Subject: [FFML][Ranma]Nemesis 5.2: The Final Battle
From: Razorclaw X
Date: 7/1/1999, 6:43 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

The Story so far:

* Mousse and Ukyo are dead. Kuno is reborn.

----------------------------
The Final Battle

  A stream of energy ran down the length of Seiryu's arms, running
through the black pole of the trident, and split into three-- one
for each head of the trident. As more chi poured into the trident's
head, glowing balls formed at the ends of each prong, ever so
slightly growing larger.
  "You looked down on weapons once," she told Ranma, seemingly
without care. "You did, because you looked upon them merely as
tools... but wrong, you were! Whereas I... look upon them as an
extension of my body!"
  Ranma started running, just as Seiryu launched her deadly attacks.
Like a gattling cannon, small bursts of chi bolts flew from each prong
of the trident, bursting a trail behind the martial artist.
  "I didn't take the time to fashion this weapon for NOTHING!!!" she
cried.
  A wild expression washed over Seiryu's features, her mouth barring
teeth in maniacal laughter. Not willing to be outdone, instead of
allowing the head of the trident to trail behind Ranma's path, Seiryu
jerked the weapon at the predicted point where the wily martial
artist would run TO.
  Ranma stopped in his tracks, just in time to avoid the new attack.
He spared a glance at his opponent, momentarily shocked at her
sudden change in expression.
  She's not letting me have time to think! he realized. She KNOWS
better than that!
  No sooner had Ranma completed that thought a chi bolt splashed over
his left foot, forcing him to keep moving. Seiryu screamed out in
laughter.
  "I can go on forever!" she cried. "If I HAVE to, I'll wear you down.
After that...."
  Unexpectedly, Ranma leaped straight at Seiryu. Momentarily caught
by surprise at the desperate act, the woman leveled the trident back
at her target, unleashing one large bolt.
  Ranma countered the attack with a chi bolt of his own, effectively
canceling out the attack entirely. Leveling a deep kick, the martial
artist was disappointed to only find air, as Seiryu sidestepped out
of the way. Taking advantage of his brief opening, Seiryu plunged
the trident, but Ranma dodged at the last moment.
  "STAND STILL!!!" demanded Seiryu in anger.
  "What's the matter?" taunted Ranma. "After all this time, I'm
STILL too good for ya?"
  "I'll SHOW YOU how much BETTER I AM!!!" the woman countered.
Releasing her left hand's grip on the trident, throwing her arms out
in the air. "Ryu Sui... SHO-KEN!!"
  Ranma yelped in surprise, a column of water bursting from the
ground around Seiryu. Staring at the column in dumbstruck awe, he
realized there was something moving in the column.
  Two dark, ruby-red eyes peered at him from the center of the column
of water.
  Then two more.
  And two more.
  And two more.
  Then, there were too many for Ranma to count, as he realized that
this was the form of the attack.
  Rushing from the column, a serpent of pure water, eyes burning,
burst forth, screaming and snapping at the martial artist. Ranma
threw himself out of the way, watching as the dragon splashed
harmlessly at the ground behind him. But, there was little time for
respite, as more of the water dragons burst from the column.
  He screamed in pain as one of the water dragons crashed against
his leg... allowing yet another to stab at his arm. Caught in a loop
of pain, Ranma could not avoid any more of the water dragons...
the chi-created creatures, working in teamwork, slammed against the
martial artist with the terrible pounding force of water. All over
his body Ranma felt as if each part were thrown into a swimming
pool out of the top a high-rise tower window.
  Splashed silly by the chi-created water dragons, Ranma barely
noticed that Seiryu's water column had died down. The wielder of the
trident smiled to herself in satisfaction.
  "I have, after all, had over forty years to learn techniques
myself, Ranma," Seiryu said with a sneer.
  "Izzat the best you can do...?" Ranma whispered, forcing himself
back to his feet, despite the immense pain he was in.
  Seiryu shrugged. "If YOU insist...!"
  Ranma tried his best to force the pain out of the fore of his
mind, but to no avail.
  At that moment, a jet of water, forming from beneath Ranma's feet,
shot upward, sending more pain in the martial artist's direction.
Seiryu, standing calmly, held her free hand outward, pale blue chi
dancing about the palm.
