mei-Li sighed. "[As long as you're not doing anything wrong, it's okay,
right? Besides, I think it's kinda cool!]"

"[Wait... you don't think I'm a freak? A pervert?]"

Mei-Li frowned. "[Why would I think that?]"

Ranma smiled sadly. "[I change into a girl. I have a tail. I have
multitudes of curses. Most people from where I came from think that I am
a freak and... a pervert.]"

Mei-Li moved herself closer to the raven haired boy and touched his hand
with hers. She smiled softly at him. "[You're not a pervert. You have no
control over your curse. Even if other people with think that way, don't
worry. I won't think of you as that.]"

Ranma nodded slightly. "[Thanks, Mei-Li. I needed that.]"

Mei-Li beamed at him. A loud groan interrupted their conversation, and
they were greeted with a wide-eyed sight of Shilou. After a repeat of
the lengthy explanation about the weird things, and also something about
Shilou promising not to blurt out anything without Ranma's permission,
everything went back more or less to normal.

======================================================================== =====

The group of five now stood at the entrance of the cooks for the Starway
Restaurant when they spotted a very beautiful ice sculpture of an open
winged Phoenix. Chibi-Ranma, shrunk once again to prevent confusion and
to keep his secret, lifted himself up into tippy-toes to see the work.
It was currently surrounded by a lot of people, who were also admiring
the knife skills of whoever sculpted the great piece of artwork.

"[Wow...]" Was the only word the five newcomers said after gazing at the
work.

One of the patrons turned to them. "[This is Igle's work.]"

"[Igle?]" Shilou said quizzically, "[You mean this is Mister Third Rate
Chef's work?]" This statement earned him a slap on the head from three
different directions, mainly Chibi-Ranma, Mao and Mei-Li.

Another patron sighed. "[But I feel sorry for him, though...]"

That peeked at Mao's attention. "[Why is that?]"

The patron looked at the sculpture once again. "[Igle made this for Lady
Laia.]"

"[Eh?!]" Mao, Mei-Li and Shilou all resounded. Chibi-Ranma and Yosho
just shrugged in indifference.

"[But that would mean...]" Mao and Mei-Li looked to one another in
alarm, "[Igle is still in love with Laia!]" they said in unison.

"Cool... relationships were not one of my strong points..." Ranma said
warily towards the snickering Yosho. Shilou chuckled as Mao and Mei-Li
turned to look at the pigtailed boy, confused.

======================================================================== =====

"[Now tell me again why I was roped into this?]" Ranma whined loudly as
he felt himself dragged by Mei-Li. The redhead just tightened her hold
on the young man-boy and quickened her pace.

"[We should find Igle and confront him!]" Mei-Li said. For a moment
there, Ranma thought she would pose herself in a heroic manner. He
shivered a bit as he shook his head. <I spent too much time dealing with
Kuno.> he thought grimly to himself. Behind them, Mao and Shilou only
nodded their heads in agreement, while Yosho was looking from side to
side and took on the scenery with maddening glee.

A cluster of jabbering men and women got their attention. As they
squeezed themselves to get into the heart of the crowd, they had a
sinking feeling who was being talked about. Sure enough, a beat-up form
of Igle lay on his back in the middle of the commotion.

"[Igle!]" Mei-Li rushed to the unconscious man's side. She cradled his
head on her lap and looked imploringly at Ranma, who sighed and nodded
his head. The pigtailed boy reached and grabbed the front of Igle's
shirt and hoisted him over his shoulders. Because of his current height,
Igle's feet and legs were dangling on the ground. The crowd gasped
loudly at the show of feat in Ranma's part. Of course, a child smaller
than Shilou lifting up someone thrice his weight easily without being
hampered is a sight to behold after all.

Moments later, the crowd finally dispersed, which left the group and
their unconscious cargo alone in the middle of some tables, where Ranma
lay Igle's body. Mei-Li was applying cold compress over the man's face
until finally, Igle's groan was heard.

"[Are you all right?]" Mao approached the man as Igle took unto his
surroundings.

