Hi all,

This is part D of my little cross-over. The reason why it took so long was 
that this part is mostly fighting, so I had it pre-read. Good thing too. 
^_^

As usual, the whole series can be found on my story page at:
http://www.sbm.org/stories/

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                        Hero behind the scene: Death

Ryouga glared at the old woman with undisguised bitterness. She didn't
notice though; her usually unreadable expression was replaced with a look
of wonder and amazement as they slipped between the lines of time.

'What am I going to do about her?' Ryouga thought. 'She's from my
time-line. If she finds out, I will lose my Voyager status.' This last
thought churned up waves of depression, a feeling he hadn't experienced
this intensely in a while. 'This is getting worse and worse... they're the
only family I have left.' His recent experience of watching his parents
leave his younger self helped to drive this fact home.

As they dove through the destination window, Ryouga thought, 'Maybe she'll
land on her head. That way, I can just take her back and tell her that it
was all a bad dream.' Mentally shaking his head, he continued the thought.
'Yeah right! And pigs can fly.'
This last statement would've been funny were it not for the situation he
was in.

Ryouga and Cologne burst into reality, diving headfirst for the ground.
Ryouga came to a dead stop in a one-handed handstand. To his dismay,
Cologne had simply flipped over and landed on her feet. 'Damn, she's fast.'

About 10 feet separated them as Ryouga regained his feet while schooling
his face into a calm façade.

Cologne asked, "All right boy... what are you?"

Holding out his hand, he replied, "Give it back. You have no idea what
you're dealing with."

Contemplating the device in her hands, she mused, "Maybe I should try this
again and see where it takes me."
Ryouga's response took her slightly off guard, "Go ahead. Maybe this time
it'll drop you in a volcano where you belong."

Ryouga was beginning to sweat. If she called his bluff, he could end up
spending the rest of his life here... wherever, whenever here was.
Cologne wasn't feeling too confident either. She had gone from being in
control to completely out of her depth with the push of a button.

"You didn't answer my question boy, what are you?"
"That's none of your business."
"I would say it is," she said while taking in their surroundings. The two
of them stood in the gully of a mountain range instead of the forest they
had been training in.
"This is your own fault. If you wouldn't keep meddling in other people's
affairs, this kind of thing wouldn't happen," he said bitterly.

This was getting nowhere. The more they talked, the higher the chance
became that he would slip up and tell her something compromising. Ryouga's
battle aura flared up gradually as the inherent danger of continuing this
conversation became more and more apparent. "Just give it back and I won't
be forced to hurt you."

"Do you think you really have a chance against me?" Cologne said. The more
she rattled the young man, the better her odds of finding a bargaining
chip. She needed everything she could get; she was as stuck as the Ryouga
was. The irony was that neither of them knew it.

Ryouga was losing it. 'I'm doomed. She's either going to leave me here or
get me banished.' His face began showing signs of his internal struggle.
Committing himself, he started channeling the waves of anxiety and
depression into the space between his hands. 'If this doesn't work, I'm
finished. I've got to take her down with one shot.'

Cologne was impressed at the display of power. 'How did one so young master
such a technique?' She felt a moment of unease as she realized that a blast
the size he was generating might actually hurt... if it connected. She
quickly pushed the feeling back and tried once again to goad Ryouga into
telling her something... before this escalated into a fight that one of
them might not live through. 'Whatever his secret is,' she thought, 'he
seems willing to die to protect it.'

Ryouga was concentrating so hard on what he was doing that Cologne's
question took him off guard. "When did you learn to do that? It's very
advanced."
"A year from now..." he answered.

Everything stopped. Ryouga's aura immediately winked out as the implication
of what he said fully sank in.

Cologne's jaw hit the ground. "What?" After a couple of moments, she said
the words that sealed her fate: "You're a time traveler?"

The bottom of Ryouga's stomach dropped out. He started to shake with
uncontrollable rage. "D-damn you old woman! I-if y-you'd left w-well enough
alone, I c-could've t-taken you b-back. Now it's t-too late!"

Ryouga's aura suddenly blazed anew with incredible fury. "Prepare to DIE!
SUPER... "
A small star burst into existence between his hands. A moment later, it
tore away from him like an explosion as he screamed from the very bottom of
his soul, "SHISHI HOUKOU DAN!"

Cologne never even had a chance to move. Her last thoughts were along the
lines of, 'So this is what a butterfly feels like in front of an on-coming
truck.' The roiling wave of destruction picked her up and kept right on
going. 200 meters away, it smashed into the cliff face, throwing an
enormous cloud of dust and debris into the air.

