Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma or the Teen Titans. If I did I would be filthy rich and not writing a fan based work of fiction

"" - Normal conversation

'' - translation

Italics - thoughts

Chapter 3: Challenge

A crowd began gathering around the trio as Genma scampered behind Ranma in fear. The boy held up both his hands slightly as he looked at the purple haired girl, 'Listen champion-' he started before the girl thrust her chui near his face. 'My name is Xian Pu thief, you would do well to use it!' Ranma side stepped the weapon and frowned at Xian. 'Three things: first, that is not my pet, that is my father. Second, I am not a thief but I am pretty sure he is. And lastly my name is Saotome Ranma.'

Xian looked over to the Panda cowering in fear as it moved to hide behind the boy and then back to the lad with a mocking glance, 'I don't see the resemblence.' causing some in the crowd to cuckle. She lowered her weapon and took a step toward Ranma that put them less than half a meter from each other. 'Besides which, thief, how is that supposed to make what it did okay?'

'It is not,' Ranma started as he reached back and grabbed Genma by his ear forcing the panda to move to his side. 'I am just saying that if you want to extract some justice, do it on the perpetrator not his offspring.' Ranma then took a few steps back leaving the panda in front of Xian.

Xian expressed confusion at first, then noticing the shaking panda before her, she smirked. 'I have been looking for a new panda skin rug for my household.' After that statement Xian pulled back her right hand chui and took an overhead swing at Genma's head. Which was promptly stopped by an orange hand grabbing her right hand before it could complete the motion. The crowd gasped for a moment and some began to gossip among themselves. Ranma glared back at Xian as he shook his head. 'Did you not hear what I said?' Ranma pointed back and down to Genma. 'That is my paternal parent not a pet or wild animal that you can put down on a whim!'

Xian frowned and tried to pull her hand out of Ranma's grasp but he held her firmly in place. Just as she was about the thrust her left chui into Ranma, the sound of wood hitting against flesh was heard behind the boy followed by a loud thud. As the two turned they saw Genma lying unconcious on the ground a couple of meters away from the pair. Blocking his escape was an incredibly elderly and shrunken woman with a wooden walking stick twice her size. 'Well now this is a rare treat.' she started as she slowly moved over to the Ranma and Xian using her stick to separate their hands and then motioned for them to step away from each other. 'It's been a long time since someone with a Jusenkyo curse has wandered into our homes.'

The crowd exlaimed loudly at this proclamation. Most couldn't believe that statement, others thought the cursed springs was an old tale ment to scare children, and the majority seems to think that the pools were a tourist trap ment to bring in money to the provinicial government. The old woman moved with the air of a martial arts master as she surveyed the scene, her clothes a rich leafy green dress with red highlights around the collar and hem, and on the chest and upper arms were chinese symbols for longevity, might, and harmony stood out in gold thread. She turned to looked over at Ranma and after a few glances gave him a bit of a mischevious smirk, 'Ah but where are my manners I am Kulon, elder of this village.' she stated giving the boy a nod of her head.

Ranma, knowing he needed to get on this woman's good graces, bowed halfway. 'A pleasure to meet you elder Kulon. I am Ranma, a traveler seeking knowledge.'

Kulon smiled, 'And such manners,' she replied as she glanced over at the still unconcious panda. 'I must agree with my great grand-daughter though, how are you related to the fat one?' Kulon asked as she pointed at Genma panda much to Ranma's amusement.

'That's what I have been trying to state great grandmother!' Xian spoke up in anger moving closer to the elder, 'Ranma is nothing more than a thief trying to shift the blame onto a pet that he claims is cursed.'

Before Ranma could respond, 'Warrior Xian!' Kulon started with a shout causing both teenagers to flinch just a bit, 'Calm yourself, there is an easy way to substantiate or invalidate his claim.' she finished as she pointed her walking stick to the unconcious Genma again. 'Huo, some hot water please!'

A middle aged man stepped forward with a steaming teapot, as he gets next to the unconscious panda, he pours it immediately onto the beast. Within seconds the fur disappears leaving behind a fat man in a slightly dirty gi still out cold on the ground. Kulon motions a few warrior women and men over to the criminal. 'Get some strong restraints, I don't want him running off before he pays for the consequences of his actions.' The young women brandished their weapons on the fallen form of Genma while the two men nodded and ran off seeking what the elder requested.

