"Happo go-en yen satsu!" Hinako cried out.
Ranma, and several students surrounding him who hadn't gotten away fast enough, collasped.
"Urg..." Ranma groaned.
"You should pay attention, no being a delinquent and sleeping in class!" Hinako scolded, smacking Ranma on the forehead with a ruler.
"Sorry..." Ranma muttered weakly.
"Really!" Akane huffed, "After you're two day nap last week..."
Ranma, who'd been getting back up in his seat, froze.
"... you'd think you'd be well rested!"
"You knew I was drugged?" Ranma questioned quietly.
"Of course, how else would I get a perverted jerk like you to marry me!" Akane yelled back.
Ranma flinched, he could feel tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, the bitter feeling of betrayal in his heart.
"After all this... you still think that badly of me?" Ranma asked quietly.
Akane huffed and turned away, "You better get rid of those other hussies soon, because you're my fiancé."
"Excuse me..." Hinako said irritably.
"If you think of me that way, then you can forget our engagement!" Ranma yelled, then jumped out the window, sobbing, and ran off away from the school.
"Gee, thanks Akane." Ukyo said smugly as she got up.
"What- that jerk-" Akane growled, "He can't drop our engagement-" she shook angrily.
"Isn't that a bit of a double standard?"
"Yeah, how many times has she dropped it?"
Akane glared around at the muttering students, silencing them.
Ukyo attempted to jump out the window as well and go after Ranma.
"Where are you going Kounji-san?" Hinako asked, holding up a 50 yen coin.
"Look candy!" Ukyo said, pointing.
"That won't work in my adult form." Hianko said proudly pointing up in the air with one arm and holding a fist with the other.
"Um... sensei..."
Ukyo was already bounding over the school wall.
"Oooops..." Hinako said, shrinking back to child form.
"I'll get them..." Akane growled.
"-go-en yen satsu!"
...
"uuu....uu....u....uuuu.....uuu....u....uu..." Ranma was sobbing under the bridge by the canal in girl form.
Ukyo landed next to her, "Hey sugar..."
"Go away...uuu....u...." Ranma sobbed.
"Oh, come on... you can't be that upset over Akane..." Ukyo said irritably, "What's wrong?"
Ranma sniffled and glared at Ukyo, "It's be-because of this curse..." she sniffled again.
"You think Akane doesn't like you because of the curse? But it's obvious she does." Ukyo said.
Ranma shook her head, "No... she doesn't even see me as a person... I'm just a thing to her... a possession she can keep or ignore as it pleases her... manipulate however she wants. Now she wants me... but for the wrong reasons..." Ranma was swirling her finger in the flowing water, the canal had mostly rainwater, so it was actually rather clean.
"Well I think of you as a person." Ukyo said.
"Doesn't matter." Ranma mumbled, "Akane's the one I have to marry. She's my fiancée, remember? ...uu....u...." she started sobbing again.
"Hey, I'm you're fiancée too!" Ukyo said indignantly, "All you have to do is pick me!"
Ranma blinked up at her, then glared, "You don't treat me much better. You're all fine when we're alone, but as soon as Akane or Shampoo comes along after me, you'll use any dirty trick to stop them and get me, just like the others... fightin' over me like I'm some prize to be won."
Ukyo flinched.
"G-away, 'wanna be 'lone righ' now..." Ranma mumbled, then started sobbing again, "uuu...u....uu..."
"Listen... Ranchan... I'm sorry... I guess... maybe... I've gotten carried away..." Ukyo tried to say, 'Damn it... Ranchan is mine! His father took my dowry and left me behind... I can't let -' Ukyo thought, then froze as she realized what she was thinking, 'I really am no better than them...' Ukyo's eyes closed for a few moments, and she took a deep breath, "... I hope you can forgive me..." Ukyo finally said, then she leapt away.
Ranma continued sobbing.
...
Ranma sat by the canal, kicking in the water, her crying done by now.
There was a small tap behind her, and Ranma started and turned around to see Cologne sitting there.
"Hello son-in-law." Cologne said.
Ranma glared, "What do you want old ghoul?!"
*WHAP!*
"Show some respect to your elders." Cologne admonished.