"[Yeah...]" Igle said groggily. Suddenly, he sat up straight, and his
eyes flashed for a moment. "[Oh god, Laia! I've been so wrong! Harry was
a bad person! I heard his plans of taking over the restaurant and making
money out of it for his vices! I should've never let Laia go...]" he
said as he sat there, dejected and hurt.

"[Too late for that. Laia said that she will forget about you.]"
Shilou's conspiratorical tone didn't really appease the troubled man too
well. He got a smack from the wet cloth Mei-Li was using a while ago.

Mao was at the moment silent in his own corner. He was eyeing the pearl
bangle Igle had taken out to show everyone. It was his gift for the Lady
Laia. Finally, the blue haired boy stood up, walked to Igle and said,
"[Igle, can I please see the bangle?]"

Mei-Li looked skeptical. "[Do you have an idea, Mao?]"

Mao nodded. "[If cooking was for people's happiness, it can also be used
to reassure love between two people.]"

======================================================================== =====

The wedding finally came. Important people from all over the town as
well as some from the nearby neighboring towns attended. They all
awaited for the union between Lady Laia and the Senior Chef Harry.

At first, everyone hadn't taken notice of the way Lady Laia hadn't taken
any attention on her wedding. In fact, she seemed reluctant at the whole
affair. When the presentation of the rings finally came, her reluctance
grew, as with her hands that shook as they slowly attempted to place the
symbolic ring of marriage on Harry's wedding finger.

Imagine her relief when an unlikely source of disruption came in from
the front doors of the hall. Mao, Shilou and that smaller pigtailed boy
came in carrying what it seemed like a metallic bowl which was covered,
followed by Mei-Li and the other taller stranger. Laia's relief was so
much that her nerveless hands let go of the wedding ring that she was
supposed to slip into Harry's finger. The ring fell down the ground with
a clink.

"[What is the meaning of this?]" It was Master Yang's voice, but instead
of irritation it was more of curiousity.

Mao smiled widely at everyone, especially to Laia. "[It's a gift from
someone. Mei-Li, Shilou, the windows!]"

"[Okay!]" They both chorused as they ran up to the windows and opened
them. In effect, the candles around the hall went out, leaving the room
darkened a bit. Finally, Mao opened the metal bowl. Everyone gasped as
they gazed upon the truly graceful dish that was presented unto them. It
was as if the stars were plucked from the heavens and were sprinkled all
over the black soup of the dish.

"[Amazing...]" Was all everyone could say as they watched the lights
play havoc on the sparkling surface of the dish.

Mao nodded. "[I call this my Galaxy Noodles! A story wherein two stars,
Altair and Vega, were rumored to be lovers turned stars and were
separated by the Milky Way. They only get to approach each other for
once a year, meaning the Star Festival.]"

Everyone aahed and took samples of the dish. The expressions of
happiness in their faces were testament to the amazing taste of the
noodle dish.

"[An amazing dish for just the right occasion. Tell me, how did you do
this?]" Master Yang asked.

Mao immediately took his cue. "[It's made out of cuttlefish ink soup
stock with recently made noodles. The stars I made out of... pearls.]"

The last statement jolted Laia out of reverie as she adopted a surprised
look. She gazed on Mao as he nodded to her, acknowledgeing her unasked
question. Her tears started flowing down her face as she thought of
'him'... of Igle.

"[Stupid boy!]" The irate Senior Chef Harry growled out. "[Why have you
done this?]"

Mao hadn't taken Harry's presence at all. Instead he addressed to Master
Yang and said, "[Master Yang, Harry only wanted to use this marriage to
get Starway Restaurant and use it for his own means.]"

Harry took an involuntary step backwards. "[How dare you! Master Yang,
would you listen to the word of this kid! He has no certifications or
anything!]"

Shilou was busy untying the cloth that was wrapped around Mao's left
arm. "[No certification huh? How about this?!]" He finally unwrapped the
cloth and let the emblem of a coiled green dragon exposed for everyone
to see. The crowds gasped as the symbol of the most coveted position in
the cooking world, the Super Chef Emblem, was shown to them, and it was
in the hands of a boy.

