Mount Hidaka.
Deep within the darkest part of the mountains, an evil soul was attempting to revive!
Accompanied by a massive explosion from the heart of the mountain, a shadow shot into the sky…
"Hahahaha! At last, I'm free! Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, just you wait! I'm coming for you right away!!"
Shortly after, strange occurrences spread terror throughout nearby villages…
...
Meanwhile, at the Tendo residence, Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo were engrossed in a game of shogi.
"I suddenly have a bad feeling about this." Genma placed another piece.
Soun captured it, his expression grave. "The shrine suddenly cracked open—a terrible omen."
"Wahahahaha! Perhaps a demon's awakened!"
"A demon?" A sharp glint flashed in Soun's eyes. "You don't mean… that demon?"
"Ahahahaha! Playing too much shogi has weakened me!" Genma declared, flipping the shogi board into the air. Hastily grabbing his backpack, he announced, "I'm off to the mountains to train!"
"You're only doing that because you were losing!" Soun shouted back, quickly packing his own bag. "I'm coming too!"
Just as the two reached the entrance, the door swung open and Ranma and Akane walked in. "Dad, Mr. Saotome, this old man says he knows you."
A tiny old man, bald except for wisps of white hair on either side, and with a distinctly lecherous face, greeted them cheerfully, pipe tucked behind his back. "Yo! Soun, Genma—long time no see!"
"Mas… Master Happosai! Are you well?" Soun Tendo suddenly leaped forward, embracing the old man while bursting into tears.
"Wahahahaha! As you can see, still full of energy!"
"They really are master and student," Ranma and Akane exchanged glances.
"Master, I've missed you so much!" Soun cried, suddenly launching a sneak attack from behind with an assassination strike.
"Off you go!" Happosai effortlessly blocked Soun's deadly move with two fingers, spinning lightly and slamming him straight into the ceiling.
"He's strong!" Ranma & Akane exclaimed simultaneously.
After easily dealing with Soun, Happosai's attention shifted to his other disciple—a large panda playing with a tire.
"Yo, Genma! Still exactly as you were in your youth—haven't changed a bit." Happosai poked the panda's fat belly with his shriveled finger.
[You've got the wrong panda—I'm just an ordinary giant panda,] the panda signed.
"Genma-kun, you can't escape alone," Soun murmured resentfully, somehow already down from the ceiling.
"Hahaha! You disciples are as close as ever!" Happosai patted their shoulders, making them shiver uncontrollably beneath his touch.
"What exactly happened…?"
...
This story began more than ten years ago, when Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome apprenticed themselves to Master Happosai.
They trained rigorously.
After countless mishaps—including dining and dashing, then being forced to wash dishes; stealing cattle and getting beaten by villagers; sneaking into women's baths and getting caught—the two disciples decided to rebel. With the villagers' help, they got Happosai completely drunk on expensive sake, then sealed him inside a mountain cave as he snored away.
"Rest in peace, Master! We'll carry on your martial arts legacy!"
Bidding farewell to their "respected" master, the disciples descended from the mountain, married, had children, and began living as ordinary people.
...
"So he really is dad and Mr. Saotome's master." Akane couldn't help glancing at Happosai, who was now seated prominently, happily drinking the sake offered by his disciples.
"Wahaha! Those were good old days," Happosai chuckled drunkenly. "You kids were too soft-hearted back then. You should've just killed me."
"You're right."
"But…"
"…It's not too late now!"
Seeing Happosai looking completely drunk, Genma and Soun simultaneously leaped from their seats to attack—only to be thoroughly beaten down once again.
"You think I'd fall for the same trick twice?"
"Oh my! Master, we were just kidding!"
"Oh, a joke? Then how do you plan to compensate me for sealing me away for so long?"
"We're doomed! Master's really mad…"
...
When Ray Chu and Nabiki returned, they found Tendo Dojo resembling a bombed-out battlefield, littered with huge, smoking craters.
Inside one crater, Ray Chu discovered the charred forms of Genma and Soun, both unconscious and clearly out for the count.
"That damn perverted old man!" In the bathroom, Ray Chu bumped into a thoroughly drenched Girl Ranma—though he wisely decided not to ask what had happened to her.
Since most rooms had been damaged during the fight, they had no choice but to sleep on futons spread out in the dojo, enduring a very uncomfortable night.
Yet, reality soon proved they'd been too naïve—the real nightmare had just begun.
Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, everyone was jolted awake by loud shouting outside. Opening the door, they saw a group of men dressed like yakuza storming in.
As skilled martial artists, the Tendo family naturally had nothing to fear from mere yakuza—until the men revealed documents showing that Happosai had lost an astronomical sum of money gambling overnight at their establishment, using the Tendo residence deed as collateral.
The promissory note stated clearly: not only was the house and dojo to be repossessed by the yakuza, but even the family's pet panda was to be sold to a zoo to attract customers and pay off the debt.
"Why… does that old man have the deed to our home?" Ranma stared at the promissory note in disbelief.
Covered head-to-toe in bandages, the miserable-looking panda held up a sign: [He stole it yesterday! Also, does no one care about the panda?!]
"Now that we have no dojo, Ranma, will you still marry Akane?" Soun Tendo murmured mournfully behind Ranma, looking like a vengeful spirit.
"Don't worry! I'll defeat Happosai and take everything back!"
"Ranma, you really care about Akane…" Kasumi and Nabiki suddenly regarded Ranma with newfound respect.
His ego inflated instantly. "Well, even though she's violent, bad-tempered, and totally uncute, I made this decision willingly!"
"Oh, I'm sorry for not being cute!" Akane immediately sent Ranma flying with a kick.
[Still nobody cares about the panda…]
Watching the panda loaded onto a yakuza truck, doomed temporarily—or perhaps permanently—to perform at a zoo until the matter was resolved, Ranma shouted after him, "Old man, hang in there! I'll rescue you soon—just work hard for now!"
...
After bidding farewell to Genma, Ranma set out on his journey to defeat the evil existence… only to return miserably defeated that same night.
"Ranma was beaten instantly," Akane reported afterward. Even though Ranma identified Happosai's supposed weakness—transforming into a girl to seduce him during battle—as soon as Happosai realized something was off, he got serious and knocked Ranma unconscious in moments.
More alarmingly, no one even saw how Happosai attacked. They only heard a loud bang, and by the time they realized what happened, Ranma was lying unconscious in a giant crater, smoke rising from his charred body.
---
T/N: sfiamafm
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl