Ranma 1/2 story from Shonen Sunday 2-3, 1990 Original story is Copyright (C) 1990 Takahashi Rumiko/Shogakukan Translation is Copyright (C) 1990 Ragnarok (mikem@comspec.UUCP) Akane power up! ...no maki --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kasumi is busy putting a meal together... Kasumi: It's the last day of the year and I'm so busy; I wonder where Akane has gone. Ranma, go and look for her. Ranma (female) runs out in pink Chinese proletariat clothing (complete with pink cap with a red star), looking for Akane. He comes across a crowd of people. Crowd: What a girl! She's strong!! Ranma shimmies up a pole holding an arch up, trying to get a better look. Ranma: What's with this crowd of people? Down below, the center of attention, Akane is about to wrestle an arm- wrestling machine (which looks like a sumo wrestler). Announcer: Begin!! Akane grits her teeth and starts to exert force. She puts the machine's arm down rather decisively. Crowd: Oh, she won against the head-wrestler!! She's great! Ranma, still on his perch atop the pole, begins to munch on some buns. Ranma: (said of Akane) Loitering again... A man rolls out an even larger, more impressive-looking arm-wrestling machine. Man: Yes, the champion wrestler machine is next. Akane: (enthusiastic, whirling her arm around) Fine, come on!! Akane gets into position with the machine. Announcer: Begin!! Akane: (puzzled) Hm!? How stiff!! The machine speaks!... Machine: (arrogantly) To win against me, you're a hundred years early. The machine begins to chuckle. Akane: (gasps) That voice... The machine soundly defeats Akane. Ranma is quite surprised. The machine's form begins to crack, then fall apart. Bursting out of the "machine" is... Shampoo: (triumphantly) Last match of the year, and it's my victory!! Akane: Shampoo!! Crowd: (surprised) Oh, an even more impossibly strong girl has appeared!! Shampoo: (to Akane) Hmpf, same as always, weak aren't you? Akane: (angry) One more match! Shampoo: (realizing something) I'd like to but I can't. Shampoo rides her bicycle down Akane's head and back. Shampoo: I was in the middle of a delivery. I don't have time to waste on boring stuff. Whenever you want to have a match with Ranma as the prize, I'll accept! See you later! Shampoo rings her bicycle bell twice and is gone, leaving a frustrated Akane to vent her anger out in the doujou. Akane: How miserable! Ranma (male) is skipping rope. He jumps up and avoids a roundhouse kick from Akane. Akane: Be a serious partner! Don't turn this into a lesson! Ranma: What are you miserable about now? Ranma lands on Akane. Ranma: You're always being beaten by Shampoo. Akane: Isn't that why I'm miserable?! Meanwhile, someone pulls noodles out of a boiling pot... Happosai: (eyes closed) How long I've waited for this day... It's finally done by my hand. Happosai deposits the noodles in a bowl and with a tear in his eye, holds it up. Happosai: If eaten in its entirety, this gives gourikimuso [superhuman strength without compare]! The battling family's source of Yearning, the legendary gouriki soba [superstrength noodles]! The old man goes out to the table and prepares to eat his noodles. But, he's distracted by the television... TV announcer: Well, everyone, thanks for waiting, here's the year-end idol swimwear get-together! Many cute girls in swimwear appear onscreen, transfixing Happosai. He doesn't notice when Kasumi comes in with several bowls of noodles. Akane runs in and is happy to see food on the table. Akane: Waa, exercise makes me hungry. Kasumi: (handing bowls out) Get everyone together. The toshikoshi soba [year-end noodles] will stretch. Everyone comes in, accepts a bowl and begins to eat. On TV... Announcer: And now, a commercial... Happosai turns around to find his bowl of gouriki soba gone. He's quite devastated. Happosai: (thinking to himself) M... My gouriki soba... Soun notices Happosai crying. Soun: O-shisou-sama [honoured teacher], is there something wrong? Happosai: I'm crying, aren't I, fool!! Meanwhile, Akane has finished her bowl of noodles. Akane: (smiling) Thanks for the meal. Akane puts her