To the Mushroom Forest!

Kinoko no mori ni ikô! (キノコの森に行こう！) is the 348th chapter of the manga and the second chapter of the Mushrooms of Time Arc.

Now both Ranma and Ryoga have turned into little children. They decide to try and find the Mushroom Forest again in hopes of locating a sixteen centimeter mushroom that can return them to their rightful age. Unfortunately they run into Mousse, who doesn't recognize them, but feels the need to beat them up regardless. Shampoo also tries to adopt little Ranma, which only slows them down.

Continuing from the Previous Chapter
After getting a for Ranma and Ryoga, Akane finds that both of them have gone without touching their food. Worried, Akane sits down and voices her concerns to Kasumi.

Meanwhile, Ryoga has begun his search for the Mushroom Forest so that he can get more mushrooms to help him return to the correct age. However Ranma soon appears and notes how annoyed he is with Ryoga seemingly wanting to leave him behind. Ryoga then proceeds to hit Ranma with his umbrella before informing Ranma that what he's doing does not concern him. The pair then prepare to fight each other when suddenly Mousse runs over them with a bicycle.

Mousse rushes back to check the children are okay, but, after putting his glasses back on, Mousse gets an uncontrollable urge to beat up the pair. Understandably Ranma and Ryoga go in to attack Mousse back, but both are useless at hitting the much larger Mousse. After picking up the pair (with his glasses off yet again), Mousse comments that there's something about the pair's appearance which reminds him of Ranma and Ryoga.

As Mousse slams the pair together at the remembrance of his hated rivals, Shampoo arrives and hits Mousse with her own bicycle for messing around whilst out on deliveries. At that moment Shampoo notices the de-aged Ranma and can't help herself kissing the small child with a resemblance to her fiancé. With Shampoo distracted by Ranma and Mousse mistaking a sign for Shampoo, Ryoga decides to make his escape, but not before kicking Mousse in revenge and warning him to wash his clothes and prepare. However, as Ryoga flees he gets splashed by some cold water thrown by the Old Washer Woman. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Ranma escapes Shampoo's grasp and chases after P-chan only to get splashed himself.

The Search Continues
After chasing after P-chan for some time, Ranma is helped by a stranger who picks up P-chan and gives him to her. But to Ranma's horror, the kind stranger turns out to be Kuno who almost instantly takes Ranma to an amusement park in the hopes of attracting the pigtailed-girl. In order to get rid of Kuno, Ranma declares that the pigtailed-girl has appeared, before knocking Kuno unconscious with a model ice cream.

Once they change back to their normal forms, Ranma reminds Ryoga that he'd like to find the forest before sunset, prompting Ryoga to reveal he made a map to the forest which Ryoga begins to guide the two of them with. However, after spending most of the day unsuccessfully following Ryoga's instructions, Ranma decides to take a look at the map for himself and sees how horrid Ryoga's map is. After punching Ryoga for his map skills, the pair realise that they're never going to get back to the forest and begin to sob in despair.

Just then Akane comes across the crying pair on a park bench and helps take them back home to the Dojo.

Returning to the Dojo
When the group return, Ranma and Ryoga are shocked to see that two Mushrooms of Time are growing on Ryoga's backpack which must've landed there as spores. However, almost immediately, Ryoga grabs his backpack and attempts to make his escape only to get stopped by Soun and subsequently moustache rubbed. Ranma looks on at Ryoga's suffering and comments that it serves him right when Soun decides to give Ranma a moustache rub as well. As Ranma gets his moustache rub, Akane looks on and tells her father that see thinks Ranma and Ryoga don't enjoy it as much as he does.

That evening, Ryoga looks on longingly at his mushroom and wishes it would grow faster so that he could be 16 again. After noticing his mushroom is taller, Ryoga is horrified when Ranma's restless movement in his sleep nearly knocks the mushroom out of it's pot, so Ryoga decides to get revenge on Ranma by punching him, however, Ranma manages to dodge the punch and his subsequent noise from the nightmare he's having forces Genma to hit his son with a sign to get him to shut up; leaving Ryoga glaring at Ranma's tiny mushroom.

By the next morning Ranma is horrified to discover his mushroom has been watered extensively overnight, causing it to grow almost as tall as himself.

Ranma immediately rushes downstairs where Ryoga is preparing to eat his mushroom which is at exactly 16cm. The pair then begin fighting over the mushroom until Akane intervenes by taking the mushroom off Ranma and returning it to Ryoga, quickly followed by punishing Ranma for calling her a "middle-aged woman" when she tried to take the mushroom off him.

Some time passes and Ryoga goes outside in the hope of eating his mushroom in peace, when suddenly he's engulfed in fire from Mousse perfecting a fire-breathing technique. As Mousse tells the de-aged Ryoga that they're now even from what happened earlier, Ryoga looks in horror as his mushroom turns to ash. Ranma's search for Ryoga, meanwhile, has hit a snag as Ukyo notices him and can't help hugging the de-aged Ranma as Kodachi peers from behind a lamppost and ponders kidnapping the Ranma-like child and raising him as her own.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Akane Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Ryoga Hibiki (human)
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Mousse (human)
 * Shampoo (human)
 * Ryoga Hibiki (P-chan)
 * Old Washer Woman
 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Tatewaki Kuno
 * Soun Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Genma Saotome (human)
 * Ukyo Kuonji
 * Kodachi Kuno

Trivia

 * At the beginning of the chapter, Akane can be seen holding a bib with a Piyo Piyo chick on it, a reference to Rumiko Takahashi's previous series, Maison Ikkoku.
 * On Ryoga's map has there is a drawing of two oni, with one asking "are there any bad kids around here?" This may be a reference to the Japanese fairytale about the Red & Blue Oni.
 * In Viz Media's translation, Ryoga warns Mousse to wash his clothes and prepare, in the original Japanese Ryoga actually tells Mousse to "wash his neck and wait", which comes from preparing for ritual suicide where the person will wash their neck before being beheaded.
 * This line would later be used by Bankotsu in Rumiko Takahashi's subsequent series, InuYasha.