Sean Kauffman (ryo@nym.alias.net)
Please direct all C&C's to this e-mail address.

WARNING: caveat homophobe.

Note: All speech is translated from Japanese, unless surrounded by < >.

                           Ryoga: Finishing Move

                    A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Sean Kauffman

===== PART 1 =====
      "Shampoo!  Put on some clothes!!"
      Instantly everyone in the Nekohanten turned to look.  Shampoo was
just walking out from the kitchen.  She stopped at the voice and looked
up in surprise.  When everyone saw she was fully clothed, they went back
to their food, disappointed.  Except for Mousse, who dropped what he was
serving and looked around frantically for Shampoo.
      "Shampoo!  Where are you?" He stumbled over a potted plant and
crashed into her, sending ramen flying all over.
      "Stupid Mousse!  Shampoo have clothes on!" Shampoo kicked him out
the door, past Ranma, who was standing next to the door, laughing.
      "Ranma!  Why you shout like that?" asked Shampoo, puzzled.
      "Just needed some entertainment.  Having a bad day.  Thought he'd
do that!" Ranma laughed some more, then held his ribs. "Ow!"
      "Ranma hurt?" Shampoo was instantly by his side, any annoyance
gone. "What violent tomboy do this time?"
      "It's like this..." Ranma began, still holding his side.

=== Earlier, in the morning... ===
      "Breakfast!" called Kasumi to Ranma and Genma, who were sparring
near the pond as usual.  Kasumi made sure the bamboo was ready.
      "Coming!" yelled Ranma.  His father took advantage of the
distraction to smack him a good one across the face.  Ranma landed
awkwardly.  "Why, you..." he muttered, rolling and leaping upwards again
to meet Genma in midair.  Genma came in fast with a flying side kick, but
Ranma did a neat handspring off his father's outstretched leg and kicked
him in the head, sending him sailing into the pond.
      "Bamboo it is!" exclaimed Kasumi.
      "Ha, old man!  You can't beat me any more!" Ranma jeered, but was
unprepared when the panda rolled out of the pond.  And kept rolling at
him.  Ranma tried to jump straight up, but the panda jumped too.  Ranma
managed to dodge one massive swipe from each foreleg of the panda, but
didn't quite escape a spinning back kick.  That was a new one.  Splash!
      "Growf!  Rowf rowf rowf rowf!" guffawed Genma-panda.
      "You can shut up now," grumbled Ranma-chan as she climbed out of
the pond and headed in for a bath.  The panda simply went to the table
and started crunching on bamboo sections.
      "Good morning Saotome.  Had a good fight?" Soun greeted him, from
behind his newspaper.
      "Growf-growf," was the reply.
      Meanwhile, Ranma-chan was heading for the bathroom, not paying much
attention to where she was going.  She was late for breakfast, and
hungry, all because her father HAD to knock her into the pond.  HE didn't
care about being in his cursed form.  Ranma reached for the door handle
and touched something warm, which jerked away.  She looked up.
      "A... Akane..."