bowl down. The table cracks in half. Everyone tries to keep their bowl of noodles as the floor under the table gives way as well. Happosai realizes who had his noodles, and faces Akane. Happosai: So... The one that ate my gouriki soba was Akane... Akane: (confused) Eh? A few explanations later... Soun: Gouriki soba that gives superhuman strength!? How selfish... Akane: Isn't it? Ranma: The foundations aren't corroded then? Kasumi: It's an old house. Happosai: (sadly) Now that the noodles are eaten, there's nothing I can do about that... Happosai launches himself at Akane, tears streaming from his eyes. Happosai: If you let me cry in your bosom, I'll forgive you! Akane: (disgusted) Again? Trying to take advantage while I'm confused... Akane lightly pats Happosai on the head, intending only to fend him off. Happosai whirls around at a terrific speed and crashes into the TV set. There's a moment of stunned silence as Akane looks down at her hand. Akane: (ecstatic) Could it be true that I've become strong... Ranma: Idiot. How about me instead of the old man? Alright? Come on, let's arm-wrestle. Akane and Ranma assume arm-wrestling positions on the floor beside the now-sunken centre table. Everyone else continues to eat their noodles. Akane: Fine. (Both, in unison): Begin!! Ranma, utterly beaten, ends up in a hole he made going through the floor. But, he won't give up. Both assume their arm-wrestling positions again. Ranma: (angry) One more match! Akane: (smug) Fine, come on. Outside the Tendo home can be heard: Crunch! "Once more!" Crunch! "Once more!" Crunch! "Once more!" "Again!!?" Inside a almost-wholly demolished room in the Tendo household, as bells ring... Soun: (crying) You've become so strong, Akane... Kasumi: (gathering bowls up) Oh, it's the New Year's Eve bells... Akane: (with tears of joy, thinking to herself) Thanks, God! Ranma is crying in a corner from pain and humiliation. Genma (as a panda) hits him on the head as Nabiki castigates him. Nabiki: (disgusted) Instead of crying, it would have been better if you'd stopped before you really got hurt. The next day, Ranma (male) and Akane (in an elaborate kimono) go to make their hatsumode [first visit to a shrine in the new year]. Akane: (confident) Heh heh heh, I'll pray that I'll continue to have all this strength. Ranma: (annoyed, thinking to himself) She should pray for style. (To Akane) Hey, when we return, let's have a match in the doujou. Akane: Again? You're so predictable. Persistent, aren't you? Akane playfully gives Ranma a light slap to the shoulder and is surprised to see him suddenly go flying. A sign further ahead says: "New Year Fight Battledore-Shuttlecock Meet" Crowd: There's going to be a match!! Shampoo, dressed in a kimono, is standing on a raised platform preening while the announcer proclaims: Announcer: This will be fifth of Shampoo's continuing victories! Suddenly, something comes hurtling from the skies towards Shampoo. Shampoo grabs hold of a badly dazed Ranma by the foot before he can crash through the platform. Shampoo: (pleased) How are you, Ranma? (hugging Ranma) I'm so happy! You flew to be with me! Ranma: You've got it wrong, you've got it wrong. Meanwhile, Akane is trying to make her way in alone. Akane: That fool Ranma, leaving me to make my way all by myself. Suddenly, Akane catches sight of Ranma being hugged by Shampoo on the platform. She angrily launches herself at them. Akane: What are you doing?! Ranma's eyes bug out at the sight of Akane bearing down as Shampoo confidently prepares to start the fight early. Shampoo: Come on! Ranma hits the deck, pulling Shampoo down with him. Ranma: (to Shampoo) Get down!! Akane overshoots her target and lands outside the ring, totally demolishing the area she lands on. Shampoo: (glaring at Akane) You look like you might have some ability. Akane: (smug) Hmpf, what you thought of me yesterday is a big mistake. Shall we fight!? Whenever you're ready, of course. Shampoo contemptously tosses something at Akane. Shampoo: Enter the ring. Akane: (catching the object) A battledore?... [like a table tennis paddle] Shampoo: This