((Since I like the idea of Ranma's hair color being a
random color whenever he becomes a she, and I think
it'll provide some good humor situations, I'm going to
go back and try to change some of the references to
hair color in earlier chapters.))

Sparring

       Ryoko and Ranma shut the door behind them and
caught their breaths.
       "Your mother is," Ryoko struggled for the
words. "Odd."
       "You have no idea," Ranma said.
       "This is almost over," Ryoko said.  "Right?"
       "Uhhh," Ranma thought for a moment.
       "Ranma!  Ryoko-chan!" Nodoka called out.
       "Why does she keep calling me that?" Ryoko
asked.  The door opened pushing them forward.
       "Oh, there you are," Nodoka said cheerfully. 
"Now I know you two are eager to get to...other
activities.  But you must see off your guests, it is
only polite."  Ryoko twitched at the mention of "other
activities."  Ranma just seemed frustrated.
       "Yeah, yeah," Ranma muttered, standing up. 
Nodoka nodded, smiled and exited the door.  "Want to
get this night over with finally?"
       "Don't expect any of those 'other activities,'"
Ryoko said standing up irritably.
       "What other..." Ranma stopped and turned beet
red.  "Oh...Of course not!"

********

       "Well, congratulations, fem-boy," Tarou
slurred, drawing an envious glare from Ryoko.  "I'll
have to come by and beat the hell out of you for old
times sake some time soon."
       "You'd lose," Ranma said simply.
       "In your dreams, Ranma," Tarou said.
       "A rematch would be somewhat enjoyable,"
Natsume agreed, half-carrying the Chinese martial
artist out.  She noted Ryoko's scowl.  "Is something
wrong Ryoko-san?"
       "Not really," she mumbled reluctantly.  Still
giving an envious glare to the drunk martial artist.
       "I see," Natsume said.  "Perhaps we shall make
that a double match."
       "Whatever," Ryoko said.
       "They say there's this wonderful nightclub that
we can go to," Mihoshi was cheerfully explaining to a
dreadfully embarrassed Kiyone.
       "Mihoshi," Kiyone sighed.  "I don't think we
have...umm..time for that."
       "Oh, okay!" Mihoshi said and turned to a
smirking Nabiki and Chigako to say they'd have to do
it some other time.
       "Ryoko," Kiyone whispered as soon as Mihoshi's
back was turned.  "Is there anything I may have lost
about me and Mihoshi."  She noticed Ryoko's
mischievous smirk and sweatdropped.
       "Not that I know of," Ryoko said.  "You'll have
to ask Mihoshi about that."  Kiyone glared at her a
moment and twitched.
       "Thanks alot for the information," Kiyone said
deadpan before walking out of the house, Mihoshi close
behind.
       "Kiyone!  Wait for me!" Mihoshi cried out.
       "Did you have to tease them the entire dinner?"
Ranma asked as Nabiki and Chigako walked by.
       "It was too easy," Nabiki said.  "It had to be
done.  They're cops right?"  Ryoko and Ranma stared at
her in surprise.
       "Mihoshi mentioned something about an academy
right off the bat," Chigako explained.
       "Okay, so, what's so big about that?" Ryoko
asked.  Nabiki and Chigako smirked secretively and
walked out into the night, leaning on each other.
       "What was that about?" Ryoko asked.
       "I don't want to know," Ranma said.  "Neither
do you."
       "Ranma," Hinako-adult said, carrying out a
rather weary looking Soun.  "I apologize for the
flooding."
       "I didn't think the human body had that much
water in it," Ryoko muttered as Ranma chatted with his
former teacher a moment.  She noted the Amazons coming
by and waved to Ran Ran, smirking.  "Thanks for the
shampoo, sorry it didn't turn out like you wanted."
       "Sister Shampoo say Xi Fa Xiang Gao always
work," Ran Ran muttered, pouting as she walked past
her opponent.  Shampoo whacked her on the back of the
