===================
PART VI
I Remember You
===================
[Early November: Friday, Sunset]
Muhoshin sat in his hotel room, flipping through a file and looking
mildly upset. The previous evening didn't go as well as he had hoped. In
fact, it was a disaster. He was intending to breeze in, defeat Hibiki,
and go back for a well deserved rest. Easier said than done, apparently.
He was beginning to feel all the old frustrations coming back, focused on
the one directionally challanged idiot whose name made him wince as if
someone had been scratching a chalkboard with a rake. All the old
frustration that he used to feel with _him_ winning all the time.
It seemed to him that he'd best familiarize himself with the locals,
now that he was going to have to deal with them. He was flipping through
what passed as "surveillance information" from a popular sources known
among all who had somebody to stalk. There were various photos and notes
typed on each of them. Possible allies and enemies. He wanted a plan. A
good plan. Something that would hurt Ryouga mentally, at the very least.
Fighting honestly was a challange. Fighting dirty was a sport.
There was a photo of a short haired girl. [Akane Tendou. Age 17.
Love interest of Ryouga Hibiki? Potential hostage. Violent tendancies.
Approach with caution]
{Hm... kidnapping.} He mulled the possibilities over. It was one of
the oldest tricks in the book, cliched terribly, but still it was a plan.
Just out of curiosity, he flipped through the file until he reached a
name that was bothering him. "E....F...G...Go...Gosunkugi, Hikaru.
Mm-hm," Ryo muttered. He opened the file to find no picture and only one
piece of paper. It read:
Hikaru Gosunkugi:
Mostly Harmless.
Ryo blinked. Mostly harmless?
============================================================================
Ryouga and Ukyou were standing around the restaraunt, relaxing since it
was a slow day for business. He sat at a table, Ukyou standing nearby
at the grill.
"So who was this guy anyways? And what'd he want with you?"
Ryouga was silent.
"Hey! Ryouga! Hello?"
"I'm trying to remember, okay?"
Ryouga continued to concentrate.
"Well, a couple of years ago..."
[Several Years Ago. Location: ???]
Ryouga stumbled through thick underbrush and dense forest, cursing for
the hundredth time his inherited sense (or, actually, lack of) direction.
He'd been in pursuit of that coward Ranma for a while now. It felt like
he'd been wandering around for weeks. He staggered onward, ignoring the
grumble eminating from the pit of his stomach and the lightheadedness that
began to invade his head. He couldn't stop, not now.
Vengence knew no time, but Ryouga was impatient anyways.
Frustrated at the dense forest, he gave a determined yell and charged
straight forward, obstacles be damned. To his surprise, the forest
suddenly ended and a large wooden wall suddenly loomed ahead.
"Oh n-" *WHAM*
[end flashback]
"So... you made a big entrance, huh?" Ukyou smirked
"Well, I got out of the forest, didn't I?" countered Ryouga.
============================================================================
Ryo put down the file on Nerima's infamous and took a long drink from a
can of cola, his eyes narrowed in thought. It'd been quite a while since
he faced Mr. Hibiki. Although he didn't remember Ryo, Ryo certainly
didn't forget him.
[several years ago...]
The senseis looked on from the front of the dojo while the students sat
on the fringes. At the center, two gi-clad figures paced, watching each
other warily. One weilded a blue bamboo umbrella. He was breathing
heavily, sweat drenching his gi, with various cuts and bruises dotting
his body. The other held an obsidian umbrella with a hook-end handle.
This one had a few tears in his gi, but he was otherwise calm, breathing
slowly, and not hurt.
The one with the black umbrella relaxed his stance and lowered his
umbrella slightly. With an air of smugness, he let a small grin creep
across his face. "Kousuke," he said quietly, low enough for his opponent
to hear, but too quiet for the others, "it is not too late to surrender."
"Surrender?!" hissed Kousuke.
"Yes... just beg."
"NEVER!" Kousuke charged, slashing with great speed. He left gashes
in the floor and left a vaccum in the air with each slash, but his
adversary had somehow blocked or dodged every attack.
"You've made your decision, Kousuke. Remember that," said the other,
just before he hooked Kousuke's ankle with the umbrella, pulled, then
kicked at his knee from the front. There was the unmistakable sound of a
joint bending in a way that it wasn't built to, and Kousuke collapsed on
the floor, writing in pain.
"Muhoshin that is enough!" yelled one of the senseis.
He either didn't hear the sensei, or ignored him as he swung his
umbrella like a bat and struck at Kousuke's side.
"Ryo! I said that is enough!"
Ryo kicked Kousuke in the gut, sending him skidding for several feet
before collapsing once more on the floor. Enough? No, this wasn't nearly
enough. Kousuke had been good, and obedient, and quick to learn, a
sensei's pet, so to speak. He had made one mistake: he'd hoped of being
recognized as an equal in talent to Ryo Muhoshin. Ryo wouldn't allow
that. People just needed to learn where they belonged. Kousuke would be
an example, one in a long line of examples, of what happened when they
tried to surpass him.
"MUHOSHIN! I SAID-"
*CRASH*
A ragged figure, clad in backpack and umbrella, smashed through the
walls, knocking Kousuke out of the way, and ended up taking the hit
intended for Kousuke's skull. The stranger staggered a few feet, then
collapsed, while Ryo approached him with narrowed eyes. Who was this
person that denied him his sport?
"Students!" boomed one of the senseis, "bring these two to the medical
room! Muhoshin! You will stay here!"
And thus went the first meeting of Ryo Muhoshin and Ryouga Hibiki.
What happened to Hibiki next after that, Ryo knew not.
============================================================================
"What happened next?" asked Ukyou.
"Well... let's see... I crashed through the dojo wall, felt a sharp
pain in my head, then I passed out. A while later..."
Ryouga woke up slowly, feeling very much refreshed. He sensed he was
on something soft. He wasn't quite sure what it was, as lately he hadn't
been on anything like that... but he was fairly sure it was a bed. He
opened his eyes slowly, only to see a young girl with short hair looking
down at him, as if examining him.
"Well, good morning," she greeted, looking at him curiously.
"Um, hi."
After that remarkably complex conversation, she left and brought back
an older gentlemen, who told him that he was suffering from exhaustion and
needed a few days of rest.
Occasionally, some old men came in and asked him a few questions... was
he a martial artist? How skillfull was he? Would he care to train with
them?
In addition to the questions, the old men treated him well, offering
quite a lot in terms of food to eat and hospitality in general. They made
him feel very much welcome.
"And well," said Ryouga, "it seemed like they wanted me to stay for a
while, and I guess I wanted to pay them back for their kindness..."
"So you hung around there for a while, right?" said Ukyou.
Ryouga nodded. "It seemed that they didn't want me to go away."
============================================================================
If only Hibiki had gone away! Ryo felt that his life would have run
fairly smoother, if he had. If only Ryo had known what Hibiki would mean
to him, he'd have crippled him on the spot. But no, after Hibiki was
taken away, Ryo gave him no further thought, until a few days later...
The students were all standing at attention within the dojo, their
umbrellas to the side. As usual, Ryo was at front and center, looking
rather emotionless. A new student was introduced, a peculiar boy with a
bad sense of direction and some need of dental work. As they all found
out at the introduction, he was Ryouga Hibiki, already practiced in
martial arts and a student there beginning today.
Ryo sensed something was amiss. He scanned the faces of his senseis.
Sensei Miyaji seemed to be hiding nothing... but the others, they seemed
quite happy at the arrival of Hibiki. Something was going on.
In the coming months, he found out what was so special about Ryouga.
He was a quick learner, if it was within his ability to learn. He'd
been beaten by Ryo several times, in the early matches, but after one
month, Ryouga held his own... and after two months...
"UGH!" Ryo fell to one knee, feeling the incredible weight of Ryouga's
umbrella smashing into his gut for the fourth time in the match. The
world became a blur and he saw one of the senseis raising his hand to
indicate a point scored. For some reason the sensei was standing next to
Ryouga... why was everyone cheering?
Then a frown traveled across his normally calm face. <He BEAT me... HE
beat me... he beat ME! ME!> Ryo sensed the eyes of all who feared him
looking down at him now with ridicule. Who was afraid of the big bad Ryo?
He'd finally been beaten, soundly as well, and by a student that had been
to the school briefly. It didn't matter that he had been trained as a
martial artist previously. The only thing that everyone looked for was a
win or a loss. <Was this what the senseis were up to? Getting a hired
gun to put me in my place? I WAS IN MY PLACE!!! AT THE TOP! Ryouga...
he'll pay for this...>
As fate would have it, the next several months were exercises in
frustration. He'd come close sometimes... VERY close... and once he even
had the opportunity to kill him. But... but for some reason, with his
umbrella blade pressed at Ryouga's throat... he passed that up.
Ryouga showed no extreme passion for the art, at least, in his own
opinion. Ryo just didn't understand, WHY was he staying there? Month,
after month, after month?!?!
============================================================================
"Anyways, I stayed there for a couple of months... learned a few
things... sparred alot with people, Ryo was one of them I guess..."
rambled Ryouga.
"Did you do anything to make him mad?" wondered Ukyou.
"No... I don't think so. We sparred alot. That's about it."
"Did he act mean to you? Hostile?"
"No. He was just kinda stiff, but always polite about things."
"So, how'd you end up leaving, then?"
Ryouga tapped his chin, thinking. "Let's see... it was after several
months..."
Outside, the sky was somewhat overcast and the breeze was strong.
Ryouga stood outside, in front of the UWSMA dojo which specialized in
umbrellas and other protecive gear of the like. It had been several
months now, and he had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something.
"Hibiki, hello," said a flat, cordial, but mostly emotionless voice.
"Oh. Hi, Muhoshin."
Ryo perched himself upon the railing that lined the edge of the porch
and looked down at Ryouga, who was standing outside of the building's
protective roof.
"Tell me Ryouga, honestly, why have you come here?"
"Hm?"
"Why? What brought you this way?"
"I was..." mumbled Ryouga, searching his memory, "hunting down
someone... I think..."
Ryo narrowed his eyes and looked at Ryouga suspiciously. "Is that
so?" He twirled his umbrella slowly, and removed the protective guard
from the blade tip. "Who, may I ask?"
Ryouga's eyes widened in horror. How could he forget about RANMA?
The scum that ran out on their duel! Suddenly, Ryouga yelled to the sky,
"RANMA! I'LL FIND YOU YET!!!"
Ryo stared in surprise as Ryouga suddenly bolted away, smashing through
several buildings in his attempt to find his way around. There were
several yells of anger as people stepped out of the damaged buildings and
looked for the offending rampant traveler, but Ryouga was already gone,
once more into the great wide open.
"WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOW?!?!?!"
"And, well, after that, I made my way to China... and then Ranma...
at Jusenkyou... that's when RANMA RUINED MY-"
"Oh, PLEASE, Ryouga. Let's not start on _that_ again, hm?"
"Well, it WAS his fault!"
"How long are you gonna be mad about that?" prodded Ukyou, irritated.
"It was a long time ago!"
=============================================================================
It was a long time that the memory of Ryouga irked him. The mention of
his name raised his blood pressure and lit his fuse. But things changed,
although slowly, with the exit of Hibiki from the scenario. Life had
resumed it's status quo, or so he had hoped.
Unfortunately, the shadow of Hibiki's achievements did not leave with
him. He saw less fear in the eyes of his fellow students. He knew what
they were thinking: one of them would take him down, maybe not now, maybe
not tomorrow, but one of them, and sometime. Because they finally saw
that he was not unbeatable, far from it in fact.
And then there was the way the senseis CONSTANTLY reminded him of his
humiliation, rubbing it in his face that he'd been brought low by an
outsider with less training than he. They dared speculate that he would
never have the amount of potential that the Hibiki boy had.
And they reminded him of this every day.
Technically, there was nothing standing in the way of his regaining his
former rank of top student, and soon he was once again on the edge of
being graduated to the highest level he could achieve without being a
'sensei'. He knew that there were others better than him, certainly, but
that's why they're the senseis, after all. A time would come when he'd
have that title too, but that was the future. He was interested in a
smaller time scale.
Then, one day, the senseis had a meeting...
Ryo sat outside the dojo, eavesdropping on a meeting of several senseis
of some topic that rumored to be around him. So far, what he heard was
rather interesting.
"I STRONGLY disagree with this method, gentlemen. It will aggrivate
his already formidable mean streak. It won't make him a better person at
all. It's bad enough that you have reminded him daily of his inferiority
to the boy!" Ryo recoginzed that voice. It was Sensei Miyaji... ever the
voice of peace and calm. Inferiority indeed...
