All existing chapters of this story may be found at:
http://www.rigroup.com/~grayson/relentless



 =========================
                      RELENTLESS
                A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction

                   By Grayson Towler
=========================

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                      CHAPTER TWO:
                        Tenacity
-----------------------------------------------------------

Nabiki was usually able to keep her distance from the absurdity 
which raged around her.  Sometimes she even took a little dip 
into the torrent of martial arts insanity which dominated her 
sister's life, if there was a profit to be made or if there was 
amusement to be found.  Most of the time, it was like background 
noise in her life.  

She tried to convince herself this was no different.  Certainly, 
the rest of her family was reacting to this latest escapade with 
their normal levels of composure (or lack of it thereof).  Her 
father had alternated between wailing about his baby girl Akane 
going off into danger and "secretly" celebrating with Saotome 
Genma about the prospects of Ranma and Akane discovering their 
true love on this journey.  Genma had spewed his customary 
streams of bad advice and cracked wisdom until somebody had 
turned him into a panda to shut him up.  Kasumi had helped Akane 
get her things together and had packed some food for the road, 
promising to take care of P-Chan while Akane was away.  

And Nabiki?  She'd said her good-byes, made a little joke about 
Ranma and Akane being alone together... and that should have 
been that.  She should have been relaxing and enjoying the rare 
opportunity for peace and quiet.  She should have been catching 
up on her reading, or checking in with her operatives, or 
polishing up the presentation she was scheduled to give at the 
Daitokuji Convention for Teenage Intelligence Experts.  

Instead, she was sitting at her desk, staring out the window, 
and tapping her pen.

It was the old woman's face that kept coming back to her.  Why 
hadn't anybody else seen Cologne's weary look of resignation as 
she tried to tell Ranma how much trouble he was in this time?  
Was she the only one to whom it mattered?  Sure, the old woman 
looked like a pickled bullfrog with hair, but it was 
undeniable that she had more experience in martial arts than 
everybody else in the house put together.  When Cologne spoke, 
it paid to listen.  

<She thinks Ranma's not going to make it this time.>  Nabiki 
stared out the window, thinking of her sister and her future 
brother-in-law.  <He can't fight his way out of this one.  He 
thinks he can - I saw it in his face.  He's going to get 
himself killed... and Akane along with him.>

But was there anything Nabiki could do about it? 

Cologne had said the only hope they had was to find Happosai.  
Ranma had set off this morning confident he could track the old 
lecher.  After all, Happosai made a rather obvious stir wherever 
he went, with his panty-raids and thievery.  

Nabiki tapped her pen against the desk a few more times.  

She set her pen down and turned to her computer.  Ranma was right 
about tracking Happosai, perhaps, but he was an amateur when it 
came to this kind of thing.  Never send a martial artist to do 
a spy's work...

- - - - - -

Hibiki Ryouga charged through the streets of Nerima at full tilt, 
either vaulting or destroying any object unfortunate enough to 
be situated in his erratic path.  It had taken longer than he 
would have liked to escape from Kasumi and find some hot water.  
He had a terrible feeling that time was running out for his 
beloved Akane...

<Damn you, Ranma!  How could you take her with you?  The old 
woman said that thing was dangerous... you've put Akane in 
harm's way with your irresponsibility!  I swear, Ranma, if you 
let her get hurt, I'll crush the life out of your miserable 
body!>

Ryouga pulled up to a halt, pausing for a moment to catch his 
breath.  It wasn't so much the exertion that was getting to 
him, but the fear.  Akane was in danger.  He didn't trust 
Ranma any farther than he could throw Mount Fuji.  He had to 
get to them before that Reikoku did, he HAD to reach them...

But where were they?

Nobody had really said where Ranma and Akane had been headed, 
at least not within range of P-Chan's hearing.  Ranma had some 
kind of plan for tracking down Happosai, but Ryouga hadn't a 
clue as to where he'd begin his search.

