Credit for starting this story goes to Tellemicus Sundance.

Legends of the Four Masters
#01—Ticket to a New World

It was a relatively unnatural evening that descended upon Nerima, quiet with no screams of angry women chasing a panty-thief or rage from rivals who'd come seeking vengeance. No crashes of destruction as private, public, and government properties were smashed by bare fists or blunt weapons. And especially no grunts and whacks of exertion as Ranma and his father trained out in the backyard for their ritualistic evening spar. The city seemed to almost sigh in relief as it took full advantage of the change in routine.

For Kasumi Tendo, it was such a rare and fleeting peace that she couldn't help but relish in it once it was there. And to make it better, she had no chores to do at the moment. Dinner hadn't been started yet, but that could wait, and if she was lucky maybe just maybe she wouldn't have to make it tonight. But at the same time she couldn't help but wonder one thing.

'If Ranma's not here, then where is he?'

She paused for a moment, and because she had no answer her mind went somewhere else, while trying to stay on the same topic. 'If I asked that out loud, I think I know exactly what everyone here would say. His father would accuse him of trying to weasel out of something while his mother would either hope or insist that her son was doing something 'manly'. Father might not react at all, but if he did he'd surely cry about how Ranma wasn't trying to 'express his love' for Akane. And she'd immediately assume that Ranma was doing something he had to be punished for.'

At that she suppressed a sigh. 'I must remember that Akane has gotten better since the failed wedding. She at least doesn't hit anymore without proof that he did something wrong. And he's gotten better at not putting his foot in his mouth. Before the wedding she'd just say he was guilty and he'd insult her for being so judgmental and she'd hit him like a baseball, so one-dimensional. Like everyone here, even me.'

It was weird, despite the fact that Ranma and Akane were the ones resisting personal change, out of everyone they were the only ones actually changing at all. Everyone else behaved like they didn't have to change at all, yet put pressure on the youngest two so they'd change in a specific way. Naturally the two had resisted, but they had undeniably matured some over the past year. Just not as much as everyone had hoped.

'Never mind all that. Maybe now while I have time I can watch some more of that show.' The eldest female member of the Tendo family thought, heading up to her room to get something she had stored up there. It was a dvd set she had on loan from a friend, a rather curious foreign cartoon that had been very popular while it originally ran and still was greatly enjoyed. It was described as about a bald kid with a blue arrow tattoo, who could also use the wind to fight, trying to save the world from an invading army of fire-controlling soldiers.

'Certainly a show meant for children, but I must admit that it does hold a certain charm that makes it interesting even for adults. Plus the ambiguous references to Japanese and Chinese cultures are nice cute touches. All in all, a really good show I'm glad I was talked into giving a try.' Kasumi thought as she picked up the box set. 'Season two, hopefully I can finish it soon and move onto the third and final season.'

Looking forward to her little 'me time', a rarity for the housekeeper, she went back downstairs, passing an annoyed Akane entering the house. "Hello Akane. Were you able to find Ranma?"

The younger girl huffed. "Yeah, and he's going to regret that I did for a while."

"What do you mean?" Kasumi asked, hoping her sister wasn't sliding back into old habits.

"I saw him at Ukyo's acting like he always does." Akane said, sounding annoyed but not enraged.

The older sister normally would not say or do anything other than attempt to console the younger sister. It was her natural instinct to comfort first and ask questions later if at all. But that was she always did, and Kasumi didn't want to be one-dimensional or only capable of having one reaction to a situation. She wanted, she needed, to try something else. And so she would.

"Akane, Ranma has so few friends as it is." Kasumi carefully started. "Like you sometimes he just needs to be with a friend."

"And I'm not good enough for when he needs that?" Akane asked, sounding a bit jilted.

"Sometimes you just both need some time and space away from each other. That's normal Akane. Loving someone doesn't mean you need to be with them all the time. If anything that's not love, that's smothering. Sometimes you need time away from Ranma and he needs time away from you. It doesn't mean he's cheating on you, he just needs some private time. Sometimes we all do."

Deep down Akane knew this was true and couldn't fault Ranma for that. The only thing that really bothered her was that she had seen him with Ukyo. Ukyo was always one of several people that made Akane feel inadequate about herself, and knowing that Ranma wanted to spend some time with the chef rather than her just hurt a lot.

"I know that Kasumi, but why did he have to be with her? He knows how I feel about her and Shampoo and Kodachi and pretty much any girl that comes on to him."

"Akane, what is it you expect Ranma to do regarding Ukyo? Do you want him to kick his best friend out of his life entirely just to make you happy?" Kasumi asked.

"No." Akane admitted, not wanting to be cruel.

