Jeffrey "OneShot" Wong

Bubblegum Crisis/Ranma 1/2: The boomer that just won't die part 5/8



  "Fuck!!!" Madigan shouted, "How on earth could they let them get away, 
and with the chip!!!" She felt like she could rip all of her hair out 
from the shear frustration of Genom's boomers constantly failing.
  She looked over toward where Carper lay still on a couch in the 
office. She wished he were awake. He would probably have something good 
to tell her to keep her from going over the edge with frustrations.
  As she looked toward him, her features relaxed a bit, but not by much. 
She was glad he was all right at least. 
 She walked over to where he lay and wondered how long he would be 
unconscious. His breathing was normal, and she remembered Ranma telling 
her that he would be all right.
  As if on cue, Carper stirred, "Ugh,"
  "Carper," Madigan said "Are you all right?"
  It took a moment for Carper to realize where he was or who he was 
talking to "I think so. What happened?"
  For once, Madigan's countenance didn't get hard like it used to. Her 
visage remained calm.
  "You were knocked out," she said softly, "But thank goodness you're 
all right" She even managed to smile. That was probably going to be the 
only smile she would see for a long time. She had lost the OMS. Her life 
was down the tubes.
  Carper was grateful he could hide the heat that was flooding to his 
cheeks. Did she really mean that about him being all right?
  "All I remember was when I entered the room was seeing that 
superboomer, and then all went black," he said, sitting upright. He 
looked around and noticed the chaos surrounding him "What had happened?"
  "You mean Ranma, not superboomer"
  Carper nodded a bit, "Yeah, I meant Ranma. Jeez, I totally forgot he's 
human." He brought a hand to his head to shake the cobwebs out.
  "They got the chip," Madigan said, "Genom is gone. Once the chip is 
brought to public attention, Genom is going to go down the tubes"
  "The chip?" Carper asked, "What chip?"
  "The OMS chip"
  "Oh that? No they don't," he said, his voice calm. There was even a 
small smile on his lips.
  "And what makes you say that?"
  "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of moving the actual 
chip to another location and replacing it with a fake one," he said. He 
just hoped that while he was unconscious, no one had found out the 
location to the real chip.
  "You did what?" she said, shock in his voice "Where did you put it?"
  Carper reached into one of his pockets and produced a little black 
chip, "In my pocket"
  Madican, in a fit of happiness, bent down and kissed Carper. He had 
just saved her career, and perhaps her life. What would she do without 
him? 
  But, within moments, she realized what she had done. She didn't become 
the woman she was because of her lack of controlling emotions. 
  She steeled herself and sat upright, pretending the kiss was 
considered a thank you kiss, nothing more, nothing less "Thank you," 
Unfortunately, there was no way she could hide that embarrassing blush 
that was flooding to her cheeks.
  Carper didn't say a word. He just sat there, he eyes wide. But, when 
he noticed the blush, he knew he had to do something. So, naturally, he 
did what he had wanted to do since he first started working for her.
  He got up off the couch and wrapped his arms around her, and then 
kissed her back, but this time, passionately.
 
  "It'll take a little while to find out what's in the chip," Nene said. 
She and the others were no longer in their hardsuits. She was now 
sitting in front of the computer in the Knight Saber's Headquarters "So 
I guess you're going to have to keep yourselves busy for a short time"
  "The suit, did you destory the suit?" Sylia finally asked Ryoga.
  Ranma chuckled, "I think he did more than destroy the suit. It's 
probably nothing more than a pile of melted metal by now. There's no way 
Genom would be able to know that it was Priss' suit."
  Sylia smiled, "Good,"
  "Um, so what should we do?" Ranma asked, scratching the back of his 
head.
  "Hey, I have an idea, why not have Ranma go through those tests?" 
Linna suggested. She was very curious as to how Ranma would do in the 
same tests that the girls had taken a while back "That is, if Sylia lets 
us"
   "Yeah, that's like a good idea," Priss agreed.She turned toward Sylia 
and said, "Well, how about it?"
  "Sure,"
  "I ain't doing no tests, I hate tests" Ranma said.
  "It's a different kind of test," Linna turned toward Ranma and said. 
"These tests are used to find out your skills, like in your reflexes, 
strength, and speed. It'd be nice to actually know to what extent you 
and Ryoga have when it comes to these aspects."
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Oh, okay"
  He was lead in a windowless room by Linna that had a glass window 
where everyone was allowed to watch how he progressed. When she closed 
the door behind her, Ranma turned toward the glass and spoke, "Well, now 
what?"
  "This is a reflex test, you're going to be fighting a hologram as it 
attacks you. At random times, a spot will appear and you only have a 
fraction of a second to hit it," Sylia's voice filtered into the room 
through a speaker.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders and waited patiently.
  After a short while, a weird looking blob with tentacles appeared in 
front of Ranma and began attacking.
  "What should I do?" he asked, casually dodging each attack.
  "Nothing, just continue to dodge until you see a dot and then hit it" 
Sylia said.
  Ranma continued to dodge until he saw the dot. With lightning speed, 
he touched it and the blob disappeared.
  "Is that it?" he said.
  "What level did he just pass?" Linna was curious.
  "He just beat the level you've been stuck on for weeks," Sylia said 
with a smirk.
  Linna's facefaulted. She considered herself to have great reflexes and 
Ranma just beat her without breaking a sweat "Okay, crank the level up 
all the way to the highest level. Let's see how he does" 
  Sure, Linna would never be able to achieve reflexes fast enough to 
beat the hardest level, but Ranma would probably have trouble also, or 
perhaps lose.
 Sylia set the test to the hardest level and pressed a button. A blob 
appeared in front of Ranma again and began to attack him. Its attacks 
were incredibly fast, of almost lightning speeds.
  After a short while of dodging, the blob disappeared.
  "What happened?" Priss asked, "Why did it stop attacking him? What 
gives?"
  Sylia looked at the screen in disbelief, her eyes wide open. The 
screen said he had hit the dot. But she had never seen the dot, let 
alone Ranma hitting it.
  "The screen says he hit the mark" she said.
  "Hit it?" Linna said, "How the hell did he hit it? I didn't even see 
the dot. When did he have the chance to attack? I didn't even see his 
hands move once" 
  Sylia walked over to a screen. The screen monitored Ranma's moves. She 
would play in in slow motion to see when he had hit it "Let's see"
  As Ranma waited in the room, everyone watched the video. It took a few 
minutes before they caught sight of Ranma attacking the blob. The attack 
lasted only one frame, frame had his arms by his side, the next frame 
showed him touching the dot, and the next frame with his arm back by his 
side.
  "One frame?!" Sylia gasped "His punch lasted one frame!!!"
  "So what's wrong with that?" Akane asked. 
  "The camera moves at a hundred and twenty frames per second" Sylia 
said, unable to comprehend Ranma's speed.
  Akane shrugged her shoulders, "Well, that's not all that impressive, 
the last time I remember, he can punch somewhere around 400 times per 
second"
  "I have to sit down," Sylia said. This guy CAN'T be human. 
  Ranma stepped into the room, "What's up? I didn't know what was going 
on, so I figured the test was finished"
  Akane turned toward Ranma and asked, "Ranma, how fast is your Kashuu 
Tenshin Amagurken?"
