Greetings!

Here's the next installment in the series, I hope you all enjoy it...

C&C is always welcome...Flames will be filed in the round 
folder...

Copyright Notice:
I looked around and noticed that most of the characters don't 
belong to me...Some are borrowed, most are stolen...All are used 
in deference to the original. Salud!

Disturbing Notice:
This fic does contain some disturbing material...All of which are 
necessary for the growth of the characters, even if the reasons are 
harsh or unapparent.

***

The All-Americans
By
Joshua Trujillo

Part 11 - The Coming of Thunder

Friday rolled around. Ranma had gotten through the week without 
another incident, for which he was grateful. It was a home game 
this week, so he just stayed at the school and did a little homework 
while he waited. He normally ate after the game was over anyway. 
Mother never liked it when he did that, but she never stopped him 
either.

Ranma sat in the hallway outside the locker room. He pulled out 
his history text and began to read. So many dates to memorize, so 
little time to actually learn it. He wondered silently if it was worth 
it. He shook his head. If it wasn't worth it, they wouldn't teach it, 
would they?

About half an hour later, Ranma went to the Coke machine in the 
senior lunchroom and got himself a Barqs. Root beer always got 
him in the mood to play sports, he didn't know why. He left the 
lunchroom and made his way back to his backpack. As he sat 
down, a shadow loomed over him lazily, like it was waiting for 
him to jump, startled.

Ranma looked up and then jumped. It was Ryouga. He looked 
horrid, well even more than he did earlier. Ranma got to his feet as 
Ryouga leaned wearily against the wall. Ranma began to say 
something, but stopped when Ryouga waved him off. He made his 
way into the locker room and began to get ready for the game.

Ranma didn't ask questions. He just helped Ryouga get ready 
before the others got there and started asking questions. Ryouga 
sucked back a Coke that Ranma had got him. The caffeine slowly 
brought him back, but he still moved stiffly. Ranma didn't ask 
questions.

***

The game that night went less than smoothly and, in Ranma's 
opinion, it was only because they had such a good offense that they 
won. Ryouga waited in the locker room for everyone to leave, then 
removed his gear and stumbled wearily back out to his motorcycle. 
Ranma watched from the steps as his new friend drove off into the 
cool night. Ranma shook his head. He didn't ask questions...But 
maybe he should.

***

"Ranma."

"Hmm?"

"I'm worried..."

"About Ryouga?"

"Yeah," Akane said, trying to hide in her English text, "He hasn't 
shown up to school yet and the way he looked at the end of last 
week..."

"Like a truck ran him over?" Ranma asked loudly enough to earn a 
stern look from Mr. Hat, "I know, but it's up to him to tell us."

Silence answered him. Ranma looked over to his stepsister. She 
looked like she was reading her book, but Ranma knew that her 
mind was far off, thinking about Ryouga. He couldn't blame her 
for wanting to know. He wanted to know too, but it was his 
life...But Ranma didn't know anymore. What if it affected others? 
Like Akane...Or Ukyou?

Or you?

Shut up, Ranma told the voice, You're about the LAST person to 
call the kettle black.

You know I'm right...But I'll keep quiet. For now.

"Ranma, I KNOW it's his life and all, but still," Akane began, 
"Others are worried too."

Ranma only nodded. He knew.

***

Ranma looked down at the tray he was carrying. He thought about 
not eating, but they were serving chiliburgers. Ranma loved 
chiliburgers, it was just the other stuff on his tray he wasn't too 
fond of. Damn school food.

Ranma put the tray down on the table and noticed that Akane and 
Ukyou stopped talking when he did. He raised an eyebrow, but 
both smiled sweetly back at him and said nothing. Ranma shook 
his head and sat down next to Ukyou. He'd have to ask later, right 
now...Chiliburgers!

Ukyou shook her head and tried to avert her eyes from Ranma's 
eating habits. She had to sigh, those hadn't changed either.

Ukyou asked Akane something, she shook her head and Ukyou 
frowned. Akane asked Ukyou something, Ukyou nodded and 
Akane frowned. Ranma was intrigued more and more by this little 
dance. Ryouga sat wearily down at the table with his lunch.

At least he looks better, Ranma thought.