"I'll give respect for respect given." Ranma retorted, turning back around, she kicked the water, creating a splash.
Cologne shook her head, "I heard you broke off the engagement to the Tendo girl. Now you can come back with Shampoo and I to China as is your duty."
Ranma froze for a second and shivered, then a battle aura licked up around her, sickly green and depressed, "You think that's my duty? You think you've got the right to force your laws on me?" Ranma asked, turning around and glaring.
"It's our divine right." Cologne responded, "The amazons have always been favored by the goddesses. You belong to Shampoo as her husband. You are quite a specimen as well."
Ranma suddenly lashed out, punching at Cologne, which was blocked by Cologne's staff.
"Raaaaaah!" Ranma screamed, making lots of attacks which Cologne easily batted aside.
"You know, you're not the only one who knows variations of this technique." Cologne said, as Ranma seemed to be refusing to go in a spiral, Cologne had entered the soul of ice.
Suddenly Cologne shot forward, past Ranma, spinning as she went, and then shoved back towards Ranma.
A sudden gust of swirling wind burst out in the shape of a dragon and blasted Ranma away.
"Ooof!" Ranma smacked into a concrete wall, creating lots of cracks from the force she impacted, she collapsed backward off it, lying on her back awkwardly.
Cologne flitted over next to her, "You're still much too young to defeat me, son-in-law."
"Strike of the angry possum!" Ranma cried out, trying to uppercut Cologne, who blocked.
"I thought you weren't as hurt by that attack as you appeared." Cologne chuckled, "You've trained in the bakusai tenketsu? Haven't you?" she asked as she blocked more of Ranma's attacks, this time Ranma wasn't using a hot battle aura, but was matching Cologne, ice for ice.
"Yeah, soon as I saw what it did for Ryoga, I realized what it was doin' for Shampoo, and that it would be really nice to learn for my girl form." Ranma replied.
"Oh, you discovered the other purpose behind that technique." Cologne smirked.
"Yeah, the ki buffering fields it makes you develop work like a bra." Ranma replied, scowling as she tried to hit Cologne, making all sorts of complex attacks and feints, as Cologne barely had to move to defend.
"The defense isn't as good as it appears at first." Ranma continued, "Ryoga had just been deadened to the pain for a while. But the hits were still having an affect on his stamina, it just absorbed some of the force from each one at the cost of ki. That's why I could beat Shampoo even before she lost when I was in girl form at the Amazon tournament, she's not as fast as I am, although she's closer to my speed than most of my peers, and my hits still had an affect on her, she's got really low pain tolerance too."
"Yes," Cologne agreed, "Shampoo, being more skilled and speedy than her peers back home, is rarely hit, and had become weakened to pain. She isn't quite at the speed where I can teach her the amaguriken or the ki control needed to learn the soul of ice. You've surpassed her in most areas, although she still knows more Amazon arts than you, you do have your own arts which she doesn't know or is far off from being able to master. You've got greater training than her, because of you're father's foolishness and disregard for your life, doing such risky training oftentimes."
"Die!" Ranma yelled, she was having trouble maintaining the soul of ice.
"I'd like to apologize for misleading you." Cologne said, "I found out from the Jusenkyo guide that you'd requested he send you Nanniichuan water. Mousse doesn't know a thing about Jusenkyo, he was just following along with your beliefs. The Nanniichuan isn't a cure, Jusenkyo curses mix. I'm sure you've seen evidence of this with that Taro brat. The guide doesn't understand Japanese well, he didn't understand you thought the Nanniichuan would be a cure, he thought you wanted it to make instant Jusenkyo water, which can work as a temporary cure for males with Jusenkyo curses."
Ranma faltered in her attacks, collapsing on her knees, "No... it can't be true..."
"It is, if the cure were that easy, I'd have had Shampoo jump in the Nyanniichuan long ago as soon as I found out about the neko-ken." Cologne replied.
"No..." Ranma sobbed loudly, beginning to cry again, a sickly green aura of depression licked up around her again, "Th-there is a cure... right?"
