Genma dashed through the streets and alleyways.

Bad enough that his son and his companions had found him,
but that Amazon girl, too ... !

Saotome Secret Technique - Run, Think, Return. All he had to
do was get away and figure out how to weasel out of this
mess. All he had to do was keep low, avoid attracting
attention -

<SPLASH!!>

The panda glanced over at the young girl who had just
emptied the bucket at him. As she screamed at the beast,
others popped up. A crowd soon formed.

"Wild animal!"
"A panda!"
"He must have escaped from the zoo!"
"Is there a reward?"
"Call Animal Control!"

So much for being inconspicuous. Damn. He hated to use the
Forbidden Techniques, but ...

A few seconds later, the panda vanished from sight. Unseen,
Genma-panda made his way down the street.

 * * * * * * * * * *

"So, you see," Ukyo explained, "all Genma did was beat her
in battle. He didn't - isn't anyone going to listen to
me?!?"

Akane had put on her yellow gi and fetched a spare bokuto
from her collection, Soun was crying his eyes out, and
Kasumi was feeding their guests fudge brownies. Only Nabiki
was listening.

"Guess not," Ranma commented. "Don't sweat it, Ucchan.
Besides, what Genma did was take her honor, which is the
same thing - Amazons just look at these things differently,
that's all."

"A remarkably enlightened viewpoint, Ranma-san," Nabiki
remarked.

"Believe me, seven weeks of getting thrown around by an
Amazon Matriarch can open your mind pretty darn good."

"'Amazon Matriarch'?"

"After Genma-baka ran off, Ryoga and I stumbled into Amazon
territory," he explained. "Oyaji had already been through,
stole some food, and beat up Shampoo. When they heard our
story, Shampoo's grandmother Cologne offered to train us. "

"Why was this 'Cologne' willing to help?" Nabiki asked.

"Apparently, by their lights, a parent cursing a child like
that is enough to warrant a death sentence, and with
Shampoo's 'betrothal' on top of that, they were eager to
help."

"Hold it," Nabiki said, holding up a hand. "You want Genma
dead - and she wants Genma as a husband. I see a conflict."

"No conflict," Shampoo said sunnily. "Airen knock Shampoo
up, then Ranma can kill. No problem."

<Cold bitch,> Nabiki thought.

Ranma and Ryoga blushed a deep red at the mention of the
phrase 'knock up', which proved immensely amusing to the
Tendo girls and Ukyo.

"They always that bad?" Nabiki asked Ukyo.

"Better believe it, sugar," Ukyo answered. "The first time
we stopped at a river to bathe, they didn't know I was a
girl - I still had my chest bound - and when I took off my
top, Ryoga had a nosebleed and fainted - he almost drowned -
and Ranma covered his eyes and screamed 'I didn't see
anything' over and over!"

The two boys sulked lower as the girls laughed.

Akane smiled at them. "With all the perverts around here,
it's nice to meet a couple of boys who aren't trying to out-
hentai each other. Actually, I think it's sweet."

"Gee, thanks," Ranma mumbled, getting uncomfortable.

"Heh heh," Ryoga said, smiling, sweating, and blushing all
at once.

"How could Genma do this to our families?!?" Soun wailed.
"When I find him, I'll beat an answer out of him!"

"*And* get back the deed to the dojo!" Nabiki added.

"Good point - how do we find him?" Akane asked.

"Look for a panda running amok through the streets?" Nabiki
quipped.

"Naw," Ranma said dismissively, "He'd just use that damn
invisibility technique."

"'Invisibility technique'?" Akane repeated.

"Yeah, like this." Ranma drew himself into an odd position,
looking like a wounded sloth or something similar - and was
gone.

"Yeek!" The Tendos cried.

Ranma reappeared. "It's part of the Umisenken, the second of
the Saotome Forbidden Techniques." He snorted. "So
forbidden, he doesn't even let his own son know they exist -
but he's all too willing to use them to save his own mangy
hide."

"If he didn't tell you about them, how did you learn them?"
Akane asked.

"Genma used them to protect himself from me and Ryoga. That
gave me the basics."

Akane raised her eyebrows at this. He learned the basics of
a new Art from watching it being used? He must be damn good.

"I learned the full story from Ryu Kumon, another of Oyaji's
victims. His dad was the only person the Old Fart ever
taught the first of the two arts, the Yamasenken." Ranma got
a sad look on his face. "The bastard never told Kumon how
dangerous the art was, and he ended up accidentally killing
himself."

Ryoga took up the story. "We taught Ryu what we could of the
Umisenken as restitution, and he decided to forego revenge."

Ukyo got all misty-eyed. "Too bad - he was a hunk."

Akane absorbed all of this: exotic techniques, quests for
justice, travel, magic - *this* was what martial arts were
supposed to be about! Her father, she saw, had been shirking
her training. *These* people were martial artists - she had
just been bumbling around in a dojo.

"Entertaining as this might be," she commented. "We still
have to find Genma. Where would he go?"

"Animal go to den to hide," Shampoo pointed out.

"Good point. Daddy!" Nabiki asked, "Did Genma ever live in
Tokyo?"

"Yes," Soun answered. "I believe Ranma was born here, in
Juuban ward."

"I was?" Ranma looked surprised.

Nabiki flipped through an oddly convenient Juuban phone
directory. "Here we are - 'Saotome, Genma and Nodoka', and
it gives an address."

"Who's Nodoka?" Ranma asked.

"Probably your mother, Ranchan."

"My mother??" Ranma was obviously confused by this. "I
thought she was dead. Oyaji said -" A look of comprehension
swept his face. "*Oyaji* said!"

"Genma take child away from mother and say to child she
dead?" Shampoo asked, a mixture of pity and disgust on her
face.

"Every time I can't believe this guy can sink any lower,
something changes my mind." Nabiki commented.

"Well, let's try there!" Ukyo said, heading for the door.
"If he isn't there, she may know where he is. Besides, it'd
be nice for Ranchan to meet his mom."

Soun was suddenly between Ukyo and the door, a desperate
look on his face. "I don't think that would be a good idea.
Nope - not at all. That's the last place to go, and Nodoka
wouldn't know where he is anyway. Let's think of something
else - anything else! Heh heh." Soun bigsweated, trying to
look calm.

The young people brushed past him, ignoring his protests.

And they walked out into the rain.

"CHIKUSO!" Ranma-onna yelled.

"GRONK!" Ryoga-troll vocalized.

 * * * * * * * * * *

The rain came down in a gentle sprinkle, lightly falling on
the head of the majestic and noble Blue Thunder of Furinken
High, Kuno Tatewaki, a legend in his own mind.

With flowers in hand, he went to again bask in the radiance
of Tendo Akane, his one true love. He would read his poetry
and proclaim his love to her, and she would hit him and slap
him around, thus proving her love for him. (After all, if
she didn't love him, she'd ignore him, right?)

As he approached the Tendo residence, he heard strange
animalistic noises. Curious, he paused for a second.

With a shriek, a shape appeared over the wall. The shape of
a red-haired girl with magnificent wings, flying into the
rain-swept sky.

Kuno stood transfixed at the sight. A true Goddess, an
angel, beautiful and unearthly ...

He broke into a run.

"FAIR ONE! AWAIT! I WOULD DATE WITH YOU!!"

<STOMP!!> Kuno looked up from the mud puddle at the forms of
the beast and several persons running after the Winged
Goddess - every one of them stepping on his head.