  Ranma seemed to think for a moment before he responded "I dunno, I 
think at around nine thousand times per second, over  ten thousand if I 
really tried"
  "Nine thousand times?!" Priss muttered.
  "I'll prove it to ya," Ranma said, "You have any rice around?"
  "Yeah, upstairs, why?" Linna said.
  "Can you get, say, a three cups worth of uncooked rice and a pair of 
chopstick for me please?" Ranma said, "What I'll do is throw the rice 
into the air and catch every kernel with the chopsticks before it lands 
on the floor. That isn't too hard"
  "We believe you," Sylia said, "No need to prove it. But wow, that's 
fast. There aren't even guns that can fire as many bullets per second as 
you do punches"
  "Well, how did I do?" Ranma asked, curious. "I mean reflex-wise"
  Sylia took a breath. His speed was incredible. She said, "Well, you 
know when your hand touches something really hot by accident and you 
immediately pull away? Without even reacting? Well, picture yourself 
having reflexes akin to that but on a faster scale."
  "That's fast, right?" Ranma asked, a bit confused.
  "Um, yeah," Akane said, almost exasperated.
  "Let's see how well you you do on the strength test" Priss said, 
changing the subject.
  "Hey, Ryoga, that's your department," Ranma smirked "Ryoga's the 
stronger of the two"
  Ryoga blushed a bit "Thanks, Ranma"
  "It's just too bad he's as dumb as he is strong," Ranma couldn't help 
but add.
  "You take that back!!!" Ryoga said, starting to glow.
  Akane elbowed Ranma in the gut and said "You leave Ryoga alone" The 
elbow didn't even faze Ranma "He is not dumb"
  "Thank you, Akane" Ryoga said, his heart thumping. How nice it was to 
have Akane consider him not dumb.
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders and pushed Ryoga into one of the rooms, 
"Go show 'em how strong you are, pig boy" He emphasized that with a big 
toothy grin right before he closed the door behind him.
  Ryoga was about to punch the door down when he realized it would most 
likely break it down. He took a deep breath and turned toward the glass 
window "What would you like me to do?"
  Sylia pointed toward a barbell in the corner of the room and said into 
the microphone, "That barbell over there, lift it up over your head"
  Ryoga did as he was told.
  Sylia then turned the magnetic field generators located below the 
floor, and then said, "I just turned on some magnets below the ground. 
The iron barbell would be attrached toward the ground due to magnetism, 
thus, the barbell will feel heavier. Just continue to lift until you 
can't life anymore"
  Ryoga nodded, "Okay" He lifted the barbell over head with ease.
  Sylia shook her head. This was more than she expected. Already, the 
weight Ryoga was lifting was well over several hundred pounds. Luckily, 
the generators would be able to produce several thousand pounds worth of 
attraction.
  Ryoga didn't even break a sweat lifting the weight when the generators 
were producing three forths its maximum power.
  "This is crazy," Linna said, looking at the strength scale, "He's 
lifting more weight than we could in our hard suits"
  Sylia turned the generators all the way to its maximum output and 
rerouted some more energy into them from several other generator for 
more power.
  She then spoke into the microphone "Okay, Ryoga, now it's time for the 
next test. But first, I'd like you to pick that barbell up and move it 
to the other corner of the room so you would have extra space"
  "If the test is over, then why did you put the generators on full 
power and then some?" Priss couldn't help but ask.
  "Because he won't be expecting it, that's why" Sylia replied "I want 
to see how strong he is even when he isn't trying"
  "I think you have your answer there," Linna said, pointing toward 
Ryoga. 
  Ryoga had picked the barbell off the floor with one hand and walked 
over to one of the corner. Everyone in the control room except for Akane 
and Ranma stared in disbelief.
  "You want it here, right?" Ryoga said pointing.
  "Of course," Sylia said after the shock wore off, "As you can tell, 
the other corners are occupied"
  Ryoga laughed weakly as he scratched his head. But he didn't use his 
free arm to scratch his head. He was scratching his head with the same 
arm holding the barbell.
  "Shit, he has that thing over his head and with one arm" Priss said. 
She looked over toward the panel and read the weight being produced by 
the generators "Holy shit, that can't be right. He's holding several 
tons with one arm?!"
  Ryoga placed the barbell down and said, "Okay, what would you like me 
to do now?"
  Sylia took a moment to absorb everything in before she said, 
"Nevermind. You don't need to do the other test. What we have for use 
will be useless in assessing your strength level. You can come on out 
now"
  Ryoga did as he was told. 
  "It's all really a matter of ki that determines one's strength" Ranma 
stated matter-of-factly.
  "Ki?" Sylia asked, "I heard of it. Everyone's got it. It's some form 
of inner power that the body generates, right? But what is it really?"
  Ranma took a moment to think before replying, "Well, you're right when 
you said that everyone has it. Actually, everything has ki. It's just 
the ability to use it that differs,"
  "What do you mean?" Priss asked, thoroughly interested.
  "People have the ability generate quite a bit of power," he replied, 
"Unfortunately, the hard part is harnessing it. Ryoga and I, we've been 
learning to harness this power since we were very young, and over the 
years, we both learned how to control and produce more of it."
  "That's bullshit," Priss said, skeptic "Humans can't generate energy, 
like a generator or a power plant. That's impossible,"
  "Actually, it's different," Ranma said, "the energy created by power 
plants and generators are...what's the word...external, while ki is 
generated internally. Also, internal energy is far stronger than 
external. Back then, our ki-blast were all emotional based meaning we 
would be unable to simply conjure it outta nowhere unless we felt, in my 
case, confident, or in Ryoga's case, deperessed. Over time, we both 
understood ki more and more and eventually, we learned how to control it 
and not have to rely on emotions anymore"
  The three girls stared at Ranma, unable to comprehend what he was 
saying.
  "Now, in order to control and summon ki, you have to learn how to 
breath and concentrate," Ranma continued, "The more you concentrate, the 
stornger your ki. But the thing is, ki is very hard to control. When 
you're summoning ki, you feel like your going to explode, so naturally, 
your instincts tell you to get rid of it. But instead, ki actually helps 
you, not hurt you...if used correctly"
  "Huh?" Linna muttered.
  "I'll show you," he said. He turned toward Ryoga and spoke, "Yo, 
Ryoga, you up to doing a little demostration?"
  "Like how?"
  "I'll throw a ki blast toward you, and you block it," Ranma said, but 
when he saw Ryoga about to refuse, he added, "I won't really be the one 
throwing it. I'll let on of the girls throw it"
  Ryoga thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded, "Okay, I'll 
do it,"
  "Do what?" Linna asked "What are you going to do? What are you going 
to show us?"
  Ranma smiled, "I'll show one of you how to use and manipulate ki. Will 
one of you follow me please?"
  Sylia said, "I'll do it,"
  She followed Ranma into the room, closing the door behind her. Ryoga 
was already setting himself up to block the ki blast, "Don't you go 
crazy, Ranma! I swear, if you hurt me, I'll get you back, ten fold"
  "Yeah, yeah, whatever, just get ready" Ranma said to Ryoga. He then 
turned toward Sylia and smiled, "You ready?"
  "Ready? Ready for what? What do I do?"
