==============
PART XI
BREAKING POINT: Clash of the umbrella kings!
==============
track -A-
[November's End]
"Ukyou? Where'd you go?" said Ryouga, as he was wandering hopelessly
lost in the main room of the restaurant.
"I'm in the backroom!" Ukyou yelled.
Ryouga turned to the direction from which her voice came. He checked
his compass. {Okay, if I keep on walking in this general direction...}
Four minutes later (a rather good time by Hibiki standards) Ryouga made
it there.
Ukyou was in the storage room, standing on a small stepladder arranging
the contents on a high shelf.
"Hey there," he sheepishly said.
"What?" she replied, flatly.
"Well, um, first of all, I'm really sorry if I did anything to make you
mad last night. I mean it. If... if you wanna throw me out, I'd
understand."
Ukyou looked surprised at this. "Throw you out?" she said, turning
towards him, "No, that's alright. It's not like you wrecked the store or
anything."
"So exactly what did I do anyways?" asked Ryouga.
"Forget it."
Ukyou turned back to the high shelf, humming to herself.
Unfortunately, she turned rather quickly and the stepladder was a rather
old and shaky one. Ukyou wobbled a bit and then fell off. She closed her
eyes when she realized she was going to hit the floor.
But she didn't.
Ukyou opened her eyes and looked right into Ryouga's. He managed to
catch her neatly into his arms.
"Hey, you okay?" he asked.
"Y-yeah."
Ryouga breathed a sigh of relief that his friend wasn't injured.
Ukyou's heart slowed down after the inital panic of falling.
They stayed that way for a few long seconds.
"Ryouga..."
"Hm?"
"You can put me down now."
"Huh?"
"Down, Ryouga, down."
"Oh... sorry, sorry." Ryouga let go quickly, deep in a state of
embarassment.
They stood there for a while, soaking in uncomfortable silence (which
was beginning to happen much too often for Ryouga's liking).
Finally, someone broke the silence.
"So what'd you want?" asked Ukyou.
"Do you remember that bridge where Ryo first attacked me?" he asked.
"Mm-hm. What about it?"
"Could you... guide me to it? I've gotta be there in an hour."
"Oh? What for?"
"Me and Ryo... talked, I guess. He agreed not to attack any of my
friends anymore... if... if I showed up today for a duel."
Ukyou sighed. "Wouldn't be a normal month without at least one big
martial arts duel. Fine. C'mon, let's go."
***
Ukyou and Ryouga walked slowly to the bridge, each silent and thinking.
She was worried about Ryouga, although she'd never admit it. This Ryo
guy... he couldn't be that good, could he? And Ryouga was pretty good
too, almost as good as Ranchan. Things, she told herself, would be fine.
Ryouga's head was swirling. What did he do to Ukyou when he was drunk?
Did Akane think he was some kind of pervert now? Exactly how good was Ryo
at martial arts? Why on earth did Ranma kiss him? Was Ranma's curse
beginning to bend his personality and turn him into a girl, both in mind
and body? Would this happen to Ryouga too? This was no good. Too many
distractions before the fight, that's what was wrong.
They noticed a fair sized crowd up ahead.
"Hey, what's with the crowd?" Ryouga asked.
"Dunno."
"EVERYBODY PLACE YOUR BETS! IT'S THE BATTLE OF THE DECADE! RYOUGA
'THE ROCK' HIBIKI VS. RYO MUHOSHIN, THE MAN WHO CRUSHED THE MEGA-PERVERT!
C'MON UP AND PLACE YOUR BETS!" Ryouga and Ukyou blinked. That was
definitely Nabiki on the megaphone.
"Ryouga... the Rock?" Ryouga wondered, not sure whether he should be
feeling offended or complemented. The crowd saw him and cheered. {What
kind of a name is Ryouga the Rock? This was just great, more
distractions}.
Ukyou was shaking her head sadly. "I don't believe she did this.
Shoulda known, though. Shoulda known."
