Hello?! Hello? Anybody human out here in this corner of this digital world...
Oookay. fine! No one likes me?!
<A lot of nods can be seen through the inky depths of the
surrounding areas>
Fine! I take out my sword and start using the sword as a torch to
guide my way......
So how was the first installment? I hope someone would comment on it..
One mail is not enough! Neeeed mooooooreee!!!
PS: Could someone repost or email me the first and second parts of
Halftime. I sort of misplaced it in my HardDrive.... :(
<Insert a riverful of tears>
Well, hopefully this second part would please any who bother reading
what I write..... E-mail anybody?! Please? :(
^ ^ Waaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! Someone send me comment or
critics.
O
Fine! Here is my second installment. Note that this whole Book One is
complete and undergoing plenty of revisions as I see fit. Also.... well,
find out for yourself....
==========================
Ranma 1/2: Anything Goes Misadventures Part Two
Book One of the Angel's Chronicles
By: Radler <radler@pw.net>
-------------------
CHAPTER THREE
Furinkan High. 12:00 midnight. Something goes smashing into the roof. A cry
of pain. Stillness.
Ryouga clutches at his head; feeling the large red lump that had formed. He
never realized how hard the roof was.
"Who the hell uses steel-reinforced concrete roof." wonders Ryouga.
It had been a year since he had left for the Tendo bathroom. For the usual
reason, he ended up swimming this large body of water and being abducted by
mermaids and nearly married to one. Then he wanders into this large forest
somewhere where the inhabitants were women as fierce as Shampoo could ever
be on a bad day.
Then he got lost in somewhere called the Arctic. Lucky for him an old man
took him in and showed him the proper way out of that place-- after he had
sufficiently regained his strength to travel. Dying there was not an idea he
wanted to entertain. After his near brush with death, he had managed to find
some work at a traveling circus in Greenwick or something like that.
He was home now, at least. Not the way he had expected to arrive but it was
preferable than doing it the other way. He shakes his head; trying to
reorient himself. He cursed the elephant that did this to him. He wondered
just how many other people kept pets like that. Of course, he could name
quite a few -- most notably, Kodachi with her pet, Midorigame. Coming to
Nerima certainly was certainly far from being boring.
Now, only if he could find some way of getting out of this building before
somebody finds him.
Some hours later...
"Argh!" curses Ryouga. "How the hell am I supposed to get out of this place!"
Eeeiiiyahhhh!!!
"Huh?"
The wall to his left explodes. The force of the blast threw him straight
through another wall.
"Argh!" yells Ryouga angrily.
He extracts himself out of the rubble and stares at the gaping hole before
him. A small figure rushes out of that hole and crashes straight into him.
"Yahhh!!"
"Oomph!!"
Ryouga opened his opened his mouth to address the child but his instincts
suddenly took over his body. Ryouga grabs the child and leapt away.
Kablammm!!!
Nothing remained of where he had stood a moment ago. The very floor had
been turned into a pool of burning concrete.
"What the hell---"
He leaps away once more and again as something tries to finish him off.
Still, due to his uncanny battle instincts and speed, he manages to save
himself and the girl from being hurt. Whoever it was very powerful and he
wasn't really up to tangling with it right now.
A shadowy figure walks out of the fire raging in the room. Ryouga sucks in
his breath at the monstrosity that loomed before him. The thing was over
eight feet high and had shoulders wide enough for two bulls and a body that
was heavily muscled.
Ryouga gulps; wondering how the heck he was going to fight the thing.
It raises its right arm and points a taloned finger at him. "Release the
child now and leave, kid. You are not my concern. Leave or perish."
"No." he tells the thing. "What! What the hell was he doing!" he asks
himself. The guy was giving him a chance to flee but he refused it?
Still........
He looks at the small girl cradled in his arms. The innocence in the
child's face. No! He could not abandon this girl to this guy! That would be
criminal!
He made up his mind.
Without warning, Ryouga launches himself and the girl straight for a
concrete wall.
"Blast Point Technique!"
The wall suddenly explodes in a hail of twisted metal and rubble.
Ryouga lands neatly on the ground, three floors down and lays the girl
gently. He looks up to see the thing punch out of the building and landing
before him. Blood-red eyes stared at him with hate.
"Fool! I gave you the chance yet you do not take it! You really are as
stupid as you look!"
Anger filled him. Ryouga leaps towards the monster and unleashes a barge of
punches at the monster. It evades his clumsy attacks with little effort and
drives his large fist into Ryouga's undefended middle.