      "Ranma!  What are you doing?" Akane demanded.
      "Taking a bath, what does it look like?"
      "Why did you TOUCH me?"
      "Why don't you look where you stick your hand?"
      Akane began to get steamed.  She made a sound like
"mmmmmmffffff!!", low in her throat.  Ranma began to sweat.
      "I bet you just wanted to touch me, you pervert!"
      "Why would I want to touch you?  You're an uncute tomboy."
      "BAKA!"
      Nabiki winced as she heard the slap, all the way from the dining
table.
      "OWWWW!!  What'd you hit me for?" protested Ranma.
      As always after she hit something, Akane calmed down.  A little.
      "I'm going to take a bath, so move!"
      "Whaddaya mean?  _I'M_ going to take a bath!"
      "I was here first!"
      "I need this more than you!  I don't wanna go out like this!"
      "Just get some hot water in the kitchen!  I need to take a bath!"
      "Come on, nobody can tell whether you've taken a bath or not."
      "RANMAAAAAAA!!!!" screamed Akane, chasing her around the house.
      "What'd I do this time?!" yelled Ranma-chan, running for her life.
      Nabiki ate her breakfast slowly, watching the two of them.  "Why
doesn't he ever learn?" she asked nobody in particular.  She looked
around the table.  Genma-panda chewed on his bamboo.  Her father was
buried in his newspaper.  Kasumi simply said, "What a nice day for a
chase."
      Ranma-chan made it back upstairs to the bathroom and jumped into
the bathtub, emerging male and still clothed, and leaped for the window
just as Akane came in.  This time she had a large mallet.  He couldn't
help himself, he turned back and made a face at her.  Unfortunately for
Ranma, he hadn't opened the window yet.
      Maybe he was lucky it didn't break when he crashed into it.
      "RANMAAAAAAA!!!!" screamed Akane, winding up.
      Or maybe he wasn't.  Ranma looked up from where he had landed on
the floor.  "Uh-oh."
      There was a tremendous crash as Ranma went flying through the
window and soared out into Nerima.  He landed in a small alley, got up
painfully, brushed himself off and looked around.  "Why do I put up with
this?" he thought.  Somehow, though, Akane-induced flight always seemed
to land him near one of his other fiancees.  It was like she was saying,
go on, see them, I don't care what you do.  "All right, why not," thought
Ranma, turning the corner and seeing the Nekohanten up ahead.

      "So that's what brought me here, Shampoo," Ranma finished. "Now can
I get something to eat?  I haven't had anything all morning."
      "Of course!  Shampoo feed husband right away."  Shampoo went back
into the kitchen, picking noodles off her Chinese dress as she went. 
Ranma grimaced at the word "husband" but stayed for the food.  Shampoo
came back soon with a steaming bowl and set it in front of Ranma.  She
went out and dragged Mousse back in to finish serving the other
customers, then sat down at Ranma's table.
      "Hey, that was great!" said Ranma, finishing off his ramen.  He got
up to leave, "See you later!"
      "Wait!" Shampoo grabbed his arm.  Ranma looked at her, puzzled.
      "Shampoo want to talk," she explained.  "Shampoo been thinking
about something."
      "Uh... okay.  What's up?"  She wanted to talk to him?  All he
wanted was ramen...
      "Not here.  We go somewhere else." Shampoo pulled him out the door.
      "Hey, slow down!" Ranma protested.
      "Shampoo!" Mousse shouted, dropping what he was serving, and
heading after them.  A staff swung squarely down on his head, dropping
him.
      "Mousse!  Clean that up!  You're not off work yet!" Cologne
scolded.  Mousse got up and sullenly went back to work.
      "That Ranma..." thought Mousse. "I'll get him...!"
      "Son-in-law," thought Cologne. "Will you finally declare your love
for Shampoo?

