He wouldn’t go so far as to call the man evil, or even bad. In fact, as the Saotomes’ journey resumed (with him along for the ride), it seemed that Genma really did want the best for his son—it’s just that his opinions concerning what was “the best” were often highly questionable. In other words, Genma may not have been malicious toward his offspring, but his good intentions were often misdirected, and Artemis knew from experience that misguided benevolence could be just as dangerous as unchecked malevolence, if not more so.
He never set out to hurt his son, but he saw absolutely no problems with short-term hardships if they were balanced out by potential long-term gains. In this, Artemis was in agreement with him, in principle at least. But Genma, it seemed, had difficulty determining whether a particular gain was worth a particular hardship—especially when he wasn’t going to be the one going through that hardship.
Ranma didn’t seem to mind as much, no doubt because he’d grown familiar with the situation. He almost always accepted his father’s training without question, and tended to grow annoyed when Artemis voiced his concerns. Artemis eventually gave in—after all, it was Ranma’s body, not his (though that didn’t stop the Mau from feeling every ounce of pain that his host experienced). And with Genma as their sensei, pain was a rather frequent occurrence.
Of course, if the two of them could figure out how to use the Neko-ken again, Genma’s training would become superfluous for the most part—that state of mind had given Ranma strength and agility far beyond anything his father could train into him, and the special abilities that came with it seemed like instinct. Unfortunately, the standard trigger (an extreme ailurophobic reaction caused by prolonged exposure to cats) didn’t work—it’s hard to be afraid of cats when one is living in your head. Sure, there was a chance that some other fear could trigger the Neko-ken, but neither Ranma nor Artemis were particularly keen on developing a massive phobia. For his part, it didn’t seem like Genma wanted any more to do with the technique either; Artemis suspected that this was because he didn’t like the idea of his son being better than he was.
Whenever possible, Ranma went to school. Despite moving around constantly, the young martial artist did quite well academically—it’s hard not to when you have a really good tutor living inside your head who always knows exactly how much studying you’ve done. Not that this wasn’t a fairly big hassle in itself—while Artemis soon discovered that Ranma actually was a bright student, said student didn’t see the point of learning anything that Artemis already knew, since if he ever really needed to know something, Artemis could tell him instantaneously. He never stopped pestering the disembodied mooncat to take his tests for him because of that, with his ostensible reason being that this might help him get some sort of advanced placement, allowing him to finish his education sooner so they could devote their full time to Sailor Venus when they found her.
But though Artemis conceded that advanced placement would undoubtedly be useful, his code of ethics simply wouldn’t let him do any of his host’s work for him. Much to Ranma’s dismay, Artemis’ solution was to tutor him even more intensely, which sometimes put a lot of strain on the boy, especially since he had his father’s martial arts training to deal with as well.
Still, it did seem to pay off—Ranma was able to skip a few grades. By the end, even Genma realized the benefits of having the boy get this education thing out of the way (no distractions to get in the way of the Art!) and actually managed to stay in one spot long enough for Ranma to develop a social life of sorts—though he was constantly warning his son away from friendships with girls.
This brought its own problems, all of them related to Artemis’ mission. All he really knew about this incarnation of Venus was that she was a girl—the only way he had to identify her was through intuition. Thus, he had to be in close quarters with a lot of girls for this to kick in, which meant Ranma would have to spend a lot of time around girls. But Genma’s “parenting” apparently involved doing everything in his power to keep his son from associating with the opposite sex, ostensibly to keep him from getting “weak” from their influence. Artemis suspected that there was something else that Genma wasn’t saying, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it could be.
None of that seemed to matter at the moment, as Genma was cashing in on his son’s accelerated education by taking Ranma on a trip in China—though he was constantly finding ways to train Ranma that coincidentally allowed them to do something relatively expensive for free, like swimming the Sea of Japan instead of taking a plane or a boat. The last few weeks had been difficult for Artemis—in part because Ranma had been having him take control of their body for brief periods of time (“just in case”) and making him learn the basics of Anything Goes martial arts (again, “just in case,” though the mooncat believed that the sixteen-year-old boy was also getting some revenge for the marathon tutoring sessions he’d been put through). Sure, Artemis knew most of the physical moves involved (after nearly a decade of second-hand experience, how could he not?), but much to his surprise he was finding that the mental aspects of the Art were far more difficult to comprehend—and absolutely necessary in order to use it properly.
Not that this newfound insight made him feel any better as father and son trekked across China from one training ground to the next. The mooncat didn’t have a clue where they were headed—mostly because the fat fool guarded his map so zealously, even though it was written in a language he couldn’t read very well. However, he finally got a lucky break when Genma mentioned “Jusenkyo.”
