Goku 1/2 Chapter 2 Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Ranma 1/2, or from any other series I might decide to throw in. If I did, this wouldn't be a fanfic, but instead a real fic, and you would all pay to read it like the fools that you are! Hahahahahahahaha! (The author backs down from the gaze of many angry readers) I'm sorry. I'll be good. I promise. Now on with the show. The Jusenkyo guide finally caught up with the man and his sons, although at the time they didn't appear to be related in any way, shape, or form. What the guide actually saw was a red-haired girl and a namek beating a panda into the ground. He was used to this kind of behaviour as cursed individuals always blamed someone for their curse and wanted revenge. They usually got that revenge by beating them into the ground, which seemed to be as good as a method as any. The guide occasionally saw much more creative methods used, but the ones who came to Jusenkyo were not very bright in the first place. Thinking he probably should say something to save the senior customer, he got the two boy's (well not right now) attention. "Mr. Customers sirs! I accompany you until you leave the Jusenkyo Valley. It guide job to help cursed customers deal with change." Goku and Ranma looked up from their task of pounding Genma into the next millennium. They paused, unsure of what to say or do. Even though they were very angry, someone was being nice to them. "Thank you." They managed to say after a moment. "Well we go now. Have far to travel." "Okay." The boys nodded. Goku reached down and yanked Genma out of the ground. Huge clumps of dirt came up with him as he had been beaten well into the earth. Seeing that the panda was unconscious, Goku sighed and handed Ranma his pack. He then hefted the huge panda onto his shoulders. "All right, I'm ready." He said. Ranma stared at the three packs he had to carry. Then he glanced at the panda Goku had over his shoulders. Deciding that he'd rather carry the packs, he slipped one on his back and picked up the other two. "So am I." "Good. Then we go." And with that the group departed. Their pace wasn't very quick as everyone except the guide was loaded down with heavy objects, but the rain stopped, so they didn't get completely drenched. However, the clouds remained, so they decided that stopping to heat water would probably be a waste of time. After several hours of walking, Goku started complaining. Well, his stomach started complaining, and he just reinforced its case. "I'm hungry," He whined. Ranma sighed. Goku was always hungry, and he had to eat a lot to not be hungry. Maybe he ate even more than Ranma, but Ranma was confident that he would never lose an eating contest to anyone, not even Goku. Besides, they had eaten an hour before they reached the springs. Then again he hadn't been carrying a panda for all those hours, and he was feeling a little bit hungry. Beating up Genma took more energy than he thought. "You no worry, Mr. Customer." The Guide said. "Soon we come to the Joketsuzoku village. I sure you can buy food there." Just as he finished, the group reached the top of a hill overlooking a village. It looked like a typical village, the kind that Ranma and Goku had seen all throughout their training trip in China. What set this town apart from the others was there were a lot of people here. Much more than either of the two boys had ever seen in one spot. The majority of the people appeared to be women. There was a large commotion in the central square that was apparent even at the distance they were. "Ah Mr. Customers. You come here at very good moment. The village women have fighting contest." The Guide said, walking down the hill towards the village. That perked up everyone's interest, even Genma's who had been just pretending to be unconscious for an hour so he wouldn't have to walk. Not that he'd tell anyone that of course. Ranma and Goku wondered if they could participate, while Genma wondered if Ranma and Goku could participate. "Every year the villagers have a contest to see who best fighter. It look like final match is about to start. Hurry!" They all ran down the hill into the village. The martial artists were in a mixed emotional state. Because it was the final match, it would definitely be interesting to watch. However, also because it was the final match, none of them would be able to take part in the tournament after all. Once there, they had to leap onto the rooftops of the huts to get closer to the square. No one noticed that guide couldn't follow them, and they didn't hear his shouts for them to wait. Reaching the centre of the village in a matter of seconds, they spotted an empty spot to land near a buffet table. Unfortunately, the delicious looking food