"Hibiki ran out on us, Miyaji! Without word of explanation! He
insults us with such behaviour!" said one voice.
"Besides, what better way to test Muhoshin than to send him against the
one person that has managed to defeat him on a consistent basis? If he
looses, then he might be humbled at last, or perhaps driven into hiding by
shame, who knows? But he is likely to become our problem no more."
"And if he wins, it will sharpen Muhoshin's confidence level. We
ourselves can still turn him away from his morme undesirable habits, with
more rigorous training!"
Ryo knew those as well... senseis Kazutaka and Ichiro.
"Your previous plan to make Muhoshin a more 'mild mannered' person has
failed!" said Miyaji. "All you achieved was to make Muhoshin nearly
psychotic at the mention of the name Hibiki! Manipulating those boys like
that... you should be ashamed! Whatever you plan to do with him now...
I... I wash my hands of it! Do you hear!" And with that, Miyaji's
footsteps were heard, followed by the opening and closing of a door.
<Sooo, that was what was going on. They had enticed Ryouga to stay,
his purpose being to humble Me?> thought Ryo, somewhat angrily. <I will
not bend.>
"Let's go find Muhoshin," sighed Ichiro.
At this point, Ryo couldn't resist but make a smooth entrance. He
strode into the room, grinning dangerously. As he expected, they assigned
him to take down Hibiki, and to his pleasant surprise, a few others who
had seemed to have offended the honor of the UWSMA at some point. Ryouga,
as well as the others, had been located in Nerima, amongst a small
community of other martial artists. Ryo was given a file on them, obtained
through unknown sources, and was sent on his way with a fair amount of
travel money.
He'd do things his way, though. This, he decided from the start. A
little gambling here, a little extortion there, and he was financially
self-sufficient. The senseis also didn't put a time limit on his hunt, so
he decided to have a small vacation of sorts... that took an entire year.
A little sight seeing, some new martial arts techniques learned, a few
people crushed along the way...
But all good things must pass, and Ryo felt that he'd best get back to
the job at hand. And so, onward he went to Nerima, to begin Hibiki
hunting at last.
============================================================================
Ryouga hmmed, thinking about the situation. What would it take to stop
Ryo from hunting him? It was all a big misunderstanding, right? Ryouga
was sure that maybe if they talked things over the problem would be
settled. Maybe. Then again, that approach didn't exactly work on him
when Ranma tried it.
"Um... Ryouga, mind if I ask you a favor?"
"Hm? Yeah, sure."
"Ranma and Akane are going to see some movies. They invited me to go
along and... well..."
"You'd feel uncomfortable alone with those two, right?"
"You got it. So could you..."
"Yeah, sure. No problem. Just... keep Ranma away from me. Please?"
The memory of Ranma-chan kissing him was still an incredibly traumatic
memory... one he'd rather do without.
============================================================================
Ryo took in all the memories of the last few years, letting the
aggrivation soak into himself. Nothing like a surge of anger to boost up
one's fighting spirit. Just then, something caught his eye. Something
that was strong enough to deflate his fighitng spirit.
He picked up the newspaper.
"Oh. Oh my my my... the Jackie Chan festival. Mustn't miss that." He
felt the adrenaline rush drain away from his body, as his muscles loosened
and his blood pressure dropped suddenly. Ryouga could wait. There was
always time to appreciate the finer things in life.
-end part 6-
==================
PART VII
Just a Little Date
==================
"Akane, do you really think this is gonna work?"
"Definitely. She's gonna feel awkward about being alone with the two
of us. You know the saying 'three's a crowd', right? She's not gonna
want to be stuck alone with a couple, so she's gonna ask Ryouga to go with
her. It's a sure thing."
"Well... yeah..."
"Hey, what could go wrong?"
----------------
It was just another Friday night at the Nekohanten. Cologne was
hovering about somewhere, Shampoo was alternating between overseeing the
cooking and serving as waitress, and Mousse... he had something important
on his mind. He was contemplating his last long conversation with Ryouga.
"What, you think Ranma beat Shampoo HONORABLY? Some big arranged
fight? Let me tell you, he beat her totally by accident, and when
she was trying to hit someone else. You tell me how HONORABLE
that is, huh?
It was true then, that it didn't have to be a big formal challange. It
didn't have to be a full-fledged fight. Ranma blindsided her, and look
how much she chased after him. Where was the honor in Ranma's victory
over her? Since when did he let honor stand in the way of his quest to
win Shampoo's heart, anyways? Some of his attacks on Ranma were, he
admitted to himself, a little less than honorable.
He looked over to Shampoo. She was checking on a pot, her back turned.
It could just be as simple as a blow to the head.
She peered into the pot, her concentration on nothing else at the
moment.
A good hit and the right moment... like now.
"Mousse!"
"YAAAAAH!!!" Mousse jumped back, not noticing that Cologne had entered
the room and had been watching for a while now.
"What's wrong, boy. You're sweating badly and shaking. Go take a
break."
"Y-yes... sure.."
Mousse stepped out the back door and breathed deeply. Questions
bounced in his head. {Can I do this? She's not going to be single
forever. Time is slipping away. Where's the honor in this? Who needs
honor? What should I do? Stupid amazon laws!!!!}
He sighed and re-entered the kitchen.
Shampoo was there, stirring some ramen. Cologne was gone once more.
{Just one blow} he thought.
He whipped a mallet out of his sleeve.
{Just one.}
"Shampoo?"
{One hit.}
"What you want Mousse? I busy."
{And she's mine.}
*WHAM*
------------
Ranma, Akane, Ryouga, and Ukyou casually strolled down the streets, on
the way to the Jackie Chan festival. Akane & Ranma walked arm in arm,
casually, while Ukyou walked on Ranma's side and Ryouga walked alongside
Akane. Ryouga and Ukyou seemed to silently but mutually agree not to
appear like they were a couple.
"Hey Ryouga," Ranma asked, "I heard some guy attacked you last week."
"Yeah. Old grudge or something like that."
"Really?"
"Yup."
"Well," said Ranma, looking smug, "what comes around goes around, hm?"
*WHAM*WHAM* Both Ukyou and Akane elbowed Ranma at the same time. In
stereo, they yelled, "Stop picking on Ryouga!"
"Ow..."
------------
Ryo walked along the streets of Nerima, once again clad in suit, on his
way to the Jackie Chan film festival. He was looking forward to this. If
there was anybody out there that represented the Unorthodox Weaponry
Martial Arts school, it could easily be Jackie Chan. He used chairs
(covered in the Furniture Division), pottery (scattered amongst Furniture,
Gardening, and some other sub-divisions of the school) and other
interesting and diverse weapons. Yes indeed, there's nothing like a good
Jackie Chan film.
Suddenly, something caught his attention.
Female.
Short hair.
Looks like she just hit some guy.
She's standing next to Ryouga.
{A-ha. Target found.}
{But wait... Mr. Chan and the cinema await.}
"Damnation, what a dilema." he muttered. Ryo debated the pros and cons
of doing the job now and doing the job later. It was a pefect setup. The
girl was already there and so was Ryouga. Besides, it would be a dramatic
and bold assault, would it not?
Looks like Jackie Chan will have to wait. The first two movies were
so-so anyways. The real good ones wouldn't be shown for hours.
He checked his inventory. Umbrella was at the ready. Strips of cloth
that would serve as gags. A rope. A gas grenade. And it was looked like
a good angled jump from the roof to the street below too...
Time to get to work.
-----------
Ryouga sensed something was wrong. As Ranma and Akane broke into one
of their typical arguments, he heard something sailing through the air. He
turned around to see Ryo Muhoshin landing gently and closing his umbrella.
Ryo looked up at everyone, smiled, and simply said "Hello." Then he
threw down a handfull of small capsules and the group was suddenly
surrounded by smoke.
*cough* {Perhaps I used too much...} Ryo wondered quietly. He advanced
on where Akane was standing and poked her with the tip of his umbrella on
a spot on her back. She passed out and was slung over Ryo's shoulder.
Studying a little on pressure points made abductions so much easier. Ryo
couldn't help but give off a little laugh and ran off into the night.
A strong breeze suddenly hit, and the smoke cleared. Ranma looked
around. "Hey, where's Akane?" He looked around, shouting "AKANE!"
Ryouga looked down. This was his fault, he felt. Someone comes after
him and now his friends are getting caught up in it. {How DARE he bring
outsiders into a duel! Hey, what's that on the ground?}
Ryouga pointed. "Hey, what's that on the ground?" He reached for a
small envalope left on the ground with 'to Ryouga' written on it. He
opened it up and read the message aloud.
"Hibiki. Sorry about the inconvenience, but I felt like I needed to
give you a bit more motivation for the next time we fight. If you
want your girlfriend back, meet me where we first met. Be there
in 20 minutes.
-Ryo"
Ryouga looked up at Ukyou. "You remember the place where we fought Ryo
last time?"
"C'mon," Ranma said, grabbing Ryouga's arm, "I'm gonna kill that guy."
Ranma thought to himself, {if he hurts her... I'll kill him!}
----------
Akane slowly regained conciousness. Where was she? The last she
remembered was a bunch of smoke. She moved her arms, but they were tied,
and felt what was near her hands, a steel pole. She opened her eyes and
saw that she was tied up on a streetlamp on a bridge.
Akane sighed. She really hated playing the part of the hostage. It
was so... so... insulting! And stereotypical too! Grr.... MEN!!! Akane
began to work on the ropes tying her down when her captor finally made his
presence known.
"Excuse me, but the role of the hostage is usually to just stand still
while the so-called hero comes in for a rescue attempt." The voice came
from behind her.
"LET ME GO NOW!!!"
"Hm.... no. Not yet. You I really don't intend to do anything with,
really. Don't worry about that. I _do_ intend on severely hurting your
significant other, at the very least."
"He'll beat you! You'll see!" Akane winced as she said those words.
She had a hard time believing that she'd actually said something as corny
as that.
Ryo clapped sarcastically, his face emotionless. "There you go. THAT
is how a hostage is supposed to behave."
"Who are you anyways?"
"I didn't introduce myself? Ryo Muhoshin, School of Unorthodox
Weaponry Martial Arts, Umbrella Division, and due for a promotion, as soon
as I crush your significant other." Ryo stepped into view and gave a
little salute with his umbrella. "Hope this doesn't take too long, I don't
want to miss too much of the Jackie Chan festival. It seems I'll miss the
first hour already."
---------
Ranma angrily stomped down the street, dragging Ryouga with him and
followed by Ukyou. "Where is it?" he growled.
"Just around the corner, Ranchan."
The trio turned the corner and the bridge came into sight. They saw
Ryo casually talking with Akane, who was tied up to a lamp post and
looking very angry.
"Guys, I'll be right back."
"Hey, wait a-" Ryouga started.
"He took my fiancee... if he hurt her, I'll KILL HIM!"
Neither Ryouga or Ukyou had ever seen Ranma so angry before. Ranma ran
to the bridge, focusing on his target...
--------
Akane was still engaged in conversation with Ryo. "What do you want
with Ranma anyways? I thought you were after Ryouga?"
Ryo looked confused. "Ranma? What about him?"
"Ranma, my _fiancee_."
"What? But I was told Ryouga was in love with you..."
"No. Ryouga's just my friend. Ranma's my fiancee."
"Ranma?" He fretted. Things were going wrong already.
"YEAH, ME!" was all the warning Ryo got as he was struck from behind
with a blow that flung him to the side barriers of the bridge. As he
recovered from that blow, he heard footsteps getting closer. He turned to
face his adversary.
"Wait a-"
"TENSHIN AMAGURI-KEN!" was all he heard in reply, as an insane amount
of punches landed on him. Ryo managed to block only a few of them, and
then jumped away to a safe distance and landed wobbling. He checked
himself. Bloodied nose, multiple bruises, left arm felt like a jackhammer
was used on it, and yet ANOTHER suit was ruined. No turning back now, he
was going to have to fight to get out of this situation.
Ranma charged at Ryo again, but this time Ryo was ready. He held his
umbrella by the point and began to glow.
"You're mine!" Ranma yelled.
"Hey! Untie me, you idiot!" Akane yelled.
"Ryugeki-Ken!" Ryo jumped back and swung his umbrella, releasing a
boomerang-shaped blast of energy from the curved handle.
Ranma held his hands forward and yelled "Moko-Takabisha!" releasing his
own ki attack, destroying the Ryugeki-Ken and impacting with Ryo. He was
knocked off his feet and landed flat on his back.