The air in his lungs was suddenly forced out by the blow he had received.
He clutches at his stomach and finds himself open for the things other fist.
Ryouga tries unsuccessfully to block it but its strength was too much even
for him to absorb. He was flung up into the air and lands heavily onto the
unrelenting pavement.
"Ugh!" He coughs up a generous amount of blood. "Damn!" swears Ryouga "It's
a lot stronger than I had suspected. But it'll take a lot more than punches
to stop me." he said quietly.
He stands up with little difficulty. He winced a little from the blow to
his middle and face but aside from that, he was okay.
"Hey! We're not through yet, creep!" he yells.
He charges forward. The monster smiles savagely. He strikes and connects
with nothingness. Ryouga cursed himself for his stupidity. Not only was this
monster strong; he was also very agile.
"Heh! Two can play that came."
His instincts warned him of danger from behind. Ryouga evades with inhuman
quickness. He suddenly comes up behind his opponent and strikes a hundred
blows all across the monsters spine. He then follows up with a triple kick
across the man’s knees, lower back and neck regions.
The thing cries out in agony. However, this only served to fuel the
monster's hatred and anger. The thing slams its arms against his ribs, grabs
his neck, and proceeds to land heavy blows to his chest. Having lost
interest in making ‘special Ryouga’ okonomiyaki out of the boy, he flings
him towards a convenient stone wall.
Ryouga winced at the blows but it did little damage due to his rather
intensive training sessions with the old man he had met during his trip to
the Arctic. Thanks to the old man, his strength and endurance had increased
by ten folds. But it didn't mean he was invulnerable to its blows. He
uttered a croak as he extricated himself out of the dent he made on the wall.
He charged.
Ryouga spinkicked the monster but its massive arm blocked it. Another hand
grabbed hold of his feet and flung him onto another wall. Another large
depression forms where he had made contact with the wall. Ryouga leaps out
of the way as a bright object hurtles straight at him. It instantly turns
the wall into dust.
He cursed out loud. It was far stronger than he had first imagined it to be.
He smiled inwardly. It was time to see just how strong he was.
Ryouga charges the monster, bringing his new umbrella out for the first
time. It looked contemptuously at his choice of weapons. Ryouga opens it and
flings it at an angle towards his opponent. It evades it easily. Ryouga;
meanwhile had just released a few of his bandannas at it. It evades them all
with relative ease.
It laughs inwardly. The fool really was so stupid to think ordinary wea...
"Arrrghhhh!!" it screams, feeling his back was on fire.
The umbrella Ryouga had thrown earlier had completed its turn and struck at
the monster's unprotected black. But that wasn't what made it cry out so. A
faint aura, barely visible, surrounded it. Other objects struck him
repeatedly as well. It roared its pain. Its body was bruised and bleeding
all over. Each stung him like burning ice.
Red eyes sought him out. It leapt straight for him. Unable to dodge very
quickly, Ryouga found himself pinned down. Arms clamped on his throat as the
monster proceeded to choke him to death.
"Die you little bastard." it spoke to him. "I'll enjoy taking your soul
away from your body. You've caused me so much pain in so short a time. You
will be sorry you've decided to cross me."
The monster's laugh was horrible.
Ryouga used all his might but failed to disengage the arms on his throat.
Black specks began to appear in his field of vision. Realizing the terrible
situation he was in, he had no choice but to make use of the technique he
had mastered. It was a last ditch effort in his part but he had to do
something to stop the creature from choking the life out of him.
"Damn! I'd rather eat Akane's cooking for life than handle this damn creature!"
Ryouga relaxes and concentrates for a brief moment before.......
A wave of 'chi' blasts the monster off of him. He saw it rise slowly a few
yards away. "Good," he said to himself. Time to use his technique against it.
A ball of 'chi' envelopes Ryouga in a yellow field. He thrusts his hands
up into the air and cups them above his head. A bright sphere begins to
forms in his cupped hands as the shield around him collapses onto itself. He
forces all the 'chi' he could muster into that single sphere.
Sweat beaded his forehead at the level of concentration that it took him
to even contain the sphere in his hands.
Unlike his previous Shishihokoudan attacks, this was not fueled by anger.
It was fueled more by his mind and spirit. It was different from any martial
arts attacks but it works. One good thing at least come out from his
travels. Still, it took time charging up.
The monster's eyes went wide by what he was seeing. Impossible! This human
was capable of tapping his very 'wal.' Such a thing was extremely dangerous.
And even if this human was only a beginner, it was obvious he had raw power.