head.
       "You're lucky Ranma didn't kill you!" Shampoo
snapped.  "Party like this is neutral ground, stupid
girl!"  ~I still wonder why it didn't work though.~
       "We're sorry again for the trouble," Mousse
said.
       "Ran Ran get desperate," Lin Lin said, bringing
up the rear and dragging along Ryuu Kumon.  "Is
jealous."
       "I'm going to get you for this, Kumon," Ranma
muttered, silencing whatever words Ryuu had planned. 
The other martial artist merely chuckled,
sweatdropping and scratching the back of his head.
       "This way!" Ukyou shouted, disappearing back
further into the house and re-emerging with Ryouga in
a few moments.  "You guys need to make that bed."
       "Thanks for the..." Ranma stopped talking.
       "Nothing happened," Ryoko and Ranma said at
once.
       "All she said was make the bed," Ryouga said. 
"Nothing else."  The Lost Boy had a definite smirk
though.  ~Take that Ranma!  Wow, I'd forgotten how
much fun it was to tease him.~  Ryoko and Ranma both
glared.
       Something seemed to breeze past them,
whispering as it went.  The whispering almost sounded
like giggling actually.
       "Konatsu and Kodachi," Ranma said.  "Konatsu's
teaching Kodachi how to be a ninja."
       "Oh," Ryoko said.  "That other lesbian couple. 
You seem to know a lot of those."
       "Actually, Konatsu's a guy," Ranma said.  Ryoko
stared at him for a moment.
       "Cursed like you?"
       "Nope," Ranma said.  "His family raised him as
a girl, long story."
       "Uhhh," Ryoko decided to let it pass for the
moment and shook her head clear.  She turned to see
Kasumi and Tofu approaching and smiled in
anticipation.
       "Are you two the last ones?" Ranma asked
irritably.
       "Ranma-dear," Ryoko said cheerfully.  Ranma
gave her a blankly disbelieving look.  "You should be
more polite to our guests than that."
       "Ehhh?" Ranma said, blinking.
       "You seem to be in much better spirits, Ryoko,"
Kasumi said.
       "That's right," Ryoko said.  "After a few days
rest I'm completely fit and healthy and healed up."
       ~Oh, I get it now,~ Ranma said, sighing.
       "Well, let's see here," Tofu said, cupping his
chin and taking a moment to look over Ryoko.  "You do
look much healthier.  Chi flows seem to be mostly
healed.  Any problems with the injury?"
       "Nope, not at all," Ryoko said
enthusiastically.  "It's just a little stretchy,
that's all." ~Give me my powers back!  Give me my
powers back!~  The doctor turned to Ranma for a
moment.
       "Ranma?" he asked.  Causing Ryoko to cross her
arms in irritation.
       "Now, now," Kasumi said, smiling.  "We have to
be sure you aren't putting on an act."
       "I think she's good to go," Ranma admitted
reluctantly.
       "Okay then," Tofu said, shrugging.  He reached
out and cautiously grabbed the back of Ryoko's neck. 
Ryoko watched him carefully, eyes narrowed, and
remembering something about a strength sapping
maneuver.  Then Tofu pinched her neck and she could
feel all her power come back at her beck and call.
       "Yes!" Ryoko shouted, laughing loud and
floating off the ground a foot.  Everybody
sweatdropped as they watched her, and Ranma got ready
to fight.  "Get ready, Ranma, you are about to see the
space pirate Ryoko in full..."  She yawned, blinking
for an extended time.  When she stopped, she frowned. 
"Can we do this tomorrow?"
       "Uh...yeah," Ranma said resignedly.  Everybody
around gave an extreme sigh of relief.  Well most
everybody anyway.
       "Ranma," Genma lectured.  "You can't really
mean to give this weakling thief a spar can you?" 
Ryoko growled and extended a hand toward Genma,
sending a blast of energy into him and plastering him
to a wall.
       "Maybe we could find someplace that it doesn't
matter if we destroy it," Ranma suggested.