Akane tore free from her bonds and stomped towards the fight.
"Ouch" Ryo muttered, getting up. Before he was able to stand up, Ranma
already was standing above him and grabbed him by his necktie, putting Ryo
in a choke of sorts. "ACK" was all he could say to that.
Ranma looked at him in disbelief. "Gosunkugi?"
"_No_" he spat, narrowing his eyes. The name 'Gosunkugi' was
beginning to get on his nerves.
"Whatever. Who do you think you are? Kidnapping my fiancee!"
"GEKIHOU!" Ryo yelled as he swung the glowing umbrella handle hard and
fast at Ranma's chest. Ranma blocked in time with his arm, but the impact
was still incredibly hard, and Ranma was slammed several feet into the
air, landing against the lamp post where Akane was tied up. Ranma got up,
but he looked like he was in pain, and his left arm was limp at his side.
"Alright," Ryo said, trying to get up, "I think what we have here...
is a big misunderstanding. I was told the lady was Ryouga's, not yours.
My deepest apologies, really. Now if you'll excuse mee*OOF*"
Ryo didn't notice Akane zooming in on him as he got up, and she
hammered him hard with a left hook which sent him flying back again.
"Okay, that's it! Lady, you a*ACK*"
Ryo didn't notice that Ryouga was sneaking up from behind until he felt
his neck being crushed. Ryo was lifted into the air and held over the
side of the bridge, over the waters. "So," Ryouga said, angrily, "picking
on my friends now?"
"Ack" Ryo weakly offered. As discreetly as he could, Ryo swiveled his
umbrella until the tip pointed to the ground. He smiled weakly at Ryouga
and (with throat crushed) croaked "Bakusaitenketsu." As he said the word,
Ryouga's eyes widened in surprise. Then the umbrella tip touched the
concrete and the cement under Ryo and Ryouga suddenly exploded, sending
them both to the waters below.
"NOOOOOOO!!!!" Ryouga screamed. Akane was near! If she found out that
he was P-Chan, he was dead! He reached out and managed to grab some metal
wiring that stuck out of the now destroyed part of the bridge and held on
in a death grip. Ryouga gently swayed back and forth high above the
waters, holding on with one hand.
"Damn youuuu...." *SPLASH* was all Ryo had to say about the situation.
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou ran to the side of the bridge and looked down.
Ryo was nowhere to be seen. They all looked into the waters, checking for
any signs of his escape. A shoe and a suitjacket floated in the waters.
A few frogs were at the water's edge. Some birds flew away. Bugs hovered
around the area.
"I guess he's gone," Ranma said.
"What a jerk." Ukyou grumbled.
"Looks alot like Gosunkugi, doesn't he?" Akane added.
"HEY! SOMEBODY PULL ME UP!!!" Ryouga yelled.
-----------
Cologne had stepped out of the Nekohanted briefly to buy some
ingredients at the local market. As she was shopping, a feeling of dread
washed over her. Cologne immediately rushed home to find a strange scene.
Standing in front of the Nekohanten with a mallet in his hand was
Mousse. He was grinning like a maniac.
"Mousse! Snap out of it, boy! Mousse!"
Mousse wasn't responding. He was just giggling slightly and looking at
the stars. This wasn't a good sign. Could he have possibly done it? Had
Mousse finally snapped after all these years of rejection?
Cologne rushed into the kitchen to find Shampoo slowly recovering and
with a big bump on her head.
"Oh no." Cologne realized what might have happened.
"Great Grandmother, what is it?" Shampoo still looked a bit groggy.
"No. How did he do this. He must have used some trickery! I will not
allow such weaklings into our bloodline!"
"Sorry, 'Old Ghoul'," Mousse arrogantly said, swaggering into the
kitchen. He was still grinning like a maniac. "I've checked the books.
I've even got a precedent. Everything is settled."
Shampoo was still a bit groggy, and was becoming upset when she
realized that Mousse knocked her out with a mallet. "What you hit me
for?!" she asked.
"Shampoo, YOU'RE MINE!!! HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!"
Shampoo didn't understand, at first. Then she realized it. Mousse
knocked her out. He beat her. He was.. he was...
Shampoo took a deep breath. Then she opened her mouth.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!"
---------------
[Saturday Morning]
In his hotel room, Ryo Muhoshin woke up, feeling much better than he
had been when he fell into the river. He was hurt, true, but not badly,
and he always did recover fast.
That Saotome had blazing speed. Strong skill. Definitely someone to
avoid. He'd almost hurt Ryo badly. Almost. The girl was tough too. Her
punch felt like a sledgehammer. He criticized himself for allowing those
two to get so many hits in. Ryo still had quite a few tricks left to
unveil, but until he was fully recovered, he'd just lie in wait.
Anyways, the Jackie Chan film festival was running for 36 hours
straight, so he could still catch maybe 20 hours worth of good 'ol martial
arts action.
As he headed to the shower, he wondered why the hell these people
around here were fond of dumping their adversaries in the river. It was
incredibly annoying. He was running out of good suits and alot of his
shoes were NOT waterproof. The suede ones were totally ruined. Maybe his
sister was right. Maybe dressing up in a suit didn't intimidate the enemy
very much, or at all. Anyways, the dry-cleaner bill was killing him.
He headed out the door, this time in ordinary black pants and grey
shirt. He had plenty of these, and ruining a set would be cheaper than
ruining a good suit.
He was dressed almost _exactly_ like Gosunkugi. Had he known this,
thing would've been different, but that's life.
Walking towards the theatre, Ryo noticed that alot of people, very
thug-like in appearance, were beginning to follow him. Then he noticed
the wall of thugs that was forming a few feet ahead of him.
He was surrounded.
{Oh-ho. Thugfest perhaps?} Ryo wondered.
One massive person stepped up. He was incredibly muscular and was
weilding a heavy chain. In a deep voice, he said "Hey, punk, remember
us?"
{Aah, the Furinkan nuisances.}
"I don't have time for this," Ryo replied slowly.
"We'll MAKE time, Gosunkugi. And this time, you're NOT gonna run
away."
"You are making a mistake."
"Get'em!" The lead thug yelled.
{Oh well, I guess I could use the practice.}
Ten minutes later Ryo brushed off his shirt. It got a bit of dust on
it, and a small amount of blood, not his.
Behind him was a streetfull of thugs in bruised, twisted, slightly
burnt, and mostly unconscious condition.
Ryo went up to what he assumed was the chief thug, who was curretly
lying face-first in the dirt. He grabbed his hair and pulled his face up.
"If I see you again," Ryo said with narrowed eyes, "I kill you."
--------------
In the darkness of a theatre in the front row, Akane, Ranma, Ukyou, and
Ryouga sat, enjoying "Drunken Master II".
They'd gone back to the theater after the fight with Ryo, and after
Ranma stopped by Dr. Tofu's to get his arm checked. As it turned out, his
arm was badly bruised. Ukyou and Ryouga insisted in getting Ranma's head
checked as well. Of course, he took it as an insult and demanded that
they head back to the theater before they miss anything else.
They'd been there since the day before, getting a solid 10 hours of
Jackie Chan. However, not all of them could endure the marathon straight
through.
Despite her violent tendencies and martial arts skills, Akane didn't
enjoy action movies as much as the others They were enjoyable, but she
wasn't fanatical about it. She fell asleep after the 8th hour, her head
resting on Ranma's shoulder.
Ranma, on the other hand, WAS fanatical about it. He was chugging down
his fourth mega-size soda, loaded with caffeine, and was staring at the
screen with wide eyes. The only film he came close to disliking was the
one Jackie made in America in which he was partnered with some old Italian
guy. "The Protector" was the title of that little film. Watching that
movie convinced Ranma that those Americans could never ever get action
movies done right. It was talent wasted.
Ukyou was paying almost as much attention as Ranma was. She loved
these types of movies. She watched alot of them in her childhood, and it
made her feel nostalgic watching them again.
Ryouga was trying to stay awake. He didn't see movies much at all.
Being lost for roughly 70% of his life tends to put going to movie
theatres somewhat low on the list of things to do. Ryouga admitted that
the action was pretty good, the stuntwork was fabulous, and the humor was
good, but he had things weighing on his mind that made him tired. Slowly
he drifted into sleep, ever-so-slowly slumping to one side, his head
falling, falling, and falling...
Ukyou's eyes suddenly widened. She felt something heavy on her right
shoulder. It was making an awful hacksaw kind of noise. She slowly
turned her head only to see Ryouga, fast asleep and snoring. She wasn't
sure of what to do. A part of her felt that the guy deserved a rest.
Another part of her thought she should slug him through the roof.
She looked over at Ranma and sighed. There they were, the cozy couple,
and there she was, with nobody. She looked at Ryouga,who was still
asleep. "Stuck with you instead" she murmered. {Yeah, stuck with Ryouga
the wonder pig.}
She remembered the first time they met. She was still in extreme
crossdresser mode back then, and he thought that she was a guy. Then
Ranma showed Ryouga that she was a girl by opening Ukyou's shirt.
Idiots, both of 'em.
Ranma sensed something was up. He looked to his right to see Ryouga
leaning on Ukyou. He held back a slight laugh. Wasn't it usually the
girl that leans on the guy? That Ryouga, what a wimp.
Then a terrible buzzsaw sound errupted briefly. Ranma's smile
dissapeared. How was he supposed to enjoy the movie with that noise going
on? He reached over to shake Ryouga's head a bit.
Ukyou was stunned when she realized Ranma was putting his arm around
her. She was unsure of what to do. Yes, she still wanted him and was
glad he was putting his arm around her, but right here _with_ Akane at the
same time? Like this? Her heart was beating heavily and she wasn't sure
what to do.
Ranma, reaching behind Ukyou, gave Ryouga's head a thump. In doing so,
Ranma had to lean towards Ryouga, and hence, leaned towards Ukyou, who was
staring straight ahead and blushing deep red.
Ryouga woke up to the feel of someone thumping his head, which was
enough to make him mad. He looked around to see who hit him.
Akane, leaning on Ranma, woke up since he was leaning away from her.
She blinked her eyes, yawned, and then looked at Ranma.
Ranma noticed that Akane wasn't leaning on his shoulder anymore, which
meant that she must be awake again. He also noticed that Ryouga woke up
as well, and was in an angry mood. He was getting a nagging feeling
something was wrong when he noticed that Ukyou was wide-eyed and blushing
badly. That nagging feeling became a Strong Sense Of Danger when he
noticed that Ryouga was not only looking angry, but now looking angrily at
_him_. He turned slowly, that Strong Sense Of Danger still kicking at
him, and noticed that Akane was looking right at him too, and definitely
_not_ in a kind and loving way.
"What do you think you're doing?" Akane and Ryouga both said.
Comprehension finally snapped into place. Ranma sat up straight,
removed his arm from around Ukyou, looked panic-stricken, and stammered,
"Um... it's... it's not what you guys think! Really.. I uh, I mean, it
was just..."
"Well?" Akane asked, looking angrier by the second.
"Well Ryouga was...."
"What about me, Saotome?" Ryouga wasn't getting any happier either.
"I mean... oh no."
*WHAM* Ranma got hammered in stereo, as Ryouga's and Akane's fists
landed solidly on opposite sides of his face.
"Ow! Will you just let me explain!"
------------
Ryo sat quietly in the balcony. For the most part he was enjoying
himself. He arrived just in time to catch Drunken Master II, and Twin
Dragons was next on the list. Life was good.
Well, almost. There were a pack idiots in the bottom front row making
all sorts of noise. He thought about ki-blasting them into silence, but
changed his mind. Today was a day for _rest_. He sat back and smiled.
-----------
Everybody in the theatre was enjoying themselves. They didn't notice
something lurking, cruising through the rows.
Along the balcony, chaos was slowly spreading. A girl jumped up,
startled, and then slapped the guy next to her. Other girls suddenly felt
a little colder than usual, and were startled to discover that their
undergarments had mysteriously vanished. One girl, sitting in the front
row of the balcony, was checking in her purse when she suddenly felt a
light squeeze on her chest. She looked up angrily, saw that the man
sitting a seat away from her seemed to be enjoying the movie too much (he
was sitting back and smiling) and gave that man a solid slap in the face.
"Pervert!" She yelled.
"OW!"
Ryo didn't know what brought that about. Damned crazy woman! Just
slapping him like that for no reason!
Then he heard the voice.
It cackled.
He heard that cackle before.
He listened carefully.
"What a haul!"