Time to let this upstart feel the full fury of his own power.
Ryouga steeled himself as a torrent of energy crashes into him with
tremendous force. He used all his knowledge and whatever power he had left
to block it.
"Arrgh!!!!!" he cries out as it sears his body. The pain was intense. He
felt ready to collapse-- or in this case, die. A vision of Akane formed in
his mind. It was the same image he saw before when he was fighting against
one of the Dragon Prince's men. Ryouga snarled. He would never allow it! Never!
Suddenly, the sphere that he still had cupped in between his hands glowed
brightly as a sun. Surprise and shock nearly broke his concentration. He
looked at his opponent's stunned face. He smiled grimly and lets loose his
special attack.
"Take this! Full Shishihokoudan Spherical Blast!"
The sphere races to its intended victim. It tries vainly to shield itself
but the power of Ryouga's attack simply broke down its shields.
"Nooooooo......"
Ryouga shielded his eyes from the blast. He waited for a minute before
risking opening his eyes once more. What he saw made him gasp out loud.
Nothing had remained of the monster. He stared dumbly at the cratered
surface of the school yard.
He felt like laughing, only problem was he was too weak to even manage a
smile. This confrontation allowed him to glean some useful knowledge. This
particular form of the Lion Roar Bullet was also susceptible to his anger.
No other explanation was possible for the amount of power he had unleashed.
Not even the old Full Shishihokoudan did such damage.
He had to be careful, for the new attack was capable of killing its target.
He sighs. Too bad. He had intended to use it first on Ranma.
"Oh well. Life has always been full of these little disappointments"
He suddenly collapsed on the ground as the last of his strength left his
body. The last thing before unconsciousness came over him was the sound of
sirens approaching the school.
* * * * *
Ranma jumps down from the fence as Akane tries to slow down but
inadvertently crashes onto Ranma's back. Ranma was about to yell at her for
her clumsiness but was suddenly interrupted by their classmates who swarmed
all over them.
"Hey! What's going on?" questions Ranma to them as he saw an ambulance
leave the gates.
Various students swarms around the two to answer.
"Somebody trashed our school last night!"
"Cool huh?"
"Does that mean classes are suspended?"
"The place looked like something from that Independence Day flick the
Americans cooked up."
"ID4!" someone gasped.
"Say, did you guys find out the cause of it." another student thought to
ask before their discussion wandered too far off.
"Nope."
"Jerky security guy...."
"....keeps shoving us..."
".....out..." finished Hiroshi.
"Anyone seen anything then?" Ranma asked this time.
"Yeah! I managed to take a peek before I was seen. Saw the place like it
was hit by bombs! Lotsa holes and broken stuff all around the whole place."
"....top it all of, Ryouga was seen lying unconscious out in the field."
"Still, strangest thing would be the fire that broke out at the infirmary."
A students nods in agreement.
"No cause to explain it!" spoke a student.
"Do you think they’ll cancel school?" someone asked.
"NO!" a voice answered from afar.
Nobody paid it any heed.
"What about Ryouga?" Ranma asked, concerned.
"Well, the who---huh?... Ryouga... Well, they're bringing him to the
hospital to treat his wounds."
"Wounds?" gasps Akane.
The student nods his head. "Yep. Poor ol' Ryouga's got beat up from the way
he looked when they brought him in the stretcher."
"Too bad." a female student sighed. "He’s so handsome!"
"What about the kid?" Ranma asks.
"What kid?" asks a student.
Ranma stared at the guy in shock. Once he managed to collect his wits about
him, he runs into the school. Upon entering it, he was forcefully grabbed by
a powerful arm. He turned to face a police officer. His eyes widened at the
size of the guy. It almost made Taro look diminutive in comparison.
"Whad'ya think yer going, shrimp?" it asked in a loud voice. One that made
Ranma almost deaf.
It takes Ranma a bit to clear his ears of its ringing. Cripes! The man's
got a foghorn for a damn voice. "I came to ask about what's happened to the
girl that was supposed to be in there." He asked politely as he pointed to
the general direction of the small two-story building housing the new
clinic. 'Course, it wasn't much of a clinic now with those holes and burns
on its second floor.
"There ain't no kid there, shrimp. Only a nurse who won't even talk to me."
he tells Ranma in that voice of his.
*Probably because she was scared of you, buster.* Ranma thought. "You got
to be wrong." Ranma says out loud. "I brought a kid there yesterday. We were
supposed to pick her up today, you jerk." shouts Ranma, losing his temper.