Master Yang finally recognized him. "[You were the boy that passed the
Guang-Zho Super Chef test! Liu Mao-Hsing!]" Turning to Harry, he drawled
out, "[Harry, was it true?!]"

The man blanched when he saw the symbol. He shrugged and said, "[Oh
well, I was so close... too bad.]" He quickly lunged at Mao. But his
progress was halted when he was viciously kicked at the stomach. Harry
flew back to the back wall and crashed through it, creating a neat hole
in the cement.

Ranma slowly retracted his foot from the kicking position. He figured
out how Harry's muscles tensed when he was about to launch himself to
Mao, so he was in time to stop the assault. He kicked Harry in the
stomach, carefully taking note not to add too much pressure into it.

After being treated to the sight, Mao turned to Master Yang and bowed.
"[Master Yang. You already had a good chef in your hands. It doesn't
mean that if someone was a Senior Chef, he's a good chef all in all.]"

Master Yang sighed. "[I'm sorry Laia, I only thought of what was good
for the restaurant. I hand't really asked how you felt about it...]"

Laia shook her head and smiled. "[It's all right father...]"

"[Lady Laia...]" Laia's attention turned to Mao. The blue haired boy
continued, "[Here is the bangle Igle was supposed to give to you as a
gift. I kind of used some of the pearls. By the way, he is waiting at
the place where he promised he would give that bangle to you. Go to him,
Lady Laia.]"

Laia was elated as she nodded and sprinted towards the exit, to go to
the love of her life. Ranma and the others hung back in the background
and watched the scene. The pigtail boy sighed and looked forlorned for
some reason. He remembered his broken past, and he felt a bit envious at
this reunion between the two lovers.

Mei-Li turned slightly to Ranma when she heard him sigh. She noted that
his face reflected a huge amount of grief for a moment, before it
vanished as he resumed his neutral expression.

======================================================================== =====

After the fiasco and the heart-warming reunion of the two lovers in
Starway Village, the group traveled once again and reached the place
called Chicken Town. This sort of town reflected the symbolism of its
namesake. For some odd reason, the whole area was saturated with chicken
farms. Chickens flew here and there and were scattered all over the
place.

They finally figured out later on that the town was actually THE center
of chicken commerce for the whole of China. So it was understandable
that the area was so full of chickens. Right now, the town was full of
bustling people because of the upcoming Chicken Dish Competition. This
contest centers on various Chicken Restaurants in the town proper to pit
against each other with their unique chicken dishes.

Chibi-Onna-Ranma and Mei-Li were currently walking ahead of the group.
Ranma's girl form is no secret for Mao at this time, because while they
were camping out the day before, a passing rain accidentally (yeah
right, as if anything water related to Ranma was an accident) turned the
pigtailed boy into female. After two to three demos of the curse and the
usual Jusenkyo explanation, Mao was able to understand the situation.

Anyway, the smaller redhead's hand was currently held by the taller
redhead, who for some reason refused to let Ranma's hand go. After a few
feeble attempts (Ranma was tempted to throw her over his/her shoulder,
but that wouldn't be nice) Chibi-Ranma just shrugged and let herself be
dragged off by the chattering Mei-Li. Mao was in the middle as he
carried a small pile of books that was tucked in one hand, with the
other held an open book that he was reading. Yosho and Shilou hung on
the back and watched out for Mao, if ever he came in any danger because
of not watching where he was going.

After walking around for a while, Shilou and Ranma's stomach growled in
unison.

"[I'm hungry!]" Shilou announced rather loudly.

Chibi-Ranma smiled sheepishly. "[Me too.]"

Mao laughed and was about to retort when his stomach growled in reply.
He had the decency to blush after that one.

Mei-Li looked down on Ranma. "[I can't believe you two. You just ate a
while ago!]" she chided softly. Her stomach then grumbled, which earned
her some laughs from her companions. Her cheeks tinged pink in
embarrassment.

"[I think we are all hungry.]" Yosho said. He then looked curiously at
Shilou, who was reaching at something on a tree.

"[Shilou!]" Mao walked up to the boy, "[You mustn't take something
without asking!]"