<Even if I knew where they were, I'd still have to contend 
with my wretched sense of direction!  Why did I have to be 
born so blighted?>

Ryouga took a deep breath and closed his eyes.  He had no 
rational hope of finding Ranma and Akane before that thing 
got to them, but logic and rationality had never been the 
dominant forces in his life.  The only hope he had now was 
his heart.  If his love for Akane and his desire to protect 
her were true, then they would guide him to where he needed 
to be.  If he didn't believe in that, he'd have nothing left.

Ryouga set his hand on the grip of his umbrella, poised to 
draw and defend himself from any random splash of water which 
might come his way.  He couldn't save Akane if he became P-Chan. 
Without even opening his eyes, he chose a direction and began 
to sprint.

<Hang on, Akane... I'm coming...>

- - - - - -

Mousse waited patiently in the alleyway behind the Nekohanten, 
keeping vigil over the inert form of the Reikoku.  Cologne had 
insisted that she be informed the moment it rose again and began 
to move.  Mousse didn't mind the wait.

He tried to enjoy the situation - Saotome had finally gotten 
himself into something he couldn't hope to handle.  His chief 
rival would soon be dead, if Cologne's depiction of the 
Reikoku's power were anywhere close to accurate.  It was the 
sort of thing he'd wished for constantly since he'd first 
heard the name of Saotome Ranma.  Yet somehow, he could not 
find it in himself to feel joy in the presence of the 
black-cloaked thing resting on the asphalt before him.

Perhaps he didn't hate Ranma as much as he thought - perhaps 
he'd have much rather seen their differences resolved in some 
way that didn't result in Ranma's death.  That was assuredly 
part of it.  But he thought that the most distressing thing 
about the situation was the Reikoku itself.

It scared the hell out of him.

He'd been a duck when they'd first brought it back to the cafe 
- perhaps that was why he regarded it with such loathing and 
dread.  When he'd been in the body of an animal, the mere 
presence of the Reikoku had filled him with an unreasoning 
panic.  The animal instincts of his duck body had bombarded 
him with an overpowering need to flee from this unnatural 
monstrosity.  It had taken all his will to stay, and he 
wasn't sure how long he'd have been able to hold out if 
Cologne hadn't splashed him with hot water.  He fully 
understood why every animal had fled the neighborhood as 
if it were on fire when the Reikoku had come.  Even now, 
when he was back in his human form, he could still feel a 
distinct tingle of horror when he was anywhere near the 
beast.

It began to move again shortly before sunset.

It hardly made a sound as it moved, and with his poor eyesight 
Mousse could barely distinguish its form in the dark, but he 
didn't need to see it to know that it had revived.  The aura 
of menace which it radiated intensified when it rose.  Mousse's 
heart began to pound out a rapid tempo of fear in his chest.  
He backed slowly away, trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive 
as possible, praying that it would not notice him...

Rationally, he knew that could have been playing a tuba and it 
wouldn't have noticed him.  Its attention was reserved solely 
for its prey.  Seconds after it had risen, it set off down the 
alley, moving with a deliberate and unvarying pace towards the 
direction in which Saotome Ranma surely lay.  Still, he breathed 
a sigh of intense relief when it shambled out of sight.  He 
felt as if he'd been mere centimeters away from the brink of 
some unfathomable abyss.

He turned to enter the cafe and inform Cologne that the thing 
had risen again, but she had already emerged with Shampoo from 
the back door.  The old woman had sensed the rise of the Reikoku 
herself - it made Mousse wonder why he'd been set to watch it 
in the first place.

The old woman let out a heavy sigh.  "// And so the hunt begins 
again, //"  she said in Chinese, shaking her head sadly.

