Ranma Trains on Mt. Terror

Ranma Kyōfu no Yama Gomori (乱馬恐怖の山ごもり) is the eighth true episode in the second season of Ranma ½, Anything-Goes Martial Arts, though it is treated as the eleventh episode, and is the 29th episode overall.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None.

Plot Overview
In a lonely cabin in the woods, Ryoga is trying to write a letter to Ranma. He makes several tenative efforts at surprisingly pleasant openings, determining it wrong each time. Out of idle boredom, he scribbles a doodle of Ranma's female form to take his mind off his failure, then snaps back to seriousness when he hears something battering at the door. Effortlessly, when a giant boar comes barging in through the door, he backflips and sends his umbrella flipping upwards at the same time, catching the boar by the midriff and twirling it around with him so that it does a painful headslam into the ground, whereupon his umbrella falls onto its lower jaw for added injury. Casting the unconscious beast aside, inspired, Ryoga finally writes up his letter, noting that he is training hard in the mountains and telling Ranma he wants to fight a duel when he gets back to Nerima.

At the Tendo Dojo, after some idle commentary on the strange dissonance of tones in Ryoga's letter, Akane notes with some concern that the day set for the duel, Friday, is today. Ranma casually dismisses this, declaring that with Ryoga's sense of direction, it'll take him at least another week to arrive.

Indeed, it is not until a week from that very day that Ryoga stumbles into Nerima, realizing where he is by spotting a jogging set of girls from the Furinkan High tennis club. As he is making a dramatic speech, a bratty little kid comes running up from behind him and then shoots him in the face with a water pistol, running off while laughing at what he thinks is a harmless joke. Behind him, Ryoga, now once again in piglet form, sets up a chorus of angry squealing - and his luck, in typical fashion, goes from bad to worse as Cologne appears, having apparently missed the transformation, and grabs him to serve him up at the Nekohanten. Though Shampoo recognizes "P-chan" as Akane's pet and tries to stop Cologne, she is too late to prevent her from dunking the man-turned-pig into a pot of boiling water, from which an enraged Ryoga emerges. Cologne effortlessly defeats him when he, understandably, demands to know how she dares to try and cook him, and then asks who he is.

Clothing himself and heading upstairs with Cologne, Ryoga explains that he followed Ranma to Jusenkyo, China, and repeats his story of how Ranma knocked him into the Spring of Drowned Pig, finishing with a lamentation about how none of this would have happened if Ranma had only "met him (Ryoga) when he was supposed to". Cologne's casual inquiry if Ryoga is a friend of her son-in-law's is met with Ryoga passionately proclaiming Ranma to be the cause of all his suffering (then curiously wondering about that "son-in-law" comment). At that, Cologne offers to team up with Ryoga and train him, whereupon Ryoga hoists his backpack onto his shoulders, declares that he doesn't really think that Cologne's got anything to teach him, and makes ready to leave. Cologne tells him that the offer will be waiting, which Ryoga dismisses.

Late that evening, Ryoga sheepishly pops his head back into the living room and asks, yet again, for directions to the way out. When Cologne tells him to just come out and say that he's changed his mind, Ryoga sheepishly snaps that he hasn't, he just can't find the door. Shampoo irritably points down the hallway, then exasperatedly declares Ryoga to have less sense than a cabbage when she finds the humiliated Ryoga has ended up at the toilet.

That very evening, Akane is sent out from the Tendo Dojo to get some noodles for tonight's sukiyaki dinner, while Ranma is returning from a visit to Dr. Tofu's with a present; a fishbowl containing a bizarre looking fish. As he walks along a fence around a nearby park, he openly wonders just what Kasumi is supposed to do with this. Unbeknownst to Ranma, though, Ryoga has finally escaped from the Nekohanten and is walking on the street nearby, dramatically declaring to himself that he's going to make Ranma beg for mercy today. The two walk right past each other for several seconds before recognizing each other. Ryoga promptly makes a leaping kick at Ranma, which the heir to the Saotome School dodges handily and both land in the park. Ranma taunts Ryoga that he is a week late, though that's pretty early for him, while Ryoga taunts back that Ranma should be grateful he's had an extra week to live before charging him.