  "Just do this. Cup your hands together like your holding a tiny 
invisible ball. Hold the cupped hands at waistlevel just by your right 
hip" he said. When she did as she was told, he continued, "Okay, what 
I'm going to do is place two hands on your shoulder and let my own ki 
flow into you. All that power will immediately flow to your cupped 
hands. It'll feel weird, trust me. After a couple of seconds, you'll 
have this incredible feeling of energy flowing through you. When you 
feel like you can't hold it in anymore, quickly bring your hands to the 
front of you, your palms open and facing Ryoga. Don't worry about Ryoga, 
he'll know what to do. You understand?"
  Sylia nodded. She had no real idea what she was going to do, but she 
had heard his instruction clearly and had every intention of following 
precisely.
  Ranma closed his eyes in concentration as he stood behind Sylia, 
placing both his hands on Sylia's shoulders. After a short while, he 
started to glow blue.
"What the hell is that?!" Priss said from behind the glass, "God, he's 
glowing!!!"
 Sylia's heart raced as she anticipated a the energy to flow into her. 
She had no idea of the power Ranma sent surging into her body. Every 
nerve of her body flowed with energy, ready to explode. She looked down 
at her hands and noticed a small ball of pure energy forming between her 
fingers.
  Sylia started to glow the same color as Ranma. As she stood there, her 
hands cupped together, she felt this unbelieveable power surging through 
her. It felt like she was nothing but pure energy. She felt like she 
could take on the world.
  She looked down at her hands and noticed that the space between them 
were beginning to expand as the energy ball grew larger and larger. 
Pretty soon, it looked like she was holding a glowing basket ball. As 
tried desperately to hold her hands together, she felt herself unable to 
control the energy surging through her. She had to release it somehow.
"Sylia, bring your hands forward and picture a ball of energy shooting 
from your hands, and it will" Ranma said.
  Sylia did as she was told. When she did, a massive ki blast shot from 
her fingertips, rocketing toward Ryoga who was across the room. The 
amount of power she sent through her fingertips was nothing like she had 
experienced. It felt like she was shooting something akin to a small 
sun, equal in power, through the air toward....
  "Ryoga!!!" she shouted as she realized the blast would hit him.
  Ryoga didn't even flinch as the blast came rocketing toward him. All 
he did was stick his index finger forward, striking the energy ball 
right before it hit him, causing the ball to shatter into tiny specks of 
light and energy, like sparks.
  Sylia stood there, unable to move,unable to comprehend what had just 
happened.
  "Well, that's what you would consider an ki projectile" Ranma said.
  "God, the amount of energy I felt when I released that felt like it 
could destroy this entire room and everything in it," she said.
  Ranma noded, "Yes, it could. And also, that happens to be the weakest 
ki blast. The power of your ki expands...what's that 
word....exponentially...the longer you hold your position before 
releasing it."
  "That's the weakest?!" Linna said, entering the room. She was looking 
at Sylia, wondering if she was all right. She was expecting something to 
be wrong with her because Sylia had been glowing blue with some weird 
aura a second ago.
  "You've gotta be kidding," Priss said, also entering the room, "That's 
the weakest? God, then how strong is the strongest?"
  "You mean our seppukku blasts?" Ranma asked, "You don't wanna know. 
Waaaay too strong"
  "How strong?" Linna asked.
  Ryoga stepped forward, totally unscathed "Waaaay strong"
  "How strong?!"
  "Well, I never really made my absolute strongest, but I know my 
weakest suppukku blast can probably take out half of this entire city," 
Ranma said matter-of-factly, "Besides, I wouldn't even attempt to throw 
something remotely close to my strongest"
  "Why not?" Priss asked.
  "Well, first, I'll die in the process of generating such a blast. And 
if I survive, I'll die because I'll be in the center of the blast. And 
second, you can probably kiss the entire city, and anything surrounding 
it for a mile or so, goodbye. I don't wanna brag, but I'm pretty sure if 
I really really really tried, I can create explosions equal to a nuclear 
one, minus the radiation..."
  Priss and Linna and Sylia stood there, gaping at Ranma.
  Finally, the silence was broken when Linna turned toward her two 
female companions and said, "They're goddamn mosters"
  "I'm not a moster" Ryoga said, taking a step forward.
  "Yes, we are," Ranma said to Ryoga.
  "What makes you say that?" Akane asked, concern in her voice.
  Ranma's visage changed, "Well, think about it, the both of us could 
probably wipe out this entire city without sweating if we wanted to,"
  "Ah, I see you managed to keep your sense of modesty over the years 
Ranma," Akane said wryly.
  "Just hear me out, Akane," he replied, causing her to regret having 
said that, "I don't know about Ryoga, but I'm starting to believe I'm 
getting way too strong for my own good. And it also doesn't help that 
we're cursed and can't die naturally,"
  "What? What did you say?" Sylia said. She could have sworn she heard 
Ranma say that he and Ryoga were immortal. 
  "You're cursed?" Linna said, "What does that mean? What kind of curse 
is it?"
  Ranma shook his head, "I'm not gonna tell you, only Ryoga and Akane 
and I know about it. Everyone else who did, died many years ago. I want 
to keep it a secret. Besides, we.....um....I don't want the curse 
anymore and would prefer to avoid it as best as possible,"
  Akane was silent. She knew exactly what curse he was talking about. 
But she knew she had heard something else Ranma had said and had to ask 
him what he meant by it, "Ranma, can I speak to you for a moment?"
  "Sure, what is it?"
  Ranma and Akane walked off into the corner of the room where they 
could speak in privately. When the girls were out of earshot, she said, 
"I heard you said you can't die naturally, what does that mean?"
  "That's because I can't,"
  "What?"
  "Has it ever occurred to you that I'm now around Pops age when he 
died, yet I still look like I'm very young?" he said. When Akane nodded, 
he took a deep breath and continued on, "Well, the curse, it's real 
curse is immortality. I can't die naturally. Actually, I can, but it'll 
be near impossible for me. Everytime I go into my cursed form, my true 
form ages backwards toward the age when I first got cursed. I mean, if 
I'm in my cursed form for, say, one minute, my true form ages back a 
couple of years meaning when I revert back, I'm a few years younger."
  "Oh my god!"
  "We....um....I've found the cure once, but I can't I can't find it 
again for some reason. The spring is only about several acres large and 
China is huge. I've asked around, but no one's heard of it. Ryoga had 
come across it once by accident a short while ago, but when he was 
looking for the cure, he got lost. That baka,"
  "Ryoga, why was he looking for it?"
  "Um, er, h-he was...trying to help me out." Ranma quickly lied.
  "Well, that's nice of him." she said, turning her shoulder toward 
Ryoga and smiling. He always was a kind person. When Ryoga saw Akane 
smile at him, he blushed and turned his attention toward the ground, 
scratching the back of his head.
  "Anyway, I think that's the true meaning of our....my curse," Ranma 
said.
  "Um, can I come in now?" Ryoga's voice filtered into the room.
  "Sure," Priss said.
  "We better keep quiet about this. Only you and Ryoga know." Ranma 
said. When Akane nodded, she and Ranma walked back over to the group to 
greet Ryoga as he entered back into the control room. But when he 
stepped into the control room, Nene also enter, but from a different 
door.
  "We're in trouble" Nene said, "Like in deep shit!"