Shampoo had her bonbori in hand, and a resolute look on her 
face.  "// I will follow it, //" she announced.  "// If my 
husband is in danger, I must protect him, at whatever cost. //"

"// If you there was anything at all you could do, great-
granddaughter, I would encourage you to go.  But such a quest 
would be folly, resulting only in your death. //"

"// What is the use of living without Ranma? //" Shampoo's 
words broke Mousse's heart for the thousandth time.   He 
couldn't fathom her devotion to such a selfish brat.

Cologne's response, though, surprised both of them.  With 
a movement so quick that it was almost invisible, she reached 
out and yanked a pinch of Shampoo's hair roughly out of the 
girl's scalp.  Shampoo flinched backwards, her eyes wide with 
shock.  It was not so much the physical pain of the act which 
was startling, but the severity of its meaning.  In the Amazon 
tribe, the hair-plucking gesture was a harsh reproof, meant 
to remind a girl of her responsibilities to her clan and her 
people when she was behaving irresponsibly.  

In Mousse's memory, Cologne had almost never been so stern with 
Shampoo.  The old woman was usually very indulgent with her 
great-granddaughter, by Amazon standards.  The only time he 
could recall her punishing the girl with any severity was when 
Shampoo had first returned from Japan, having failed to either 
kill or marry Ranma.  Here, the old woman had reminded Shampoo 
in no uncertain terms that her life belonged to the tribe, 
and was not hers to sacrifice in this fashion.  

Shampoo pressed her hand against her head where Cologne had 
ripped out the small patch of hair.  "// Great-grandmother... //"

"// Do not disgrace yourself with such idiotic sentiment, //" 
the matriarch barked at her.  "// You will stay here. //"

A tear trickled down the Amazon girl's cheek, but she bowed 
her head low in submission and respect.  "// I understand, 
great-grandmother. //"

"// I will follow the Reikoku, //" Cologne asserted.  "// If 
there is some means by which I can aid Ranma without attacking 
it, I shall do so.  I make no promises in this matter. //"  
She seemed like she was about to say something else, but then 
thought the better of it.  Instead, the old woman pivoted on 
her staff, then bounded off into the darkness.

Once again, Cologne had made it clear that she thought Ranma 
was going to die.  Mousse felt he should have been ecstatic.  
Finally, the scoundrel who had such an unfair hold over his 
beloved's heart would be gone.  The three of them would return 
to China - it would be like starting fresh again.  He'd find 
some way to win Shampoo's love, and he'd spend his life making 
her happier than Ranma ever could.  

It was so perfect.  But why, then, did his heart feel so heavy?

- - - - - -

They hadn't covered as much ground in the day as Ranma had 
hoped they would.  It worried him a little, but he figured 
they had enough of a head start to compensate.  Tomorrow, 
though, they'd definitely have to make up for lost time.  

It had been one thing after another that had delayed them.  
First, Mr. Tendou had made a big production out of their 
departure, wailing and weeping and generally carrying on until 
they finally had to physically pry him off Akane so they could 
get moving.  Then there's been the matter of travel - each of 
them had their own theories about how to make their way across 
town.  Ranma wanted to run when Akane wanted to walk.  Ranma 
liked to vault rooftops, Akane stayed on sidewalks.  Akane 
would ride inside a train and use the stops, Ranma would just 
latch on to the outside until he wanted to jump off.   Akane, 
of course, couldn't keep up with Ranma's energetic and 
unorthodox style of travel, so in the end (after much spirited 
debate) he'd been forced to slow down to her pace.

Then they'd taken longer at the library than he'd hoped.  He'd 
been pretty sure that browsing through the newspaper articles 
and clippings would reveal evidence of Happosai's presence in 
no time flat, but the local papers had been strangely devoid 
of any stories about perverts and panty-thefts lately.  It was 
odd - Happosai had made it into the papers and onto television 
more times than Ranma cared to remember, but now there was no 
trace of the old geezer.  Ranma had gone on to try to anticipate 
where the lecher might end up next, searching for ads for 
lingerie shows or swimsuit contests.  Akane had caught him 
browsing through the ads and had flown off the handle, accusing 
him of being a pervert.  Before he had a chance to explain, 
he'd gotten a face full of an unabridged dictionary, and they'd 
been kicked out of the library.

