Sorry, no crossovers in this part of the story.

Disclaimer:  All characters portrayed in this story are the property of
Rumiko Takahashi and co.

This story takes place after volume 38 of the manga.  It also draws
ideas from the anime.

This is another part of the Preludes and Interludes series, which in
turn is a part of my crossover series, Life and Times.

C & C welcomed.  Flames not.

Preludes and Interludes:  Genma

By

Donny Cheng

Present day...

	Genma opened his eyes as he awoke from his meditative state.  Nodoka
was sitting beside him with a worried expression of her face.  "Tell
Ranma to meet me at the vacant lot by the park."  He then got up and
left for his destination.

	"Genma..."  Nodoka could do nothing to stop her husband from his
decision.

			* * * * *

	Happosai crept silently back to his room.  He had heard everything. 
Genma was finally ready to test Ranma's resolve.  Ranma must be told of
this.

			* * * * *

	"What do you want, you old lech?"  Ranma asked in a bored voice.

	"You would do well to listen to me boy.  I'll have you know that at
this moment your father is planning a duel with you."  Happosai smirked
knowingly at Ranma.

	"Pop?  Not that cradle of hell thingie again."  Ranma shuddered at the
memory.

	Happosai bopped Ranma on the head.  "This isn't the time to be thinking
of nonsense.  Your father is going to ask you to make a decision he had
to make long ago."

	"Yeah?  What's that?

	"How far are you willing to go in the art?"

	"What do you mean by that?  Of course, I'm going go as far as
possible."

	"How old do you think I am, Ranma?  One hundred?  Two Hundred?  I am
well over three hundred years old.  Chi can do many wonders to the
body.  It increases strength and speed as you well know.  It also
decreases the stress the human body faces everyday from the
environment.  The farther you progress in the art you will begin to
notice these more and more.  A martial artist of decent caliber can live
to a ripe old age and still be fit and trim.  A martial artist of your
caliber can probably surpass mine and Cologne's level with a some hard
work."

	Ranma gasped in horror.

	Happosai nodded in understanding.

	"You mean, I'm going to end up looking like an old troll."

	Happosai bopped him on the head again.  "Here, I'll explain by telling
you a story.  This is back when the boys and me used to play practical
jokes on one another.  I would stiff them with the bill or frame them
with my panty raids.  They would get me drunk and lock me up in a cave
in response."

	"I don't think they thought of those as practical jokes."

	Happosai ignored Ranma and continued.

			* * * * *

Eighteen years ago...

	Genma grunted in frustration.  Was there anything that could defeat the
old pervert at all?  Soun was already out cold on the ground.

	"Impressive Genma.  Who would have thought that someone like you could
develop a martial art as powerful as the one you just used."  Happosai
forced himself to laugh out loud.  Inside he was reeling with pain. 
Those repeated strikes had hurt a lot.  Fortunately, Genma's new art was
designed against a person of at least average size.  The art likened the
human body to a house and was specialized in destroying it methodically
from the foundation up.  His smaller size made it harder for his pupil
to use anything other than techniques that attacked the 'base of the
house'.  "Now, do you give up?"

	Genma knew when he was beat.  He would have to wait until he had
perfected his new art, the Yamasen-ken and the Umisen-ken, before he
could take his master on again.  Immediately he groveled as Happosai's
feet.  "I'm so sorry, Master.  I didn't see you there.  I thought that
some bandit had barged in on our campsite.  I tried to fight valiantly
to protect our belongings."

	Happosai could not help but feel disappointed.  Three hundred years. 
It took three hundred years of waiting and this had been the best pupil
that he could find.  Not that Genma was all that bad.  He just wished
that his student would have more of a backbone.  Oh well, after a bit
more time, Genma would try again.  He would be ready to see what new
heights the Anything Goes School of martial arts would reach then.

			* * * * *

Seventeen years ago...

	Happosai felt something that he had not felt in a long time.  He felt
his age starting to creep up to him.  "So, you've decided to give up on
the art?"

	"NO!"  Genma shouted out only realize how loud he was yelling and who
he was yelling at.  "I mean no, master.  I do not wish to give up the
art.  I am content to stay at the level of skill that I am at now.  I
will continue to train with you if you wish, but do not feel the need to
train me anymore."

	Happosai sighed.  So close.  He had been so unbelievably close to
finally having a successor.  Through his harsh training, Genma had
reached the pinnacle of the art.  All Genma had to do was surpass that
point and receive a new level of enlightenment.  He could remember when
he himself had passed that point and become a true master of the art. 
"Very well then.  You and Soun will continue to train with me."  Despite
both his students wanting to stay at their current level, Happosai still
felt the urge to grow and expand the school of Anything Goes.  To do
that he needed constant sparring partners trained enough to help.