  The intense force of the water spout shot Ranma up into the air...
until he came face to face with the high ceiling of the ceremony
chamber. The water spout pressed harder, sandwiching Ranma between
itself and the ceiling.
  Ignore the pain, Ranma demanded of himself. She's not letting you
think!
  What's the use? he wondered. Seiryu knows EXACTLY how to beat me!
  "The 'Heart of Ice' requires that you kill your emotions," echoed
the words of Shampoo's Great-grandmother.
  Yet, at the mere thought of that, the pain seemed to lessen for
the young martial artist.
  Then he realized that the water spout had ceased to exist, and he
was now falling.
  Good! Ranma thought. A few seconds to think this through.... She
knows everything about me, so I've....
  At that moment, Ranma's back impacted against the hard floor,
breaking his train of thought.
  "I COULD kill you THAT way," Seiryu taunted in a bored tone, "but
that would be... less sporting?"
  Ranma groaned in pain, his ears barely telling him that the woman
with the trident was getting closer.
  "You're missing something," said the voice of Pantyhose Taro from
Ranma's dreams.
  Then... what is it?
  Tap, tap.
  "Should I savor the moment?" she asked herself.
  How does she do it? Ranma wondered. Stone-cold... just like the
dark ocean depths....
  Tap, tap.
  "Or, should I end it quickly?"
  Cold... as ice?
  "You must learn to put faith in your friends," echoed the voice of
Chizuru Kagura, "otherwise you will lose your battles in the future."
There IS something... but what is it?!
  Tap, tap.
  "Perhaps, even, punishment as likened to what you did to me?" she
wondered, tracing a finger over her left eye, and down the cheek.
  I can't win if she stays that way... gotta mess her up....
  Tap, tap.
  "Say, I'll take your left eye?"
  Yet, still... kill my emotions? Must I be what she is?
  Tap.
  Seiryu bent over Ranma's battered body. "How about that, hmm?"
  At that moment, the words of Johan, the American street fighter,
popped up in the young Saotome's head: "I can still 'hear' the music
in my head!" Despite numerous distractions, the dance man still
maintained his focus....
  That's IT!!
  "You lost all care," Ranma said. "This ain't about revenge... nor
about keeping promises... it's about blind obligation. You don't care
anymore. Heck, ya probably don't remember WHY you're fighting!"
  "This incarnation thinks the same way she does," echoed the words of
Seiryu in Ranma's thoughts. Which means....
  He added, "You're not even Ukyo, past, present, or future! She
died when I pulled the jewel off her!"
  Seiryu stopped herself. "Of course I AM!" she stammered. "Fine, so
I... I mean... NO!!! What are you talking about!?"
  It was that moment of hesitation that Ranma needed.
  And then, Seiryu's own words entered Ranma's mind: "You can't allow
your preoccupation to consume you... listen to the sound of my
voice...." And that voice, Ranma remembered, was....
  Without hesitating, and with sudden energy, Ranma threw both his
arms around Seiryu's neck, forcing her head downward. Without
thinking, without hesitating... without will, Ranma Saotome forced
Seiryu's lips to his own.
  Seiryu dropped her trident in surprise, her eyes widening in
horrified shock.
  And, for the second time that day, Ranma kissed Ukyo.
  Letting go, Ranma slid away from the confused woman, a sudden burst
of energy allowing him to get to his feet.
  Wiping her lips, Seiryu slowly stood up with the same shocked
expression. She opened her mouth to say something, but the words would
not come out.
  Bits and pieces of the puzzle fell into place as Ranma Saotome,
revitalized with determination and resolve, stood ready. "Tell me...
did YOUR Ranma ever do that to you?"
  Raising a fist in anger, Seiryu's shock turned to hatred. "You...
you would DARE!!!!"
  Her battle aura exploded.
  Now, Ranma thought, let's see what happens when I don't let YOU
think!
  For a moment, he thought about Akane... her gentle smile, her
cute expressions.... Then, he thought about Ryoga, his longtime rival,
his... friend.
  Seiryu projected several chi blasts at Ranma, who easily dodged out
of the way.
  He also thought about the others: Mousse, Kuno, Ukyo, Kodachi...
even Pantyhose Taro... then, there was nothing. Ranma shoved all
thoughts of them out of his mind. They don't exist.
  Fuming with anger and frustration, Seiryu continued her mad attack.
  Banish all of them from your thoughts, Ranma told himself, and
focus!
  "Kiss ME?!" screamed the woman.
  Nothing but the focus! he repeated to himself.