on the table distracted them from the match that was about to begin. The three dropped in front of the buffet and began to devour every morsel of food they could grab. Ranma hadn't realized how hungry she actually was as she found herself tearing into pork bun after pork bun. After stuffing their faces for about a minute, they turned their attention to the centre of the square while eating at a more leisurely pace. In it was a horizontal log attached by ropes to four smaller support logs. On one end, there was a giant of a woman who wielding a huge poleaxe. On the other was a young girl with purple hair using what resembled a beachball on a stick. Ranma tried to remember the name of those weapons, but put that thought aside when the referee signed for the battle to begin. The purple-haired girl charged immediately and swung her mace in wide arcs that forced the giant to go on the defensive. After deflecting the blows the smaller warrior sent, the giant brought her weapon crashing down in front of her. The girl had to jump back to avoid that attack, where she paused to re-evaluate her opponent. As if on some unwritten cue, the two warriors charged each other. A flurry of blows ensued with minor hits taken by both combatants. Then the purple-haired girl landed a solid blow with her mace to the skull of the giant, who was sent tumbling off the log onto the ground below. Everyone started cheering including Ranma and Goku. It had been a very good fight. This is when the guide managed to finish pushing himself through the crowd to reach them. "Mr. Customers! Why you eat first prize of tournament?" The entire village went quiet all of a sudden, and the group felt all eyes upon them. The purple-haired girl stalked up to them looking very peeved and started shouting in Chinese. The guide said something back to her and then she spoke again in Japanese. "You eat Shampoo prize. Shampoo must defend honour. You fight Shampoo." Her rage was primarily directed at Ranma, probably because she was female. Well the real reason was because Shampoo didn't see how getting yelling at a panda would help, and the green skinned boy kinda freaked her out. "A challenge, huh? I ain't never backed down from a challenge. I accept," Ranma said in her typical cocky manner. Shampoo nodded to the referee, and the two combatants leapt onto the log and faced each other. The referee signaled for the battle to begin, and Shampoo immediately charged. Ranma jumped over her and delivered a single kick to her back. It was a slightly modified version of her best technique to use against Goku, but this time she wasn't trying to grab a tail. Shampoo was knocked to her knees and winded a bit, but she was still in good fighting condition. She got up and charged again. Expecting Ranma to jump again, she was caught totally off guard when the red-haired girl grabbed her arms and pulled her forward. Placing her foot into Shampoo's stomach, Ranma rolled onto her back and propelled Shampoo through the air. She crashed headfirst into one of the support poles, which shuddered from the impact, and then fell to the ground. "Hmmph. She wasn't that good after all," Ranma said as she rejoined her group. Although Ranma didn't like hurting girls, a challenge was a challenge and she had her stomach to defend. The referee signaled that Ranma was the winner, and the audience just sat there shocked into silence. An outsider had just strolled in and had done the equivalent of winning the tournament. A female outsider. Rubbing her head, Shampoo got to her feet had stomped over to Ranma. She turned Ranma's head sideways and kissed her on the cheek and then sat there fuming. Ranma was now very confused. 'Is this how Amazons lose graciously? And why is the audience acting even more shocked now?' "What's this all about?" He asked to no one in particular. "She gave you the kiss of death," an old woman perched precariously on a stick said. "You have 24 hours to get away before she hunts you down and kills you. It is an Amazon law that if one of us is defeated by a female outsider, the one beaten must kill the one who has tarnished her honour. She will hunt you to the ends of the earth to do it, so I suggest you get as far away as possible as you can now." "How does she expect to kill me if she can't beat me?" The old woman fell off her stick. Picking herself off the ground, she realized that in 3000 years of Amazon history, that point had never been brought up. Having to maintain her reputation for knowing everything, she quickly blurted out. "She will find a way." 