Here's the latest of the new chapters, also posted on the 
website. C&C is most welcome.

Chapter 17 will arrive next Sunday (May 1st). 

- Grayson Towler
http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless

               =========================
                      RELENTLESS
                A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction

                   By Grayson Towler
               =========================


-----------------------------------------------------------
                     CHAPTER SIXTEEN:
                      Miscalculation
-----------------------------------------------------------


"It's there," Ryouga gasped as they stared out over the 
valley.  "It's really there."

"Don't get too worked up," Ukyou warned.  "We don't know 
what that place is.  Maybe it hasn't got anything to do 
with this temple thing."  But her own heart was fluttering 
in her chest with excitement.

It would have been a hard place to spot if you didn't know 
to look for it, built into the side of a stony hill and 
surrounded by thick evergreens, but the two martial artists 
could definitely make out the contours of some kind of 
structure hidden in the shadows of the forest.  Ukyou could 
see what she was certain was a tiled roof, sloping gently 
up the natural curvature of the hillside.  

There was a power in this valley, that much she could 
sense.  It felt very much like the holy shrines she had 
visited in the countryside as she had wandered the highways 
of Japan with her father when she was a little girl.  This 
place was more remote than any of the shrines she had ever 
visited in her travels, but the subtle energy in the valley 
was the strongest she had ever felt.  This had to be the 
place.  It had to be.

"I think I see a path," Ukyou said, squinting into the 
growing gloom of the late afternoon.  "C'mon, let's hurry 
up.  We'll lose our daylight pretty soon."  She picked a 
course through the trees and set off at a brisk pace.  By 
now, keeping tabs on her apt-to-wander companion had become 
second nature.

"Happosai said that it was some kind of women's temple," 
Ryouga said as they pushed their way through the 
underbrush.  

"Yeah."

"So... do you think I should change?" he asked.  "I mean, 
it might make it easier."

The young chef paused for a moment, considering this.  They 
had no idea what they were in for here, and they could use 
every advantage they could get.  If it was a temple for 
women only, then they might not allow a man anywhere near 
it, much less do anything to help him.  But a nagging voice 
spoke up in her head as she considered this option.  <You 
felt the same way about the Amazons,> the voice said, <and 
look how that turned out.>

She sighed.  "It's not a bad idea, sugar, but I think we'd 
better play this straight.  That sort of thing can 
backfire."

Ryouga nodded.  "Yeah."  Nobody had explained to him how 
much trouble his gender-changing had caused with the Amazon 
healers, but he was enough of a natural pessimist to accept 
Ukyou's assessment at face value.

It took longer than Ukyou would have predicted to find the 
path in the forest - the woods were thick and confusing, 
with bends and shadows to lead the unwary astray.  It was 
no wonder these people had picked such a spot for their 
secret temple.  Ukyou suspected that if they had approached 
from any other direction than the one Happosai had given 
them, they never would have suspected there was anything 
but wilderness out here.  

<Okay, so you didn't lie to us this time, you old goat,> 
Ukyou thought.  <But that doesn't make us even.  Not by a 
long shot.>

They had not been on the path for more than a few minutes 
before they both felt it.  All of Ukyou's training to 
develop her dairokkan, her sixth sense to danger, had made 
her far more aware than she'd ever thought she could be.  
<That and being scared out of my head about the Reikoku on 
my back all the time,> she thought ruefully.  "How many do 
you think?" she whispered to Ryouga.

"Two behind us," he replied, in a voice that barely rose 
above his breath.  "Three more in front." 

"Yeah," she agreed.  "Just play it cool, okay?  They'll 
show themselves when they feel like it."

"They're pretty good," Ryouga whispered.  She nodded - the 
figures in the forest barely made a noise as they crept 
through the undergrowth, and would have been practically 
invisible to any normal traveler.

"Keep going," she replied in a hushed voice. 

They didn't have to wait very long.

The first one who approached them was dressed as a fellow 
traveler, complete with dusty clothes and bulging backpack.  
She greeted them with well-feigned surprise, brushing her 
graying hair back from her eyes and favoring them with a 
disarming smile.  "Oh!  Fancy running into other hikers way 
out here," she said.  "Are you lost?"

"Yes," Ryouga answered reflexively.  Ukyou shot him a 
glare.  "Er... I mean, no."

"Well, there's nothing back that way," the woman dressed as 
a hiker told them.  "The trails get pretty confusing around 
here.  If you like, I can show you the way out."

Ukyou figured they might as well lay their cards on the 
table at the outset here. "Actually, if you could lead us 
to the temple, that would be even better."

The stranger's friendly smile vanished in an instant.  She 
dropped the backpack, uncoiling a chain whip from the 
satchel as it fell.  Her companions joined her on the road.  
They melted out from the shadows, materializing on the path 
in front and behind Ryouga and Ukyou, naginata spears in 
their hands.  The four warrior women were younger than the 
first had been, probably in their early twenties, and moved 
with the practiced grace of lifelong martial artists.  One 
of them let out a short whistle, which was echoed almost 
immediately by corresponding whistles from farther down the 
path.  <Calling for backup,> Ukyou thought.  

"We don't want any trouble," she said, raising her hands 
placatingly.

"Then it would be wise for you to take your companion," 
said the woman with the chain whip, "and go back the way 
you came."

"We're here because of Happosai," Ryouga said.

This drew a blank with the temple women.

<They never knew his name,> Ukyou remembered.  <That was 
how this whole thing started.>  "He busted into your temple 
a while back.  Called himself the Master of Anything-Goes 
Martial Arts.  That ring a bell?"

It clearly did.  The women tightened their grips on their 
spears and advanced a threatening step.  The spokeswoman 
crouched, readying herself to cast her chain.  
"What do you know about him?  Are you here for revenge?"

"We're here because the monster you sent after the old man 
is chasing US now!" Ryouga snarled.  

The women looked at each other, startled.  The leader spun 
her chain whip faster, and Ukyou heard the shuffling of 
more figures approaching through the forest.  "If that's 
so," the middle-aged fighter told them, "then you two must 
be allies of the old villain.  Otherwise, why would you 
have gotten involved to save him?"

"A...Allies?" Ryouga spluttered in fury.  "Never!  Because 
of that old man, we've seen Hell!"

"Because of him," Ukyou agreed, "and because of you people, 
sister.  You messed up your little spell, and that old 
pervert managed to get off scot-free while WE ended up with 
that thing on our tails!"

The woman in charge ground her teeth.  "That's not true.  
That's impossible."  She signaled to her fighters, who 
moved in another step.  More women emerged from the shadows 
of the forest.  

"Get ready," Ukyou whispered to Ryouga.  The Lost Boy 
unslung the giant spatula that was once hers and held it 
ready, while Ukyou readied a handful of throwing spatulas.  
She'd had a feeling that they might not get into this place 
without a fight.  Given all the trouble these people had 
caused for her and her friends, Ukyou was actually looking 
forward to getting a little payback.

"Wait... I know you!"

The voice came from one of the figures who had come as 
backup.  The front line of fighting women stood aside to 
admit two girls from back rank.  Ukyou and Ryouga blinked 
in surprise as the newcomers came into the light.  The 
foremost one was tall, lithe, and was carrying a rugbeater.  

"Hey!" Ryouga exclaimed.  "You're those girls!  The ones... 
you thought you were Akane's sisters.  I remember you!"

"Akane's sisters in truth, now," the tall martial artist 
said.  "Tendou Natsume and Kurumi of the Anything-Goes 
School of Martial Arts.  Also," she gestured to the other 
women around them, "Guardians of the Temple of Three."

"Hi!" Kurumi waved.  Ryouga gave a somewhat confused wave 
in return.

"You're the food thieves!" Ukyou said, recalling the first 
trip the sisters had made to Nerima.  "You never did pay me 
for the okonomiyaki you stole."

Kurumi fidgeted.  "You still remember that?" she whimpered.  
Her elder sister ignored this exchange entirely.  

"Fellow Guardians," Natsume addressed the other women, "I 
think I understand what this is about.  If I'm correct, our 
Temple has committed a terrible wrong - not just to these 
two, but to my adopted family as well."  She turned back to 
Ukyou.  "The monster you spoke of... is it the Reikoku?"