Just before they entered the crowd, Ukyou grabbed Ryouga's shoulder.
"I'm gonna go get a good view."
"Oh." he said. Ryouga turned away, feeling not quite ready for the
fight.
"Ryouga!" Ukyou yelled. Ryouga stopped and turned around. Ukyou gave
him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey, good luck out there, okay? Don't
get hurt. I'll bet on ya, okay?"
Ryouga was speechless as he strode towards the battlefield.
***
Some distance away, Akane had noticed Ryouga and Ukyou's approach. She
watched as they walked up, talked, and smiled a bit when Ukyo kissed him.
{Well, there's one happy couple} she thought. Then she sadly looked at
her fiance. {What's happening with us?} she thought. {Is the curse
starting to warp your mind? Maybe I hit you in the head too much...}
Ranma noticed something was wrong. He looked at Akane and noticed that
she was looking sad. He put his arm around her. "Hey, don't worry. I'm
sure Ryouga's gonna come out of this alright. I've hit him hard plenty of
times and he still comes back for more." Despite his words, Ranma was
worried. His other arm was still sore from the hit he took from Ryo's
umbrella.
***
Ryo strode confidently to the appointed place of battle. He would have
worn his usual suit, but he was starting to run out of suits and he had a
feeling that this fight might get ugly. For today's festivities, he
decided to go with the classic white t-shirt, black pants, and all-terrain
shoes look. He used to not worry about fashion so much, but constant
naggings from his more fashionable sibblings had ruined his carefree days.
Once again, he was dressed alot like Gosunkugi.
He was a litttle stunned to find out that his much-anticipated duel
with Hibiki had become a public attraction.
"WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!" he yelled, pushing through the crowd and stepping
unto the bridge. He was expecting a confrontation of old, two warriors,
and perhaps a loved one or two cheering on, to add to the drama. The
carnival atmosphere was repulsive to him, especially as a backdrop to a
duel.
The crowd seemed confused. There were murmers in the crowd. "This is
the guy?", "I thought he always wore a suit", "What's with the umbrella?"
were some murmers he heard, but the one that was heard the most, and the
one that bugged him the most was "Hey, isn't that Gosunkugi?"
"I AM NOT GOSUNKUGI!!!!" He yelled.
***
Somewhere out there, Gosunkugi sneezed.
***
Across the bridge, he saw that his opponent had arrived as well.
Ryo examined the battlefield beforehand, as any good tactician would
do. It was concrete, four lanes wide, fairly long, and not used much
anymore since a new overpass nearby was infinitely more convenient for
traffic. No traffic should come through at all during the fight. The
bridge was so unused that the city hadn't bothered repairing the damage
inflicted from the last battle he had with Ryouga.
He reached into his memmories, recalling all the annoyances that Hibiki
had caused in his life, and he felt the adrenaline surge soar, giving him
strength. Today, Ryouga would NOT win, he was sure of it.
***
Up in a tree nearby, Kyoko and Ryoko sat in a tree, observing the
crowd.
"Well, there they are," sighed Ryoko. "Ryouga hasn't changed much."
Kyoko nodded. "And there's Ryo too."
"Yeah... there he is."
A third person, obviously young, sat lazily on a branch above them and
snickered. He adjusted his round-frame glasses and brushed his hair away
from his eyes.
"What's so funny, Megane?" asked Ryoko irritably.
"I can see it in Ryo's eyes, he's going to lose again."
"Hm?" wondered Kyoko.
"He doesn't look scared t'me, Megs," observed Ryoko.
"Overconfidence, gets him every time. You'll see."
"Hm..."
"Care to make a bet?" queried Megs.
"Hm... I think... they'll come out even."
"That's long odds, sis."
"I've just got this feeling. What's the prize?"
"Dinner tonite, loser pays."
"Deal."
***
"Good day, Hibiki."
"Muhoshin."
Ryouga shifted into a ready stance. Ryo, however, was still looking
around the area as if it was an art museum full of tacky paintings.
"Hmm... just a moment," said Ryo.