=== The Park ===
      "Shampoo...  Why'd you drag me out here?" asked Ranma.
      They were sitting on a bench, looking out over the small pond in
the middle of the park.  Shampoo kept trying to squeeze closer to Ranma.
      "Ranmaaa..." Shampoo began to gush. "You I love."
      "Ye- yeah.  I know that..." Ranma said, desperately trying not to
fall off the edge of the bench.
      "Wo de Ai-ren," cooed Shampoo, wrapping herself around Ranma. 
Ranma tried to push her off.
      "Shampoo," Ranma squirmed, "what are you trying to do?"
      Abruptly she saw she was getting nowhere and stopped.  Ranma sighed
in relief.
      "Ranma," Shampoo started. "Can you tell Shampoo truth?"
      "Truth?  Truth about what?"
      "Do you promise to tell Shampoo truth?"
      "Umm... what is this?  What do you want to ask me?"
      "Ranma not promise truth!  Ranma not trust Shampoo?" Shampoo
suddenly turned away.  Her shoulders started to shake.
      "Aw, come on Shampoo, don't cry!" Ranma protested, but Shampoo just
started bawling.
      Ranma looked around.  People were staring.  "Okay, okay, fine, I'll
tell you the truth, just stop crying.  What do you want to know?"
      Shampoo abruptly stopped and looked at him, her eyes glinting. 
Ranma didn't like that look.
      "Ranma," she began, "you love Shampoo?"
      Ranma was caught completely off guard.  "Wha-??  I mean... what?  I
mean... huh?  Umm... errr...."
      "Ranma promise to tell truth!  Now tell truth!!" Shampoo demanded.
      Ranma looked around.  People were really staring now.
      "Well, um... hmm..."
      "Ranma no love Shampoo!"
      "I didn't say that!"
      "Ranma love... Akane!"
      "Now what gave you that idea?!  She's a kawaiikunee tomboy!!"
      "Then why you no love Shampoo?  Shampoo beautiful, can cook, can
beat Akane without using arms, everything better than her!"
      "I just... I... I don't know."
      Shampoo got up abruptly and stalked away, head down, arms straight
at her sides, tears streaming down her face.
      "Shampoo!  Where are you going?" Ranma stood and watched her go.
"Well... guess I won't be getting free food at the Nekohanten for a
while."  His stomach rumbled at the thought of food.  Hungry again
already?  That ramen wasn't too filling...  "Why don't I go visit
Ucchan's," he thought.
      Ucchan's was packed, as usual, even though it was past the lunch
rush.  But as soon as Ranma walked in, Ukyo dropped what she was doing
and rushed over to give him a hug.
      "Hi, Ranchan!  What'cha been up to?"
      "Hey, Ucchan - got some food for me?"
      "Sure, one okonomiyaki, coming right up!"
      She moved Ranma up to top priority on her mental list of waiting
orders and sizzled up a "Ranchan special" okonomiyaki, decorating it with
his name surrounded by a heart in sauce.  "Here you go!" she declared,
sliding a plate over and flipping the okonomiyaki onto it in front of
Ranma, all in one smooth motion.
      "Thanks, Ucchan!" Ranma said, digging in.
      Ucchan went back to her orders, filling them more quickly than
usual, but losing none of her touch or professional service.  Well, maybe
a little.  Then she sat down on a stool next to Ranma's.  Ranma was
snarfing down the okonomiyaki with his usual enthusiasm.
      "Ranma?" she asked.
      "Mmrblhmph?"
      "That's okay, finish first." She chuckled softly.  He was so cute
like this.
      Ranma gobbled down the last bit and turned to her, "That was great! 
See you later, Ucchan."  He got up.
      "No wait, I want to ask you something!" Ukyo grabbed his arm.
      "You do?" Ranma sat down.
      "There's something I've been thinking about for a while... and I
never really asked you before, but- I'm beginning to wonder..." Ukyo
started, hesitantly.
      "What is it?" Ranma asked.  Ucchan wasn't usually like this.
      "Do you promise to give me an honest answer?" Ukyo asked.
      "Sure, of course I will!"
      "Do you love me?"
      Ranma was caught completely off guard.  "Huh?  What...?!!" was his
reply.
      "Do you LOVE me?" Ukyo pressed.  Everyone in the restaurant was
watching now.  They knew these two.
      "Umm... well... errr...." Ranma was turning red.
      "You promised to give me an honest answer!" Ukyo protested.
      "Aahhh!  Ucchan... you... you're my best friend in the whole world! 
You know that, right?"
      "Ranchan, of course I know that.  But I love you.  Now I want to
know if you love me!!"
      "Well, um... hmm..."
      "What is it?  Do you love Akane??  Is THAT it?" Ukyo looked ready
to cry.
      "What do you mean?  How could I love a flatchested brute like her? 
She just knocked me through a window this morning!"
      "Then why don't you love me?  I can cook, I'm not flatchested, I
can beat her any day, I'm better in every way!"
      "I just... I... I'm... I don't know."
      Ukyo looked really unhappy now.  "Then... then... you can just GET
out!"  She went into the back room and slammed the door.
      "Ucchan!" Ranma called.  His voice faded into the silence of the
restaurant.  "Ucchan..."
      Ranma left Ucchan's, feeling more depressed than ever.  "What was
the matter with them today?" he asked himself. "They never asked before." 
But he began to ask himself... maybe for the first time... "who do I
really love?"
      Ranma headed back to the dojo.  He'd get dinner THERE, at least.

