As Serenity and Randy-now in piglet form-drifted through the water, the sun was going down in the west, casting a beautiful shimmer on the waves of the sea.

"We must really be far out. We'll reach China in no time !" Serenity exclaimed. Randy gave an irritated "Oink !" and pointed behind him. Serenity turned to where he was pointing his snout.

They hadn't even gone past Japan's coastline.

"Or maybe not..."

It had been an entire day and the two had not yet even come close to their destination. Serenity, being unable to swim, wasn't of much use, and Randy's piglet form wouldn't cover much ground given how small he was. So Serenity had to settle for sitting on top of poor Randy and drifting until they could reach mainland China. However, there was a new problem...

"Food...does anybody have any food ?" Serenity moaned. She hadn't eaten since they left home. Randy grunted weakly, his stomach growling. He wasn't much better off either.

"Anything, even just a sniff of it." Serenity rolled onto her back, forgetting about the water.

(SPLASH !)

"AAAUUGH !" Serenity screamed, her voice suddenly becoming deeper as she changed into her cursed form. He splashed wildly, trying to stay afloat, but to no avail. He began to sink under the water, already feeling the pressure of the water as he sank deeper and deeper...

And suddenly he was pulled up.

"R... Randy ?" Serenity gasped, feeling arms around his waist.

"Thank goodness you're okay ! I forgot you couldn't swim!" Randy said. Somehow, he had turned back into a boy.

"How did you turn back into a boy ? We're in the water !" Serenity exclaimed.

"Simple. The water has been getting warmer and warmer, and finally it became warm enough for me to change back! Cool, huh ?" Suddenly Randy's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute, your not Serenity !"

"Of course I am! Who else do you think I would be?"

"Serenity wasn't a boy ! She acted like one, but she wasn't literally one ! And she wasn't as muscular as you are and she had a more filled out, yet still flat, chest ! Back you go !" and Randy let go of her. Serenity once again sank beneath the waves while screaming for help.

"When the real Serenity comes back, I'll rescue her !" Randy huffed.

Out of nowhere, there came the sound of people laughing.

"What the...? Where did that come from ?" The teenager began to look around, trying to locate the mysterious voices. As he looked around, seeing nothing but waves, Serenity was raised up out of the water by a shark.

"AAAAAAHHH ! SHARK !" Randy screamed, not noticing Serenity, back in girl form, on top of it. He only took notice of her when she threw a shell at his head.

"Up here you idiot ! It's safe !" Serenity yelled.

"Oh yeah, it's perfectly safe ! It's about as safe as shoving a stick of lit dynamite right up your-"

Serenity interrupted him. "This shark knew Mimi ! Since I'm her mother and you're a friend of mine, it said it will take us to China !" Serenity clenched her fist and rasped "And when I get back, I'm going to have a talk with Mimi about bringing home more dangerous animals."

"Oh, well that's different !" Randy started to climb up on the shark when he felt the sting in his leg. As he turned to regard it, he saw the shell swim off into the water.

"Uh, Serenity, what kind of shell did you throw at me ?" Randy asked, beginning to sweat nervously.

"I think it was a cone snail shell. Why do you ask ?"

Randy gave a gasp and Serenity managed to pull him on top of the shark just as he started to go into a seizure.

It took longer then they expected, but they finally reached mainland China. Randy was lucky that he was a demon. Had he been a human, the cone snail might have killed him with a single sting from its venom. Of course, demons are nowhere near as vulnerable to human poisons, so Randy only had a seizure which lasted about as long as their journey.

As Randy and Serenity stepped onto the Chinese shore, Randy asked "Where did you learn to speak shark ?"

Serenity giggled. "Oh I didn't learn to speak shark ! It said to me that Mimi taught it how to speak in dog, and then in Japanese dog !"

Randy sweat-dropped. "Uh, we're speaking Japanese and that shark lived in the eastern seas. Don't you think it would already know how to speak Japanese ?"

"I think the shark was a tourist from the west" In response, Randy anime fell.

"Anyway, where did you say your Sensei was ?"

"His temple is somewhere in a forest in Beijing. Of course it's going to take us awhile to get there too" Randy said with a sigh.

"Two things genius: First off, we can fly on my leaf there! Secondly..." Serenity turned away quickly before she could finish.

"What else did you want to say ?"

"Put some clothes on !" Serenity yelled. She had forgotten to mention earlier that Randy's clothes had disappeared into the water when he had transformed...

"MY EYES !" Serenity screamed, turning away.

A couple complaints from Randy and a few slaps to the face given by Serenity, they were "flying" through China skies towards Beijing aboard Serenity's flying leaf. Randy couldn't find any casual clothes, so he had to settle for his Gi, which was soaked with sea water.

"Um, where is Beijing ?" Serenity asked.

"It should be right...here" Randy said. He was pointing downwards to a giant sign which read: "Welcome to Beijing ! Enjoy your stay !"

"When did they make a sign that big ?" Serenity asked.

"Apparently you still need to learn a lot about the twenty first century" Randy groaned as the leaf descended over a forest. Soon they landed on the forest floor.

"So which way do we go ?" Serenity asked.

"Simple ! We got further east !" Randy turned to the west and started walking in that direction.

"Randy, the east is this way !" Serenity shouted, going in the right direction herself.

"Don't question my sense of direction !" Randy yelled, continuing towards the west, and a second or two later, over a cliff.

