Pride Comes Before the Fall

Final Chapter

A month had passed since Soun had disowned Nabiki in a rage upon finding out that she had been turned out inside Tochigi.

Since then, the pictures of Nabiki Tendo - or rather, the former Nabiki Tendo - had found their way into the ward, thanks to Jiraiya's contacts. Nabiki, formerly the 'Evil Queen', tarnished the Tendo family name even further. With the Tendo family honor already in shambles following their dealings with Ryoga Hibiki, Soun was slowly starting to lose his grip on reality.

Akane, on the other hand, had been obsessed with getting her hands on Ranma. Following the trial, conviction, and the subsequent turning out of her sister, Akane had been training. Her father hadn't been of any help, as he hadn't been of any help following his wife's death, forcing Akane to train by herself.

Outside of Nerima, Genma Saotome had been hiding out at Ryoga's old campgrounds. Ever since Nabiki's downfall, Genma had abandoned the Tendos in an attempt to hide from his former son/daughter.

And given Genma's current condition, he would not even be a match for Ranma, who had long since surpassed him in the Art.

The crippled Saotome sat in front of the campfire, poking at it with a branch as several pieces of fish roasted over a spit, having caught them earlier. His rice wine was halfway low, having pilfered Soun's supply upon abandoning the Tendos following Nabiki's conviction and incarceration. Even he was appalled over the raunchy photos of the fallen Tendo upon visiting the Nerima market incognito in order to pick up some supplies.

Genma sighed as he continued to poke at the fireplace.

"Leaving Nerima so soon?"

Genma froze at the sound of his son's voice. In an instant, he dumped the bucket of cold water that he originally intended for dousing the fire over his head, triggering his change as Ranma emerged from the woods.

Playing with a tire, Genma the panda whipped out a sign. 'No one here except a cute panda.'

"And I am not amused," Ranma replied as he yanked the sign from the panda's paw and smashed it over the animal's head.

As Genma the panda was stunned, Ranma reached in and tapped a special pressure point at the base of Genma the panda's neck. The pressure point that Ranma had tapped held several important nerve clusters, which rendered Genma the panda unconscious. The Anything Goes equivalent of the infamous Vulcan Nerve Pinch.

When Genma came to, he realized three things. One: he was human; Two: he was tied up and hanging from a tree branch; Three: he was covered from head to toe in various fish products.

Ranma was on the ground, holding the rope in one hand. "Welcome back, old man."

Genma's eyes went wide as he realized his son's intentions. Beneath him was a pit. A pit filled with over three dozen starving housecats.

"Payback's a bitch, Genma," Ranma said. "Good thing the Phoenix People helped cure my cat phobia. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to round up all of these cats."

"You know this won't work on me, Ranma!" Genma shouted. "You have to be under ten years old in order to learn Cat-fu! This is torture!"

Ranma grinned. "That's the idea, old man. What's good enough for me is good enough for you." He then released the rope, causing a screaming Genma to fall into the cat-filled pit.

For several minutes, Genma's screams and the yowls of the hungry house cats echoed throughout the forest. After five minutes, Ranma pulled Genma out of the the pit. His body was covered in numerous scratches. While not fatal, they were indeed painful.

Ranma tied his end of the rope to a tree and after throwing several buckets of salt on the man (causing much more pain) and covering Genma with more fish products, dropped him into the pit once again. Ranma casually munched on a broiled piece of fish as the cats mauled Genma, not really caring about the screams that were coming from the pit. This, Ranma did to his ex-father for a good hour and a half, until he ran out of his fish-related products to cover Genma with.