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


(...continued from first half)

------

Ukyou stirred from her place by the fire when she saw Ranma rooting 
around in the packs.  "I can cook," she said.  "Really, I'm 
okay..."

"Just sit back," he said.  "We'll handle it tonight.  You rest."

She considered raising another protest, but she really was 
terribly exhausted.  The battle with the Reikoku had been unlike 
anything she'd ever experienced.  She'd spent the last of her 
physical reserves to overcome it, and now she was weary to the 
bone.  It was a rare moment when Kuonji Ukyou did not feel like 
cooking, but for tonight she was happy to hand the chore off 
to somebody else.

"Thanks, Ranchan."  She smiled weakly.

He grinned back.  "Yeah, well, we still got a few of Kasumi's 
leftovers.  We can feed you properly tonight, anyway."

She remembered something, and worked up enough energy to give 
him a small shove.  "Hey," she grumbled. "What was all that 'a 
woman's place is in the kitchen' crap?"

"He would know, wouldn't he?" Tarou quipped.

Ranma ignored him.  "Aw, I was just tryin' to get you riled up 
enough to fight back.  You know that, don't you?"

She nodded, unable to even pretend to be irritated for long.  
"Yeah.  Thanks, Ranchan.  I... I couldn't have won without 
you."

Her friend put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile 
of genuine warmth.  "You did good out there today, Ucchan.  Real 
good."

Something in her expression seemed to indicate that she didn't 
really believe this.  Ryouga spoke up as well.  "I was impressed!" 
he exclaimed.  "I... I owe you one.  You really..."

"Saved your bacon?" Tarou finished. 

"Will you shut up?" Ryouga growled back.

Tarou smirked, but then his face grew serious as he regarded 
Ukyou.  "I guess I sort of owe you one, too.  You... fought 
skillfully, Miss Ucchan."

Ryouga laughed, while Ranma looked a bit annoyed.  Ukyou chuckled 
a little at Tarou's misstep.  "That's actually Ranma's nickname 
for me.  My name is Kuonji Ukyou."

Ranma got a mischievous gleam in his eye.  "That's right!  We 
haven't made the proper introductions here yet, have we?  Ucchan, 
I'd like you to meet the one and only Panty..."

Tarou lashed out and belted Ranma in the chin, his face turning 
red with anger and embarrassment.  "Don't you dare, fem-boy!"

"What's the matter?" Ranma mocked.  "Don'tcha want her to know 
your name, Pant..."

Ranma ducked under Tarou's next swing, only to slammed by the 
Chinese martial artist's elbow on the back of his head.  He 
pulled back, still grinning with malicious glee.  

"Aw, now we can't run around with Ucchan not knowin' your name, 
can we?" he asked with an innocent look on his face.  "Come on, 
let's just get it over with."  He turned, partially addressing 
Ukyou but pretending that he was speaking to a large audience.  
"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we are proud to present: 
Pantyh..."

Tarou attacked again, forcing Ranma to dodge and retreat.  
"Saotome, I swear I'm going to..."

"It's okay!" Ukyou called out.  "Just cut it out, okay?  I 
already know his name."

Ranma looked a bit disappointed, but Tarou looked mortified.

Ukyou was too tired to deal with fighting right now.  She also 
knew that everybody was going to have to get along in this little 
group if they were to have a chance of surviving - she wasn't 
accustomed to the role of the peacemaker, but somebody was going 
to have to do it before these guys killed each other.  She tried 
out her best Kasumi imitation and gave Tarou what she hoped was 
an encouraging smile.  "Don't worry," she said soothingly.  "It's 
no big deal."

"N... no big deal?"

"Yeah!  No big deal.  You prefer to be called Tarou, right?"

The Chinese boy blinked.  "Uh... yes.  Yes.  Tarou."

"Right," she nodded, hoping she made it clear that everything 
was settled.  Ranma, however, was obviously going to give it one 
more shot.

"I don't know if that's proper etiquette," he said with artificial 
concern. "I think maybe we should keep it formal, since you just 
met and all.  You can call him by his full name, which is..." he 
grinned at Tarou, bracing himself for the next attack.

Ukyou summoned enough strength to chuck a small rock at the back 
of Ranma's head.  "Oh knock it off!" she scolded.  

