Hi!  This is a little padding out of the work I did on the first two
chapters.  I've added a few scenes to help things along, and put in a
few explanations that should make it easier to follow.  Special thanks
to Bert Miller and Edward Becerra for a round of email messages that
gave me a lot of info about Red China and Tibet.



Genma Ascendant
By LarryF

based on an original story by
metroanime@mindspring.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's notes: This is a reworking of a short story written by Metro.
I liked the story idea so much that I asked for permission to put my
own stamp on it. There were a number of interesting ideas in Metro's
version that I wanted to adopt, and others that I chose to drop
because they added nothing to the basic concept. (One of the more
intriguing ideas was that Ranma's mother was an Amazon, not Nodoka; I
decided to change that back because the new mother was just a
throw-away character.) I am planning on adding new material and
padding out the existing scenes, as well as rewriting the dialog to
suit my own tastes.

This is an Alternate History story. It is not intended to resemble the
canon story much, so don't expect the characters to conform to the
usual standards except as it pleases me.

I will gladly listen to any comments and criticism that is offered in
the spirit of helpfulness, either listed or private, and of course I
encourage it! After all, that's what we post this stuff for.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter One: In Which Genma Breaks Free

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Genma Saotome stood before the altar of a remote mountain Shrine. He
tugged on the rope, and was answered with the clattering of the
cluster of bells hung from the rafter. In the age-old custom, he
clapped his hands three times to summon the spirits before bowing to
show respect.

"Hear me, spirits of this Shrine. Today I stole food from a village.
It was far from the first time that I've done that, but this was
different. This time, something happened that makes me wonder if
perhaps... "

Genma stopped in mid prayer. He didn't really believe that any spirits
were listening. He was just using this as a way of sorting his ideas,
and this was a difficult thought for him to follow to its obvious
conclusion.

"I was running out of the village with a bag full of food over my
shoulder, and one of the villagers yelled out that he recognized me.
He told the others that I was the infamous thief Happosai."

"We need the food! But to think that I have become so much like the
Master that I could be mistaken for him shames me. Have I followed his
path so long that I am no different from him?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...In one twist of reality, the one thought of as the true version,
Genma brushed off the notion as absurd and walked back to his camp to
rejoin his lifelong friend Soun Tendo.

They got drunk, and the next morning they went on learning the
techniques of Happosai�s School of Anything Goes martial arts. When
they parted company after sealing Happosai in a cave, Genma eventually
met and married Nodoka (whose idea of a manly man was not dissimilar
to Happosai�s) and Genma raised their only son in a rather� bizarre
manner.

It all went back to that moment of decision at the Shrine. That was
the moment when Genma decided his own fate for all time.

But what if he had made another choice?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...Caught up in the throes of anguish, Genma sank to his knees in
remorse. After a few minutes of bitter contemplation, he raised his
face to the altar again.

"To be sincere in atonement for my behavior, I must forever change my
ways. If there are any spirits, if my ancestors really can hear me,
then bear witness as I make this solemn vow: I refuse to be _anything_
like the Master! Instead I shall surpass him in every way save his
perversity. I vow on my very soul that the Anything Goes style will
come to stand for something besides debauchery and panty raids!"

Lightning crackled through the clear sky and a stiff wind blew,
although the air had been still a moment before. The last few rays of
the sun seemed to focus on and spotlight the centuries old cabinet
behind the altar.

"A fine oath," said a gruff voice over his shoulder.

Genma jumped to his feet, startled in spite of himself. Someone had
managed to sneak up on him!

The Shinto priest looked deeply into the heart of the man standing in
front of him. He found much there that he disliked, but a flame was
burning now that showed promise for the future. Yes, this young man
might deserve a chance to prove his words.

First, he would have to be freed of the devil's chains that bound him.

"As I said, a fine oath. If you can keep that vow, you will always be
welcome at the Masaki Shrine."

"It is my intention to do so."

Genma stared at the ground for a moment.

"How I am to fulfill my promise is the hard part. The training I've
had at the hands of my Master was not conducive to a path of virtue."

A ghost of a smile played on the old man's face.

"Well then, perhaps you and your friend can stay here at the Shrine
for a time. There are many things we might speak of."