Ryouga seemed completely oblivious to the chatter across from 
him though as he went on with his lunch. Ranma leaned over to 
Ukyou.

"What're you two chittering about?"

"None of your business," Ukyou replied.

"Is it about Ryouga?" Ranma asked quietly.

"It's NONE of your business, besides," Ukyou said, taking a drink 
from her Coke, "Akane said you wouldn't understand."

"Huh? Oh. Girl stuff, huh?" Ranma said, almost a whisper.

Ukyou shot him a look, which softened at his gremlin expression, 
and smiled slyly.

"Don't say that too loudly, okay?" she asked back.

"Your secret's always been safe with me."

"Yeah," Ukyou said after a moment, "It's girl stuff."

Ranma shrugged and resumed eating. Women were like that 
sometimes.

***

Ukyou looked up from her car and motioned for Akane to follow. 
They watched from her car and jumped in when Ryouga pulled his 
bike out onto the road. He had stayed behind for a few minutes, so 
following him was a little easier. Ukyou frowned though. Driving a 
1997 dark blue Mustang really wouldn't help too much in 
following him. She and Akane pulled out in her car. A short time 
later, he pulled onto the freeway and headed south of Earnest.

"He can't live too far south," Akane said, wondering where they 
would end up, "They wouldn't let him go to High school at 
Earnest, if he did."

Ukyou just shrugged. She was having a hard enough time just 
keeping out of sight. Being on the freeway was one thing, but 
when he pulled off onto a state route, it became almost impossible 
to hide. Especially with no one else on the road. They had been 
driving for almost an hour when they passed a roadhouse. Ryouga 
slowed and turned in to the driveway behind it. Ukyou kept her 
head down and passed on by. About a mile down the road, Ukyou 
turned around and headed back.

"What are you doing?" Akane asked, "We can't go in there. I'm 
wondering how Ryouga got in?"

"We're not going in," Ukyou said as they drove past, "There's a 
side road up here."

Soon after, they turned off onto a road leading back into the fields 
of golden corn. Ukyou turned off and into one of the fields in the 
growing dusk. Akane looked at her watch. Four-thirty already. 
Ukyou plowed the car through until they found a central area down 
the length of the field, in which they parked.

Ukyou stopped and frowned at the tracks that were dug up in the 
corn behind them. Akane just shrugged.

"It couldn't have been helped," she said, heading toward the 
roadhouse.

There was a small, ditch near the road and the embankment that 
the road was built on was enough to hide them. The roadhouse 
itself seemed to be a run down house of some kind. It looked 
almost as if someone blew on it hard enough, it would tilt over. 
There was a slight hum as the gaudy neon sign over the entrance lit 
up. It read 'Jackson's Hole'.

But, we're not in Wyoming? Ukyou thought to herself, she blushed 
as she realized what ELSE it could mean.

Ukyou noticed that the embankment provided excellent cover. 
They could monitor the 'Hole' and even get back to the car without 
being seen. Which was good, since Ryouga opened the front door 
of the roadhouse. Both girls ducked behind the roadway. Ukyou 
looked slowly over the road and saw that he was just standing 
there, leaning up against the front of the door. Ukyou saw that he 
had taken off his vest and rolled up the sleeves on his shirt. 
Ukyou's heart fluttered slightly at the sight. Ryouga was built 
quite...Well. She ducked back down.

"He's just standing there."

"Did he see us?" Akane asked.

"I don't think so."

Akane slowly peered over the road. Ukyou looked with her but had 
to grab her as Ryouga lit up a cigarette and began to smoke.

"He told me he quit!" Akane almost yelled.

"Shut up will ya'?" Ukyou said, holding her down, "Do you want 
him to hear us? Deal with this later!"

Akane calmed into a sulking fit and sat back down.

"Seeing the bruises on him over the past week, I would think that 
smoking is the LEAST of his concerns," Ukyou said, watching 
Ryouga.

"Yeah, well, he'd better not let me catch him doing that or he'll 
have even more bruises."

Love taps maybe, Ukyou thought as she smirked at Akane, who 
ignored her.

Over the course of the next hour, several cars pulled up to the side 
of the roadhouse, to the same place Ryouga had gone. All the 
drivers were women. Akane wondered at this but said nothing. 
Some of them even honked and waved at him as they passed. 
Akane fumed, but he just casually smiled and waved back.