"Yes," Ukyou replied.

Natsume sighed and rubbed her brow.  "Now it makes sense.  
Come - follow me.  You'll need to talk to the High 
Priestess.  Perhaps she will know what can be done."

"He cannot come," the woman with the chain whip 
interjected, pointing at Ryouga.  "It is forbidden for a 
man to enter the sacred grounds of the temple."

Ukyou sighed, then drew out her canteen.  "Ready, sugar?" 
she said, then poured the cool water over her friend's 
head.  Several of the Temple Guardians gasped as the change 
took hold of Hibiki Ryouga, transforming him from male to 
female as the Jusenkyou curse took effect.  While they were 
more versed in the occult than the average layman, few had 
ever seen a thing like that in person.  

Ryouga-chan brushed damp strands of hair out of her eyes 
and surveyed the surprised warriors arrayed around her, 
baring a fang.  "Now," she growled, "if you ladies are done 
jerking us around, maybe you can clean up this mess you 
caused!"

- - - - - 

Akane knew he was gone the moment she woke up.

Even though Ranma slept in his own tent, she could always 
feel his presence. Her training as a martial artist had 
advanced to the point where she had a strong sense of the 
ki of another warrior, especially one as emotionally tied 
to her as Ranma. Last night, when they'd kissed, she had 
felt that tie grow even stronger. She could feel him like a 
beacon even between their tents, and she had gone to sleep 
warmed by the glow of his aura.

But sometime in the night, he'd gotten away. <Damn it!> she 
thought, waves of fear and anger buoying her to full 
alertness. "Shampoo!" she called. "Get up!"

The Amazon girl sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What?" 

"Ranma's gone!" Akane threw aside her sleeping bag and 
began to yank on her clothes. <Damn his father for teaching 
him that Umiken-sen crap!> The "Quiet Thief" techniques 
devised by Saotome Genma were supposed to have been sealed 
away, but she knew Ranma wouldn't be above using the ki-
masking stealth that he'd learned in a pinch. He was 
probably even better at it now that he'd integrated the 
catlike powers of the Neko-ken. 

She burst from the tent, with Shampoo just behind her. Sure 
enough, he'd managed to pack up his own belongings and tent 
with perfect stealth. Shampoo stared, aghast. "How he 
manage doing all this with us not noticing?" She seemed 
almost as appalled by her own failure at awareness as she 
was at Ranma's disappearance. 

"He knows some very sneaky techniques," Akane said through 
gritted teeth. Only the Umisen-ken could've allowed him to 
pull this off. "He left a note."

She snatched the slip of paper off the bare patch of ground 
where Ranma's tent had been, and unfolded it. The message 
itself had been written in two parts. The first read:

        Shampoo -

        Thanks for everything. Your training was terrific.
        I can take it from here.

             - Ranma

The second was addressed to her.

        Akane - 

        I'm not great with words, but I think you know how
        I feel now. Thank you for coming after me. You saved
        my life. I'm really happy I could see you again. 
	  Now, I have to go on alone. Don't worry... I'm going 
	  to win. I'll see you again when I get back to Japan.

             - Yours,
               Ranma

A red haze threatened to drown out her vision, accompanied 
by hot tears around her eyes. The note crunched into a 
tight ball as she clenched her fist. Her whole body 
quivered as her muscles tensed, her heart thundering in her 
ribcage. She stamped a foot with force enough to shake the 
snow out of the nearby trees.

"Ranma... you... YOU IDIOT!!!"

Tendou Akane screamed into the frozen morning. She smashed 
the ground with her feet, then her fists, shouting in utter 
rage at the overcast sky. "YOU MORON! Do you think I came 
all this way just to TURN AROUND and GO HOME? Are you 
INSANE?! DAMN it ALL!"

"Akane-san!" Shampoo called.

She whirled to face the Amazon. "Get your things together, 
Shampoo!" she commanded, only to see that her companion was 
already packing.

"No waste time shouting," the violet-eyed girl insisted, 
folding the tent up with astonishing speed. "We know what 
he doing."

"Yeah," she agreed, snatching up her own pack and shoveling 
her possessions into it. "All we have to do to find him is 
follow our backtrail. That IDIOT is going after the 
Reikoku."

"Should be not hard to find."

"Right," she said, her teeth clenched. "It's just a matter 
of how much lead he got on us. AARGH!" Akane lashed out 
with an extended finger on each hand and set off a breaking 
point to each side. The pointless noise of the explosions 
reflected her own inner rage. "SHAMPOO! You're the lucky 
one, you know?"

The Amazon girl paused a moment, looking confused. "What?"

"You're rid of him," Akane seethed, tears burning hot on 
her cheeks. "It may hurt now, but how much of this am I 
going to have to put up with in my WHOLE LIFE?"

"Akane-san... he run off to protect you," Shampoo 
whispered.

"I KNOW!" she all but screamed. "Just when I think he 
respects me... just when I think he TRUSTS me... he runs 
off and pulls something like this. DAMN that STUPID RANMA! 
Why did I have to be engaged to him? Why do I... WHY do I 
have to LOVE him?" She slammed the ground and ignited a 
huge Bakusai Ten-ketsu blast. Snow sprayed in every 
direction along with the shrapnel of her attack.

Shampoo looked flustered, not sure how to act in the face 
of such raw emotion. "We... we got to go, Akane-san..."

The young Tendou snatched up her pack and jammed her arms 
through the straps. "I know, I know! Come on, Shampoo. I 
swear to all the gods, if that monster doesn't kill him, I 
think I will."

- - - - - 

The High Priestess Aoki Nariko shuddered, barely able to 
meet the gaze of the two young warriors before her.  "I 
have committed a terrible blunder," she whispered.

"You got that right, sister," Ukyou agreed.  Some of the 
attendants of the Temple of Three around them twitched at 
the young chef's disrespectful tone, but she was past 
caring about such things.  

The High Priestess showed no reproach - only remorse.  "My 
first act in my new office, succeeding my mother.  To have 
made such an error in my anger..." She trailed off, closing 
her eyes in shame.

Ryouga-chan fidgeted uncomfortably, reflexively feeling 
sympathetic towards a woman in distress. Ukyou was not 
moved. She'd done most of the talking in relating the tale 
of how Ranma and the rest of them became the targets of the 
Reikoku, and was not in a forgiving mood. "Look, lady," she 
said, "we didn't come here just to watch you take a guilt 
trip. What we want is that monster off our butts, 
understand?  Since you accept that it's your fault that 
we're in this mess, what are you going to do about it?"

A lesser priestess stirred. "You have no right to speak to 
her like that!"

"She has every right," Nariko corrected quietly.  She 
favored the two young fighters with a weary smile.  
"However, Ukyou-san, if you are to become a member of our 
order, you may eventually be required to speak to me with 
respect."

Ukyou and Ryouga-chan drew back in surprise.  "What?"

Some of the surrounding women seemed equally taken aback.  
"But... Priestess!  You can't mean..."

The leader of the Temple of Three raised a hand.  "I know 
of only one ritual to stop the Reikoku from hunting its 
quarry.  It came to the Temple of Three countless centuries 
ago, when we were granted the power to summon the 
Relentless One for our purposes.  When a woman is taken 
into the Temple as a new member, she is reborn into the 
service of the Three."

"Who are the Three?" asked Ryouga-chan.

"The first goddesses," the High Priestess explained.  "The 
final goddesses.  They are past, present, and future - 
daughter, mother, and crone.  The Three have appeared in 
different forms, by different names, in every culture on 
the Earth.  They are the Norns and the Fates, the Wyrd 
Sisters and the Kindly Ones.  Their names are Callieach and 
Brigit, Elaine and Morrigan, Saravasti and Lakshmi and 
Kali, Urd and Skuld and Verthandi..."

"Er... Bell-dan-dy?" Ryouga-chan repeated falteringly, her 
tongue stumbling over the foreign syllables.  