Ryo grabbed his umbrella, stood up, and looked for his prey.
"A-ha."
-----------
Ranma had finally diffused the situation, explaining everything. Akane
went back to leaning on his shoulder and fell asleep again, but this time
with a somewhat angry look on her face. Ukyou was still staring straight
ahead at the screen. Ryouga went back to watching the movie, but was
slowly falling asleep too.
Suddenly, there was the sounds of panic coming from the balcony seats.
Ranma looked up to see what was causing a commotion in the balcony when
he heard a yell of "GEKIHOU!" which was followed by a solid *BOOM* from
the balcony. From the center of a flash of light a little two-foot tall
figure rocketed through the air and hit the theatre screen with a *thwap*.
"Aw great, it's him."
Happousai, embedded within the screen, looked at his attacker and his
eyes began to glow red. "You again.... how DARE you interfere with me!"
Ranma blinked. Usually that type of dialogue was reserved for use on
him. Apparently, someone else had incurred Happi's wrath.
"MUHOSHIN, DIEEEE!" Happousai yelled. Suddenly, a ghostly snake-like
red blast shot out towards someone in the balcony.
Ranma felt sorry for whoever Happousai was mad at. When the little
pervert was really ticked off he was nearly unbeatable. Ranma would
normally not mind helping beat up the little pervert, but just for today,
he was out with his wife and friends, and just wanted to enjoy himself.
Akane stirred, yawning. She turned to Ranma. "Sorry I fell asleep again.
Did I miss anything?"
"Nothing much."
Meanwhile, Happousai peeled himself off of the screen and rocketed
towards the balcony.
-------------
Ryo was running for the doors. Whatever the hell that... that.. THING
was that the old wretch shot forth scared the hell out of him. He could
swear that he saw the image of the old man's face on it. Ryo knew trouble
when he saw it and so he made a strategic retreat, with the "thing" close
behind. "Gonna make it, gonna make it, gonna make it, gonn*ACK*" **BOOM**
Ryo was flung out the door, through the wall, and out into the sidewalk.
Outside, people were staring at the young man that had just crashed
through the building and landed on the cement. Among the noise of the
crowd people were yelling "hey, I think he's dead!", "somebody call an
ambulance", and "damn martial artists."
Finally he stirred.
"OOOUCH!!" he yelled. Ryo got up wearily, feeling not too well at all,
and stumbled back towards his hotel in a daze. "Just KILL Ryouga and
LEAVE this damned town. This place is bad for my health. ACK!"
This new ACK was caused by a gymnastic ribbon, which suddenly wrapped
itself around his neck. Ryo tried to undo the ribbon and breathe. Then
he heard it. The most infamous laugh in Nerima.
"Oh-hohohohoho! What was that you were saying? You, threatening my
Ryouga darling? I think not." Ryo was looking up at a rather familiar
looking girl.
{Wait a minte,} he thougth to himself, {she was in the file...
whatwasthatname... Kodachi Kunou. Hm, looks better in real life. But her
and Ryouga? There's no explanation for bad taste.}
"Excuse me," Ryo croaked, Kodachi's ribbon still wound around his neck,
"I thought you were after a guy named Ranma?"
Kodachi turned away, striking a dramatic pose, which allowed Ryo to
loosen the ribbon. "Oh, but I do love Ranma. But also Ryouga. What's a
girl to do? I shall have them both!" She turned dramatically towards her
prey only to see empty space. Ryo was already running down the street at
top speed.
Ryo looked behind him to see if anyone was in pursuit. It looked like
Kodachi wasn't going to bother chasing him. That was good. Then
Happousai popped out of the Ryo-made hole in the theater building. That
was bad. "I'm not finished yet!" Happousai yelled.
Ryo ran through alleys and around corners furiously. He wasn't sure he
could handle the troll from hell yet.
"Damned pervert troll martial artist," he muttered.
"Who's a pervert?" Happousai asked, suddenly next to him.
"Uh-oh."
"Here, junior, hold this."
Ryo looked at what Happousai was holding out. It was a bomb.
Immediately, he did the patented Martial Artist Super Jump (tm) away from
Happousai, escaping from the explosion. "You die _now_. Twin Dragons is
showing in an hour." He twirled his umbrella, which began to glow at it's
curved handle.
Happousai's eyes turned red again and he suddenly seemed to become
gigantic, maybe seven feet in height. He charged at Ryo.
Ryo once again leapt into the air, this time charging at Happousai,
with his umbrella still twirling. At the peak of his jump, Ryo yelled
"GouRygeki-Ken!" and dozens of boomerang shaped energy projectiles flew
out in Happousai's general direction while others flew off-target
severely. Trees were blasted, windows shattered, lamp posts destroyed,
and a park bench was flung twenty feet before crashing into a wall, where
it sprouted arms, legs, and the head of a blond girl and ran off.
Happousai was trying to stand his ground, but the impact of dozens of
blasts drove him to his knees and forced him into his normal tiny self.
"How ironic," Ryo said, noticing (yes, while still in the air. After
all, it was a Martial Artist Super Jump (TM)) where the chase had ended
up bringing him. He was back by the bridge again.
Ryo landed in front of the dazed pervert and poked him at a certain
pressure point which severely dazed the already weakened Happousai. He
started pounding on Happousai violently with ki-charged hatchet swings
from his umbrella which buried Happousai deeper into the pavement with
each hit.
"Now old man, you die." Ryo grinned evily. He held Happousai down by
stomping on the old man's body with his foot. Then he held the umbrella by
the handle this time, aimed the pointed end at Happousai's head, and yelled
"BAKUSAI-TEN-KETSU!" jabbing the old man's skull.
*TAP*
"Ouch!" Happousai yelled.
"Eh?" Ryo blinked. This didn't seem right. From what he'd managed to
observe during his brief spying of the Chinese Amazon tribes, that
should've worked. It worked great on buildings and boulders, why not on
mini-trolls? The old man's skull should be splattered all over the
pavement, shouldn't it?
He gave it one more try.
"BAKUSAI-TEN-KETSU!"
*TAP*
"OUCH!"
To hell with it. Time to stick with what was reliable. He held the
tip, holding the umbrella like a golf club, reared back with the handle
beginning to glow, and closed his eyes. The wooden handle glowed
brighter, until it was almost blinding.
Happousai finally regained some control of his motor skills and tried
to squirm out from under Ryo's foot.
Ryo opened his eyes and yelled "GEKIHOU!" slamming Happousai across
town and leaving a big rip in the pavement.
"I AM VICTORIOUS!!!!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!" he yelled triumphantly, just
before the bomb that Happousai left behind exploded, flinging him high
into the air and once again into the river.
------------
Mousse was sitting idly on the roof, happy almost to the point of
insanity. This was indeed a good day. There were signs of good tiding
everywhere. The sun shone, the birds were chirping, a gentle breeze was
blowing, and he just saw Happousai flying across the sky.
Inside the Nekohanten, Cologne was digging through the ancient laws of
the Amazons to find a way to cancel the marriage. Shampoo had reacted as
badly as she thought she would. Now, what to do.... a-ha. Here's
something.
Cologne hopped unto the roof, slightly dampening Mousse's good mood.
"What do you want, you old mummy?" Mousse asked.
"I have combed through the laws of our people and I have come to say
you are indeed a rightfull groom to Shampoo."
"I am _the_ rightfull groom to Shampoo."
"You... you _and_ Ryouga."
"Oh." He'd forgotten about that. Mouse wondered what happened when
two people are engaged to the same woman.
"You must defeat Ryouga before you can marry Shampoo. That isn't a
problem, is it?"
"Of course not!" Mousse was sure that he could work something out with
Ryouga. After all, he certainly didn't want to be engaged to Shampoo.
Cologne still wasn't sure how she would be able to use this to her
advantage, but she was sure she'd think of something before their duel.
----------
Happousai slammed into the pavement. Hard. The impact made a small
crater. He slowly crawled out of it, pervert-power dragging him on.
For anyone else, this would be a dire situation, but for Happousai, it was
a momentary problem. He'd been beaten, battered, bruised, bludgeoned,
tossed into a cave with dynamite, and had always come back for more. All
he needed was one touch of that special silky feeling and all would be
well, instantly.
He thought about that new nuisance, Muhoshin. An interesting and
amusing diversion. It just wasn't fun anymore going up against Ranma.
Was it because his clashes with the future heir of the school of Anything
Goes Martial Arts were becoming repetitive? Maybe. A part of him looked
forward to abusing his new sparring partner, very much.
But until then, there were more immediate concerns."
"Massive... internal bleeding... broken bones... loosing
consciousness... must... have... pantieeeeeeeees..." he wheezed.
Suddenly, a bikini-clad green-haired girl _flew_ by. She had horns.
Happousai thought he was finally going into shock. She flew around,
looking about, and then flew _to_ him. Happousai smiled. He guessed
she'd never heard of the infamous Happousai before.
"Excuse me," she asked, "have you seen my Ataru around here?"
"Ataru? Why I'M Ataru! C'mere, sweetums!" Amazingly, despite his
massive internal injuries, he managed to leap up and glomped unto her
chest. Happousai enjoyed himself as only a pervert of his status could.
He felt the injuries slowly melt away, his life force building itself up
slowly.
"AAAAH! PERVERT!" She yelled, suddenly crackling with energy. She
grabbed Happousai by the skull and pumped in ungodly amounts of
electricity, frying off all his hair and killing off a few brain cells as
well. He finally lost his grip and dropped to the floor, charred and
sizzling. It was quickly followed by a severe malleting.
Happousai struggled to get up, but fell on his back. He groaned, tried
to get up once more, and then fell into unconsciousness.
--------
[_Much_ Later]
Ryouga wandered the restaraunt, looking for the stairs to the attic.
He was worn out from watching mass quantities of theatrical martial arts.
It was amazing, he thought, how the roof of a building could shift itself
in space and time. As he walked by the main room, he heard a sniffle, and
then several more of them. He followed the sound to the window table,
where Ukyou sat with a glass of water, looking depressed. He went to her.
"Hey," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"YAAAAAAAH!" Ukyou whirled around and swung with her spatula
instinctively.
*THWAP*
"Oooow!"
"Oh, Ryouga! Sorry!" She helped Ryouga back to his feet and then sat
back down. "Don't scare me like that, stupid."
"Sorry." He sat down across from her and rubbed the sore spot on his
face. "You okay?" Ryouga asked.
"I'm the one that hit you, sugar," she said, amused.
"No... I mean.. you know...."
She sighed. "Hm. No. Not really. I guess what happened with Ranma
back at the theater... I mean..."
"Oh." said Ryouga. He wasn't good at this comforting-a-hurt-friend
conversational kind of thing.
"I thought... I thought that I was over it."
"Need one?" asked Ryouga, offering a bandanna.
"Thanks." Ukyou said quietly, taking the bandanna, wiping her eyes
lightly and blowing her nose with it.
"I... I know how you feel," said he. They sat there in silence, Ukyou
sniffling once in a while, and Ryouga sitting there at a loss for words.
"Well," he finally said, "get some rest, okay? Good night." Ryouga said,
patting her on the back. Then he went off once more in his quest for the
spacially displaced attic.
"G'night, Ryouga."
- end part 7 -
==================
PART VIII
Mousse Triumphant!
==================
[Mid November: Monday Morning]
*RIIIING*RIIING*RIII-
"Hello?"
=Hello, This is Ryo Muhoshin.=
"Good morning, Mr. Muhoshin."
=I called before... regarding information on certain persons who are in
the Furinkan HS area... regarding Ryouga Hibiki in particular.=
"Oh, yes, I remember you. It's been a while."
=Your information... it was rather inaccurate.=
"Pardon?"
=Where to start... Ryouga Hibiki no longer resides at the Tendou dojo.
Akane Tendou is engaged to some ridiculously overpowered martial artist.
Nobody warned me about the little old perverted troll with a talent for
bombs.=
"Mr. Muhoshin."
=What?=
"You accusing me of something?"
=Accuse is such a harsh word, but it seems that this misleading
information...=
"Mr. Muhoshin, I'd like to point out one thing. Exactly when did you
acquire this information?"
=A month ago, wasn't it?=
"No."
=No?=
"No. A year ago. I've got the records to prove it."
=You're bluffing.=
"Remember who you're talking to."
=Ah.... aheh... oh. *CLICK*=
-------------
"Nabiki, time for breakfast. Oh, am I interrupting something?"
Nabiki calmly put down the phone and headed out her door. "No. Just
straightening out some business matters. C'mon Akane, let's eat. I'm
starving."