A few bikers rolled up and greeted Ryouga like he was some kind 
of brother. A couple cars came up and their occupants looked 
around like they were expecting someone to see them going in. 
Ryouga only smirked at them and took their money. Someone 
tapped Ryouga on the shoulder and he spoke to them while he let a 
couple more bikers in to the building. Ryouga shrugged at the 
person behind him and went inside. The man who was talking to 
him came outside and waited.

A few minutes later two men came flying out the doors and landed 
in a heap on the far side of the parking lot. Ryouga came out and 
nodded at his friend, who went back inside. The two picked 
themselves up and hobbled off to their cars. Ryouga resumed 
standing there, but less and less people showed as the hours 
passed. Akane looked to her watch again. Seven-thirty. Akane 
cursed to herself.

As if in unspoken response to her command about the time, a low 
rumble was sent up from the south. Ryouga looked up and put out 
his cigarette, like he was preparing himself for something. The 
rumble produced itself as more than a dozen motorcycles pulled 
into few. They motored to a stop to the side of the roadhouse, 
where Ryouga had taken up position and about ten men circled 
Ryouga. A diminutive man in leather chaps and vest got out of a 
sidecar and approached Ryouga. He had ashen brown hair and a 
darker, almost olive complexion. Ukyou thought he looked about 
twelve too. He also stood about a foot shorter than Ryouga, who 
just looked down his nose at this little punk.

Well, the punk didn't take too kindly to the way Ryouga was acting 
and got up in his face about it. Ryouga rolled his eyes once or 
twice and smiled almost sadly, which infuriates the little man even 
further. The punk stomped off directly toward Akane and Ukyou's 
hiding place, but turned at the edge of the parking lot and threw his 
arm into the air.

"Take him!" he shouted.

Ukyou thought he sounded all of about twelve too. Akane jumped 
from her position and was going to help Ryouga, but Ukyou 
grabbed on and pulled her back down into the ditch. Ukyou shook 
her head frantically and both looked back over the road. Ryouga 
seemed to be holding his own. Two or three would attack, and he 
would use the two or three to fight off two or three more. Soon, it 
was apparent that he was wearing down and they finally dogged 
him to the ground. The five men holding him down kept him still 
when the little man approached. He said something and reached 
behind him into his vest. Akane and Ukyou gasped as he drew out 
what could either be called a long knife, or a short sword.

Neither stopped to think as they jumped up from the ditch and 
bulled their way into the crowd. Ukyou was glad in that moment 
that her father insisted on some kind of martial arts lessons. Akane 
smiled as she remembered Nabiki telling her that pro-wrestling 
was all fake...Hah! Tell that to these guys! Akane yelped and went 
down as a thug kicked at her knee. Ukyou pulled closer to her to 
try and protect her more. She swore lightly. Ryouga was out. 
Akane was down to one leg and Ukyou didn't know enough to 
protect more than herself. Ukyou and Akane moved over and stood 
near to Ryouga, who was weakly trying to warn them off. The 
thugs looked to the little man, who smiled wryly and waved them 
back.

The thugs backed away and formed a rough circle around the trio. 
The little man walked to the front and faced them, his long knife 
still in his hand. Ukyou blinked twice as the blade began to pulse 
lightly, like it was a strobe lamp or something.

"My name is Toma. And this..." he said, raising the blade over his 
head, "This is the MindFucker."

The sword pulsed faster and faster, getting brighter with each pulse 
until the pain from the light shone through even though Ukyou had 
closed her eyes. The pain from the light pounded on the inside of 
her skull as she tried to pull herself to Akane. Akane faded fast as 
she swayed almost in time to the pulses and finally, limply dropped 
to the ground. Ukyou could feel consciousness slipping as the 
whiteness closed in around her. She never even felt herself hit the 
ground.

***

"What's this?" Ukyou said, looking at the empty whiteness around 
her.

The silence rang in her ears.

"What's going on?"

Whispers began just on the edges of her hearing. She strained to 
hear them, but the whiteness was somehow blocking them out. She 
stopped straining and looked down. She yelped and reflexively 
covered herself as she saw she was naked.