"Huh?"
"I'd just like to make one modification to the playing field, if I
may?" He grinned and tilted his head.
"No tricks, Muhoshin."
"No tricks. I... just don't want any interference, and I don't want
you wandering off in the middle of battle. Don't think I haven't
forgotten about your pathetic sense of direction."
"What did you have in mind?"
Ryo walked over to where the concrete bridge connected to the land. He
poked the pavement with his umbrella and returned to the middle. The
concrete exploded a second later, leaving a big gap between the bridge and
the land.
"Well?" He looked at Ryouga expectantly.
Ryouga went to his side and did the same.
--------
"What on earth are they doing?" Akane asked.
"I think," Ranma said, "that they're making sure nobody butts in and
nobody runs away."
"They both know the bakusai ten-ketsu?"
In the distance, thunder roared through the skies.
--------
They stood at the center of the bridge, Ryouga in an alert stance and
serious demeanor, and Ryo holding his umbrella like a fencer's sword and
smiling with eyes narrowed.
The fighting opened up with a barrage of umbrella swipes by both
combatants, as Ryouga swung his umbrella left and right. Ryo dodged
easily. He didn't dare try to block since he knew how heavy that thing
really was and he was afraid that his own umbrella would break under a
direct hit. Ryouga targeted Ryo's gut with a straight thrust but Ryo
dodged left and swung across at Ryouga's face. Ryouga tried to dodge, but
recieved a cut on the jaw.
Ryouga took a few steps back and felt the cut, while Ryo stood back,
twirling his umbrella. Ryo's eyes shone of malevolance, and for a moment,
he flashed a hyena's grin.
***
"Hm," Ranma said, "this could be a good or bad thing."
"Good or bad?" Akane asked.
"Well, when he gets mad, he fights harder, which is good. But
sometimes he also fights like a stupid idiot, which is bad."
***
Ryouga was mad. In front of EVERYBODY watching, he'd recieved the
first blow. Failed to draw first blood. Ryo stood there, still alert,
but with a smug look to his face.
"That's it. TAKE THIS!" Ryouga yelled, snapping open his umbrella.
He spun it in his hands and then swung forward. Ryo dodged the first
swing, which hit the pavement and sent sparks flying.
"Yow." Ryo muttered. He'd never seen the umbrella-buzzsaw trick done
properly before, until now.
Ryouga swung madly at Ryo, sending sparks flying everywhere. Finally,
Ryo tripped a bit and Ryouga caught him in the back, slicing through skin
quickly. Ryo screamed and twisted away before he got cut any deeper. It
wasn't a fatal cut, he knew, but he was bleeding, and it did hurt enough
to be a distraction.
Ryouga reared back with the umbrella and threw it at Ryo, who ducked
and swung the handle-end of his umbrella at Ryouga's feet, where it
telescoped and hooked Ryouga's foot. Ryo grinned and yanked hard, pulling
Ryouga's foot out from under him. Ryouga fell down hard, hitting his head
on the pavement. The umbrella retracted to it's normal length quickly and
Ryo swung down hard yelling "GEKIHOU!". The umbrella hook glowed brightly
and exploded with light as it slammed into Ryouga's chest. Ryouga gritted
his teeth and gave a small yell of pain. The hit had knocked the breath
out of him, and he wasn't sure if any ribs were broken or not.
Ryo swung back and hammered Ryouga repeatedly while yelling
"Hyaku-Gekiou!" striking down with his charged umbrella at amazing
speeds. Ryouga managed to turn left and right to dodge some blows, which
made deep gashes in the pavement, and had to use his arms to block others,
which left his arms feeling incredibly sore.
Ryouga's umbrella zoomed back from it's flight, flying straight towards
the back of Ryo's head. Ryo suddenly felt an incredibly hard blow slam
into the back of his head and stumbled forward with a ringing in his
skull. Ryouga kicked his legs out from under him and Ryo fell face first
into the pavement.
