On Mon, 28 Apr 1997, Ranma Al'Thor wrote:

Ranma recognized the girls as
Pink and Link, and the "trick" as not being exactly the kind of magic one would
expect in the show.

Why wouldn't you expect it?

Because it's not a trick.  Pink and Link's schtick is fast-grow plants.

I think you're right about Mousse not having a reason to explain that the
water only works once.  Maybe Ukyou can find an instruction booklet in the
box of packets (which _is_ still around for use in further chapters.)

"I still don't understand, Ran-chan.  The book says not to stick you in a pit
with a horde of angry cats and fish sausages strapped to your back, because 
it never works.  So how come you _did_ manage to learn the Cat-Fist from
that treatment after all?"

Did you mean to stop here with her question unanswered?

Yup.  The joke here was that the original Cat-Fist story has a gaping plot hole.

Also, what happened to Ryouga?  Did he just run off somewhere and get lost
after Mousse's assistant let go of him?

More or less.  The only reason he was in here was as a replacement for Akane's
stuffed pig in the original. :-)  Why bother with a stuffed pig when there's
a real one around somewhere?