-------------
Ryo sat on his bed, looking thoroughly embarrased.
"Well," he said, gritting his teeth, "I feel stupid."
The television, which was on the all-news network, was reporting on yet
another report of rampaging pig attacks when Ryo shut it off, needing a
bit of silence to deal with the humiliation that he felt.
He felt entirely too embarrased to buy an update of the situation from
his anonymous informant and decided to do some personal (and very careful)
surveillance.
Besides, he thought, it'd be good exercise.
------------
"And she said WHAT!?!?!?"
The lunch crowd in the okonomiyaki shop turned to look towards the
afternoon entertainment, which was at the moment a surprised Ryouga.
"Unfortunately so, Hibiki," Mousse said, looking grim.
"Hmmm." Ryouga scratched his head. "Wait. This isn't a problem. I'll
just throw the fight."
"Yes! That's it!" said Mousse happily. "But we must make it look
good! I want to impress my future bride."
"Oh, of course, of course." Ryouga nodded solemnly.
"And be sure to steer clear of Shampoo or the old ghoul before the
fight. I have a feeling they're up to something." And with that warning,
Mousse departed.
-----------
Genma and Soun were looking extremely happy as they sat at the dinner
table. Ranma sensed something important had happened.
"Hey, pop, something good happen?"
"Yes, my son. Good fortune has smiled on this house at last."
"That's right, Saotome!" Soun added.
"What happened?" Ranma asked.
"I'M SOOOO HAPPY!!!!" Soun yelled, bursting into tears.
"Ranma, my boy, you won't be seeing Happousai any time soon."
"Hey, that's great! Did he finally move out?"
"Nope. Massive internal injuries."
"Say what?"
"Every bone in his body was broken or cracked. He won't be able to
leave the hospital for months, maybe years! MUHHAHAHAHA!"
"But who did this? You know Happousai isn't easy to beat. If someone
had beaten him up THAT badly..."
"FOOLISH BOY! Never question good fortune!"
Ranma resumed eating, thinking about the situation. Who could have
beaten up Happousai THAT badly? Maybe Miss Hinako, but break every bone
in his body? That wasn't like her. Cologne? Not her style either.
Wait... the last time Ranma saw Happousai was at the movie theater. He
was fighting someone, right? Ranma tried to remember what Happousai was
yelling.
{"MUHOSHIN, DIE!"}
No way. Couldn't be. He musta been distracted by a bra or something.
-----------
Gosunkugi sat in his room, staring at a book his parents had bought
him. He found himself doubting the sanity of his parents. The book was
from an American author, and apparently popular enough to get translated
and published for the Japanese market.
Very slowly, he said the title.
"You're good enough, smart enough, and darn it, people like you: a
twelve step program to enrich your life, by Stuart Smalley."
He shook his head in shame.
-----------
[Wednesday, Sunset]
In the same site where Ranma and Mousse first squared off, the
showdown between Ryouga and Mousse was arranged. As before, there was a
crowd. That was the great thing about this neighborhood: free
entertainment like public martial arts fights happen often.
Ryouga and Mousse were in opposite corners, trying to look serious
about the fight. Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou were sitting in the front rows.
Shampoo was nearby as well, holding a sign that said in large letters
///SHAMPOO MARRY NOBODY!/// She wasn't happy with either choice.
Akane and Ranma sat in the stands, side by side. Ukyou was by Ranma's
other side, but felt uncomfortable.
"Hey, Ukyou. Ryouga ever tell you why he's actin' so weird around me
lately?"
Ukyou herself had wanted to ask Ranma about this for some time. It
seemed Ryouga was genuinely repulsed beyond normal when he was around
Ranma. There was a chance that _maybe_ Ryouga was telling the truth. She
had to know.
"Um... be honest with me, Ranchan. Did you pull some sort of 'prank'
on Ryouga recently? Did you do something... weird to him?"
"Nope. And I'm being honest about this, really. I didn't do
nothin' to Ryouga."
"Good."
"No... wait... there was that one thing I did..." He remembered that
stunt when he tricked Kunou into beating up Ryouga. That one was a
classic. Ranma smiled. Ukyou, for the first time, didn't like that
smile.
"What?" she asked.
"Well, it was just a joke... but anyways, Ryouga got me kinda mad, so I
wanted to get revenge, y'know? So I just changed into a girl and-"
Ukyou's eyes went wide with shock. "You DIDN'T!"
Ranma blinked, surprised by Ukyou's reaction. "Huh? What's the big
deal? I just-"
Before Ranma could finish his story, Ukyou gave him a massive hundred
hand slap. "YOU PERVERT!" She left her seat and stood by Ryouga's
corner, frowning. She couldn't believe it. Ranma _did_ make out with
Ryouga. That was going just too far. That was... it was... _sick_. Ukyou
couldn't believe that this was the man she was in love with.
Meanwhile, Akane gave Ranma an angry glare. "What did you do now!?!"
she yelled loudly.
"Nothing! I swear!"
***
"Hey, Mousse," Ryouga yelled, "ya ready to fight, eh?" He couldn't
hold back a smile.
"Yes. Indeed. I shall surely defeat you Hibiki." Mousse cracked a
quick smile as well.
Cologne entered the ring. "Come, both of you."
The pair stepped to the center of the ring. Suddenly, Cologne poked
Ryouga with her stick in several places. His eyes glazed over, as if he
was in a trance.
"What did you do to him, you old ghoul?"
"Heheheh, just wanted to make sure Ryouga gave his all in this fight."
She turned to Ryouga and pointed her staff at Mousse. "Maul."
"RyougaAACK!" Mousse was interrupted by Ryouga's umbrella poke to the
stomach. "Ryouga! Snap out of it! Ryouga!" Ryouga's eyes were blank,
but he stepped stedily forward, tearing bandanas from his head.
"What's that idiot doing?" Ranma muttered.
"Hey! Ryouga!" Ukyo yelled.
"So I've gotta do this the hard way?" Mousse took a step back.
"FINE!" He stepped forward, a duck-shaped toilet trainer suddenly
appearing in his hand and aimed at Ryouga's head. Ryouga smashed the
trainer with a punch, jumped back, and threw a handful of bandanas at
Mousse, who countered by slicing them all with metal claws that popped out
of his sleeve. Ryouga opened his umbrella and flung it at Mousse, who
dodged to the left and charged at Ryouga with a bonbori much like
Shampoo's. Ryouga caught the weapon with one hand, but was still hit when
the bonbori opened up on top to reveal a spring-loaded glove that rocketed
forth to hit him in the nose. Mousse stepped back, not noticing that
Ryouga's umbrella was coming back. It flew over Mousse, but the handle
was flying low enough to hit Mousse in the back of the head. The amazon
collapsed on the floor, stunned.
"That idiot," sighed Ranma.
"Ryouga you dummy!" yelled Ukyou.
Cologne sprang up to the center of the ring, grinning in triumph, and
said "It is official, Ryouga shall be Shampoo's br-"
"IT'S NOT OVER!" Mousse rose up suddenly, although looking somewhat
unstable. He whipped his arms forward, releasing an absurd amount of
chains which wrapped themselved around Ryouga. Mousse slowly walked
towards Ryouga, searching his robes for something. Cologne murmered to
Ryouga "Akane hates you." Ryouga began to glow with a fiery aura.
"You'll be alone for the rest of your accursed life." Ryouga's blank face
became a snarl. "Ranma is _always_ going to be better than you." The
fiery glow around Ryouga began to swirl.
"Aw man, he's gonna do it," Ranma muttered. "Ryouga! C'mon, snap out
of it! Don't do this! RYOUGA!"
Mousse noticed Ryouga was glowing and knew the time to end this was
near. "Whereisitwhereisitwhereisit... AH-HA!!!" Suddenly, he pulled out
a gigantic mallet. Cologne looked up and it seemed to cover up the sun
itself. It was a mighty mallet indeed. Mousse grunted with effort,
lifted the Mighty Mallet up high, and ran towards Ryouga, screaming
"MALLET OF JUSTICE STRIIIIIIIKE!!!"
Cologne murmered one last thing to Ryouga, tipping him over the edge.
"You're a pig."
"SHISHI HOUKOU-DAN!!!" A blast of energy rushed from Ryouga's hands,
striking Mousse, who was flung back, caught in the dead center of the
blast. Meanwhile, Mousse's mallet was flung arching high, going towards
Ryouga. Mousse was on his knees, trying to get up. Cologne stood at the
center once more and said "Give up Mousse, you're beat*ACK*" Mousse
looked up to see what could have interrupted Cologne. He smiled when he
saw that the Mallet of Justice had not failed him. It had landed on
Ryouga and Cologne both.
Mousse jumped to his feet, triumph surging through him. "I'VE WON!
I'VE WON!!! Witness the POWER of MY LOVE, SHAMPOO!!!" The mallet rolled
off Ryouga's head, revealing a stunned Ryouga and a flat little ghoul.
Meanwhile, Mousse was doing the Amazon Dance of Joy.
Ryouga blinked, groggy and in a daze. "Wha... happa.. whoa..."
Mousse stood triumphant. "I -WILL- MARRY SHAMPOO!" He quickly dodged
a bonbori hurled by Shampoo from the stands.
"Wait, Mousse, the fight isn't over." To everyone's surprise, Cologne
was back up.
"Oh yes it is. Look at him!" Mousse pointed to Ryouga, who, much to
Mousse's surprise, was slowly getting up.
"You see? He is not defeated yet." said Cologne.
Ryouga, finally coming to his senses, realized the situation. "Huh?
Oh... uh oh." He quickly fell on his back and tried his best to look
knocked out.
"Aw man, that's gotta be the _worst_ acting I have ever seen," Ranma
said. The crowd murmered in agreement.
"Shampoo no care. Shampoo no marry any of you!"
"Get up you slacker," Cologne said, reaching over with her staff
towards Ryouga, but he was quickly wrapped up in chains and tossed away by
Mousse, who, in his rush to get Ryouga out of the situation, tossed him
into the stands.
"Ha! You cannot stop the power of my love! COME TO ME, SHAMPOO!"
Mousse lept from the ring, full of bliss, and charged the now extremely
upset amazon girl.
"SHAMPOO NO MARRY YOU!!!" With that battle cry, she punted him into
the sky.
Cologne didn't notice Mousse's sudden departure and ranted on. "Just
you wait, Mousse! I shall call the Amazon Law Council to settle this
matter! The law is on my side!" Everyone was surprised at this outburst
by Cologne. She'd rarely ever become hysterical before. "I will not have
blind idiots tainting our family line!!!"
"Geez, I guess she REALLY doesn't want Mousse as a son-in-law," Ranma
murmered.
Meanwhile, the crowds in the stands slowly departed, Ryo Muhoshin being
one with the crowds. Ryo had seen enough. That, in his opinion, really
was terrible acting by Hibiki, enough to disgust even an amateur actor.
He lept away, heading somewhere where he hoped to relax for a while.
------------
As the crowds scattered, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Ryouga, Mousse, and
Shampoo remained behind, silent and contemplative. Cologne had left with
the rest of the crowd, having no desire to stay in a place of failure.
Shampoo stood apart from the rest of them, her back turned away.
Ranma leaned towards Ryouga. "Nice -ham- acting ya did back there,
P-chan."
Ryouga glared at Ranma. "Shut up, you."
Meanwhile, Mousse reached a hand out to her shoulder.
"Shampoo... my wife..."
***WHAP***
Everyone winced. That looked painful.
"Stupid Mousse!!! Shampoo kill!"
The next several minutes were spent trying to get Shampoo to release
Mousse from her Amazonian Death Choke.
end part 8
=========================
PART IX
Not Tea, and Not Sympathy
=========================
Tea houses have a generally relaxing effect. They are a refuge from
the daily grind of society, a haven from the stresses of life, a place to
_relax_.
Nerima's tea houses are greatly valued because these places are one of
the few places where fighting just does _not_ occur. It's an unspoken
rule that everyone obeys. After all, there has to be some place where one
can negotiate a deal with enemies that would otherwise kill their
adversaries on the spot?
Actually, there's one exception to this rule. The dojo of Martial Arts
Tea Ceremony doubles as a tea house. At this place, fights often break
out at least once a day. For this reason, that particular cafe is
incredibly unpopular among the townfolk of Nerima, but does very well with
tourists.
***
Everyone had gone their seperate ways after they managed to save Mousse
from Shampoo. Being used to wandering off on his own, Ryouga did just
that. Before the others realized it, he was gone from their view.