"There are cures out there." Cologne agreed, looking around, she noticed the fight had moved to the school soccer field, which was good, there were no bystanders and they could fight more all out, she could tell the fight wasn't over, "But they aren't easy, simple things. Powerful wishing artifacts can do it, incredibly powerful and skilled spellcasters, and powerful gods and goddesses. But there is no simple cure. Spellcasters of the like that can cure the curse do not exist in these modern times as far as I know, even that fool sword the Kuno brat had you were trying to get, while a wishing artifact, wasn't a powerful enough one to have cured the curse, and it's hard to find kami, let alone earn their favor to do something like cure a curse for you. Most Jusenkyo victims are never cured, that is why it is used as a serious punishment among the Joketsuzoku."
"The guide... he would have helped us get cured right away if the Nanniichuan was a cure..." Ranma realized, Cologne nodded, Ranma let out a loud sob, "Damn it!!! PERFECT SHISHI HOUKOUDAN!"
Ranma's aura exploded outwards and then up as a sickly green ball of ki. Cologne looked shocked for a moment as the ball came back down towards her, then she tried to avoid a direct hit, and brought up her staff.
The depression ki blast impacted the tip of Cologne's staff, and then was disrupted and sent flying away to explode in the air.
Cologne frowned, "You shouldn't let yourself become so depressed son-in-law."
Ranma had a blank look, drained of emotion from the attack, which was meant to crash back down atop her, only some of the emotion had been returned to her from the explosion releasing it, tears were flowing from her face.
Lots of students were now looking out windows and through the fence on the far side of the field at the battle.
"Sh-shouldn't... let...." Ranma let out a maniacal laugh, "You think... haha..." her eyes hardened, "You don't have any idea what I've been through, old ghoul."
Cologne lashed out to whap Ranma on the forehead for that remark.
Colgone was startled when she was counterattacked at hit in the gut, there was a loud crack. Cologne was sent flying away with great force, tumbling to absorb the hit. Cologne rolled, up, and then flinched, Ranma had broken a few ribs. Cologne looked up and saw Ranma's eyes were closed and she was shaking.
Ranma's eyes shot open, and a ghostly, catlike aura burst up around her in the shape of a giant cat, Ranma's eyes appeared to be slitted, and ghostly claws sprung from her knuckles as she settled into a catlike stance.
Cologne's eyes widened, "The neko-ken? How-"
"How did you think I defeated Saffron? I finally overcame my fear, and mastered the neko-ken, I was saving it as a secret, but I had to unleash some of it's power to defeat that bastard." Ranma hissed angrily, she shot at Cologne, who tried to block Ranma's attack with her staff, and was shocked when the staff was cut by Ranma's ki claws, causing a huge explosion as all the ki focused and stored in the wooden staff to make it nearly indestructible and useful for certain techniques was released.
Ranma landed lightly, Cologne, with her broken ribs, didn't, she was stunned by the hit, Ranma was suddenly right next to her as the dust thrown up in the air died down and visibility returned, Ranma's ghostly claws at Cologne's throat.
"You'll annul the kiss of death and kiss of marriage... I don't care how. I refuse to let you force me to follow laws that aren't mine. The Amazon techniques I know I either learned from them being used against me, or I could have learned from Happosai's scrolls, even the soul of ice and Hiryuu Shoten Ha, I checked. And as for the prize feast back at the Amazon tournament, I defeated Shampoo with the terms that she'd have no problem if I beat her, terms which she broke when she gave me the kiss of death. If you care about honor, you, Shampoo, and Mousse, will leave Japan, and I'll never see any of you again." Ranma hissed out.
Cologne was breathing heavily, "I never thought you'd be able to destroy my staff..." she muttered, "Or master the neko-ken... you are truly a prize husband for Shampoo, but you shouldn't threaten an old woman when she's down."
Rage flicked across Ranma's face her claws pricked the skin on Cologne's neck, she seemed to have a look of a battle of self control, "Th-this i-isn't an empty threat... th-the n-neko-k-ken is hard to contr-roll..."
Cologne paled, she could see it in Ranma's eyes that Ranma was trying to resist the neko-ken, which wanted her dead.
"Fine then... I accept your terms of defeat." Cologne said tiredly.
Ranma nodded, and the catlike aura flickered away, tears began streaming down Ranma's face again, and she ran off again crying.
