The Demon from Jusenkyo, Part I

Jusenkyō Kara Kita Akuma - Zenpen (呪泉郷から来た悪魔 前編) is the 103rd episode of Ranma ½ Nettohen.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None.

The Thief from Jusenkyo
Waking up from a rather comfortable sleep on the floor, the Jusenkyo Guide is horrified to see that he's been robbed. The Guide soon notices that the Jusenkyo Guestbook is missing as begins to panic. Meanwhile, a hooded figure with a pantyhose scarf looks over the Jusenkyo springs with the Guestbook firmly in his hand.

Word of the robbery soon reaches Cologne who then passes it on to Ranma. That evening Ranma reveals the news to Genma, Soun and Akane, but Soun can't understand why someone would want something like a Guestbook, to which Ranma replies that this their could be looking for revenge on someone. Akane comments on how weird it is that the thief attacked the Guide with pantyhose (which the Guide found around his neck when he woke up), prompting Happosai to tell Akane that he could attack him with pantyhose any time. As Happosai jumps around Akane demanding pantyhose, the thief hides outside and notes that he's finally found who he's looking for.

Back inside, Happosai continues to demand for Akane's pantyhose until Ranma tells him to just give up. However, this prompts Happosai to begin asking Ranma for his pantyhose as well, although Ranma outrightly tells the old lecher he doesn't have any. This causes Happosai to start throwing a hissy-fit which makes Soun give Ranma permission to beat up Happosai and throw him out, a task which Ranma happily performs.

Angered by Akane and Ranma's refusal, Happosai decides he'll go and steal some underwear. The thief sees Happosai and gives chase, although Happosai is unaware of his presence, and follows him to the girls' dormitory of Shiratori University. Despite the resident's best efforts, Happosai gets away with a large haul of underwear. After Happosai leaves, another resident gets out a friend's car and is shocked when she sees the hooded thief (who's cloak is now badly damaged) who declares he'll catch Happosai no matter what it takes.

The next day, Ranma and Akane walk home from school as Akane notes that it looks like rain's on the way and they don't have an umbrella. Just as Ranma comments about how he hates turning into a girl, the hooded thief descends upon him and tries to douse Ranma with a bucket of cold water. Ranma avoids the water and quickly deduces that this guy must be the one who stole the Guestbook. The thief tells Ranma to give him Akane which angers Ranma greatly and the pair begin to fight.

Ranma swiftly launches a flurry of kicks at the thief, who does nothing but defend before trying to launch a kick of his own. Unfortunately, Ranma dodges and hits the thief's other leg, causing him to lose balance and back off. The thief then proceeds to remove his hood and cloak before warning Ranma that he won't like him when he's angry. At that moment it begins to rain heavily, but undeterred Ranma runs towards the thief, however, as he does so a cold of steam surrounds the thief and when Ranma gets close he's hit with a large, hair covered, hand.

After getting knocked down and changing into his female form, Ranma and Akane watch as the steam clears and they see a demon has appeared. Ranma, however, quickly realises that, as the thief changed form when getting wet, he must've fallen into a Jusenkyo spring. The demon then hits Ranma again with his hand, this time throwing her into a nearby fence, it then goes in to land the finishing blow. Luckily, Happosai appears and easily stops the demon's punch with one finger. He then tells the pair to leave this to him before telling the demon handover his pantyhose, this just angers the demon more who tries to hit Happosai with his horns.

Happosai speedily avoids the attack and launches a Happo-Fire Burst attack which hurts the demon greatly. Happosai then goes in to land the final blow himself, but stops when he sees that demon grabbed Akane admits the smoke of his Fire Burst. The demon then uses it's tiny wings to fly away, with Akane firmly in it's grasp. Ranma immediately gives chase and manages to grab the demon's tail, but the rain made the snake tail slippery and Ranma soon loses her grip. Ranma and Happosai are left helpless and the demon continues to fly away with Akane.

The Demon's History
When Ranma explains Akane's kidnapping to Soun, he (Soun) becomes angered about Ranma falling to protect his fiancé. Happosai then pipes up and tells Soun to calm down as he has a clue to the thief's identity, the Jusenkyo Guestbook which the thief dropped on his escape with Akane. Ranma the begins looking through the book, but finds a lot of the names have been crossed out, he then comes across a name which isn't crossed out, but can't read what it says. Happosai then promptly takes the book back to have a look for himself and after much thought he decodes the name as being his own.

Annoyed, Ranma asks what Happosai did to cause all this. Suddenly Happosai remembers and has a flashback to ten-odd years ago... Happosai explains that while he was passing through he came across a woman who'd just gone into labor. Sure enough a young boy was born soon after and Happosai decided to wash him off in some nearby water, but when the Guide sees this and panics. Happosai soon learns why as the boy emerges as a tiny demon, to which the Guide explains that the water was the spring "Niuhōmanmaorennīchuan" where a Yeti riding a Bull with an Eel in one hand and a Crane in the other drowned 2,500 years ago and is the most tragic legend of Jusenkyo. After Happosai admires how big and strong the boy's grown up to be, a pair of pantyhose come flying through a window with a message telling them that if they want Akane back they'll have to give the thief Happosai in return.