					*  *  *  *  *
Heart Secret (Akane)

(Akane) Stupid. [Stupid]  You're just pretending to be cool.
I hate you. [I hate you]  I can do just as well without you.
That's a lie! [That's a lie!] But I won't show you what's in my hand.
Too bad.  Sorry!
					*  *  *  *  *

  "BASTARD!!!" Seiryu fumed, generating a larger chi bolt in her
palms.
  Ranma easily avoided that attack in turn, continuing his movement
around his enemy, lost of thought, lost of feeling.
  Only the focus mattered.

					*  *  *  *  *
Whenever I treat you coldly, my heart aches but
until you become more serious,
my lips, too, are kept secretly waiting.
					*  *  *  *  *

  "Forty years," seethed the possessor of Ukyo's body. "Forty years
of studying you... will not go to waste!!"
  And yet, Ranma still failed to acknowledge her existence. Only the
focus mattered, and everything was going according to plan. However,
the martial artist had no time to congratulate himself... because,
after all, only the focus mattered.
  Everything else was extraneous matter.

					*  *  *  *  *
Heart [Heart]   secret [secret]
I won't give you the key for just gentleness.
Love [Love]   secret [secret]
Solving the riddle depends on you.
					*  *  *  *  *

  And then, there was nothing.
  No, CONTINUE the focus!! Ranma demanded himself.
  Yet, it was done.
  Raising his fist, having completed tracing the spiral of the most
deadly attack in his arsenal, Ranma shouted, "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!"
  Hot chi swelling about Seiryu mixed with the swirling cold chi of
Ranma, creating the illusion of a dragon spiraling toward Heaven... a
massive whirlwind ripped into existence, slamming against the ceiling
of the ceremony chamber.
  A shower of rocks rained down upon the two occupants of the room,
the technique drilling a hole up to the sky, earth notwithstanding.
  Yet, Seiryu had, at the last moment, managed to escape the spiral,
although Ranma had little time to ponder why.
  "Pha-hah-hah-hah!" she laughed. "Gullible fool, did you believe I
would fall for THAT?!"
  And still, Ranma kept his mind on his focus. The road to the end
had already begun.

					*  *  *  *  *
I'll Always Be There (Ranma)

When you're lonely, when you're hurting,
Don't feel sad by yourself.
I'll always be there
next to you. Just feel it.
					*  *  *  *  *

  Quickly, Ranma completed the trace of a second spiral, all the
while sticking to his focus, never wavering.
  "What ARE you up to?!" demanded Seiryu, avoiding the second spiral,
raising a barrier to protect herself from the rain of stones and
gravel from above. "Your efforts are for NAUGHT!"
  And then, the third spiral had begun.

					*  *  *  *  *
Strength is important,
But tears are necessary, too.
You can't do anything,
With a cold heart
You can't feel anything at all.
					*  *  *  *  *

  "HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!" yelled Ranma, completing the third spiral,
and initiating the fourth.
  Seiryu's eyes followed Ranma, staring as if she looked upon a
madman. Death glowed in her eyes as she raised her palms in the air,
watching for Ranma's next pass.
  "You merely delay the inevitable!" she screamed with rage, firing
off several blasts which cleanly missed the martial artist.

