The Ultimate Team-up!? The Ryoga/Mousse Alliance

The Ultimate Team-up!? The Ryoga/Mousse Alliance (Shijō Saikyō? Ryōga to Mūsu Dōmei 史上最強?良牙とムース同盟) is the fourteenth episode in the third season of Ranma ½, known as "Hard Battle", and is the 54th episode overall.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None

Plot Summary
Ryoga Hibiki wanders through various landscapes, finally finding himself at an overlook in a city. Sadly, he notes to himself about how he can't ever seem to communicate his feelings to Akane Tendo and his fears she has no idea of his love for her, then notes that maybe the time apart from her is, in reality, good for him. Naturally, he is surprised as hell when Akane walks past and says hello, asking where he's been for so long. She can only watch in surprise as Ryoga makes some inarticulate squeaks and then goes running off.

As he crosses a bridge, berating himself for not even noticing he'd made it back to town, he senses danger and leaps out of the way of a barrage of blades and bludgeoning instruments on chains, a mysterious masked figure in a white robe emerging from behind a telephone pole and launching a massive bladed yoyo at him. Ryoga handily rides this back, demanding to who has set an ambush for him, only to fall for his opponent's mysterious trick - chant "look up, look down, look 'round" and then slam a garbage can lid into Ryoga's face. Looking at him sprawled on the pavement, the figure disdainfully notes that if Ryoga's dumb enough to fall for a dumb trick like that, then he's misjudged Ryoga. The stranger's introduction of himself as "the man from Ganymede" is met with scorn from Ryoga, who asks if he looks like he just fell off the turnip truck. The two start duelling with each other, the stranger noting that maybe Ryoga isn't such a disappointment after all; Ranma's enemies are never weaklings. So caught up in their fight are the two that neither notices when the old ladle woman shows up and douses them both, transforming Ryoga into a pig and the stranger into a duck.

The fight only ends when Akane subsequently finds them and grabs "P-chan", chasing off the stranger by asking why he's bullying her poor pet. As she cuddles him, Ranma Saotome suddenly appears, pulling him from her grasp and teasing them to not "kissy-face" in public. Akane snatches her "pet" back and declares they're going to play dress up, slamming her bookbag into Ranma's face to make him get out of her way as she strides authoritatively homewards, which prompts Ranma to snarl in her wake that she's so uncute.

At Akane's room, Akane is disappointed to note that her handmade jacket for P-chan is the wrong size, telling the pig that he doesn't have to wear it. Playfully, she tells P-chan that Ranma must be jealous, what with making that kissy-face comment, and then laughs over the idea of being jealous of a pig. Wounded to the heart, Ryoga goes running out of Akane's room, much to her confusion, bounding over Ranma (taking a nap on the patio) and running into the bathroom. In his human form, Ryoga walks up to Ranma and declares that he hates him, Ranma's pathos giving way to an angry question about what he's done to tick Ryoga off this time. As Akane makes her way onto the scene, Ranma leaps out to the garden, ready to engage in the fight Ryoga is clearly pushing for, to which she tells Ranma that fighting with Ryoga all the time is wrong. Ranma indignantly tells her to blame Ryoga, then furiously barks that she's uncute when she coldly asks why she should when she knows that it's Ranma's fault and always is. Ryoga watches as they argue, then looks at his clenched fist and relaxes it with a soft, sad expression on his face, interrupting them by telling them he has to go now. Akane asks if he really has to go, to which Ryoga says she knows he'll never really leave, choking over the last words and running off. Confused, Ranma gives chase, begging him to stop and explain what's wrong. When Ranma finally manages to catch Ryoga and is shrugged off with an angry exclamation to back off, Ranma slips into a fighting stance, comfortable that Ryoga is back to the way he's supposed to be. At this, Ryoga disgustedly proclaims that Ranma doesn't know him - maybe he did once, but they're no longer those little kids. Confused, baffled, Ranma can only watch as Ryoga wanders away, calling out for him to stop, then dropping it with a hurt look when Ryoga pays him no attention.

That night, underneath a train bridge, Ryoga stares into a river and notes with despair that this is the choice he's always dreaded he'd have to make. Akane doesn't understand his feelings for her, but at least this way, they'll always be together... even if it has to be with him as a pig. As he prepares to scoop up some water and drench himself, a cord comes lashing out of the gloom and ensnares the bucket, pulling it into the grip of a strange glasses-wearing youth. He introduces himself as Mousse, and explains that he attacked Ryoga before to test Ryoga's strength. He has a plan to defeat Ranma if the two of them work together, explaining that Ranma is trying to steal "his" Shampoo, and also lured him to the Jusenkyo Spring of Drowned Duck. Ryoga mockingly notes that's too bad, but he's not interested; Akane is all he cares about, and he's about to give up on the rivalry forever. Mousse declares he can understand where Ryoga is coming from, then asks what Ryoga intends to do if Ranma and Akane marry; be their pet? Ryoga says he can think of worse things, envisoning a scene where he carries a load of groceries home for Akane and is rewarded with a kiss and a compliment, whereupon Mousse pricks his bubble by asking what happens when Ranma and Akane have kids. Now beset by a nightmare vision of being thrown out like a piece of rubbish into the rain, caught up in his own indignity at such treatment, Ryoga flies into a frenzy, a single punch riddling the entire bridge support with cracks. Mousse watches this display, snickering with delight; he's found his ally after all.