********

       "I thought you said this was a school," Ryoko
said looking around.
       "It is," Ranma-chan said.  "The gym is right
above us."  He pointed up.
       "There's a jungle in the school basement?"
Ryoko said in disbelief.
       "The Principal is a little looney," Ranma said,
shrugging.
       "I noticed," Ryoko said, trying to figure out
why Ranma was voluntarily in female form.  Given all
the water in this basement it was a sure bet that
she'd have transformed soon, but why start that way. 
"You sure nobody will mind if we destroy this place?"
       "They'd probably give us a medal," Ranma
muttered.
       "WAAHHH!!!" someone screamed to the side.  "The
bid kahuna's poor island paradise gonna go down the
bid drain!!!  WAAAAAHHH!!!"  The principal swung idly
back and forth, hanging upside down from the floor of
his office.
       "Like I said," Ranma muttered.  "Nobody cares
if you tear this place up."
       "Why don't I just take out one of those stilts
and bring that little hut down on him?" Ryoko asked.
       "Your choice," Ranma said, shrugging.  Ryoko
seemed to think about it for a moment.
       "Not worth the bother," Ryoko said.  "Ready,
fem-boy?"  There had to be a reason Ranma had chosen
this battle ground.  
       The ceiling was too high to be much of a
problem.  Perhaps Ranma was expecting the trees to
slow her down in the air.  She smirked at that
thought.  At least it was hot and muggy down here,
considering that whole ice thing she would have
expected something air conditioned.
       "Whenever you are," Ranma sounded resigned as
she got into stance.
       "I like the hair by the way," Ryoko smirked,
flexing her arm as Ranma growled a little.
       "I hate blonde," Ranma muttered.
       Ryoko lunged forward skidding over the ground. 
Her arm pulled out and a blade of red power appeared
in her hand.  Ranma's eyes widened slightly at the
sudden appearance of the blade, but she recovered
quickly, rolling under Ryoko's slash.  Ryoko lifted
into the air with a spin and tossed the energy blade
at Ranma.
       "You're fast, Ranma," Ryoko snapped as she
backflipped over the energy blast.  "But how long can
you keep this up?"
       "A pretty good amount of time," Ranma promised.
 She moved forward, first blurring  and then vanishing
from view.
       "Teleported?" Ryoko asked herself, she heard a
thud off of one of the trees behind her and she
immediately teleported herself out of Ranma's path. 
"Nope, just very very fast."
       "That was a neat trick," Ranma admitted as she
twisted and propelled herself off another tree.  ~Got
to end this quick so she doesn't hurt herself.~  Ryoko
smirked as she drifted easily out of Ranma's path.
       "My my my, aren't you fast," Ryoko smirked. 
"You know another phrase for a fast woman don't you?"
       "What's that?" Ranma asked, running down a tree
as Ryoko sent blasts a step or two behind her.  Ryoko
vanished, blinking out, and Ranma lost track of her
presence again.  She felt it fade in just before he
had to leap over another swipe of Ryoko's energy
blade.
       "Easy!" Ryoko said loudly, vanishing again. 
Ranma felt her presence disappear and then felt it
come in again, and she barely had time to dodge again.
 Ryoko vanished after the first strike.  Ranma
hesitated to move, uncertain of where the next strike
would come from.
       ~I can't stop her this way,~ Ranma muttered as
he dodged another strike.  Usually he had some idea of
where someone was going when they moved, but Ryoko
just simply vanished from the area around him, leaving
him blind to where she was going to appear.  ~Wait,
she's blind too!  I hope so anyway.~
       "Had enough of this yet, girlie?" Ryoko asked
popping into existence and finding no Ranma.  She
paused a moment to look and barely managed to float
over a leg sweep.
       "Who are you calling easy?" Ranma asked
smirking.
       "Sorry," Ryoko said, with a return smirk.  "I
guess you run a tighter ship than I thought."  She