Tarou tried to compose himself again, but he was clearly moved.  
Ranma shrugged at Ukyou.  "Okay, okay.  I get the idea.  Come on, 
let's get some chow goin' here.  Yo, Ryouga, you got that fire 
up to speed?"

Re-heating Kasumi's traveling rations didn't take long.  The four 
martial artists ate in relative silence, each absorbed in their 
own thoughts about the day's events, and what the future might 
hold.  They knew that the Reikoku had not had time to recover yet, 
and that Tarou had flown them a great enough distance that they 
should feel secure, but each of them was still nagged by a distinct 
sense of unease.  None of them could dispel the constant awareness 
that they were being hunted.  None of them could truly be at 
peace.

Tarou finally broke the silence, as the meal was drawing to a 
close.  "All right.  It's about time you explained to me what's 
going on here, Saotome."

Ranma lowered his head, so his eyes disappeared beneath his dark 
bangs.  He began speaking in a low, ominous tone.  "It is a terrible 
tale... um... a story of blood, death, and... er...unspeakable 
stuff.  The name of the thing that's chasin' us should not be 
mentioned in the darkness of night, so nasty... uh... so foul is 
this demonic sucker that we should not speak of it unless..."

Ryouga reached out and thumped Ranma on the head.  "H... hey!" he 
snapped, trying to control the chattering of his own teeth.  
"Quit it with that ghost story stuff!"

Ranma punched Ryouga back and looked miffed.  "I'm just tryin' 
to do justice to the mood, okay?"

"Well knock it off!"

Tarou shook his head, regarding Ranma with contempt.  "If you 
really think you can spook me with that sort of thing, you're 
even stupider than you look.  Or perhaps you're trying to avoid 
telling me what's going on, so you can keep me around longer?"

Ranma made a face like he'd swallowed a goldfish.  "No way!  The 
sooner we get rid of you, the better!"

Pantyhose Tarou made a small, derisive sound.  

"Ranchan," Ukyou muttered, "just tell him the story, okay?"  She 
sounded like she was already half asleep.

Ranma shrugged.  "Okay, okay.  Listen, Pantyhose, this is all the 
old geezer's fault."

"THAT doesn't surprise me," Tarou grunted.

"Yeah.  So that pervert did somethin' to somebody, and they got 
so ticked off at him that they summoned up this thing, the Reikoku, 
to chase after him."

"He did 'something' to 'somebody?'" Tarou looked incredulous.  
"That's not very specific, fem-boy."

"You think I don't know that?  That's why we're chasin' after 
him!  See, he managed to brush this thing off on me, so it ain't 
after him no more."

"How?"

"Well, he came along and challenged me, since he knew I'd clean 
his clock..."

Ryouga snorted.  "From what I hear, he threw the fight."

"What do you know?" Ranma snapped angrily.

"Oh please," Tarou laughed.  "Don't expect me to believe that 
you could actually beat Happosai in one-on-one combat."

"Well I did!" Ranma shouted.  "Now you want me to tell the story, 
or don't you?"

"Fine, fine.  Go on."

"Right," Ranma continued.  "So anyway, I beat up the old pervert, 
and then he says that makes me Master of the Anything-Goes School.  
By doin' that, he somehow swung it so the Reikoku started chasin' 
me rather than him."

Tarou scoffed.  "And you fell for it, like an amateur.  Now you 
know what it's like to be screwed over by that old bastard, don't 
you?"

"Yeah, well, I ain't gonna let him get away with it," Ranma 
grumbled.  

"So what exactly is the Reikoku?"

Ranma shrugged.  "I dunno.  Some kind of big spirit of vengeance 
thing.   The old woman said it was somethin' from the ancient 
times, or whatever.  Anyway, it goes after you once you attack 
it, so all four of us are gonna be hunted down now."

"And how," Tarou asked, leaning forward intently, "do we stop 
it?"

Ranma scratched his head.  "We ain't really sure.  See, even if 
you beat it in a fight, it comes back to life after a day.  Every 
time it comes back and fights the same person, it gets stronger... 
it develops new abilities to exploit your weaknesses and stuff.  
The old woman said that it can only come back three times against 
a single person, so if you could beat it four times, you'd destroy 
it."

Tarou looked thoughtful.  "A tall order."

"Nobody here's been able to beat it twice," Ranma observed.  