To Ryoga's shock, though, Ranma handily dodges him by leaping over him at the last second, kicking him in the back of the head and sending him crashing facefirst into the fence for added insult. As he angrily wheels, Ranma indicates the bowl he's carrying and tells him that he's got a delivery to make. Ryoga declares he'll just have to get rid of it and make Ranma take the fight seriously, but to his disbelief, Ranma effortlessly dodges every blow and then sends him skyward with one uppercut to the jaw.

Akane shows up right at that moment, promptly Ranma to grab Ryoga just before he falls into the fountain... by the humiliating method of snagging the upside-down Ryoga by the nose through the space between his legs. As Akane chastises Ranma over fighting with Ryoga, with Ranma pointing out that Ryoga started this, Ryoga can only think of how humiliating this is and tries to punch Ranma - only for Ranma to catch his fist with a free hand and look at Ryoga's pitiful efforts to reach him with his other arm. Ranma promptly flips Ryoga up, ties his arms and legs into a knot, and leaves him perched upside down on his head in Ranma's hand. Ranma then taunts Ryoga by asking if Akane would like to see P-chan again, noting that he's closer than she thinks before throwing Ryoga a sly look. Ryoga barely has time to scream before Ranma drops him towards the cold water, catching him at the last second on his toe and mocking Ryoga's fear.

Akane beholds the tableau, Ranma triumphant, Ryoga shivering in equal parts rage, fear and humiliation, then orders Ranma to turn to the right, placing Ryoga over solid ground. She then forcefully shoves Ranma aside and into the fountain himself while declaring that it's wrong to bully the weak, picking up Ryoga herself and carrying him away to untangle his limbs. Once she does that, she takes Ryoga to a nearby overlook, complaining about Ranma picking on Ryoga and warning Ryoga to avoid fighting with Ranma in the future, as he's been fighting with Cologne and gotten much stronger while Ryoga was out of town. Though her words are intended to be consoling, Ryoga just feels all the more humiliated, morosely wandering off while mentally begging Akane not to pity him.

Back at the park, Ranma is confused; she knows Ryoga's letter said he was hard at work in the mountains, but she defeated him so easily that she knows something must be wrong. Tenatively, she wonders if maybe it's not something that's changed about Ryoga - but something that's changed about herself. Maybe she's the one who's gotten even better than Ryoga, so much so that she's eclipsed his abilities. When he returns to the Tendo Dojo and ventures this notion to Genma, though, Genma explodes in anger at Ranma's apparent pride, even as Ranma defensively proclaims that he thought it sounded off himself, but he had to ask. Genma promptly challenges Ranma to test his power against Genma, something that Ranma is glad to do. Genma, however, not only dodges and blocks Ranma's strikes, but pierces his defenses and grabs him by the nose with his chopsticks. Triumphantly, Genma proclaims that Ranma needs to know his limitations, as nobody likes a martial artist with a bad attitude, and Ranma is in need of some spiritual training.

Neither Saotome is exactly pleased to discover that, while they were having this little father-son talk, the Tendos have deliberately eaten all of the sukiyaki.

That night, Cologne finds Ryoga under a train bridge, literally clawing into the concrete in his frustration. This time, he is much more open to her proposition to train him.

A day or so later, Akane, dressed in her yellow gi, uses hand chops to cut firewood for that night at a small camp in the mountains, sourly wondering to herself how she got roped into coming along on Ranma and Genma's training trip and recalling her family declaring it her "duty" to go and do the cooking for the Saotomes and the way it was noted as good bridal training. This does not please her in the slightest.