					*  *  *  *  *
Why do people always
hide their true feelings?
The things you can do, the things you want to do,
Are best taken one step at a time.
					*  *  *  *  *

  And then, the fourth spiral was complete.
  Throwing his fist in the air, cold chi and hot chi mixed, for one
final time. Ranma shouted, "HIRYU SHOTEN HA... FINAL ATTACK!!!"
  Just as suddenly as the previous three, the fourth, and final,
whirlwind burst to life.
  It was then Seiryu realized what Ranma had done. And she was
standing right in the middle of it. She stared out at Ranma in
complete rage.
  "DAMN YOU!!!" she screamed, raising both her arms toward Ranma, as
if beckoning him to come toward her. "If I'm going...!"
  It was then Ranma felt as if someone pushed him into the whirlwind
storm.

					*  *  *  *  *
You never followed an ordinary program,
And that's the reason I love you.
I'll follow you anywhere.
I'll never, ever let you go!
					*  *  *  *  *

  It was then Ranma's focus slipped into nothingness.
  It was then Ranma realized he was being thrown up into the air,
along with Seiryu, who struggled to maintain her personal air barrier.
  And, it was clear that she was losing.
  Ranma screamed in pain as the monstrous gale forces of the attack's
whirlwinds ripped at his body. While his cold chi would normally have
helped prevent Ranma from getting hurt, the forces of nature were
now at work-- it was beyond mere aura.
  Old Cologne once said that the Hiryu Shoten Ha, at full strength,
could potentially put the target at near death. If one whirlwind
could do that, then two should be more than enough to kill. And three,
then four... probably be vaporized....
  Ukyo, I'm REALLY sorry I had to desecrate your body like this....
  "At least it would save on cremation," Ranma thought Ukyo would say.
  "Welcome to Hell!!" Seiryu yelled, laughing in triumph. "We'll go
down... or should I say... UP, together!"
  No, Ranma thought, don't try to force your way down!
  At that moment, shattering like glass, Seiryu's barrier collapsed,
exposing the woman to the violent storm of nature.
  She screamed.
  The martial artist stared upward, realizing for the first time that
the four whirlwinds had already burst through to the surface.... The
rays of the sun beat downward against the dark contrast of the earth.
  That's it! he decided. The only way to get out is... UP!!
  Trying his best at straightening himself in mid-air, Ranma threw
his arms at his sides, decreasing his bodily surface area-- and thus,
air resistance. Quickly, the martial artist shot upward, faster than
ever before, allowing the winds to catapult him all the way to the
skies above, leaving Seiryu behind in her pain. Streams of pure
energy ripped from her body, zooming past Ranma much quicker than his
own ascent. He winced in pain as one stream ran through him, but
Ranma ignored the pain.
  "Damn you, Saotome!" Seiryu screamed, howling in pain. "I WILL
HAUNT YOU!!! I'LL HAUNT YOU UNTIL THE DAY YOU DIE!!!!"
  And STAY dead, Ranma thought, leaving the enemy inside Ukyo's body
behind to die. NOW who's the survivor?
  He traveled faster than a bullet, rocketing through the four
whirlwinds, ignoring the pain each ripped into him. He thought about
nothing... focusing on nothing, remembering nothing, becoming nothing.
  There was only the force of violent nature around him.
  And then, Ranma Saotome shot through beyond the heads of the four
whirlwinds, and up into the stratosphere.
  All too soon, he peaked in his ascent. Ranma stared downward at the
land below: a giant's version of a model country, he thought. He
passed next to a swift-moving cloud, barely feeling the moisture of
the floating cream-puff.
  Wow... this beats being in an airplane....
  None of that mattered, because the young Saotome was now heading
straight down.
  Great, he thought, now that I'm out, NOW WHAT?!
  Throwing his arms about wildly, trying his best to increase his air
resistance, Ranma fervently ran through his mind, searching for a
way to survive a fall at who-knows-how-high.
  The land was getting much too large in Ranma's eyes for his tastes
at the moment.
  Why didn't the old bag tell me how to get down?!