"I wonder if there'd be some way to compensate for its adaptations," 
Tarou mused.  "Perhaps if one were able to adapt as quickly as 
it does, one might stand a chance..."

Ryouga frowned.  "Like... maybe I could fight it in a hot springs 
or something.  That way, it couldn't change me!"

"Yeah, but what about NEXT time?" Ranma asked.  "It'd probably 
grow an arm that shot Chisuiton at you or somethin' like that."

"Chisuiton?" Tarou queried.

Ranma shuddered slightly.  "It's this water that leaves you stuck 
permanently in your cursed form."

"Where'd you hear about that?" 

"Musk Dynasty," Ranma answered.  "Anyway, even if you did adapt, 
it still gets stronger and faster and tougher.  From what the old 
ghoul said, it sounds like findin' some way to defeat that thing 
four times is near to impossible."

Tarou paused for a moment, his brow furrowed with concentration.  
"So," he finally asked, "what exactly IS your plan?"

"We gotta find that wrinkled old troll and find out who sent 
that thing after him," Ranma said.  "Then, we go to them and see 
if there's some way to... I dunno, revoke it or somethin'.  Tell 
'em they got the wrong people."

"And send it after Happosai again?" Tarou asked.

Ranma shrugged.  "Look, that ain't my style really, but if it's a 
choice between him and me, I sure as heck ain't gonna take the 
fall just to save his butt."

"But you've already fought it," Tarou observed.  "You said that 
it will pursue anyone who's attacked it, whether they were the 
intended target or not."

"Well there's gotta be some way they can make it stop huntin' 
us!" Ranma exclaimed.

Tarou snorted.  "Hmmph.  If there was a way, the old geezer 
would probably have done it.  I don't think your plan has much 
chance of success, fem-boy."

"Oh yeah?" Ranma challenged.  "You got any bright ideas, 
Pantyhose?"

Tarou glared at his rival, irritated by his insistence on using 
that abhorrent name.  "Maybe I do!" he shot back.  "I certainly 
don't need a female impersonator like you to tell me what to do!"

Ranma leaned forward, ready to argue with Tarou, but then he 
noticed Ukyou.  She'd fallen asleep as they'd spoken, and was 
now curled up by the dwindling campfire with a peaceful expression 
on her face.  Ranma wondered how long she'd sleep like that before 
the nightmares came.  Seeing her at rest and thinking about what 
she'd been through that day cooled his temper.   He sat back in 
silence, ignoring Tarou.

The Chinese boy also turned to look at the sleeping girl.  A 
strange expression crossed his features as he watched Ukyou, 
the flickering firelight creating a lazy dance of shadows across 
her body.  

"Still," he murmured, "it might be best to pool our resources... 
for the moment."

"Yeah," Ranma whispered.  "For the moment."

- - - - - - 

Nabiki glanced up from the ledger when she heard the door to 
Ucchan's open.  She was moderately surprised to see who it was 
that had come to pay a visit.

"Good day to you, Elder," Konatsu said in a friendly tone.

"Ah, hello child," Cologne said to the pretty young ninja.  "And 
how are you, hmm?"

Konatsu bowed deeply.  "Very well, Elder.  May I have the 
pleasure of serving you today?"

The old woman smiled.  "That would be very nice, Konatsu.  
I believe you know my favorite."

Konatsu bowed again, smiling.  "Yes, Elder.  Though I am an 
inferior cook compared to Kuonji-san, I shall try my hardest 
to prepare your okonomiyaki to your satisfaction."

"There's a dear," Cologne said absently, hopping over to take 
a seat.  She enjoyed eating here from time to time.  Ukyou and 
Shampoo got along poorly, and Ukyou was technically a rival in 
the Saotome Ranma fiancee competition, but Cologne had a fondness 
for the young chef just the same.  She also felt a great deal of 
affection for Konatsu, who was refreshingly sweet and polite.  
She'd even considered importing some Jusenkyou girl-water for 
the young ninja, but she wasn't quite sure if that would be the 
right thing to do in the long run.  Konatsu briskly gathered the 
ingredients together and began to make the old Amazon her meal.

Nabiki rolled her eyes.  Konatsu really overdid it sometimes 
with the whole formal bowing-and-scraping routine, but it seemed 
to go over pretty well with the customers.  She rose from her 
seat and strolled towards the old woman, leaning against the 
serving counter.  "So, what brings you by, granny?"