Kulon turned to look at Xian, 'Satisfied?' she asked with a small grin. Xian looked down and meerly nodded. Kulon then turned to Huo once more, 'Please check the victor's banquet and catalogue the damages.' To which he nodded, took out a pencil and notepad from his sleeves, and walked over to the table.

Kulon at last turned to Ranma and took a long look at the boy. She began walking around him, hmming and nodding at certain points, all while Ranma was getting nervous and wondering what the old woman was looking for. When Kulon finally returned to stand in front of Ranma she looked up at the boy to say, 'Very interesting, so what knowledge are you seeking young man?'

Ranma took a moment to draw a breath and began explaining his dilemma. He told Kulon of his fathers typical training regime and the reason he came to the cursed springs. He relayed yesterdays events and finished with a simple request. 'I was told that this village would know more about my cursed form, so here I am seeking knowledge on how to control my powers.' Ranma said with a deep bow.

Kulon listened to the boys story, nodded, hmmed and then turned around to look at Genma. The two young men had just finished their task and had the food thief tied up with rope, his hands were bound behind his back by iron manacles, his feet were similarly restrained. 'And yet your father seems to have come into our village only to commit crimes.' she observed turning back to Ranma. 'Is this his usual behavior?' Kulon asked wearily to the cursed boy.

Ranma's entire body seemed to sag as he sighed and replied head down, 'More often than not, yes.'

Kulon narrowed her eyes at this, 'And what of your mother young man?'

Ranma flinched as if physically struck, in his mind a blur of a memory played out. A small boy crying at a female figure as a younger Genma with a backpack took the child further and further from the only home he knew in his short time. 'I do not know, I barely remember her, my fathertold me' as he glanced angrily at the tied up Saotome Genma, 'that she was gone and to forget about her, as she would only hamper my training in the art.'

Kulon hummed as she closed her eyes, 'Well young man you are free to go,' she replied looking up with a smile. She then turned to look toward Genma with a scowl. 'your father on the other hand must be handed over to the elder council to judge his fate.' Kulon waved the four warriors to escort him away.

Ranma looked at his father pensively before turning to address Kulon, 'What will happen to him?' he asked softly.

Kulon looked at the young man but before she could respond Xian spoke up, 'Given the councils current foul mood they'll probably make an example of him,' she started ticking off punishments on her right hand, 'Probably cripple his hands, put him under a geas, blind him, and then put him out in the public square for all to see.'

Ranma's green eyes widened in shock and horror at Xian before turning to the elder woman for confirmation; Kulon meerly nodded. 'Elder Kulon-' He started to say after a few seconds of panicked thought before Kulon raised her hand palm up to stop him. 'Ranma, your filial piety does you credit but you cannot shield your father from the consequences of his own actions.'

Kulon looked at the young man for a few moments then she signaled for the warriors to halt. 'That said, I'll make a deal with you,' Kulon started as she turned to Huo who was coming back toward the trio. He handed his findings to Kulon with a bow and acknowledgement. Kulon looked over the report as she continued, 'Your male parent ate a lot of the main banquet as well as several side dishes.' she started as her lips took on a crooked grin. 'At any other time most would laud that appetite.' Kulon commented as she gazed intently at Ranma, 'To replace the banquet would require three antelope, two boars, and several fruits and vegetables at the least.' she said as she pulled out a watch from her robes to look at before turning back to Ranma. 'It's about 12:35 pm now, if you can have those ingrediants here before sundown we can have a dinner banquet instead and I can summarily put your father under house arrest instead of sending him to the full council for judgement.' as Kunlon put the watch back under her robes she looked at the young Tamaranian. 'Do we have a deal?"

Ranma nodded and exclaimed with a smirk, 'I will be back sooner than you think!' With that declaration Ranam began running toward the village gate intending to find wild game outside it. Within moments he was past the gate and out of sight at which point Kulon turned to Xian with a curious expression. 'So great grand-daughter, any particular reason to spook our guest with the gruesome details about the councils judgements?' she said calmly to which Xian replied with an innocent expression. 'But great-grandmother isn't that the usual punishment for theives?' the young girl stated innocently as she batted her eyes cutely. To which she got the walking stick pointed in her face as Kulon replied, 'For someone continuosly engaged in theft of livestock and possessions perhaps, but for a meal? We're not the communist party girl remember that.' with that Kulon lowered her stick and started to walk away leaving Xian downtrodden. 'However, that was some quick thinking grand-daughter; a bit less gruesome details next time though.'