  "What, what do you mean by that?" Priss asked, a bit worried. She had 
never seen Nene seem this worried.
  "The chip was a tracking device!"
    
  "A tracking device? Are you serious?" Madigan asked. She realized that 
if there was a tracking device in that fake chip, then there was a 
chance she would know of the Knight Sabers' hideout.
  Carper nodded, "Uh huh,"
  Madigan kissed him again. 
  He was a genius. Perhaps now, with the knowledge of the Knigh Sabers' 
headquarters, the tides have turned. The thought of that made her want 
to kiss him again. She seemed to like kissing him. How come she never 
tried doing this before? 
  Sure, Carper was very intelligent man, a man girls would find very 
attractive, but there was something to him that made her feel this 
attraction for him that she had never known, or acknowledged, until now.
  It was because he actually cared for her.

  A rocket flew in through one of the doors that lead to the ground 
level. The rocket hit Ranma in the front, propelling him backwards into 
a nearby wall. The impact of the rocket hitting his chest sent him 
reeling in pain as he curled himself up in a little ball, wincing in 
pain.
  "Ite!!!" Ranma gritted his teeth, rolling around on the floor, rubbing 
his chest like it was on fire.
  "Shit, they already found us!" Priss said, her eyes stinging from the 
smoke from the rocket. She and the others were already heading toward 
their weapons supply. 
  Ryoga walked over to Ranma and gave him a good kick in his ribs, "I 
suggest you get up. Otherwise, you're gonna be in even more pain when 
more rockets come through that door"
  Ranma sat upright and kicked his leg out, sweeping Ryoga's legs out 
from under him, "I'm hurt, you moron. Have some sympathy. Jeez"
  Akane walked over to Ranma and slapped him in the back of his head, 
"Get a grip on yourself, you'll live. You're such a baby"
  "What?! I just got hit in the chest with a rocket!!! And you're 
telling me I'm a baby?!" Ranma got to his feet as if now unscathed, the 
pain already gone "I risked my neck rescuing you from Genom. If it 
weren't for me, you'd still be there. I can't believe you called me a 
baby. Jeez, you're so uncute!"
  "Baka!!!" Akane shot out, slapping Ranma in the face. The force caused 
Ranma to go flying into a nearby wall violently. She couldn't believe 
how fast Ranma had changed from serious and somber to his usual 
obnoxious self.
  "Man, you're even more uncute now than you were over thirty years 
ago," Ranma said, "I should take your batteries out so you could never 
hit me again"
  "Don't you dare, you cad!!!" Ryoga said, taking a menacing step 
forward, glowing red.
  Ranma shot Ryoga a vicious glance "You stay out of this, pig boy!"
  "What the hell are they doing?" Linna asked, donning the tiny gas mask 
over her mouth. The smoke had been beginning to sting her lungs. She 
could have sworn she heard Ranma and Ryoga and Akane arguing near the 
front entrance to the headquarters after she and her friends had ran to 
the back to retrieve several high caliber rifles and machine guns.
  Linna managed to gasp in shock as she saw Ranma flying bodily by her, 
slamming into a nearby locker. She stared in disbelief as Ranma got back 
up and ran back toward the front of the headquarters, Ryoga flying 
bodily into the same locker Ranma had been slammed into seconds ago.
  Are they fighting each other?!
  "What's going on here?" Linna shouted toward Ryoga as he was about to 
rush by her.
  "How dare Ranma hit me like that!!! I'll kill him!!!" Ryoga said to 
himself, not even realizing Linna was listening.
  "What's going on?" Priss asked, strapping a large rifle across her 
shoulder. She had seen Ryoga run right by in a mad rush.
  It took a moment before Linna could respond "T-they're...Ranma and 
Ryoga....they're fighting each other!"
  "What?" Sylia and Nene said as they stepped forward, their gas masks 
on.
  "They're trying to kill each other!!!"
  The girls watched in disbelief as Ranma and Ryoga went at each other 
with a vengence, making their way out the door where that missle had 
come through, destroying almost everything in their path...even the 
dozen or so hapless boomers waiting outside.
  
  Madigan and Carper were walking down the street together. It was now 
nighttime, several hours after they had lost a small army of boomers 
that they had sent to the location of that tracking device. As they 
walked, they were both pondering on what they were to do now that they 
discovered the Knigh Sabers' headquarters. Even though they lost well 
over a dozen boomers in that preemptive attack, the boomers failed to 
accomplish their objectives. 
  "What do you think we should do?" Madigan asked. She would run her 
idea by him after he had offered his idea.
  "Well, now that we know about the Knight Sabers' headquarters, we 
should get rid of them first, that way, we would be able to concentrate 
on getting rid of that superboomer, oh, I mean Ranma. And also get rid 
of Ryoga while we're at it" Carper said, a bit hesitant. He was sure 
Madigan had some idea what made his seem rather childish.
  Madigan's brows raised a bit as she nodded. It was similar to what she 
had intended. Unfortunately, he had never mentioned exactly how they 
would go about eliminating the Knight Sabers "And how do you assume we 
do so? It's easier said than done, you know"
  Carper took a moment to think before he replied, "Well, how about we 
have someone stake out the place. Sooner or later, we might be able to 
find out the Knight Sabers' secret identity. That way, if we could 
strike them where they're most vulnerable, when they are without their 
hardsuits"
  "That's a very good plan," Madigan said with a smirk. She had thought 
the same thing also "And with them gone, we will be able to concentrate 
on getting rid of Ranma,"
  "Which is most likely easier said than done," Carper added, "He's like 
a boomer that just won't die. I mean, from one of the reports, he took a 
goddamn missle right in the chest. That blast should have obliterated 
him, but instead, he got, in a sense, angry, and went beserk, like a 
boomer."
  "Speaking of Ranma going beserk, in what I've been able to see from 
our heli-viewcams, that guy went beserk and started attacking everything 
even Ryoga." Madigan commented, thinking aloud, "I mean, he went almost 
insane and started trying to kill Ryoga. Actually, if I really think 
about it, it seemed like Ryoga and Ryoga were trying to kill each 
other,"
  Carper looked at Madigan a bit confused and said, "But how could that 
be. I mean, they were working together when attacking Genom Tower. What 
makes them turn on each other?"
  Madigan sighed. She really wished she knew. It would really help them 
out. That way, she could have it where Ryoga and Ranma would kill each 
other off. It would be akin to killing two birds with one stone.
  "God, that Ranma gives me the creeps," Carper commented.
  "Oh? How so?" Madigan asked. She also got the creeps thinking about it 
also, but was curious as to what spooked Carper.
  "Everything," he replied, looking up toward the sky, unaware that 
Madigan was looking at him rather intently, "It's scary. Where did he 
come from? I mean, sure, he's from Nerima if I remember correctly, but 
that's not what I was insinuating. Think about it, the energy he creates 
is enormous, he incorporates strategy, and is leathal at close and far 
ranges. If he were a superboomer like we first surmised, he would be a 
perfect military machine. Heck, I'm pretty sure having one or two 
superboomers like him sent into battlefields could end wars,"
  "Or start them," Madigan couldn't help but add. She was starting to 
have doubts as to how they were going to stop Ranma.