Ranma, meanwhile, is not happy in the slightest that Akane was sent along either, complaining to Genma, currently in panda form, about not stopping Soun from sending her. Genma excuses this by proclaiming that Ranma's cooking stinks, which doesn't impress Ranma in the slightest. Their duel continues throughout their "conversation", ending only when Genma goes bouncing off cradling a foot injured in a misaimed kick, which prompts Ranma to wonder precisely who is training who. He isn't pleased when Cologne suddenly appears behind him, though she is gracious and insists she's not here to interfere... then warns him to train hard, as he's going to need it, before leaping away.

At a nearby stream, she meets up with Ryoga, who asks if Cologne is certain that this special technique she wants to teach him will help him defeat Ranma. She insists that this is so, then expresses doubt about whether Ryoga can master it, to which he insists that he will master any training to defeat Ranma. She then demonstrates the speed-boosting capabilities of the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, explaining that this is what Ranma learned while Ryoga was gone. She challenges Ryoga to repeat the same trick she just did, catching fish without getting his hands wet, as he can't hope to beat Ranma without at least gaining some of the same speed that he has. It... doesn't go so good, to say the least.

At the Saotome camp, Akane is just serving up dinner, a large batch of curry, to a famished father and son. Genma waxes eloquent about Akane's efforts, commenting on the aroma, which prompts her to reveal she added white wine to the curry for "extra flavor". Ranma curiously asks if white wine is an actual ingredient in curry, and is promptly nudged firmly by Genma, who makes a forceful declaration about how lucky they are to have Akane along and to have her cooking for them. Akane, somewhat nervously, notes that Genma should wait until he tastes her food before singing its praises - when Ranma makes the crude joke that he and Genma are so hungry they could eat pig slop if they needed to, though, he promptly has to catch her butcher knife between his fingers when she stabs it at him in irritation.

When the Saotomes finally taste Akane's cooking, though, they both freeze up in disgust, even as she asks if they like it. Trembling slightly, they put their plates on the ground, standing up as Genma makes the declaration that they must return to training, and run off, calling a weak thank you over their shoulders. Akane wonders what the problem is, then tastes her own serving and gags in disgust. Wondering if she added too much wine, she is horrified to find she added mistook vinegar for white wine. In the bushes, meanwhile, Ranma and Genma are at each other's throats, Genma responding to Ranma's accusation that he told Genma they shouldn't have brought Akane with asking how he was supposed to know Akane would be such a terrible cook.

Ryoga, meanwhile, is currently chasing a rabbit for his own dinner, having been told that he must fend for himself in the food department by Cologne. He gleefully notes that Cologne has underestimated him; with how much time he spends in the wilderness, he's used to foraging and hunting to feed himself, so this is a piece of cake. His pursuit, however, brings him by the Saotome camp, where Akane is currently stewing over her failure to cook something edible. She angrily thinks to herself that they made a big deal out of nothing, especially seeing as how she did them a favor by coming out here in the first place, then grabs a sizeable rock and throws it into the bushes with an angry scream of how Ranma is a jerk... accidentally beaning Ryoga in the head right as he is leaping for his meal, much to her horror.

Further away from camp, to Ranma's disgust, his hunger eventually drives him back to the camp; while Genma is able to simply turn into a panda and gorge himself on bamboo, which Ranma finds himself envying, Ranma himself has no choice but to swallow Akane's vile cooking if he doesn't want to end up going hungry.

Ryoga, having regained consciousness, is making conversation with Akane, who has decided to throw in some new ingredients into her existing disaster of a meal in an effort to try and counteract the problems. Ryoga explains that he has no choice but to come out here and train after being beaten so easily by Ranma, then gleefully accepts a dish of Akane's latest batch. He is so overwhelmed with joy at the thought of eating food cooked by Akane for him that his eyes fill with tears... but the first bite makes him shudder and twitch in disgust. Akane timidly asks if it's still not any good; Ryoga, despite the fact he is clearly aghast at what he's actually eating, insists that it's actually delicious, one of the best meals he's ever eaten. Akane immediately cheers up, noting with pride that the mayonaisse, sugar and horseradish she added have clearly helped.