"Well," Priestess Nariko said, "never mind.  Suffice it to 
say they have made themselves known to the people of the 
world in some form or another all throughout history.  This 
temple is but one branch of a much greater order, whose 
responsibility it is to act in secrecy in the service of 
these three who are one.  We have been given many 
powers over the ages to aid us - powers to heal, powers to 
build, and, when necessary, powers to destroy."

"By 'power to destroy,' you mean calling the Reikoku," 
Ukyou noted.  "So, let me get this straight.  When someone 
becomes a member of this outfit, you do some sort of spell 
or something that wipes your karmic slate clean.  Something 
like that?"

"Well, not precisely," the High Priestess said, "but that's 
close enough."

"And when you do that," Ukyou continued, "the Reikoku stops 
chasing us."

"Yes."  

"Mistress!" piped up one of the lesser priestesses.  The 
woman gestured at Ryouga-chan.  "This one isn't a proper 
woman at all!  We can't possibly admit a man into our 
order..."

"So you're just going to let him die, then?" Ukyou snapped 
back before Ryouga-chan could reply.  "Do I need to remind 
you this is YOUR fault?"

"...our traditions are centuries old..."

"...we didn't force him to get involved..."

"...there must be some other way..."

"There IS no other way!" the High Priestess snapped, her 
sharp voice cutting through the babble of her subordinates.  
"This is our responsibility, and we must make amends.  To 
deny it only compounds our shame."

"But he's really a man..." the one who'd spoken up earlier 
protested.

Priestess Nariko pointed a finger at Ryouga-chan.  "I see a 
woman before me, sisters.  What's more, I see an innocent 
we have wronged.  Hibiki Ryouga," she addressed the 
bandana-clad martial artist, "if we are to proceed with 
this, you must agree to certain terms.  When you perform 
your duties for the Temple of Three, you must do so as a 
woman.  Further, you must never seek a cure for your 
condition.  Do you accept?"

Ryouga-chan closed her eyes and sniffed disdainfully.  
"Feh.  You have no idea of the hell I've lived already.  
Being a girl is nothing.  I have no intention of risking 
Jusenkyou again just to try to get a better cure."

Some of the lesser priestesses still grumbled.  "This is 
still stretching the rules, Mistress.  And will we make the 
same offer to this other one, this Saotome Ranma?"

"We will," the High Priestess insisted.  "The least we can 
do is to bend our own rules to make up for our own 
mistakes.  Especially considering what these two are going 
to have to endure."

Ukyou and Ryouga-chan looked at each other with 
apprehension.  "What's that supposed to mean?" the 
okonomiyaki chef asked suspiciously.  

Priestess Nariko turned to face one of the figures kneeling 
off to the side.  "Guardian Natsume, if you could please 
come forward and explain."

The adopted Tendou sister rose and advanced, then took a 
place kneeling below the dais upon which the temple 
priestesses were arrayed.  She faced Ukyou and Ryouga-chan 
with cool composure, but Ukyou could see the strain in her 
face.  She only remembered the girl vaguely from the first 
time she had visited Nerima, when she and her little sister 
had come to try to lay claim to the Tendou dojo.  It seemed 
like something that had happened in another world, another 
lifetime.  

Natsume gave a slight shake of her head to settle her long 
ponytail into place, then spoke.  "The two of you are 
martial artists.  This means that the duties you would be 
qualified for in the service of the Temple of Three would 
be the same as mine.  You would be Guardians, fighting for 
the sake of the temple when the need arises.  Do you have 
any other skills of note?"

"I can cook," Ukyou said.

A small smile played on Natsume's lips.  "I remember well, 
Kuonji-san.  It's a pity the temple has no order of 
dedicated cooks, or you would be well suited.  You are 
fighters, the both of you, and that is the only way you 
could serve."

"So..." Ryouga-chan asked warily, "what's so wrong with 
that?  You act like it's a problem."

Natsume sighed.  "The trials to enter the order of the 
Guardians are many and grueling.  I only attained full 
membership recently, and my sister will merely have 
provisional status for several years until she matures to 
readiness.  While it will be acceptable to skip most of the 
trials for the sake of expediency, in light of the level of 
attainment both of you have achieved... the final rite of 
initiation is compulsory if you are to become a member of 
the Guardians of the Temple."

"And what's that, sugar?" Ukyou asked.

"It is a trial by combat," Natsume said, her voice quiet 
and grave.  "And your opponent is the Reikoku."

The two warriors sat in stunned silence for a very long 
moment.

Then Ryouga-chan's fist hit the tiles of the temple floor, 
shattering stone and sending fragments of shrapnel flying 
in all directions.  "DAMN!"  

"You have GOT to be KIDDING ME!" Ukyou screamed, rising to 
her feet.  She trembled with rage, reflexively reaching for 
a battle spatula that was no longer there.  She wanted to 
pound somebody.  "We CAME here so we wouldn't HAVE to fight 
that goddamned thing again, you stupid jackasses!"

Most of the priestesses recoiled from the outbursts of fury 
from the two fighters.  Tendou Natsume held her position 
and her composure.  A fleck of stone from Ryouga-chan's 
assault on the floor had raked across the cheek of High 
Priestess Aoki Nariko.  The woman did not flinch, but 
merely bowed her head in sorrow and shame, as a trickle of 
blood ran down her face like a tear.

Ukyou rounded on Natsume.  "You fought that thing?  You had 
to, since you're a Guardian. But it's not pursing YOU, is 
it?"

Natsume nodded.  "That's correct.  This is the reason why 
the initiation into the Temple of Three renders a woman 
free from pursuit by the Reikoku.  If it didn't, it would 
be impossible to use the creature for the initiation rite."

"It's still an insane test," Ukyou snapped.

The Tendou girl shrugged.  "In its first stage, the Reikoku 
is a dangerous foe, but manageable for a warrior with 
sufficient skill.  It is only in its later incarnations, 
when it adapts and grows stronger, that it becomes truly 
terrifying."

"But we've both fought it in its first form," Ryouga-chan 
snarled.  "I've fought it TWICE!"

The High Priestess spoke up.  "Yes.  I know.  Kuonji Ukyou 
will have to face the creature in its second stage, and 
you, Hibiki Ryouga, must defeat it in its third 
incarnation.  If you succeed, then you will become part of 
our sisterhood, and the Reikoku will no longer hound you."

"And if we fail?" Ryouga-chan asked.

Aoki Nariko's eyes were full of sympathy, but she did not 
flinch from the truth.  "Then you will die.  I am sorry, 
both of you.  But there is no other way."

- - - - -

Ranma looked around the little valley and nodded to 
himself. This was a good place for a fight. Not much snow 
had accumulated here, so he could count on decent footing. 
There was enough open space to move around, but also 
patches of trees that he could use for cover if he needed 
to. 

It was as good a spot as he could hope for. He certainly 
didn't think he had time to keep pressing on to find a 
better location - the Reikoku would be here soon. He was 
certain of it.

<Good,> he thought. <I'm ready for you this time, you 
demon. You just try and kill me now.> 

This was going to be a tricky battle. He felt confident 
that he could win - he had an arsenal of new techniques to 
use, had logged untold hours training hard with Ryouga and 
Ukyou, and had gained full access to the power of the Neko-
ken. Even facing the Reikoku at its third stage, he would 
have more than enough to defeat it. 

How MUCH more, though, was the real question.

Ranma planned to walk a very dangerous line in this fight. 
He wanted to defeat the Reikoku, but he also wanted to use 
as few of his new techniques as he possibly could. It was 
risky as hell to fight like that - holding back against a 
horror like the Reikoku might cost you your head - but he 
didn't see much of a choice. He couldn't play his strongest 
cards this time, in this third fight, and hope to survive 
the final confrontation.

Part of his decision was about running out of time, about 
the coming danger of winter, about wanting to be free after 
spending so long on the run. But mostly, it was because of 
Akane. She'd come here to help him... to save him. Her 
skills had improved to a level he never would've dreamed 
she could achieve. He knew without a doubt that if she had 
to fight the Reikoku herself, she could defeat it in its 
first stage.