Shilou climbed up the fence to gain higher ground. "[Yeah? Well nobody
will notice because the tree is inside this crummy old house!]" He was
about to reach the weird orange fruit when his hand was casually swatted
away by a bamboo pole, which caused Shilou to unceremoniously fall down
the ground on his behind, hard.

Chibi-Ranma walked up to Shilou, who screamed profanities and wiped his
butt in askance, stuck her tongue out to him and said, "[That one you
had coming.]"

"['Crummy' house you say?]" A woman with short dark green hair in black
chinese garbs looked at the groaning boy with amusement.

Shilou quickly pulled himself up to standing position and glared at the
woman. "[What the hell did you do that for?!]" he said menacingly, which
he received three bops on the head.

"[I told you it's a bad idea to take something without asking.]" Mao
said solemnly.

Chibi-Ranma snorted. "[As I said earlier, he had it coming.]"

Mei-Li growled at Shilou. "[Watch your mouth! You better apologize to
her!]"

Shilou looked at Mei-Li like she had grown another head. "[Whaaaat?! You
expect me to apologize to her after what she did to me?!]"

Mei-Li bopped Shilou again on the head and turned to the woman. She
bowed and said, "[We're sorry for our friend. I would like to apologize
in behalf of him.]"

The woman shook her head. "[Nah, forget about it. What he took, he can
eat it.]" She looked briefly at Shilou, who took a bite on the fruit,
which proved to be a mistake because his eyes watered and his mouth
immediately spewed out its putrid contents. "[Those were perfume
pomegrenates. They're used for decorations and stuff. Anyway, my name is
Tia, and this house is really a restaurant called Black Wing. Come
inside for a while.]"

The group followed Tia into the gates of the restaurant and immediately
noticed the fallen sign and the harsh words scrawled on the walls of the
restaurant.

They were treated in a humble meal, which consisted of rice and some
meat. Shilou made a comment about not being served chicken dishes
eventhough it was a chicken restaurant, which earned him bops on the
head once again. Tia was inspecting some of the books Mao bought.

"[Hmmm... so you bought all this books instead of food. You are too
positive.]" Tia commented as she flipped on the page.

Mao nodded. "[Yes. Uhm, would you mind telling us why there are no
people in this restaurant?]"

The woman placed the book down and sighed. "[There are no people here
because I don't cook chicken.]"

"[EH?]" Shilou looked at Tia in wonder.

Chibi-Ranma looked up from her meal. "[Why not?]"

Tia growled. "[Because I hate chicken.]"

That night, Ranma and the group were led to the shed where they opted to
spend the night. The warm bales of hay produced enough insulation, not
that Ranma needed it in the first place. The pigtailed girl sighed as
she tried to get some sleep, only to be awakened once again when Mao sat
up urgently. Ranma stood up and follow when the blue haired boy stood up
and scrambled outside. There they encountered the black chicken, which
looked quite intimidating with the totally black plumage that it
displayed.

When Mao was about to touch it, Tia came out and stopped him from doing
so, and gave a reason about it bringing bad luck to anyone who touched
it.

When they asked about it, Tia explained about how she once lived with
her brother Crow in that restaurant. Her brother had this dream of
breeding the perfect chicken, and brought home a pair of black chicks.
It was proven hard, because black chickens lay weak eggs, and some die
at an early stage. If this happened, Crow would go out and find another
black chick to take home. This went on for a long time, until rumors
circulate that the chicks were cursed. Some of the patrons of the Black
Wing Restaurant had suffered weird illnesses which caused their deaths.
Their business dropped dramatically because of this. Apparently, Crow
fell ill one day, which caused more hardships for Tia. On his last
breath, he still proclaimed his dream of breeding the perfect chickens.

Mao's eyes glinted and immediately grabbed one of the chickens. He
inspected it thoroughly and nodded. He looked up to Tia and asked,
"[Have you ever cooked one of these chickens?]"

Tia looked confused. "[Huh? No, why?]"

Ranma yawned. "[Mao has 'the Look' again. He's got an idea.]"

======================================================================== =====

The competition day rolled in, and as expected, the thralls of insults
against the Black Wing Restaurant and its unique black chickens were
tremendous. The people were thoroughly convinced that the chickens were
ominous, just because of some measly circumstances that they cannot
explain and had the need to pin it on something. That was how shallow
minded and superstitious people were back then those days, and Ranma was
just starting to realize it.