  "Or start them, true." Carper continued, unperterbed, "It's just very 
scary if you think about it. Here we are, in MegaTokyo, where 
that....human....is running loose, and no one has a clue as to what it 
is or is capable of except for a few people" 
  Madigan said nothing. She was too busy thinking about exactly how she 
would go about stopping Ranma. Wanting to keep the conversation light, 
she said, "Don't you think you're praising that guy a bit too much? 
Don't forget, he's also go weaknesses"
  "He seems to be prone to risking his own life saving others," Carper 
realized. He couldn't believe he had missed something like that. Of 
course, Madigan was keen enough to remember that, unlike him.
  "Unfortunately, it isn't much," Madigan continued, "Man, just imagine 
him as a superboomer. All you have to do is place one of those 
superboomer down in the middle of a war and program it to destroy 
anything near it. Missles won't be able to get close because it would 
just intercept them before they explode" She tried to chuckle, hoping to 
keep the situation light. But as she continued to realize this man's 
capabilities, she started getting more and more doubtful of stopping it 
"Do you have any suggestions, Carper?"
  "Me? Well, the best way to stop something that strong is to fight fire 
with fire" Carper replied, rather anxious. He was hoping his suggestion 
would impress her "I suggest eliminating Akane first and make it look 
like Ranma killed her. Afterall, Ryoga knew Akane from the past. Now, if 
Ryoga finds this out, he would probably go into a rage and try and kill 
Ranma. It's not all that far fetched because we already know that Ryoga 
and Ranma seem to have problems with each other. They already fought 
each other a few times. I'm pretty sure if we push the right buttons, 
they'll try and kill each other. And if we're lucky, they'll succeed in 
doing so"
  Madigan smiled as she absorbed all that Carper had said. It was a 
really good plan. She wondered how he managed to come up with a plan 
like that. He was still confident that he could stop Ryoga and Ranma, 
and she had to admire that about him. It was one of his redeeming 
qualities. That and many others one might add.
  At that moment, Madigan's stomach rumbled, for she hadn't eaten since 
morning.
  Madigan blushed a bit, embarrassed at her lack of control. Sure, she 
was hungry, but she couldn't believe her body couldn't wait a bit longer 
until she was back at her penthouse, where food was readily available.
  Carper knew she was hungry, so he dared to ask, "Um, would you like to 
grab a bite to eat? W-we could talk about what we're going to do while 
we eat."
  Madigan took a moment, wondering if she should accept. She had never 
considered going out to eat with a fellow employee, let alone a 
subordinate.
  Carper realized her hesitation and decided not to press the issue, 
"Well, perhaps you could wait until you get home. Um, I also have a lot 
of work to do, like explaining to higher ups about my switching the OMS 
chip. I'm still pretty sure they thought I was trying to steal it, even 
though you made the effort to explain to them that I was not, which I 
must thank you"
  Madigan blushed a bit, grateful that it was dark out. 
  At that moment, Ranma rounded the corner and bumped into them. He had 
been out taking a stroll, wanting to do something than sit around.
  "I know you," Ranma said, not even caring all that much that he was 
now standing in front of the two people who wanted him more dead than 
alive. It was perfectly reasonable considering what he had done to 
Genom, but he had a perfectly good reason for hating Genom. Heck, he 
should hate them because they worked for Genom.
  Madigan and Carper caught sight of Ranma and their lives seemed to 
flash before their eyes. 
  "What the?! W-where'd you come from?!" Madigan said, taking a step 
backwards in fright, tripping over her feet and flailing her arms 
outward to keep her balance.
  Ranma casually reached forward and grabbed Madigan's hand to keep her 
from falling on her backside. When he grabbed hold of her hand, Carper's 
eyes widened.
  "Stay away from her!!" he spat, cocking his arm back to punch Ranma, 
knowing that it would do absolute nothing. But what else could he do to 
get Ranma's attention so he wouldn't harm Madigan?
  Ranma didn't even think twice as he used his free hand to catch 
Carper's incoming punch.
  "Jeez, I was only helping out," Ranma said, releasing Madigan's hand 
once her feet were steady. She stared up at him, fright and curiosity in 
her eyes. She couldn't move, scared to run, yet even if she could, she 
probably wouldn't "Man, I helped you out the other time. Remember? When 
all those boomers were trying to kill us by shooting into that room we 
were in? Or did you foget that?"
  Carper stepped in front of Madigan, shielding her with his body, as he 
faced Ranma, scared out of his wits. He knew there was nothing he could 
really do. He and Madigan were at this man's mercy.
  Ranma chuckled a bit and said, "Anyway, that wasn't nice with what you 
did, switching that chip. Now you know of the girls' location." 
  "Which'll put you and your 'girls' at a serious disadvantage now" 
Carper added with unseen courage.
  "I means nothing if you think about it," Ranma said, "If I find that 
OMS thingie and expose Genom, then the corporation would go under. Now, 
if I don't find it...I'll simply put Genom under the hard way." 
  Carper and Madigan stood there, still, listening to Ranma's words 
intently.
  "But it doesn't really matter all that much with me," he said, "I may 
seem selfish, but Genom's gonna pay for what they did to me, and I 
intend on getting my revenge"
  "Revenge?" Madigan asked "What revenge? What are you talking about?" 
  Ranma didn't really care who he told. All he knew was that Genom was 
the cause of his family and loved ones' death, and that was all that 
mattered as he said, "Well, the corporation you two are workin' for 
killed my family. And I have every intention of exposing the corporation 
as my form of revenge. But now that Genom knows of the Knight Sabers' 
location, I'm gonna hafta do something even more extreme" He left his 
threat hanging, so Carper and Madigan could surmise what he would do.
  Ranma started circling the two, when he noticed them giving him an odd 
look "What? Do I have something on my face?"
  Madigan almost laughed but didn't. Calmly, she asked, "What do you 
mean killed your family?"
  "Well," Ranma said, "many years ago, I was with my family, enjoying a 
quite day when, out of nowhere, missles flew in through the window and 
killed my entire family" His voice was soft. It always hurt to think of 
what had happened on that fateful day, that day that changed his life 
forever.
  When the two said nothing, Ranma nearly fell to the ground laughing. 
This awkwardness was so think it was funny. Madigan and Carper seized 
the moment and made a break for it, running for their lives. They got no 
where before Ranma was already at their side.
  "Hold up, where do ya think you're going," Ranma said, "I still have 
some more stuff I wanna tell you,"
  "Why us?" Madigan said, tears almost forming around her eyes. She 
couldn't believe she couldn't control her emotions, but she was truly 
afraid, afraid that Ranma was going to do somthing horrible to them.
  Ranma took a moment to think of the words, "Why? Well, you think about 
it. Genom killed my family. Genom tried to kill me and my friends. Genom 
makes their boomers go on a rampage, saying the boomers went beserk, 
leaving them unresponsible. And it's because of rampaging boomers, my 
family was killed. How's that for an explanation?!"
  Ranma found himself getting a bit angry at the thought of talking to 
two people who could be responsible for his family's death "Perhaps 
you're might have something to do with my family getting kiled. 
Afterall, you work for Genom" He made his words clear, showing his 
contempt toward Genom.
  Madigan took a timid step backwards. Carper, although very scared, 
remained where he was, standing in front of Madigan.
