Chapter 4 - Training pains

By Paks

Disclaimer:

1) The characters and stories of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo belong to their respective creators, and are used here without permission or license.
2) No claims to the above copyright are made by the author of this work.
3) This work is for non-commercial use ONLY, and is produced for the enjoyment of fans only.
4) This work is the expression of the author and the depiction of the Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo characters herein are in no way represented to be a part of Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, and Tenchi Muyo as depicted by the original author and copyright holder(s).

Authors note: This story is set to be a mega-crossover, you have been warned.

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Ukyo had been training hard, her new parents were very kind to her and she loved them very much. She really enjoyed training to cook or good fortune she had never forgotten her brother, still waking up crying many nights as she remembered him. Recently a trio of martial artists had moved into the area, her parents let her play with the two children, who were her own age. The children’s father often huddled with her own father talking to him, she didn’t know what they discussed. The children, a boy and a girl, were great fun to play with, except when the boy kept beating her to get free okanamiyaki.

 

It had been a week since the martial artists had arrived in the area and Ukyo had grown very attached to the twins. They had continually played and trained with each other, and had lots of misadventures - especially with that nasty card man. So it happened that Ukyo went to her adopted father and asked him if she could train like Ranma and Ranko - so she could be stringer and protect the cart.

"Genma you have been a great dinking buddy while you've been here."

"Yep as long as your buying."

"Well would you consider this - your son and my daughter ..."

Gears start to turn in Genma’s head the boy has been a regular money spinner, he has kept me fed lately - but the Tendo agreement ...

"I ..."

"I'd be willing to throw in the family cart as her dowry of course."

Images of Genma filling his fat belly with okanamiyaki as the boy trained with his worthless sister filled his head.

"Done."

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Ryoga trudged beside Souichi the man had been kind to him as they searched far and wide for his sister. His adopted father had told him last week that they would be going home soon. He didn't know when, his father tended to have a poor sense of direction. True to his word Souichi had begun to teach Ryoga the Hibiki school. The boy had taken to it like a fish to water. At the rate he was learning, he would be ready for the Hibiki special techniques in a couple of years - and to travel on his own.

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Genma was hard at work finding cats to put in the hole he had dug. Ranma and Ranko head been morose since leaving the Kuonji's. That damn cart had run out of food after only two days on the road, so Genma had abandoned it on the side of the road. Ranko had appeared three days after Genma and Ranma had left on their training trip. There was no way Genma was going to take her back and face Nodoka's wrath - so she had tagged along. She even proved useful as a sparring partner for Ranma. Ranma, of course, saw to most of her training. There was no way Genma was going to teach the worthless girl. She does well as someone to try new techniques on before attempting them on Ranma, wouldn't want to ruin the boys training with inferior techniques after all.

Finally putting the last cat in the pit Ganma covered it up with a board of wood. Hmmm, what to do while the cats starve for a few days. Genma returned to their camp to find Ranma sparring with Ranko. His fat stomach growls - all that work had apparently made him hungry.

"Are you hungry boy?"

"Yeah pops."

"Its time for more speed training."

"Huh?"

"Run into town and get some food."

"Oh, OK pops can I have some money?"

"WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE BOY, AM I MADE OF MONEY? GO AND GET FOOD NOW!!"

While Genma couldn't do Souns demon head attack he could still be pretty damn intimidating to a six year old kid fairly easily. Cowering under this new attack Ranma quickly fled, Ranko close at his heels. How the heck am I gonna get food without any money Ranma wondered as he ran into town with Ranko on his heels.

"Rammie how are we gonna get food without money?"

"We"ll have to think of somethin', this is a training test to see how good we are."

Two hours after leaving their camp the twins returned laden with food. Puffing and panting they dumped it all beside the tent. Genma looked at the pile of food, not a bad haul for a pair of six year olds he thought greedily.

"OK start a fire and we'll eat after it’s cooked."

"OK pop!" the twins yelled simultaneously.

Ranma and Ranko ran off to collect some firewood, hoping that they had lost all of those scary men and women that were chasing them. Genma lay down for a nap. Only a few more days and the cats will be ready. Meanwhile, I can get used to the kids getting food and cooking for me Genma though gleefully as his eyes closed and snoring began.

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Ukyo had been crying for weeks, her mother was at a loss as to how to comfort her. Chisato understood that it was hard on a child of that age to lose her friends, Most of all though she was angry that her husband allowed the fat martial artist to steal the family cart. The martial artist’s children were just pawns in the scam, even she could see that the children were mistreated. After despairing as to the welfare of her daughter she fell into another fit of coughing - damn this illness is getting worse, I hope my foolish husband looks after my daughter when I am gone.

Ukyo was crying again, her friends had been calling her names again. They had even been saying mean things about how now she would never get married because her fiancée had left her, most of all she missed her Ran-chan, and his sister was fun too.