Cologne coughed up a bit of blood, "So...that is Ranma's power... terrible... Shampoo... forgive me..." some tears were streaming down her own face.
...
"Where is that jerk?! I bet he's off with that hussy Shampoo!" Akane growled.
"Nope." Nabiki said, "You didn't hear? Ranma fought Cologne on the soccer field today, kicked her ass and told her she had to leave with Shampoo and Mousse and that he better not see them again if they had any honor."
Akane looked shocked and surprised, "But he can't beat Cologne!"
"He did, Ranma somehow used the neko-ken without loosing his sense of self or a cat around. Apparently he's overcome his fear of cats and mastered it in secret." Nabiki explained.
Akane looked scared for a moment, and then she looked smug, "So...the jerk finally came to his senses and got rid of that hussy like I ordered." then she looked angry, "But where is he now?"
"Oh my!" Kasumi exclaimed from the kitchen.
Akane and Nabiki crowded in.
"What is it Kasumi?" Nabiki asked.
"It's a letter, from Ranma-chan." Kasumi said, "It says he's calling of the Tendo engagement, because neither of you treat him like a person, and he can't think of me that way because I've been like a second mother to him."
"That jerk! I bet he's running off with Ukyo!" Akane screamed.
"Nope, it also says 'if that Kawaiikunee tomboy accuses me of running off with some other girl like Ukyo or Shampoo, tell her she's as delusional as a Kuno, and that I think of those others just as badly if not worse than her.'" Kasumi said.
Akane growled in rage, "Lying pervert! How dare he!"
"Where did he go?" Nabiki asked.
"It says he's going on a quest for a cure for the curse, so that people will be able to see him as a person, rather than a freak." Kasumi replied.
"I knew it! That jerk is going to China with Shampoo!" Akane screamed.
"Nope, it says if you accuse him 'of going to China with Shampoo, you're wrong, because Jusenkyo can't make a permanent cure, the real curses just mix, remember Pantyhose Taro.'" Nabiki said, reading over Kasumi's shoulder, "The Jusenkyo guide doesn't understand Japanese well, so he didn't realize they thought the Nanniichuan was a cure. And you know how stupid Mousse is..." Nabiki frowned, "Crap, he doesn't even know where he's going, but he does promise he'll try to stay in Japan until he at least finds a clue."
Akane snatched the paper and noticed that a lot of the words were slightly blurred because of tear marks, "The jerk was crying when he wrote this?"
...
Ranma stood with his traveling pack in Dr. Tofu's clinic.
"I'm sorry Ranma, but I have no clue where you can start looking." Dr. Tofu replied, "I'd recommend you go around visiting shrines, especially some of the more secluded ones that aren't frequented by tourists. Shrine priests and miko are often pretty knowledgeable about these sorts of things."
"Say, what happened to pop anyway?" Ranma asked, "I was kind of worried I'd run into him around here and he'd try and stop me."
"Oh, don't worry about that, I sent him to the herbalist's out of town to pick up supplies, he probably won't be back until around 5pm." Dr. Tofu replied, "Is there anything you'll need before you go?"
"I dunno..." Ranma replied, "I've got my pack, and a few weeks worth of rations, all the camping supplies and clothes I'll need, and some money I've saved up from odd jobs like working at restaurants and stuff." Ranma replied, "I should be fine... could I use your bathroom though? I was planning a disguise so I won't be recognized." Ranma explained.
"Sure." Dr. Tofu replied, gesturing to the bathroom, "I promise I won't tell about your disguise."
...
Dr. Tofu was startled as Ranma came out. Ranma's hair had been re-styled, no longer a pigtail, but it was cut shorter in a similar hairstyle to Nabiki, although it had a bit more curve and spring to it, and puffy bangs, there were no longer the distinctive little dangles of hair in front of his ears either. Ranma was also much smaller, and appeared to be only about 12 years old, and dressed in a plain white t-shirt with blue-jean unisex overalls.
"What- how-!?" Dr. Tofu asked.
"Mushrooms, I saved one of the bigger ones for an emergency, preserved it in an icebox I kept hidden under the koi pond. Ryoga brought these aging mushroom things a while back and tried to use them on me to make me a little kid, and we ended up both turning real small and fighting over them trying to get the bigger ones that were growing on Ryoga's backpack. They were some sort of magical mushrooms that change your age to their height in centimeters." Ranma explained.