***
"Well, there he goes," said Megs. "Why'd you think it would be a tie
anyways?"
"They... they're both pretty good, right?" wondered Megane.
"Let's see... I hear there's a pretty good okonomiyaki joint nearby,
you oughta be able to afford that, ne?"
"Hey, Ryo's getting up!" said Kyoko. "Yaay oniisan!"
***
Both combatants wobbled uneasily to opposite corners, getting a bit of
a breather. Ryouga was feeling bruises all over. Ryo's head was spinning
and his back wasn't feeling any better either.
Ryouga pulled off some bandanas and threw them at Ryo, who just evaded
them by opening his umbrella and hiding under it. Ryouga then pulled out
a streetlamp from the bridge and threw it at Ryo, who smashed it in half
with a gekihou. Ryouga snapped his umbrella open and sent it flying
towards Ryo, who opened his own and flung it towards Ryouga.
Ryouga's umbrella zoomed in hard and fast, in a slightly curving
trajectory, gracefully cutting through the air. Ryo dodged out of it's
way, and ducked as it zoomed by again to return to it's owner.
Ryo's umbrella wobbled through the air in a drunk sort of way.
Certainly not gracefully. However, this made it hard to tell where it was
going, and Ryouga stutter-stepped left and right trying to determine what
way would be the safe way. He finally decided to just duck, which worked
fine. The umbrella wobbled (to the astonishment of everyone) back to it's
owner.
Ryouga stood up and caught his umbrella. Ryo stepped left and right,
uncertain of where his would go, and made a lunging grab for it.
Both combatants took a brief rest from combat, circling each other
warily.
Ryouga felt that he had recovered enough and charged madly at Ryo, who
didn't feel all that recovered at all. Ryo was soon face-to-face with
Ryouga, who lunged forward and tried to grab him. Ryo jumped up (using
that specially reserved martial artist high jump thing) behind Ryouga,
twisted around in the air, and shot off a ryugeki-ken. Ryouga saw the
incoming bolt of energy and jumped over it and in pursuit of Ryo. Ryo
landed and shot off another ryugeki-ken at the still-airborne Ryoga, who
caught it in the gut, tumbled on his landing, but managed to roll to his
feet.
"Enough," Ryouga muttered, as he gathered ki. Ryo saw this and tried
to counter as he shot off another ryugeki-ken, but was flattened as
Ryouga's shishi houkou-dan demolished it and slammed Ryo off his feet and
into a streetlamp.
"Ite... that hurt," Ryo muttered. "DIE!" He jumped high into the air
again, almost above the very center of the bridge. Then he yelled
"GOU-RYUGEKI-KEN!" as a storm of dozens of energy bolts rained down into
the bridge. The bolts hit everywhere, making craters and holes in the
bridge, throwing debris everywhere. Ryouga was caught in the blast,
getting hit directly by one, sent flying through the air by the explosion
of another that hit right next to him, hammered again by several more
while flying through the air.
***
"Wow. Always impresses me when he does that." Megane said.
"Cool!" bubbled Kyoko.
"Well," sighed Ryoko, "guess it won't be a tie. Ryo drains himself too
much when he does that... and if Ryouga's endurance holds true to form..."
***
"Ryouga!" Ukyou yelled. She stared helplessly as Ryouga was bounced
back and forth in the explosions.
Ranma gritted his teeth. This wasn't going well. If it got really
ugly, he was ready to jump in and interrupt. After all, Ryouga was
something vaguely like a friend, and there were no other candidates for
Best Man at the wedding (unless Ukyou wanted to cross-dress again.)
***
Ryo zoomed down from his flight, umbrella charged and ready for the
final blow. To his surprise, he saw Ryouga slowly and unsteadily getting
up to his feet. He descended towards Ryouga, umbrella raised high and
held like an axe. Ryo screamed "DIEEEE!" and swung down hard, only to
have the umbrella caught with one of Ryouga's hands and Ryo's foot caught
by Ryouga's other hand. Ryouga pulled the umbrella out of Ryo's hand and
then slammed him back and forth by the foot like a rag doll. Ryo flailed
desperately for something to grab, screaming "ACK" "OOF" "UGH" and "OW"
with each impact on the hard concrete. Finally, he grabbed a chunk of
cement, and as he sailed right over Ryouga's head, he threw it down hard,
causing Ryouga to lose his grip.
