Gomen for the lateness of this entry, but I've been extreemly busy
for quite a while now.  I finally got this entry made tonight....

The test
-=-=-=-=-




        Ranma walked into the dark room, anxious and fearful of what waited 
for him.  He looked around, trying to get some clue as to his whereabouts.  
"That's strange," he said aloud.  
        There didn't seem to be any walls to this room, only blank space.  
Looking down, he could not make out the floor, however he seemed to be 
standing upon one.  A thin mist covered the area making it seem as an old  
graveyard at night.  Except, he did not see any tombstones.  Ranma did not 
know if he should be relieved by that fact or not.  
"Welcome, Saotome Ranma." came an ominous voice.  
        His head shot around, attempting to ascertain the direction of the 
voice but it was to no avail.  The sound seemed to come from everywhere.  
"Over here." the voice came again.  
        This time, Ranma was able to turn towards the sound and was rewarded 
by seing the source of the sound.  Directly in front of him stood a black 
cloaked figure, it's hand held up in a gesture of peace.  
"Come closer."
        For some reason, Ranma complied to the command.  He felt a force 
acting upon him, pushing him up.  
        As he walked towards the figure, Ranma studied it more closely.  
The boy noticed that the cloak hid the wearer's face, making his 
antagonist's identity a secret.  He saw that the figure held a staff in it's 
right hand with a long blade attached to the top <It's a scythe> he thought.  
Lastly, but probably the most startling of the observations was the hand 
holding the weapon.  Long, fingers white as ivory held the wooden shaft 
tightly.  Not a trace of skin was to be found on them.  
"Who are you?" Ranma asked roughly, reacting to fear as he always did -- 
through anger.  The cloaked figure seemed unmoved.  
"I am death." it replied back.  
        Ranma was taken aback, this was not an answer he had anticipated.  
His mind wandered back to some fuzzy recent memories.  

                Ranma fought hard as Ryouga continued to get the advantage.  
        The larger boy's superior strength continued to push the girl into 
        the the top of the roof.  
        "Now you will die, Ranma!" he screamed in rage.  The threat was 
        brutal, almost primal.  
        "Ranma!  You two get down right this minute!  What the heck are you                 
        fighting for, anyways?"
                Ranma-chan fought hard for leverage under him, and in a few 
        moments had it.  Getting her feet out from under the boy, she tried 
        to make a backflip away from him.  
        He was ready for it.  
                Grabbing her ankles as she jumped, Ryouga was able to pull 
        Ranma's body into the air backwards.  Then, with the force and form 
        that one might brutally beat a mat against the floor, he threw the 
        girl's flat body against the ground with all his strength.  
                The inpact hurt, she felt her back crack with the impact.  
        Ranma would have been lucky had that been her only injury.  A split 
        second after the impact Ranma-chan's body broke through the roof of 
        the house and fell through.  
                His free sensation of falling was interupted a moment later 
        as he felt himself once again land harshly.  This time, though, it 
        wasn't only the impact that hurt.  Looking down at herself, she saw 
        what the cause of the pain was.  Poking out, though the right side 
        of her chest was a thin wooden post.  
                She looked at it, laughed, and then all went black.  

        Ranma stood in shock, recalling the events he knew had just 
transpired.  The figure simply spoke to him.  
"You are dead." he stated, as a continuation to his last.  
        He just stood there, gathering the strength to speak.  
"I...what...do I do now?" he said, his words comming out a broken jumble.  
"You have one of several choices.  First, you can go to the afterlife."
        Ranma shook his head, he was not ready to accept that, yet.  
"Second, you can go back to earth as a spirit.  This will provide you with 
limited interaction with the living for one thousand years."
"A...thousand years?!" Ranma exclaimed.  
"Yes, that is the duration required for spirits to remain on earth."
        Ranma shook his head one more time, that was too long.  He could not 
imagine remaining a spirit on earth for that length of time.  
"Lastly, and my most favorite: you can challenge me."
"Challenge me?" Ranma inquired, interested in any kind of challenge -- even 
under these circumstances.  
        The cloaked figure seemed to smile.  
"I will test you.  If you win, you will get your life back, however, I must 
warn you.  If you should fail, you will remain with me here..." the figure 
stoped, apparantly to savor the moment, 
"forever."
        If the figure expected him to balk, he was sorely mistaken.  
"You're on."
        With a motion of his hand, the misty air swirled and a bright light 
shone upon Ranma.  He shielded his eyes from the blinding attack, painful as 
it was.  
        When the light had gone, the figure was gone.  Tatewaki Kuno 
remained in it's place.  
"Your test begins." came the voice.  
        Ranma looked around for location once again, but his motion was 
interrupted by Kuno swiping at him with his bokken.  Ranma easily dodged it, 
countering with a swift kick to the midsection.  His adversary staggered a 
moment, and then disappeared into smoke. 
<that was easy!> he thought.  
        Behind him, the image of Ryouga Hibiki appeared.  
"Ranma, prepare to die!" came the cry.  
        Ranma was quick to turn to his adversary, and after dodging and 
countering several blows from Ryouga's umbrella he made a backhand elbow to 
the face.  
        No sooner than Ryouga disappeared did Kodachi, Ukyou and Shampoo 
show up to replace him.  
"Ran-chan, why did you run off with my dowry?!"
"Shampoo kill you, Ranma!"
"Ranma darling!"        
        The three ran in a full run towards him.  He did not want to fight 
girls, but the challenge gave him little choice.  They were charging in 
unison and just before they reached him he made a foreflip over thier heads 
and landed behind him.  He wasted no time, and before they could react he 
had sweeped all three with one motion.  
        Ranma looked away, knowing they had disappeared.  Immediately, Soun 
and Genma had appeared from ten feet to either side.  
"Ranma, my boy.  It's time you learned a lesson!"
"Ranma!  You're not going to die and leave my daughter Akane all alone, are 
you?"
        Ranma stood perfectly still as the pair charged him.  When they 
were both five feet away both jumped into the air, assuming a jumping kick 
form.  Waiting till the last moment, Ranma ducked, letting both hit 
each other and waited as they transformed into dust.  
        He stood up, waiting for the next, and hopefully last challenge.  
"Ranma no baka!" came a call that sent shivers down Ranma's spine.  
        With the most rigid control, Ranma turned to look at the person 
who made the statement.  
        He sighed deeply.  Akane.  She charged at him, rage burning in her 
body.  Ranma stood there, flustered like a deer in the headlights.  He could 
not fight her.  Never, in his entire life had he hit Akane with any kind of 
force.  
        She came in with a hard punch making him duck out of the way.  He 
stood back to his stance, not assuming an attack posture.  
"Attack me, you hentai!" she screamed at him.  
        Ranma did nothing, 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

        Well, my time has run out.  I hope you enjoyed my addition to the 
1 hour challenge.  If you would like me to finish this one off, I could do 
it in as few as 15 - 20 more minutes.  Believe it or not, I did not have any 
idea what I was doing when I started, no real direction to follow 
whatsoever.  The idea developed as I wrote it.  I did have it firmly in my 
mind by this time on how to end it.  

Send any C+C to tyson@rock.goldengate.net