Lost Together
is a Ranma ½ fanfic co-written on Fanfiction Dot Net by Dr Facer and DaisukiFox.
Shortly after getting cursed, events at the Amazon village leads Ranma to lose his memory and being stuck in the shape of a teenage girl. Fortunately, she's found by this nice boy Ryoga who seems open to help her regain her memories.
Now, if only their quest wasn't complicated by all these crazy people accusing her of committing some crime or another, that would be awesome.
Contains the following tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: By having No Sense of Direction whatsoever, Ryoga allows Ranko to escape Shampoo and the Musk Dynasty warriors — because he's getting so lost that his trail is impossible to follow.
- Adaptational Angst Downgrade:
- Ryoga never falls in a Jusenkyo spring so is spared the curse of turning in a small helpless piglet and slowly bonds with Ranko, who unlike Akane fully reciprocates his romantic feelings.
- Zigzagged with Herb. Sure, he's not stuck with a Shapeshifter Mode Lock, but the price for it is the loss of a very important royal heirloom he just cannot find in spite of whipping his subjects into a frenzy.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul:
- Both Ranma and Shampoo are nothing but disgusted at the prospect of marrying each other and act hostile as a consequence. Inversely, Mousse being ready to help Shampoo break the engagement convinces her to see him in a romantic light.
- Ryoga treats Ranko with the same gentleness as he gives to other girls, ultimately leading him to nurse a crush on her.
- All Amazons Want Hercules:
- Regarding the Amazons in the setting, Cologne mentions some of them might be alright with losing if the Musk Dynasty attacks the village, since the warriors take the conquered women as brides and give them the opportunity to bear strong children.
- Chervil grew infatuated with Herb as she spied on his harsh training, and actually became as much of an Action Girl as she could to be deemed worthy of becoming his bride. Even after he insulted her and drove her to steal his ring, she cannot help but admire his strength and power.
- Arranged Marriage:
- Having beaten Shampoo in a fight, Ranma is supposed to marry her according the Amazon custom. He decides he would rather run away, and Shampoo isn't too happy either about the prospect of marrying a "fake woman".
- The Dragon Prince Herb of the Musk Dynasty is currently preparing for his own wedding to a woman from the Musk feline clans. Unfortunately, his lack of eagerness led him to accidentally insult his bride who retaliated by stealing his heirloom ring — and causing a great mess for everyone.
- When Lychee is discovered to bear the missing half of the Scroll of Luck from Nekonron, she's immediately proclaimed Prince Kirin's fated bride. The girl is slightly floored by this turn of events but not really opposed to marry such a sweet prince.
- Ascended Extra: Since Ranko never left China, there's much more emphasis on minor characters from there such as Nekonron, the herbalist twins Pink and Link and the Musk Dynasty.
- Battle Couple: Ryoga and Ranko became this shortly after they met, when they were attacked by a Musk tracker. After that they faced Shampoo and Mousse, Pantyhose Taro and infiltrated Nekonron together.
- Beautiful Dreamer:
- How Ryoga meets Ranko, as she stumbled upon his camp while he was absent and fell asleep in his tent. He immediately falls under her spell.
- Chervil takes a few moments to admire Herb's handsome features when he's sleeping after exhausting training. Since she's currently on the run, that's the only moment in which she can approach him.
- Be Careful What You Wish For:
- Ranko first wishes to regain her memory to remember her family, but when she starts suspecting they might be less than loving to her, she grows unsure.
- Lychee dreams of a Prince Charming marrying her. When she's finally introduced to Prince Kirin, that's because he was seeking her friend Ranko under the assumption she's a thief, and his agents happened to stumble upon Lychee when they decided to abduct her to pull an I Have Your Wife gambit.
- Best Her to Bed Her:
- An Amazon tenet that Shampoo and Ranma swiftly deconstruct — just because he can beat her, that doesn't mean he wants to marry her, and she's pretty furious and humiliated about the venture.
- Since the Musk Dynasty stopped turning beasts into women for them to marry, one of their tactics to bring fresh blood in the country is to find strong female martial artists, subdue them and marry them. Lotion acknowledges a possible fate for Ranko if the Musk warriors chasing her manage to capture her is becoming the bride of the one who did the deed.