Ryo landed right behind Ryouga, and grabbed him around the waist.
Quickly, Ryo pulled back and hammered Ryouga with a backbreaker, and then
flipped while still holding Ryouga and gave him another backbreaker.
He let go and stumbled unsteadily away to regain his senses. To Ryo's
horror, Ryouga slowly got up again as well.
***
"Jeez, neither of these guys is falling," said an impressed Ranma.
"Well," said Akane, "they both know the breaking point technique. I
guess they both have super endurance."
"But Ryo looks like... like... Gosunkugi! When somebody's built like
that, ya don't really think they're... well... super tough."
***
"Damn," Ryoko muttered. "Well, that settles it."
"What's wrong?" asked Kyoko.
"She's gonna lose, that's what," Megane said. "Ryouga has ALWAYS had
the superior endurance. I'm surprised Ryo is still standing, but you can
tell by looking at them that Ryo's losing steam.
***
Ryo went for his umbrella as fast as he could but Ryouga suddenly
caught up with him and, using one of his bandanas, snared Ryo's left
wrist. "Let's see how you do without the umbrella," Ryouga sneered.
Ryo zoomed in and hammered Ryouga's head with an elbow, followed by a
knee to the gut, all with lightning speed. It was at moments like these
that Ryo was extremely gratefull that he studied a little Muy Thai
kickboxing.
Ryouga reeled back a bit, but didn't let go of the bandana that tied up
Ryo's left wrist. He looked right into Ryo's eye, smiling. "Those hits,"
he said, "felt like a baby's kick!" Ryouga gave Ryo a viscious headbutt
that flung his skull back.
Ryo wobbled a bit and then surprised everyone by headbutting Ryoga
right back. "Headbutt me, will you?" Ryo sneered.
Both of them reared back with their skulls and hammered each other
again and again and...
***
"Ryouga's gonna win." Ranma said, smiling. "That idiot's head can
smash through buildings. This'll be over in a snap."
***
*WHAM*
"Give up yet?" Ryo sneered, looking at the seven Ryougas in front of
him.
*WHAM*
"YOU'LL be the one giving up," Ryouga confidently said to the two Ryos
that were looking angrily at him.
*WHAM*
"Oh no, for once, it's gonna be me beating you, Hibiki."
*WHAM*
"Not on your best day!"
*WHAM*
"That's my line!"
*WHAM*
"WIMP!"
*WHAM*
"IDIOT!"
*WHAM*
"PANSY!"
*WHAM*
"DIRECTIONALLY IMPAIRED DENTAL DISASTER!"
*WHAM*
"Oh, make fun of my teeth, will you?"
*WHAM*
***
"What does he think he's doing?" Ryoko said.
"Apparently, they've suffered some brain damage and now both of them
think that they are goats. That would explain the double-headbutt action
going on right now," said Megane. "Not only that, but do you _really_
think that Ryo's head is harder than Ryouga's? I think somebody's gonna
fall. And soon."
***
*WHAM*
After quickly observing the fourteen Ryougas in front of him, Ryo
decided that enough was enough and as he reared his head back, he slugged
Ryouga in the nose with a quick punch. Ryouga's head reeled back back,
while lashing out with a spinning roundhouse kick at the same time which
sent Ryo reeling back. Ryouga held his nose, in obvious pain.
"That does it," Ryouga muttered, "You're dead!" He charged at the
wobbling Ryo and started throwing punch after punch at him.
***
Ukyou, Akane and Ranma were watching the fight intensely when Ukyou
suddenly noticed something. She looked up, frowned, and ran over to Ranma
and Akane.