"Oh," Cologne swiveled to face her.  "Yes, I just wanted to see 
how the place is doing under new management."

Nabiki grinned confidently.  "Better than ever," she asserted.  
"Isn't that right, Konatsu?"

"Of course, Tendou-sama," the ninja agreed.

"It's Nabiki," she corrected.  If there was one thing she 
couldn't bear, it was an excess of formality.

"Yes... Nabiki-san."  

The old woman fished into the sleeve of her robe, then pulled 
forth a folded scrap of paper.  Nabiki recognized it immediately, 
of course - it was one of the fliers she'd sent out all across 
Nerima.  

Cologne regarded the flier thoughtfully.  "I see you're going 
into the delivery business," she commented.

"That's right."  Nabiki crossed her arms and looked smug.

"Yes, very good," the old woman murmured.  "Will you be making 
the deliveries, then?"

Nabiki laughed out loud.  "What, are you joking?  Me?"

"Oh?" Cologne made a show of looking around.  "I see.  So who 
have you hired to make the deliveries, then?"

Nabiki brushed a strand of hair back into place.  "I haven't 
hired anyone.  I don't have to.  Why pay another employee when 
you can get the job done for free?"

"Mmm?" Cologne looked intrigued.  "And how have you managed 
that?"

The Tendou girl smiled.  "Oh, there are a lot of people who owe 
me favors around here.  I'm letting them pay those favors off by 
running a few deliveries for me."

"I see.  That's a very clever plan," Cologne observed, nodding.  
Nabiki thought she detected just a touch of condescension in 
the old woman's tone, but she couldn't be sure.  "Very clever 
indeed.  I see you're covering a much wider area than we do."

"You only have one delivery girl," Nabiki pointed out.  "Are you 
afraid of the competition, granny?"

Cologne just smiled to herself.  Konatsu set the small okonomiyaki 
down in front of the old woman, who took a delicate bite.  "Mmm.  
Very nice, Konatsu.  Ukyou has taught you well."

Konatsu bowed so deep that he almost bent in half.  "Thank you 
very much, Elder Cologne."

Nabiki wasn't terribly pleased at the way she'd suddenly been 
ignored, but refused to let it show.  "Yep," she hummed, "I 
think this place is going to be the number one restaurant in 
Nerima by the time I'm done with it."

Cologne polished off her okonomiyaki, wiped her mouth daintily 
with a napkin, and hopped off the stool onto her staff.  "Here 
you go," she said to Konatsu, giving the ninja a small handful 
of coins.  "Don't let her take all your tips, dear."

"Please come again," Konatsu chimed.

Cologne took a couple of hops towards the door on her staff, then 
pivoted to regard Nabiki again.  "I wish you luck, girl."

Nabiki gave her a half-lidded look of pure self-satisfaction.  
"Luck is not a factor when you have good planning."

The Amazon matriarch chuckled as she turned to leave.  
"Nevertheless, I wish it to you.  I somehow think you're going 
to need it."

- - - - - -

Akane leaned back against a tree and mopped the sweat from her 
brow.  She now wished she'd been there when Cologne had set up 
the whole ungainly apparatus the time she'd trained Ryouga on 
the technique, just so she could have seen how the old woman had 
done it.  She suspected that the Amazon had liberally applied 
Ryouga's superhuman strength.  It hadn't just been a matter of 
lifting the heavy boulder, though certainly that had been a 
difficult task in and of itself.  She'd needed to devise a pulley 
scheme so she haul the boulder into a swinging position, then 
release both it and herself when she was ready.  Finding a tree 
that could support the whole operation had also been no mean 
feat.

Still, she'd been able to get the rock dragged up into place and 
set into the mechanism... with a little help from Mr. Saotome.  
The panda was collapsed on the turf a couple of meters away, 
panting from the exertion.   They'd had a few missed efforts 
before they got the whole contraption to work correctly.  Akane 
was winded, but she was proud of her achievement.  Besides, the 
heavy lifting was a kind of training all its own.

Now, though, the real training could begin.

"Okay!" she announced to the panda.  "I'm going up!"