Genma was startled again. How had the old man known that his friend
Soun was waiting at the camp? It took a moment for him to get his mind
back on the discussion.

"Many things?"

"Yes. We might, for instance, speak of virtue and honor, and the
difference between heroism and vainglory. We might even speak of the
code of Bushido, and of a man's possible rebirth and salvation."

Genma nodded. At the very least it would get them indoors out of the
cold and away from the Master for a while. And who knew? Maybe the
priest's ramblings _would_ give him an idea of how to proceed with his
new resolution.

As Genma started back to the campsite, muttering under his breath as
he began plotting how get himself and Soun away from the Master, the
old Priest watched him walk away.

'Happosai can be a formidable opponent when he is thwarted.  In the
hundred years I have known him, he has always shown much low cunning.
It might be wise to follow after this young man and see that he comes
to no harm.'

Stepping back into the Shrine briefly, the priest emerged carrying a
bokken.  With an agility surprising in one of his apparent years, he
leapt into the branches of a nearby tree and was quickly gone from
view.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...Or we might be able to ambush the Master and beat him up until he
lets us go?"

Genma thought that plan over for a second, and tossed into the mental
trash heap with the other ideas he'd come up with.  The Master was
lecherous and slothful, but he was still many times the martial artist
Genma was.  If it came to a fight, Happosai could defeat them both in
less time than it took to say so.  The Master's knowledge of arcane
and esoteric techniques was awe inspiring.  Genma had personal
experience with the way Happosai could put an opponent down for the
count with one tap of his long-stemmed pipe.  There was no possible
way Genma and Soun could win against him.

That left guile as the only other way... and Genma liked to think that
he was an imaginative plotter.

There might just be a way of tricking the Master, if they came up with
a canny plan.

"And I think I have it.  If we pretend to celebrate the haul of food
taken from the village, we may be able to get the Master drunk.  Then
we can run away and be miles distant before he wakes up.  If we brush
our tracks out behind us, he won't be able to find out where we went."

Much taken with what he imagined was the brilliance and elegant
simplicity of his plan, Genma continued on with a lighter heart.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, all seemed to be well.  Genma had shared his idea
with Soun, who could think of no way to improve on it.  They had
groveled before Happosai in their most ingratiating way, and spent
hours entertaining him with singing and dancing while pouring bottle
after bottle of sake into his cup.  It was long after darkness had
fallen that Happosai drifted into a drunken stupor, snoring loudly in
a wine sodden heap.

Soun whispered:

"Now's our chance, Saotome.  Let's make a break for it!"

Picking up their packs and some leafy branches set aside earlier that
evening, they backed out of the campsite, sweeping energetically at
the ground behind them as they walked.  So caught up were they in the
task, it did not occur to them that they were sweeping a clearly
defined pathway with each stroke of the branches.

As they faded from view among the trees, Happosai cracked open his
eyelids to check on their progress.  So, they thought they could catch
him unaware with their pitiful little plan?  It would be a pleasure to
disabuse them of the idea.  However, there was no need to rush things;
the fools were leaving a trail a blind man could follow. Their despair
would be greater if he allowed them time enough to think they had
escaped.

A brief chuckle shook him.

"Those two clowns are a hundred years too young to trick me!"

Happosai froze for a moment... why had that thought given him such a
sense of Deja Vu?

He shrugged his shoulders and settled down more comfortably to stoke
his pipe.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifteen minutes later, Happosai finished his smoke and decided to pick
up the trail of his wayward students.  Because they were putting so
much effort in the attempt to disguise their footprints, Happosai knew
they could not have gotten far.  Leaving his pack and blankets to
await his return, he began trotting steadily along the path the boys
had so carefully swept clean of debris.  It amused Happosai immensely
that in trying to wipe out their tracks, they had only succeeded in
brushing aside the stones and twigs that might have made his progress
more difficult.  Even in trying to escape, they made it easier to
capture them again.

How obvious it was that they were only good for serving a Master!

He had traveled a few hundred yards when a figure in the traditional
robes of a Shinto priest stepped from behind a tree, blocking the way.

"Why, hello again.  It has been a long time, hasn't it?"

Happosai grimaced in fury at the man before him.

"YOU!  What do you want?"

The priest adjusted his glasses, and smiled gently.