Her good mood promptly evaporates when Ranma, having snuck in and curiously served himself, promptly falls over in pain at the first bite, feebly asking if Ryoga's sense of taste is as messed up as his sense of direction. Akane angrily snatches the plate away and snaps she didn't ask for his opinion, then feebly admits she hasn't actually tasted it herself when he begs to know if she has tried her creation herself. Upon hearing this, Ranma begs her to actually try some, and then nods sincerely when she gets into his face and loudly asks if he's saying it's bad. This is when a spoon comes flying through the air to smack into Ranma's face, courtesy of the angry Ryoga. He loudly declares he won't tolerate Ranma's talking to Akane like that, both boys getting ready to fight. Akane tries to defuse the situation by declaring that, though she's grateful that Ryoga likes her cooking, he doesn't need to defend her - any possibility that Ryoga might listen to her, though, is cut off when Ranma slips out of his fighting stance and declares Ryoga should listen to her, as he doesn't like bullying the weak. Fuming mad, Ryoga charges at Ranma... and is laid out cold by a blow to the back of the head from Cologne in midpunch.

As Ranma watches in shock, and Akane goes to Ryoga's side in concern, Cologne menacingly declares that they will resume this fight in one week, warning Ranma that Ryoga will be much stronger by the end of that time, before grabbing Ryoga and leaping away. Akane goes running off after them, pausing at Ranma's hesitant call to tearfully and tempermentally ask why she should stay when Ranma can't eat her cooking, adding that Ranma won't miss her when she's gone in a further fit of pique when Ranma unthinkingly declares that nobody human, except Ryoga (who doesn't count), could eat her cooking.

At the river from earlier that day, Ryoga passionately declares he doesn't need any special, fancy training; he can win with just his fists. Akane watches as Cologne calmly states that, while she admires Ryoga's attitude, it's not enough, and then challenges him to shatter the massive boulder (easily as tall as he is, perhaps a little taller, and several times wider) she is sitting on. Ryoga nonchalantly delivers a devastating blow, splitting the massive chunk of rock cleanly in half with one straight-armed charging punch. Cologne promptly reprimands Ryoga that she told him to shatter it, not split it, and then, to the amazement of both teens, she taps each half once... and they both promptly crack and then explode in a shower of dust, force and flying rock shards.

This, she explains, is the Bakusai Tenketsu, or Breaking Point attack. Ryoga, awed and humbled, begs her to teach it to him, which makes Akane grow fearful of what will happen to Ranma if Ryoga does master it and use it against him.

Trivia

 * In the manga, Tofu asks Ranma to deliver an eel to Kasumi, not a fish.
 * This rendition lacks the scene where, after Akane storms off, Ranma promptly forces himself to eat her curry to prove he can stomach it just as much as Ryoga can.
 * The giant boar that attacks him is very similar to the one he defeated in Enter Ryoga! The Eternal 'Lost Boy'.
 * The flashback of Ryoga's being cursed is from the episode P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'.
 * Despite Shampoo's stated willingness to kill Akane during her first appearances, and the evident disdain she holds for her on a "professional" level, this episode shows that Shampoo doesn't really seem to hate Akane on a personal level. Despite not knowing of "P-chan" as anything more than Akane's pet, she still tries to stop Cologne from making a meal out of it, even though cooking Akane's pet (not to mention the animal that got her into her first real fight with Akane) would be a way of exacting vengeance against her.
 * This is perhaps the first episode in which Akane can be seen displaying favoritism towards Ryoga, acting as though Ranma is the instigator of all the fights between himself and Ryoga and treating Ranma as a bully. She even tells Ryoga to walk away when Ranma next challenges him, despite the fact that Ryoga is the one who challenges Ranma and she knows this.
 * In the subtitles, Cologne claims that Genghis Khan lived in fear of the Bakusai Tenketsu.