That was the problem. She knew that as well as he did. And 
knowing that she could win, Akane was sure to attack the 
creature eventually. She'd do it to protect him, to save 
him... and then, she would be in just as much trouble as he 
was now. 

<Can't let that happen,> he told himself. He had no 
illusions that she would really just go back home and wait 
in Japan. She would follow him, and she had Shampoo as her 
guide. He would have to get this done quickly - fight the 
Reikoku, continue along their backtrail where the recently-
traveled path was familiar to him, and then engage it in 
the last battle as soon as his strength was recovered. 
<Ryouga,> he thought. <Ukyou. Even Pantyhose. Too many 
people have been caught up in this. I won't let it happen 
to Akane.>

He heard the keening screech of a terrified hawk.

<Here it comes,> he thought. He shrugged out of his 
backpack and set it next to a boulder at the entrance to 
the canyon, then cast off his bulky jacket and boots. His 
aura control had advanced to the point where he could 
easily ignore the cold for a limited period of time. The 
thin veil of frost that coated the scrub-covered earth 
crackled under his feet as he strode into the valley.

A flock of small black birds erupted from the trees, 
chittering madly. A family of deer bolted from the cover of 
the undergrowth, silent in their panic as they streaked 
past. A grim smile fixed itself on Ranma's face.

The terror aura of the Reikoku, saturated with its feline 
aspect, raked over him. He could feel the phantom claws 
plucking at his skin, smell the illusion of fish, but this 
time he withstood it. He didn't have to disappear into a 
fugue of cat impersonation to access the power of the Neko-
ken. Saotome Ranma flexed his ki-claws, his mind fully 
human and aware. <Not this time, monster.>

As if in response to his thoughts, the Reikoku emerged from 
the shadows of the trees.

Ranma's heartbeat quickened as he watched the black-robed 
thing shambling towards him, its three inhuman eyes burning 
with laser-red light from the void beneath its hood. It 
advanced, its pace not wavering, moving with the same 
relentless gait that had carried it across rivers and 
mountains towards him, towards its prey. Fear poured forth 
from it like an invisible miasma, sending all living things 
fleeing before it as it came.

All things, except for Saotome Ranma. The young warrior let 
out a battle cry and charged headlong into the fight.

<Let's see what you've got this time,> he thought. The 
first thing he wanted to achieve in this fight was to feel 
out what kind of special adaptations the Reikoku had 
devised, other than the general increases in its strength, 
speed, and durability. Since it had been trying to force 
him into the Neko-ken state, Ranma knew its style on this 
third incarnation would be devised to defeat him while he 
fighting as a cat. Perhaps it wouldn't have needed any 
special new abilities - perhaps his own mindless 
predictability in the Neko-ken would have been enough to 
cost him his life in the fight - but he wanted to be sure.

<So, let's draw it out,> he thought. <Time to see what you 
planned to do.>

He dropped to all fours, advancing in an imitation of his 
former Neko-ken stance. The Reikoku shifted, and suddenly a 
jet-black, glistening arm unfolded into view. The limb 
uncoiled like a striking snake, and seemed to be made of 
something like tar. Globs of the thick, oily slime of which 
the arm was composed flew in an erratic spray as it 
stretched the limb towards him.

Ranma popped out of his cat stance, abruptly shifting 
directions to avoid the oozing black tentacle. <Gross,> he 
thought. But he understood the strategy - that tarry gunk 
looked like some kind of powerful adhesive. His Neko-ken 
self always tore its way through obstacles with the ki-
claws, shredding anything that came into his path. He could 
even shave water down to ribbons... but that sticky crap 
would be another story. He could picture how his claws 
would send it splattering as he struck, coating him with 
the heavy black slime even as he tried to disperse it, 
until he was so gummed down that he could barely move. The 
Reikoku would've been able to kill him at its leisure like 
that.

He swerved, rolled, and dove away from the thrashing black 
tentacle. Even though he wasn't moving as the Reikoku had 
predicted, the tar-coated limb was still a dangerous 
weapon. It extended almost thirty feet, by Ranma's guess, 
and its whip-like speed made it hard to avoid. <It sprays 
that nasty crap out whenever it thrashes,> he observed. 
<One stray glop, and I'm in trouble.> That made evading it 
even more difficult.

To win, he'd have to get in close. He'd have to neutralize 
that sticky black adhesive. He didn't want to use more of 
his One-Man Dragon arts than he had to, but he needed to 
have a distance attack to make this work. <How about this, 
then...>

"DRAGON-CLAW STORMS!"

With one hand charged by a hot aura and the other hand 
cold, Ranma could create swirling discs of wind, little 
streaking dust-devils to hurtle towards his enemy. The 
disadvantage of this technique he'd devised was that the 
individual attacks were not that strong.

The advantages, however, more than made up for it. With his 
superhuman speed, he could fill the air with one Dragon-
Claw Storm after another, pelting the target with dozens of 
them every second. Furthermore, by controlling how much 
heat or cold he infused into each hand, he could change the 
temperature of each Dragon-Claw Storm, making it either a 
fiery pinwheel or a biting slash of icy cold.

This time, he formed each one with as much cold as he could 
muster. <Let's see if that slime will freeze...>

The air hissed and shrieked with the passage of the Dragon-
Claw Storms, hailing down towards the Reikoku. Ranma went 
for volume over accuracy - he knew from his training that 
the individual Dragon-Claws were a little erratic, so there 
wasn't any point in trying to pinpoint the target with each 
shot. This was a scattershot attack - if he launched enough 
of them, plenty would hit the mark.
 
The tar-like sludge of the Reikoku's tentacle absorbed 
dozens of the freezing attacks, and the cold began to 
thicken the dark slime with each strike. Patches of ice 
sprouted on the surface of the black tentacle as the 
whirlwinds struck home. The frozen spots shattered as the 
monster tried to swing its tentacle free, only to re-freeze 
as Ranma pelted it with more Dragon-Claw Storms.

The creature showed no pain, but Ranma could tell his 
strategy was working. It advanced, thrashing its frozen arm 
back and forth towards him. What had once been a supple 
whip of deadly black slime had become an awkward, twisted 
club of ice. The Reikoku tried to batter him with it, but 
this was an attack he could easily avoid. 

<Let's get rid of that arm once and for all,> he thought 
savagely. Ranma charged under one of the beast's clumsy 
swipes and moved in close. With a loud battle cry, he 
unloaded with a powerful punch at the base of the frozen 
tentacle, close to where the limb attached to the main body 
of the Reikoku.

Ice cracked, frozen tar shattered, and the tentacle gave 
way with an ear-piercing snap. 

<HA!> Ranma thought triumphantly. <Take THAT, you ugly...>

Reflexes saved him as grasping claws erupted from the robes 
of the beast, lunging for his throat. The young Saotome 
ducked and whirled away as a second, a third, then a fourth 
arm swept out from beneath the Reikoku's soot-colored 
robes. 

"Damn!" he exclaimed, scrambling to gain some distance. A 
taloned finger raked along his shoulder, and another ripped 
at his leg before he managed to get clear of the creature's 
reach. It advanced, its four new arms spread out in every 
direction. Each was triple-jointed, sinewy and muscular, 
ending in a three-fingered claw tipped with black talons. 

<Figures,> he thought as he circled the Reikoku. <A cat 
attacks with claws on its front and back paws, so this 
thing counters with something to match that.> He gave a 
quick glance at the wounds he had received - not crippling, 
to be sure, but still bleeding. He'd have to be careful 
with that. Blood loss affected his stamina, and running at 
the high speeds he needed to execute the Dragon-Claw Storms 
had its cost in energy. 

Still, he couldn't afford to slow down. He threw himself 
back towards the Reikoku, leaping over the low swipes from 
two of its arms that would've carved up his legs. The 
remaining two claws of the beast lashed out, but Ranma 
struck first. "KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURI-NEKOKEN!" he cried, 
launching into a high-speed volley of attacks.

He'd used the standard Amaguriken on the Reikoku before, 
but he'd also seen its defense. The creature anticipated 
the pattern of his attacks and intercepted each punch with 
its claws, shredding his hands and defending itself at the 
same time. 