- Blessed with Suck: The Musk Dynasty's enhanced smell sense is very much an advantage when they're tracking a fugitive, but not so much when they're visiting Nekonron courtesy of the many hot springs stinking the air. They need to plug their noses to be comfortable there.
- Cute Little Fangs: Musk Dynasty warriors often have these, as a reminder of their beastly ancestry. Several people actually comment on Ryoga having a similar dentition...
- Coordinated Clothes: Expected since the three sets of twins in the franchise (Herbalist twins Pink and Link, Amazon twins Rin-Rin and Ran-Ran and Nekonron's twins Daikokuse and Daihakuse) appear in the story.
- Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Ranko notices she's quite unused to care for her body and wonders why is that so — but since she wasn't actually born female, of course she would be clumsy and awkward in her new body.
- Damsel in Distress: Ranko discovers she really doesn't like being one when Pantyhose Taro kidnaps her to have rematch against Ryoga, tying her with pantyhose and splashing her with hot tea.
- Demoted to Extra: The Tendo dojo only gathers a mention by Genma — justified since the story never left China, so the Japanese cast has no reason to get involved in the action.
- Doting Parent: Bishamonten was ready to skimp on his duty to go and look for Ranko because it would have prevented from being there for his pregnant wife's labour, and when he has to duel against Ryoga, he declares he won't allow a loss to ruin the day of his daughter's birth.
- Dramatic Irony: Ranko and Ryoga's relationship on two levels — the first is that Ryoga came to China chasing after Ranma whom he resents and despises, only to unknowingly fall in love with the female version of the guy and save her several times. For the second level, Ranko is terrified by cats but she trusts Ryoga to care for her, and he's implied to descend from a feline clan Musk warrior.
- The Dreaded:
- The Amazons and Nekonron tread carefully when they interact with the Musk Dynasty, as they're very aware of the strength and power wielded by the Dragon ruling bloodline.
- For all his power, even Herb is wary of the Phoenix King and does his best to stay away from his lands.
- Enemy Within: Ranko has a nightmare in which she's assaulted by male Ranma telling her she's ruining everything and he needs to prevent her from going too far — implying that male Ranma is aware of Ranko growing more and more into an independent alter and worrying about her potentially becoming the dominant persona.
- Entertainingly Wrong:
- Genma cheerfully assumes his son is bidding his time until he gets strong enough to come back to the Amazon village and break his father out of captivity. Ranko actually lost her memory, wants to stay as far away from any Amazon courtesy of Shampoo trying to murder her on sight and is currently more focused on her own troubles.
- Ranko assuming she's a girl — to be fair, she didn't know about Jusenkyô and is currently mode-locked so cannot suspect any trickery on this front. She also believes she has a loving family, and when she starts doubting that after having a dream in which male Ranma assaults her, she wonders if the angry black-haired boy is her brother.
- Find the Cure!: Ranko wants to cure her amnesia, and Ryoga wants to cure the ki imbalance causing his lack of direction sense.
- First Period Panic: After spending enough time in a Shapeshifter Mode Lock, Ranko is horrified when she starts bleeding down there and needs Lotion to explain her how normal it is, and that it means her body is ready for motherhood. After that, Ranko has several daydreams about having Ryoga's children.
- Foreshadowing: Royal Advisor Sumac mentions a Musk warrior from the Lion clan abandoned the country long ago because he disagreed with their way of training. Now, a few people familiar with the Musk Dynasty have commented on Ryoga's Cute Little Fangs and ki signature, and he's carrying an heirloom locket in the shape of a lion head...
- Forgotten First Meeting:
- Justified since Ranko is amnesiac, and Ryoga isn't suspecting the pretty redhaired girl from being his black-haired, male rival.
- Also justified with Herb not remembering Chervil — when she dared to approach him in spite of the strict gender-segregation in their country, he was so exhausted from training that he had his eyes closed and couldn't see her, plus he believed she was a little boy because of her high voice.
- Girliness Upgrade: Immediately after losing her memory, Ranko displays male mannerisms out of habit. It gradually changes as she interacts with people who encourages her to dress as a woman and enjoy female activities such as sewing and cooking.
- Hereditary Curse: Ryoga is horrified when Lotion suggests his lack of direction sense is actually this, since it means he would definitely infect Ranko if they stay together long enough, and becomes even more determined to cure it.