said emphasizing the word "tighter," before she
vanished again.
       Ryoko and Ranma blurred or phased in and out of
sight, sometimes in position to strike, sometimes not.
 Like some fast paced game of battleship, guesing
where their opponent would next be.
       Ryoko suddenly appeared in mid air again and
started pelting the ground with energy blasts.  It
seemed random, until one noted the yellow and red blur
just ahead of the blasts.
       "You can't win if you can't fight back!" Ryoko
said.  She almost laughed as the blur started spinning
into a tight spiral.  Then the whirlwind appeared,
carrying her opponent into the sky.  "How the--!"
       "Surprised?" Ranma asked, spinning a hand and
thrust it back away from her.  A second whirlwind
appeared propelling her forward.  Ryoko teleported out
of the way, and into the first whirlwind.  Getting
tossed through the air towards a tree.  "Hey!  Look
out!"
       Ranma created another of the mini whirlwinds to
change her direction as the first lost its momentum. 
It looked to be almost impossible for her to get to
Ryoko before she hit the tree though.
       "Watch yourself!" Ryoko shouted back, the tree
shattered before she reached it, as if a large ball
had just blown through it.  Ryoko's righted her
situation and smirked superiorially.  "That little
wind trick is impressive, but...!"
       "Look out above!" Ranma shouted.
       "Huh?"  Ryoko looked up in time to see the top
of the palm tree hammer into her force field and drive
it half way into the ground.
       "Is that enough for you?" Ranma asked walking
up to the transparent globe he guessed was there.
       "Like hell!" Ryoko shouted.  Red lightning
ranged out from her, bursting the tree on top of her
and sending a cloud of dust and smoke into the sky. 
Ranma had to brace herself tightly against the force
of the blast, erecting a thin barrier of her own chi
to encourage the energy to wash over her.  "Come on,
Ranma, let's see what you got against my real power!"
       Ryoko rose out of the depression in the
basement floor, seeming to step out of it.  She glowed
bright red, the power even streaming out of her eyes,
and there was a large grin plastered on her face.  She
casually called forth another energy blade and looked
to Ranma.
       ~Hand to hand I'm far better,~ Ranma thought. 
~But her chi control....~
       "As I was saying, that whirlwind trick is
good," Ryoko said.  "But you're too slow in the air. 
Guess that's why you're female, less weight right?"
       "Mouko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted, unleashing
the yellow energy blast.  As expected Ryoko easily
avoided the strike.  ~Have to be a little serious if I
want to end this without either of us getting hurt.~
       "Tsk tsk," Ryoko said, enjoying herself.  "Your
technique really needs work, Ranma.  No finesse, no
finesse at all."  She swooped in and swiped with her
sword, Ranma ducked under, but rolled to standing in
time to see the "sword" smash into a tree, denting it.
       ~It's not a slicing attack?~ Ranma thought. 
Then narrowed her eyes.  ~She's blunted it.~  She
dodged aside as the most recent energy blade was
tossed at her and exploded.  Ranma watched carefully
as Ryoko summoned another blade.
       "You can't beat me," Ryoko sang in a viciously
cheerful tone of voice.
       "I'm getting kind of tired of dodging that
thing," Ranma said, smirking.
       "Oh, so you give up?" Ryoko asked.  She swung
down with her blade.
       "Mouko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted.  Ryoko's
blade connected with a bar of yellow chi.  She blinked
and backed off a moment.
       "You learned that almost as fast as I did the
first time," Ryoko said.  Then she smirked.  "Well,
let's see how strong you can make that staff your
first time!"  She charged forward.
       "Plenty strong enough!" Ranma shouted in
return.  The adrenaline was rushing and both charged
each other with wide smiles.
       "WAAAAHHHHHH!!!" The Principal wailed,
unheeded.