When she'd tried to apologize, he'd said something about how 
big a pain it was to have her along.  Of course she'd gone off 
crying, making him feel like a total heel and forcing him to 
take more time to track her down and cheer her up.

All and all, they hadn't made a whole lot of progress on the 
first day of their grand journey together.  

But now it was late, and they weren't going to make much more 
headway tonight.  Ranma had found a likely-looking public park 
and pitched camp, praying that Akane would be willing to eat 
the food Kasumi packed for them rather than trying to brew some 
sort of concoction of her own.  The last thing he needed was to 
spend the night trying to digest a bellyful of poison.

He'd gotten the fire up to a reasonable level, and had planned 
out a strategy.  He picked up his pack and examined the neatly-
packed food within, trying to look thoughtful.

"Hey Akane," he said, struggling to sound nonchalant, "I think 
we better finish off this tempura that Kasumi whipped up before 
it goes bad on us, y'know?  I'd hate to have to throw it out."

He looked in Akane's direction, pleading silently to the gods 
for aid.  Unfortunately, it seemed nobody was answering the 
prayers of young martial artists this evening.  Akane was 
almost finished unloading her cooking utensils and ingredients, 
humming a cheery tune to herself.  She was already well into 
that amazing oblivious fugue which always accompanied her doomed 
culinary endeavors.

"Oh, I'm sure it'll keep for a while," she asserted.  "I just 
got this recipe for a souffle that I wanted to try out tonight."

<A souffle?  How the heck do you make one of those on a campfire?>  
Ranma groaned in despair.  What had he done to deserve this?  

She gave him a smile which was meant to be reassuring but 
somehow wasn't.  "Don't look like that, Ranma!  I know it 
isn't Japanese cooking, but you should really try to broaden 
your horizons a little."

"To include what?  Radioactive waste?"  Ranma blurted.  He 
couldn't stop himself - there was only so much patience he 
could muster when it came to this kind of thing.

Akane switched reflexively to "bash Ranma" mode.  Her hand 
tightened around the grip of the frying pan.  "Ranma!" she 
growled, advancing with the cooking implement raised to 
strike.

He met the incoming pan with an open palm, blocking it almost 
effortlessly.  Akane gaped in shock, unaccustomed to Ranma 
actually defending himself from one of her wrathful attacks.  
Her mind cleared from its haze of rage enough for her to 
realize that Ranma was barely paying attention to her at all 
- his defense had been purely reflexive.  He was staring out 
into the darkness, focusing intently with all his senses on 
something out there in the night.

"Ranma?  What is..."

"Shh!" he whispered urgently.  "Listen!"

The seriousness of his demeanor banished all her thoughts of 
pounding him.  She lowered the pan and looked off in the 
direction he was staring, straining to try to pick up on 
whatever it was that had gotten him so concerned.

She thought she heard the sound of a dog yelping in the 
distance.  It wasn't just barking like a bored animal who 
was passing the time by making as much pointless noise as 
it could.  It sounded like it was afraid of something.

"It's just a dog..." she tried to assure herself aloud.

"Maybe..."

Another dog, this one a little closer than the previous, let 
out a squeal of unmistakable terror.  A baby started wailing.  
A cat screeched and tore off down an alley, capsizing a trash 
can in its haste.  A flock of small birds woke from sleep and 
took to the skies in panic.  Each sound of terror was closer 
than the last.

"Ranma..." Akane's voice trembled.

"It's out there," he said.  He could feel it in his bones now, 
the same presence he had felt the night before when the black 
thing had emerged from the darkness.  How had it caught up to 
them so quickly?  Ranma was afraid he'd made a ghastly 
miscalculation about how much of a lead they'd managed to 
gain...

"Get the gear together," he told Akane.  "We don't got much 
time."