"So what do you want Ranma to do? Akane, please know what you want him to do before you get mad at him for not doing it."

"No offense Kasumi, but maybe you're not the one I should be talking to." The tomboy said, surprising the housekeeper as she had never been told her advice was unwanted. "You've never had a relationship before, not even an arranged or failed one, so you may not know what you're talking about here."

Now Kasumi was feeling a bit jilted, offended even. Sure her sister was right, she wasn't speaking from experience and therefore might not be the most knowledgeable person regarding relationship problems. But Kasumi felt she had given good advice, downright reasonable advice even, and Akane was brushing it off because... because...

The older girl suppressed a sigh. "Alright then Akane, if that's how you feel." She said, then walked away, hoping her sister would take this to heart despite whatever reason Akane had not to..

"Kasumi, when's dinner?" Soun called out as soon as Kasumi even touched the sofa in the living room.

It took a lot of effort for her to not groan at having someone request something of her at a time she didn't want to be bothered. 'Just once can't he make his own food?' She asked herself, knowing it was a moot point as she couldn't expect everyone in the house to do that and she'd feel terrible for making someone else like Nodoka or Akane cook simply because she wanted to be lazy for a few hours.

"I'll get right on it Father." She called back out, putting the dvd set by the tv. 'Later, when everyone else is asleep.'

Later would turn out to be three hours later after dinner and when everyone was settling in to either sleep or relax until they fell asleep. And in that time Ranma never showed up. Nevertheless, Kasumi finally got her chance to watch her show, and when she did she saw something other than Ranma had appeared at the house.

"Oh, hello there P-chan." She said, picking up Akane's little wandering black piglet who happened to show up, likely searching for Akane. "Well, I'm sure you can find your way to Akane's room. You should be able to track the scent by now." The piglet blinked, strangely looking as if it just had a moment of realization. Almost like it was completely unaware it could track something by scent. Kasumi was certain that was just her imagination though, and set the animal down before getting the show on.

"Finally." She said with relief, using the remote to find the last episode she had seen. That one had been one of her favorites, where the group of heroes had gained a new ally, a blind girl who could control the earth around her. After that she watched a new episode, one where one of the antagonists, a fire-using boy with a painful past, was given his own chance to be a hero only to receive hatred simply because he was a fire-user.

"Poor boy, people only see what they don't like in him." Kasumi said with empathy. "I wonder if he's going to end up becoming one of the good guys. That would be interesting."

P-chan made a noise of some sort, almost like he was trying to express an opinion too but couldn't. Kasumi glanced at the piglet. "Oh, I didn't know you were still here. Are you waiting for Akane? Or are you interested in the show too?" She asked jokingly, and this time the animal didn't reply.

The episode ended and when the credits started the front door opened. Kasumi turned without leaving the sofa to see who had shown up. As expected, it was Ranma, looking a bit downhearted, filthy, and female.

"Hello, Ranma." Kasumi greeted. "What took you so long?"

Ranma looked like she was trying to avoid answering the question, but a few seconds later the redhead just sighed in exhaustion. Kasumi took that as meaning that she didn't want to talk about it. "Would it be alright if I took a bath before answering?" Ranma asked, kicking off her shoes.

Kasumi nodded and Ranma headed to the furo. Now that she was here, Kasumi headed quickly into the kitchen to put the dinner leftovers she'd saved for him into the microwave. Once done, she hurried back to the television to watch the cartoon again, only faintly annoyed by the distraction. By the time that Ranma had finished his bath and changed into a fresh pair of clothes, she was on another episode that focused on the main cast again.

"What'cha watching?" Ranma asked absentmindedly, now a boy again as he headed to where the pleasant smells of reheated dinner were coming from.

"Some American cartoon that a friend suggested. It's much better than I anticipated." Kasumi answered, giggling quietly at one of the funny remarks the dark-skinned boy in blue clothes made. He was always making sarcastic jokes that were very funny and he was the only one there who couldn't control the elements, but he was often the most clever of the group.

"Like an anime?" Ranma asked, walking to the room with his plate of food, but keeping his distance as if he needed permission to get any closer to Kasumi.

"Sort of. Come and watch. It's got a lot of martial arts here." She said, knowing that was all he needed to hear to take an interest in it.

Now with permission, Ranma took a seat nearby to watch as he ate his dinner. It wasn't long, Kasumi noticed, before he was equally enthralled at the show. But, knowing him, it had nothing to do with the plot or characters or even humor. He was probably just observing the fighting styles, the various air, earth, fire, and water attacks that were being done, and trying to decide if it'd be worth his time to experiment with them later. Odds were he wasn't even paying attention to what the characters looked like, just their fighting styles.