  "I don't know how you people at Genom view me and Ryoga," Ranma said, 
"but I'm pretty sure it's as a threat because I have every intention of 
toppling Genom with that OMS chip I was looking for. But, now, I guess 
I'm gonna hafta take that building apart one brick at a time if I hafta"
  Madigan gasped. Carper instinctively reached a hand backwards and took 
hold of hers. She never pulled her hand away, almost grateful of the 
warmth of his hands.
  "S-so what are you going to do?" Carper asked.
  "Nothing right now," Ranma said, "I'm going to go get some food cause 
I'm hungry"
  "No, I mean..." Carper was about to repharse.
  "I'm going to hang around," Ranma replied, "When I feel like it, I'm 
gonna attack Genom and hopefully get that OMS thingie. I'd rather get 
rid of Genom peacefully rather hafta use force. You won't happen to give 
that thing to me, would you? I guessed not. Anyway, because Genom knows 
of the Knight Sabers' location, I am threatened to have to protect them, 
and that means the destruction of Genom,"
  "What if we promise not to attack them?" Madigan said. She had to do 
whatever she could to keep Genom from being attacked. Sure, they would 
be able to repel the attack now that they are aware of this, they would 
sustain heavy damages like the last time.
  "Ha!" Ranma said with a wave of his hand, "I don't trust you. I'm 
never gonna trust Genom anymore. I betcha just before you bumped into 
me, you were trying to come up with a plan to get rid of me and the 
girls, ne?"
  "No, we were going to go out to dinner," Madigan quickly said what 
first came into her head. She blushed as she realized that she had 
declined dinner with Carper. Heck, she blushed because she realized what 
she had just said.
  Ranma smirk, "Huh? You mean you two are couples? Cool"
  Carper also blushed.
  "Are you two....fiancees?" he said, almost shuddering at the word. He 
was actually glad he didn't have to really worry about fiancees anymore 
but he would rather fiancees to worry about because that would mean they 
would be alive today...
  "F-fiancees? No!" Madigan said, loosing her cool, "It's none of your 
business anyway!"
  Ranma shrugged his shoulders, "Well, it doesn't really matter to me 
anyway" He turned around to stroll off in a random direction, "Well, 
before I leave, I'm just going to tell you a few things. You don't need 
to follow them if you don't want. Sooner or later, Ryoga and I will 
attack Genom to get that OMS chip. When we find it, I suggest you two 
start looking for new jobs. If we don't find it, well, let's just say 
that Ryoga and I will have some fun developing our ki-blasts. And one 
last thing, I seriously suggest you not attack my friends. Ryoga gets 
very protective of his friends and if you hurt them, he will go into a 
rage"
  "Like that rage you went into earlier?" Madigan asked, recalling the 
scene she had seen from the heli-viewcam.
  "Rage? Me?" Ranma said, a bit surprised "No way. Ryoga and I always 
hate each other. We always fight. We're enemies. But anyway, Ryoga's not 
as forgiving as me. He'll most likely hunt you two down and kill 
you...and I won't be able to stop him"
  Madigan and Carper stood very still, too scared to move.
  Ranma changed the subject and said,
  "I'm starving, is there a fast food store around here?"
  "Ranma!" Ryoga seemed to pop up out of nowhere.
  "Hey, pig boy, what's up?" came the reply.
   Ryoga started to glow as he said, "You take that back!!!"
  Ranma smirked, almost enjoying the teasing. It was so easy to get 
Ryoga all ruffled up "Jus' relax. You're gonna pop an artery from all 
that high blood pressure. Anyway, I'd like you to meet someone,"
  "Who?"  
  "You see these two people here," Ranma began, pointing toward Madigan 
and Carper, "They're the one who've been trying to kill us. Ain't this a 
small world,"
  Madigan and Carper took a step back, very frightened. The tension was 
so think they could cut it with a knife. This was proably the most 
awkward situation they were in ever since either of them started working 
at Genom.
  Ryoga's eyes narrowed toward the couple, "Um, hello."
  Madigan and Carper froze in terror, as if they weren't already scared 
enough.
  Ranma, pretty much ignoring Madigana and Carper, turned toward Ryoga 
and said, "But that doesn't matter. Anyway, ya know of any good food 
places around here? I'm starving"
  "Um, well, yeah, I passed a restaurant a short while ago" Ryoga 
answered, pointed toward a random direction.
  Ranma chuckled, "Yeah, you probably passed it somewhere in China, what 
with your sense of direction." He then shrugged his shoulders as if 
uncaring and proceeded down the street, "Well, I'm gonna go eat. See ya 
later"
  Ryoga watched as Ranma walked down the street dissapearing around a 
corner.
  After a few moments, Ryoga realiezed the crack Ranma had made about 
him "Hey, how dare you make fun of my like that?! Get back here so I can 
kill you!!!"
  Ryoga ran off down the street as Madigan and Carper remained very 
still. After several moments, they both seemed to relax, abeit a little.
  "Do you think it's all right to move now?" Carper managed to joke.
  If Madigan hadn't been so scared in her life, she would have laughed.

  Ranma entered the headquarters, a bag of food under his arms. With one 
arm carrying the bag, the other one was being used to shove an entire 
burger into his mouth, Ranma swallowing it after one bite. As he entered 
the main room, he caught sight of all the girls, all of them sitting 
around a round table, now staring at him.
  "Man, these things are great!" Ranma commented, shoving yet another 
burger into his mouth. He didn't bother to mention the stares he got 
when he order them, knowing that a massive fight almost broke out 
between him and Ryoga when Rygoa had actually managed to find him and 
catch up to him at the restaurant.
  Ryoga actually followed Ranma back into the room, bumping into him 
since he stopped since Ryoga was so close behind.
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga, a burger hanging from him mouth, his arms 
around the bag of food, and kicked Ryoga right in the chest, "Will you 
quite staying so damn close?! You've been bumping into me all day since 
the resataurant!!"
  "How dare you kick me!!!!"
  Akane looked up at Ranma and sighed, "Ranma, will you quit picking on 
Ryoga? When will you ever grow up?"
  Ranma turned his attention toward Akane, ignoring the arua that 
started to glow behind him as Ryoga got back up onto his feet, filled 
with rage "I am grown up! I'm actually the second oldest person in this 
room!" He turned around and kicked Ryoga out of the room and then turned 
toward Akane, the other girls staring in disbelief. He chuckled, 
"Technically, I'm the oldest person in this room since Ryoga ain't in 
here"
  Ryoga rushed back into the room once again, "I'm gonna kill you, 
Ranma!!!!"
  Ranma turned toward Ryoga and quickly reached into his bag of food, 
pulling out a container of soda and smiled "Okay, but if you hit me, 
this soda will go flying everywhere and some of it might hit 
you...staining your lovely, yet dull, shirt" Ryoga knew what Ranma was 
implying. If he attacked, Ranma would splash him with the drink, thus, 
changing him into his cursed form, and in front of Akane.
  Ranma smiled, "Yeah, I thought not." 
  He walked up to the desk and sat down, placing his food on the table, 
laying it all about. He managed to pull out over a dozen burgers from 
that bag.
  "Y-you're gonna eat all of that?" Linna asked. She looked at the 
burgers, assessing them and how much fat content if contained. Sure, the 
burgers looked delicious, but if she ate just one of those, it would all 
go to her thighs.