He was lost. This wasn't new.
He had less than 24 hours to find his way to Ucchan's, or at the very
least, Furinkan High. Time limits and Hibiki navigational skills did not
mix.
Ryouga sighed in frustration as the evening shadows began to fall. He
didn't want to think about how long he'd been lost this time. It was at
this point that he found himself standing in front of a nondescript tea
house of sorts. He had nothing better to do, and hoped that he would
manage to get directions, so he went in.
He entered and found it was what it appeared to be, a quiet, relaxing
cafe filled with people. To his surprise, a waitress immediately went up
to him.
"The gentleman in that table is expecting you," she said, pointing to a
table in the corner whose sole occupant was obscured by the newspaper he
was reaeding. He followed her to the table and had a seat.
"You... were expecting me?" asked Ryouga curiously.
"You were standing in front of the store like an idiot, I guessed it
was a matter of time until you came in. Have a seat, let's talk." The
newspaper lowered. Ryo gave Ryouga a brief glance, then went back to
reading.
"You?!" Ryouga warily looked at the Gosunkugi lookalike. "What do
_you_ want?"
"Ah. That would be telling."
"What do you mean?"
"Shush, Hibiki. Now is not the time for loud confrontations. I'll
probbably tell you anyways a little later."
"Then why are we here?"
"Don't play games with me, idiot. I know you were following me."
"I was not!"
"Oh? Then why are you here?"
"I was lost!"
"What a coincidence that we meet here," said Ryo sarcastically. As a
waitress passed by, he asked her to bring something over. "The house
special for my companion here," he said.
"Buying me a drink?" wondered Ryouga suspiciously. "How generous of
you."
"Come now, you think I'd start something in a tea house?" It was
rather... modern for a tea house, but it met all the minimum requirements,
and as such, was supposed to be a no-violence zone.
Ryouga shrugged. "Hey, why are you after me, anyways?"
Ryo narrowed his eyes. He didn't care to bring past embarrasments to
light. "You offended some of our sensei." It was the truth... part of
the truth, anyways. He'd like to kill Ryouga even without the sensei
sending him to do it.
"But what did I do?!" asked Ryouga.
Ryo shrugged. "I care not."
"I do," said Ryouga. "This needs to stop."
"Feh."
They sat there in silence, for a brief moment. Ryo sipping his tea and
reading through the paper, Ryouga wondering why he was staying there at
all. Ryo sighed. Ryouga's presence was getting irritating, especially
when Hibiki was just sitting there doing nothing.
"Here," said Ryo, holding out a pamphlet of some sort.
"Hm?" wondered Ryouga
"It's the menu. Look at it."
"What? Why?" asked Ryouga crossly.
"We," said Ryo, "are in an establishment of respectability. One does
not wish to be seated by a person looking about aimlessly as if he were an
idiot. Read the menu, will you? It looks far better than that blank
stare on your face."
"Shut up," mumbled Ryouga, looking at the menu already.
"Hey," said Ryouga.
"Hm?"
"Where'd you learn the breaking point technique?" he wondered. He'd
seen Ryo use it before, and the only other person he knew that practiced
that technique was Cologne. What that meant, exactly, he did not know.
"I was hunting after _you_" he said, "and was in China, when..."
*
"...where the hell am I now?" muttered Ryo, trecking through the vast
wilderness of China. He knew that this area was on Ryouga's list of
places to visit, although narrowing down the list to a few towns would
have been nice. Thus far, he'd traveled to a few small villages, passed
by an interesting, rather scenic place with many springs and bamboo poles,
but had yet to catch up with him.
"Should've taken another year off," he muttered, slashing through the
underbrush.
Suddenly, a thunderous boom echoed through the forest. Ryo crouched
down low, watching for an attack. When nothing happened, he advanced
slowly towards where the sound came from. More explosions rocked the
earth, and as he peered from behind some foliage, he saw why.
Suspended by ropes from several trees were several young women. They
all had one hand tied behind their backs. He observed, quietly, sensing
something incredible was about to happen.
From furthere in the trees, boulders on ropes swung towards them.
Unfazed, they looked right at the boulders, rearing one arm back and
preparing to strike.
{What are they...} wondered Ryo.
Suddenly, several of the boulders shattered and exploded into shrapnel
and dust. Several other boulders merely struck the women, sending them
flying backwards in much pain. Ryo ignored them, more fascinated by the
talent that they had just shown. {Is this a technique I can learn?} he
wondered, while also entertaining the potential of such an attack. The
blast seemed very violent, and sent jagged debris flying everywhere.
{As potent as a fragmentation grenade. And... and the damage it could
do when DONE to a human body! This, I must learn.}
And so, for the next few days, he watched, and listened, and analyzed.
When the training grounds were empty, he'd climbed up and attempted to
train himself, hanging from the ropes while pushing the boulder back as
far as possible. When they left no boulders hanging, he practiced on the
ones left on the forest's floor. This way was actually the one he
preferred, but he realized there must be some merrit in how the amazons
trained in the technique, so he kept to practicing by suspended boulder
propelled at himself whenever he could. Days turned to weeks, and weeks
into a few months...
*
"... and so, eventually, after... oh... many bruises, many countless
bruises, I figured it out. It's a really versatile technique, you know.
Once you learn it, no prison can hold you and no man dares take you on
unless they're wearing armor... or have incredible endurance."
The waitress came in with their drinks, contained in black coffee mugs.
Ryouga ignored the drink, finding himself engrossed by the menu selection.
"So you weren't properly trained to use the bakusai-ten-ketsu."
"No.... I'll admit the debris that flies around is annoying, but after
a while in practice it ceased becoming bothersome."
Ryouga was considering what this meant. Ryo had boosted toughness as
well, since the exploding debris no longer hurt him, BUT his training
certainly wasn't as rigorous. Ryouga still had the superior endurance,
but Ryo must have endurance at least as tough as Ranma's.
"That technique," Ryo said, looking thoguthfully at his glass, "it is
great for getaways... but for some reason it didn't work when I tried to
kill Happousai."
"So it is true. You did take on Happousai."
Ryo nodded. "Tough little bastard." He sighed, in a way that said he
was bored with life and was going to entertain himself in a way that would
make Other People uncomfortable. "Anyways, there he was stunned at my
feet, and I decided I wanted to scatter his brains across the pavement."
He took a sip of his drink, then continued, "and so, I yell out
'BAKUSAITENKETSU!', jab the runt in the head, and nothing happens."
"The bakusai ten-ketsu doesn't work on living things. It only works on
rocks."
"Is that so?" Ryo frowned and took another sip of his drink.
"That's... dissapointing."
They sat there, Ryo very relaxed and Ryouga looking somewhat tense,
although trying to blend in anyways. Ryo felt that maybe Ryouga had a
point about getting things over with. After all, Ryouga was the last name
on his target list. And after Ryouga? Maybe another vacation.
"So you prefer an official challange? Hmm..." Ryo finished the last
of his drink, slammed it down on the table dramatically, then pointed at
Ryouga dramatically. "I officially challange you at the last day of the
month, in the evening, seven, at the bridge where we first fought. Sound
good?"
"Fine." Ryouga then looked thoughtful for a moment (something a little
alien to anyone that knew him for a long time) then turned to Ryo with his
finger pointed dramatically. "But no more kidnapping, got it?"
"Pardon?"
"You'll leave me and my friends alone."
Ryo frowned. "Bah, you stick in the mud. You have no sense of
adventure." He flipped to the front section of the paper and noticed a
strange headline. [RAMPAGING PIG STRIKES AGAIN] Ryo paused a moment,
thinking, then said "It's a deal." He didn't mind accepting the offer.
After all, finding ways around the rules was a very entertaining thing to
do as well.
Ryouga picked up his mug and drank. In a mild hurry to leave Ryo's
presence, he drank the contents quickly in one gulp. Then he coughed
slightly.
Ryo took a small moment to grin. "Enjoy the drink?"
Ryouga coughed repeatedly, a frown on his face. "What was _that_?"
"House special. Don't drive home. Ja ne, lost boy."
"You mean... it had alcohol?"
"You shouldn't drink so fast. Now get thee home, our business is
done."
Ryouga, realizing that there was nothing else to be achieved by staying
there, left quietly and walked into the quickly darkening streets. He
fought the ever-increasing buzz that he was feeling in his head, but
feared that in the end, he'd lose his focus. This was the last thing he
needed... Ryo would pay for this.
--------------
[A little later]
Ryo looked through his somewhat out-of-date information on the people
in this area. He flipped through them until he came to one in particular.
[Tatewaki Kunou. Age 18. Fairly skilled with swords-type weaponry.
Obsessed with Akane Tendou and anonymous Pig-Tailed Girl. Large ego.
Idiot.]
"Hm...."
A FEW MINUTES LATER...
*DING*DONG*
Sasuke opened the doors to the Kunou estate, revealing a person in a
suit and holding an umbrella. {Damn salesmen} he thought to himself.
"We don't want any!" Sasuke said, slamming the door.
"OPEN THE DOOR!"
"Sasuke! Who dares make such noise at this late hour!" Kunou had
awoken, and he was very much irritated.
"I HAVE NEWS OF YOUR MUCH BELOVED PIG-TAILED GODESS!"
"Sasuke, open the door."
The door opened and Ryo quickly strode in, only to run into a bokken
aimed at his throat.
"Gosunkugi? Why do you disturb the house of Kunou at this late hour?!"
said Kunou.
Ryo winced once more, hearing himself labeled 'Gosunkugi'.. This threw
him off. He was hoping to be a total stranger to Kunou. The plan would
work better if he was. But then there's this 'Gosunkugi' thing...
"Ah... Master Kunou!" Ryo said, getting to his knees. He didn't like
kneeling before anyone, but according to the file, Gosunkugi wasn't much
at all, so kneeling would probbably be in character. "I have news to
report! The villian Hibiki has taken the pig-tailed girl!"
"WHAT! THAT INFIDEL!" Kuno was about to rush off, then paused in a
rare moment of thought. He looked at Ryo suspiciously. "But why does
this concern you, mage?"
Ryo made a wild guess. He hoped that it was right.
"Er... have I not helped you before in the past?" said Ryo hopefully.
"Hm... indeed you have." said Kunou.
"And knowing that you are _such_ a mighty warrior, I had sought out
your assistance in this matter. Are you not the *great* Tatewaki Kunou?"
"Indeed I am!"
"You can still catch Hibiki now! He's somewhere near the New Hamma Tea
Shop."
"VERY WELL THEN! I AM OFF!" Kunou stomped away into the night.
{How gullable.} Ryo smiled. Yes, he would face Hibiki at the month's
end, and yes he did promise to take no more hostages or to no longer
ambush Ryouga, but he didn't say anything about _other_ people ambushing
him.
Just then, a sinister laughing began. It wasn't his. This wasn't
fitting with his view of the natural order of things.
"Oh-hohohohoho. Who do we have here? Aren't you Gosunkugi?"
Ryo turned around. Kodachi stood there in a nightgown, twirling her
ribbon.
Ryo blinked. He stared. The nightgown didn't leave much to the
imagination, but it certainly helped Ryo imagine some interesting
recreational activities. An alarming amount of lust revved up in his
mind. He also found himself nearly paralyzed. Was it fear, he wondered?
Lust? Or that odd smell coming from those roses?
*
Ryouga discovered something amazing about himself. When he was drunk,
his sense of direction cleared up sharply. There were two reasons he
didn't notice this before and will never remember it. When he was in his
depressed drunk state during those days after Akane and Ranma became on
official couple, he wasn't trying to go anywhere in particular, except for
away from the Tendou residence. The reason he probably won't keep this
possibly vital bit of information in his memory is because being drunk
tends to fry some brain cells, and particularly those that contain
interesting bits of information.
Tonight, he was heading back to Ucchan's. Ryouga stumbled down the
street, feeling very pleased with himself. Hey, the world was a cool
place, yes? Wow, he felt great! To his great surprise, he didn't feel a
thing when Kunou showed up and hit him multiple times with his stick.
Kunou even broke his bokken while hitting Ryouga in the head, but still no
pain. Ryouga grunted, slugged Kunou into a brick wall and went on his
way.
He stumbled through the doorway of Ucchan's and announced his presence.
"I'm hooome!"
The few customers within glanced at this rather drunk figure. Ukyou
was thoroughly embarrased. She quickly grabbed Ryouga's hand and dragged
him to the attic. "Dammit, Ryouga, you've been drinking again!" She
looked over the many cuts and bruises he sported."
"Have nooot! Just had o*hic*one drink!"
