An Opponent, the Bet 
insert standard disclaimer here.
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	"What's the gripe?" Toltiir looked towards
a small group of godlings, demons, and assorted beings.

	"They were looking at some of these Bet 
timelines and feel that Ranma's too powerful in 'em."

	"Did you see the King Of Fighters variant
where Shampoo vanished on the way back to China,
then shows up back in Nerima, not having returned 
home in failure but now capable of 'Son Goku' style
devastation?"

	"No."

	"Mode 4, Timeline 3694128. Basically she
shows up, beats him up, carries him back home to her
village, and the Nichieju decimate the Musk in the
next battle."

	"That wasn't the point anyway," Ares
pointed out. "They feel that with the Ranma of
'King of Fighters', 'Dragon's Destiny', 'Cat scratch
fever', and 'Neutral Ground' that his power level is
such that he can't possibly find a decent fight."

	"Yeah, right."

	"So MY Bet is to manipulate THIS
event over here." Ares grinned. This guy was
one of his favorites.

	"Shit," Toltiir blinked. He wasn't 
one of the local gods, so the Almighty didn't
restrict his speech to the extent it would have
been if Urd had said that. "HIM?!? I thought
he was dead..."

	"They never showed the body,"
chided Ares. "He's been looking for a way
off that dying world and finally got it. All
MY little change is, is to redirect him  to 
a 'weak point' in the local Reality of ANY
of the Ranmaverses. Just like so."

	Toltiir blinked again. "This
isn't funny, you know. This is pretty DARK."

	Ares grinned. "That's how I like it."
-------------------------------------
	"<Clan Elders! I must speak 
with you! It is urgent!>"

	Boh Ling looked down at the
youngster. "<What is it, Rei Ga? Why
such unseemly haste?>"

	""

	"<The Musk have new 
allies? This IS grave news child.>"

	"<Great Elder, I beg 
pardon but no.>" Rei Ga twisted
in pain, dropping to her knees.
<"Ah! The Musk Citadel is no more,
it has been breached and taken over
by the invaders. I saw Herb slain on
the parapets within seconds of 
fighting the leader of this force, it
was as if a child faced a raging tiger.
Ahhh!>"

	<"Child? What?"> Boh
Ling looked at the other Elders, as
she could only see one tiny wound
on Rei Ga's body. Only Dusk seemed
to know what was going on, and no
one had ever seen the expression on
her face before, a two hundred year
old Elder who was as tough as they
came in these parts.

	Dusk looked both afraid
and...sorrowful.

	"<He....>" Rei Ga shuddered,
blood beginning to seep from ears, eyes,
nose, and mouth. "<He somehow knew
I was there...I never saw him...move...>"

	Rei Ga was not a wimp, but
she screamed then, screamed as her body
literally tore itself apart from the inside out,
seeming to be an explosion in slow motion.
Finally the scream ended in a brief gurgle
and the remains of what had been a pretty
fourteen year old girl sloshed to the ground.

	Dusk looked up at the others.
"<We will fight. We will lose. Send those we
might be able to spare to where Cologne and
her daughter live, quickly. We must not 
waste what little time Rei Ga bought us.>"

	"<But...what?>" Boh Ling couldn't
tear her eyes away from the mess sprayed 
across the floor of the audience chamber.

	"<MOVE DAMN YOU!>" Dusk
was suddenly right in front of Boh Ling, 
blocking her colleague's view. "<THAT 
was one of the forbidden assassin's 
techniques lost now for two hundred 
years, and when I learned of them I
was grateful that they had been lost.
NOW an army comes, and at least one
among them knows one of the two schools
involved. WE are dead. All we can do is
make sure that some of us, some of our
heritage, and warning makes it to Cologne!>"

	"<Dead, but?>"

	Dusk was aware of others who
were hearkening to her words and rushing
forth. She wasn't sure how much or how 
many could be saved, but she'd give them
every second her life could buy them. "<Boh
Ling, I have no more time to spare with you.
I must see that the perimeter is set, our 
warriors are armed, and the group leaves
immediately. If they even suspect that we
have sent some of us to safety, they will
keep hunting until all are dead. Try to act
like an amazon  for the short period of life
we have left..."
-----------------------------------------
	The army moved slowly down
the pass to the Village. Hordes of the
black masked soldiers attacked the walls.
The amazons fought bravely and fought
well. Then one of the "lieutenants" of 
the Army came forward, and shattered
the stockade walls with a single punch.