  Ranma shoved the thrid burger into his mouth, "Uh huh. What, ya want 
one?"
  Linna shook her head, "No way. I was just curious. That's all"
  He finished the third burger and was already shoving the forth one in 
his mouth, "You should try one, they're delicious"
  "God, Ranma," Akane said, rather angry "Will you show some manners and 
not talk with your mouth full?! Jeez, that's so rude!"
  "You're only jealous cuz I didn't offer you one!" Ranma replied, 
"Well, I didn't offer ya one because you could stand to lose a few 
pounds"
  "What?!?!"
  Sylia's eyed Ranma intently "Ranma, for your information, Akane 
doesn't need to eat."
  "All the more better for her to lose all that excess weight" Ranma 
replied, leaning backwards in his iron chair.
  With almost blinding speed, Akane got up off her chair and picked it 
up, bringing it down hard on Ranma's face. Since he was leaning 
backwards, he ended up falling backwards onto his back.
  Ranma, lying on the ground, turns onto his side, propped one of his 
elbows on the ground, his head resting on his hand, "What a lame 
attack..."
  "I'll give you a lame attack!!!" Ryoga's voice emanated from behind 
Ranma "How dare you say something like that to Akane!!!"
  Ryoga picked his foot up and sent it crashing down on Ranma's head. 
His foot came down with such speed that Ranma didn't have time to react, 
or was perhaps to distracted to react, hitting Ranma's head with shich 
force that the momentum caused his head to go smashing into the floor, 
getting embedded.
  "Ha! Take that!" Ryoga said witha triumphant smile, very satisfyed. It 
felt good to hurt Ranma.
  As Nene, Sylia, Linna, and Priss stared in disbelief at what had just 
transpired, Ranma sat upright, unscathed, his shirt only a bit rumpled. 
He brushed some of the deris out of his hair as he turned toward Ryoga, 
"You're right, Ryoga, that was a lame attack"
  Ryoga's fuming, tried to kick Ranma right in his face, but had his 
foot skillfully caught.
  Ranma smiled as he held Ryoga's foot in his hands slowly starting to 
twist it so that the motion would cause Ryoga to turn and enventually 
fall down.
  "Leave him alone!!!" Akane said, raining the chair down on Ranma's 
head again.
  "Arghh!!!" Ranma shouted, giving Ryoga's foot a quick jerk, sending 
Ryoga falling backwards onto his back "Why are you always hitting me, 
Akane?!?"
  "I hit you because you're such and insensitive jerk!!!" came a quick 
reply.
  "Well, you're nothing but an uncute tomboy!" Ranma quickly replied 
"Man, I should have your batteries removed so you can't be so violent."
  Akane smashed him in the head yet again with the chair, this time, so 
hard that the iron chair broke.
  The other girls winced at the thought of how painful that would be.
  "I guess he had that coming" they all said.

 "Man, I don't understand why you're so interested in this Ki thing. 
Didn't I already show you how it works already?" Ranma said to Linna, 
almost exasperated. Nothing had remained of what Akane had done to him 
earlier with that iron chair, not even a bruise.
  "Well, I'm very curious," Linna said innocently.
  "Same here," Priss added. "Besides, Nene never got the chance to see 
it since she was busy finding out that that chip had been nothing but a 
tracking device" 
  "Show me what?" Nene asked. She and the rest of the group were in the 
same room where Ranma had showed Sylia how to throw an energy 
projectile. The only difference was that the room was slightly damaged 
from the boomer attacks not too long ago. Although the walls were singed 
and some cracked, the headquarters still remained in decent and usuable 
condition.
  "All right, I'll show you another example of it" Ranma said as he sat 
down on the floor, his backside resting on his feet. He then rested his 
hands on his lap and closed his eyes, saying "Ki surrounds us. It's 
everywhere. What you could do is actually absorb some of my own ki if I 
allowed it. Priss, why don't you sit next to me and I'll show you."
  Priss shook her head, "I don't really know if I could do it."
  "It's very easy. Anyone could do it. Just sit right next to me and 
I'll explain to you how you gather ki,"
  Priss shrugged her shoulders once and then walked up to Ranma and sat 
next to him in the same fashion as he was sitting. As she sat close to 
him, she could see a faint glow to him that made her almost stare in 
awe.
  "I'm gonna make it where you can see my ki," Ranma said, 
concentrating. Within moments, the faint aura surrounding him started to 
grow bigger and brighter. The girls stared at Ranma in disbelief, Ryoga 
not so impressed.
  "Bah, is that the best you could do?" he commented wryly.
  Ranma opened his eyes, his aura nearly fading to nothing, "Why don't 
you jus' shut up? If you think you're so good at this stuff then why 
don't you try 'n explain it to 'em?"
  Ryoga remained silent. He never really liked trying to explain things 
to people all that much.
  "Okay then, let's get back to work," Ranma said, closing his eyes once 
again, his aura flaring up again, "Priss jus' close your eyes and relax. 
Make your breathing steady and slow, inhaling through your nose and 
exhaling through your mouth."
  Priss did as she was told, "I dont' feel anything," she said after a 
few moments. All she was aware of was her breathing and her sitting 
right next to Ranma.
  "Okay, now, jus' think of something peaceful, like a waterfall or a 
gentle stream,"
  "Which one?"
  "Which ever one ya want. I usually think about a waterfall," Ranma 
replied in a calm voice, his eyes still closed. 
  Ryoga smirked inwardly to himself. Wouldn't it be really funny if he 
walked up to Ranma and decked him? But then again, with Ranma's ki 
surrounding him, Ryoga wouldn't be able to get near him without him 
noticing.
  Priss closed her eyes, breathing gently, concentrating on a waterfall. 
As she did so, and a minute or so passed, she was about to open her eyes 
to tell Ranma she felt nothing,but then she slowly started feeling his 
tingling feeling, as if adrenaline was surging through her veins. She 
continued to concentrate harder, feeling this intense power building 
within her.
  "Oh shit!!" Linna's voice echoed in the room, "Priss is absorbing 
Ranma's ki!"
  "What was that?" Nene said, shock in her voice.
  "What?!" Priss said, opening her eyes, breaking her concentration. She 
looked toward Ranma, who had now opened his eyes and was shaking his 
head, a bit annoyed that she didn't follow the little example to its 
conclusion.
  "Y-you were starting to glow also, Priss" Linna said excitedly, "It 
was unbelieveable. The aura or whatever surrounding Ranma was slowly 
starting to flow toward you, like diffusion, except we could see the 
energy!"
  "D-did that really happen?" she asked.
  Sylia and Ryoga nodded, Ryoga saying, "Yep, it sure did. Your eyes 
were closed so you didn't see it."
  "If you remained concentrating," Ranma began, "you would slowly start 
feeling the ki flow toward your fingertips, wanting to be let out. And 
after a short while, you'll be able to through a ki blast, even though 
it's very weak, but a ki-blast regardless"
  "K-ki-blast?" Priss said, her eyes widening, "y-you mean those things 
you were throwing at me when we were fighting a while back?"
  Ranma nodded, and then said, "Yep, ki-blasts like this!" He extended a 
hand toward Ryoga and a ki-blast shot from his hand, rocketing toward 
Ryoga. Ryoga took the brunt of the blast full force in the chest, sent 
flying bodily through the air and into the wall with a deafening thud. 