But this time, HE had even deadlier claws. Using the Neko-
ken turned the Chestnut Fist attack into a lacerating 
frenzy of death.

The rubbery flesh of the Reikoku's arms seemed to be some 
kind of armor, but it didn't protect the creature enough. 
Ribbons of greyish sinew flew from the creature's claws 
wherever Ranma struck, shaved off like strands of 
excelsior. The thing's talons buckled and snapped, 
spiraling off alongside the chunks of flayed inhuman flesh.

Ranma broke off his attack and hopped back, dodging the 
follow-up strike from the Reikoku's lower two claws. 
Normally, the Amaguriken was an attack that lasted for 
several seconds, but the young Saotome knew better than to 
hold still long enough to give the Reikoku an easy counter. 
<If I use it in short bursts,> he thought, <I can nail it 
without getting slashed open. I can do this! I can beat 
this ugly monster!>

Then, he felt her presence.

<Akane?> he thought. For a moment, his concentration 
slipped. The Reikoku struck with terrifying speed, lashing 
out with black talons. Ranma dodged on instinct, taking a 
glancing blow, but the force of it still staggered him.

He saw her as he spun away from the attack. 

She had entered the valley, and stood with Shampoo near his 
discarded pack and traveling clothes. She had the wisdom 
not to call out and distract him, but sensing her there had 
disrupted his concentration anyway. A momentary lack of 
focus, and suddenly he was scrambling to evade the Reikoku. 
He'd disabled two of its limbs, but the other two were 
still completely intact. It had plenty of power left to 
press its assault. 

Ranma leaped away, trying to put some distance between 
himself and the murderous demon, but he didn't manage to 
get a good look at where his foot was landing until too 
late. He heard a nasty splat, and looked down to see his 
foot trapped in a puddle of dark, gluey resin. 

<One of those blobs that sprayed out from the tentacle!> he 
realized. Though he'd frozen the tar-like arm itself, he 
hadn't taken care of all the stray globs it had splashed 
over the battlefield as it had tried to hit him. Now, they 
littered the ground like little adhesive landmines. 

And he couldn't dodge as the Reikoku closed in for the 
kill.

<No choice,> he thought desperately. "DRAGON-CLAW STORMS!"

His hands moved with all the speed he could muster, dancing 
through the air in spirals too quick to follow as he 
summoned whirlwind upon whirlwind to hurtle at the Reikoku. 
This time, the Dragon-Claws burned with fiery power, each a 
whirling blaze as it struck its target. He couldn't afford 
the slower freezing effect of the cold Dragon-Claws - he 
had to blow the beast away from him.

For a moment, it looked as if the Reikoku would be able to 
force its way through the firestorm. But then a barrage of 
Ranma's Dragon-Claw Storms caught it dead-center, and the 
creature's body left the ground, tumbling backwards into 
the trees with the force of the attack.

Bellowing with rage, Ranma continued his onslaught, 
showering the Reikoku and the surrounding countryside with 
swirling pinwheels of flame. Dry twigs burst alight as the 
errant Dragon-Claws struck the leafless trees, but most of 
them hit their target, blanketing the demonic creature with 
a maelstrom of blazing fury.

The young Saotome broke off his attack after several long 
seconds. He focused his cold ki on the glistening black 
ooze that had him imprisoned, freezing it solid, then 
shattered it with a well-placed strike. He staggered 
forward, liberated from the trap, and took a fighting 
stance. <It's still up,> he thought, sensing the power of 
its terror-field from the smoking ruin where it had landed. 
<It ain't finished yet...>

Each breath came in a ragged wheeze now, and he felt his 
knees beginning to tremble with weakness. Drops of blood 
from the cuts inflicted on him by the monster's claws 
splattered on the ground as he moved. His heart slammed 
into his ribs with each desperate beat. He hadn't taken a 
truly serious wound yet - but he could feel the strength 
seeping out of his body. All those high-octane moves - the 
Dragon-Claw Storms, the Amaguriken - were beginning to take 
their toll. He couldn't hope to hold out for much longer at 
this pace.

The Reikoku shambled towards him, its talons poised to 
slash.

<It's damaged,> he thought, trying to gird himself for the 
next clash. He'd reduced two of its arms to ragged stumps, 
and the thing's robes still smoldered from where the fiery 
Dragon-Claws had struck home. He didn't think he'd be able 
to disable the other two arms the same way - the Reikoku 
adapted to attacks too quickly for that. It was too fast to 
just try to exchange blows with and hope for the best. <How 
to attack it next... I got it!>

"You don't got four claws anymore," he gasped at it, "but I 
do!" He launched himself at the monster, hands extended to 
catch the creature's two intact arms by the wrists. His ki-
claws sunk deep into the vile, rubbery flesh, pinning each 
arm in his grasp.

"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURI-NEKOKEN - REAR CLAW RAKE!"

Using his grip on the Reikoku's arms as his anchor, Ranma 
brought both feet up towards its body and unleashed a 
blinding combination of kicks. Each kick raked down the 
front of the beast, slashing into its dark body with the 
ki-claws of the Neko-ken. Chitinous armor cracked and split 
under the onslaught. Twisting black strips of its robes 
tore away, spraying crazily through the air in a writhing 
cloud around the two combatants. Hundreds of powerful 
rending kicks, each delivered at lightning velocity, lashed 
at the monster's body.

An agonized howl rose from Ranma's throat as he executed 
his attack. Touching the Reikoku was like plunging into a 
lake of congealed nightmares. Waves of revulsion racked his 
body, squeezing his guts with freezing iron fingers. He 
fought with all his will to keep the flood of horror at 
bay, to hold on to the creature's arms and keep kicking, 
but eventually the tide overwhelmed him. With a final, 
convulsive thrust, he kicked off from the Reikoku's body, 
releasing his hold on its arms. 

Ranma spun through the air and landed in a crouch. <Gotta 
finish it!> he thought, knowing that he was near the end of 
his strength, knowing that if he hesitated, his exhaustion 
would catch up with him. Summoning his hot and cold auras 
once more, he spun in a pirouette with arms outstretched. 
"SOARING ONE-MAN DRAGON!"

He felt fairly safe in using this technique - after all, 
the Reikoku had already seen him employ a version of it 
before, so there was no sense holding off until he fought 
it at its fourth stage. His last attempt had been an out-
of-control hurtle through the air, simply designed to get 
him over and past the creature so he could run away. 

This time, he used the self-generated whirlwind to project 
himself with fantastic force at the creature itself. He 
spun like a bullet shot from a rifle, using the torque to 
increase his power and accuracy, and blazed into the beast 
with a flying kick that sent a shockwave across the valley 
floor. 

The Reikoku's armored body crunched under the blow, folding 
practically in half as it absorbed the kick. Its black-
robed form flew away from the impact, slamming into the 
burning trees beyond with a thunderous crash. 

Ranma tumbled to the ground in an uncontrolled splay, 
rolling over and over across the ice-hardened earth until 
he finally thudded to a halt. His leg had gone completely 
numb from the force of the impact. He prayed it wasn't 
broken. Even if it wasn't, he doubted if he could move 
again. In his fatigue, he doubted he could even stand. 

<That's okay,> he thought dizzily. He'd beaten it. The 
Reikoku's terror aura - the truest marker of its presence - 
had dwindled down to the quiescent buzz that it generated 
when it had been beaten into dormancy.

He tried to rise. The effort was unspeakable - he could 
barely lift his head off the ground to look around. Akane 
and Shampoo ran towards him, shouting his name. He tried to 
smile reassuringly... he hoped she wouldn't be too mad that 
he'd ditched her. Part of him was glad. It was so good to 
see her again, so full of life and energy, her eyes 
gleaming with the hint of tears. She seemed to glow like an 
angel as she ran...

<She is glowing,> he thought. <That's the light from the 
fire.>

Cold fear seized Ranma's heart.

<The fire...>

He tried to rise, but blackness crept in around the edges 
of his vision, and his head began to swim. <No...> he 
thought desperately. "A... Akane!" he croaked.