The man looked ready to teach him some important points in mannerism when a
voice behind the man interrupted it. "Put the boy down, Frankie."
The guard complies with the request -- though a tad bit hesitant. The man
behind the hulking brute was a doctor whom he recognized.
"Ranma, my boy. In trouble again as usual." the doctor said wryly. "Don't
you have enough having to deal with Akane?" He laughs. "Well, never mind."
"Uh.. the girl, Dr. Itaizu?"
"That, my boy, I cannot answer. She isn't in any of the rooms nor is she
under all the rubble upstairs. I have not a single clue as to her current
whereabouts." The doctor stared sadly at the charred remains of the clinic.
"Poor girl."
"Well, I'm going to find her. I have a feeling she may be in trouble."
decides Ranma.
He leapt gracefully into the air, using the big brute's head as a
springboard to launch himself even higher. He landed on the outer wall of
the school and proceeds to hop rooftop to rooftop in search of the
mysterious little girl.
"RANMA! WAIT!" Akane called out in alarm. "Ranma."
* * * * *
A shadowed figure watches the school from a nearby rooftop. For so long has
this person sought out the girl. The only thing that remained now was to
find where she had run off too.
The person waits a minute more before leaping away in search of the girl as
well.
* * * * *
The young girl walks the streets of Nerima with a small hand-drawn map in
her hands. She stares at it and checks her location. She smiles. A few more
blocks to go before she reached her destination. The Tendo Dojo.
Now, if she could only figure out what the name of the street she needed to
take from under all that catsup stain on the map.....
------------------
CHAPTER FOUR
Akane walks back home. School had been temporarily suspended and none of
her friends could tell much more than what she had already known. She had
never seen him so concerned for anyone and feels a stab of envy at the
girl. She stopped in midstride. How could she be so...so foolish thinking
such thoughts. Ranma never even cared about her feelings anyway. So why
should she even care about it? The lie burned in her soul. Even now, alone,
she could not bring herself to even admit to herself her feelings for Ranma.
"Oh, Ranma..." she whispered softly. "I..."
"--- Did you say Ranma?" asks someone in front of her.
Akane wore a surprised looked as she stared at the person before her. The
person was a young girl appearing to be between the age of ten to thirteen
years with brown hair. She wore jeans and a red T-shirt with the words
'NIKE' written on it in bold letters. Something about her looks reminded her
of someone.
"Huh?"
"Hi!" greets the strange girl.
"Who are you?" Akane asked, looking confused and suspicious.
"I'm Mizuki Saotome. I'm Ranma's younger sister." confided the girl.
Akane was speechless with shock. Her mouth forming the syllables of the
name given.
"Do you know him? Mom was very sad the last time she came home and I
thought I might be able to persuade big brother to go visit mom."
Akane was stunned speechless by her answer. Her words echoed in the depths
of her mind. *Ranma's little sister?!* she thought. "Ranma has a little
sister?!" she said once more as if not believing her ears.
The girl, Mizuki, was staring at her with big round eyes. "Hey, you okay?"
"Huh?!..." Akane snaps out of here trance. "What did you say,.. uh..."
Akane tries very hard to recall her name.
"...Mizuki." supplies the girl helpfully.
"Yes! Mizuki. Pardon me. I didn't exactly catch your question."
"I was sort of wondering if you knew Ranma since I heard you spoke his name."
"Well... in fact, Ranma's staying with us at our house." She told her a bit
hesitantly.
"Your house? Then you must be one of the Tendos." She eyes Akane up and
down before saying, "You wouldn't be Akane Tendo. Are you?"
"Yes. In fact I am her." answers Akane.
"So you're the one mom said would marry big brother. Cool."
Akane tries to control her rising temper. It won't do to shout at her. "You
want me to show you the way to the house?" Akane asks her.
She gives her a wide grin and nods her head enthusiastically.
"So, you're his sister, huh?"
"Mmm!. Mizuki Saotome."
"Akane. Tendo, Akane." To herself, Akane adds, "This is going to be another
of those days." She sighs heavily as she if foreseeing trouble in the
future. As if there weren’t any with Ranma involved!
* * * * *
Silence. Something that the neighbors residing close to the dojo never had
the luxury of experiencing had at last come. Nothing-- not a sound --
filtered from the dojo. Within it, everyone was staring wide-eyed at their
visitor. Outside, everyone were savoring the peace as they knew it was but
temporary.
This is Nerima after all!