"That's Baguazhang, with some Xingyiquan." The martial arts enthusiast noted, eyes glued to the screen. "Northern Shaolin Kung Fu for those fire dudes. And the Yang style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan for the water girl. Those are Chinese martial arts!"

"Oh?" Kasumi asked, not at all surprised that he figured which styles were being used. Nearby, P-chan grunted almost in derision.

"Yeah, a bit altered to suit this show, but I can see where the creators got their ideas from. Gotta say drawing inspiration from real arts instead of just making them up is a good idea." He commented. "Could you restart it? I missed a lot because I wasn't really paying attention until the fight scenes."

Kasumi smiled. "Sure, it was a good episode so I don't mind." Using the remote she rewound the episode and let it play again.

"Airen?" A familiar voice called from outside a few minutes later, catching all three beings' attentions as the purple-haired Chinese Amazon known as Shampoo came walking in, uninvited as per the norm.

"What'cha want, Shampoo?" Ranma asked, reflexively standing up in preparation to flee or fight as the situation needed. Kasumi paused the dvd too in case things got out of hand. However, as the girl came into view, it seemed pretty obvious that she wasn't here to cause trouble again. Her face was downcast and slightly remorseful, a stark contrast to her usual bubbly good cheer.

"Shampoo come to say sorry." Shampoo said looking up at Ranma pleadingly. "Sorry for almost destroying this home some time ago."

"Hold on, you brought explosives here knowing that there would be people here, and all you can say is you're sorry?" He asked, not sure how to feel right now. Part of him wanted to be angry, but he had a hard time being angry after someone admitted they had done something wrong. The exception being his father of course.

"Easy now Ranma, I'm sure she's honestly regretful of that." Kasumi the eternal optimist said to the pigtailed boy.

Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo not know why act that way. There gap in memory, one moment Shampoo just working and next Shampoo wanting to hurt someone. No idea where bombs come from."

"You expect me to believe something was making you do that?" Ranma asked, skeptical.

"Calm down Ranma, you know such a thing isn't impossible. Remember that oni?" Kasumi said.

"Oh yeah, there's no forgetting that little creep." Ranma muttered, seeing the housekeeper's point. 'Does this mean something or someone, like a certain shriveled up old woman, made Shampoo act like a psycho that afternoon? But then, what was Shampoo doing that day that made the old ghoul do such a thing?'

"Well thank you for coming and apologizing Shampoo." Kasumi said gratefully to the Chinese girl. "I can't speak for everyone, but I'm glad you showed such courtesy." She then looked somewhat pointedly at Ranma. "Right, Ranma?"

Figuratively caught between a rock and hard place, Ranma just put on a slightly strained grin. "Yeah, I suppose it's no problem. Besides, in a weird way you kind of did me a favor. But... never mind, it's not the worst thing that's happened to me so I'm not going to act like it was." Now his strained grin had morphed into one of relief.

Shampoo instantly lit up like a Christmas tree, jumping up and hugging Ranma despite his protests. After a moment, Shampoo restrained herself and drew back, her hands drifting into her pockets. When she did this, her eyes suddenly lit up again as though she were just remembering something. "Airen? Shampoo have more than just apology. Brought something for you."

"What is it?" Ranma asked, trying and failing to not show his sudden unease. It was a proven fact that whenever Shampoo came to him with gifts, they almost always turned out to be cursed magical items that caused great big headaches for him and everyone else involved. Even Kasumi felt herself tense up as the realization hit her a few short moments after Ranma and P-chan.

Either ignoring or not noticing her beloved's sudden unease, Shampoo extracted something small, shiny, and golden from her pocket and held it out triumphantly. "This is Universal Golden Ticket!"

All she got from her audience was a series of blank-faced stares. It took her only a few seconds to realize none of them had ever heard of her item before, causing her to groan in annoyance. Didn't they notice or hear about anything that wasn't related to martial arts?

After a moment to recollect herself, she held out the ticket for Ranma to examine. "It special movie ticket that let five people watch any movie anywhere for free!"

"How is this different than a normal ticket bought in advance?" Kasumi couldn't help asking.

"No like normal ticket. This one special." Shampoo quickly answered, shaking her head in response. "Because it work at any theater anywhere in world! All that needed done to activate is to break into two."

"Activate it?" Ranma asked cautiously, holding the ticket with exceeding carefulness in case it might somehow negatively affect him. "What's that mean? And why is it written in English?"

"In order to get into movie without paying, silly," Shampoo laughed lightly at Ranma's almost fearful handling of said ticket. "And Shampoo told made in America."

"I think she's saying it's just a broad spectrum movie ticket Ranma." Kasumi stated. "Where'd you get it Shampoo?"