It was rather annoying, actually.

If a little coincidence rocked their world, how will they react to his
curse then? A riot will ensue, probably he will be hunted down to the
ends of the earth. People with pitchforks and torches running behind
him, shouting, "Witch! Warlock!" over and over, and the vision of a tied
up Ranma on a stake with a huge bonfire lit at his feet.

Sure... nice vision eh?

>Cough, cough...<

Anyway. After the judges finally deemed the entry of the Black Wing as
legitimate (though in their eyes it said a whole volume of difference)
the contest finally started. Ranma and Yosho nodded in approval at the
amazing display of skills the various chefs around the stadium proper
were demonstrating.

"I don't know if Mao knew about this, but he uses his chi to add speed
and power to his cutting arm." Ranma commented to Yosho as they stood at
the sidelines.

Yosho looked surprised. "Chi? Not ki?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nope. Mao adds the power of his emotions into his
cooking. It's evident in the sharp blue aura. Confidence and pride of a
person, as they say. That's chi. Ki is something from the surroundings,
from 'no-emotions'. Usually colored white, grey/silver or black."

Yosho looked around and nodded. "Oh... I can even feel the other cooks
using minute amounts of their chi. Not as strong as Mao's, though..."

All in all, the effort Mao had put in his cooking led him to victory,
once again his Super Chef status was declared in the end. As one of the
judges of the contest, Mister Touri, had said it, "[Opening the huge
doors and walking the path has always been the hardest part when
starting anew.]"

Black Wing Restaurant was declared the winner of the competition. The
black chickens were identified by Mao as the infamous Silkie, a
legendary bird that was said to be sent by the gods to Chicken town.
Mao's special dish, which consisted of plain rice which was stuffed
inside a Silkie and was baked in oven flame. The essence of the chicken
was absorbed into the rice thoroughly. This brought the taste of the
Silkie into full bloom.

Add that to Mao's unconscious use of his chi to enhance the taste of his
dish, a plain looking rice turned out to be a chicken dish delicacy.

======================================================================== =====

After Mao's triumph in the Chicken Dish competition, everyone together
with Tia bore flowers as a tribute for Chef Crow's grave. Mao's win not
only brought recognition for the hard-earned success in the breeding of
the perfect Silkie, but also opened a door that was once sought out by
Tia's brother Crow in pursuit for the tasteful black chicken.

Tia was telling them about Crow's training journey to Guangzhou, where
he became best friends with one of the talented chefs there.

As they approached the grave, they found out that there was already
someone there. Whoever it was, the person was obviously a guy (probably
because his physique is a guy's) and had his back turned to them.

Suddenly, the guy spoke, "[Mao, what is the mission of the Super Chef?]"

Mao's face reflected confusion at first, then recognition as a small
smile played on his face. "[To make people happy! Master Chouyu!]" he
said and sprinted towards the figure. The man stood up and faced the
young chef, with green hair and wore dark blue clothes. His face showed
wisdom and age, as well as sterness that defined a true teacher.

The blue-haired boy stood straight and bowed in front of Chouyu. "[Liu
Mai-Zhing, reporting the success of his training journey!]"

Tia smiled. "[Chouyu-san helped my brother while he stayed in Guangzhou.
They became best friends because they have similar dreams.]"

Mei-Li gasped. "[Eh? Father?]"

Ranma looked at Chouyu, then at Mei-Li. "[Frankly, I can't see the
resemblance.]"

Yosho appraised the man. "[Well, it would seem that he has great stature
and a good heart.]"

Shilou started shaking. "[T-that's... Mao's sensei? Scary...]"

Mei-Li quickly bowed to her father, who looked on with a neutral
expression on his face. "[Father... I'm sorry I took off without your
permission...]"

Chouyu sighed and rapped his daughter on the head gently. "[Hmph. Who
are these people?]" he asked as he gestured towards Ranma, Yosho and
Shilou.