Kasumi served their guest some hot tea; seemingly oblivious to the
emotional roller coaster that the rest of them were riding. Had Nabiki been
around, one would most certainly hear the sound of money somehow falling
into someone’s hands. Preferably, hers. Genma stared hard at the girl whom
had introduced herself as his daughter. Ranma, meanwhile, engrossed with
trying to tear his sister away from him. Soun was, of course, calm as usual
which was to say he wasn’t crying or turning into various mythological
demons or appearing a nervous wreck.
Akane just appeared.....well...... amused.
"So..uh..you decided to look for me too,...Mizuki?" Ranma asks, trying to
strike a conversation.
"Um-huh." she said. "I was sort of worried for her, brother. She arrived at
our house looking so lost. So I decided to seek you out before she gets even
more depressed."
Ranma had this sudden urge to trash his dad but restrained himself -- for
his sister's sake, if nothing else. He felt guilty at hearing her words.
After all this time of looking for him, he had never__ once__ considered how
that might affect her.
"Ranma?" Mizuki calls out softly.
"Uh.. Yeah, I'm okay." He sighed deeply. "Since its dark already, I think
you should stay here until morning. That alright with you, Mizuki?"
"That's okay." She places one of her fingers on her lips. "Uh.. But where
am I going to be sleeping?"
Silence.
Eternal silence? <yeah right!>
It took about an eternity before anyone dared break the ice. "You can bunk
in with me, Mizuki." offers Kasumi.
Everyone sighs visibly. No one had actually dared ask her to stay in
Nabiki’s room. That would_not_have been a nice suggestion as its previous
occupants had learned. The hard way having been billed by Nabiki for their
lodging when she returned not long ago.
"Thank you, big sister." Mizuki bows her head in gratitude while Kasumi
smiles at her.
"Well then," Mr. Tendo spoke up, "now that we've settled that, why don't we
eat?"
Dinner brought about the usual sort of events between Ranma and Genma. Each
fought for the remaining food while trying to restrain each other from
throwing one another into the pond. Akane takes no notice of this while
Kasumi remained her good-natured, innocent self. Mizuki was the only one who
stared dumbly at both of them with a large teardrop at the back of her head.
* * * * *
"Never though you'd have a little sister, Ranma." Akane told him during
their usual trek to school. Ranma walked sulkily on the fence, deep in thought.
"Me too." he said glumly. "Geez! I did not even think the old man still had
the courage to come back to the house after leaving it when I was still a
baby." After a while, "I wish I could just go and see my mother. Just once!
Just once, I'd like to see her without dad meddling in it."
He sighs, realizing the hopelessness of the situation. No matter what he
tried, his father would always be alert for such acts. *Damn you, old man.*
he thought acidly. Out loud, "It'd take a miracle for me to be able to get
away from him long enough to see her."
He stopped dead in his tracks. It was a big sacrifice to make, but for the
sake of his mother, he'd do it.
"Ranma? Ranma!" she shouted at him.
"Huh?" He looks at Akane.
"We're going to be late if you keep smiling like that." she informed him.
"Let's get going already." Without waiting for a reply, she took off at the
fastest available speed as he heard the soft chime of the warning bell.
Ranma screamed. "Ahhhhh!! Akane wait!"
Unbeknownst to him, a shadowed figure watched him. The outline of the
figure hidden in the shadows marked it as a woman. Seeing him run towards
the school, she leaps to a nearby building and continues to monitor him and
his friend. The wind whipped her bluish-black hair, billowing it out in
front of her.
She continues to watched and waited.
*Chibi...* she whispered into the air.
* * * * *
A small child woke up. The sun streamed hatefully at the small opening of
her tent. she grumpily opened her eyes and extricates herself from the warm
coverings of her makeshift bed. She leaves the tent and inhales deeply. The
air smelled fresh
(yeah right! Fresh air in the city?! Please!).
The sky was blue and promised to be good all day. Her dark, reddish eyes
held a look of worry in them. She remembered the young man who had stood up
for her a few nights ago. Her visits to the hospital -- in secret -- assured
her that he would be all right. Still, she was worried. He had been marked.
And that meant Death. Death to all who had dared oppose the Shadow Moon.
She looked up to the clear blue sky and gazed at the stars her eyes could
only see.
"Mother...."
* * * * *
Mizuki was talking cheerfully with Kasumi. They were just returning from
their trip to the market district of Nerima. By the time they arrived at the
Tendo residence, Mizuki had formed an accurate profile of her companion.