"You're a woman?!" a voice spoke from nowhere.

"Who said that?" Ukyou demanded, straining for any sign of a 
person.

"How do you...Nevermind," the voice said.

"You're that kid we were fighting, Toma," Ukyou yelled at the 
whiteness, "What the Hell is this?"

"This is my world," Toma said flatly, "You interfered with Mr. 
Hibiki's punishment, so you must be punished. And quite 
rightly...This is Hell."

"You pulled a sword on him!?" Ukyou growled, "What am I 
supposed to-"

"Shut up!"

A wave of pain and nausea flashed through Ukyou, forcing her 
coughing to her hands and knees. A soft, evil chuckle flowed over 
her.

"Ah, much better," Toma purred, "That's the way I like my women. 
On their knees."

The pain subsided slightly and Ukyou looked into the whiteness.

"Face me and I'll make sure to break every bone in your fucking 
body."

"Oh?" a different voice to her left said, "Tough too."

She whipped her head around. It was Ranma...But? Ukyou was 
confused.

"Ranma?" she asked.

The person standing there looked up at her like he'd heard that 
name somewhere before.

"No, you're not Ranma," Ukyou said, trying to draw away from 
him.

"What makes you think I'm not?" he asked softly, going to her.

He stopped as Ukyou curled up further, trying to keep as far from 
this person as possible.

"Because he wouldn't just stand there ogling me."

"Wouldn't I?" he asked, coming a little closer, "I don't think I ever 
knew what a hottie you are. But you're right, I'm not this person. 
Hmph, it HAS been a long time since I've done this. Oh well, I'll 
be more cautious with the other prey."

He looked over his shoulder. Ukyou strained to see past him and 
she could see Akane lying naked on the ground.

"But, first things first," he said, turning back to her.

The look he gave her spoke of only one thing...

***

Akane reached up and felt her head. It was still stinging like she'd 
hit it on something. She looked around. There was a kind of 
stifling quality to the whiteness that surrounded her. Akane yelped 
and reflexively covered herself as she looked down and realized 
she was naked. What the Hell?

Akane felt around on the ground around her. It, whatever it was, 
felt solid enough. A little on the strange side, kind of spongy, but 
firm enough. She stood up and looked around, trying to find 
Ryouga...Or Ukyou. Or anyone for that matter. A cold biting wind 
kicked up around her and she held her arms around her, trying to 
fight off the cold. The wind died down, but the coldness remained.

"You're very trusting," a voice said from the whiteness.

"Hello?" Akane said, startled, "Who are you?"

"Who do you want me to be?"

"Where am I?" Akane asked, not wishing to be as enigmatic as this 
other person.

"Your mind," the voice said, it laughed slightly, "Quite-empty. 
Isn't it?"

The coldness was forgotten as a blush rose from her toes in her 
anger. In order to remind her, the wind chose that moment to kick 
up again. She yelped slightly and huddled around herself again.

"Ugh, why this form?" a voice said quietly from behind her.

She turned. It was Ryouga!

"Ryouga," Akane said, "What's going on here?"

Ryouga looked at his hand as if it were the most disgusting thing in 
the world, but noticing her looking at him, quickly changed his 
expression.

"Akane, I don't know. I-" he stopped as he looked at Akane, "Uh, 
why are you naked?"

Akane blushed and shook her head. When she looked up at 
him...Now that's weird.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," she said.

That's REALLY weird, Akane thought, I thought he just had 
clothes on.

Ryouga looked down and stood there in shock as a blush rose 
quickly from his toes. He covered up and smiled embarrassed at 
Akane. He turned around and tried to hide.

"Ryouga, we need to find a way out," Akane said, moving closer.

"Uh...Like this?" he asked.

"If you see our clothes anywhere, I'll be glad to get dressed too," 
Akane said, shaking her head.

The wind blew again, but this time there was a force to it that bit 
through her skin. Akane stumbled and fell into Ryouga's embrace. 
She held onto him as the wind continued to tear at her body. She 
hid her face in his chest. He was warm. It felt warm here.

The wind died away. Akane stood there and slowly became aware 
of their...position. But it felt so good there. In his arms. Ryouga 
apparently was aware as well, for he stepped back and turned 
away. The cold was again forgotten, but the heat coming off her 
skin was not anger.