'There, that oughta give her something to think about.' "Oh," was all Ranma really had to say. She really didn't want anyone out to kill her. If this is what she got for hitting a girl, she vowed never to do it again. At this time Ranma noticed that someone was pulling on her arm. Turning her head, she saw the guide pulling with what looked to be all his might. "Come now, Mr. Customer. You must get away quickly." The guide knew that the Amazons practiced guilt by association, and he had no intention of being around the customers when the 24 hours ran out. He would quickly escort them to the next village, and then return to the springs. There, he would pray that the amazon wouldn't come after him. "Come on, Boy. We should get going," Genma's sign said. "But Pop! I ain't never run away from a fight." "She doesn't want to fight you. She wants to kill you!" The next sign read. "So? She still can't beat me." The next sign's message was easier to interpret than the others. Ranma didn't have to read it, just get hit by it. The sign crashed down on his head, knocking her out. Tossing the now broken sign away, Genma picked up Ranma and started heading for the hills. The guide eagerly followed. Goku sighed. "Sorry we ruined your tournament, but the food was really tasty," he said before running after Genma. The Amazons continued to stand there stunned. A group of outsiders consisting of the Jusenkyo guide, a panda, a red-haired girl, and a green-skinned boy had came into the village and eaten the first prize. The girl then defeated the winner of the tournament with ease, but then was knocked out by the panda. Then the group just ran away as quickly as they had come. The only sound heard in the village for a good fifteen minutes was the sound of Shampoo's sword being sharpened. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Goku and Ranma woke up to a good swift kick in the rear. Genma stood over them in his human form. "Come on, boys. We've got to get going. There's hot water ready." The boys were about to yell at Genma for not letting them sleep. He had set a very fast pace away from the Amazon village. Everyone knew that he was scared of the Amazon that was trying to kill Ranma even if Ranma himself wasn't. The prospect of getting hot water changed their minds immediately. They crawled out of the tent and saw the guide eating a modest breakfast. Goku and Ranma both lunged for the kettle and poured over themselves. Despite there being a lot of spilling between the tug of war between the two brothers. They both managed to get enough hot water to turn them back into two boys. After everyone had finished eating, the guide spoke. "I leave now, Mr. Customers. Next village is just over hill. You can get direction there. I wish you luck against Amazon warrior." They said farewell to the guide as he ran off back to Jusenkyo at a speed that Ranma and Goku didn't know could be achieved. "All right boys, we have time for a bit of exercise this morning, but we won't spar. We have to make back to Japan very soon, and can't waste time doing things like that." 'Since when has he thought that sparring was a waste of time?' Ranma mused as he began his kata. Genma did some as well beside Ranma. Goku went back to the time-honoured traditional exercise method taught to him by his grandfather of picking up boulders and crushing them. Seeing a nice round one, he jogged up to it and heaved. The rock came up out of the ground, and Goku held it in front of him. He began to squeeze and cracks formed throughout the boulder. A second later, the boulder shattered into a million pieces. Ranma and Genma just watched this while half concentrating on their katas. No matter how often they saw Goku doing that, it always impressed them. Goku ran to the next boulder and lifted it up. This time something was wrong. The boulder was the same size as the one he had just crushed, but for some reason, it was much lighter. It also had a interesting pattern on it. The feel of the boulder was quite different than any other Goku had felt. It also talked. "Huhh?" The boulder managed to say. Goku dropped it in surprise, and was amazed to see it land on its feet, fins, appendages, whatever. "Uhh...can you help me? I'm lost. I was trying to get back to the sea, but I can't seem to find my way." Hearing this, Ranma and Genma facefaulted in the middle of their kata. Yes, they could ignore most distractions, but a talking turtle that was lost as far inland as they were was too much. "The sea is nowhere near here!" Ranma shouted. "How come he can talk as a turtle, and I can't talk as a panda?" Genma whined. "The sea is nowhere near here? Then how am I going to get back home?" The turtle broke down crying. Ranma chalked up yet another item to the list of things that he never thought he would see but saw anyway. "It's okay, Mr. Turtle. I'll take you there," Goku offered. "You would? That's very kind of you." "Goku! We're not taking that turtle to the sea!" Genma screamed. How could his son think about saving a stupid turtle when a crazy Amazon was after them? "Why not Pop? We have to go to the sea to swim back to Japan anyway. We might as well bring this turtle with us." Ranma supplied helpfully. "But he'll slow us down!" Genma protested. "Just think of it as a training exercise, Pops." Ranma countered with a wide grin on his lips. 