			* * * * *

Present day...

	Ranma could not believe what he heard.  "Pop wanted to stop advancing
in the art.  I thought he had reached his limit and was just too lazy to
go any farther.  I mean, look at how he's always pushing me farther into
the art."

	"Your father and Soun both made the same decision for the same reason,
their wives and their family.  Cowards, the both of them.  Choosing the
safer path.  The path of the art is a dangerous one."

	Ranma stared at Happosai.  Coward?  He could visualize his father's
face when he was still a toddler.  Genma always had this slight smile
when Ranma learned a technique successfully.  To him, his father seemed
to love the art more than he did anything else.  "No, pop is not a
coward for choosing a different path.  He loves the art very much.  He
gave up something precious to himself, so he could end his life with my
Mother.  If anything, I would say he was braver than I am.  If I had to
make the same decision between Aka... I mean my family or the art, I
don't know if I would give up the art so easily."

	<Clap> <Clap> <Clap>

	Ranma and Happosai turned to see Nodoka clapping with a smile on her
face.  "Very well said, my son."

	Happosai gave Nodoka a thoughtful look.  "Perhaps, you're right
Ranma."  He then left to give some time alone to Ranma and Nodoka.  His
youth and surprisingly a young Cologne occupied his thoughts.

			* * * * *

	"I told Genma that I was pregnant with you, nearly seventeen years
ago.  Right after that, he told me that he had to see the old master for
a moment.  He never told me why, but he could never hide anything from
me.  I knew that he had given up on reaching that next level of
enlightenment for me and our small family."

	Ranma could not for the life of him imagine his father giving up
longevity for anything.  His father seemed to value his life very much.

	"That was the main reason that I let him take you on that ten year
training trip.  Genma wanted to recreate those same circumstances and
live vicariously through you.  Well, my son.  Have you made a choice? 
The art or family?"

	Ranma could honestly say he didn't know.  He knew that he wanted to be
remembered.  He risked his life to have Akane gain back her memories
after Shampoo erased them.  He knew that he didn't want to be hated.  He
risked Akane's wrath to have Shampoo love him again during that little
problem with the reversal jewel.  He knew that he wanted everyone alive
and well.  He risked his life several times over to save Akane from
extremely powerful foes including Saffron.  He knew that he could live
with Akane living a life with another.  He nearly gave her up to
Shinnosuke.  He knew that he could not live without the art at his
command.  He was ready to leave his friends and family behind when
Happosai made him lose his strength.  He knew that he had to be the best
there was in the art.  He trained constantly and never gave up until he
defeated his opponent whether it was toughened up Ryoga, a super
strength Akane, or someone he considered an enemy.

	Nodoka held Ranma to her in comfort.  "Don't worry.  I'm sure you will
make the right decision.  Right now, you have to meet your father at the
empty lot.  He's waiting for you."

	Ranma let go of his mother's embrace.  "There's still one thing I don't
understand.  How did ever get the chance to make that decision anyway? 
How could someone like him get someone as good as you, mom?"

	"I was at a bath house when I met your father.  Happosai was up to his
old tricks and Genma and Soun were of course with him.  I caught Genma
peeping at me.  What a manly man your father was?"  Nodoka's eyes glazed
in memory.

	Ranma facefaulted.

			* * * * *

	Ranma bigsweated as he arrived at the empty lot.  This had not been
what he was expecting.

	"Well, boy.  Don't stand there gawking.  We have a long week ahead of
us."  Genma was lugging a huge backpack and holding another in his hand.

	What happened to that big decision his father was going to ask him
about?  Happosai, of course was the reason.  The old perv probably heard
wrong.  However, Ranma didn't care at the moment.  The pack seemed to
gesture invitingly at him.  "Another training trip?  Haven't you had
enough of them?"

	"No."  Genma answered that like it was the dumbest question he ever
heard.

	"Same with me.  Come on let's go."  Ranma grinned as he and his father
started their journey.

			* * * * *

Ten years ago...

	"I don't want to go to sleep.  I want to train some more."  Ranma
mumbled sleepily as his small form finally gave way to exhaustion.

	Genma smiled proudly at his young son.  Ranma was off to a fine start
as a martial artist.  He tucked his son in for the night.

			* * * * *

The End. (maybe)