Yosho stepped forward. "[I am Yosho, a traveler, together with Ranma
here. We were in the area when these children passed by and raised some
commotion.]" Yosho eyed the nervous children with mirth. Chouyu caught
the gesture.

Chouyu nodded. "[I see. So they've been causing trouble.]" He turned to
Shilou, who tried backing away but was caught on the scruff of his neck.
"[So you are?]"

Shilou tried to stay calm, and failed miserably. "[I-I'm Shilou... Mao's
apprentice...]"

Chouyu smiled (oh boy, not a nice smile). "[Good, I will take over your
training from now on.]"

Shilou blanched. "[Noooooooooo!]"

======================================================================== =====

After finishing their business in Chicken Town, the group finally went
on their trip back to Guangzhou. They were currently camped out in a
densely forested area just between the towns of Guangzhou and Chicken
Town. They diverted from their path a bit and cleared up a small
clearing where they could pitch their camp.

This was where Ranma and Yosho declared their intentions of breaking
from the group, much to the dismay of their companions.

"[Are you sure you have to go now?]" Mei-Li asked Chibi-Ranma in a small
voice.

For some reason, the man behind the child was a voice of reason for
them. He saved them once too often, and supported them in their
endeavors. The fact that Ranma was really interesting to begin with
didn't matter for her opinion, and that his cursed form suspiciously
looked like her. Mei-Li also enjoyed watching Ranma and Yosho spar by
themselves early in the morning when they thought nobody could see them.

Chibi-Ranma looked up to Mei-Li. He really should be going right now,
and he can't stay. He and Yosho were currently on a journey, and as for
a goal that was what they were looking for in the first place. Sure, he
wished to be here, but there was always a reason for everything,
especially as to why he was sent here in the first place. Besides, he
wanted to see the old world during this time, and probably irritate an
amazon or two.

After a moment of contemplation, Ranma shrugged. "[I guess so. We can't
stay here too long. I attract too much chaos. Besides, there are still
some things that Yosho and I need to find by ourselves. We're going
around the world for this one...]"

Mei-Li sighed. She really wanted to talk to Ranma just a bit longer. Her
face brightened up when she finally thought of something. She grabbed
Ranma's hand and pulled him up behind some bushes.

Shilou and Mao looked at the path where Ranma and Mei-Li disappeared to
and shrugged, while Yosho and Chouyu looked at each other in amusement.

<Ranma, Ranma... so innocent...> Yosho thought to himself. His mind was
jolted to the present when he felt a spike of energy just in front of
them. He stood up and pulled out his bokken as he gazed on the direction
where he felt the energy. He was sure it wasn't Ranma because the
pigtailed boy went to the other direction.

Yosho's sudden movement surprised the rest of the party. They stood up
and looked at Yosho with curiousity. They saw the man's eyes grew
serious, his muscles tensed as if preparing for something.

A loud rustling of leaves alerted them of another presence in the area.

"[Stand behind me.]" Yosho commanded. The rest nodded and stood behind
Yosho, who gripped his bokken tighter and waited.

It seems he didn't have to wait any longer. A black figure leapt out of
the brush and attacked.

Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the forest...

"[Ranma... can you like, turn adult right now?]" Mei-Li asked with a
hint of hesitation and embarassment.

Chibi-Ranma looked mystified, but nodded and grew up in size. "[Uhmm...
why did you ask me to?]"

Mei-Li marveled at the change. She trailed her hands across Ranma's
chest and felt the hard muscles underneath the clothes he wore. Ranma's
dark clothing consisted of a spandex-like material, provided by none
other than Yosho himself. Rather than allowing the clothes to get
destroyed, the Juraian prince had taken into liberty of providing the
suitable clothes for him. For Mei-Li, she haven't felt anything like it
before. The material used for Ranma's clothes were foreign to her, thus
strengthening the proof of the pigtailed boy being someone from another
world.

Ranma almost flinched away from Mei-Li's questing fingers. For some
reason, her look was almost like the one his buddy Ucchan once had when
she looked at him. It was rather scary.

The redhead suddenly hopped and latched unto Ranma's neck, much to the
pigtailed boy's dismay, and kissed his cheek in the area which was
dangerously close to his lips. Actually, the kiss DID brush against some
minute portion of his lips. The redhead lowered herself and burrowed her
head into Ranma's chest.