"Ranma!" she cried back. He felt her strong arms catch him 
as he lurched. The world dipped around him. "Ranma! Are you 
all right?"

"Run..." he whispered. "Akane... run..."

Saotome Ranma's world went dark.

- - - - -

"He passed out," Akane said, cradling him in her arms. He 
looked a wreck, like he hadn't eaten in days, his skin 
ashen and pale. 

"He spend much energy in fight," Shampoo said, kneeling 
down to examine Ranma as well. "Ranma-san need rest and 
food."

"Let's get him out of here," Akane whispered. Her rage at 
Ranma seemed a distant thing, now that she saw him so spent 
and vulnerable. Part of her still resented what he'd 
done... but after seeing the Reikoku at its third stage, 
she thought she understood a little better as well. Its 
power staggered her imagination. Even watching had been a 
challenge - the aura of terror alone...

The young Tendou felt her throat tighten. <That creature's 
aura... I can feel it again!>

She looked up at Shampoo, whose face mirrored her own 
astonishment. They both turned towards the spot where the 
Reikoku had fallen after Ranma's last attack, concealed now 
by the burning trees that Ranma had ignited with his 
Dragon-Claw Storms. As they peered into the billowing 
clouds of black smoke, they saw three points of crimson 
light flicker into life... and begin to move.

"What?" Akane shouted. "I thought it would be down a full 
day before it started moving again!"

"It the fire!" Shampoo cried in dismay. "Great-grandmother 
say, you no try burn body of Reikoku while it dormant, or 
it rise quicker!"

Now Akane remembered, thinking back to that night so long 
ago, when old Cologne had described the horror of the 
Reikoku to all of them back at the Tendou Dojo. Ranma 
hadn't cast it into the flames on purpose, she knew, but 
that didn't matter to the demon. It had risen again - and 
it was coming for its prey.

"We were heading to catch a train," Akane said to Shampoo, 
her eyes never leaving the advancing form of the 
monstrosity. "How far is that?"

The Amazon girl bit her lip. "Six, seven hour. Maybe less 
running."

Akane set Ranma down on the ground, gently lowering his 
head to the earth so as not to jar him from his sleep. 
"It's almost night. We're never going to make it that far 
in the dark carrying Ranma."

"Akane-san..." Shampoo said quietly, but she didn't 
disagree. It was true.

The Tendou heir turned to her companion and smiled. "It's 
okay," she said. "I was prepared to have to do this." She 
released the straps on her backpack and let it thud to the 
ground. She had promised her family that she would only 
fight the Reikoku as a last resort, that she would do 
everything she could to get away from it instead of 
provoking a clash... but now, she had no choice. "I'm not 
going to let him die."

Tendou Akane stepped forward to meet the Reikoku in battle.

She advanced several paces in front of Ranma, then dropped 
into a fighting stance. Muscles like steel cable tensed 
along her forearms as her fists clenched and unclenched. 
Her battle aura shimmered to life, a scintillating, phantom 
blue in the darkening evening. She felt as if power was 
flowing from the earth into her body, up through her feet 
and into all her limbs, filling her with strength. <I might 
be signing my death warrant here,> she thought, but she 
felt no regrets. She was a warrior, and this is what she 
had been born to do.

The Reikoku came on, its pace unwavering, the only purpose 
to its existence to destroy to its prey. 

Akane drew back a fist, ready to let fly with the punch 
that would save the life of her beloved and mark her for 
death...

... and suddenly, the Reikoku vanished.

She was so shocked that she forgot to breathe. Akane 
staggered, looking around wildly for the monstrosity that 
had been barely a yard away from her a moment earlier. 
"What the HELL?" she spluttered.

"It gone!" Shampoo exclaimed, her voice full of 
astonishment.

"How can it be gone?" Akane cast about, trying to sense the 
creature, afraid that it had done something to get past her 
to get to Ranma. But her fiancee was still there, breathing 
slowly as he slept his exhausted sleep. And she didn't even 
feel a hint of the Reikoku's terror field. 

The thing had simply disappeared.

She looked at Shampoo, utterly thunderstruck for a long 
moment at this inexplicable turn of events. "Did... did 
your great-grandmother ever say... anything about this sort 
of thing?" She gestured feebly, trying somehow to indicate 
the enormity of what had just happened. 

The Amazon girl's brow furrowed in thought. Then her eyes 
widened. "Oh! Spatula Girl and Pig... er, I mean Ukyou-san 
and Ryouga-san!"

"What?"

Hope and delight glowed on Shampoo's face. "Great-
grandmother show them how to find Happosai! They look for 
some way to stop Reikoku! Maybe they find out how, yes? 
Made it go away!"

<Could that be it?> she thought. It seemed too good to be 
true... and yet, what else could explain the monster's 
sudden disappearance? "Maybe they have," she said. "But... 
I think we'd better be safe." She grabbed her backpack and 
buckled it on again, then stooped to collect the 
unconscious Ranma.

"We go now?"

"I don't want to be around if that thing suddenly pops back 
up again," she told Shampoo. "I'll carry Ranma. You lead 
the way. Let's see if we can catch that train before 
morning."

- - - - -

"Are you sure about this, Ukyou-san?"

Ukyou hesitated as she was buckling on her bandoleer of 
throwing spatulas, then turned to face Tendou Natsume.  
"Yes," she said quietly.  "Be sure to tell Ryouga what I 
said, no matter what."

The adopted Tendou looked doubtful.  "If you say so..."

"You have to know him to understand," Ukyou assured her.  
She fiddled a bit more with her weapons.  Though she had 
given her combat spatula to Ryouga, she had decided to take 
the throwing weapons along with her into this fight anyway.  
True, she'd used them before against the Reikoku, and thus 
could be assured that the creature had devised some defense 
against them, but she thought they might come in handy 
anyway.  If nothing else, it made her feel a little better.

She'd need all the confidence she could get in this fight.

<It's okay,> she thought.  <This is what all the training 
has been for.  I'm a lot stronger than the first time I 
fought it, and a lot faster.  I've learned to fight without 
my weapon.  I'll be fine.>

She was more worried about Ryouga than herself, if truth be 
told.  He'd fought the Reikoku more recently than she had, 
and therefore had not enjoyed as much time to revise his 
fighting style.  He seemed like he was pretty much 
recovered from the injuries inflicted upon him at 
Jusenkyou, but she wondered if he'd really been able to get 
back up to full strength.  Anything less would be fatal 
against the Reikoku.  

<He'll be okay,> she told herself.  <That demon has 
probably spent its energy adapting to exploit a weakness he 
doesn't have anymore, now that he can't be turned into a 
pig.  That should be a big factor.  Plus, he's got my 
spatula.  And there's the other thing...> her thoughts 
trailed off.  

Would it be enough?  They had glimpsed the creature in its 
third incarnation, when Pantyhose Tarou had faced it in 
Jusenkyou after his scheme had gone so disastrously wrong.  
Tarou had been in the same league as Ranma in martial arts 
skill, but the Reikoku had torn him to pieces.  True, he 
hadn't precisely been in a winning frame of mind when he'd 
faced it.  <And Ryouga's frame of mind... it'll be the key.  
He'll be able to beat it.  I know he will.>

"Ukyou-san?" 

The young chef was jarred from her reverie by Natsume's 
voice.  "Uh... sorry there.  Kind of lost in my own 
thoughts."

The severe girl studied her carefully.  "I would advise you 
to focus, Ukyou-san.  The time for your battle is almost 
here.  You cannot afford distractions."

<Ryouga's not a distraction,> she thought.  She shook her 
head sharply.  "Believe me, I know.  Come on.  Let's get 
this over with."

Natsume led her from the chambers that she'd been given to 
rest and prepare through the serpentine hallways of the 
Temple of Three.  Ukyou followed the girl with the 
rugbeater up a flight of stairs cut into the stone 
foundations of the temple, trying to calm the jitters in 
her stomach.  She couldn't let herself be afraid - the 
Reikoku's fear aura was hard enough to handle without 
fueling it with her own anxiety.