'This should teach him to call everything we do training.' "But that Amazon is trying to kill you, Ranma! If she catches us..." Genma trailed off thinking that Ranma would be scared into submission by what was let unsaid. "If she catches us, I'll just beat her again like I did before. She might be good, but either Goku or me can beat her with no problems." "But you heard what that old woman said. She will find a way." "She ain't gonna find a way. Besides, I'm a guy right now, and she's looking for a girl." "But it could rain anytime!" "Pop, don't worry about it. I said I can handle...hey! Where's Goku?" They turned and saw Goku in the distance carrying the turtle on his back. He had left at the beginning of the argument, but neither Ranma nor Genma noticed as they were too engrossed in arguing with each other. Grabbing their packs, they rushed after him. The question as to what they were going to do had apparently been solved. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo inspected the tracks. This was very odd. The group with the girl she was following had definitely camped here, but as far as she could tell, they didn't leave. She had easily followed the tracks of the panda, girl, guide, and boy to this spot as they had made no attempt to conceal themselves. The tracks leading away were the ones that confused her. The guide's tracks went back towards the Jusenkyo springs, which made sense. He knew Amazon laws and so realized that Shampoo would not hesitate to kill him if he was with the group. The other tracks were not what Shampoo had expected. One was the set of a man. Where this man had come from was a mystery to her. There were no other tracks leading to this spot besides the ones she had seen, so he must have appeared out of nowhere. The girl's tracks had completely disappeared and been replaced with the tracks that a young man might make. That also didn't make sense. Where had the girl gone? The green-skinned boy's tracks were visible leading a bit away from the campsite, but they changed into the footprints of someone carrying something very heavy. The panda had vanished completely. Saying that there were no other tracks leading to the campsite was not quite true. There was a set of the weirdest tracks Shampoo had ever seen. She had absolutely no idea what made them. They resembled something that was crawling on the ground, but there were no creatures around here that would leave tracks like that. What added to the confusion was the fact that the tracks stopped when they intersected the boy's. This was the spot where those footprints turned into those of someone carrying something heavy, so Shampoo guessed he had picked up whatever it was and carried it. Deciding to follow the three men's tracks, she made a mental note to ask Great-grandmother about everything that confused her here. The extinguished fire told her that she was about 14 hours behind them, and so she had a lot of ground to make up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A week passed. The group had made very good progress, and were only two days away from the sea. The turtle proved to be quite a conversationalist, telling Goku and Ranma about his life with his owner, a man named Master Roshi. "Master?" Ranma asked. "Does that mean he's a martial artist?" "Oh yes. He's the best there is." "Hmmph. I bet I can beat him. I don't lose to nobody," Ranma scoffed. "Maybe he can teach us some new techniques when we drop off the turtle?" Goku suggested. "Oh no. Master Roshi hasn't taken any students in years. He's retired from teaching and now lives on an island. That's where I'm trying to back to." "How exactly did you get lost as far away from the sea as we were?" Ranma asked, not believing anyone could have that bad a sense of direction. "Well, I actually don't know. I was only a little ways inland when I think I first got lost. I asked this nice fellow wearing a yellow shirt and carrying an umbrella for directions. He said he'd be happy to show me the way, and so I followed him. Then one morning he went to get some food and never came back. I didn't realize how far inland I was until you found me several days later." Goku and Ranma really didn't know what to make of that. The boy might have lured the turtle to someplace, but why would he have just abandoned it? 