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Soun Tendo sat in the middle of his living room balling his eyes out - the twin waterfalls warping the wood of the floor. His daughters sat around him confused. Akane was upset, she was wondering why her daddy was crying, the young 6 year old girl was almost in tears herself. Kasumi looked disturbed alternatively glancing at Akane and her father. Nabiki just looked on curiously - confused as to why her father was cryingg, and yet desiring to know why.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" Kasumi asked her father.

"Your mother has gone away, Kasumi" Soun managed through his tears.

"Where did she go Daddy?" Nabiki asked.

"She went to heaven Nabiki."

"When will she be coming back Daddy?" Akane asked in an upset tone of voice.

"She's ... waaah ... not coming back" Soun said as he started off with a fresh bout of tears.

The children all then began clamoring for answers, Akane had begun crying upon hearing that her mother wasn't coming back. Soun had nothing else intelligible to say through his tears. After a while Kasumi left, disappointed in her father, she was a big girl now, nearly ten, and her mother had told her what she had to do if she had to ever go away. Nabiki led Akane from the room, leaving her wreck of a father to his tears. She wished that Aunty Nadoka had not stopped coming around about a year ago, she could get her father and Uncle Genma to stop their babyish behavior, even she did not ball her eyes out like her father did.

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Souichi was amazed, his adopted son Ryoga was picking up the techniques he was taught them. His original estimation that the boy would need two years before learning the Hibiki special techniques flew out the window. As soon as they got home he could begin teaching the boy. It seemed that the boys sister had disappeared, unlikely to be found, but the boy was worthy to be his heir - he would not lack for familial ties.

Just at that moment he chose to look up and take stock of his surroundings, that house looked awfully familiar. Looking at the letterbox he notices the name HIBIKI spelled out in large Kanji, Hiragana, and English for the English part of the family. He glanced over at the boy wearily trudging beside him, and thanked the kami who had helped him get home.

"Ryoga, we are home boy."

"Really, will you teach me the special techniques now father?"

"In the morning boy, aren't you hungry?"

"I am father."

With that Souichi pulled a key from a chain around his neck and unlocked the door. Ryoga ran in, quickly returning to guide his new father to the kitchen. It would do no good to lose his father before he could teach him techniques that may help him with his search for his sister. Quickly pulling food from the fridge, Souichi and Ryoga began preparing a meal.

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A young girl with short blond hair donned the boys uniform for the all boys school she would begin attending today. Her mother told her that this was the best way to ensure that men would not exploit her, whatever that meant. She grabbed her bag and breakfast and ran from the house.

 

After putting down all of the boys who had called her a pretty boy, she quickly made her way to school. she was a girl, damn it, even if she was hiding the fact at the moment. She walked into school, then quickly getting her schedule from the administration building she walked to her allocated class. Walking in the teacher and thirty-eight boys glanced at her.

"Class, we have a new student today..."

"Please introduce yourself."

"Yes sir, my name is Tenou Haruka - and I don't take nothing from nobody, got that" Haruka pounded on fist into her open palm, many of the boys in class gulped - she was bigger than most of them. And so it came to pass that one of the destined scouts began to shape her destiny.

 

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Ranko was ecstatic, her father was finally taking a personal interest in her training, even if it did look like a dubious technique. Her father was wrapping a long string of fish sausage around her body. Her brother looked on apprehensively, he knew what kind of pain you could feel from many of pops stupid training schemes - and he was very protective of his sister. She was almost as good as him now, although she was a little faster, he was stronger.

"Ranko, you go into the pit until you learn the neko-ken."

"Yes father."

"And no whining, even though you are a girl."

"Yes father."

"Ranma will be next after you have learned the technique. Prove you can be as strong as your brother!"

With that Genma lifted the makeshift gate on the pit of cats. A putrid stench wafted out, multiple yowls could be heard. Both Ranma and Ranko wrinkled their noses. Tentatively Ranko inched towards the pit, apprehension rose from the pit of her stomach. Genma grabbed her by the shirt and threw her in the pit, slamming the gate close on top of her.

"Get in already girl."

Soon afterwards the screams began. After knocking out Ranma to stop him interfering, Genma wandered off to get some food. hmmm, I might need some more fish stuff, just in case she doesn't learn it straight away - and then there is Ranma. Genmas stomach growled, he went to fix himself some food too.

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Ryoga was practicing the technique that Souichi had taught him, he hadn't mastered it yet but he would. He did wonder why his father had told him only to practice under his supervision - oh well. In a short while he would have to attend the all boys school that his father had just enrolled him in. Leaving for school Ryoga wondered why things had started getting harder to find.

Just this morning he had ended up in the bathroom instead of the kitchen. When he ended up at the local convenience store instead of school he sighed and backtracked to school. He hoped against hope that his fathers poor sense of direction wasn't rubbing off on him.

Finally he arrived at school, he looked at his schedule and began searching for his class. After an hour of futile searching he ran into a blond boy.

"Sorry about that."

"No problem, say you look kinda lost."