********

       The sun set down on the empty campus of
Furinkan High.
       "They've been in there for hours," Nagi
groaned.  "What could they possibly be doing?  They
are still in there right?"
       "Miao," Ken-Ohki said uncertainly.
       "You don't sound like you know for certain,"
Nagi said.
       "Miao, miao!" Ken-Ohki insisted.
       "This is an odd place for a lover's tryst,"
Nagi said.  "Even if they were attracted to each
other.  There have been no signs of a battle.  What
are they doing?"

********

       "Give up yet?" Ryoko asked, catching her
breath.  ~Ranma keeps learning new powers.~
       "Not on your life," Ranma said, taking the
chance to rest a little while the silver-haired woman
was trying to goad her into a surrender.  ~She's keeps
getting better at hand to hand.~

********

       "Nodoka, dear," Genma said, looking about the
house, seemingly lost.  "Where are Ranma and that
woman?"
       "They're still out dear," Nodoka said.  "They
haven't returned from their match."  She sounded like
she was uncertain about the meaning behind that.
       "What?" Genma protested.  "That started
sometime yesterday morning, Ranma should have finished
that off easily."
       "Perhaps they found something to do after they
were finished," Nodoka suggested.
       "NOOOO!!!!" Genma cried.  "Don't do it Ranma! 
You won't be able to anull the wedding!!!"  Nodoka
frowned and started to draw her sword, Genma shut up.

********

       "Okay," Ranma took a breath.  "That does it,
time to get serious."
       "Oh, really?" Ryoko said, wobbling a little in
midair.  "I'm just getting warmed up."
       "No more!! No More!!!" the Principal pleaded
weakly from under a pile of rubble.
       Both combatants took another deep breath and
suddenly the remains of the underground jungle was
filled with clashing yellow and red light.  When it
cleared Ranma and Ryoko were standing facing each
other in a pair of craters and breathing heavily.
       "Next time I'm gonna get you," Ryoko said.
       "Wait a minute," Ranma said.  "How long have we
been down here?"
       "Umm," Ryoko paused and thought about it.  She
found a clock and shrugged.  "Ten minutes."
       "Ohh, okay," Ranma said shrugging.  "Feels like
a lot more."

********

       "Man, I thought we'd have to drag them away
from this place," Ukyou said tapping her fingers, and
standing in front of the city offices.  "It's almost
closing already."
       "Maybe they're getting to like each other?"
Ryouga asked.
       "Nodoka hasn't seen them since they went to go
fight their match," Ukyou said darkly.
       "You don't think that maybe," he swallowed.
       "No way," Ukyou said.

********

       "What the hell happened down here?" Ukyou
asked, crawling through the rubble.
       "Does the basement have hurricanes?" Ryouga
asked.
       "If Ranma's fighting down here?" Ukyou
suggested with an upraised eyebrow.
       "Good point," Ryouga noted irritably.  "Hey,
what's that?"
       "It sounds like," Ukyou paused.  "Crying." 
They rushed to the sound, Ukyou dragging along Ryouga,
to find the Principal crawling out of his "office" and
moaning over a fallen palm tree.
       "WAAAHH!!! Dey hurt da bid Kahuna's poor
babies!!" he wailed.  Ukyou and Ryouga sweatdropped,
sneaking past the principal.
       "Okay, do you think they're still in this mess
somewhere?" Ryouga whispered.
       "Not finished yet," somebody said hoarsely.
       "Gotcha this time," came the weak answer. 
Ryouga and Ukyou glanced at each other and climbed
over some rubble to find Ranma and Ryoko sprawled over
each other, sort of half-conscious.
       "Knew it," Ukyou sighed.
       "Are they both still trying to win?" Ryouga
asked, sweatdropping.

********

       Nagi wearily watched Ryouga and Ukyou carrying
Ranma and Ryoko out of the school.  She frowned.
       "Did they kill each other?" Nagi wondered,
hoping they hadn't.  Ken-ohki shook his head.
       "Miao," the cabbit said.
       "Exhausted?" Nagi said.  "What were they doing
to exhaust each other?  They couldn't have been
fighting all that time.  Ryoko should have finished
with that Terran quickly, however powerful he is."
       "Miao?" the cabbit said.  Nagi sneered.
       "No, she can't be weak enough," Nagi said.  She
remembered how quick and fluid Ranma had been in her
own brief encounter with him.  "And he can't be that strong."

=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" - 
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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