Meanwhile, Akane awakes and notices the thief looking out at the sea who wishes her welcome. Akane quickly tries to attack the thief, but is easily overpowered and subsequently warned by the thief that he won't go easy on her just because she's a girl. As she lies helpless, Akane thinks to herself how much she wishes Ranma would help her.

Back at the Tendo Dojo, Soun, Genma and Ranma desperately try to catch Happosai and send him in exchange for Akane. However, Happosai obviously is opposed to the idea and jumps through a window before leaving the others with one of his Fire Burst bombs. Once the smoke settles, Ranma gives up going after Happosai and decides to get Akane back himself.

Saving Akane
The next morning, the thief watches some crows flying past whilst waiting for Ranma to appear. Akane, meanwhile, has been tied up, but still believes that Ranma will come to save her. However, Akane is convinced that, given the thief's seemingly superhuman strength, if Ranma fights him, he'll get hurt for sure. At that moment the thief notices someone in the distance and immediately goes towards them, giving Akane a chance to begin freeing herself from her bindings.

Meanwhile, Soun asks Shampoo to help defeat the thief. Shampoo agrees to help and then Mousse appears and declares that he'll help Shampoo as well. Soun and Genma thank the pair for their assistance.

Back with Ranma and he continues to head towards the thief's location when Ryoga appears and tells Ranma to stop and let him rescue Akane instead. Fortunately, a wave comes in and splashes Ryoga, turning him into P-chan and saving Ranma from having to fight past Ryoga. Ranma goes to continue his journey to where the thief is, but no sooner does Ranma take one step than the thief arrives and asks where Happosai is, as he won't let Ranma get away for appearing empty-handed.

Ranma tries to explain to the thief that he feels the same way about turning into something else, especially when it's a demon. The thief, however, just throws a bucket of water over Ranma before jumping back when Ranma attacks out of anger. But shortly after landing on a small outcrop, the rock underneath the thief gives way and he falls into the ocean, turning him back into his powerful cursed form. Infuriated, the demon rushes towards Ranma, but she moves out of the way, giving her and P-chan a chance to jump on the back of the demon as he flies to try and shake them off.

Elsewhere, Akane manages to break from her bindings and begins to climb the cliff near the thief's lair, determined to find Ranma. Akane soon reaches the bottom of the cliff and tries to cross the rapidly flowing river, but soon gives up when she remembers she can't swim and barely manages to get back to the shore. Ranma, meanwhile, continues to keep her grip on the demon and begins hitting him whilst avoiding his attempts to knock them off. Unfortunately, P-chan loses his grip and ends up flying into Ranma's face, making her lose her grip also and the pair plummet towards the river below.

Akane then observes as the now unconscious Ranma floats past on a tree trunk as P-chan desperately tries to wake her up. Fortunately P-chan succeeds in waking Ranma moments before the demon tries to attack them again. Ranma quickly avoids the attack before jumping on the other end of the log, causing it to hit the demon painfully on the chin. At that moment Akane shouts to Ranma to look out for the waterfall, but her warning comes too late as Ranma and P-chan go down the falls with the demon in pursuit. Helpless, Akane looks on as only the demon emerges from the falls and carries her back to his lair.

Reform and Regroup
Further downstream, P-chan manages to drag the again unconscious Ranma to the shore. P-chan then hears a rustling in the bushes behind them and goes to attack whatever may be there, but is soon stopped by Shampoo and Mousse who've finally arrived to come and help them.

Concurrently, Akane hopes Ranma is alright, but the thief assures her that something minor like what happened before won't kill someone like Ranma. Akane then notices as the thief tries to bandage his wound. She decides to help him, but the thief informs her that sucking up won't help her. Akane knows this, but retorts that she'll help him if he tells her just why he's doing all this. The thief explains the situation to Akane, and although she can see why the thief would hate Happosai for turning him into a demon, but... Before Akane can finish, the thief explains he doesn't mind his curse as Happosai did something far worse to him, making Akane wonder what such a thing could be. Changing the subject, the thief asks Akane to redo her bandages as it's become a large mass of overlaid pantyhose.

By sunset that day, Ranma finally awakes and is surprised to see Mousse and Shampoo sat next to him. The pair explain that they're here to help rescue Akane as Ranma will need all the help he can get. Ryoga then comments about how just doesn't get why Mousse and Shampoo are helping, to which the pair respond that they've known each other for a long time now and as such are willing to help when one of them is in trouble. As Ryoga begs to forgiven by the pair, the two of them think of their true intentions, with Mousse going to defeat Ranma after he's tired from fighting the demon (in the hope Shampoo will finally become his), whilst Shampoo hopes to use the confusion to sneak in and kill Akane.

As night begins to fall, the thief sets up a large fire so that Ranma can easily find him. Akane warns the thief that there's more to Ranma than just power, and that he won't give up until he wins. The thief tells Akane that they'll just have to see who's the more persistent. Sure enough Ranma and the others see the signal and, after noting how cocky doing something like this is, begin charging towards the lair...

Quotes

 * I no have nap, I have robbery! - The Jusenkyo Guide when he realises he's been robbed by Pantyhose.

Trivia

 * This episode introduces Pantyhose Taro to the series.