'Maybe that's he got his kicks.' The two boys mused. There were lots of strange people in the world, and that boy could like getting turtles lost in the forest. Just then, it started to rain. Ranma and Genma transformed, but Goku remained the same. He carried the turtle above his head, so didn't get wet. The turtle didn't mind the rain, and he actually enjoyed the feeling of the water, even if it wasn't salted. The rounded a turn in the path and were confronted with the sight of a village in front of them. Again it was a typical village-style village, but this one had a man carrying a bowl of rice porridge running away from another man. They were going in the general direction of the group. The pursuer was dressed like a chef and appeared to be very angry. There wasn't anything special about the pursuee except that he was bald. The bowl was obviously stolen from the chef, who wanted it back. "Stop thief!" Thinking that he would do a good deed, Ranma snagged the porridge as the man ran by. Then he decided he would do a good deed for his hungry stomach and polished off the entire bowl in a matter of seconds. "Hey!" The chef shouted. "Hey!" Goku shouted. "You could have saved some for us!" "You..." The chef stopped in front of Ranma. "You ate it." "That I did," Ranma said, handing the empty bowl to the chef. The chef opened the front of Ranma's shirt and stared. Then after picking his head out of the ground, he spoke. "You're a girl. That's a lucky break." "Meaning?" "Come to my restaurant, and I'll show you. But you must never tell anyone about what you see. I'll also give you a free meal to keep quiet about it." And as always, food was the incentive for the group to follow someone. Soon they were all seated inside the chef's restaurant eating a good meal. There was even some sea water for the turtle to drink. "That rice porridge is this restaurant's secret item. The stock was made with dragon's whisker." The chef pulled out a single strand of hair from an envelope he was holding. "Dragon whisker?" Genma asked, having transformed back into a human when the chef wasn't looking. "That's a pretty powerful magical ingredient. I didn't think there were any dragons around anymore." "There isn't as far as I know. This whisker is close to its expiration date of 4000 years. However, it still has all of its power for medicinal cooking. This particular receipe has no effect on women, which why I'm so glad it was your daughter who eat the porridge and not you or your son. Many a bloody battle has been fought between men over that porridge in order to gain its healing powers. It's truly lucky that a female drank it and not a man..." Ranma had walked into the kitchen and doused himself with the boiling water from a kettle. Upon seeing the transformation, the chef's eyes bulged out of their sockets. "You...You're a man." Ranma's world went dark as his hair grew to cover his eyes. Everyone else stared at Ranma's head as it started to push out hair like there was no tomorrow. "Is this what you mean by healing powers?" Ranma screamed. Thinking fast, the turtle spat some of his sea water onto Ranma, turning him back into female form and stopping the hair growth. "Thanks." Ranma said. "Oh dear. I guess I do have to use this after all. Until the effects wear off, you can use this as a seal for your hair. Tie it up with this and it will stop growing, but if it should come loose, your hair will start to grow again," the chef said as he handed the whisker to Ranma. Nodding, Ranma complied. Once the whisker was securely wrapped around his hair, he threw some hot water onto himself. Happily seeing that his hair wasn't growing anymore, he cut off some large chunks of it to make it more manageable. Genma could only stare. His son had denied him the chance to be rid of his baldness. Then again he didn't want to have as much hair as Ranma got, and there was only one dragon's whisker left. Genma sighed as he realized that if he used the whisker Ranma had, both of them would have incredibly long hair. Incerdibly long, luscious hair. 'No, I must resist.' Thanking the chef for his kindness, they continued the journey to the sea. They paused right outside the village to give Ranma a more proper haircut. Feeling the need to do something to take his mind off this whole hair mess, Ranma offered to carry the turtle for awhile. Goku agreed, and they swapped loads before moving on. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo stopped again as the tracks changed. She had been following the three men's tracks, when they suddenly changed into the panda's and girl's. Every time this happened she sat there puzzled, trying to figure out what could be going on. If she hadn't done this, she probably would have caught them by now. Shampoo got up and continued her quest. Those tracks were less than an hour old. Soon she would find that red-haired girl and make her pay for what she had done. Reaching the next village, she decided she needed to keep her strength up if she was going to beat that girl. Shampoo went to the local restaurant to eat. After enjoying a good meal, she ask the chef if he had seen a foreign girl pass by here recently. "No, there havn't been any girls passing through here that I know about." The chef said. He had taken Shampoo's comment quite literally. No girls had passed through here. It was a man that had eaten the rice porridge and taken the dragon whisker. Or so that man had insisted. Cursing to herself, Shampoo hurried out of the restaurant. She had to get back on the trail of the group. Finding the tracks of the three men on the other side of the village, she was about to follow when she noticed several large clumps of black hair lying on the path. Stopping to inspect them, she found she couldn't recognize who it was from. The green-skinned boy had no hair. The girl was a redhead, and the panda's hair wasn't this long. It started to rain while Shampoo was still holding a clump in her hands. She sat there in amazement as the black hair turned bright red. She immediately recognized as the same colour her target's hair. Shampoo made herself a very strong mental note to ask Great-grandmother about this when she returned to the Joketsuzoku village. Then she realized she had been sitting out in the rain for half an hour staring at a clump of hair. Swearing at herself for her foolishness, she began stalking her quarry again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The next day the group was sitting at a table in a restaurant enjoying lunch. The food was delicious and the restaurant's prices were low enough that Genma could afford to give his a two sons a decent meal. The turtle was telling them more about Master Roshi. Ranma and Goku hung on his every word, and even Genma was intrigued by this so-called turtle hermit. A earlier shower had changed everyone to cursed form, but no one really minded their present state as they planned to get hot water after they finished their meal. This pleasant scene was interrupted by the sound and sight of the wall exploding. It was just sitting there minding its own business when all of a sudden, it bulged inwards and then shattered. The group shielded themselves from the flying debris and tried to see through the dust to find out what happened. As the dust settled, the cause of the explosion was obvious. A purple-haired girl stood in the opening holding two bonbori in a combat position. "Shampoo?" Ranma asked. "You I kill!" She shouted, launching herself at Ranma. "Run, Boy! Run!" Genma screamed and dashed out the door. Ranma dodged the blow, which carried on past where she was and smashed into the table, snapping it in two. She landed on top of another table facing the Amazon. "Ranma, you get rid of Shampoo. I'll get Mr. Turtle to safety." Goku said. He grabbed the reptile and hoisted her onto his back. "Catch up with us when you're done." Goku then calmly walked out of the restaurant. Shampoo stared after the departing namek for a second before renewing her offensive against Ranma. "Look Shampoo I don't know why you have that law, but it's stupid." Ranma managed to work out between dodges. "You shouldn't have to kill someone just because they beat you." "KILL! You I Kill!" Ranma sighed. He wasn't getting through to her at all. 'Time to use the secret technique. It's my only chance to get out of here.' Ranma jumped off the table he had been standing on towards Shampoo. He ducked under her attack and turned his back to her. "Saotome Secret Technique! FAST BREAK!" And with that Ranma bolted out of the door and down the street. Shampoo stood there with her arm extended in the middle of a blow. She blinked a couple of times before realizing exactly what had happened. Growling, she smashed a few tables and ran through another wall for good measure before giving chase. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Ah! Here we are at last! The Sea!" The turtle exclaimed. And indeed they were at the sea. The blue water spanned the entire horizon and glittered in the sunlight. Waves lapped at the shore, and seagulls flew overhead searching for food. The past few days could be described as harrowing at best. Shampoo had caught up to them multiple times, but they had managed to avoid her each time. Right now they were certain they had lost her if not for good than for at least a few hours. "Wow! What a big river!" Goku said. Everyone else facefaulted. How the turtle managed to do that will remain a mystery. "Goku, you idiot! That's not a river! That's the sea!" Ranma shouted in Goku's ear. "Oh! What's a sea?" "That is!" "Sure looks like a river to me." Ranma sighed. He knew Goku's head was thick, but not this thick. 