Dr. Tofu nodded, "Ah, yes, the mushrooms from the Lost Forest... of course Hibiki-san is the sort of person who could find themselves there." he chuckled, "I suppose that's the last one of them, isn't it?"
Ranma nodded, "This way, even when I get back, they'll be less likely to try and force me ta marry Akane. Plus my school records suck. I'm hopin' that this'll give me a second chance when I get around to school again."
"Do you have enough clothes for... this size?" Dr. Tofu asked.
Ranma nodded, "I spent a while at this age while we were waiting for the mushrooms to grow back, I know what size I am in both male and female forms at this age, and I've got a bunch of clothes that will fit me in both."
"All right then... I suppose one more thing before you go. I noticed you've been developing some unhealthy taints to your aura. Do you know why Happosai and Cologne ended up all shrunken and fixed in their views like that?" Dr. Tofu asked.
Ranma blinked in confusion.
"Aura taints." Dr. Tofu explained, "They taint their auras by using emotions to channel ki, which while that has special benefits, such as the soul of ice from reaching a cold, 'emotionless' state, or some of the terrifying auras that can be created with rage ki, using emotional ki is very dangerous to your health, both mental, and in the long term, physical. It leaves taints that are extremely hard to get rid of, but since you've mastered the neko-ken, I think you might be able to master using pure ki, since you're not too far gone with the emotional shortcuts." Dr. Tofu started pulling out some scrolls and books, "I'm going to lend you all these scrolls and books. These should teach you lots of useful techniques and meditations, which will help you learn to use pure ki. I haven't yet mastered them all myself, and some of these scrolls are rather valuable, but everything I'm giving you I have extra copies of, so you don't have to feel obligated to return them. I want you to promise me you'll never use emotional shortcuts to using ki again, unless there is no other choice, I know it will limit your techniques a lot, but as you get older, it becomes harder to purify the taints out of your system, and it is very hard to use pure ki when you have any taint at all, and pure ki is very much dominant over emotionally tainted ki, even the Hiryuu Shoten Ha won't be able to work against it, since pure ki isn't really hot and disrupts the cold ki if it touches it. The pure ki needs a purer aura and calmer focus to control, it's quite a bit harder to learn than emotional ki, but much more potent and safe to use."
"Wow!" Ranma said, "Thanks... I mean it."
"You're welcome." Dr. Tofu replied as they packed the scrolls and books up in Ranma's pack.
"Goodbye and good luck. I hope to see you again some day, Ranma." Dr. Tofu told him.
"Yes sensei! I'll try to come back as soon as I get cured, if I ever do." Ranma replied, depressed again, he ran to the door and waved, "Goodbye."
Ranma ran off, and Dr. Tofu sighed tiredly.
"May you find happiness some day, Saotome Ranma." Dr. Tofu said.
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Ranma grinned as she sat surrounded by a bunch of scrolls and books in the forest. She's skimmed through the scrolls and books Dr. Tofu had given her and they were dead useful. Of course, with the amount of aura taint she had, according to the books Ranma would take a few years to be able to completely clean out her aura and be able to learn to use pure ki, Ranma knew she was always a fast learner, and suspected she'd be able to do it faster.
One of the big advantages of pure ki, was that if channeled properly, it would flood her ki paths, and reverse any and all shiatsu effects over time, and also cause Ranma's healing rate to increase once she'd mastered pure ki healing and pure ki buffering fields and pure ki basic battle auras. It could heal things that emotional channeled ki couldn't, although it couldn't heal anything, scars and such would remain, but some small things might heal up that wouldn't normally.