"And how do you know how it works?" Ranma asked, trying to read the English. He wasn't that good at it, but he could make out a few words. It was natural that he was this concerned. Since when had magic ever been anything but trouble for him? He was 100% sure that if there was some magic linked to this seemingly harmless movie ticket, it was some kind of unknown and dangerous curse. That's how it always worked with him.

"Great-grandmother got it, say give to Airen to use as peace offering. Thought Airen would like some normal fun for a bit. No idea where Great-grandmother got it." Shampoo answered.

"Can I see it for a moment?" Kasumi asked, and of course she was handed the ticket. Fortunately she could read the English better than Ranma could. "Universal Golden Ticket. The experience of a lifetime. A chance to truly experience cinema like you never thought possible. Admission is limited to five people. Tear ticket in half in presence of movie to get result."

"Wait, it sounds like the ticket only works if you're already inside the theater." Ranma noted.

"It say that?" Shampoo asked. "Great-grandmother no tell me that. What point of ticket if you already pay to see movie?"

"I would say it might be fake, but if it came from the old ghoul that's not likely." Ranma noted. As shrewd as Cologne was, she was usually an honest person. The only time she ever had lied to Ranma was when she was motivating him to learn the Amaguriken and had a piece of candy on her person instead of the antidote he needed for the Cats Tongue.

Then something else came to him from his memory. "Wait, she did give you that reverse jewel once. Maybe this is a trick too."

Shampoo shook her head. "No, she not know I choose that broach. She learn after I already effected by it, and stay silent to test Airen. She no lie about anything, and she would no lie about this."

"It seems to me that the only way to see what the ticket actually does is to test it." Kasumi recommended. "Why don't the two of you go to a theater together and see if it does anything?"

"Together?" Ranma asked, clearly seeing the problem of going anywhere alone with Shampoo.

Kasumi nodded. "Of course. This way you both know what happens. And because it says up to five you can take Akane with you. I'd like to go too, to see what this does. And see a movie if it works. It's been so long since I've seen any movie. I'd certainly appreciate a chance to do something out of the house, even one as odd as this."

"That might be best idea." Shampoo said, a little annoyed at Ranma's paranoia but understanding his concern given what was being asked of him. "We test it. This is 'I-am-sorry' gift to Airen, Shampoo no want hurt Airen when trying to say sorry."

'I get the feeling she's trying to get me to date her, but she sounds really sincere and Shampoo's always tried the direct approach in that. If she wanted a date she's just ask for it, not try this way.' He thought, wondering how this would be like other times.

After a few moments, Ranma took a deep breath and visible forced his paranoia down. Though Shampoo had been no end of headaches ever since he'd first fought her on that log in China, she had never been anything less than honest in her intentions and actions. He'd give her the benefit of the doubt this time.

Kasumi smiled. "Good, then we'll tell Akane tomorrow and decide on a movie together. It will be fun."

"Yeah, it would be fun if it actually works. And if Akane's willing to go along with it." Ranma replied. 'A chance to see a movie for free. A nice way to get a break from all the fights and maybe get Akane to have a good night too.'

"And if she not?" Shampoo asked curiously.

Ranma hesitated to answer this, fearing that he might encourage something he shouldn't. "Well, no reason to let it go to waste if it works."

All the while, P-chan stood close by the heels of the housekeeper, big eyes locked almost hungrily upon the ticket. Once Kasumi handed the ticket back to Ranma, the piglet suddenly took a powerful jump upwards, aiming for the ticket. The sudden attack caught all of them by surprise, but Ranma was still able to keep his grip on the ticket as the piglet bit down on it.

"Hey! Leggo bacon breath!"

The two of them fought over the ticket for a brief moment. Well, Ranma began flailing the ticket and piglet in the air with loud yells of anger at it while P-chan was trying to wrench it out of Ranma's grasp. Something had to give… and something did.

The ticket got ripped into even halves clear down the center. The flailing Ranma had been doing sent P-chan flying through the air, where the piglet landed with surprising ease on the floor beside the television.

"Why you little...!" Ranma was panting furiously, his fists clenching tightly in his anger as he began advancing on the animal. "I'm gonna make pork chops of you!"

"This might not be good." Kasumi said, bending to the floor to grab one of the ticket halves, the other one still in P-chan's mouth.

The ensuing fight between Ranma and P-chan was suddenly cut off as they noticed something strange happening. Two bright points of blinding golden light lit up, one from the ticket clenched in Kasumi's hand and the other clenched in P-chan's mouth. Before any of them could do anything more than stare in surprise, a blinding golden void suddenly filled the air around them. When the blinding light vanished only a split-second later, so had the four of them.

All that was left was now the tv, with static in place of the paused episode.