'Well, he was dropped on his head as a child, so that's probably why.' "Don't be stupid, Boy," read the sign that Genma used to smack Goku across the head. This activity was not very healthy for the sign as it snapped in two. Goku's head on the other hand was completely fine. Genma had missed out on the hot water this morning after Goku pounded him when he left himself wide open in a game of "Grab That Tail," so he remained a panda. "I'll just go get Master Roshi now. Wait here. I'm sure he'll want to reward you." The turtle crawled into the water and swam away straight out from the shore. The three watched it until it disappeared over the horizon. "Think he's coming back?" read Genma's sign. "Of course he is," Ranma said. "He wouldn't lie to us after we carried him all the way out here. Besides, I'd really like to meet this Master Roshi guy." "Yeah. He sounds like a great person," added Goku. "Fine then we'll wait," read another sign, "But I'm not responsible if Shampoo finds us again." Half an hour later, Goku spotted the turtle coming back. He had what appeared to be another turtle standing upright on the top of his shell. As they got closer, the group was able to identify that the standing turtle was actually a man who was wearing a giant turtle shell on his back. About ten minutes later, Ranma could work out the details of the old man's appearance. He was shorter than average height and had a pretty scrawny build. He was completely bald and sported a white beard. The man was obviously old and frail. He was wearing a bright Hawaiian shirt, white shorts, sandals, a pair of sunglasses, and a strange piece of jewelry around his neck. He grasped an old, gnarled stick in his hand that he probably used for walking. 'Feh. A man as old as him can't be much of a fighter,' thought Ranma. Eventually, the turtle reached the shore and the odd looking man hopped off her back. He sized each one of the group up. The expressions on his face when he did this were difficult to read as they were obscured by his large sunglasses. "So these are the two who helped you?" The old man spoke after a minute. "Uh huh. They carried me all the way here," the turtle replied. "Oh. That's very kind of you folks." "It was nothing. We were heading in this direction anyway," Goku said. "Now don't be modest. You two deserve a reward, but first introductions are in order. I'm Master Roshi, but I'm sure that you already know that. And you two are?" "My name is Goku." "And I'm Ranma. Oh and that's our Pop." Ranma said jerking a thumb towards Genma. "Pleased to meet you both. Er...is your dad a panda?" "Only sometimes." "I see," Roshi nodded his head. "Now about that reward. Hmmm. What would be good for you two? Ah ha! I have it! How about a flying carpet?" "A flying carpet? Do those really exist?" Ranma asked. "Yep. Let me just call it here. FLYING CARPET! COME HERE!" Roshi said as he thrust his stick into the air. After nothing happened for a minute, Roshi lowered his arm. "Huh? Where's the carpet?" Goku asked. "I knew they didn't exist." Ranma said. "I knew the legends were too good to be true," Genma's sign read. "No. They exist. I just don't know what happened to mine. It should have come." "Uh Master?" the turtle interrupted. "Didn't the flying carpet get eaten by moths last week?" "Oh, that's right! I had forgotten all about that. Well now let's see. What else is there? I know! The Flying Nimbus!" "Flying Nimbus?" "It's a magical cloud that you can ride on. FLYING NIMBUS, TO ME!" Again he stuck his stick into the air in a dramatic pose. Again nothing happened. Ranma sighed. He knew it. 'This old fart wasn't a martial artist at all, just some crazy old hermit.' "So now what?" "Uhhhh...maybe it's over here. FLYING NIMBUS, TO ME!" Again the dramatic pose. Again nothing happened. At least nothing happened at first. A speck appeared in the sky in the direction Master Roshi was pointing. It soon screeched to a halt in front of him. The object was a small yellow cloud with a little trail coming out behind it. "See? I knew I still had the Nimbus." Ranma couldn't believe his eyes. The crazy old hermit had summoned a cloud. An actual cloud. Well, clouds aren't normally yellow, but Ranma overlooked that fact. "Woah!" Goku exclaimed. "Impressive, ain't it?" Roshi queried. "So...umm...you...can...umm...ride this thing?" Ranma asked, still stunned by the sight of the cloud. "Yep. But it only will support those who are pure in heart. Anyone else will simply fall through. Observe." And with that Master Roshi leapt into the air. He came right down in the centre of the cloud. The material of the Nimbus seemed