"[I'm going to miss you, Ranma.]" Mei-Li said after a short time of
silence.

Ranma sighed. "[Likewise, Mei-Li. But I cannot stay.]"

Mei-Li looked up to Ranma, her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. "[I know
that. It's just---]"

>SNAP!<

Ranma quickly drew Mei-Li into his arms and scanned the area. In front
of him stood two large figures. The moonlight finally illuminated across
the area they were in, and gave them a clear view of what was out there.

The figures were taller than a human and was on all fours. The body was
a a bit larger than a van (the car) which was covered with coppery black
scales. The head consisted of a cross between a grotesque lion-like
figure and a dragon that sported huge sharp teeth. The two front feet
were adorned with talon like fingers. The hind legs were shaped like an
elephant's, big and huge. On its back were huge leathery bat like wings
that fluttered against the night air. Out of ten, the intimidation
factor was a flat out eleven.

The two monsters took one good look at them and roared, which echoed all
over the empty darkness of the night. They brunched themselves and leapt
for the kill, their talons bared towards Ranma and Mei-Li.

Ranma saw the monsters tensed and deduced correctly that they were about
to attack. The figures leapt high up with their pairs of huge
three-fingered talons aimed towards their throats. Ranma was
particularly surprised at the speed the monsters were displaying,
especially since their size doesn't look like it had speed at all.
Mei-Li haven't got the time to scream as Ranma scooped her feet from
under her and cradled the girl. The pigtailed boy leapt upwards and
hovered. The monsters crashed down the ground with a loud noise and
struggled against the mass of broken trees and rocks to stand up.

Mei-Li's stupor was finally broken when she screamed and struggled in
Ranma's arms. The boy grunted as he received some nasty elbow strikes
from the near-hysterical girl. He gripped her firmly and whispered,
"[Mei-Li, calm down! It's alright! I got you!]"

The redhead slowly calmed down and fearfully took her gaze downwards.
After she saw herself high up in the air, she turned to Ranma and asked,
"[Y-you can fly?]"

Ranma snickered. "[Yeah. Weird huh?]"

Mei-Li was about to reply when the growls of anger interrupted her. They
both looked down towards the path of destruction the two monsters made.
The gruesome two-some stimped angrily as they flapped their wings in the
air. Slowly but surely, they started to rise up in the air.

"[Damn... they can fly too.]" Ranma commented dryly as Mei-Li whimpered
in his arms. With a gust of wind and a mighty flap of their wings, the
two figures darted towards them. Ranma quickly darted sideways left and
right and took Mei-Li with him. They barely avoided the razor sharp
claws that whistled against the wind as the monsters passed by them.
Ranma turned and fired a medium burst ki attack, which instead of normal
blue was white with purple streaks in it. The attack hit the monster on
the left, pulverizing its left flank. It hung weakly on the air as it
seemed to assess its situation. The other just dodged away from the
detonation and floated higher up.

Ranma watched closely as the figures just floated there, not doing
anything. Suddenly, the damaged monster started shivering a bit. After a
few moments, the lost limbs sprung back out from its body, which greatly
surprised Ranma and Mei-Li a great deal.

<Great... it regenerates. Just my luck. Saffron comes into mind right
now...> Ranma thought warily. A high pitch whine which was followed by a
low growl told him that the fight goes on.

Back to the other side, Yosho was panting heavily as he faced off once
again against the same hulking figure. With a loud battlecry, he
launched himself at the beast once again, cutting both its forearms in
the attempt. He danced away of the dark green goo that came out of its
mouth. The substance had already burned much of his arm and one of his
spare bokkens.

Yosho's danger sense flared up as he dodged at the right moment to his
side, when a dark blue figure with a streak of yellow and red came
barelling down to the ground. A loud boom resonated as the figure
impacted against the ground, which caused a crater to form. When the
dust finally cleared up, Yosho, Chouyu, Mao and Shilou peered over the
crater. Ranma was down on his back getting his bearings back, while
holding the frightened Mei-Li in his arms. The pigtailed boy clearly
protected the redhead's body from the impact and used his own body as an
insulator for the damage.