Ryouga stood there, his aura seriously diminished as he stared at the
cliff-face, waiting for the dust to settle. 'I did it...'

Ryouga's stomach began threatening to empty itself, as the enormity of what
he had just done landed on him like a ton of bricks. 'I just killed. '
After a couple of moments, Ryouga pushed the nausea away. 'I had no choice.
The time-line must be protected at all cost. She left me no choice,' he
rationalized to himself while trying to steady his shaking limbs. He wanted
to run away from this place, to hide from the blood on his hands... but
honor demanded that he show the proper respect to the deceased warrior.
With increasing resolve, he started walking towards the carnage when a
breeze picked up. His eyes widened in dismay and awe as he half-whispered;
"Damn... that old bat is tough."

Pulling herself out of a Cologne-shaped indentation in the cliff face, the
old bat in question was generating a purple battle aura that danced and
wove about her in a beautifully hypnotic pattern. 'Give up... you cannot
win... I will take care of you...' were the impulses that pushed at
Ryouga's mind as he watched the tapestry of light flow around the old
woman. Had he not been so focused on the situation at hand and not had his
own aura up... he probably would have caved in to the suggestions.

Cologne took a moment to take stock of the situation. She was truly
surprised that this youngster had managed to hit her so hard. Suddenly, a
thought occurred to her. 'Ryouga is a time traveler. He can't be only 16
years old. He's far too powerful.' Her next thought was to dodge, as Ryouga
thrust his index finger at her head.

Shaking his head to clear his mind, he peered through her aura and noticed
that she was covered in minor burns and lacerations. She wasn't moving
quite as fast as she usually did either. 'At least I slowed her down,'
Ryouga thought as he broke into a sprint. His intention was to put his fist
through her head when he noticed something. With his heightened battle
aura, he was able to see points and patches of high stress on everything
around him. He finally understood. Extending his index finger, he thrust at
a point located between the old woman's eyes while screaming triumphantly,
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

Cologne pivoted around Ryouga's arm to counter-attack when she was rudely
interrupted by the cliff-face exploding, throwing them apart like rag
dolls.

Debris rained all about them as they regained their feet. They began
wearily circling each other in the hopes of finding an opening to exploit.
Although Ryouga was relatively unhurt, he had put a lot into the Super
Shishi Houkou Dan. Cologne, on the other hand, had been on the wrong end of
the aforementioned attack and was feeling it.

Ryouga made a leap at the old woman, lashing out with his foot. With a bit
of difficulty, she slid beneath the strike and jumped up to deliver a
backhanded blow to a pressure point on the side of his neck. The spot where
her hand touched his battle aura exploded, eliciting a shriek of pain from
the old woman. Fighting off waves of nausea, she stumbled away from the
young time traveler. She hadn't been hurt this badly in decades. She
couldn't help but look at the damage. Her hand looked like it had been
incinerated and crushed simultaneously. At least several bones were broken.
Bits of charred flesh fell away as the whole appendage began showing
evidence of advanced swelling. She estimated that it would be between two
to four months before she would be able to use it again... and only if she
received medical attention immediately. Otherwise, she might lose it
entirely.

Wondering why Ryouga hadn't taken advantage of her distraction, she looked
up to see him standing there, glaring at her. His battle aura was almost
gone; then again, she was no longer in any real shape to fight either.

After a few more moments, he shook off the paralysis. Ryouga was almost
proud of himself; her strike was supposed to put him out cold, not just
freeze him up for a moment.

Ryouga was bunching his muscles to leap at her again when a new thought
occurred to Cologne, which she voiced out loud.

"Am I alive in the future?"

Ryouga froze there as the implications of her question got turned over in
his mind. 'If I kill her, she will cease to exist in Ranma's time-line.
I'LL BE CHANGING HISTORY!'

Ryouga's aura bled away completely as he walked up to the old woman.
Falling to his knees with his head bowed, he said, "You can kill me now. My
life is over. I have nothing left."

To be continued...


I would like to use this little piece of bandwidth to say thank you to Quek
Kwang-Ee for his pre-reading efforts and most especially to Cindy Toler for
not only pre-reading it... but for tearing it to shreds every time she got
her hands on it. She took my story and helped me make something better with
it.

Hope you liked it.

  ___________
 / Here lies:\  
|   Andrew    | Ryougasai... The Eternal Lost Hentai.
|             | 
|   I think   |       Andrew Petalik {ICQ ID: 160869}
| he's hungry | "I am the Great Cornholio! I need TP for my bunghole.
|             |  You cannot run away from your own bunghole."