      The next day after school, there was somebody standing outside the
gates of Furinkan High School.  He kept looking at his watch.  He looked
familiar... but Hiroshi couldn't quite place him.  Then Daisuke reminded
him.  "Hey, doesn't he look like umbrella boy?"
      "Yeah, he does!  But that's not umbrella boy... he doesn't have an
umbrella.  Or a bandanna."
      "What's he doing here then?  Uh-oh, he's coming over."
      "Excuse me," the young man asked, checking his watch once again.
"This is Furinkan High School, right?"
      "Yeah, it is," Hiroshi replied. "Let me guess, you're looking for
Ranma Saotome, right?"
      The stranger was surprised. "Right, how'd you know?"
      "It figures," Hiroshi answered.
      "Do you know where he is?"
      "That sounds like them over there," said Daisuke, pointing towards
the school building.
      Sure enough, distinctive cries of "Ranma no BAKA!" "Kawaiikunee!"
and "OWW!" could be heard.
      Ranma rushed by, chased closely by Akane, who looked as mad as
usual.
      "Excuse me," said the stranger, turning as they went by. "Um...
excuse me?"
      "You gotta yell," said Hiroshi. "Plus, this'll probably cause Ranma
some pain."
      "Huh?" asked the stranger.
      "Like this: RANMAAAA!!!" yelled Daisuke.
      Ranma stopped and looked back from about 10 meters away.  "What?"
he yelled, just before getting clobbered by Akane.
      The stranger ran up and looked down at him as Akane stomped out the
gate.  "Are you okay?"
      Ranma hopped up and looked at him. "As much as usual after one of
those.  Honestly, I don't know why I keep on taking this... wait, who are
you?"
      "Are you Ranma Saotome?"
      "Depends who's asking."
      "I'm looking for someone you used to know.  Ryoga Hibiki.  Do you
know where he is?"
      Ranma thought back to the last time he saw P-chan.  At the
breakfast table.
      "He hasn't been around for a while."
      "Okay, but he's around sometimes, right?"
      "Yeah - hey, why do you want to know?  You know, you kinda look
like him..."
      Hiroshi poked Daisuke.  "He finally noticed." "Quit poking!"
      "Oh, maybe that's cause he's my cousin.  I'm Sho Hibiki."
      "His cousin?"
      "Yeah, you know, I haven't seen him for a while, so I wanted to
visit."
      "Okay, well, I think I know where he might be.  Come with me."
      Ranma led Sho back towards the dojo, thinking, "Ryoga has a
cousin?"
      "So who's the girl?" asked Sho. "She packs a mean punch."
      "Oh, she's my... fiancee," Ranma almost spit the word.
      "It doesn't sound like you like that."
      "Believe me, it's mutual.  It was arranged by our parents before we
were even born."
      "Lucky you didn't both turn out to be girls."
      Ranma gave him a funny look.