She could practically hear Ryouga's voice in her mind.  
<You're thinking too much,> the voice said.  <It's not time 
for that.  This is the time to fight.>

<Time to fight,> she agreed.  <Time to see if I'm really as 
good as I think I am.  And if I'm not... I'm dead.>

<I believe in you, Ukyou,> Ryouga's voice answered, almost 
as clear as if the Lost Boy were standing beside her.  She 
felt the knot around her stomach loosen, and the world 
shifted into sharper focus.  And then, the passage opened 
into the arena.

The chamber yawned before her, astonishingly vast for a 
place that was almost impossible to see from the surface.  
Natsume had explained to her how the bulk of the Temple of 
Three was built under an immense shelf of earth-covered 
stone, so it essentially rested beneath the forest floor.  
It was still amazing to see how much space they had 
dedicated to the arena - you could practically have staged 
a soccer game in this chamber.  Not that the stony floor of 
the arena would have been much fun for playing the game, 
but still...

Along one wall there were carved tall, narrow slashes in 
the stone, creating windows that looked out over the 
greenery of the forest.  Along the opposite wall were 
stands for spectators, and Ukyou looked out over the 
gathered crowd of unfamiliar women who had gathered to 
watch her fight for her life.  Only full initiates of the 
temple were allowed to watch this ritual, so Natsume's 
little sister was not among the onlookers.

Nor was Ryouga.  Ukyou had been ready to complain about 
that when they told her, to demand that they make an 
exception in this case to their stupid little rules, but 
then it had occurred to her that things might work out 
better this way.  So she had volunteered to go first, and 
helped quiet Ryouga-chan when she had protested her 
exclusion.  

"It'll be fine, sugar," she'd told her angry friend.  "I'll 
be okay."

Ryouga-chan had gripped her shoulders, her fingers strong 
on Ukyou's arms.  "I... I'll be with you, Ukyou.  Even if 
they won't let me watch, I'll be with you all the way!"

She'd felt her throat tighten, and had not managed to do 
more than nod.

<He's with me,> she thought as she separated from Natsume 
and made her way to the center of the arena.  <We trained 
together, fought together, crossed half of China together.  
Thanks to him, I have the skills to do this.  Him... and 
Ranma.>  She frowned slightly in thought, then straightened 
her back and quickened her pace.  She reached the spot 
where she'd been told to go, then pivoted to face the High 
Priestess and her chief acolytes on the raised dais that 
overlooked the arena.

Aoki Nariko addressed her.  "Who is this girl that stands 
before us, seeking to become Guardian of the Temple of 
Three?" she intoned formally.

"Kuonji Ukyou," the young fighter shouted back.  "Can the 
ceremony and bring on the monster, lady.  I'm ready to kick 
its demonic ass!"

The lesser priestesses on the platform shifted and grumbled 
- there was supposed to be a longer, more formal ritual 
that preceded the summoning of the Reikoku, but Ukyou was 
in no mood to recite the lines.  Aoki Nariko merely smiled.  
"Very well.  Let us begin."  

With that, she raised her arms and began to chant.

The other members of the Temple of Three focused their will 
to aid her - Ukyou could feel the currents of power flowing 
towards the High Priestess.  Nariko's voice grew louder, 
becoming thunderous as it echoed off the pillars and walls 
of the great arena.  Her words slammed through the air like 
blows to some immense brass gong as she intoned the 
summoning chant.  

"Let she who would guard us face the wrath of the storm.  
Let the darkness coalesce, let Death take a form.  By the 
power of the Three, I call upon thee - the target is Kuonji 
Ukyou!  Come forth now... REIKOKU!"

"REIKOKU!" the sisters of the temple echoed.  

A wave of terror, now all too familiar to Ukyou, washed 
across the arena.  A black pit ripped itself in the air, so 
dark that the eyes recoiled to look upon it.  Three points 
of brilliant red shone out from that unspeakable void, and 
the aura of concentrated fear poured forth from the rent 
like some poisonous vapor. The gate that called forth the 
creature crackled and spat arcs of crimson lightning, and 
the women in the crowd gasped as the creature emerged.

<There you are again, you goddamned thing,> Ukyou thought.  
She spared a moment to notice the moans of fear from some 
of the assembled onlookers.  <They haven't seen it at this 
stage, have they?  It's more powerful than they're used 
to.>

The creature advanced, scraping along the stony floor in 
its unnatural shuffling gait, and Ukyou had no more time to 
think of anything else but the fight.

The young chef took a fist full of throwing spatulas in one 
hand and marked her target.  Though she was pretty sure the 
thing had developed a defense against her weapons, she was 
curious to know what that defense was.  If there was some 
way around it that would let her still use her weapons... 

When she let fly with the volley, the creature shifted.  An 
appendage emerged from beneath the folds of its ragged 
black cloak, flashing out along a tentacle-like arm that 
seemed composed of rubbery flesh and twisted sinew.  At the 
end of the long arm was a heavy, mottled mass, black and 
glinting, about the size and shape of a particularly large 
pumpkin.  It moved with unnerving speed as the arm 
uncoiled.

Her spatulas swerved in mid-flight towards the massive head 
of the appendage, then impacted with a metallic clang.  The 
mace-like arm crashed heavily into the floor, sending up 
showers of stone shards, crushing her spatulas beneath its 
bulk.

<A magnet,> Ukyou thought.  <A giant magnet.  Yeah, that'd 
do the trick.>  She quickly cast away her bandoleer of 
throwing weapons.  They would do her more harm than good if 
they gave that arm a way to get a hold of her.  

The Reikoku heaved its ghastly limb into the air, whipped 
it around its body with ferocious force, and cast it 
towards its prey.  Ukyou yelped and leaped aside as the 
magnetic lump crashed into the spot where she'd been 
standing, smashing a crater into the stone floor as it 
struck.  She ducked and rolled as the thing lashed the arm 
towards her again, whirling it in a great arc, seeking to 
pound her to a pulp.

<It's like a wrecking ball!> she thought.  The appendage 
wasn't just a defense against metallic armaments - it 
seemed to be the Reikoku's primary weapon in this 
incarnation.  The snaking arm gave it immense range, and 
the sheer mass of the weapon's head would be lethal if it 
landed a direct hit.  With its wrecking arm, the Reikoku 
could control the fight at long range.  Had she been 
fighting with her battle spatula, it would have neutralized 
her every advantage.

<Which is why I trained,> she thought.  She offered a 
silent prayer of gratitude to Ryouga and Ranma for all the 
time and effort they'd put into her skills. 

Before, she didn't think she would have had the speed to 
get within the spinning radius of the Reikoku's deadly 
magnetic arm.  But her training had focused on her natural 
agility as well as her sense of incoming danger.  Trusting 
her instincts, she darted towards the Reikoku, 
somersaulting forward under the arc of its swinging weapon.  
The lumpy iron-hard mass brushed her hair as it past, but 
then she was within its radius.

The arm was ideal for long-ranged combat, but once she got 
close, it wasn't a threat.  It was time to press the 
attack.

She still didn't relish the idea of shouting about 
chestnuts when she performed the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken 
attack, but had yet to come up with a suitable alternative.  
She knew a battle cry helped focus one's energy into the 
attack, so once again she ended up yelling the first thing 
that popped into her mind:

"PUNCH-PUNCH REVOLUTION!"

<Ugh... that probably won't do,> she thought vaguely.  But 
there was nothing wrong with her technique - she planted 
her feet and unloaded a storm of punches on the black-
garbed terror before her.  Fists toughened by countless hours 
of practice with Ryouga beat a raging tempo against the 
chitinous armor of the monstrosity.  It reeled under her 
assault.

Then the wrecking arm came hurtling toward her from behind.

It streaked toward the creature's body like it was on some 
spring-wound coil, accelerating as the Reikoku brought it 
into a tighter arc.  Ukyou broke off her attack and dodged 
frantically, her sixth sense to danger barely warning her 
in time of the incoming attack.  She almost managed to get 
clear of the deadly mass, but not quite.  The Reikoku 
tagged her with a glancing blow on her left arm, and she 
screamed in agony.