Having nothing more than spare time in her hands, she volunteered to help
around with the chores around the house until her transcripts could be
mailed to her new school. Kasumi took the offered help gratefully as she
felt a bit queasy. Mizuki noticed this and promptly brought her to her room
and forced her to lie on the bed for awhile to rest.
"Don't worry, big sister, I'll take care of everything. Mom taught me to be
a good enough cook. I'll manage." she assured the ailing elder Tendo.
Kasumi gave her a wan smile, thinks about for a bit Akane and dozed off.
Genma happened to pass by the hallway on the way down when, by chance,
heard the two talking. He stood rooted to the ground as fear overtook his
body. He calmed himself as he assured himself that his wife would have
taught their daughter to be a better cook than poor Akane. Still, should
Akane arrive home to hear of this, she would help out in cooking.
His daughter must be warned of Akane before it was too late for all of them.
Too many times... No! Every time Akane tried her hand at cooking, everyone
who sat at the dinner table courted Death and worse.
"Mizuki!!!"
* * * * *
"Excuse me, nurse." Akane spoke to the one at the desk. "Would you mind
giving me directions to where Ryouga Hibiki's room is?"
The woman's eyes twinkled in merriment. "Ryouga? The young man who gets
lost just trying to get out of the room?" she queried at her, eyes sparkling
in amusement.
Akane tried not to laugh. "Yes."
The nurse giggled. "Room 209. Left wing."
"That's Ryouga for you." Ranma said to her, picking up on the nurse’s attitude.
Akane said nothing and proceeded to the hospital's left wing.
The room they were looking for was wide and spacious. Just enough room for
its inhabitant to get himself lost in. There, they found the patient vainly
trying to find the bathroom. The patient took notice of his visitors. With
a scream of despair, Ryouga launched himself on Ranma.
"Argh! Ranma!" he screamed at Ranma's prone form. "Tell me where they moved
the bathroom!!"
Ranma looked at him with half-lidded eyes and points to the door behind Ryouga.
"It's behind you, stupid!" He yelled into his ear; punching him towards the
bathroom for good measure. Lucky for him that the hospital was experiencing
some water shortage.
"Ahhhhhhh……….." screamed Ryouga as he flew into said room.
Thud! Ow! Ahhh…
A much-relieved Ryouga left the toilet and was his old unbearable self
again. He noticed Akane behind Ranma and found himself breaking apart at the
seams.
"Uh…. A..Akane." Ryouga blurted out. "Nice… seeing you. Hahaha....." His
laughter was strained and weak. Ryouga wanted to kick himself silly. *Why
did these things keep happening to him?* he asked himself in frustration.
"Ryouga. Glad to see you're okay." she told him.
"What happened to you, yesterday?" Ranma wanted to know.
Ranma noticed Ryouga's mood change. "Remember the time that we fought
against that 'thing' which almost killed all of us?"
Ranma nodded. He remembered that time as it was etched in his memories very
deeply. No amount of time could remove that memory even if he tried. Ranma
wondered what brought this on. Instincts warned him of trouble. The problem
was, what kind of trouble?
"Something is happening in Nerima, Ranma. A game is being played out. And
we're caught right in the middle of it."
Ranma's eyes were wide with disbelief. "Kidding!"
Ryouga gave him a tight fanged smile. "Nope!"
Akane gasped.
Ranma remained silent as he digested what Ryouga had told him. Much to his
dislike, he was right. No matter how much he tried to shrug it off, the
feeling of trouble he had kept coming back.
"Mind if you explained a bit further."
Ryouga closes his eyes and began to recount his fight a few days ago.
Ranma listened intently on his 'friend's' account of his fight against the
monster he encountered in the school. He could not help the coldness that
crept into his spine at what he heard.
Ryouga told the tale as best as his memories could recall. He told him of
his fight against the creature that had sought the life of the little girl
and how he tried to fight against the creature. He recounted ever detail of
his fight. Things such as that were useful. Remembering the moves made by
ones enemy is one of the prerequisites of a good martial artist. Such things
saves ones life and provided information for others to assimilate.
"So you used your new technique against this monster in the end, huh?"
asked Ranma.
"Yes. It was the only way I saw at the time to see to my own survival.
Lucky for me that it was overconfident of itself or it would be my guts
decorating the end of a spear."
"We've got trouble ahead. A big one." summarized Ranma.
Ryouga gave him a tight smile. He could never have explained it any other
way. "The girl's the key to this you know."
"That, I already_do_know. Problem is, she's missing and I can't seem to
find her anywhere."
"We'd better find her before something else finds her."