"Aarrgh. Look, just stay over here and sober up, okay? I've gotta
manage the resteraunt."
"O-kaaaay!!" Ryouga said, grinning like an idiot. He ploped down to
the floor and sat, feeling rather happy-happy with the world in general.
He was back at Ucchan's, what was there not to be happy about?
-end part 9-
==========================
PART X
Visits, but No Revelations
==========================
In a darkly lit room, deep in a sub-basement, an elevator opened.
Three figures, two of which were in white uniforms, stepped out. They
walked over to a corridor blocked by a gate. One man showed his ID badge
to a camera nearby and the gate opened.
The trio walked down the corridor. Large, very solid steel doors lined
the hallway. Behind each door one could hear the mumblings of madness and
the screaming of psychopaths.
The trio came to the end of the hall. They stood before an especially
large iron door, adorned with religious symbols and charms. To the left,
a card reader hung. One of the men in uniform slid his card through, and
the door opened. They entered the room and the door closed behind them.
The room was a fairly large square one, roughly 80 feet in every
dimension. The room was brightly lit, revealing alot of medical
equipment, monitors, wires, and cameras.
In the center of all this mess was a bed attached to many gears,
wheels, and wires. The occupant was wrapped up in hard casts covering his
entire body and most of his face. A bronze grill plate covered his mouth.
His eyes were left uncovered. Chains were wrapped around the figure,
securing him to the table. Ki-dampeners were also there, throbbing
steadily. The managers of this place had apparently known who they were
dealing with. They seemed to take every precaution to make sure this man
didn't rampage.
"Vissssssitooorsss?" The figure hissed.
"Yeah," one of the uniformed men said, "and don't try anything funny."
The bed whirred as it was raised to a 45 degree angle. "Whooooooo?"
"Happousai, it's me, Ranma."
"Raaaaanmaaa, sssssooo niiiice tooo heeeaar frooom youuu."
"Oh, this is classic," Ranma said. He took out the camera he had
borrowed from Nabiki and took several photographs.
"Youuu liiitle iiiingraate."
"Listen, Happousai, I need to know-"
"Paaaaaantiiiiieeees."
"What?"
"Iiii caan smeelll theem. Muusst haavvve paaaaaaaaantiiiiiieeees."
"I need you to tell me what happened to you."
"Muuuuust haaaaave paaantieeees."
Ranma sighed. It seemed that Happousai's lechery came through no
matter how badly he was banged up.
"Answer my questions, and I'll bring you some, okay?"
Happousai's eyes narrowed. "Asssk."
"Did Ryo Muhoshin do this to you?"
Happousai's eyes flared slightly at the mention of that name.
"Yesssss."
"He didn't just get a lucky hit in while you were stupidly distracted
by underwear, did he?"
"Noo." Happousai replied. Then, he stared intensely at Ranma. "Youu
mussst deeeefeeeaaat Muuhossshin.... deffend honnnor off Annythiing
Goooessss... err.... musssst haaave paaaaaantiiieeeesss."
Ranma stood up, turned around, and walked towards the door, accompanied
by the two men in white medical outfits.
"Waaaaaiiiit! Wheere'ss myy PAAAANTIIIIEEEESS?"
"Sorry, old man. I lied."
"RAANNMMAAAA!!!!!!" Happousai screamed. He flared with ki-power, and
the ki-dampeners struggled to neutralize this display of power. The
chains rattled and shook as he tried to escape from their grip. The trio
quickly left the room and entered the elevator.
"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" Happousai
roared, struggling against his restraints. The yell was heard even in the
elevator. Then, having spent the last of his stored up energy on that
failed attempt to escape, Happousai passed out.
Ranma turned to one of the hospital staff and asked, "How badly injured
was he when he got here?"
"Oh, he had plenty of injuries. His ribcage was shattered, his
backbone was a mess, he had two bruises on his head, and he had electrical
burns too.
"Can I have a copy of the medical report?"
"Just ask the front desk."
-------
Kodachi twirled her ribbon, laughing a little bit. She adjusted her
nightgown.
"Well, Mister Muhoshin, I must admit, you give a girl a good workout."
she said, grinning wickedly. "After all our activity, I feel so...
satisfied." She leaned against the wall, stretched her arms back and put
them behind her head.
Ryo mumbled weakly, struggling to get off the floor.
"You lasted much longer than I thought you could, and certainly longer
than anyone else I've ever done this with. Your endurance is amazing."
"Thankyahhargh." Ryo mumbled.
"I must thank you for a most entertaining evening, but now I'm afraid
you've just got to leave. Goodbye." She wrapped up Ryo with her ribbon
and flung him out the door.
Ryo slowly got up and limped down the street, using his umbrella as a
walking stick. He was scratched up, bruised, whipped, and generally not
feeling well. That Kodachi girl turned out to be quite the violent type.
He felt he _should_ have been able to get away from that situation...
but... but... whenever scantily clad, rather seductive women came his way,
he admitted to himself, he did fall apart.
--------
Ukyou got her medical kit and returned to the attic to check on Ryouga.
Unfortunately, Ryouga was in that stage of post-drunkeness where he was
once again depressed. He was lying on the floor looking miserable.
"Why coooouldn't I tell her, huh? I *hic* jus din't have th'guts *hic*
thaz what!" He sat there on the floor, looking glum.
Ukyou kneeled before Ryouga. "How'd you get these cuts and bruises,
sugar?"
"Ku- *hic* Kunou showed up. Hit me lots an lots an lotsa times.
Funny, though, din't feel ah thing."
"Oh Ryouga, why'd you have to get drunk? You idiot."
"Iuh... I know, Ryoooouga th'wimp. Spineless. Right. If ah haaad any
guh... guh.. guts, Ida gone riiight up to Akane, yessir."
"Come on, Ryouga, stop torturing yourself." She held an alcoholic rub
and started cleaning up his cuts, beginning with the cuts on his face.
She waited for the customary yelp of pain that happens whenever someone's
cuts get treated with alcohol but to her surprise he didn't flinch.
"Ida gone up to her... an... oh Akane...." He said, suddenly sitting
upright and grabbing, Ukyou by the shoulders.
"Ryouga! What are you doing!"
"Akane, lissen up. I luv you!"
"Hey!" Ukyou yelled. She was taken entirely by surprised when Ryouga
zoomed up to her face and gave her a full-blown kiss on the lips.
"Yezzir, jus like that. Tha's wha I shoulda done." Ryouga said, as he
let her go.
"Ryouga... you... you..."
"Hey, yu arn't Akane! Oh well, wasstill a good kiss, wadn't it? I
*hic* mean, Iuh don' ged much practissse."
A multitude of emotions crossed Ukyou's face. First shock, then
sadness, followed by anger, and topped off by violent fury.
"You... you... YOU JACKASS!" She yelled, hammering him with the
hundred hand slap. Then she reared back, took aim, and yelled "MEGATON
PUNCH!!!" Spittle and blood went flying as Ukyou connected with a mean
right uppercut. Ryouga passed out immediately.
Fuming mad, Ukyou stomped back down to the resteraunt, leaving Ryouga
to sleep the dreamless (and bruised) sleep.
***
[Mid-November: Thursday Morning]
Ryouga woke up very slowly. Even though his eyes were closed, it
seemed really, really bright. He could hear the breeze blowing outside,
the people walking by, the blood flowing through his head.... his head...
His head felt like it was going to explode.
Ryouga knew this feeling, although he hadn't had one in a long time.
This was a hangover.
"WAAAAAKE UUUUUP!!!!"
The wakeup yell rattled deep into his soul, echoed in his head, and
made his headache fundamentally worse. He yelled in surprise and thus
boosted his headache even further.
"Rggarargh" he grumbled. Then, his eyes bolted open, he covered his
mouth, and he ran for the sink.
*BLEEEAACH*
"Here," Ukyou said, whapping his face with a towel. He was feeling too
ill to take offense. Ryouga splashed water on his face, dried himself
off, and sat back down on the floor. Then his body decided to give to his
brain the current status report. He felt cuts, bruises, a sore jaw, and a
massive headace. Also, the world wouldn't stop spinning.
"Ouch. What happened to me." He closed his eyes.
"You came home drunk last night."
"And you beat me up again?" he wondered.
*WHAP* "Ya mean like this?"
"Ow..."
"Think before you talk, you jackass."
"Sorry, sorry, owww."
"And no, I didn't hit you. Kunou did that, or so you said."
"Oh." Ryouga searched his brain for this information, but it had been
trashed as part of a massive alcohol induced power-surge.
"But if you ever do this again, I'm gonna kill you."
Ryouga opened his eyes to look at Ukyou. {Uh-oh, she looks mad.
Almost as mad as Akane used to be at Ranma....} Ryouga closed his eyes
again. "Um... did I do... anything stupid yesterday?"
"You don't remember?"
"Not really."
Ukyou thought over what she would say next, tapping her chin, with her
face held in a frown. "Let's just keep it that way. C'mon, we'll be late
for school."
-------
Mousse was feeling good. He had his legal arguements and precedents
all layed out. He was ready to finally defeat Cologne in the Amazon Legal
Council hearing. The council was due to arrive at any moment.
The main thing was, for once, _he_ was on the winning side of things.
This was, of course, something very new to him.
Shampoo and Cologne waited behind the counter. Mousse examined Cologne
and was dissapointed to see that she displayed an air of confidence. Did
she have a plan? He wondered.
The front door opened.
"Ah, welcome! How was the trip?" asked Cologne.
Mousse looked on in shock and horror as the council entered. That old
feeling, the feeling of being on the loosing side of matters, was all
coming back to him, like an old friend that just won't go away when you
want him to. Definitely a curse, but oddly enough, somewhat comforting.
At least, he thought, he was in familiar territory again.
-------
Gosunkugi was walking home in a dark mood. He had finally heard of the
news about Akane, which left him feeling a little lonelier than usual. He
didn't have the strength to fight on after that bit of news. Akane made
her choice, right? Gosunkugi wasn't really a fighter. He wasn't much of
a lover either. He was.... a magician... of sorts... well, not quite. At
the very least, it showed that the guiding forces of the universe had a
cruel sense of humor sometimes. All of his attempts at magic had,
sometimes brutally, backfired. Couldn't win by might or by smarts, or
even magic.
Time to look elsewhere. In fact, he felt like it was time for a
lifestyle change. He decided to try those self-help books his mother kept
on pushing on to him. It couldn't hurt to try, right?
Suddenly he was hit in the back of the head. He turned around to see
who was picking on him this time and his jaw dropped when he saw two
girls. One was young, maybe 12 years old, had long brown hair, in a
t-shirt and jeans, and was weilding a twin set of metal combs. The other
seemed to be about Akane's age, with very short tomboyish black hair, a
white long-sleeved shirt, and pin-stripe slacks. She was wielding a
metallic yo-yo, slinging it up and down. Her earrings resembled yo-yos
too.
"Well, there you are." the older one said.
"Um..." Gosunkugi never was good with girls.
"You're not wearing your suit," the other one observed curiously.
"Well..." Gosunkugi stammered.
"Don't worry. Didn't like it anyways." the younger girl said.
"C'mon, you still owe me lunch." the older one said.
"You... wanna date?" Goskunkugi asked.
*WHAP* "I'm your sister, you idiot."
"Ew, Ryo's a pervert!" the younger one teased.
"I'm not Ryo!" Goskunkugi said, feeling it was time to get things
straightened out. "Who are you two?"
"C'mon, Ryo, stop acting weird." the younger one said.
"Yeah," Ryoko said, "we were swinginng by to see if you... well..."
"I'm telling you, y-you've got the wrong guy!"
"Oh? Well... take this!" she yelled, and sent the yo-yo towards
Gosunkugi. It slammed into his face, knocking him out cold, and whizzed
back into Ryouko's hand. She blinked, looking genuinely surprised.
"How odd, Ryo would never let himself get hit by that," said Ryoko.
"Take out his wallet. I want to check something."
Kyoko took Gosunkugi's wallet out and handed it to Ryoko.
"Hey, he isn't Ryo after all. But he's got some cash. C'mon, let's
get some lunch." said Ryoko.
_______
The school day was a tense one for Ryouga. He felt scared of Ukyou
every time she guided him to his next class. Now and then he'd take a
glance at her and it seemed like she was... upset, unhappy, uneasy about
something. When she caught him glancing at her, she gave him the coldest
glare in the universe.