"Ranma. We've got to stop the fight." Ukyou said with a grim demeanor.
"What? You don't interrupt a man-to-man fight." Ranma wondered why
Ukyou was so anxious about. "Besides, he's obviously winning."
"Hey stupid, look up."
Ranma looked up. Then he frowned.
"Uh-oh.."
***
The battlefield looked like a warzone. Holes, craters, and rubble
lined the bridge everywhere. If the battle continued any longer, everyone
suspected that the bridge would collapse.
Ryo staggered back as Ryouga landed punch after unbelieveably hard
punch on him. Ryo tried to get focused, and his vision showed twenty
Ryougas, and all were looking very pissed off.
Through the haze of pain Ryo realized he'd have to go for his
desperation tactic, which might not work and would definitely cause Ryo
much pain if it did work.
Meanwhile, Ryouga was fighting on, fueled by his anger, landing elbows,
uppercuts, roundhouses, and all sorts of blows on Ryo. {He's still
standing?} thought Ryouga, surprised at the level of endurance that his
adversary was showing. Finally, with a solid punch to the gut, Ryo fell
to his knees. Ryouga, fully into his berzerker rage, grabbed him by the
neck and held his fist high and ready to smash Ryo's skull in.
The crowd was stunned. From everyone's viewpoint it looked like Ryouga
was going for the killing blow. Akane and Ukyou were surprised as well.
They never thought of Ryouga as a killer.
Ryo looked at the twenty-three fists raised up and aimed at his head.
He didn't want to die yet. Time for _very_ desperate measures. Ryo
suddenly reared back with his left hand. He gritted his teeth in
anticipation of how bad this would hurt... and focused all his ki into his
hand.
***
"I don't believe he's gonna do this." Ryoko said.
"Do what?" Kyoko asked.
"His gekihou." Megane said.
"No umbrella?" wondered Kyoko.
"The idiot. His arm's gonna explode into a big bloody mess." Megane
added.
"Eww." Kyoko said. She covered her eyes.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," mumbled Ryoko.
***
Ryo swung forward, yelling "GEKIHOU!". He tried to hit a vital spot on
Ryouga like his skull or his chest but was too weak to properly lunge
forward and ended up connecting with Ryouga's leg. Bright light exploded
and a boom could be heard on impact as the two were flung apart.
***
"Ouch, that had to hurt." said Megane.
"The idiot did it," Ryoko sighed. "Amazing, his arm is still
attached. Kyoko, you can uncover your eyes now. There's no gross stuff."
"You sure?" said Kyoko in a tiny voice.
***
"We've got to interrupt," Ranma said sternly, looking up at the
rainclouds.
"Definitely," said Ukyou, as both walked towards the edge of the bridge
and prepared to jump over.
"What are you two talking about?" Akane said, struggling to keep up.
***
Ryouga was gritting his teeth and holding his leg. {Damn! This
hurts!} He was angry at himself for letting himself open stupidly like
that. He was afraid that his leg was shattered.
Ryo was on the floor growling in pain. "Itai! Itai itai itaaaaai!
KuSO!!!" He looked to Ryouga (the twenty-two others that he had seen
previously had seemed to have left) who looked like he was in great pain
and was holding his leg. He looked at his own left hand. It was bruised
beyond belief. The pain was unbelievable, worse than he imagined it would
be. The damage went down the entire length of his arm and he couldn't move
it at all. He wouldn't be using that arm for a long while, if he survived
this fight. {Feh, he loses a leg, I lose an arm. Not good enough.}
Slowly, Ryo got up. His arm was limp at his side. He slowly staggered
over to where his umbrella was dropped and picked it up with his right
hand.
He noticed some movement in the ranks of the observers and saw that two
of Ryouga's allies were getting ready to jump over the gap and interrupt
the fight. He quickly stabbed the ground with his umbrella, yelling
"BAKUSAITENKETSU!" The bridge got even smaller as half of the remains of
the bridge crashed down into the waters. "NO INTERFERENCE!" Ryo glared
defiantly and angrily at Ranma and Ukyou.