      They arrived at the dojo and walked in the front gate.  "Nice
place," Sho commented, pressing something on his watch. "But you're not a
Tendo."
      "No, I'm not, but me and my dad are staying with them." Ranma
explained.
      "So are you studying martial arts here?"
      "Yeah, why, do you study kempo?" Ranma asked eagerly.
      "Me??  No."
      Ranma was visibly disappointed.  Oh well, there were always other
people to beat up.
      Kasumi greeted them at the door.  "Good afternoon Ranma.  Who's
your friend?"
      "Hi Kasumi, this is Sho Hibiki," replied Ranma. "Sho, meet Kasumi."
      "Pleased to meet you," said Sho.
      "Nice to meet you too," said Kasumi, blushing.  She thought to
herself, "An older man!  Wow!"
      "There are snacks on the table," she said, out loud.
      "Thanks," the boys said, walking on in.
      They found Akane feeding P-chan an afternoon snack.  Sho recognized
the girl who clobbered Ranma earlier.  What was strange was that the
black piglet she was feeding seemed to recognize him.  Akane turned
towards them and put down the piglet, who immediately ran into the next
room.  Now what was familiar about that bandanna...?
      Ranma started, "Sho, this is Akane."
      Akane frowned. "Ranma, you're supposed to introduce HIM to ME
first."
      "Sorry!  Why are you so touchy?!"
      "Hi, I'm Sho Hibiki," Sho said quickly, trying to ward off an
argument.
      Akane perked up.  "Hibiki?  Do you know Ryoga?"
      "Yeah, he's my cousin."
      Just then there was a knock at the front door.  Ranma whispered to
Sho, "That'll be Ryoga."
      Sho just said, "Huh?  How do you know?"
      They could all hear Kasumi saying "Why hello, Ryoga!  Nice to see
you again!  Would you like a snack?"
      Ryoga's voice came closer, distractedly, "Thanks, Kasumi..."
      Then Ryoga came in.
      "Ryoga!" Sho greeted him.
      "Sho!" Ryoga came over and they hugged each other.  "It's been so
long!"
      "How long has it been?" asked Ranma curiously.
      "Hmm, I don't remember..." said Ryoga.
      "Ryoga!  Where have you been?" Akane asked, brightly. "It's so nice
that your cousin could come visit too!"
      Ranma growled under his breath, "One Hibiki is already too many."
      "Ranma!" BONK. "OW!  Stop hitting me, you sexless- OWWW!!"
      "Be nice to our guests!" Akane yelled at Ranma, who was lying dazed
on the floor with a potted plant in his face.
      "This happens a lot, huh?" Sho commented to Ryoga.
      "Yup, a lot."
      "Ahem... umm, Akane?" Sho ventured.
      "What is it!!" Akane looked up. "Oh, sorry, what is it, Sho?" asked
Akane.
      "Thanks for the cookies, and thank Kasumi too.  I think we'll be
going now, we have some catching up to do."
      "Okay, well come by anytime!"
      "Hopefully not anytime soon..." muttered Ranma from beneath the
plant.
      "I heard that, Ranma!" Ryoga said, as he left with Sho.
      "RannnmmmmAAAA!!!!" Akane screamed.
      "Oh great..." moaned Ranma.

