Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ The Way of the Beast ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Disclaimer: This is a parody inspired by the works of Ms. Takahashi. All characters that I have not created or borrowed from other sources are his. This is a Fan fiction and not meant to violate the rights of those who own the rights to the Ranma One Half series .I have no money and therefore not a good suing target. Thank you very much.

The Way of the Beast

Chapter Two

Akane went running from the bathroom with a sense of shock, fear and most of all rage. She had been seen naked by a boy without his clothes. This caused her to retreat from the room, but on the top of her gi to cover herself and go looking for a weapon which she could use to stomp the pervert. Running without stopping, she eventually found the dinner table where her father and some man she didn't know were eating.

'A good slamming of wood against the skull of that pervert will teach him a lesson. Teach him not to peep on unsuspecting girls when they are trying to take a bath.' thought youngest Tendo as she lifted the table above her head. Everyone seemed to enter the room as she took the piece of furniture and stare at her, likely the result of her screaming earlier.

"Akane, what are you doing?" asked Nabiki as she looked at her sister, likely think the younger girl a freak once again.

"What does it look like? There's a pervert in the bathroom which needs bashing! " said Akane in an extremely angry vocal tone, still shaken from the event she had witnessed.

"Why didn't you just bash him in the bathroom then? Why did you need to come out here for the table when you can crush concrete? " continued Nabiki's questioning as she made valid and logical points.

"Because I was scared, is that alright? I only just noticed a PERVERT in the BATHROOM, Nabiki! " Akane finished as she looked for her way back which wouldn't alert the lech. Likely he was a Peeping Tom and knew their home's layout.

"I hope that Ranma is alright, she was suppose to be taking a bath in there too. You don't think that anything bad has happened to her, do you? " asked Kasumi as she became concern for the new girl in the Tendo home.

"I wouldn't worry, truth is... I am Ranma Saotome. Sorry about this." came a deep male voice as all turned to look at a tall, dark haired young man entering the room. He was dressed in Ranma's clothes which were fitting him well. There was more staring as all of them were silent, until Akane dropped the table on her head.

Later, around the Tendo dinner table...

Ranma and his father were both in male form and were sitting next to a long edge of the table and close to the doorway outside the home. The Tendo sisters were on the other long edge of the table, with mostly confused looks... except the rage and annoyance from the youngest one. The Tendo elder was sitting at the shorter edge between the two families.

"How do I explain this... It began when we went to China, we travelled for many days and many nights till we reached the Bayankala mountain range, south of Mount Kensei, in the Qinghai province. We arrived at our destination, Jusenkyo. A legendary training ground where we would test our skills." started Genma before he was interrupted by his son.

"What neither of us did was respect the guide enough to listen to his tales, which would have told us all of the hundreds of springs were cursed. Each person who falls into the pools are given a curse, to take the form of the being or object which first fell into the pool which could have happened thousands of years ago. No, I made the mistake of jumping on the bamboo polls in the middle of the springs. Then my father and I fought until he fell into a pool where a panda fell, which surprised me. Enough for a cheap shot to knock me down into the pool of the drowned girl, giving me my own curse." continued Ranma as he noted the most important parts of the story.

"Ranma, you sound like a girl..." said the elder Saotome, as he grabbed the younger one and launched him over his shoulder into the air. The boy flew directly into the koi pond of the Tendo clan, ending in what was an obvious splash as the boy disappeared under the water. From the ripples of the entrance into the drink, popped up a redheaded female in Ranma's clothes.

A primal seeming anger seemed to cross Ranma's face before it was held back, making the lengths of the girl's maturity becoming obvious. There was something feral about the girl at the same time she showed of a great control of those same feral instinct. The young Saotome was choosing her words wisely as she said, "I was willing to sacrifice my life for my art, old man. It is expected of a true martial artist to expect pain on the path of perfection. I wasn't willing to sacrifice my manhood for the art, it's just something you're not expecting to give up for combat skills. In fact it lead to a delay in my training, since I had to adjust to my new body. Gravity, weight distrubution and length are all changed with the female form. I had to go back and work on all of the basic moves to adjust them so I wouldn't trip or miss when I used them. The exact same thing you had to do with your larger panda body, pops."

"Well, it's your own fault for falling into the pool. Anyway as you can you see the cold water activates the curse, which turns you into your curse form. To reverse the transformation, one must be covered with warm or hot water to cause the victum's true form to be revealed." said Genma as his new daughter entered the home soaking wet with cold water. The older heavier man took out a steaming kettle and poured the boiling water on his child. The transformation took less then a blink of an eye to occur as female became male, angry girl became angrier boy.

"Pops, it doesn't have to be that hot to turn me back and you know it. You keep pushing your luck like that pops, you will be getting the horns, the teeth and the claws. Understand, Father? " asked Ranma as the gather Tendo family wonder what it was Ranma was telling his father, or why Mr. Saotome looked so nervious. The man in glasses was scratching the back of his head and laughing without any sense of joy in it.

