On the one hand, the past few years had seen the boy develop all the more powerful due to the influence of his friends.
On the other hand, he was not as easy to manipulate.
On the first point, though his original inclination had been that Ranma had to be dependent upon him and with as few friends as possible - both the presence of his girls and the social skills he'd begun developing had gotten Ranma invited into a few dojo and other places of learning. Some of the techniques seemed bizarre and useless, but just the thought of Akuryo Taisan or Ofuda Hurricane being used against the old Master brought a pleasant feeling to Genma's heart.
On the second hand, Ranma had been unwilling to see his poor old father's point of view and acknowledge his superior judgement. On occasion at least.
On that first hand, Ranma was now fourteen. When a young man's fancy and so on. A few photos of Ranma and his pets going back to the home address and Nodoka would throw that contract on the pile for a burn day. Ranma was a teenager, with all the hormone problems that went with the age. So were these girls of his. So were many of his rivals. As a result of this, there were a great many boys challenging Ranma over his having those girls. Come to think of it, there were a few girls challenging those girls over Ranma. And a few girls challenging Ranma over those girls. And... it was time for another drink of sake. If he thought about that tangle too much he'd get a headache.
On the second hand...
To heck with this. Time to get a new bottle.
China. China would be the perfect time to clear one's head and study ancient martial arts techniques. Get back to the basics as it were. None of this bothering with throwing fireballs or spirit wards or force shields or hurricane-kicks. No floating around off the dojo floor in full lotus position or nonsense dealing with spirit-energy or tuning feng shui. The pure martial arts.
Yes. Even better, with neither of them speaking Chinese - Ranma wouldn't be able to make friends or have people getting in the way of his father's genius.
Though finding a method of leaving those girls behind would be more difficult.
Still, he had a plan.
"There he goes with the sinister laughter again," said Maria.
"Yet another lame plan, or did he find money?" asked Ri.
"I dunno about that," said Kanna. "Sumire, you was looking through his things earlier. You spot something?"
"Travel guides to China," said Sumire thoughtfully. "Wait a minute. Where's Sakura?! And RANMA?!"
"Uhm, I think they's checking out a new sword technique," offered Kanna.
"Oh, is THAT what they're calling it now?!" growled Sumire. "I'll just bet they are!"
"Chill girl," said Maria. "Do you honestly think Sakura can get him past the hand-holding stage without something causing Ranma's shyness to erupt?"
Sumire relaxed at that. "No. Of course not. If he fails to succumb to my own charms, what chance would someone like Sakura have?"
Genma finished preparing. Tomorrow he'd take the boy and leave for China, whereas those girls would now face:
(Posted Thu, 10 Jun 2004 10:12)
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