Ranma took to packing with frenzied speed.  The only things 
they really needed were the tents and bedrolls.  Everything 
else could be easily discarded or replaced on the way.  He 
glanced over and saw Akane hurriedly stuffing her ingredients 
and cooking gear back into her sack.  

"Forget that stuff!  We ain't got time!"

For a moment it looked like Akane was going to argue with him, 
but then they heard a woman scream and slam her door.  It was 
very close now.

Ranma rushed over and began packing Akane's things as well.  
He didn't have time to be nice about this, and he could get 
the job done a lot faster than she could.  Akane backed off, 
staring into the darkness towards the exclamations of dread 
which marked the approach of the Reikoku.  

Their gear was packed, but Ranma knew it was too late.  That 
monster was almost upon them.  If he'd been by himself, he might 
have made a break for it, but he wasn't sure Akane could keep 
up the pace that would be required to outdistance the thing.  
He set down his pack and adopted a defensive stance.

"Ranma... we should go!" Akane pleaded.

"Too late for that.  You get the heck outta here, Akane.  It's 
after me, not you."

"I won't leave you!" she insisted.  "I won't!"

Ranma spared a glance her way.  She was visibly quivering with 
terror, but he knew that she wouldn't do the sensible thing and 
run away.  Why did it take times like this for their buried 
feelings to surface?  His throat suddenly and unexpectedly 
tightened as he saw her standing there like that, her eyes full 
of fear and concern for him.

"Please keep back, Akane," he whispered.  "I can't fight my 
best if I'm worried about you gettin' hurt, okay?"

Akane nodded and backed away, her hands clenched in front of 
her.  Ranma gave her a confident smile, then dropped back into 
his battle stance.  His enemy was almost here.

- - - - - -

Even Cologne, matriarch of the Amazon tribe, couldn't bear to 
follow the Reikoku too closely.  Its mere presence was abhorrent 
to all living things, especially to someone who was so in tune 
with her environment.  It took a considerable portion of her 
will to keep up the pursuit, rather than answer her instinct to 
back away and let the thing by.  

She had no physical difficulty in keeping up with the Reikoku, 
at least. It traveled at a maddeningly uniform pace, sliding 
through the night on its unswerving course.  It crawled up and 
down walls or barriers like an insect or a reptile, not breaking 
stride for any obstacle.  When it crossed streets, cars swerved 
madly to avoid it.  One police officer had sufficient temerity to
get within a few meters of it before he bolted and ran.  It 
shambled through Tokyo unhindered, a hunter cloaked in black 
with thoughts of nothing but its prey.

It caught up to Ranma and his little fiancee sooner than she 
would have anticipated.  She had suspected that Ranma hadn't 
taken her warnings seriously enough.  So there he was, in all 
his stupid, brash glory, waiting in the darkness for the thing 
to take him.  

<Such a waste of a magnificent young man,> she lamented.  <Such 
a waste of potential.>

She had told Shampoo that she'd do what she could to help Ranma, 
but in truth she didn't know that she could aid the boy at all.  
She was willing to give up a great deal to help him, but 
attacking the Reikoku was a sacrifice she was not going to 
make.  Now, all she could do was wait at a distance and watch 
as this young man, in whom she had invested so much of her hope 
and effort, was destroyed.

Ranma was tensed for battle as the Reikoku approached him, his 
face full of determination and confidence.  Cologne realized now 
her mistake - she'd told him that he might be able to beat it a 
second time.  To tell Ranma that he had even a small chance of 
winning a fight was to assure him that the battle was as good 
as won.  Perhaps it wouldn't have made any difference, but she 
bitterly wished she could have rephrased what she said the night
before.