"What do I want?  Nothing at all.  My own needs are simple, and well
satisfied by the life I have chosen.  My only desire is to see that
others are similarly content.  It seems plain to me that you wish a
chance to spar this evening, perhaps with the youngsters who passed
this way earlier.  I thought perhaps I might make myself available as
your opponent.  Wouldn't I be a more suitable challenge?"

The old priest's smile broadened as he took up a ready position with
his wooden sword.

Happosai snarled in his rage, and suddenly launched himself into the
air.

< fight between Yosho and Happosai to be added later >

Looking down at the smoldering form of Happosai, who lay with wisps of
smoke rising from his clothes and resembling a poorly crushed out
cigarette, the priest nodded to himself.

"I was right. There was no way that those young men could have escaped
on their own."

He surveyed his own battered appearance critically.

"It was a close run thing for me too. If Hapi had just been a little
faster and evaded my last force bolt, it might have been me lying
there now. I should never have considered taking someone as powerful
as Hapi without the Master Key, as necessary as it is where I have it.
Still, this encounter should serve to discourage him from coming to
the Shrine to challenge me. While I am training them, the youngsters
will be safe enough from him."

He began walking along a shortcut to the Shrine. Even as weary and
bruised as he was, he'd have plenty of time to get home, clean up, and
be ready when the boys arrived.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Genma and Soun were slapping each other on the back in congratulations
on a plan well executed when they arrived at the Shrine.  The old
priest was waiting for them, and invited them in for tea.

They were to learn many things about themselves in the time spent at
the Shrine, and more than a year would pass before Soun and Genma
finally left it, splitting up to follow their separate destinies. Soun
had decided that he was called to teach others in the enlightened ways
he'd learned at the hands of the old priest, while Genma felt that he
needed to atone for his past crimes and learn much more before he
could finally settle in one place and make a home.

Although they were parting ways for the first time since boyhood, they
were not alone on their journeys.  Each was accompanied by a new
bride, having wooed and won the affections of two girls; Nodoka
Masaki, a promising kendoist and the priest's grandniece, and Kimiko
Hachibara, a student who had come to the Shrine to learn kendo from
the old priest. As they parted at the crossroads leading away from the
Shrine, the two men made a promise to each other.

"When we have children, we will see our two families united in
marriage to honor the years we spent together in adversity. Our eldest
son will marry a daughter of the other house, as the gods may bless
us."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Genma left the Masaki Shrine, he spent long years on the road
with his wife. One day, he and Nodoka (who was faithfully carrying the
heirloom Katana of her husband's clan, which she considered a sacred
duty) came to the Byankala Mountains of China. Genma was following an
elusive trail of hints that had eventually led them to a remote
village of warrior women. He felt that it was necessary for him to
consult with the village Elders to further his spiritual growth. As
they trudged up the final stretch of trail that would take them to the
valley of the Amazons, they were brought to a halt by the sudden
appearance of a small group of well armed and armored women.

"What do you seek here so far from your homeland, foreign scum?"

A tough looking, heavily scarred woman faced them, apparently unaware
of an old woman that blinked owlishly close by, balanced atop her
walking staff.

Genma squared his shoulders and tried to look the woman in the eyes.

"I seek the wisdom of your Elders."

The woman looked Genma up and down in disgust, as if viewing him for
the first time and seeing something best buried in the name of public
health.

"Speak when spoken to, MAN. I was addressing your master."

She turned her attention back to Nodoka.

"At least you have the guts to carry a warrior's weapon. For that
reason alone, I ask you again: why should we allow passage to Japanese
scum?"

The scarred woman, who obviously remembered the old animosity between
the Chinese and the Japanese that dated back to the Second World War,
suddenly snapped to a posture of attention. The old woman had hopped
forward on her staff to where she could be seen by the Amazons. A
simple glare was sufficient to stop the scarred woman from speaking
further. In fact, from what Genma could tell, it looked as if the she
were trying hard not to breathe. A sergeant, Genma guessed from the
reaction, who had just discovered the General's eye was on her.

"You forget the ways of foreigners. This man is the one who has lead
them here."

The old woman regarded Genma briefly.

"You may call me Cologne. I am a village Elder. What do you seek among
the Joketsuzoku? And how do you propose to pay for it?"