Ranma ran as quickly as he could and once he reached the treeline, grinned and thought: Time to fly. He scrunched his legs, leaped upward, and managed to stay afloat for almost a minute before he started plummeting back to earth. With a cry he managed to instinctively grab onto a tree branch and swing himself acrobatically into a stable landing on the next trees strong lower branches. Taking a few calming breaths, Ranma began thinking on what he did wrong. I just jumped higher than before, but what happened to my ability to fly! The young teen thought before glancing at the sky. Ugh no time to figure it out, got to find some game animals. With that he leaped across the tree covered forest looking for anything to meet the criteria that the elder had placed on him.

It took him several hours but finally he spotted a pair of antelope grazing in a clearing near a stream. Slowly getting into position, Ranma decided to try and tag one using the ki blast he used on his father yesterday. Unfortunately when he just thrust his arm forward in a spear jab nothing happened. Ranma began trying various poses; a closed fist, open palm, a hand gun, he even tried just pointing with every finger on his right hand in every possible combination, and finally he tried cupping his hands and making a hadoken motion. Nothing, no glow, no explosion, just the poor boy looking silly as the antelope finally heard all the rustling, looked up at him crouching on the branches, and then ran way. As he saw his targets dart away a feeling of rage gripped Ranma; "Klorbog!" he shouted as his left hand, now cluched tight into a fist and glowing green, smacking into the main body of the tree he was standing on. The explosion threw the cursed teen into the ground with a thud, his clothes slightly singed from the blast, and a look of exasperation on his face. Springing back onto his feet Ranma brushed off his gi as he took stock of his situation. The tree he had been crouching in was now blow in two pieces; the long portion had fallen away from the boy with the shorter portion looking like it had been hit by a grenade. Great I can destroy a tree with a tantrum but bagging some juicy game is harder in this body. As Ranma took stock of the rest of the area, he found some wild onions and mushrooms growing around and under the trees. Well might as well try and gather some vegetation and then look for meat. The boy thought as he started to identify which of the mushrooms was edible.

Apparently Ranma gathering skills and luck were still good. He had to take off his gi shirt to hold all the vegetables, roots, and fruit he gathered but it was enough to meet Kunlon's requirements. Unfortunately the young Tamaranian was being watched by a large hungry boar who decided that now, as the orange biped's attention was on securing his foodstuffs, was the perfect time to strike and take it for himself. With a loud squeal the boar ran straight at Ranma, as the young man turned to his right just in time to catch the boars tusks in his hands to avoid being gored on the bony protrusions. The boars charge pushed Ranma several feet almost to the treeline, digging a grove into the ground, and while the boar was slowed down the beast wasn't stopping. Ranma's thoughts were going a mile a minute: he worried about his father being mutilated, himself being abandoned alone in a harsh world, he thought about never seeing his mother again. NO! The young Tamaranian thought, I am Saotome Ranma, I do not give up, I try my hardest and even if I fail, I go down fighting! His eyes glowed green as a primal yell escaped his lips. Ranma hefted the beast over his head as if it weighed nothing and slammed it back down. The boar however tried to get up to it's feet again causing the young man to again pick the creature up and slam it into a tree. The tree buckled and splintered but remained upright, the boar on the other hand went still.

Ranma let go of the boar's tusks and unceremoniously collapsed onto the ground. He gulped air trying to calm himself down. After a few minutes Ranma looked over the corpse and thought, One down several more to go.

Kunlon sat on the edge of the stage as she glanced at her watch once more. It read 6:44 pm, Kunlon glanced up at the sky that was colored like the dying embers of flame. In a few short minutes the sun would set and the young Jusenkyo cursed man would fail at his challenge. The impossibly old woman sighed as she took a long pipe from her robes and began stuffing it with pipe weed. As she did so memories began to spill forth of her as a young child listening to tales from her great-grandmother.

'And the Star being sucked the evil criminal into his special prison and left the valley united in a position much more peacefully than it had been in the last thousand years.' an old woman told a young girl as she was sitting near a firepit. 'Wow great-grandmother the star being was so amazing.'

The old woman smiled lovingly down on the little girl, 'Yes, he really was a gift from the heavens.'