The school day finished and they went back to Ucchan's, this time with
Akane. She went there for cooking tips whenever Kasumi was too busy, like
today. When they got back, Ryouga immediately excused himself and tried
to find his way to the area behind the store so that he could practice
some of his martial arts. Ukyou and Akane headed to the grill to cook.
Ukyou's angry glances at Ryouga didn't escape Akane's notice.
"Ukyou, did he do something?"
"Eh?" Ukyou seemed distracted.
"Ryouga, I mean. It's obvious you're mad at him about something."
Ukyou got angry. "He got drunk again, that's what happened."
"No!"
"Yup. He stumbled in here like an idiot, bothered the customers...
and..." Ukyou's face softened slightly.
"And what?"
"Ryouga... he... the idiot kissed me."
Ryouga didn't make it to the back lot. He did wander near to where the
girls were talking. He also accidentally heard the whole conversation.
He slowly turned around and made a quiet and desperate attempt to find the
back door.
"Oh," Akane said, "this is a bad thing?"
"I think. Maybe. I don't know." Ukyou replied, looking a bit
flustered and irritated.
"Well. Er. That's..." She wasn't sure how to handle this topic so
she employed the Tendo School of Anything Goes Conversation secret
technique: quickly change the topic. "Anyways, Happousai's been
hospitalized."
"I know, Ranma told me that Ryo guy beat him up."
"Yeah, pretty badly too."
"Doesn't that old lech get beat up regularly?"
"Well, yes. That's true. Although we never hospitalilzed him before."
Akane tapped her chin in thought. "Well, then again, he always got a hold
of some undergarments right after he got hurt."
"Yeah, well... that's true."
The two girls stood there, Ukyou grilling, Akane watching, neither
really concentrating on anything. For some reason that both couldn't
explain, it was just one of those awkward moments. Ukyou tried to think
of something to day, anything, and thought to ask 'how was Ranma?' That
reminded her of one other problem...
"Akane, you're _sure_ Ranchan hasn't been acting strange lately, or
maybe hit his head again?"
"No, he seems just fine to me."
Ukyou didn't know what to expect from Akane once she was told. This
would have to be phrased delicately. "Well... I guess you should know
since... you're his... Akane... it's just that a while back... Ranma
was..."
Ryouga had finally made it to the back lot and was doing some practice
swings and punches and other various attacks. Then he was take by
surprise by a really loud yell from inside the resteraunt.
"THAT PERVERT!!!"
Ryouga stumbled. He stood straight up. His eyes widened and he began
to sweat. {Oh no, that was Akane! What did Ukyou tell her? What else
did I do last night? I didn't... no way! Now Akane thinks I'm some kind
of pervert too!}
-------
[Later...]
=Nekohanten, may I help you?=
"Hey, Mousse, it's me, Ryouga."
=Oh. Listen, could you call back? I'm kinda busy right now. The
Amazon Legal Council just flew in and we're into the opening arguements.
And to make things worse, they're all members of her family. It isn't
fair!=
"Just a quick question. You busy at the end of the month?"
=Yes, we should be at our closing arguements by then. Sorry.=
"Oh. Never mind. Good luck." *Click*
Ryouga was hoping that Mousse could guide him back to the appointed
location for the fight, but it looked like that was a no-go. He also
realized a big flaw in that plan: Mousse didn't know where the bridge was
either.
It looked like he'd have to ask Ukyou.
--------
Gosunkugi was having just the strangest day. He silently declared that
he would never _ever_ understand women. Then he adjusted the icepack on
his forehead.
He was walking home and was turning the corner when he bumped into
those thugs that usually beat him up and take his lunch money.
Gosunkugi froze in place.
The thugs froze in place.
Everyone started to sweat.
Gosunkugi very slowly took a step back.
With a blood-curling scream, both parties ran away from each other.
---------
Akane was walking home from Ucchan's, done with another day of lessons.
The curry had finally progressed into something with no flavor at all, and
the caesar salad was looking a little less like mulch. Progress, in
general, was good.
She was idly thinking of her achievements when her attention was turned
to sounds of combat nearby. She went over to the source of the noise,
which was an empty lot with a few trees and an enraged Mousse. Akane
stayed hidden and decided to see what Mousse was doing.
"DAMN OLD GHOULS!!!!" Mousse yelled to the sky. He whipped out a
chicken and instead of using it to hatch exploding eggs, he flung the
surprised fowl at a tree. It exploded, leaving behind a cloud of
feathers. "Everyone's getting in my way. It's always something...
always!"
Akane felt sorry for Mousse. He was, in her opinion, not really a bad
guy. Sure, he'd kidnapped her once and threatened to turn her into a
duck, but once he settled down in Nerima and she got to know him better,
Akane realized that he wasn't such a bad guy. Just a lovesick, desperate
martial artist, he was. Put into that context, he was a perfect fit for
Nerima.
She was about to go comfort him when he began ranting again. "My main
rival to her heart turns his back and she still won't accept me! I've
beaten her in combat, and yet it isn't enough!" He pulled a toilet
trainer duck from his sleeve and angrily threw it at a wall nearby, where
it shattered. "The members of the legal council ARE ALL COLOGNE'S
SISTERS! DAMN THAT OLD GHOUL!!!" He whipped out blades and made a
pin-cushion of a nearby boulder.
She was really worried now. Mousse was starting to sound deranged.
"Maybe I can convince Muhoshin to kill Cologne," mused Mousse. "He did
so well against Happosai, after all."
Akane frowned. That... that was desperate.
"And if she still won't accept me after that... after all that I've
done... well I'll use the passion spice!"
Yes, Mousse was sounding really desperate now.
"After all, it worked so well when I used it on Ranma and Akane, and
they didn't even notice. They're even getting married. Why shouldn't it
work as well on Shampoo?"
Mousse sat on the ground and closed his eyes, practicing a breathing
technique for relaxing. No sense in ranting like a lunatic, that was too
much of a Kuno-type approach. Meanwhile, a few feet away, Akane slowly,
silently, and sadly walked away.
---------
[Thursday night]
Ryouga felt he needed to know more about his adversary, so he asked
Ukyou to bring him to the one person in town that seemed to know a little
about everything. After all, this sort of thing always worked for Ranma,
right?
"Hello son-in-law. What brings you here?"
"I am not your son-in-law."
"Whatever. You'll owe me for this sometime, boy."
"You sound like Nabiki."
Cologne frowned. "No need to be insulting."
"Sorry. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Unorthodox Weaponry School
of Martial Arts?"
Cologne inhaled from her pipe, blew, and began to speak. "Ah, yes, the
Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts. It is a very old school
indeed, centuries old. At one point, long ago, its base of operations was
in this town for several years and its influence can be seen in many of
this city's martial artists today. I think you've seen the people I am
referring to."
Ryouga and Ukyou nodded in comprehension. That would explain all the
bizarre styles of martial arts that had been appearing, such as martial
arts takeout delivery, martial arts tea-ceremony, rhythmic gymnastics
martial arts, and the bizarre signboard martial arts that the Dojo
destroyer used.
Ukyou wondered if her own family was influenced by this school.
"Originally," Cologne continued, "the school served to train guardians
of royalty and important members of govornment. You see, sometimes,
assassins resorted to attacking their targets at the most awkward or
inconvenient places or times, such as tea ceremonies, or catching them in
the middle of a raging storm, or even attacking them as they play with
their children. Thus, a group of men trained so that they could fight no
matter what circumstances they found themselves caught in. Thus began the
school. As time passed, the various sub-schools branched off and soon
severed their connections to the main branch. Those that remained were
considered too ridiculous by many and so the school was slowly forgotten.
Apparently it still exists today."
"That school and the Amazon tribe had, in the past, some points of
dispute. They had claimed to be the inventors of the Xi Fa Xiang Gao
technique..." She noticed Ryouga's blank stare. "...The technique that I
believe Shampoo once used on Akane to make her forget Ranma..." Ryouga
finally 'oh'ed and Cologne continued, " when it is so obvious that we had
created it. They lie and take credit for many of our techniques."
"So... there was a fight to settle this?" asked Ukyou.
"Yes, but everyone involved forgot the results," mused Cologne. "I
wonder why. Anyways, the current situation is of mutual non-recognition."
"Non-recognition?" asked Ryouga.
"We ignore them, they ignore us. Although if one of their number
should ever wander into the Amazon Village, they would be most unwelcome."
"Oh... I see," said Ryouga.
"Anything else, sonny boy?" asked Cologne.
"I need to know about some attacks that I've seen used. Do you know
anything about an attack called the Ryugeki-ken?" Ryouga asked.
"Well..." Cologne looked deep in thought. "No. Never heard of it."
"No?"
"Sorry, sonny boy."
"Er... What about the gekihou?" Ryouga asked.
"Can't say that I have, no." Ryouga was stunned. This wasn't how it
was supposed to go. After all, with RANMA, she always had answers.
"Is there anything else you could tell me that could help me beat him?"
"Well... tell me, how did he execute these moves?"
"What?"
"Did he do a motion with his hands? Did he yell out the name?"
"Well, he did them with his umbrella."
"Did you see him execute any moves without the umbrella?" asked
Cologne.
"Well... no."
"Bah, the solution is obvious. I strongly believe that
your enemy is quite useless without his umbrella. After all, the
Unorthodox Weaponry School concentrates on _armed_ combat, does it not?
Disarm him, and your enemy shall probbably be greatly hindered."
"By the way," Ryouga said, "he knocked Akane out by poking her around
this spot." He pointed to the spot.
"That?" Cologne asked. "A temporary stun pressure point. If your
fighting spirits are up, then this point will be useless against you. It
works only as a surprise tactic during non-combat situations."
"Really?" asked Ryouga.
Mousse walked by, carrying some supplies. Cologne poked him at the
spot and he promptly collapsed on the floor.
"There. You see?" she said. The others blinked in surprise.
"That was kinda mean, wasn't it?" asked Ukyou.
"Oh no, he's used to this sort of thing. Hey, slacker! Wake up!"
Cologne prodded the unconscious Mousse with her stick. He stirred, got
up, scowled, then stomped to the back room muttering something about dried
up old monkeys...
-end part 10-
extra:
the title is a tip o'the hat to David Bateson's "Visits & Revelations"
==============
PART XI
Clash of the umbrella kings!
==============
There are moments in time, vital moments, turning points, if you will.
Some call it branches in destiny, others view it as a pair of trousers in
time (start at one point, but with two pathways to... well... you get
the idea, right?)
Today was one of these days.
For example, let's call this, the right trouser leg of time...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[November's End]
"Ukyou? Where are you?" 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."
***
They 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! THE CLASH
OF THE UMBRELLA KINGS! 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? And... do you really care about me? Or is
it... just the spice...}
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.
"Is it not a good day to die, Hibiki?"
"You won't beat me."
"By hook or by crook, I will. FIGHT!"
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 oniichan!"
***
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 Ryouga, 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, 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.
Ryo 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 Ryouga
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. Amazingly,
nothing was broken.
"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."
Ukyou merely sighed and rolled her eyes up, then looked at Ranma,
then looked up again, as if pointing at something while trying to be
subtle.
Finally, he figured it out. 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?" Ryouga 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.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This, the 'right trouser leg of time', is the one that theologists of
the pantleg school of chronal theory generally refer to as the 'main'
timeline, or leg. The leg that's at the center of things anyways.
For example, if the reader wishes to follow the right leg, they'd stop
right here and read part twelve.
The other leg, however, the 'left leg' of the trousers, is generally
used to describe 'alternate realities', where things aren't as they
normally are.
Of course, the left pant leg is the one that the scientists aren't in,
so by logic the left trouser exists only in theory. However, this doesn't
stop the scientists from wondering exactly how things might be different
in the other leg.
Yet another branch of time theory insists that if moments of destiny
were branched off like trousers, those trousers would have a bloody lot of
legs to fill.
Anyways, this is how one of those non-right legs went...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
[November's End]
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!" Ryouga 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. Ryouga 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
Ryouga's leg with his umbrella handle, pulled, sent Ryouga to his feet,
and turned the umbrella in his hands, getting ready to stab into Ryouga's
heart.
Muhoshin grabbed Ryouga by the throat with one hand, and held his
umbrella with the other, ready to put an end to Ryouga'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. Ryouga 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
Ryouga's hand. He crushed Ryouga'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. Ryouga 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, Ryouga let go of his throat. Unfortunately for him,
Ryouga's fist pounded into his body, sending a shockwave of pain through
his gut. He let go of Ryou ga's throat and then tried to drive a finger
into his eye. Ryouga 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. Ryouga
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.
Ryouga 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-
- end part 11 -