	The technique was similar to,
but quite different from the Breaking Point
that many of the amazons practiced.

	Shu Ga, sister to Rei Ga, stood
in the midst of the battle, her skill with her
twohanded sword leaving a bloody trail
around her as dozens of the soldiers died
trying to engage her in combat.

	Finally she caught a glimpse of
the leader, watching impassively as more
of his soldiers came forward to die against
her blade. Her skill with the sword was 
nearly perfect, the two being one for all
purposes. The Cult Of The Muscle Sword
may have been gone, but their techniques
had been flawlessly absorbed by Shu Ga.

	At some unseen signal, Shu
Ga noticed the faceless minions fall away.
She grinned and spat away blood from
a cut she'd received to her face. She 
could end this fight, here and now, and
no more of her sisters would have to die.

	She spun and leapt, the 
sword twirling out as fast and as hard
as she could manage it, a perfect blow.

	Which made the man stopping
it with two fingers all the more remarkable.
A twist of his wrist and her prized blade
was snapped in half. 

	Shu Ga couldn't believe it,
but wasn't wasting time, a flying kick
while he was occupied with the sword...

	The end of Shu Ga's own
sword slammed into her, cutting her
nearly in two at once. She looked up
at the huge man, wondering briefly how
somebody so damn big moved so fast.

	The man's foot came down,
squelching the warrior's body into pulp.
A flicker of disappointment seemed to
light his eyes, before they returned to
featureless slits.

	Within minutes, the bloodbath
had ended, and each of the Amazon villages
in the valley had been exterminated to the
last child within a half hour. Less than an
hour since Rei Ga had come running in with
her tale of woe.

	The soldiers lined the street as
their leader walked past. Shouting out a
name in praise.

	"Ra-oh!"
-------------------------------
gee, i didn't have to go very far for a
villain that could challenge even the "King
Of Fighters" did i? Frankly he'd make a
mess of Ranma/tiger, and if you used him
against regular Ranma & Co? 
         for those not familiar with "Hokuto
No Ken" and its mythos, Raoh is "Ken-ou"
the Fist King and is the practitioner of a
martial arts style called Hokuto Shin Ken,
though he's picked up other tricks and
techniques in fashion similar to Ranma
through the series. Hokuto Shin Ken 
works primarily through striking 
accupressure points in such a way as
to kill, enslave, cripple, maim, heal, or
even augment a target. Hokuto Shin
Ken has its variant of the Chestnut 
Fist, and it is typical for someone hit
by a Hokuto technique to lose their 
head in a thoroughly messy fashion.
             Raoh is BAD, really BAD. How
bad? He used Hokuto Shin Ken to
control some people, said people firing
off nuclear missles and starting a nuclear
(and bacteriological if certain other clues
are correct) WWIII just so he wouldn't
have to put up with weak people.
             Raoh is The Villain of Hokuto No
Ken. While there were a lot of other villains,
once Raoh took the stage you knew that
they were third rate shadows of this guy.
He considers himself a god, and would give
your average AMG god a quick death from
what I've seen. Dragonball characters that
came in range would be toast, though if they
started off by using chi attacks at long range
they'd PROBABLY be able to get the bugger.
	Personally, i would want an Eva
with a positron rifle, and would want at least
1000m of range before the fight started...
-----------------
	Where to go from here if this is
chosen in the Bet. (yeah right)
Hmmm. Normal Ranma, after the failed
wedding attempt. Nerima is suddenly
invaded by roughly forty amazons: ten
teenagers, thirty young ones, maybe two
adults as shepherds.
         Cologne reads Dusk's note, has
an idea about what's going on, but what
can she do? She can either drop the 
pursuit of Ranma as being of no consequence,
or try one last ditch effort as they REALLY
need to get new blood in the Village.
           Cologne realizes that Phoenix Mountain
will likely fall, and Jusenkyo is probably not
going to be seen again in the near future.
           Cologne vs Raoh? Not! You don't
get to be 300 by being an idiot, and she don't
strike me as senile.
            At the first HINT that the invaders
aren't just sitting and admiring the view, 
Cologne's going to want to do two things:
find out what they're doing, and strengthen
her own hand however she can. 

ja ne,
gregg