She shook her head again. He didn't need that from her right now. 
They needed to stay alive and find some way out. Something 
occurred to her and she touched his shoulder. She walked around 
and stood with her back to him. She took his arms and folded them 
around her as the wind came to life again. It blew harsh and fast 
this time, but his arms kept her warm. He stumbled slightly as the 
wind pushed at him and his arms slipped onto an embarrassing 
place. The wind blew for one more harsh moment, so she 
concentrated on not being cold, not the placement of his hands.

As quickly as it came, the wind ended. Ryouga steadied himself, 
but didn't move his hands off...There. Akane tried to move in his 
grasp, but to no avail.

"Ryouga stop," Akane whispered, "The wind is gone now."

He wouldn't stop. He began to feel around now. Now Akane was 
beginning to get angry. She tried to pry his fingers away, but he 
was just too strong.

"Ryouga. Stop it!" she shouted, "I mean-mph!"

His hands covered her mouth as he pulled her to the ground.

***

Ranma pulled himself back over the roadside, in front of Ukyou's 
car, as the little twit's sword began to pulse. He felt his chi being 
pulled by that damned brat. There was a flash as Ranma covered 
his eyes. Ranma swore slightly and centered himself. He looked 
over the embankment to the parking lot and saw Ukyou trying to 
crawl to Akane, who had just passed out. Ukyou raised her arm 
one more time and collapsed. The brat began to sway slightly as he 
just chuckled.

Ranma pulled his arm back and began to tunnel his chi onto itself.

"Okay asshole, you just keep laughing," he said, getting on the 
hood of Ukyou's car, "Let's see you put THIS in your pipe and 
smoke it."

Ranma aimed and fired.

***

Toma could feel himself wave back and forth, caught in the ecstasy 
of mind raping the two women. He had thought originally about 
torturing the one called Ukyou, but once he found out that HE was 
a SHE, more...pleasant ideas came to mind.

He was dimly aware of the glorious amount of chi coming flowing 
from the one called Akane. What a source she was! He could feed 
and feed and feed. It felt so good. Ukyou only had a little, but what 
she did have had a strange...Well, taste isn't exactly the right word 
for it. Toma could also feel, near his feet on his right side, the 
black, sucking void that was Ryouga.

Toma opened his eyes and was dimly aware of his cohorts standing 
guard around him. Some had pulled out cigarettes and began 
smoking. Toma frowned as much as his ecstasy would allow. 
Filthy habit. He'd have to teach them some better ones. But later. 
Tomorrow.

What was that? There, in the field directly across from his group. 
A brilliant flash of chi!

Toma watched in horror as a wave of air, visible because of how it 
blasted...Straight at him. The wave threw his minions wide and 
slammed into his chest with the force of several sledgehammers. 
The wave ripped the sword from his hand, picked up his small 
body and tossed him into the field beyond the roadhouse.

And THAT hurt.

***

Ranma followed his wave in and stood between his friends and the 
hoods. Ryouga opened his eyes and wondered why his head hurt so 
much.

Oh yeah, he thought to himself, They kicked me in the head.

The adrenaline rushed to his head with a start as a blade buried 
itself in the ground six inches from his nose. It was Toma's blade. 
Ryouga grabbed his head in pain as the adrenaline settled down. 
He pulled himself slowly to his feet with the help of the sword. He 
used it to prop himself up and he surveyed the damage. There were 
bodies everywhere. Ryouga saw that Ukyou and Akane were both 
out. He had been vaguely aware of what happened. Toma. He 
looked down at the sword. Yup, Toma. A pair of thugs were 
dragging Toma out of the far field. Ryouga looked to both the 
women. Woman?!

Ryouga just smiled painfully. Yeah, women. Ranma had saved 
them. But how much damage had been done?

***

"Ryouga, are you okay?" Ranma asked, not taking his eyes from 
the thugs, "What the Hell was that?"

"Toma. Captain of the Arlington football team," Ryouga said, 
propping back to back against Ranma for some support and 
protection, "He's also something of a complete psychopath."

Both watched as Toma gathered his bloodied and battered troops 
and sped off into the distance. Ranma saw that Toma shot him an 
evil glance from the sidecar he was in as they sped away. He'd be 
back.