  "What's that?!" Akane shouted, pointing at the four columns of
whirlwinds bursting at the top of the cliffs.
  "Probably Ranma's doing," Ryoga said, folding his arms.
  The thing is, what the hell was that idiot doing?! he thought.
  Kodachi stared up in the sky, squinting her eyes. A small shape
caught her attention. Turning to her brother, she asked, "Tell me, is
it me, or is that Ranma?"
  Tatewaki walked to Kodachi's side, staring to where the girl was
pointing to in the sky. "Hmph," he snorted. "It would be so proper if
he were to suffer such a fate."
  "Looks like getting larger," Shampoo noted, catching the falling
martial artist in her eyes.
  "Falling?!" Akane yelled. "From THAT height?!"

  Ranma did not know if it was better to impact with the ground, or
with the ocean. Either way, most of his bones would probably break.
  There's GOT to be something I'm missing! he thought fervently. I
did NOT come all this way to become a... pancake!
  For a moment, he thought he could make out the others, standing
close toward the cliff's edge. They, too, were getting larger.
  And Akane would have the nightmare of watching me fall to my doom.
  Suddenly, several objects caught his eye. Several PINK objects, to
be precise, and they were getting larger.
  Much larger, at a speed much quicker than the people and scenery.
  Then, the sticky tears of Kodachi's ribbon artifact impacted against
Ranma's body, coating him in a chewing gum-like film.
  Losing sensation, for the sticky tears blocked his vision and
ears, Ranma only felt more of the pink projectiles collide against
his body, both wishing he knew what Kodachi was doing, and that no
one was looking at him-- a sorry hope at best.
  And then, something stopped his fall.
  Ranma knew he had not hit the ground, but he knew he was being
suspended in the air. Something was holding him in the air.
  With that thought complete, the martial artist felt his body being
jerked upward.
  THEN the impact with the ground came, although it was not nearly as
bad as Ranma thought it would be.
  "Ranma!" he heard Akane shout. "RANMA!!"
  Struggling to speak, Ranma wanted to say, "I'm all right," but, his
lips bound shut by the sticky tears, compounded with the fact that
he was facing downward, made his voice inaudible.
  Yet, the fact that he could hear was a GOOD thing.
  Slowly, Ranma felt the sticky tears dissolving into nothingness.
  He turned himself over and stared toward the sky. However, multiple
heads blocked his view, shadows casting over him.
  "Is it... over?" Ranma asked rhetorically.
  "I hope you appreciate that I spared you a dunk of death," Kodachi
said, stifling a chuckle. "Still, it was worth your expression...."
  "What happened?" asked Ryoga.
  "What'd you do?" asked Akane, pushing more emphasis into her words.
  Ranma shook his head. "D'you all mind? It's hurtin' ALL over...."
  Kodachi's eyes turned to the others. "You heard the man. The
patient wants room...."
  "Why shan't I end his misery?" Kuno protested. "To what end shall
we allow this murderer to live?"
  "Ranma not kill anyone," Shampoo pointed out. "Try, not do."
  "Either way," Ryoga said, "what'll we do about Nemesis?"
  Ranma wanted to say something, but another voice beat him to it.
"It... is... over."
  All heads turned toward Lady Kuno, laying against the cliffside,
forgotten with Ranma's arrival. She sported several bruises on her
face, each of which were dressed and bandaged with Kodachi's careful
hands. The elder Kuno's eyes struggled to open.
  "Mother," Tatewaki whispered, rushing to her side, "do not speak."
  "Shut up," Shoto Kuno said. "I... beat them."
  All but Ranma and Tatewaki stared at the woman in surprise.
  "Where is... Daichi?" the Lady asked.
  Tatewaki pointed a finger at the still-unconscious Headmaster Kuno.
Lifting the coffee pot filled with cool water, he said, "Drink, and
rest, Mother."
  "About time you got here... Son," she whispered.
  Ryoga watched the two Kunos in puzzlement. Turning back to the
others, he said, "So, now that Nemesis is gone, what'll we do? Is that
it?"
  Shampoo shook her head. "I think we miss something."
  "Yeah," agreed Akane. Staring down at Ranma, she asked, "Where's
Ukyo?"
  Ranma groaned inwardly, suddenly remembering... that. "She's...."
  A startled squawk from Shampoo caught the others' attentions. The
Chinese Amazon stared down at her left leg in surprise, finding it
bound tight by several turns of wire.
  "No-no-no," a voice yelled. "You'vall got it ALLLLL wrong!"
  Eyes following the path of the wire, Ranma realized they lead
straight back into the cavern. One lone figure stepped out into the