Mr. Saotome dragged himself into a sitting position to watch 
Akane climb into her rope-and-canvas harness.  He held up a 
sign: [Are you sure this is a good idea?]

Akane gave him a reassuring smile.  "Of course!  This'll be 
no problem, really."

Saotome-panda flipped the sign around, where it read:  [Isn't 
there some other training you'd like to do?]

Akane shook her head vigorously.  "I've given this a lot of 
thought.  This technique works with my strengths.  It'll help 
me build up more muscle and more endurance.  Plus, I'll get to 
do that cool thing where you break rocks."

The panda took a long look at the boulder, then turned back and 
pulled another wooden sign from behind his back.  [That's a big 
rock.]

"It's the same thing I've been doing for years, really," Akane 
assured him.  "I'm just trying to do it on a slightly larger 
scale."

Saotome-panda spun the sign.  [Slightly?]

Akane took another look at the boulder, mentally comparing it 
to the cinder-blocks she normally pulverized in her workouts.  
It really was a formidably large piece of stone.  She felt a 
twinge of nervousness, but she willed it away.  "Don't worry 
about it!" she called.  

The panda sighed.  When Akane set her mind to doing something, 
there was no talking her out of it.  He wondered what her father 
was going to think when he found out about this.  He tried to 
formulate a strategy which would prevent his old friend from 
learning about his own involvement in this "training."

Akane finished strapping herself into the harness, mustering her 
determination for the task ahead.  The bakusai ten-ketsu regimen 
was one of the most brutal training exercises she'd ever 
witnessed, but the results had really been amazing.  Ryouga had 
gone from being totally outclassed by Ranma to nearly being able 
to beat him in a matter of a week.  She knew she wasn't quite as 
strong as Ryouga to begin with, so she guessed that it would take 
about ten days - with about six repetitions per day - for her to 
complete the training and master the technique.

Once she had the bakusai ten-ketsu under her belt, she was pretty 
sure she'd have what it took to withstand the Reikoku, at least 
once.  Then, she could go to China, and even Ranma wouldn't be able 
to argue that she'd be in his way.  She had an idea about how to 
test herself after she'd completed the training, just to be sure 
of her new strength.

<I can't wait to see the look on his face when I use this 
technique,> she fantasized.  <I'll show him who's strong as an 
ape!  Ha!>

He'd probably make fun of her for being a tomboy.  Well, she 
couldn't help that.  If she was going to be a tomboy, she might 
as well be the toughest tomboy in the world.  

"Okay!" she shouted to Mr. Saotome.  "Here I go!"

Akane yanked the rope which triggered the release for both the 
harness and the boulder.  She dropped from her starting perch 
and accelerated into her long swing, finger extended towards the 
oncoming boulder.

It suddenly dawned on her how big that damned rock really was.

"Uhhhh..." she moaned as she continued to swing.  It occurred 
to her, with terrifying clarity, that the boulder was not only 
truly immense, extremely hard, and ponderously heavy, but that 
it was also moving at an frighteningly dangerous velocity.

"Aaaahhh..." she groaned as the boulder loomed larger in her 
vision.  This suddenly didn't seem like a very good idea after 
all.

But there was no way out.  She and the boulder were on a 
collision course, and she was now certain that she was going 
to get smashed to a pulp when they hit.  Panic seized her - 
she twisted sideways in her harness, trying to cover up her head 
with her arms, struggling vainly to escape the fate towards which 
she was inexorably rushing.  Akane let out a shriek of abject 
fear before the boulder slammed into her with devastating 
force.

Everything went black.

- - - - - -

"//EEEK!  Panty thief!//"

Ranma didn't know much Chinese yet, but he recognized what those 
words meant.  "This way!" he shouted to the other three martial 
artists.  "We got him now!"

The group of young fighters sprinted down the crowded Chinese 
street, weaving their way through the throng of people towards 
the cries.  None of them had caught sight of their quarry yet, 
but the disturbance he was making was hard to miss.  

"He's not getting away this time!" Ryouga vowed.  

Ranma jumped up to a street lamp and dangled for a second, 
analyzing the surroundings.  "You two!" he gestured to Tarou 
and Ukyou.  "Split up down there," he pointed at a side street, 
then towards another one, "and there!  You can cut him off if 
you hurry!"

"Okay, Ranchan!" Ukyou shouted, then took off down one of the 
streets.