- Identity Amnesia: After falling into a river, Ranma cannot remember anything and decides to adopt a female persona because, well, she's in a female body so she has to be a girl.
- I Have Your Wife:
- Pantyhose Taro uses Ranko as a hostage to have a rematch against Ryoga over the Corly Weed.
- Molon kidnaps Ranko's friend Lychee to force the redhead to surrender herself to Nekonron's forces as their prisoner. Of course, it becomes a tad complicated when Lychee is revealed as their prince's fated bride.
- MacGuffin: The royal heirloom ring stolen by Chervil and later picked up by Ranko. The Musk Dynasty really wants to bring it back to their country.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Invoked — since Ranko has a female body, she goes along with people encouraging her to be more feminine because hey, she's a girl, so that's not really weird, is it?
- Misplaced Retribution: Herb declares he will raze the Amazon village after learning Ranko now has his royal heirloom ring, claiming she wouldn't be a problem if the Amazons hadn't let her escape. Even his royal advisor is aghast and thinks the prince is going too far.
- Multi-Gendered Split Personalities: It's strongly implied that Ranko is growing to be a distinct alter, something that male Ranma really doesn't like.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Chervil very much regrets stealing her betrothed's heirloom ring in a fit of spite — now the Musk Dynasty as a whole is after her, she lost an important royal artefact and an innocent girl is chased all around China for her mistake.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Kirin confesses he's helping the Musk Dynasty to look for their stolen treasure because Nekonron also suffered the loss of an important cultural heirloom, so he naturally sympathizes with Herb's plight.
- Old Master: Lotion. She takes Cologne's place as the one who teaches Ryoga and Ranko special techniques, though there are hints her motives to do this could put Ryoga and Ranko in a very dangerous situation.
- One Extra Member: The Seven Lucky Gods have Jurojin, a skilled martial artist who is training to be the Nekonron's next royal bodyguard and covert operative, as an unnoficial member.
- Parental Substitute: After opening her door to Ryoga and Ranko, Lotion finds herself acting as a maternal reference for Ranko.
- Razor Floss: Monlon of the Seven Lucky Gods uses it against Ranko, unlike in the movie where Ranma is saved by Shampoo, this time Ranko is able to figure out how to escape the technique.
- Related in the Adaptation: Ryoga is implied to be a descendant of a feline Musk clan.
- Rescue Romance: Ryoga and Ranko were already having romantic tension, but what finally pushes them to acknowledge the matter and kiss is the lost boy saving her from Pantyhose Taro.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: As in canon, Cologne uses a pressure point to turn Ranma hypersensitive to hot temperatures, preventing him from regaining his male body. Which means that when the cursed martial artist gets amnesia, there's no easy way for Ranko to learn she wasn't born a girl.
- Superior Twin Teamwork: Daikokuse and Daihakuse may be the youngest and thus the weakest members of the Seven Lucky Gods, but they fight using a combination of solid teamwork and Trickster Twins strategies that is effective enough for them to be a considerable challenge to Ranko, who otherwise would outclass them one-on-one.
- Suspect Is Hatless: The Musk Dynasty is hell-bent on finding the "redhaired girl" who stole the Dragon Prince's heirloom ring. Unfortunately for Ranko, she happens to fit the description.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Ranko and Lychee's growing friendship falls under this domain — Ranko is a very energetic and confident martial artist who used to be a boy (even if she doesn't remember it and gains in femininity with time) and proactively looks for a way to regain her lost memory, while Lychee is a gentle waitress who relies on her pet elephant to fight in her stead and Thinks Like a Romance Novel, waiting for a Prince Charming to come and sweep her off her feet.
- Trickster Twins: Pink and Link work together to help Ranko and Ryoga in order to play a prank on Shampoo (it doesn't end well for them, however) and later have to do it again to escape Mint and Lime, distracting them in order to feed them hypnotic mushrooms.
- Unperson: After being banished from the Amazon village, Lotion stopped being mentioned by them. Her great-grandson isn't even allowed to speak her name.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Prince Herb is not impressed when he learns the royal heirloom ring stolen by Chervil has been picked up by Ranko who's currently impossible to track.