One of the reasons Ranma was grinning was she'd found out her curse wasn't such a curse after all, at least as far as mastering pure ki, and was the main reason she'd be able to purify her aura faster. One of the important parts to purifying your aura was having balanced yin and yang, not only was this easier to maintain in Ranma's younger state, but the curse was more complete than Ranma usually let on. Unlike most Jusenkyo curses, the Nyanniichuan was a complete change, Ranma kept memories, the same soul, but the soul didn't have gender, and otherwise, onna-Ranma was a female version of otoko-Ranma. Well, not exactly, since otoko-Ranma didn't have watermelon red hair and eyes, but Ranma knew the odd hair and eye color possessed by onna-Ranma was caused by having sorcery potential, the same reason otoko-Ranma had silver eyes, which was not a natural Japanese eye color, while Ranma didn't actually know magic, Kuno was right in thinking Ranma _could_ be a sorcerer, and the magic had different effects on the body for males and females.
"All right, feels about balanced now." Ranma decided, she picked up a nearby kettle and used it to change back, then began meditating.
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Ranma's camp sight had now changed, it had been several months since he'd started his quest. Finally, he'd purified out the last of the tainted ki, he was surprised by how much he'd accumulated. Ranma had visited several shrines so far, but had no luck yet. At each of the shrines, after discovering that they didn't know of a way Ranma might cure his curse, Ranma got help with his meditations and worked at the shrine for a bit in exchange for a place to stay and supplies when he left, as well as advise of where to stop next.
While there had been no leads as far as cures, Ranma was still confident about his quest, for one, he was spending the time productively, as he'd purified his aura now, and was ready to start learning the pure ki techniques, and Ranma had also learned a lot of spiritual techniques at the shrines he'd stayed at.
Ranma had better mastered the neko-ken and come to understand it, it was the conglomerate of cat spirits who'd died in the pit, who had resonated with Ranma's terrified spirit with their own terror, and responded to Ranma's strong psychic potential. Ranma had finally made proper peace with the cat spirits and allowed them to pass on, but in exchange, Ranma had gained a companion on his journey, Ranma could understand cats now, as he'd become strongly aligned with them, and Ranma was now followed by a nekomata, named Yami, who was teaching Ranma to sense spirits and use shinto techniques such as creating charms, seals, and wards and powering them with pure intent and psychic energy, as well as to enhance Ranma's danger sense, aura detection, aura suppression and stealth skills, and how to awaken Ranma's empathy and telepathy potential.
"No! You've got to relax and speak with your heart, you don't force the psychic energy at me like that, you release and guide it." Yami instructed, his two tails swishing in annoyance.
"Gimme a break yami, this is really hard!" Ranma said.
"You're making it harder than it really is." Yami retorted, "I can't wait till I'm done teaching you and we part ways. You can be so annoying.
Ranma scowled, "You're the one whose annoying. Always whining for fish and begging to get pet! And a pervert too, you wanted to sleep on my chest when I was a girl that one time!"
"I'm not a pervert. You're human, I'm not interested in humans, that's gross, you're breasts are just a softer place to lay down, and listening to your heartbeat was nice. Besides, I'm a female cat." Yami said, "Not that an idiot like you would be able to tell."
Ranma scowled, although he was surprised, "Really? I thought you were a guy, you're voice is kind of deep."
"My voice is 'deep' because I'm really old. And I'm not even speaking human, you're mind is just reinterpreting what I'm saying, male and female cats don't really have that different of pitch to their voices." Yami replied indignantly.
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{This the place, Yami-sensei?} Ranma asked telepathically to the currently invisible nekomata.
{Yes, at least according to the map we got. I sense a strong source of magic here.} Yami replied.
They came around a corner and found a sign.
WELL of WISHES
A word of warning to the wise,
make any wish that you please,
make a wish pure of any size,
but be warned oh foolish stranger,
for selfish wishes will with ease,
cause spirit of the pool to become danger.
{Damn!} Yami cursed.
{What's wrong?} Ranma asked.
{This is a warning idiot. You can't cure your curse here, because that would be a selfish wish.} Yami explained, {And all this trouble finding it too!}
{How is my wish selfish? I didn't deserve to be cursed in the first place!} Ranma retorted.
Yami rolled her eyes, {Fool, it's selfish because it's for yourself that you want to be cured, you want to be seen as a normal person, not that you'd really be that normal anyway...}
Ranma glared, {Well... why don't you wish that I was cured, and I'll wish for something for you?}
{... It's worth a shot} Yami replied, slinking ahead to a large, glassy pool.