He gave Ryouga a psychotic gaze as he began to twirl the umbrella and
its handle began to glow. "This... ends... now."
The skies grew darker by the second. The winds became cold and swift.
Ranma and Ukyou were yelling at Ryouga desperately but he was too
focused on the battle to notice anything else.
"You're ... right." Ryouga replied.
Ryo didn't have the strength left for another GouRyugeki-Ken, not even
for a plain Ryugeki-ken. He'd just have to bludgeon Ryouga to death. He
lunged forward swinging the umbrella down hard. Ryouga caught it in one
hand, pulled it in, and grabbed Ryo by the throat.
"Surrender, Ryo?" Ryoga asked. "Last chance." He was feeling good.
about his chances. It looked like Ryo's left arm was a mess and he looked
exhausted already. Ryouga had him in a chokehold, and he knew that Ryo's
normal punches would be too weak, considering his current state.
Ryo tried to shake Ryouga off, moving left and right, without success.
Then Ryo hit Ryouga's leg. It didn't get Ryouga to let go, but Ryouga did
flinch violently and succeeded in making them both fall into a mini-crater
nearby. Ryouga still had Ryo in a death grip and he was feeling weaker by
the second.
And then it rained.
Ryouga, now Ryouga-pig, was stunned. {Why? Why didn't I notice the
rainclouds coming? Why me? Why NOW?}
***
Akane wondered what was going on. Ryouga fell into some kind of hole
but from where she was standing she couldn't see Ryouga any more. She
noticed that Ranma-chan and Ukyo were looking very nervous.
"Where's Ryouga?" She asked. "I can't see him."
"You can't see him?" Ranma asked.
"I can't see either of them. I'm too short and this is a lousy view."
***
Ryo was confused. "No..."
The pig in front of him looked a bit dazed too.
Ryo looked down at the pig and noticed that it looked like a mess. In
fact it seemed to have all the injuries that Ryouga had...
"Either I've just gone mad, or you've turned into a pig. Either way,
Hibiki, you die." Ryo picked up the pig and smashed it against the
pavement. He let go and raised his foot to stomp on it.
A total wave of helplessness overwhelmed Ryouga. Suddenly, and with a
grunt, the piglet let out an incredibly massive blast in the form of a
huge pillar of light. It was the Full Shishi Houkoudan, the most
powerfull form of ki-blast Ryouga had. It impacted full-force into Ryo who
was flung back several feet. Ryo landed on his back, roughly, and almost
unconscious.
The Shishi Houkou-dan rocketed Ryouga through the pavement making a
small pig-sized hole in the floor. The massive ki-wave traveled onward
and upward, through the clouds, expanding in size as it flew into the dark
skies.
***
Out in the crowd, Ranma was stunned. That was one of the bigger Full
Shishi houkou-dans Ryouga had ever shot. And in pig-form too. He
wondered what would happen to Ryouga if he did it in pig-form because the
technique was not developed with farm animals in mind.
Meanwhile, Akane was yelling at Ukyou, who was several people in front
of her. "Hey, Ukyou, move your spatula, I can't see!"
***
The Muhoshin siblings looked on in shock at the massive energy wave
that had burst forth from the crater where Ryouga and Ryo had dissapeared
from. Their jaws were hanging down.
Finally, as a group, they murmered, "Holy shit."
Then they saw what was falling from the sky...
***
Ryo groggily looked up. "Oh no," he muttered. He crawled, trying to
reach the edge of the bridge to escape. He was in no condition to worry
about anything else.
Ryouga-pig was struggling not to fall into the river, as his blast had
shot him almost totally through and under the bridge like a rocket. He
was furiously scrambling up, trying to get out of the self-made tunnel he
made when he noticed that the sky was getting brighter.
And then the Full Shishi Houkou-dan, now big enough to cover the entire
bridge, dropped back down from the sky.