match's prize is Ranma. Do you accept? Akane: (smug) Hmpf, I'll even throw in a panda as a little extra. Ranma angrily watches from the sidelines... Ranma: (to himself) That jerk Akane, betting me even though we're already engaged. Gouriki hanetsuki ...no maki [Superstrength battledore ...episode] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akane and Shampoo, both dressed in kimonos, face off in a ring, each armed with a battledore and a supply of shuttlecocks... Shampoo: (smug) When I win, you will know your limitations. Akane: (chuckling) When you see my power you'll be shaking with fear. Announcer: Well, let's start fresh and explain the rules of kakutou hanetsuki... [battledore fighting] The match ends when one of the competitors can no longer move. The announcer holds one of the rather oversized shuttlecocks that the girls will be using up to the crowd's sight. Announcer: This shuttlecock will be exchanged back and forth with the use of battledores. The announcer tosses the shuttlecock up into the air between the girls. Announcer: If it's missed... Shampoo leaps into the air and smashes the shuttlecock towards Akane. Shampoo: First move is certain victory! Akane misses the shuttlecock, which breaks open. Loops of weighted rope shoot out and bind Akane, hindering her movements. Shampoo fires off another shuttlecock. Shampoo: Second shot! Akane, handicapped by the weighted ropes, misses the shuttlecock again. It breaks open and splashes Akane with a sticky substance, much to the crowd's surprise. Crowd: Oh!! This time it was torimochi! [bird-lime] It's designed so that as you keep missing you gradually become restrained in your movements. This way you won't be able to move! Shampoo leaps up once more and smashes another shuttlecock towards Akane, who's quite annoyed and having trouble moving. Shampoo: This is the end!! Akane smiles, then gives the shuttlecock a light pat. It spins at terrific speed crazily and grinds into Shampoo's battledore with enough force to drive her out of the ring. Announcer: Oh, the shuttlecock drives her out!! Akane grabs her container of shuttlecocks and leaps after Shampoo. Akane: Are you trying to get away?! Shampoo, in a panic, just barely dodges the three shuttlecocks that Akane fires off at her all at once. Shampoo: (incredulous) How did you come to have such power?! Akane: I'm winning! I'm winning against Shampoo! Meanwhile, elsewhere... Ranma: Secondary reaction? Soun is sitting on a tree brances with Ranma hanging upside down just above him. Soun is reading what appears to be standard packaging for noodles. Soun: Quite so, from reading these explanatory notes on the gouriki soba that Akane ate... Male hormone, the source of muscular power, is used to multiply... Ranma: (laughing) She'll become a male! Soun: (angry) Stop joking! She'll grow whiskers, is all. Ranma falls on his face in shock. He tries to picture Akane with whiskers... Ranma: A... Akane with... whiskers...? Soun jumps down from the tree crying, landing on Ranma's head. Soun: To imagine it is unthinkable! Ranma: It is not. Soun is suddenly clothed in a traditional wedding kimono. Soun: (crying) Ranma, do you want a bride with a whiskered face? Ranma: (embarassed) Stop kidding around like that. Soun shows Ranma what appear to be cherries. Soun: Here, I have some gedokuzai [antidote]. Make Akane swallow one right away. Ranma: (flipping one into the air) Hmpf, such a simple job. Elsewhere, Akane has lost track of Shampoo as she lands on a building. Akane: (angry) Shampoo!! She's quick to get away... Suddenly, Akane becomes aware of something heading her way. She angrily chops a couple of gedokuzai in half as Ranma lands beside her. Ranma: Be quiet and swallow this for your own good, Akane. Akane: Ranma... Akane examines the gedokuzai carefully. Akane: The antidote for the gouriki soba, you say? (Throwing it away) Quit joking. Now that I've finally become stronger than Shampoo... Unknown to Akane, Shampoo is nearby and listening. Shampoo: (to herself) Gouriki soba...? Is that the secret of her power? Behind Shampoo, Happosai has prepared another bowl