light. He dressed in heavy, dark robes, covered in several layers of
dust and dirt. Due to his short stature, the robes appeared twice as
large on the newcomer. He smiled with a toothy grin, bloodshot eyes,
and wild, unkempt hair.
  "Shit," Ranma cursed, "forgot about you."
  Several more wires lashed out at Shampoo, binding her arms together.
"The flesh does as it's told!" sneered Strand, raising the Chinese
Amazon in the air. "I will win, because you can't beat what is already
DEAD!!!"
  Suddenly, Ryoga screamed in pain, clutching the back of his neck.
Blood burst like a geyser, forcing those standing behind him back.
He staggered to his knees, just as something shimmered next to him.
  In a bright flash of light, where there was no one before, there was
another man, dressed in the flowing robes of a Shinto priest, waving
a pair of feather fans in his hands.
  "You!!" Akane cried in shock.
  "Ah, Big Brother!!" Strand cried out with delight.
  "'Big Brother?!'" the others echoed in surprise, staring at Shifter.
  "That one is not for you, Akutare," Shifter said flatly.
  "She is ONLY FOR ME!!!" the Orochi assassin screamed in protest. "I
WILL have my pleasures satisfied!!"
  "Somebody," ordered the wizard, "get him off the ground!!"
  Tatewaki's eyes raced from Shifter to the coffee pot he held in his
hand, then to his sheathed sword. "Hmph," he muttered, "I have a much
BETTER idea...."
  "Are you thinking of splashing him?!" Kodachi wondered. "What do
you expect to do, melt him?"
  "That's IT!!!" Ranma cried, understanding exactly what the ancient
man had in mind.
  Ranma got up to his feet in a flash, just as he noticed the short
man's fingers with electrical power dancing about. "Shampoo!!!" he
yelled.
  "FRY!!!" Strand cried. "FRY, FRY, FRY, FRY!!!!!"
  As Strand laughed maniacally, Shifter quickly snatched the coffee
pot from Tatewaki's hand. Without hesitating, he threw the pot of
cold water into the air.
  At the same moment, electricity shot through the wires in Strand's
fingers.
  It was then that Ranma kicked the Orochi assassin into the air.
  It was then that the coffee pot's contents spilled on Shampoo,
leaving the coiled wires with nothing but clothes to hold as a small
cat fell through.
  It was then that Strand got the nastiest shock of his life.
Electrical power ran through the length of the wire, turning about
at the loops where Shampoo had once been, and came back.
  "VVVVAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!" the assassin screamed.
  "What's happening?!" Akane asked.
  Ranma stared up at the sky at his handiwork. "The little creep is
getting a taste of his own medicine."
  "A wire offers the path of least resistance," explained Tatewaki.
"Normally, there would be a human body there... a repository of great
resistance. The only such resistance now exists within himself."
  "Resistors absorb power," Akane remembered. "So he's absorbing his
own power?"
  "The power may come from within himself," added Kodachi, "but by
having his wires joined together like that, he is forming a complete
circuit by himself. There is no other place for the current to go."
  "Since he's in such shock," Ranma continued, "he can't let go... or
stop it, for that matter."
  "And thus," finished Shifter, "without his feet standing on the
dirt to ground him, he fries himself."
  All gathered shielded their eyes as the electrical display ended in
one final burst. As soon as their eyes recovered from the sudden
burst, all that could be seen was a rain of dust and wires, still
alive with electrical power, as if the circuit were still complete.
  "And so ends the unlife of Akutare Furui, User of Lightning,"
concluded Higure.
  "Why didn't you tell us HE was your brother?!" demanded Ranma,
waving his fist at the Shinto wizard. "You said he was DEAD!!"
  "He WAS," Higure pointed out. "Ashinzo reanimated his corpse and
bound his soul to his body. Undead, if you will. A freak of nature.
Not even alive. I thank you for helping put his soul to rest."
  Ranma shook his head. "Right...."
  The former Orochi assassin turned toward Lady Kuno. "I trust you
are well, My Lady?"
  Despite her weariness, she nodded. "Thank you."
  Higure then faced Ryoga. "Sorry about that."
  Ryoga eyed the wizard suspiciously, staring at the blood on his
hands. "That REALLY hurt...."
  Then, turning to Ranma, Higure asked, "I, as the others, are curious
as to what happened to the other girl, Ukyo."
  "Yes," agreed Kodachi, picking up the cat that was Shampoo. "Tell
us."
  Ranma eyed the cat with worried eyes, taking several steps back.
  "RANMA," Akane said, "what happened to her?"
  Sighing, Ranma allowed himself to remember. "She's dead."