Artemis was well aware of that place—it had been a major battleground in Beryl’s first attempt to control the solar system. It was particularly notable because both of the battalions that had clashed there consisted almost entirely of warrior-mages—talented ones at that. There had been a lot of bloodshed in that particular battle, and since most of the casualties were experienced magic users, it was likely that magical aftereffects still lingered there—but Artemis didn’t know what those effects might be.
It was Ranma who came up with the solution to this little problem; he suggested that they simply ask the locals. Their Mandarin certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was still a damn sight better than Genma’s. At first, it seemed that nobody had heard of the place (at least no one willing to talk to a foreign tourist), but as they got closer to the Bayankala mountain range, a few details started to emerge: changes, something about hot and cold water, an overabundance “very tragic stories,” and warnings to avoid that place at all costs. Still, it wasn’t until they close to the sight itself that they finally learned the whole story: over the years, several people and animals had drowned in various springs, causing anyone who fell in to take that form, which could be changed with hot and cold water. This got Ranma thinking, which in turn made Artemis worried—at times, his host could be as impulsive as his father, and he wasn’t sure that he would like any ideas the boy got about Jusenkyo.
Tell me again: why we aren’t going to tell your father about Jusenkyo?
Ranma sighed. Sometimes working with a mooncat could be difficult. Because if we tell him, we won’t get ta go there.
And this is a bad thing?
Don’t ya see? If we go to Jusenkyo, we can get yer body back!
What?
Look, all we have ta do is go ta Jusenkyo, fall inta the right spring, and presto, you’ve got yer own body!
You think that a cat might have drowned in one of those springs?
Maybe, but why settle for a cat?
Well, in case you didn’t notice, I happen to be one.
No, I mean why settle for a housecat when ya could be something cooler? Like a tiger or somethin’?
Tigers aren’t exactly the most inconspicuous animals around, Ranma.
Well, maybe a smaller wildcat, then. C’mon, White, don’t wimp out on me here! Ranma rarely called Artemis “White” anymore, except when he was trying to play on his friend’s sentimentality. It was like a mental version of the “sad puppy face,” and the mooncat was a total sucker for it.
Fine... I suppose it would be nice to be some sort of cat again... Plus, he might be able to access his subspace pocket again in a feline body.
All right! Don’t worry, Artemis—you won’t regret this.
I hope not.
“So, ya say Jusenkyo’s somewhere on that mountain?”
“That it is, boy.”
Ranma phrased his next words carefully. “Ya know, Pops, I was thinkin’… that’s an awful big climb…”
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking of backing out just because of mere hill!”
“No, no… I wasn’t thinkin’ that at all… it’s just that we don’t really know for sure that Jusenkyo’s there… maps can be kinda outdated at times, ya know…”
“So? Even if it isn’t there, you’ll still be able to train while hiking that trail!”
“I know that… but I don’t see why you should have ta do that if ya don’t have ta.”
This took Genma by surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you’ve been workin’ real hard lately, so I figure ya can set up camp here and rest fer a bit while I go up an’ make sure that Jusenkyo’s there—then if it is, we can head up first thing tomorrow, an’ if it ain’t, then you haven’t exerted yerself for nuthin’, but I still got some trainin’ in.”
Genma didn’t know what had come over his son—but he didn’t really mind. It appeared the boy was finally learning to give his father the respect he so obviously deserved. “That is quite possibly the best idea I’ve ever heard—I’m glad I thought of it.”
“Uh… right.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Go and see if the training ground is up there!”
“Yes, sir.”
Of course, the was very little altruistic intent in Ranma’s suggestion—he simply wanted to be able to check out the springs (and confirm the rumors) without having to deal with the distractions inherent in fighting around them. Thus it was that Ranma came to the small home of the PRC’s Official Jusenkyo Guide® —and found it to be empty. Fortunately, there were informational pamphlets available in several languages—though the Japanese version left much to be desired.
Well, I ain’t too sure, but I think this says that the stuff about curses is true—and they even got a map showin’ where all the springs are! Perfect!
Artemis, for his part, was still not quite convinced. Ranma, are you sure about this? I mean, I was around when this place became cursed to begin with——in fact, I knew some of the people who died here personally! Is it really right to try and take advantage of their tragedy this way?
Look, this’ll help ya when we find Sailor Venus, right? So wouldn’t they be honored for ya to do it?
Ranma, half of the people who died here were fighting against the Silver Millennium.
So? Who cares what they think? They were evil!
Ranma...
C’mon… please?
If Ranma hadn’t been using their set of lungs, Artemis would have sighed. Fine.
That’s the spirit, White! Now, which curse do ya want?
I don’t care... you pick one.
Okay… Ranma looked over the awkwardly translated map. I’ll take… this one! After a quick check to orient himself, he rushed forward and jumped into…
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Kwakerjak
(Posted Sun, 19 Mar 2006 04:33)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.