A rather loud flapping sound interrupted his assessment. Yosho looked up
and saw two more of the creatures floating overhead.

"[Cough, cough! Yosho... damn those things are tough!]" Ranma complained
as he lifted himself and Mei-Li up to their feet. He bent his back to
get rid of the kinks that were produced by the fall.

Yosho groaned. "[Yes. It would seem so. I think I have seen these things
before, though where and when I am not so sure.]"

Ranma nodded as he walked to the group's side. He let go of Mei-Li, who
ran to her father's arms in tears. Chouyu shot a silent thank you gaze
to Ranma, who nodded in return.

The alien duo stood in their battle stances as they assessed their
situation once again. One of these things was already tough enough, but
three? Life wasn't so fair after all...

Their luck changed when with seemingly an unknown signal, the three
juggernauts looked up to nowhere and whined in a high pitched sound.
Then they took unto the skies with their massive wings and disappeared
into the night. Ranma fell down to his knees as he silently prayed to
the kami that sent them good luck his gratitude. Yosho used his beat-up
bokken as a crutch.

"[R-Ranma?]" A rather timid voice broke the silence. Ranma turned and
saw Chouyu and Mao looking at him with wide eyes.

Ranma looked down to his body and winced, slapped his hand to his
forehead and declared, "[It's a long story...]"

======================================================================== =====

After that terrifying ordeal, Ranma and Yosho had escorted the group
back to the town of Guangzhou, where they finally bid their farewells to
each other. Mei-Li was really upset about it, but finally relented when
she grabbed to Chibi-Ranma and kissed him full on the lips. Mao and
Shilou snickered at the shocked look Ranma sported on his small face
while Chouyu smiled knowingly. Of course, the action did not escape
those who worked in the restaurant and began to ask questions. Too bad
for them because Chouyu was already back and the glare he gave them
forced the workers back to their jobs.

"Manticores?" Ranma asked his companion as they walked on the dirt path.

Yosho nodded. "Yes. If I could remember it right, they were used as
biological weapons back then by the Planet 3591-095. The Juraian
Government banned the use of such weapons and ordered the destruction of
the planet. I know, I know, it was too much, but the idea of the
existence of such monsters was still uncomforting."

Ranma groaned. "Damn... they have these sharp claws, acid spit, some
kinda energy projectile and those bodies of theirs regenerate like
crazy."

Yosho sighed. "They also can fly, and it would seem that they isolate
those who have stronger energy and elmiminate them. So far, they are
very intelligent. We have to find their colony and destroy them all, I
guess."

"And how do you propose we do that? You saw how we fared with those
three. Imagine a few more of those on our tails." Ranma deadpanned.

"I don't know, Ranma. Seriously, I don't know."

The world was not as peaceful as it seemed, for the seeds of torment
were already planted.

======================================================================== =====
== To Be Continued... ==
======================================================================== =====

Author Rants:

Uhm... Well, here's part one of the third chapter. One of the enemies
has just been unveiled. How do one defeat those things?

Heh. Find out soon.

This chapter is just a preview of what's to come. Why Cooking Master
Boy? I needed the part of the plot. The comet, if you've been wondering
what that was. Besides, my sis tried cajoling me into writing some stuff
about the anime, so I obliged. It suited some of my ideas, so why the
hell not?

Mei-Li does look like female Ranma, except the eye color. Actually, she
can be compared to Nuku-Nuku... like a twin.

Anyway, there you go. A tame preview of who's who and what's what.

Ranma already known how to do the disguise field here. Yosho's orders...

If you're gonna ask how far back Ranma was thrown, about four to five
hundred years back.

*Yawn* so there. I'm sleepy.

Next up, probably some insights on what's happening back in normal time
space Nerima. The next cross, probably Flame of Recca. Oh... or
Inuyasha. Probably Inuyasha first.

See yah.

- Lord Rance

In case you need my email for some reason at all, here:
lord_rance@yahoo.com

For those who will send flames, well, I'll just douse it with my trusty
bucket of cold water!