And Ranma would be waiting. He went to Ukyou while Ryouga 
went to Akane.

***

"Ukyou, are you okay?" Ranma said, leaning over her, "What 
happened?"

Ukyou slowly opened her eyes. Her vision focused on Ranma and 
she went wide-eyed with fear. She tried to back away, but grabbed 
her head in pain. Ranma tried to help her somehow.

"Stay back!" she screamed, she then noticed that they were both 
clothed, "Just give me a minute, okay?"

Ranma nodded mutely and stayed his distance.

"What happened? Ryouga said it had something to do with that 
Toma kid," Ranma said.

The memories flooded back and she grabbed her stomach as the 
tears came. She slowly sat up and cried as she pulled her knees to 
her chest. It looked so female. She didn't care. She didn't care if 
Ryouga or Akane found out. She just wanted...She didn't know 
what she wanted. She just hurt.

Ranma was confused. He'd never faced this kind of thing before 
and didn't know what to do. He could read her chi, what little of it 
three was, and saw that she had been attacked mentally, but no real 
physical damage had been done.

Ukyou reached out with her right hand and took his right hand. She 
didn't say anything, she just sat there with their fingers interlocked. 
Holding his hand and crying.

***

There was a dark haze. Akane could feel that she was propped up 
against someone. That person was calling to her. Akane slowly 
opened her eyes. She had trouble focusing, but finally saw that it 
was Ryouga that was holding her.

Ryouga?!

Akane lashed out, trying to take the monster down. A quick thrust 
up into his face. A rake of the eyes, but he blocked many shots. 
The rage that burned in Akane wouldn't be blocked as she threw 
several kicks into his abdomen and drove him back across the 
parking lot. Her vision blurred as the tears came, but she didn't 
care. She was going to destroy the monster before he got away. 
Before he hurt anyone else.

Her chi flared to life as she dragged a huge mallet out of thin air. 
She didn't think about it, it just appeared and felt right in her hands, 
so she swung it hard.

Ryouga pulled up his arm to block a headshot and almost threw up 
as the mallet slammed into his arm with a sickening crunch. The 
force of the blow picked him up and tossed him over a row of cars. 
Akane was waiting as he pulled himself up. She raised the mallet 
for one final blow, but was tackled away as Ranma grabbed her. 
Ukyou came to Ryouga and began to look after him.

The tears that flowed now were uncontrollable as Akane fought 
Ranma to try and get at the thing over there.

"Ryouga you bastard!" Akane shouted, still crying, "How could 
you DO that to me, you fucking junkie?! I hate you!"

Ranma still held onto Akane, even after she landed a short jab into 
his chest with the mallet.

"Akane, it wasn't Ryouga who did whatever it was," Ranma tried 
to be comforting, "It was the brat you were fighting, Toma."

"It was HIM! It was him, he was here..." Akane said, finally 
collapsing in Ranma's arms, crying.

"Ryouga, I think-"

"He's gone Ranma. Akane-I'll find out exactly what happened," 
Ukyou said, "But you HAVE to trust me, it wasn't Ryouga."

"But-I saw you-" Akane stopped crying for a moment as a 
revelation flooded to her, "You're a girl?!"

Ukyou smiled and helped her to her feet.

"Yeah. It's a long story," Ukyou said, motioning to Ranma, "Can 
you keep a secret?"

Akane nodded.

"I saw you with that kid. He...He..." she found that the memories 
only brought back the tears.

"I know," Ukyou said, holding her to calm her tears, "He projected 
that it was Ranma that was doing that."

"Doing what, Ukyou?" Ranma was real confused now, "What 
happened?"

Ukyou pursed her lips.

"Can we talk about it later?" she said, motioning once again to 
Ranma.

He finally got the message and just shut up. He picked up Akane 
and they headed for the car. Ranma knew what she wanted when 
Ukyou gave her keys to him and got in the passenger side. He 
started the car and drove them back to the house. At least this time, 
he didn't need to ask questions.

***


Joshua "Gargoyle" Trujillo
"Stone Cold Protector of the Righteous"
"Owner of The Anime Bar and Grille - The Best Ribs in the Multiverse"

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