unofficial translation by Wei-Hwa Huang Ranma Manga #24 Chapters 1 (incomplete) Last Update: 1/23/94 My address is whuang@cco.caltech.edu. I'm going to try a novelization this time, so the translation can be standalone. Tell me if you like it. Chapter 1. Guests of the Nekohanten Shampoo was happy today. Not long ago, her great-grandmother Cologne had told her: "Shampoo, I'm going to close the Nekohanten early today, so you can go out and have fun!" Shampoo, of course, was quite delighted at this news, for it meant she could go visit Ranma. But something didn't seem quite right. In fact, Cologne seemed quite upset about something. So she had asked her about it, and Cologne obligingly replied, "This afternoon there will be some dangerous characters visiting...so it won't be a good idea for young girls to be around." Rather puzzling, in fact. But she was an obedient great-grandchild, and so got on her bicycle and pedaled away. "A date with Ranma...," she sang happily to herself as she rode down the road. Suddenly, Mousse jumped over a nearby wall. "Shampoo!" he shouted. Shampoo took note, but blithely ignored him. He could go to the devil. "If you're free, could we have a date?" Mousse asked, kneeling in front of a mailbox. Shampoo stopped and stared. Apparently, Mousse had decided not to wear his glasses again. Still, mistaking a mailbox for her was insulting! "Where are you staring at?" she remarked, annoyed. A swishing noise came through the air, followed by a falling net. "Careful, Shampoo!" Mousse cried as he lunged towards Shampoo's direction, saving Shampoo's bicycle from the entrapments of the net. Holding the bicycle, Mousse said, "How come you're so thin?" Now THAT deserved a blow. Shampoo, who had avoided the net herself, gave Mousse a good blow on the head, exclaiming, "Are you going to mistake random objects for me forever?" A rustle came from the direction the net had came from. Both Shampoo and Mousse perked up at the lone figure silhouetted against the sun's rays, apparently the source of the net. "Who are you?" Shampoo ventured. Focus. Apparently a young man, of 14 or so, wearing a fox pelt over his head and armed with a fierce-looking sword sheathed in a scabbard behind his back. "You are a female. "This is my first encounter with a female." His fists twitched, as if he was nervous yet trying to act impressive. Mousse finally decided to put on his glasses. "Huh?" Shampoo commented, "Why, he looks even younger than I am!" The stranger held up a giant mallet (from nowhere, it seems) and approached Shampoo. "If it is convienent, please consider dating me," he droned on in that monotonous tone of his, all the while ready to knock Shampoo's head with the mallet. "Somehow, your words don't exactly match your actions," Shampoo noted dryly. Then Mousse cut in. "Hey, stop it," he said with an accompanying blow to the stranger's head. The stranger took a step back. "Who are you?" "I'm the one who's telling you to stay away from Shampoo!" "So, you dare to intervene, do you?" the stranger said, and disappeared. "What the..." Mousse was able to say before, suddenly, from behind him, the strange person spun his hands at lightning speed, throwing many littl daggers in Mousse's direction. "******!" he cried. "Mousse!" Shampoo cried. ************************************************************************* Meanwhile, Ryoga was hiding behind a corner, waiting for Akane to approach, as this was her normal route home from school. "Today, Ryoga," he thought to himself, "today's the day you'll reveal your true feelings to Akane." But before Akane could reach the corner, a rumbling sound came from the wall beside her. Sections of plaster bulged out in a roughly spherical shape, when suddenly it burst open, revealing s strange person clad in tiger-skins. He came out, looking straight at Akane. "A female?" "Who...who are you?" Akane asked, a beat of sweat forming along side her head. "This is my first time speaking to a female," the person apostrophized. As if talking to himself, he continued, "Okay, now I have to ask her out!" He approached Akane. This was getting scary. Akane slowly lifted an arm in defense, when suddenly Ryoga hit the stranger's head from behind. "Hey! Who are you and what do you want?" "Ryoga,..." Akane said as she slowly edged towards Ryoga. "Pervert!" Ryoga said to the stranger, still stunned from the blow in the back of his head. "You dare to even THINK of approaching Akane! I won't forgive you for this!" "Oh?" the stranger said, now quite alert. He lifted his hand... "Ryoga!" Akane screamed. *************************************************************** Ranma was walking home from school by HIS usual route, which consisted mostly of walls and roofs. Walking over one wall, he suddenly noticed a body embedded in the accompanying road. "Ryoga!" he said, jumping down to investigate. Next to Ryoga's body was Akane's bookbag, with her little fuzzy rabbit-that-looked-like-a-cat doll attached to the side. Ryoga had obviously been beaten heavily. Ranma lifted him up from the body-shaped hole. The whites of his eyes were showing. "Hey! Wake up, Ryoga!" Ranma slapped Ryoga's face a few times. Finally, Ryoga regained consciousness. "Akane!" he exclaimed. ********************************************************** "What? Akane's been kidnapped? By who?" "I don't know, but he's a man of extraordinary force," Ryoga explained, still a bit groggy from the single blow in which the tiger-boy had shoved his body into the pavement. They advanced down the street. "What the?" "Mousse?" Mousse lay attached to a nearby wall, face towards the wall, by 20 little daggers. His flowing robes obviouly made this a simple thing. "Sha...Shampoo..." he moaned. After most of the daggers were removed, Mousse started explaining. "So let's get this straight: you were beat by a KID?" Ranma asked. "What kind of a fighter are you?" That was Ryoga. "It's not that simple," Mousse continued, "that kid had a speed faster than anyone I've ever seen..." A recognizing flash appeared in Ryoga's and Ranma's eyes. "And Shampoo..." "...got taken away too?" Ryoga and Ranma exclaimed. "No. Actually, she willingly went with them. 'Oh, so you're the Nekohanten mystery guest!' she said to one of them. That person, whose name I later learned was Mint, shyly said, 'Uh, yeah, I guess so. Oh! Lime!' Then this other guy in this tiger getup..." "We've met," Ryoga interjected. "...came and said, 'Oh, Mint! I got a female here!' I think I heard Akane struggling in his arms."