"Don't screw this up, fem-boy," Tarou warned.  "We may not get 
another chance."  He raced away from the other two martial 
artists.

"Let's go, Ryouga!" Ranma leaped down and took up the chase 
again.  

"Right!" Ryouga followed close on Ranma's heels, matching his 
companion's moves as they tore through the crowd.  He knew 
better than to let himself get lost in a place like this, 
especially with so much at stake.

The two boys drew closer to the outraged shouts of Chinese 
women and girls.  They pulled up short in front of the entrance 
to a winding corridor between the rows of buildings, less 
crowded than the main thoroughfare.  They heard an indignant 
shriek from down the narrow side street.  

"This way!  Pantyhose ought to have him cornered!"

Ranma and Ryouga charged down the poorly-paved little street, 
vaulting obstacles and dodging pedestrians in their pursuit.  
They turned a corner and came upon Pantyhose Tarou so abruptly 
that they both bowled into him, knocking him flat.  

All three of them scrambled to their feet.  "What's the matter 
with you?" Tarou snarled.

"Where'd he go?" Ranma shouted.  "He came this way!"

"What are you talking about?" Tarou snapped.  "He's not here!"

"You didn't see him?"  Ranma looked around desperately.

"I'm telling you, he didn't come this way..."

The three of them heard a squeal of shock and rage emerge from 
further down the alleyway, past Tarou.  Someone was shouting that 
their underwear had been stolen from their clothesline.

Ryouga glared at Tarou.  "Didn't come this way, huh?"

The Chinese boy flushed with anger and shame.  "I don't know how 
he got past me!  There's no way..."

"Come on!"

The three of them pounded down the twisting path, which eventually 
doubled back on itself and led out to the main thoroughfare.  The 
martial artists followed the shouts of angry women once more, 
charging ever closer to their quarry.  

"//There he goes!//" an old woman called in a shrill voice.  
The martial artists turned towards that direction, only to see 
a figure dressed in black hop down an alleyway.  The person in 
question was carrying a large bag which looked to be stuffed 
with garments... but it was quite a bit taller and thinner than 
the person they'd been expecting to see.

"That... wasn't Happosai?" Ryouga couldn't believe his eyes.

"Another panty thief?" Ranma gasped.

"That little..." Tarou took off towards the alleyway. 

A loud noise echoed through the narrow passage.  It was the 
distinctive sound of an extremely large spatula making contact, 
at speed, with a human form.  The three martial artists rounded 
the corner into a plume of women's underwear, drifting through 
the air in dozens of soft, erratic parabolas.  Ukyou stood at 
the center, her spatula raised high and a questioning look on 
her face.  A figure squatted at her feet with its arms wrapped 
around its head, moaning in pain.

Ukyou stepped back.  "Hey... this isn't Happosai.  What gives?"

"That's what I want to know!" Ranma barked.  The martial artists 
arranged themselves around the unidentified panty thief, blocking 
off every possible escape route.

The panty thief they'd trapped was probably a teenager, though 
he had the sort of sullen and gaunt face that defied one's ability 
to predict his age.  He had large round eyes and was built like a 
bundle of pipe cleaners.  He scrambled to his feet and adopted a 
defensive stance, glaring at those who surrounded him with contempt 
and menace.  

"So," he hissed (in Japanese, fortunately), "you dare to interfere 
with Ximi-Gul, master of combat and the art of thievery?"

Ranma rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, stupid.  We do."

The thief let out a quiet, evil chuckle.  "Very well, then.  You 
leave me no choice but to invoke my Ultimate Defensive Technique!"

Ranma braced himself, and the others did the same.  It was 
entirely possible that they were dealing with a very dangerous 
individual here, and it didn't pay to underestimate him.  
However, Ranma knew how these things worked, and he figured 
there was a good chance that this Ximi-Gul was actually...

"Oh PLEASE don't hurt me!" Ximi-Gul dropped to his knees and 
wailed piteously.  "Spare me, spare me, have mercy!  
Aaaagh!"

... a complete loser.

Ukyou shook her head in disgust.  "This is an Ultimate Defensive 
Technique?  It reminds me of something your dad would come up 
with, Ranchan."

"Yeah," Ryouga agreed.  "You sure he isn't stealing one of your 
special Saotome School secrets?"

The Chinese panty thief immediately stopped groveling and looked 
up at Ranma with an expression of total awe.  "Sao... Saotome?  
You're THE Saotome Ranma?"

Ranma blinked in surprise.  How had this guy heard of him?  
Well, he had done some pretty amazing things - he guessed word 
of his achievements had started to spread in the martial arts 
community.  He unconsciously adopted a smug pose.  "Yep, that's 
me."

"I can't believe it!" Ximi-Gul chimed happily.  "I actually get 
to meet you!  The Champion of all Drag Queens!"

"Wha..." Ranma's jaw dropped.  The others began to snicker with 
varying degrees of intensity.

"Ah, how fondly the Master spoke of you," the young thief said 
dreamily.  "He told me of how you mastered the ultimate technique 
of cross-dressing, just so you could pose for him in the finest 
articles of silky clothing from his treasured collection..."

"Why you little...!" Ranma snarled, advancing menacingly on the 
Chinese boy.

"Don't hurts us!" the thief squealed, immediately dropping back 
into his groveling stance.  "Not nice, mustn't hurts us! No, no, 
we can't stands pains, no..."

Ranma backed off, utterly disgusted by the craven display.  How 
could you hit someone like that?  It was pitiful.

"The Master?" Ryouga said, frowning.  "Does he mean Happosai?  
Hey, you, is Happosai your Master?"

The thief continued to crawl around on the ground, whimpering 
and whispering to himself.  Ryouga glared and took another step 
towards the cowering boy.

"Hey!  Answer me, you little rodent!"

"Stop scaring him," Ukyou said.  "You're not going to get 
anything out of him by threatening him like that, Ryouga..."

"Ryouga?" Ximi-Gul popped up like a cork, his face and voice 
full of rapt admiration.  "Hibiki Ryouga?  Is it really you?"

"Uh..."

"Oh, how amazing!" the youngster sang, dancing around with joy.  
"To think that I managed to meet the guy who developed the 
ultimate disguise technique, allowing him to sneak into the 
bedrooms of women at night and crawl into the sheets with..."

"SHUT UP!" Ryouga bellowed, drawing a fist back to pound the 
Chinese boy.

"Nice martial artists!  Don't hurts us!" The lad was back on 
the ground in a flash, crawling around on his belly and wriggling 
like a worm.  "Mustn't hurts us, no, no.  Tells them what they 
wants to hear, won't we precious?  Yes, yes, we shall tell them, 
but they mustn't hurts us..."

"Why are you talking like that?" Ryouga growled in rage, but he 
couldn't bring himself to strike the pathetic creature before him.  
There really was something to this so-called technique.

"So Happosai is your master, then?" Ranma yelled.

"Yes, yes," the boy hissed.  "Master he is, yes.  Came to us, yes 
he did, showed us... many, many interesting things.  Said he was 
taking students, didn't he precious?  Yes, said that he would 
choose the one who stole nice, silky precious panties for him as 
his disciple..."

"Wait a minute!" Ranma snapped.  "How can he be doin' that?  I'm 
the Master of Anything-Goes Martial Arts now!"

"Anything-Goes?" Ximi-Gul repeated in confusion, pulling once 
more out of his groveling act.  "No, the Master teaches an ancient 
style called Free-For-All Martial Arts."

Ranma gaped, so outraged for a moment that he couldn't actually 
speak.  Pantyhose Tarou let out a bark of contemptuous laughter.   

"Oh, that's rich," Tarou sneered.  "Why not let you have the old 
school, fem-boy, when he can just go off and start up another 
one?  I have to hand it to the old goat, he really managed to 
shaft you coming and going..."

"Shut UP, Pantyhose!" Ranma shouted.

"P... Pantyhose?" the young thief turned to face Tarou, his voice 
filled with sheer reverence.  "You're really the one who worked 
so hard to please the Master that you were awarded a name that 
would befit a pervert of your stature..."

"How DARE you!" Tarou advanced, his face flushed with anger.

"DON'T HURTS US!" the boy squealed, dropping once more to his hands 
and knees.  "Nice martial artists!  Don't hurts us precious, we 
didn't MEAN to make them mad, did we?  No precious, no!"  He 
moaned and whimpered piteously, pawing at Tarou's feet in a 
truly pathetic fashion.