"Yeah, I can't seem to find my class room."

"Which one?"

"This one." Ryoga showed the boy his schedule.

"Well, it looks like you found it." A grinning Haruka pointed to the classroom behind him.

"Uh thanks uh ..."

"Tenou, Tenou Haruka."

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Ryoga nodded sheepishly while Haruka considered how cute the boy looked, she wondered why her mum told me that all boys are #$%%$, this one seemed OK to her. The two seven year olds walked into the classroom. Ranko screamed as Genma dragged her over to the pit, she struggled futilely against Genma's superior adult strength. This time he had rubbed fish products all over her, her body was covered in old scratches and scabs. This was the twenty-seventh time he had thrown her into the pit, he had begun to think that the weak girl would never learn. Ranma would learn the technique more quickly - Genma was sure of it. With a mighty heave Genma threw his daughter into the pit once again. Slamming the gate into place he hoped that this would be the last time so that he could start on Ranma's training.

As Genma began to walk away the sound of splintering of wood cut through the air, and a cat hissing could be heard. Before he could even turn around his daughter was on him, scratching and hissing. When he finally caught a look at her, he saw that her already bloody rags were covered with fresh blood, and her throat was half torn out. Ranko's crimson locks danced around her head in a strange imitation of cats hair sticking up, her braid had seemingly come undone sometime during her ordeal. His last sight was of the girl leaping away before he passed away from the pain and blood loss.

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When Ranma returned to camp from one of the regular food trips that his stupid pops made him go on he saw his father lying on the ground bleeding from various wounds. Dropping the food he ran over to get some bandages from the pack, after all this was his only father and while he had lost a great deal of respect for him when he had seen him torture Ranko - he was still a better martial artist than himself.

After fixing up his pops and carrying him over to the tent, Ranma took note of his surroundings. He saw the much hated pit with a broken gate, remains of multiple cats scattered around the area, and bloody rags that he recognized as being from Ranko's clothes. The boy started to look around for Ranko but could not find her anywhere, with that he started to sob. At that moment he lost all respect for his father, he would only stay with him out of duty and to learn all the martial arts he had to teach.

 

A young red headed girl watched unnoticed from the woods, as the boy cared for the bad man and then start crying. Instinct told her that the boy was friendly but the bad man was still too close. Her eyes showed a feral intelligence, but not one wit of humanity remained within them as she bounded off, making a fair imitation of how a cat moves.

 

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Ryoga's sense of direction had steadily grown worse over the years that he had begun practicing the techniques given to him by his father. He had awoken one morning to find his father gone. A frequent occurrence as the years went by, his father came and went as his direction sense allowed. The old woman next door continued to bring fresh food to the house, so he did not need to go anywhere - his father would find his way back at some stage. Thus, he continued going to school, that friendly Haruka boy helped him out occasionally when he got lost.

He had missed a lot of school because of his developing problem - he was really hungry by the time he finally found his way home. Over the years Haruka became a firm friend, soon though he had to leave for some sort of academy. He wished his friend well, although his loneliness would return. He started getting lost for longer and longer periods of time without his friend there to guide him home.

Today a new kid had stolen his bread in the cafeteria, when he found him next he was going to pound him, Ryoga muttered to himself as he trudged through a random forest lost again. He had taken to carrying a large bag so that if he did get lost he would at least have some supplies.

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Ranma gazed at the beach as his father spouted something about a manly man needing training in china to toughen him up. When he lost his sister at the age of six he had grown quiet and introspective. He reevaluated and filed away everything that his father taught him over the intervening years. At ten he was coming along with his beatings - err, training, learning much more quickly than he might otherwise have done due to his quite reflections.

After he had woken up, he told him that his sister died during the neko-ken training and spouted off about her only being a weak girl. His father had then proceeded to teach him a revised version of the neko-ken, involving many more cats and a lot less food. Ranma had learnt the technique, although it was flawed and gave him that damn fear of cats. His respect for his father dropped to a new low after that.

He had waited for Ryoga in that vacant lot for three days before his father had beaten him to a pulp and dragged him to this beach. This was supposed to be the last trip before he saw his mother again - he looked forward to the day when he was reunited with her. He still held hope that she wasn't as stupid as his pop. Years of having few friends and constantly being in training had taken their toll on the boy. He was now a strong martial artist and could beat his father nine times out of ten. Hopefully this last trip would signify the end to his torment, then maybe he could set to finding his own techniques without his worthless father.

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Authors note:

 

Its been a while, but I finally finished the next installment - over 10000 words yeah. Yep, I'm sending Ranma to china early, I figure he can learn just as much there as in Japan - hey it’s my fic isn't it? Thanks for the ideas and suggestions so far. I have been trying to incorporate them. Any ideas and suggestions for how this story should go would be welcomed. Pairing suggestions? Please RR.

I’m also looking for a pre-reader or two, I can pre-read your stuff too if you want.

 

Updated 13/04/08 – for sp and grammar.