They were in a dark forest, surrounded by huge trees, small wisps of light floated about, Ranma had learned on the way that these will 'o wisps were quite dangerous, if you strayed off the path and followed them, they'd try to lead you into traps, and they occasionally liked to ram you when you weren't looking and they were very hot, like they were made of fire and also caused a stinging sensation. They also attacked if you moved too fast. The amount of them had increased the father along the path they went.
The forest also held other dangers, ghosts who had become lost and died in the forest, which Ranma had been forced to use his developing spiritual powers to ward away, banish, or help to pass on, a particularly annoying poltergeist who had tried to trap them in a pit it had dug, and pelt them with rocks, who'd been killed by bandits hundreds of years ago, a terrible 9 tailed kitsune of incredible power was rumored to wander the woods and spawn the will 'o wisps and attacked those who hurt the forest. There had been a grumpy tanuki who had hidden the path and wouldn't let them by until they helped it find it's lost favorite magical leaf, and a powerful oni Ranma had been forced to battle and had nearly lost against which had come to try and kill the wishing well spirit, which was supposedly an ancient, intelligent dragon, and steal it's power.
It had already taken them a week to get to where they were now.
"OH GREAT SPIRIT OF THE WISHING WELL! GRANT ME THIS WISH!" Yami declared, the pool glowed faintly, "Please cure the Jusenkyo curse of my friend Ranma! Make him a full time man again."
A great golden dragon head shot up out of the pool, it was covered in scales and great rubbery whiskers, and had large, golden, slit pupil eyes, that shone with power. Ranma and Yami both screamed in pain as the dragon broke through their mental defenses and read their minds.
"_Foolish cat spirit!_" the dragon roared, "_You only make this wish for your friend because you want him to make your wish for you! Thus, you have made a selfish wish! For this, you shall both be punished! You would have asked for your friend to wish for you food and riches, you're greed and gluttony shall be punished by making you fat and lethargic!_"
Yami screamed in pain as she transformed, becoming round and plump and fluffy, and gaining a tired look to her eyes.
The dragon turned to a terrified Ranma, "You have not yet made your wish, but I know what wish you would have made. You did not seek your wish out of the followings of sin, but to escape a curse unfairly thrust upon you. Because of that, I shall give you both a punishment, and a blessing of sorts, to make up for it in karma. You who wished for a chance not to be seen as a 'gender changing freak' shall no longer change genders, but shall forevermore be a true girl, and must learn to deal with it. Your blessing shall be the gift of healing, you lost much from your training trip with your father, much of your potential was destroyed by injuries, there is damage to your brain and body, damage from malnutrition, poisoning, disease, and injuries, even damage from magical and spiritual effects you've been hit with, I shall heal all this, and grant you the ability to regenerate from injuries with your magical power, so that you shall never be left scarred again. Finally, I shall make you truly the age that the mushrooms locked you at, and lock away your ability to use tainted ki, limiting you to your new, safer techniques. You may not try again to make a wish at this pool._"
"AAAAAAHHHH!" Ranma screamed in pain as magic shot though him and he transformed painfully into girl form, scar tissue, debris such as bone fragments, and also accumulated poisons were ripped out of her body.
Ranma stopped screaming as the pain stopped, but continued crying as her body healed, she grew a little as malnutrition was reversed, although she was still short for her age, finally, she was left sobbing as the healing finished.
"You jerk! Bastard!" Ranma screamed as the dragon retreated back below the waters and the glow faded from them, "Come back here and fix us! Damn it!" she punched the ground hard, her fist coming up slightly bloodied from the rocks since she hadn't used any ki to protect herself. Through her tears she starred at the wound, then felt a presence inside her, she could feel her magic, and she allowed it to react, almost instinctually, it followed her needs and the flesh repaired before her eyes, her fist returning to it's uninjured state.
"Crap, I should have known that was stupid." Yami cursed.
The will o' wisps suddenly hovered around them angrily.
"I don't think we're welcome here any longer." Yami said nervously, she tried to get up, but stumbled on the ground, "Damn... I can't move... you'll have to carry me out of here."
Ranma nodded, sobbing, and picked Yami up.
Ranma turned back towards the pool, but was struck by a Will o' Wisp and turned around, she started leaving along the trail, a few times she looked back, but every time she did, the Will 'o Wisps attacked her.