Tarou's fists trembled, but even he couldn't force himself to 
pound on this wretched creature before him.  All he could bring 
himself to do was to shove the thief away with his foot.  Ximi-Gul 
tumbled away, skittering about on the ground like an insect and 
making a low, guttural noise from deep in his throat.

"This is really revolting," Tarou snarled.

"Um..." Ukyou spoke hesitantly.  "You, uh... you haven't heard 
of me, have you?  Kuonji Ukyou?"

Ximi-Gul padded about in a circle, making his throaty noise, then 
squatted like a frog before them.  "No, hasn't heard of it.  We 
doesn't remember that name."

Ukyou sighed with relief.  "Well, okay.  Great."

"I still want to smash his head in," Ryouga growled, seething in 
rage.  The other boys seemed to feel the same way.  The thief 
covered up his head and began to wail like a baby.

"Oh, come on guys," Ukyou placated.  "He can't help it if the 
old guy told him a bunch of lies, right?"

"Yes, nice martial artists!" Ximi-Gul whined.  "We can't helps 
it, can we precious?"

"Look," Ukyou addressed him in a gentle voice.  "Do you know 
where Happosai is?  We need to find him..."

"Doesn't knows, does we precious?  No, we doesn't.  Master said 
he was traveling, yes traveling all around China, looking for 
disciples.  Yes, that's what he said, remembers it, we does."

Ukyou sighed.  "This is a problem."

"Yeah," Ranma agreed.  "If that old goat's been runnin' around 
recruitin' other panty thieves, then we..."

"...We've been chasing shadows this whole time!" Ryouga finished, 
his voice full of dismay.  "How are we ever going to find him at 
this rate?"

"Feh," Tarou spat.  "You give up too easily.  I'll think of a way 
to track that damned troll down, since you two," he addressed 
Ryouga and Ranma, "seem incapable of it.  He won't escape me."

"Yeah, whatever," Ranma said in an unimpressed voice.  He was 
already getting tired of listening to Pantyhose blather on about 
how smart he was all the time.  "Let's get out of here."

"Then they'll lets us go, the nice martial artists?" Ximi-Gul 
pleaded hopefully.

"Just stop stealin' underwear, or we're gonna come back and 
pound you into a fine paste, okay?" Ranma threatened.

"Nice martial artists!  Precious will do as they says, very nice, 
very sensible..."

"Oh, shut up."

The four of them turned and walked away down the alley.  They 
were almost around the corner and back onto the main thoroughfare 
when they heard Ximi-Gul calling out from behind them.  

"Kuonji Ukyou?" he yelled.  "You're THE Kuonji Ukyou?"

The four of them pivoted slowly.  Ukyou's face was full of dread.

"I remember now!" The boy was beaming with positively rapturous 
delight and awe.  "You're one of the Saotome love slaves!"

"Wha... what did you say?"

"You're the cook, right?  The one whose body gets so hot that she 
can actually cook on herself?"  Ximi-Gul's eyes sparkled.  "The 
master told me how you writhe on the griddle, pouring hot oil 
across your heaving bosom, until you're ready to smear sauce across 
your naked..."

Ryouga took one glance at Ukyou, had a split-second's worth of 
visualization, and then passed out with twin fountains of blood 
streaming from his nose.  Pantyhose Tarou doubled over, coughing 
so hard that it sounded like he was going to hack up a lung.  Ranma 
desperately and vainly tried to hold back Ukyou, who was charging 
down the alley with a truly homicidal look on her face.

"Stop it, Ucchan!"

"DON'T HURTS US, PRECIOUS!"

"I'll show you PRECIOUS, you little PERVERT!"

CLANG!< >CLANG!< >CLANG!<

"AAAAAGGGHH!!"

                    end of chapter four



-----------------------------------------------------------
                      AUTHOR'S NOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------

A little nod there to the finest groveler in all of literature.

COMING SOON:  Tensions rise between the traveling companions - how
long can they keep the peace amongst themselves?  Akane is 
desperate to learn the bakusai ten-ketsu, but can she really
survive the training?  And Nabiki learns that some things are
not as easy as they might seem...   

COPYRIGHT STUFF:  All the Ranma characters belong to Takahashi Rumiko,
and are licensed in America by Viz Communications.    

GRT - July 1998
grayson@rigroup.net

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