to part to let Roshi continue his journey to the ground. Groaning, the turtle hermit crawled out of the hole he had created. "You shouldn't have cheated on that crossword puzzle, Master," the turtle said as it shook its head. "Oh, shut up!" Roshi snapped. "You two see if you can ride it." "Ok! Here I go!" Goku jumped and landed on the Nimbus. The spongy surface of the cloud supported his weight. "Hey! It worked! I'm standing on a cloud." Goku then proceeded to do a little victory dance on the cloud. Ranma got over his initial shock of seeing Goku standing on Nimbus and sprang into the air. "Alright, my turn." His feet came down on the cloud and didn't sink through. He poked his toe into Nimbus, and was amazed at how it seemed to bounce his foot back up. "Woah! I'm actually standing on a cloud." "Take it out for a spin. You control its movements with your thoughts." "Cool! Let's go, Goku!" The two boys sped off on top of Nimbus. They flew around, skimming the surface of the water and performing loop-de-loops. After five minutes, they returned with huge smiles are their faces. "That was awesome, Master Roshi." "Yeah! Thanks, Master Roshi!" Goku added. "You're quite welcome, Goku. But I still don't think its enough. What else can I give you? I know! You two are both martial artists, right? How about if a train you for a month? That does sound good?" "Yes, it does. I'd love to train under someone other than my father." Goku said. "I'd like to be trained as well." 'Who knows? This crazy old hermit managed to summon a cloud, maybe he knows some decent martial arts moves too.' Ranma said. "Me too," read Genma's sign. "Eh? What's this? Is your panda a martial artist as well?" "Yeah, but he's not very good." Ranma answered. "I'm good enough to beat you, Boy," read the sign that Genma used to swat at Ranma, who effortlessly dodged away. "You shouldn't give the panda anything, Master. He didn't want to help me at all when they found me. In fact, he suggested eating me several times." "Is this true?" Roshi said menacingly as he turned his head towards Genma. He was met with the sight of a panda lying on its back playing with a beach ball. A sign was hung over the panda saying, "I'm just a cute little panda." Roshi growled. "If you think that's going to fool me, you've got another thing coming. I refuse to train your panda!" "Works for me," Ranma replied. "Let's go now. We'll be back in a month, Pop. Just stay around here until we get back. Oh, and try to keep out of trouble. Bye." Roshi climbed up on top of his turtle, and it crawled into the sea. It slowly made its way away from the shore. Goku and Ranma blew by it on the Nimbus as they flew towards their home for the next month. Genma stood back on the shore watching them go while weeping. His two sons had abandoned him to go train under a turtle hermit. What had he ever done to deserve this? Well, there were all times he sold Ranma and Goku for food. And the time he sold that strange ball of Goku's that he said contained his grandfather's soul. And the time where he...all right maybe he did deserve this. Genma walked back into the forest, looking for some family to mooch off as a cute panda for a month. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo followed the tracks down onto the beach. This set was very unusual. What Shampoo began to expect was that she would follow the girl's, panda's, and boy's tracks unless they weren't there. In that case she would follow the man's and two boys' tracks, which were certain to appear when the other set disappeared. The set she was following now was a combination of the two. The panda's tracks were present, but so were those of the two boy's. She didn't know what to make of it, but she did know that if she followed them she was certain to find Ranma again. The set she found at the shore brought her confusion to new levels. The heavy object that the one boy carried looked like it was put down. Then those strange tracks from before led it into sea. There were two more sets of that print. One leaving from and the other arriving at the shore. Both of these sets were deeper than the first one, which suggested that the heavy object was carrying something itself. A completely new set of footprints also threw Shampoo off. They started and ended right beside the heavy object's, except for where they left the area of a fairly large crater in the ground. The two boy's tracks simply disappeared into thin air. The panda's led back into the forest. Having no clue as to what happened here, Shampoo decided to ask the one person who might have an idea of where Ranma was heading. She began her journey back to the springs of Jusenkyo. The guide would most likely know where his customers were heading. End of Chapter