"Well, it's not much of a problem. Here are my daughters... Kasumi who is nineteen, Nabiki who is seventeen and Akane who is sixteen. Pick any one that you want and she will be your..." continued Mr. Tendo before being given a gentle nudge in the ribs by Ranma.

"First off, I am not quite sure I am for this engagement... even with the risk of dishonour I will take with breaking it. My father has not been the most honourable man, so I doubt there isn't something in his past which would cause dishonour to your family if the two families are joined. We wouldn't want to dishonour the Tendo school for crimes caused by the Saotome school.

Another factor is the fact your daughters and myself have only just met today. Neither side could expect to build a successful marriage without trying to get to know each other. If I was engaged to Kasumi and found myself falling for Nabiki or Akane, it would disgraceful to all sides involved... would it not, Tendo-san?" answered Ranma before anyone else could speak on the matter.

Akane was at least a bit relieved that the... boy was trying to postpone the engagement, it gave the youngest Tendo daughter time to find a way to remove the distasteful action of her father entirely. It was not very surprising the react on her father on Ranma's first comment.

"What would these dishonourable acts be that you commited, Saotome?" asked Soun as he looked hard at his larger, old friend.

"Nothing, nothing. Just some of the same stuff we both pulled off while under the thumb of... the Master. It was a necessity for the boy's training, so he didn't get soft. You know how it was under 'his' training, what he did so we didn't get soft." said Genma, as this was one of the first Akane had heard of her father's master.

"Yes, I remember Saotome. The cruelty, the fear, the tears. All of the hard work which broke us down and built us up into the master we are today. I understand the needs which forced you into those dark deeds, like those of the past. I just wished that you had allowed me to help you." said Soun as he became more thoughtful as if he was remembering past days.

"Ranma does seem to be making the mature choice. We just don't know each other well enough to have any sort of relationship right now." commented Kasumi as she looked at her other sister.

"We do know they're the strange people we have ever met, don't know many people who can change their shape with water or use that martial arts Ranma used before. Is that connected with Jusenkyo too? I mean those pools must also have plenty of animals who have drowned in them. You're martial arts would seem to fit in with that kind of theme, right?" asked Nabiki as she pointed out the previous martial art Ranma had used as a girl in combat against Akane.

"The fact of the matter is my martial arts started before my trip to Jusenkyo, even with the nature of some of the pools in the area. My style was based on the needs for mastership within the Saotome School, which state one have to invent a new form of martial arts to become a master. Such as my father did before his master, this is the deed which has to be performed so one can gain the title." said Ranma, as the Tendo male looked at his Saotome friend. Genma made some kind of dismissal motion as the two of them looked at the children.

"I've haven't heard of this before? If the Tendo school is the sister school of the Saotome one, wouldn't it have a similar tradition? Right, father?" asked Nabiki looking at her father with a questioning eye on the details given.

"Um, it's..." started Soun before Genma interrupted him.

"Of course, it's the tradition. Soun just had it slip his mind with all of you girls to take care of. It's the same tradition in face. Each student must develop a new school without help of their sensei or master in order to be granted the master title. Each student must find their way into their new art by themselves. They remain students until they have created something to add to the lore of the Anything Goes style." continued Genma as he seemed to be trying to explain what was happening before any more questions to be asked. The girls looked at the two older men with eyes still wondering how they had not been told this, but they decided to continue with the conversation with the new guests.

"I still say that you're a pervert." said Akane as he anger still burn at a lower temperture.

"I didn't expect to be distrubed within the tub and didn't expect you to walk in on me. You were the one to enter without knocking or making yourself known, to give me a chance to make it known you shouldn't run into the bathroom with me. It doesn't make me a pervert just to accidently view you naked, just like you're not a pervert for view me naked.

In the course of studying my animal arts, I have seen many creatures naked as well as doing other things like giving birth or taking a crap. Heck, I've inseminated animals for breeding programs and study feces for diseases within the animals. Not such a great deal with me, especially since I have no choice but to see my female self naked constantly when I bath or when I have to go to the bathroom in that form.

I can appreacate the female form, but I'm not going to loose my mind and act like an idiot in front of it either. You must have some senstivity to being nude or something if this is bothering you. I take it you've had a bad experience?" continued Ranma as he explained his position.

Akane did seem to flare a little bit as her hands clenched and unclenched as she spoke, "It's different when a boy sees a girl then when a girl sees a boy. But you are acting a lot more mature then the boys I normally deal with. I still wouldn't compare my body with that of an animal, I am a human being. Now if you excuse me, I'll be going to my room."

With this the youngest daughter left, her feet not stomping but still landing enough to make a loud thumping noise.

"You have to excuse Akane, she's just high spirited." continued Kasumi as she looked at where her sister was leaving.