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"I think this is where we part." Yami said as Ranma approached a shrine.
"What?! Why?" Ranma asked.
"I've nothing left to teach you." Yami replied, "And traveling you will simply encourage me to be more lazy and not work off this fat and regain my strength. Just promise me you won't kill yourself or let yourself die over the mistake we made at the Wishing Well... life is precious... and if anyone can adapt to this, it's you. Let yourself grow up again as a girl, and grow into a good woman, maybe marry a nice man and have a few children, it would be a shame for your strength to not be passed on."
"Maybe... I promise I won't kill myself or let myself die, but I don't like the idea of becoming a mother... maybe there is still hope for me to find a way to become a man again." Ranma said.
Yami shook his head, "No, I think that's a bad idea. Ranma... you told me your life's story. Think about what would have likely happened when you returned home if the curse had been cured. Most likely, those mushrooms would have worn off, as we found out they were only temporary, and you'd have been forced to marry that Akane Tendo girl, and stuck in an abusive relationship, surrounded by dangerous rivals, and if not her, then maybe that Ukyo girl, who would have made you live her life, rather than your own. I think maybe that dragon did you a favor more than a punishment. You were raised to be a man amongst men, but with your father's foolishness and misunderstandings, you bordered on dishonorable and stupid, the dragon has given you a chance to avoid your father's foolishness and change your fate, to reach your full potential. It might be hard, but I think you'll be happier if you find acceptance for who you have become, rather than seeking who your father wanted you to be, and grow into a good person, rather than simply adapt and live according to the will of others."
"You don't understand..." Ranma sniffled, "I'll miss you..."
"I'll miss you too Saotome Ranma, for a human, you're not half bad." Yami replied, then started waddling away awkwardly.
Ranma giggled slightly at the sight as Yami waddled off into the distance, then sighed sadly.
Ranma turned back towards the shrine path, and headed up it, blocks of wood were carved in posts on either side of a long, winding staircase up to the shrine, which cut through a lightly wooded hillside. It took Ranma a few minutes to reach the top, where she encountered a large, pristine shrine.
"Hello?! Anybody there?!" Ranma called out loudly.
There was no answer but the wind.
"Hm... maybe they went to town to buy food or something." Ranma mused, continuing forward onto the grounds.
Ranma wandered around outside for a while, looking at the beautiful shrine grounds, they had a nice rock garden surrounding a holy tree on each of the four corners of the shrine, which Ranma found slightly odd, there was a pedestal in front of the shrine which had a large sundial made of silver, which was even weirder. There were lots of little bells dangling from the roof, all made of alternating gold and silver, but none of them were making a sound, despite being blown in the breeze, the shrine had a multi-layered red roof, and paneled walls of bleached rice paper with golden designs on them, but rather than the traditional sorts of designs, clouds and landscapes, the walls were covered with strange runes, that looked western in origin, pentagrams and other mythical symbols and complex runic arrays.
Ranma wandered around the outside of the shrine, perplexed as she studied the designs, her depression over being stuck as a girl forgotten.
"Anybody there?" Ranma tried again after she'd made it all the way around the building, this time she was more hesitant. Nobody answered.
After a while, Ranma shook her head in confusion, "This place is weird..." she hesitantly slid the door open and peeked inside, finding herself looking down a long hallway with doors off to the left and right that met another hallway near the center of the building which ran perpendicular and was the end of the first hallway.
Ranma slipped inside curiously and wandered down the hall.
Above the doors were wooden plates with words carved in them.
'Monster Isle'
'Kami's Lookout'
'Hogwarts'
'Oak's Lab'
It was all very odd, there seemed to be numerical coordinates on each of the doors, but Ranma couldn't tell what they were coordinates to. She felt strange magics at work behind all the doors, which worried her.
"What's with this shrine!?" Ranma wondered aloud, she tiptoed past and found the other hallway, more doors on either side.
'Pluto's Time Gates'
'Space Time Administration Bureau'
'Station Square'
'Kyuubi's Lair'
'Yoshi's Island'
'Dr. Strange's Home'
And there were more hallways...
Have fun with this if you want.