      As soon as they had left the dojo, Ryoga stopped and asked Sho,
"How'd you find me?  What's up?"
      "Don't worry, we'll talk later." Sho looked at his watch and said
"Come this way."  He started walking.
      "Where are we going?"
      "We're going to your house."
      "My house?  But I don't know where my house is!"
      "Oh, so that's why you weren't there?  Don't worry, I do."
      "But I thought your sense of direction was as bad as... as mine."
      "I found a solution," Sho said proudly.
      "A solution?!" asked Ryoga. "I'll believe it when I see it."
      "It's easy, just keep walking in this direction."
      HONNNNNK SCREEEEECH!
      "Watch out for those cars!" Ryoga yelled. "Aren't you watching
where you're going??  You just stepped out into the road!"
      "Ooops...  Sorry."  Sho went to a crosswalk and crossed, then
checked his watch again.  "Okay, now this direction."  He began walking.
      Some time later...
      "This is a dead end," complained Ryoga.  They were at the end of an
alley with a 4-meter concrete wall.
      "Well, we have to go this way!" Sho insisted, pointing through the
wall.  "I can climb it, can you?"
      "We don't have to," Ryoga grinned. "Bakusai-tenketsu!" He stabbed a
finger at the wall, which exploded.
      "OW!" yelled Sho as he was hit by concrete fragments.  Then he
looked at the wall.  "Wow, nice hole.  Where'd you learn that?"
      "Some old lady showed me," replied Ryoga.
      It wasn't too much longer until they were standing in front of a
wooden gate, about their height, supported by two square stone columns. 
There was a mail slot in one of the columns, with "Hibiki" written above
it.
      "Wow!" Ryoga said, amazed.  "You really did it!  We're home!"
      "Yup." Sho replied, satisfied, as they walked in the front gate.
      "Now how are we going to get in?  I don't have my key," asked
Ryoga.
      "Shirokuro let me in last time," said Sho. "She remembered me."
      "Oh yeah!  She's smart, isn't she?  Hey, Shirokuro!" called Ryoga.
      After a moment, a half-white, half-black dog bounded up to the
front door and opened it from the inside.  She leaped up into Ryoga's
arms, barking excitedly.
      "Wow, I haven't seen her since she had puppies last.  How are you
doing, Shirokuro?" Ryoga scratched her ears.
      They all went inside and sat down on the sofa in the living room
with some tea and crackers.  "It looks like Mom and Dad haven't been home
in a while, either," said Ryoga, looking around.  "So tell me, how'd you
find me?  And how'd you even get here in the first place?  I missed you,
man.  Last time you visited, I was in junior high."
      "Well, let me tell you what happened to me after that... It's a
long story, so get comfortable.  I graduated from high school, and I was
going out to visit universities when I got lost.  You know how it is. 
("Boy, do I!" Ryoga said.)  Anyway, so I wandered around until I found
myself in some city where all the signs were in Chinese, so I thought I
was in China, but it seemed too modern to be a Chinese city, and I found
lots of people, mostly old people, who spoke Japanese.  They told me I
was in Taipei, Taiwan.  ("So that's why the older people spoke Japanese,
because Japan controlled Taiwan until 1945!" Ryoga said thoughtfully.
"Hey, quit interrupting!" said Sho.)  I thought, might as well check it
out while I'm here, I might never come again.  So I explored the city by
day and camped out in the parks at night.  Then one day I met a girl who
spoke Japanese, a girl about my age - her name was <Hua>."
      "Wha?" asked Ryoga.
      "Yeah, <Hua>.  That was almost right - the character is 'hana' in
Japanese, for 'flower'.  So I told her I was from Japan, and lost, and
she saw I was tired and dirty, so she took me to her house and gave me
some food.  I told her how I wanted to go to college and study electronic
engineering, and she was surprised, because that's what she's studying.
("You were always studying while I trained," Ryoga remembered.  "That's
right," Sho said.)  So she asked me if I wanted to go to her university. 
At first I was surprised, because I didn't know any Chinese, plus I'd
have to take an entrance exam to get in.  In Chinese.  But she said
'Don't worry, you know a lot of kanji, right?  I can teach you Chinese,
and you can help me with my Japanese.'  She was taking advanced Japanese
in college, and she spoke it really well.  She told me I could live at
her house.  I asked her, 'won't your parents mind?' and she said, 'I
don't think so - my mom is pretty easygoing, and my dad - well, let's go
meet my dad.'  So we went."
      "Sho, what does this have to do with your being able to find your
way around?" asked Ryoga, yawning a little.  He was getting hungry.
      "I'm coming to that.  Have some more crackers.  Anyway, her dad was
a scientist who owned a big electronics company in Taipei - a company
specializing in GPS technology."
      "GPS?"
      "I didn't know what it was either.  So we went to his office, and
Hua introduced us to each other, and then I asked him what he did. 
Fortunately, he spoke Japanese too.  He explained that GPS was made up of
a bunch of satellites ("up in space?" asked Ryoga. "Yup," said Sho) that
could tell you where you are on the earth, no matter where you are.  He
told me 'GPS' stood for some English words.  I asked him what good that
would be.  He said that its most useful feature was for navigation. 
("Navigation?!" asked Ryoga. "Yup, my ears perked up too," said Sho.)  So