"Lucky she didn't drop a table on you like she wanted. Has to be the fact you aren't as immature as some of the boys at our school. They're the bad experience you mentioned. So I take it that you have done some studying of animal husbandry in your past from the sounds of it?" asked Nabiki, as she tried to gain some more details from the boy.

"Helped out at the zoo for cash they gave my Pops, as well as a few farms. Most of the money went to food and sake, his favourite vices. It did give me the understanding of the bodies of animals with help from books from the library. Add to that all of the information I got out of the various martial arts manuals, many of which included animal stances and forms. Gave me the structure to work with, added chi training to fill it out by altering my body or using my life energy to mimic animal abilities. Even spent time in museums to study extinct animals for some moves. So there is very little about animals I don't know, including the human animal." answered Ranma as he continued with his arts.

"That's very interesting, I never thought the martial arts could be used in regard to other studies. It makes me rethink my views of my own arts. I only tend to use them for making myself fit, but I wonder if I can use my medical knowledge with the Anything Goes style?" asked Kasumi as she become much more thoughtful looking then before.

"Anything can be a martial arts, that's what Pop says and it's the few things he gets right. There are many healing chi techniques and abilities once you have master your physical body. The way I created my school was I looked at something I was interested in, of course for me it was martial arts. Then I pointed out to myself the use of animals in martial arts and the beast fist was born. You should try to find something you're interested in and transform it into a combat style which best suits you if you want the Tendo mastership." replied the sexchanger as he pointed out the 'rules' of becoming a master.

The two Tendo women still in the room with Ranma thought this over and wonder what their sister would do with this information. Or what they could do with this new information.

Elsewhere....

A warrior was tracking the trail of the other woman, the woman who had defeated her on the challenge log all of those months ago. It had been all so simple at first, then it became all so complex when time went on. The girl and her panda had eaten a good chunk of the warrior's victory feast, so the warrior felt she should challenge the newcomer over the meal which had been taken. The warrior had believed she could take the girl in combat, even with the small hints the opponent was a fighter as well.

What she hadn't expected was the complex martial arts style the redhead had displayed, calling out an attribute of a named animal and some how gaining that attribute for the opponent. Strength of a boar and speed of a wolf had managed to make their mark, but the agility of a monkey manged to give the opponent the edge of the combat log by way of footing. It was not the kind of combat which the warrior was ready for and it was more apparent when the warrior lost her footing and fell of the log.

Like any of her tribe when loosing to a woman, she had given the Kiss of Death on the girl's cheek. Once they guide they had with then explained it to them, the panda grabbed the girl and managed dash with superhuman speed out of the village. This would be the point normally when the warrior would pack up for the hunt of the opponent. Except the warrior's great grandmother managed to hop up to the warrior with a crossed look on her face.

"What am I going to do with you, Great Granddaughter? Do you know what you have done?" asked the old woman who seemed only three feet tall.

"I gave the outsider the kiss of death like it says in our laws, what is wrong with that?" asked the warrior as she was confused with the tone her elder was taking.

"Normally this would be the regular course of action, but their are additional laws and exceptions to all of the laws including this one. The most important of this case is when a female warrior displays a certain skill or inventiveness useful for the entire tribe. This girl seems to have invented a new style of martial arts which links chi of all of the animals in the world with the combat arts, a unique use of life force for increased power.

If we can get this power into the tribe, we might be able to increase our chance of surviving an attack by enemies like the communist. In many ways it is a more improved version of what the legendary Musk were said to do with their selective breeding programs. This is due to gaining more then one animal's strength in combat, rather then the Musk and their single animal bloodlines were claimed to do.

The rules in this regard state the kiss of death can be negated in exchange for training in the skill used by the outsider. This would gain what is desire by the tribe so we can strengthen our people, the honour gained from that is much greater then the honour regained by killing a single girl. Of course if this was a boy, it would be a completely different set of rules. You should really take some time to brush up on the by-laws and other sections of our legal history.

So instead of hunting the girl to death, you will have to hunt her down so you can learn her martial arts style so she could retain her life. We had better start with the guide and see what is happening." lecture her great grandmother as she explained the situation to her.

Of course the guide had an interesting tale to tell, which included the legendary Jusenkyo at the surprise of the tribe which had gather. Turns out the girl and her panda was a boy and his father, which meant the warrior had to review and entire new section of the tribes laws and legal system. Which had been a pain as the warrior had spent the questioning of the guide reviewing the laws in regard to female outsiders and now she had to look at the ones involving male outsiders. So in the time of a few hours, she had to do twice the reading and twice the work.

They had also learnt from the guide the nation of origin of the duo as Japan, the nation across the sea. Which meant the warrior had to do more work as she had to brush up on the outsider language. So half of her time was tracking the duo and the other half was doing reading homework for all of legal information and all of the language details she needed. Which was not putting her in a good mood at the moment, so she had avoid the girl-boy until she had more control of her emotion. Which she was regaining on the ocean voyage as she finished her one reading assignment, now she only had to find a way to understand Japanese so she didn't look like an idiot.