of gouriki soba and is getting ready to eat it just as Shampoo turns around. Happosai: (Happy) Here I am, with no one to bother me, so I'll eat my gouriki soba. Akane is listening to Ranma explain why she should take the antidote. In the background, Happosai suddenly takes flight with a little help... Akane: Explanatory notes? Ranma: Yes, even without pictures, awful notes... Ranma's surprise is brief as Shampoo returns, unknowingly capturing Ranma inside the metal bell she's riding as she alights, carrying two huge battledores. Shampoo: Let's restart the match. Akane: Shampoo!! Shampoo tosses one of the huge battledores at Akane. Shampoo: (smug) I wasn't myself before. Akane catches the battledore. Akane: Ha ha, you also ate the gouriki soba... Shampoo fires off the metal bell with a dazed Ranma in it at Akane. Shampoo: This makes us even!! With a little difficulty, Akane launches the bell back. On the ground, onlookers (including Genma the panda and Soun) watch the bizarre match... Soun: (frustrated) What is Ranma doing? Inside the bell, Ranma wonders the same thing as the bell rings from every serve... Ranma: (dazed) D-damn... Only one way to end this... Ranma beckons to Shampoo from under the bell as it heads towards her. Ranma: Shampoo, I have a confession I want to make. Shampoo happily leaps in with Ranma as the bell drops down rim first, sealing the two in. Shampoo: (happy) What is it, Ranma? Ranma: (still a little dazed) F-fact is, ... Ranma forces one of the antidote cherries down Shampoo's throat. Ranma: Take this, the antidote. Shampoo: (worried) Antidote...? Shampoo vainly tries to lift the bell up. Shampoo: I did it before, what's happened? Ranma: (to himself) That's one down. (Observing the last cherry) Well, Akane's next... Ranma realizes something as he tries to lift the bell rim. Ranma: (to himself) I can't get out. Shampoo throws herself at Ranma, hugging him tightly... Shampoo: (smiling) It's just the two of us here in the dark. Outside, Akane is quite perplexed by the conversation she hears... Ranma: Y-you idiot! I have better things to do... (Inside the bell, to himself) I know one way out of this... Waa, Shampoo, don't remove your kimono...!! Just as Ranma had planned, Akane angrily slices the bell in half with the battledore. Akane: What are you doing in there!! Shampoo: (Annoyed) When was I going to remove my kimono? Ranma: (To Akane) Stupid girl, wherever else the strength has gone it sure hasn't reached as far as your head. Akane: (enraged) What! Down below... Genma: He's made her mad again. Soun: (crying) Akane, take the antidote. Fukusayou no higeki ...no maki [Tragedy of the explanatory notes ...episode] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ranma has switched to female form. Wearing a kimono, he's getting ready to fight Akane, who's angrily whirling her oversized battledore around. Ranma: (annoyed, to himself) I don't believe it, the girl doesn't understand what I'm telling her. Crowd: (looking at Akane) Such superhuman strength... Akane stops whirling her battledore and pauses to think. Akane: (to herself) After all the trouble I had to have this power... I won't give it up so easily. She thinks back to the recent conversation with Ranma on the rooftop just a short while ago... Akane: (peeved) I'll grow whiskers!? What's this? Ranma: That's what the gouriki soba explanatory notes said. So be quiet and take the antidote already. Akane: You liar. You're just unhappy because I've become stronger than you. I'll take the antidote if you can defeat me. Ranma: Fine, then, let's have a battledore fight match. Back to the present, with Ranma... Ranma: (smug) A fight isn't won on power alone, I'll teach her! Ranma takes five shuttlecocks and leaps up into the air as the match begins. Announcer: The match begins! Ranma slams the five shuttlecocks at Akane. Ranma: Take this, five shots! Using her oversized battledore, Akane slams all five shuttlecocks right back at a disbelieving Ranma. Moments later, a huge explosion starts where all five shots converged. Ropes and chains can be seem amidst the smoke... Announcer: These specially-made shuttlecocks explode when missed! What kinds of devices come out is not known!! Akane: This is too sudden... When the smoke clears, there are chains, ropes and confetti lying around a kimono, but Ranma is... Akane: Huh? Gone!? Akane angrily begins scanning the crowd looking for Ranma. Akane: Ranma, running away is a cowardly thing to do!! Akane neglects to examine her battledore, where Ranma is holding on. He carefully drops a shuttlecock on Akane's head. The shuttlecock turns out to be a dud. Akane angrily takes a swing at Ranma. Akane: You're acting so vain!! Ranma jumps away from Akane, and fires off another shuttlecock. Ranma: Take this! Akane takes a swing at the shuttle, which suddenly deflects on its own down at her feet, to the crowd's surprise and her dismay. Crowd: A ball that changes speed!! It's a fork-ball! The shuttle breaks open. Exploding out at high speed towards Akane, who barely manages to get her battledore in front to protect her, are... Crowd: (incredulous) Fo-forks... Genma: Akane's weakening!! Soun: Now's our chance!! There's a sudden loud announcement which catches Ranma's attention... Soun: Ranma, use this shuttlecock!! Ranma turns around to catch what turns out to be a gigantic shuttlecock. He smacks face-first into it, causing it to explode. Huge chains whip out, panicking Akane. She slices a few chain links in half. Crowd: Oh, these chains are... huge!! The sliced-in-half chain links give Ranma an idea. He fires a few off at Akane, pinning her arms and legs down as the half-links impact into the ring. Ranma: This is the end!! Ranma drags the huge chains over Akane crosswise and secures them firmly to the ring posts. Crowd: Oh, it's done! Ranma: (chuckling) It's my victory. (to Akane) Now, just as you promised, swallow the antidote. Akane is enraged upon realizing that she's been beaten. Akane: Who's... going to swallow that?!! Akane gets up, still secured by the chain links. She takes most of the platform surface and posts with her. Suddenly, she feels something happening on her face... Ranma: (stunned) Ah... Akane, in total shock, covers the sides of her face with her hands. Crowd: Wh-what's happening!? Soun: (upset) Akane, it can't be... whiskers!! Akane suddenly jumps far away, crying, still covering her face. Ranma: (annoyed) I ran out of time... What a stupid girl. A large upright portion of the platform falls over on top of Ranma's head. Somewhere, very high up on a certain tall tree, Akane is hanging on, still sobbing. Ranma (now a male) climbs up to her. Ranma: Yo. Haven't you had enough of those whiskers? Akane sobs a couple more times while working up the courage to stop hiding. She cries rather pitifully as she uncovers her face, whiskers and all. Ranma laughs as hard as Akane cries. Akane slices the top of the tree off as she angrily tries to hit Ranma, who just gets out of the way. Akane: (upset) What's so funny?!! Ranma produces the last of the antidote cherries and flips it to Akane. Ranma: (nonchalant) Here's the antidote. Swallow it. Akane catches the cherry and looks at it in awe. Akane: Ranma... I'm sorry, but it's just that it was terrible when you said this would take my power away... Akane swallows the antidote. Ranma: (smiling) That's stupid. I'm not the kind of guy that holds grudges. The whiskers disappear, which cheers Akane up immediately. Akane: Ah... Ranma: (sympathetic) Good, they're gone. This is more like you, Akane. I'm glad. Akane: (embarassed) Ranma... Back at the Tendo household... "Once more!" Crash! "Once more!" Crash! "Once more!" ... Akane and Ranma arm-wrestle on the floor of Tendo doujou, with Akane losing every time. Ranma: Once more! Akane is soundly beaten. Ranma laughs insanely and exults... Ranma: (conceited) Wa ha ha ha ha, how's that, this is how it is when it's an honest match... Akane, upset, has a mallet ready. Kasumi and Nabiki, in kimonos, look on... Kasumi: (concerned) Ranma was beaten at arm-wrestling... Nabiki: (disgusted) That's the reason he was holding a grudge all this time, isn't it... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------