  "The Orochi Assassins have been demolished," a masculine voice said.
  "Ashinzo Kusanagi," spat another man, "was a fool. Higure Furui
was a traitor. We need them not among our ranks."
  "Very true," agreed the first man. "It appears, however, that we
must continue, despite Nemesis' failure. The Orochi has waited for
nearly two-thousand years for this time to come, and we will succeed."
  "To that end," voiced a female, speaking for the first time, "we
are going to place you in charge of the Cult of Orochi from this point
onward."
  The second man was taken aback with surprise. "Me?"
  "You will serve in a better capacity than your predecessor, Monk
Reaver, User of Mud," the first man decreed, "or suffer his fate."
  Reaver, Orochi assassin, smiled with glee. "There will be no petty
revenge, nor strife, among our ranks. We will rebuild the Eight
Assassins, and we will remember our true goal."
  "We shall never be stopped!" the assassin declared.

  "This all that left," Shampoo said, raising the trident up in the
air for all to see. "Nothing else left down there."
  The gang stood gathered around Shampoo, Higure, and Tatewaki, the
ones who volunteered to reenter the smashed underground compound to
look for Ukyo's body. The etched dragon on the central prong sat
there coldly, without the life of its own Ranma used to recognize
before.
  "If it is as you said," Higure said to Ranma, "then there should be
nothing TO find."
  "Yeah, figured that," Ranma replied, lowering his head.
  "A shame, really."
  "We didn't find anything out here, either. If she were still alive
to know what I did to her body, she'd kill me."
  "Don't blame yourself, Ranma," Akane said. "She wanted you to live,
remember? So do we. I don't think she'd mind."
  "Do you?" her husband said suddenly, staring at Akane incredulously.
"What makes you think YOU know what she thinks?! I DIDN'T even know."
  Akane could not think of a reply, but Shampoo shouted, "You NOT
talk stupid, Ranma! Spatula-girl dead, and stay dead!! You so weak you
would mourn all eternity!"
  "Well, THAT was tactful," snorted Kodachi, folding her arms.
  "That's right..." Ranma muttered, "you're the one who does the
KILLING!!" He jabbed a finger into Shampoo's chest. "YOU don't care
that you killed Mousse!!"
  "Killed?" echoed Akane, Kodachi, Ryoga, and Tatewaki, in surprise.
  Higure shook his head. "Perhaps I had best leave."
  Silently, the Shinto wizard walked away, leaving the squabbling
teens behind.


----------------------------------------------------------
If you're [un]lucky, you earn a place in my .sig!

* "[Y]ou're lamer than your signature and screen name indicate."--Chris 
Davies
* "There was a recent case where a fanfic author put together his work with 
only another fanfic serving as his primary resource.  *I* started writing 
fanfiction that way, and consequently I never grew attached to this whole 
idea of remaining true to the original.  I call it "correction."--Reverend 
Prez

--Razorclaw X
Author: "The Wheel of Fire", "The World's Worst Ranma Fanfic!", "The 
Geometry of Shattered Souls", "The Balance of Power".
"I sold my soul to buy a copy of the dubbed 'Ukyo Can Cook'"
"Decepticons Forever!"


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