Reflexes took over, and she backpedaled away before it 
could follow up with a finishing blow.  Flashes of red 
exploded across her vision as the pain lanced through her.  
If the arm wasn't broken, it would be a miracle.  She 
certainly wouldn't be able to use it again in this fight.  
She held the wounded arm to her body, gritting her teeth 
against the pain.

The Reikoku uncoiled its battering arm, seeking to 
pulverize her again at long range with the weapon's 
murderous iron head.  Ukyou backed away evading the weapon, 
and suddenly realized she was running out of space.  The 
thing had pushed her toward a corner without her realizing 
it.  

<Oh crap!> she thought desperately.  There was no place to 
go except into the creature's attack, but with her arm 
wounded, she couldn't hope to execute the Amaguriken again.  
She didn't think lesser attacks would be effective 
enough...

Then a memory unfolded in her mind, blossoming in full 
recollection in the brief moment she had to decide what she 
was going to do.  Ryouga was there before her beside the 
campfire, piles of blackened acorns set on the earth before 
them.  They had been training in the method Ranma had 
showed them, and she'd been getting close to learning the 
technique.  They'd been talking about fights in the past.

"The most effective use of this technique I've ever seen," 
Ryouga had told her, "was when Ranma used it on me after I 
learned the breaking point.  His regular blows weren't 
strong enough to hurt me then.  Even a normal Amaguriken 
wouldn't do much.  He hadn't learned a lot of his other 
signature moves at the time, so he was kind of stuck."

"What did he do?" she asked.

He made a face that was a cross between a grimace and a 
smile.  "Well, first he used the Saotome Secret Technique."

"Which is?"

"Run away and give yourself time to think of something," 
Ryouga had answered.  They'd laughed together - that had 
been typical of the sorts of things Saotome Genma taught. 

"Still," Ukyou had pointed out, "that's pretty much what 
we're doing now with the Reikoku.  One long Saotome Secret 
Technique."

"Yeah," Ryouga had agreed.  "Never thought of it that way.  
Anyway, what he came up with when he fought me that time 
was a concentrated version of the Amaguriken."  He held up 
a single fist.  "First, he used the recoil from a branch to 
add power, but that was really just to throw me off.  What 
he was really doing was focusing all his speed into one 
hand, punching over and over again in the space of a split 
second.  It was the full power of the Amaguriken focused on 
a single spot."

She had raised an eyebrow.  "Did it work?"

Ryouga had nodded.  "Yeah.  But it was tiring, too.  Doing 
that burns your energy reserves like crazy."  He'd stared 
off into the sky.  "But it was enough.  Ranma always seemed 
to find just enough edge to win..."

<Now I've got to find enough edge,> she thought.  <Here 
goes!>

The Reikoku lashed out with its wrecking arm.  Ukyou timed 
her leap, jumping over the killing stroke.  As the deadly 
magnetic head crashed into the stone wall of the arena 
chamber, she kicked off from the surface of the wall above 
the impact, propelling herself with all her strength 
towards the Reikoku.  She cocked her good arm back as she 
hurtled toward it, focusing all her will on the speed.

To most of the onlookers, it seemed like a single blow.  
Only to the trained warriors of the Guardians was the 
effect visible.  Those fighters heard not just one impact, 
but a ripping sound as Ukyou landed dozens of fierce 
punches in less than a second against the creature's 
armored hide. 

The two flew apart from the impact - Ukyou cartwheeling 
into the open space of the arena with controlled grace, the 
Reikoku tumbling away in a black sprawl.  The okonomiyaki 
chef found her footing and turned to her foe.

<Is it finished?> she thought, panting with exertion.

But she knew that answer.  She'd damaged it, but it would 
take more than that to make the creature fall.  She could 
still feel the fear aura of the beast, like needles jabbing 
into her mind, and knew even before it stirred that it was 
preparing to rise.  

She wouldn't be able to finish it at this pace, not with 
one arm probably broken.  The spikes of pain sapped her 
energy, and soon would begin to slow her down.  She didn't 
know how many more of those punching attacks she had left 
in her, but she was terribly afraid that it wouldn't be 
enough.

<The arm,> she thought as the black thing advanced on her 
once more, unfurling its murderous wrecking arm to its full 
length.  <If I can take out the arm, this fight is mine.>  
It had not produced any other appendages to attack her in 
this incarnation.  If she could somehow deprive it of its 
deadly weapon, she knew she could win.

<My ki-attack,> she thought.  Her "Soul Spatula," as she'd 
come to think of it.  Where Ryouga and Ranma used ki-
attacks that hit like exploding bombs, hers struck with 
deadly cutting force, an edge that could go through steel 
as easily as a knife thorough uncooked batter.  The 
tentacle-like portion of the Reikoku's arm was thin and 
flexible - not heavily armored.  If she could hit it in the 
arc of a full swing, with the weight of the metallic head 
pulling it taut, she just might be able to slice it clean 
off.

She could make that shot.  She trusted her aim.  The hard 
part would be pulling the technique off.

Unlike Ryouga and Ranma's ki-attacks, which drew from 
emotions that they could easily access, Ukyou's Soul 
Spatula required her to strike a deep inner balance before 
she could use it.  It made the technique better, stronger - 
old Cologne had told her as much - but she had not yet 
mastered the kind of concentration she needed to instantly 
produce the energy.  

Even in practice circumstances, it was hard.  With the 
Reikoku bearing down on her, filling her mind with its 
unnatural aura of terror as it tried to crush her to a 
pulp, it seemed almost impossible.

<It's not impossible, Ukyou-san,> came Ryouga's voice in 
her mind.  <You've practiced this dozens of times. This is 
what you've trained for! Don't think about how hard it 
is... just DO it!>

He wasn't in the arena.  He wasn't watching the fight, 
didn't know what was happening.  He was deep in the temple 
somewhere, awaiting his turn to face the Reikoku while she 
struggled in this arena alone.  

But he WAS there, all the same.  He was beside her, with 
her as she fought.  His encouraging words, spoken every 
night they had shared together on the road, came back to 
her and lifted her spirits.  The skills he had taught her, 
patiently coaxing out her inner strength as they walked in 
the dark wild lands together, had helped save her so far in 
this fight.  He was her friend, her traveling companion, 
and he was there in her heart.

<Ryouga,> she thought, trying to find that space of harmony 
in her mind.  <Ryouga...>

And the Reikoku bore down on her, its deadly arm lashing 
the air as it hurtled toward her.

And she saw that the angle was bad, that she probably would 
not be able to evade this time.

And as the iron mass sparked off the stone as it swept 
toward her with enough force to demolish a truck, Kuonji 
Ukyou realized she had made a terrible, ghastly mistake.

- - - - -

Ryouga-chan wiped her face with the towel and leaned 
against the wall.  It was hard to concentrate, knowing that 
Ukyou was fighting for her life, wondering if she was all 
right.  She'd tried working out, keeping ready and limber 
for her own battle to come, but even the familiar routine 
of martial arts training was not enough to distract her 
from her worries.

Then she heard footsteps behind her.  She turned to see 
Tendou Natsume.  The tall, slender girl knelt on the 
ground, and faced away from Ryouga-chan.

This was what people did when they had bad news to tell 
you.  Ryouga-chan felt her stomach tighten.  <No... please 
no...>

"I'm sorry, Hibiki-san," the Guardian whispered.  "She 
fought well, but it wasn't enough."

<Don't say it, don't say it and make it real,> she thought 
desperately, but already the tears spilled down her cheeks, 
and she knew what Natsume would say next.

"Kuonji Ukyou... is dead."
 
- - - - - -


                    end of part sixteen...

-----------------------------------------------------------
                      AUTHOR'S NOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------


COMING SOON: It's Ryouga's turn to face the Reikoku in the
Temple of Three, but can he even bring himself to fight
in the wake of his loss? Meanwhile, Akane must make a
heartwrenching promise if she has any hope of saving Ranma...

COPYRIGHT STUFF:  All the Ranma characters belong to Takahashi 
Rumiko, and are licensed in America by Viz Communications.    

GRT - April 2005
Thunderstruck_comic@comcast.net

All existing chapters of this story may be found at:
http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless





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