Genma frowned slightly. He knew that money was NOT a form of payment
that would be accepted in this situation, even if he had any to offer.
The villagers would demand a service of some kind, but what would it
be? Still, the time had come to lay his cards on the table.

"I am one who strives to put the horrors of my past behind me. I, who
once walked the path of self-indulgence, seek now to walk a path of
virtue and enlightenment. I am searching for knowledge of how to
improve myself and become a worthy warrior, despite my former Master's
misguided teachings."

He drew a deep breath. This was the risky part.

"I shall pay any reasonable price you name."

Cologne blinked and translated this for the women who did not
understand Japanese. Finally she regarded Genma again.

"You ask much of us, who would not normally teach such things to any
man. We of the village counsel will have to discuss this among
ourselves. The two of you will be taken to a house where you must wait
for our decision. You will be sent for when we have reached an
agreement."

Another four years passed before Genma and Nodoka left the village of
the Joketsuzoku. Genma had worked like a slave in the rice fields
during the daylight hours, and trained each evening under brutal
conditions, watched closely by the Amazon elders. At first, the
Amazons had thought that the harsh treatment would drive him away, but
his determination to succeed had only grown more dogged with each new
task laid on him. Far from discouraging him, the regimen had toned him
to a wiry toughness that made him almost impossible to beat.

Nodoka had made a place of her own with the villagers. Her martial
skills with the sword and the unusual style of her family impressed
the warrior women, and they opened up their hearts to her in a way
Genma could never hope to achieve. She spent many a happy hour
learning the sword techniques of her new friends, and sparring in the
common area set aside for the purpose.

When the Elders finally admitted that they had nothing more to teach
them, they knew it was time to move on. This time, however, they were
not alone on their journey. Nodoka proudly bore a second bundle beside
the heirloom sword; she also carried the heir who would one day wield
it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: In Which We Meet Young Ranma

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Genma, Nodoka and the baby Ranma wandered the back roads of China for
a time, trading techniques with Chinese martial arts masters when they
could. Genma supported his family by odd jobs and the charity of the
schools they visited. The family did not stay in China for very long,
however. Avoiding the attention of the Chinese authorities could be
tricky; although asian nationalities were often hard for westerners to
tell apart, the Chinese knew foreigners of any description by sight.
That they had no travel permits meant always living in fear of
deportation. Genma was steering their steps towards Tibet as their
eventual goal, intending to study Buddhist philosophy under the famed
monks of that country.

When finally they reached that sad country, it was to find that the
Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet (during the Cultural
Revolution in the 1950's) had devastated the Tibetan religious
heritage. Genma had hoped to learn spiritual balance there to offset
the warrior skills he had learned from the Amazons, but the
monasteries Tibet was so famed for were, for the most part, gone. Even
those that remained were closely guarded by the Chinese, so it would
be almost impossible for a foreigner to study there in peace.

They had tried visiting three major monasteries as they traveled
through the country: Ganden, famed home of four thousand monks, had
been leveled to the ground. The local people had just begun the
process of rebuilding it, one stone at a time. Drepung had been
depopulated and the monks sent to slave labor camps to be
"re-educated". Only a few hundred remained, under Chinese supervision.
Tashi-Lhumpo, the seat of the Panchen Lama, was suffering an even
greater indignity; "monks" (who were little more than actors hired to
provide atmosphere to the place) acted out rituals so that Chinese
tourists and soldiers could see the "quaint native superstitions".

Although they were shocked to discover how badly those monasteries had
fared, they knew better than to even try going to the Tibetan capital,
Lhasa. Jokhang Temple was still the site of occasional protest
rallies, and was watched night and day by armed Chinese soldiers.

Disappointed, and heartsick for the suffering of a gentle people,
Genma and Nodoka decided to cross into India and seek the exiled
government of the Dalai Lama. The best way to go was a mountain route,
crossing the border into Nepal, through the Nepalese capital Kathmandu
and from there to India. The trail was a long one through the stark
beauty of the Himalayan mountains, and many times they were forced to
sleep hungry, but all roads one day reach their destination.