He fell to his knees, a bit singed.
  Ryoga's aura started to glow menacingly, "Why the hell did you do that 
you moron!?! You'll pay for that!!!"
  Ranma smirked, almost laughing "What's wrong with you, Ryoga?  Why're 
you gettin' so angry? Did it actually hurt?"
  "What the hell are you talking about?! That blast could've killed 
me!!!"
  "Yeah, but you survived, so don't get all bent outta shape. Quit 
whining!" Ranma replied. "I had to give an example anyway..."
  The girls stared at Ranma and Ryoga in disbelief. Were they going to 
fight each other?! They looked intent on killing each other! Actually, 
Ryoga looked intent on killing Ranma while Ranma seemed to be egging 
Ryoga on into doing so.
  "Me? Whining? I'm not gonna be the one whinin' after I'm done with 
you!" Ryoga spat, his brows creasing, a growing ball of energy forming 
in his right hand as he got to his feet and taking as step toward 
Ranma's direction.
  Akane stepped forward as Ryoga took a step forward, placing a hand on 
his chest, "Ryoga, now calm down. There's no need for you two fight."
  Ryoga froze in place, his chest flooding with this warm feeling from 
Akane's fingertips. He seemed to have forgotten completely about Ranma 
as he looked down into Akane's eyes "All right, but only because you 
said so" 
  "I know what Ranma did was wrong, but you're all right, right?" Akane 
said, "You know how he is. He's an idiot,"
  "What did you call me?" Ranma said, knowing full well was Akane had 
said. He took a step toward Akane and Ryoga.
  "Baka!" Akane said, spinning on her heels, landing a deavastaing punch 
right on Ranma's jaw "That's for hitting Ryoga like that!"
  Ranma stood frozen in place, in mid stride, almost in a state of 
unconsciousness.
  Akane looked at her hand and noticed that she couldn't move it 
anymore. Did she hit him so hard that she broke all the tiny motors of 
her hand and wrist?
  Ryoga followed Akane's gaze toward her hand and noticed that her hand 
was damaged, her fingers locked in a fist, unmoving. He looked at Ranma, 
"How dare you do this to Akane?!" He ran forward and puched Ranma, hard, 
sending him flying bodily toward the other side of the room. He walked 
over to where Ranma was and picked him up by one of his legs, hoisting 
him up, his head a few inches off the floor, slamming him into the wall 
like the way a person would swing a bat with one arm.
  "Ryoga! Stop that!" Sylia and Linna and Priss shouted in unison, 
noticing that Ryoga looked intent on killing Ranma. Akane was busying 
looking down at her damaged hand.
  Ryoga slammed Ranma on the floor countless times, each one harder than 
the other. And to finish the job, Ryoga held Ranma upright, only to 
headbutt him right on his forehead, the back of Ranma's head slamming 
into the wall behind him with such impact that it nearly caved inward.
  "You asshole, why did you go and do that?!" Priss sat, about to punch 
Ryoga's lights out if it weren't for the fact that it wouldn't affect 
him.
  "What?" Ryoga said, acting innocent, "You mean something like this?" 
He brought his leg up and forward, slamming it right into Ranma's chest, 
causing to get pushed so hard into the wall that he remained embedded 
bodily in it, his head hanging low.
  "Get away from him!" Linna said, jumping in between Ryoga and Ranma, 
not wanting him to hurt Ranma anymore. Sylia and Priss were now trying 
to gently pull Ranma out from his concrete confines.
  Priss said in a scared voice, "Ranma, are you okay? Speak to us! Open 
your eyes!"
  Ranma opened his eyes and casually brushed the bedris off himself, "Is 
that all you've got Ryoga? That was nothin'." He said with a wry smirk. 
All he had to do was get rid of that crick in his neck that Ryoga had 
caused.
  That seemed to make Ryoga even more angry for he started calling forth 
a wicked ki-blast to finish Ranma off once and for all. But before he 
could release one of his more powerful blasts, Ranma lunged forward and 
executed an open hand punch to Ryoga's chest, sending him flying 
backwards and onto his back.
  "Moron! Are ya trying to get all of us killed?!" Ranma said, almost 
furious "Why dontcha use your head for a change. There are people in 
this room. If you threw a blast that big, not only will hurt the both of 
us, but also kill everyone else in this room! God, you must even have 
the mind of a pig!"
  "Die!!!!" Ryoga shouted, getting off the floor, unscathed from Ranma's 
open palm attack, and charging Ranma.
  "Akane, do something!" Linna shouted toward the sexaroid, whom was 
still intent of seeing to the extent of her damaged hand.
  Akane, hearing her name, turned toward Linna and said, "Leave them 
alone. They do this all the time."
  "Why?" Priss asked, wondering if she should run out of the room in a 
panic or stay and watch two battle it out.
  "I dunno. They seem to hate each other for some reason." Akane said 
casually "And to this day, I still have no idea why. I guess it had 
something to do with their past when they went to school together or 
something like that."
  Ranma, who was holding onto Ryoga's shirt collar as he did his, turned 
his attention away from his opponent and toward Akane, "Actually, that's 
not true. Ryoga hates me because I was the one who got him cur-"
  Ranma's statement was cut off by a perfectly planted fist right in his 
mouth.
  Ryoga said menacingly "Shut up, Ranma!"
  Ranma punched Ryoga hard, sending him flying across the room once 
again, slamming into the wall. Ranma then started laughing, "This is 
great, I haven't had this much fun in such a long time!"
  "This isn't supposed to be fun you idiot! I'm gonn kill you!" Ryoga 
said in a cold angry voice. 
  Ranma's laughter stopped as he took on a solemn countenance and said, 
"Get real Ryoga, you know I can't die!"
  The girls' attention immediately turned toward Ranma. What did he say?
  Ranma noticed that the girls had heard what he had said and quickly 
changed the subject "Um, it's gettin' stuffy in here. I'm gonna go out 
and get some fresh air"
  And with that said, Ranma left the room.
  "What was he talking about? Not dying? What did he mean by that?" 
Priss asked no one in particular.
  No one could answer her questions. Ryoga, on the other hand, refused 
to answer.  
  "Man, this is confusing!" Linna said, a bit frustrated, turning toward 
Ryoga, "What the hell are you guys constantly fighting for? What the 
hell is Ranma? What did he mean by he can't die?"
  Ryoga looked toward the ground, now shy.
  "Don't give us the shy and innocent act, Ryoga!" Priss joined in, her 
hands on her hips.
  He continued to look toward the ground. In his mind, he was thinking 
something along the lines of 'Ranma, get back here and save me! I can't 
handle this!'. But he remained quiet.
  Nene looked at her watch and gasped "Oh god, I'm gonna be late for 
work!!!" She was about to head for the door when Priss said, "Aren't you 
going to stay and find out what's going on?"
  "I would love to, but I can't be late for work! I've been late three 
times as it is!" she replied. She then turned her attentiont toward 
Ryoga and said, "If you see Ranma, tell him thanks for the 
demonstrations!"
  As she ran down the corridor toward her little scooter located in the 
garage, Nene said to herself.
  "All it did was make us realize how little we know about the two of 
you"



-OneShot
Jeffrey Keith Wong
http://www.li.net/~jeffwong/index.htm
Site updated May 30th.