I told him, 'Hey, navigation's my big problem.  I get lost a lot.'  He
said 'Really?  Well, maybe we can fix that.'  He went over to a table and
showed me a TV, about the size of a shoebox, with a keypad on the top. 
'This is a car navigation unit,' he told me, 'with this you can get a map
from any one place to any other place.'  I looked at it, and said,
'That's too big - how can I carry it around?'  'You mean you're walking?'
he asked.  'Yeah,' I said.  'Hmm... this is the smallest one we have
right now, but...' he said.  'And also,' I said, 'I don't read maps very
well.'  'Oh really?' he asked.  'Yeah, I'm really terrible.' I was
getting kinda embarrassed then.  So he said, 'Well, let's see how well
you do with this.'  He rummaged around in his desk until he found a floor
map of the building, with the bathroom marked.  'This is for visitors,'
he said, 'let's see how well you do.'  So Hua and her father followed me,
and I tried to use the map to find the bathroom.  We ended up on the
roof.  ("Ouch," said Ryoga, sympathetically.)  I almost followed the map
off the roof, but Hua stopped me.  I was really embarrassed now.  So
Hua's dad was convinced I couldn't read maps.  He told us, 'I'll think
about this problem...'  Then Hua told him that I wanted to study
electronics myself, and that I had some experience.  So he led me to a
diagnostic workbench where they had a broken GPS unit, and he gave me a
computer with the circuit diagrams and a multimeter and told me to figure
out what was wrong with it.  I found the problem in five minutes, it was
pretty simple. ("Cool," Ryoga said.)  Hua's dad was amazed... he mumbled
something that sounded like 'He can follow a circuit diagram, but not a
floor plan.'  So anyway, he offered me a job.  So I stayed at Hua's
house, studied for the entrance exams, worked as an intern at Hua's dad's
company, exchanged language lessons with Hua, and roamed the city (with
Hua as a guide) in my free time.  After a few weeks, Hua's dad came home
and gave me a box.  'What's this?' I asked him.  'It's my way of saying
"thanks" for the help you've given my company,' he said.  'My help?' I
asked. 'Yes,' he answered, 'Your problem has given me ideas that will
revolutionize the GPS industry.  Open it.'  I opened the box, and found a
watch inside - it's the same watch I'm wearing now.  It's a miniature GPS
unit that lets you store hundreds of coordinates, latitude and longitude. 
If you're there, you can just hit the 'store' button, or if you know the
coordinates, you can enter them in manually."
      "But it's too small to display a map, and you can't read a map
anyway!" Ryoga protested.
      "That's the key.  His idea was very simple - once you specify the
destination coordinates, the watch displays an arrow, no matter where you
are, pointing in the direction you have to go to get to the destination. 
So that's how I got around my directional problem.  I just follow the
arrow."
      Ryoga's mouth was hanging open.  This was too awesome.
      "And even better, little cousin.  I brought one for you."  Sho
handed Ryoga a small box.
      "Hey, that's too cool!"  Ryoga said.  He opened the box, took out
the watch, and put it on.  "Thanks!"  He looked carefully at it.  It was
black, with a slightly bulky round dial about 3 cm in diameter, with four
buttons around the sides and two on the front, and what looked like an
infrared transceiver on the top front of the dial.
      "To get you started, I can transfer you the coordinates I've
already located - I think they're ones that interest you."
      They pointed the watches at each other, and Sho set them to
transmit and receive data via infrared.  "You should read the manual," he
said, pointing to a thick booklet. "It's in Japanese."
      While Ryoga fooled around with his watch, Sho continued his story. 
"So anyway, Hua's dad thought this watch was a very cool idea, and he was
right.  They're selling like crazy in Taiwan, and starting to come to
Japan too.  Anyway, I realized what this meant for me, to have this
watch.  I was free to go anywhere I wanted to.  I could find any place I
wanted.  So first thing, I decided to go home and visit my parents,
because I was sure they were worried about me.  I called home, but they
weren't there.  Anyway, I found home on the map and programmed the
coordinates as close as I could get them, then I took a plane from Taipei
to Tokyo.  Hua's dad was so happy with me that he paid for this trip, and
he also offered me a job after I graduate from college.  Anyway, then I
walked to my neighborhood, and from there it was easy to find my house
and get the exact coordinates, but nobody was there.  I think they were
lost again.  So then I decided to come visit you, and bring you one of
these watches.  I missed you too.  So I found your house on the map and
programmed the coordinates, approximately.  But nobody was here, either. 
I stuck around for a week, waiting, but nobody came.  Then I remembered
that when I visited you last, you were practicing to go fight one of your
classmates, Ranma Saotome.  ("Grr..." growled Ryoga, automatically.)  But
I also remembered that he used to walk you home a lot, so you wouldn't
get lost, so I thought that he probably knew you pretty well, and maybe
knew where you were.  So I called the high schools around Tokyo and found
him at Furinkan.  I went there, waited for him, and he led me to the
Tendo Dojo, where I found you.  So that's the whole story."

===== END PART 1 =====