-------------
From the view of the crowds, it was a massive explosion, sending
concrete and metal flying everywhere. The sound of the Full Shishi
Houkou-dan slamming into the bridge was heard from far away. The
assembled spectators scrambled for cover.
When the dust cleared, the bridge was nothing but rubble floating in
the water. Despite the rain and the wind, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou
searched desperately for Ryouga in the rubble, but nothing was found
except the umbrellas of both combattants and a few bandanas.
"He couldn't be..." Ranma said, sifting through the rubble.
Akane was stunned into silence.
Ukyou looked down the river. "They went downstream. If they were
knocked off the bridge, they must've fallen into the river. C'mon!" She
ran, ignoring the wind and the rain, down the riverbank with Ranma and
Akane not far behind.
-------------
[December 2]
She stood by the riverbank, where the now demolished bridge had once
connected with the land. She hammered away at something, not stopping
until it was firmly planted into the ground.
Ukyou looked at her work and sighed.
"I..." she began to say, unsure of who she was saying it to or why.
A ragged red umbrella was implanted into the ground, the torn cloth
swaying with the breeze. She held onto it for a moment, frowning, then
walked away.
-end part 11-
TRACK -B-
The fight didn't start well at all by Ryouga's standards. He was
standing there, feeling the cut on his face, and getting mad. Across the
way, his adversary had a smirk on his face. He was being made a fool of,
in front of everybody!
"That's it.. TAKE THIS!" Ryoga snapped his umbrella open and spun it
hard. He charged at Muhoshin, swinging fast and furiously, his umbrella
whirling like a buzzsaw and sending sparks everywhere. Muhoshin dodged
desperately and retreated a few steps.
And then saw a chance at an opening. Ryoga swung his makeshift
buzzsaw-umbrella towards Muhoshin, but this time he didn't retreat.
Muhoshin rolled forward, _past_ the whirling edge of the unbrella, hooked
Ryoga's leg with his umbrella handle, pulled, sent Ryoga to his feet, and
turned the umbrella in his hands, getting ready to stab into Ryoga's
heart.
Muhoshin grabbed Ryoga by the throat with one hand, and held his
umbrella with the other, ready to put an end to Ryoga's existence.
Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light that overwhelmed his eyes.
Muhoshin reflexively winced and shut his eyes as the flash of light
passed, and that proved to be his undoing. Ryoga took advantage of his
hesitation and lunged forward with one hand, grabbing Muhoshin's throat.
He held the umbrella away with the other.
Muhoshin was slowly loosing air, feeling his neck being crushed by
Ryoga's hand. He crushed Ryoga's throat with his own hand, and it became
a race to see who would loose consciousness first.
Muhoshin was loosing and he knew it. Ryoga was turning just a little
blue, but he was ten seconds away from unconsciousness. He suspected that
the loss of oxygen was causing him to halucinate, because from the corner
of his vision he thought he saw several people, and it sounded like they
were bickering. That, of course, was impossible.
To Ryo's surprise, Ryoga let go of his throat. Unfortunately for him,
Ryoga's fist pounded into his body, sending a shockwave of pain through
his gut. He let go of Ryoga's throat and then tried to drive a finger
into his eye. Ryoga turned his head and Muhoshin missed, making a small
hole in the concrete instead. He pulled his hand back again and punched
down hard. This time he felt something snap under his fist. Ryoga yelled
in pain, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him away, _hard_.
Ryo twisted in the air, trying to land on his feet, or at least, land
so that his back wasn't turned towards Ryouga. Instead, his skull
collided with something, something hard, and the effect of Ryouga's solid
blow to his gut and the lack of oxygen to his brain caught up with him.
Muhoshin's vision was blinded by a flash of azure fire, then he passed
out.
Ryogua stood up quickly, expecting an attack from where he had tossed
Muhoshin away. Instead, he saw a blinding flash of light. Once it faded,
he looked around. His opponent was gone.
"Where..." he cautiously walked towards where he'd thrown Ryo, but
found no trace of his presence. Where did he go?
-to be continued in Converging Series-