When they crossed the border into India, it was as if they had entered
a new world. Genma was able to get food for them by working odd jobs
in farming villages, and they could walk the roads without hiding
every time another traveler appeared. In Tibet, they had always been
apprehensive of someone catching them and finding out that they had no
permission to be in the country. After the crossing into India, Nodoka
was able to call her family in Japan and arrange for passports to be
sent to them by the Japanese Embassy. It was as if the weight of the
world had been lifted from their shoulders.

When they reached Dharamsala, the city in which the Tibetan government
in exile lived, they found the monks whom they had thought to find in
Tibet. The monks proved to be more than sympathetic with Genma�s
desire for enlightenment. Hospitable to a fault, they made
arrangements to allow the family an extended stay as guests of the
Tibetan people. Genma found that the procedure to become a monk was
simple, and that there was no pressure placed on anyone to stay longer
than they felt called to. He spent many happy years as a Buddhist
monk, balancing his growth as a person with his growth in the martial
arts. Nodoka found instructors in the local sword techniques, and was
able to continue her learning in her own art as well. Both of them
doted on their son, who grew like the proverbial weed.

When Ranma was three years of age, they began training him to follow
in their footsteps. In the following years, he was sent to a daycare
center in the morning and attended classes at the local monastery in
the afternoon, learning as much philosophy as a child could grasp
along with several languages. It was always amusing to his parents to
hear him, when he made a mistake, "expressing" himself in Mandarin,
Farsi, Tibetan, English and Japanese simultaneously. Even when washing
his mouth out with soap, it was hard for them to hide their smiles. In
the evening, his parents taught him elements of both their arts. On
one day, he might be taught the sword, on another the basic forms of
the Anything Goes style.

For all three, it was the happiest time of their lives.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Ranma celebrated his sixth birthday, it was decided that the time
had come to return to Japan. The boy had grown up in foreign lands all
his young life, and needed to learn about his own people. Also, it
wasn't a good idea for him to continue school outside the Japanese
system; Japanese children who were raised away from the homeland were
often considered outsiders by those raised entirely within the system,
and treated cruelly.

The offices of the Dalai Lama were able to obtain Chinese travel
permits for them (by methods best not examined too closely), so they
were able to return to visit the village of the Joketsuzoku openly on
the way home.

When they arrived in the Byankalas, the reception they got was very
different from the first time Genma and Nodoka had arrived there.
Nodoka was greeted like a returning sister, and even Genma found that
the warriors guarding the way gave him grudging respect. They had
arrived in time for the yearly battle contest, and Nodoka was
permitted to participate. Although she was no match for the best of
the Amazons, her showing was by no means poor, and at the end she held
the twenty-third place overall. At the end of the festival, just
before the feast celebrating the winner, Nodoka was awarded an
honorary citizenship in the village. The Elder Cologne, in a rare
display of open affection, even adopted Nodoka into her own clan.

After the feast, Ranma wandered away from his parents to play with
some children his own age. When he approached a group of girls who
were sparring just outside the village, one of the them ran up to him.

"<Nihao! My name is Shampoo! You're Ranma, right? Great grandma made
your mama part of our clan, so we're kind of like cousins now, aren't
we? Do you want to play? I like to spar, both with and without
weapons. I bet you I can kick your butt!>"

Ranma greeted that declaration with an eager grin.

"<You're on!>"

The resulting duel had aspects of both ballet and brawl, and ranged
over half the village. Sticks and poles were snatched up to serve as
impromptu swords and staffs, unlucky pottery made temporary shields
before being shattered, and the hand-to-hand aspects often reached
inspired levels. When the dust settled, both children were dirty and
their feast day clothing was shredded. Shampoo would have problems
sitting for days afterward (having paid the price for her "butt
kicking" boast), and Ranma sported a shiner on his left eye that he
bore like a badge of honor. The older children regarded them in awe,
and the adults radiated indulgent approval. The display the two had
put on was viewed by all as an entirely appropriate and auspicious
ending to the day's events.

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

The way that Ranma and Shampoo hit it off (yes, it's a pun. Sue me.)
was duly noted by another boy. Mousse had decided that he wanted
Shampoo all to himself years before, although she repeatedly rebuffed
him. She had easily decked him when they were only three years old,
and nothing had changed since. Shampoo, like many Amazon girls, wanted
to be a warrior when she grew up, and warriors were only supposed to
like boys who were strong. In her six year old opinion, Mousse didn't
make the cut.