Serenity ran to the cliff, looked over it. "Maybe that hill of sharp jagged rocks that lead into that briar patch will break his fall"

(CRASH, SCRAPE, SNAP, CRACK !)

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH !" came Randy's agonized scream.

"Or not…"

After using a healing leaf on Randy after what would later be known as "The Briar Patch Incident", the two companions continued their trek through the forest, determined to find Ryuenja's temple.

"Are we there yet ?" Serenity panted.

"Don't worry, it's very close." Randy said.

"How can you be so sure ?"

"Because it's right over there !" Randy said, pointing towards a series of stone steps. As they approached, Serenity saw that the steps led further up into a large hill. She couldn't see anything at the top from how high up the summit was.

"Not more walking !" Serenity wailed.

"Oh don't worry ! I'm used to this ! When I lived here with Sensei he made me carry buckets of water up and down it twice every day ! You get used to it after a couple weeks !" This only caused Serenity to cry even harder.

Randy started up the steps and Serenity reluctantly followed. They continued up the stairs, but they didn't seem to be going anywhere. After ten straight minutes, Serenity looked down and saw with dismay that they hadn't even gone up ten steps !

"Why haven't we gone up ?" Serenity wailed, tears of frustration running down her face.

"Oh I forgot to mention that Sensei used an ancient spell on the steps to his temple. It makes any step or stair which is already long become almost endless ! Last time I was here it took me almost two hours to make it to the halfway mark !"

"HE WHAT ?" Serenity roared, her eyes turning red. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ?"

"You didn't ask !"

With a snarl, Serenity grabbed Randy and threw him up the steps and into the horizon. Just as he disappeared, suddenly he came back as though he were on TV and being rewound. He landed only a few steps in front of her.

"I told you he used a spell on it !" Randy retorted, picking himself up. Serenity started to cry again.

At long last, after a grueling three hours climbing up a seemingly endless amount of steps, the temple finally came into view. Randy stepped up towards the doors and inhaled the air. "Ah, that felt great ! Don't you feel good now Serenity !"

Serenity came up behind him, practically crawling. Her hair was tangled, her clothes were sweaty and her eyes were red. "Am I dead yet ?" she moaned.

"Not quite yet. I'm sure Sensei will be more then happy to let you rest for awhile."

"Where is he ?"

"He should be inside !" Randy went up to the temple doors and knocked. "Sensei, are you there ? I've come for a training mission !"

There was no reply. Randy knocked a few more times. "Are you there Sensei ? I've traveled with Serenity to train with you for the tournament !"

When there was still no reply, Randy turned to Serenity. "I guess he isn't here. Let's come back later"

"Oh that won't be necessary" said a familiar voice. Randy stopped in his tracks and turned around to find Ryuenja standing right in front of him.

"I forgot how sneaky you can be sometimes..." Randy sighed.

"Oh don't worry. You'll get better in time. Now come inside" Ryuenja turned towards the doors and opened them, revealing the temple interior.

"Hey Sensei !"

"Yes Randy ?"

As Ryuenja spoke these words, Randy sprang into the air and came down at him with an Axe Kick. One moment later, he was lying on the ground and Ryuenja's hand was raised in the air.

"That was very fast. However you need to work on the element of surprise" With that, Ryuenja turned around and went into the temple, followed by Randy and a weary Serenity.

Ryuenja's temple was large and spacious. It was done up in traditional Chinese style, with flat wooden floors and walls, squared windows, and decorations and paintings adorning the walls. Intermingled among the paintings and Chinese ornaments were various weapons of old time China. Swords, spears, bows and crossbows, throwing weapons, and countless other weapons which had long been abandoned.

"You teacher sure collects a lot of weapons !" Serenity exclaimed as she limped behind Randy.

"He's more then a collector. He practices with them as much as he can. It keeps his skills sharp along with the hand to hand martial arts."

"He must be pretty good then. I'm just glad that we can finally rest"

"True, you can rest, but Randy here must practice with me for a little while. Serenity on the other hand may rest for the day" Ryuenja said from behind them. Once again, Randy was caught off guard by Ryuenja's slyness and technique.

"Aw, Sensei can't I rest for a little while ? I came all this way and I think I deserve a little break !"

"Yeah and I want to train with him, too !" Serenity added, turning to face Randy's master. "Are you going easy on me because I'm a girl ? I hate it when people do that !"

Much to her surprise Ryuenja chuckled and said, "It's not that you are a girl Serenity. Apparently you have forgotten that I don't judge by sex. In my opinion a girl is just as good as any boy."

"Oh" Serenity said blandly, forgetting how many times she had been reminded of Ryuenja's gentle nature and good heart.

"I'm not asking you to rest because you are a girl. If you were a boy, or even a man, then I would still make you rest Serenity. I want you to rest because walking up the steps here has tired you out to the point of incapacitation. Nobody would be able to withstand even a single sit up in the state you are in ! So I want you to go to that room over there and rest." Ryuenja said, pointing his towards an empty room with a closet, bed and light.

Serenity smiled and limped into the bedroom. With a sigh of satisfaction she flopped onto the bed and fell asleep in an instant. Ryuenja then turned to Randy.

"Are you ready ?" Ryuenja asked.

"In here ? But we aren't even in the training ha-" Before he could finish, Randy was knocked to the ground by a strike to the stomach. In one fluid motion, Ryuenja leaped over him and landed behind him.

"When am I gonna learn ?" Randy moaned as he got to his feet.

To be continued...