Genma and Ranma were sparring at the fabled Jusenkyo training grounds. Ranma had just knocked his father into one of the pools below.

"Gotcha," he said triumphantly, landing back on one of the poles. There was no response from his father, nor any change in the surface of the pool. "Pop, what's up? We done already?" he called down.

A form leapt from the pool that his father had just fallen into. Instead of a man, he faced a panda...an angry panda. The panda balanced himself on one of the many poles around the springs, taking his father's stance.

Ranma was dumbstruck. "Wha-?" he asked dumbly.

The Jusenkyo guide called up to them, "That is 'Spring of Drowned Panda'! There is tragic legend, very tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand year ago! Now, whoever fall in that spring take body of panda!"

With that explanation, Ranma managed to connect the dots. "Oh no," he said lamely. He realized now that the guide had been serious in his warnings that it would be bad to fall into the springs.

Sensing his son's distraction, his father charged at him. "Wait a second!" he called towards his father. To the guide, he said "You never said anything about-"

The rest of Ranma's sentence was cut off, as his father had landed a hit on him, knocking him downwards towards one of the many pools. There was a great splash as Ranma hit the surface, and he felt the curse take hold of him. He didn't know what spring he had landed in, but he still felt more or less the same. His head burst through the surface of the water, just in time to hear the guide say "...take the body of young girl!"

Looking down at himself—now herself—she saw that she had indeed changed genders. Well, it could've been worse; at least she was still human. But if there was a spring that turned people into girls, perhaps...

Ranma called out to the guide. She was a bit unnerved by how high her voice was now, but if her idea panned out, she wouldn't have to worry about it for long. "Hey, is there a 'Spring of the Drowned Man' around here by any chance?"

The guide took on a somber expression, and said, "Oh yes, there is tragic legend, very tragic legend, of man who drown in spring fourteen hundred year ago! Whoever fall in that spring take body of man!"

Ranma smiled. "Great! Where is it?"

"Oh, it right over there," the guide said, pointing to the spring in question.

Ranma, who had by now climbed out of the "Spring of the Drowned Girl", immediately leapt into the new spring, surfacing as his old self. "Come on, pops! You don't want to be a panda for the rest of your life, do you?"

Genma, seeing that his son was cured, was already hopping along the poles towards the spring that had cured his son. Doing a cannon-ball, he dove into the spring, emerging as himself as well. Together, the father and son climbed out of the spring, heading towards where they left their belongings, so that they could leave.

Looking back toward the guide, who seemed in awe of the simple solution that had never occurred to him, Ranma said, "You should put up signs telling people where to cure their curses. Might save a lot of people a great deal of grief."

The guide nodded and said, "That good idea. I not know why I no think of that myself."

And with that, Ranma and Genma began their trip back to Japan, never realizing how much trouble they had saved both themselves and several others with just a single idea borne of common sense.