Mousse didn't like the way Shampoo stayed close to her "cousin" all
evening long.

He didn't like it one bit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the family arrived in Japan, their first stop was the Kansai
prefecture. Nodoka's parents lived in Kyoto, and they felt it was high
time that they were introduced to their grandson. Although Nodoka
wrote to them as often as she could, and had sent them pictures of
Ranma on each of his birthdays, they were understandably dissatisfied
at the long distance relationship. When Nodoka had written of their
imminent return to Japan, her mother had sent a lengthy reply to the
Amazon village. The message could be summed up as a dire promise of
dismemberment if they were not top priority on the Saotome's travel
agenda. Her mother's exact words were:

"You aren't the only one with an ancient family sword, you know. If we
don't get a visit from you and your husband the very hour you set foot
in Japan, I'll hunt you down like a rabid dog and draw and quarter you
both."

Most of Nodoka's extreme views about honor were handed down from her
mother, so she _didn't_ regard the statement as an idle threat.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Ranma, Japan was an eye-opening experience. He had never seen so
much electrically operated equipment in his life as could be found in
his grandmother's kitchen, and negotiating traffic was a new and
unsettling hazard. On the plus side, for the very first time ever he
got an allowance of his own (500 Yen a week!) and there were all sorts
of vending machines everywhere he went that sold a bewildering variety
of treasures. On the mainland, soda pop was a luxury reserved for
special occasions; now all he had to do was put a few coins in a slot,
and a can of the stuff was his for the taking. They even sold bags of
rice from the vending machines! Back in the Amazon village, you had to
work hard in the fields to get rice. To have it magically appear in
the tray at the bottom of a machine was a wonder to boggle the
imagination.

Although it made Nodoka nervous, Ranma was allowed to wander around
the neighborhood as he pleased. He would not grow up to be manly if
she coddled and protected him the way she really wanted to. As long as
he did not go more than a block or two away, he was permitted to do as
he wished. School was in summer vacation, so except for tutoring to
get ready for the upcoming semester, his continuing spiritual
training, his kendo lessons, his martial arts training, the obligatory
time letting his grandparents fuss over him and a crash course he had
to take on living in a modern, industrialized country, his time was
his own.

He was out exploring one Sunday morning when he ran across something
fascinating. A man was standing next to a big two wheeled cart cooking
something that smelled wonderful, and a kid Ranma's age was giving
away pieces of paper to the passers-by. The kid was dressed up in the
same kind of clothing as the man, but had delicate features and long
hair tied back with a white bow. It looked kinda sissy to Ranma.

When the kid from the cart noticed him, Ranma asked:

"Hey, are you selling the food from that cart?"

The kid looked at him scornfully.

"Of course we are, jackass. You think I'm doin' this for my health?"

Ranma was a little taken aback at the rudeness, but the food smelled
REALLY good...

"Um, how much does it cost?"

He was handed one of the papers. The food was called "okonomiyaki",
and there were many different kinds of it. The problem was the prices.
Three hundred to seven hundred Yen. He only had a hundred Yen left of
the week's allowance, and he wouldn't get more until the next day.
Crestfallen, he gave the paper back.

"Oh. I guess I can't afford any."

The kid from the cart looked at him speculatively. Duly noted was the
telltale callouses on Ranma's hands and elbows, and the poise that
came of long practice.

"You know how to fight, don't ya? Tell you what, I don't get enough
sparring time in to keep my edge, so I could use a match. If you win,
you can have anything you want for free. If I win, you gotta help me
sell okonomiyaki for my dad. Okay?"

Ranma brightened up immediately.

"You bet! My name's Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of
martial arts! I accept your challenge!"

"Okay, sugar. I'm Ukyou. Prepare to get your block knocked off!"

'Ukyou, huh?' Ranma thought to himself. 'That's a guy's name. He looks
kinda like a sissy, but he sure doesn't sound like one. This could be
fun!'

The battle that followed, fist versus spatula, was epic. Ranma won his
first okonomiyaki ever, and over the following months many more would
follow.

Thus was born his second lifelong friendship.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    That's it for now, folks.  PLEASE let me know if there are any
problems!  I got some great comments last time, and have added a few
of the suggestions in this version.

Ja ne,
LarryF