'But what happened to the spring he was tossed in?' the young child asked, patiently waiting for an answer. 'From what the Phoneix people said the ritual should keep anyone from landing in that particular spring—as long as the ritual is maintained.' the old woman started to explain as she tended the fire. 'Wouldn't do for anyone to use it as a tool for conquest. Last thing this world needs is an evil Star being.' young Kunlon nodded at this.

If the magic that was keeping that pool safe is fading...this is unfortunate news indeed. Kunlon thought before the sounds of people gawking in awe and pointing interrupted the elder's musings. She looked down at the village entrance and saw Ranma carrying a giant boar and an antelope atop each of his shoulders respectively. His gi top was wrapped around his neck and appeared to be bulging with fruit, vegetables, and herbs. He walked till he was in front of Kunlon and placed his catches on the ground. Ranma then bowed to Kunlon and stepped away from the gathered items. Kunlon hopped down to the offerings examining each in turn and then looked at Ranma. The boy looked pretty exhausted and his gi pants were covered with dirt and grass stains. Ranma would also not meet her gaze and simply stared downward, no boastful claims of success, just quiet anxiety as he awaited judgement. Villagers started gathering around the stage. Some wondered what was going on, others who were there hours ago were talking amoungst one another or filling in others, a few were exchanging money and others glanced at the strange youth with pity as they too waiting for the elder's judgement.

'Well not exactly what I asked for,' Kunlon started as she scanned the crowd, 'Huo, you're the expert chef can you work with this?' she asked as the man stepped forward and began examining the gathered ingrediants. He looked at the antelope first, given it was closer to him and nodded as it looked like it was big enough to make several dishes from it's meat. When his eyes fell on the wild boar however he had to do a double take. He stared looking at its tusks, then it's front hoof, and lastly opened it's eyelids as recognition set in, 'Elder, can you please come here to confirm something.' Hyo stated as he gestured for Kunlon to take a close look at the boar. As Hyo showed her the tusks, eyes, and then pointed to the front hoof Kunlon's eyes widened. Ranma on the other hand looked puzzled, it was just a wild boar he'd had to fight plenty of those in the wilds of both Japan and China to get a meal. Huo and Kunlon whispered to one another for a few minutes before the Amazon elder turned to look at Ranma. 'Well I guess congradulations are in order young man you managed to stop a beast even our best hunters had trouble defeating.' Kunlon stated as she turned to address Ranma who was flabergasted by the statement. The boar was a tough at first but he didn't think it was that much of a problem but then a voice told him to wait for the other shoe to drop. 'As for your task I'm sorry but you failed, spectacularly though.' Ranma lowered his head and nodded gloomly. 'Thankfully you passed my test,' Kunlon started as she pointed to Genma, 'Take the outsider and place him under house arrest, he can work off his debt by helping around the village for the next couple of months.' a couple of villagers picked up the tied up Genma and escorted him away as he cursed his bad luck and unfaithful son.

This caused Ranma to almost get whiplash from how fast he lifted his head and looked at the older woman in astonishment, 'But the portions are too small and I doubt I have enough fruits and spices to make-' Ranma started before Kunlon raised her hand motioning for the youth to stop talking. "You came back, even when you knew you failed, you still did the right thing and came back." Kunlon said proudly in Japanese, a smile on her lips and compassion in her gaze. "This was more than a test of ability Saotome Ranma, it was a test of character." Ranma was taken back by both the admission and Kunlon's ability to talk perfect Japanese. Slowly he bowed low, "Thank you Elder Kunlon." to which Kunlon laughed, "Don't thank me young Ranma I haven't done you any favors...yet." Kunlon started to pogo on her stick and gestured for the young Tamaranian to follow her. "Follow me you can stay at my home, while I help train you in your new abilities." Kunlon turned around and looked at Ranma seriously, "Be warned though this training could take almost half a year to finish." Ranma smirked at that statement as he followed the Elder at her side. "If it is martial training then I can complete it in half the time Elder!" He exclaimed in pure excitement.

End Chapter 3.

Authors Notes: Wow this took more time than I thought but NEW CHAPTER YEA! Really sorry for the delay but life and my own procrastination got in the way. Also didn't help that I got writers block again as I seem to able to imagine broad strokes but specific details escape me. I still can't promise regular monthly updates, I have a job and life outside of fanfiction but I want to continue writing this idea out and finish it.