<Too late now,> she thought.  <The battle is joined.>

The Reikoku attacked with a ferocity which was hideous to behold.  
It lashed out at the young Saotome with wickedly keen claws, slicing 
towards him with blows too fast for the normal human eye to follow.  
Ranma dodged frantically and tried to counterattack.  Small cuts 
and wounds were already blossoming across his arms and legs where 
he failed to completely evade the Reikoku's strikes.  It wouldn't 
be long before it really landed a blow.

Cologne watched him press the attack with the Kachu Tenshin 
Amaguriken that she'd worked so hard to teach him.  She shook 
her head sadly as she observed the results.  One of the 
weaknesses of that technique was that one tended to throw 
punches in a consistent pattern, reflexes guiding the attacks 
where the conscious mind was too slow.  Ranma probably didn't 
even know he was doing it - there were a scant few people in 
the world who would be fast and perceptive enough to spot the 
pattern in his attack.  But the Reikoku wasn't human, and Ranma 
had used this technique when he'd fought it before.  It blocked 
the hail of blows with ease, mirroring Ranma's blurring strikes 
with a defensive pattern of its own.  

Ranma pulled back and staggered away, breaking off the chestnut 
fist attack.  His hands were bleeding from scores of small 
wounds, as someone had used a cheese grater on them.  He gasped 
in pain, and took a solid blow which sent him reeling before he 
could react.

Cologne saw Ranma recover and leap away before his merciless 
adversary could deal the final blow.  She only barely heard 
his fiancee screaming - she was riveted by the fight before 
her.  As certain as she was of the outcome of this clash, she 
was not so old that she had forgotten how to hope.  Ranma was 
a remarkable warrior in so many ways.  Perhaps he might find a 
way to prevail, in spite of the awful power of this thing which 
hungered for his life...

With his hands so damaged, Ranma resorted to kicks.  His battle 
cry rang out through the night as he pressed the Reikoku, 
landing a series of devastating kicks.  Even Cologne was 
impressed - he had overcome his reflex to strike where the 
normal human vital points would be, and was succeeding in 
landing blows past the Reikoku's defenses.  She heard the 
armored flesh of the monster crack and buckle under Ranma's 
assault.  

Saotome Ranma had superhuman tenacity in a fight, but he was 
up against a thing which embodied tenacity in its very nature.  
He let up for a fraction of a second, just enough to regain his 
footing, and that was all the Reikoku needed.  It swatted him 
with a backhanded blow that connected solidly to Ranma's ribs.  
The young martial artist tumbled across the grass, crying out 
in pain.

The Reikoku was upon him by the time he'd recovered.  She 
watched Ranma scramble away from its lethal slashes, desperately 
trying to get a bit of breathing space so he could launch his 
next attack.  She saw his aura build, knowing he was readying 
his ki-attack to try to blast the thing away from him.  <Does 
he really have enough confidence left for this...?>

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

Even Cologne wasn't prepared for the nature of the Reikoku's 
defense.  It raised a hand like a mutated eagle's claw with 
fingers outstretched, and met the ki-blast with a glowing open 
palm.  The energy attack rebounded like light from a 
mirror, reflecting directly back towards Saotome Ranma.  The 
boy didn't have a chance of evading the attack.  It caught him 
flush in the chest and sent him hurtling through the air over 
two dozen meters, until he finally slammed into the trunk of a 
tree with a bone-jarring thud.  

<It's over,> she acknowledged sadly.  <He's beaten.>  She closed 
her eyes.

"Keep away from him!"

To her horror, Cologne saw Tendou Akane move between the prone 
Ranma and the Reikoku as it advanced on its helpless prey.  
She was trembling like a frightened rabbit, barely even able 
to hold a proper fighting stance, but she was in the thing's 
path.  Cologne cursed herself for a fool - she might not be 
able to save Ranma, but at least she could stop that poor girl 
from getting herself killed.  She leaped desperately towards 
the scene of the battle, warming up a ki blast which she hoped 
would knock Akane clear of the Reikoku without harming the 
girl too badly, praying that she could get into range before 
it was too late...

- - - - - -

(continued in second half...)��