The next morning, the upset Akane heads off to look for P-chan, irritated when Ranma expresses no interest in her concern and in fact tells her to just wait for him to come back. Ranma's own disdain gives way to almost grudging concern, remembering how strangely Ryoga was acting, and he too sets out in a different direction. Spotting a small black piglet near a street corner, he gives chase under the natural assumption that it's Ryoga in cursed form. He catches it in a park, trying to reassure "Ryoga" that he's not going to pick a fight and asking why his voice sounds different. He starts when Ryoga's voice suddenly sounds from behind him, and he turns to see Ryoga standing there, fully human. Confused, he looks from boy to pig, whereupon Ryoga clicks his fingers and Mousse dumps a bucket of cold water onto Ranma's head. The pig escaping in the confusion, Mousse boasts that Ranma is weaker and so easier prey in his female form, whereupon Ranma angrily asks when Ryoga became so pathetic as to tag-team Ranma with the likes of Mousse. To Ranma's great confusion, Ryoga starts ranting to her about the indignities she committed in his earlier daydream, but things clear up to familiar territory when Ryoga declares he wants to fight again.

Ranma warns Ryoga that her speed goes up even if her strength goes down in her different form, whereupon Ryoga simply charges her and tries to use the "look around" trick, getting dodged and knocked aside for his trouble. Mousse promptly deploys a duck model on the end of a rope or pole, blinding Ranma in a cloud of smoke and then using a barrage of shuriken to pin Ranma to a tree by her shirt. Ryoga comes charging in with a punch that splits the tree in half, but Ranma escapes, shucking her shirt in the process. She torments Ryoga with her naked breasts a little, then delivers a powerful kick to behind his ear, leaving him unconscious as she pulls her shirt on. Angrily, she asks where Mousse gets off on taking advantage of Ryoga like he has, whereupon Mousse simply tries chaining Ranma's arms together with a set of shackles. To his dismay, this proves no handicap - in fact, she actually thanks Mousse for giving her a better weapon.

Mousse promptly unlocks the shackles and then slaps another pair around Ranma's legs... a pair attached to a massive iron sphere, something like Ranma's height and two or three times her width. Indignantly she protests that Mousse couldn't have been hiding something this big in his robes, to which he taunts that he's a true master of Hidden Weapons Style. Ranma uses the sphere to shield herself from a barrage of shuriken, then dodges a blow from Ryoga that puts a sizable dent in the solid iron ball... and leaves Ryoga clutching his hand in agony. Furious, Ranma hoists the sphere above her head, much to Ryoga's terror, threatening to brain Ryoga with it.

And that's when Mousse calls out the orb is actually a giant time bomb. Ryoga goes running off to join Mousse in escaping as the weight causes the pleading Ranma to sink to her waist into the ground, whereupon she manages to escape, grab a length of Mousse's own chain and ensnare the two by the waist, dragging them back to the bomb with her. She gives them an ultimatum; either help her escape this, or they're both going to die with her.After some frantic searching, they manage to retrieve the key and start running off, Mousse not stopping until he's leapt over a fence into a canal. To Ranma and Ryoga's horror, though, Akane wanders onto the scene and right up to the bomb in her search for P-chan. They desperately try to get her to join them in running, but she won't hear of it or listen to their explanations that it's a bomb. Finally, exasperated, Ranma calls her mule-stubborn, then changes it to being stubborn as a mule, twice as ugly and just as strong. Infuriated, Akane instinctively lashes out at the closest target, delivering a powerful kick to the bomb that sends it flying into the canal... and right atop Mousse before detonating. Watching the flare of light from its detonation rise up, Akane comments in horror that they weren't kidding, the narrowness of her escape sinking in as Ranma unthinkingly comments that Akane may be even more stubborn than any mule.

Later, back at the Tendo Dojo, Ryoga berates himself for thinking of teaming up with Mousse; if he had caused Akane to get hurt, he never would have forgiven himself. Ranma crudely "consoles" Ryoga by pointing out that girls like Akane aren't exactly helpless... but nor are they marriage material, something that infuriates Ryoga, who demands to know if Ranma isn't supposed to be Akane's fiance. Ranma admits he is, until he can come up with a way to dump her successfully, whereupon Ryoga painstakingly demands Ranma be good to Akane or else he'll make him regret it. Then, to Ranma's bamboozlement, Ryoga dives into the koi pond. Akane is delighted to see "P-chan" has come back again... and then leaps to the conclusion that Ranma has been bullying him, scolding Ranma and declaring that she's going to take P-chan for a hot bath. Ranma unthinkingly blurts out the question of what she and Ryoga are intending to do in there, then takes it back and hisses to Ryoga that bathing with Akane must be what he's got planned. Akane watches, clueless and scolding, as P-chan wriggles out of her arms and runs for it, Ranma in hot pursuit.

As the sun sinks into the horizon, Ranma chases Ryoga over the walls and rooftops, furiously accusing Ryoga of trying to get into the bathtub with Akane and Ryoga desperately protesting his innocence. Finally, Ranma manages to catch up to him and the two start fighting, all thoughts of Ryoga giving up being Ryoga lost now and forever more.

At around the same time, Shampoo is cycling home to the Nekohanten, when she knocks into Mousse, still in duck form and horribly beaten up. She asks how he got so injured, then declares he should know by now he's not good enough to beat Ranma, cycling off with a parting comment of how he's a stupid duck. Mousse, tears in his eyes, frantically quacks and squawks at the departing Chinese Amazon, then slumps down in defeat; all his efforts were for nothing.

Trivia

 * This story introduces Ryoga Hibiki and Mousse to each other.
 * Precisely how Mousse ever found out about Ryoga's existence is never revealed.
 * In Ryoga's nightmare-vision, Ranma suggests replacing "P-chan" with a cat. This is the first sign that Ryoga doesn't know about Ranma's ailurophobia; this will come into the open in the season six episode Ryoga Inherits the Saotome School?
 * According to Ranma's statements in this episode, while his female form has less strength than his male form does, something supported at multiple points throughout the anime and the manga, it also has greater speed. It's uncertain if this is true or not, but the claim is unique to the anime.