Ranma 1/2 story from Shonen Sunday 4-5, 1990 Original story is Copyright (C) 1990 Takahashi Rumiko/Shogakukan Translation is Copyright (C) 1990 Ragnarok (mikem@comspec.UUCP) 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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Next: Fukusayou no higeki ...no maki