Heart of flame, breath of fire
part 3
The secret.
This fic doesn't really have anything to do with the game series Breath
of fire, it has a few similar elements, Like the first name of the main
character and a few other things. I've only played the first one and I
enjoyed it, but it didn't have anything to do with the creative process
of this fic.
Akane sat in bed and stared at the ceiling and frowned. She had just
ended a long work out and frowned as visions of the battle between Kuno
and Ryu played in her mind over and over. "How could he be so strong?"
she wondered. She started to undress and smiled as P-chan sat in his
corner facing away from her. "Your such a little gentlemen P-chan," said
the girl causing the pig to blush. She was about to remove her bra when a
loud crash shook the entire home. "What the?" she said as caught a
glimps of something moving outside the window; whatever it was it was
big. She rushed over angrily and slammed the window open. "Who-" was as
far as she got. In the middle of a large area of broken tiles was
Happosai, he looked like he had been crushed. The old man struggled to
stand and looked at Akane pitifully.
"G-Gotta see..." he stammered before passing out.
"Who?" she said as she looked around outside. She failed to notice the
shape of the impact crater, like a large claw.
A few blocks away Ryu stood on a rooftop and smiled as he watched the
scene play out. "Well, that was certainly poor luck for the old fool," he
chuckled to himself as he looked up at the sky and whistled a tune as he
turned towards his home. "My luck may be turning, Asian dragons have a
way of doing that I suppose."
Three days later...
Ryu gasped for breath as he ran through the streets of Nerima. He ducked
into a back alley and stopped as a large fence stood between him and the
street. He considered climbing for a moment and realized that he didn't
have time as he heard footsteps behind him. He turned and clenched his
teeth as a very large figure casually walked towards him. He growled and
crouched as the man chasing him pulled a large metal object off his back.
The boy's teeth ground at the sound of it sliding out of its hilt.
The hunter was dressed in a brown leather jacket, blue jeans and army
combat boots; the man brandished a large machete that looked about a foot
wide at the base, it was easily six feet long. He was an American with
sandy blonde hair; he was also about seven feet tall and monstrously
built.
"Well, well, look at what I've found," sneered the man.
"Cartman," growled Ryu with a smirk appearing on his face despite the
situation.
"That's Cartson pissant!" said the man stiffening in anger.
"Whatever, I didn't think you'd follow me here. I wonder how many of the
others are on your ass?" said Ryu as the pair began to circle each other
cautiously.
"Give it up, you can't escape me. I'll hunt you for the rest of my life
if need be," said the man with a smug grin.
"That won't be very long if you keep pushing me," said Ryu as he looked
for some escape route. Then he realized that he had one all along.
"Well it looks like you got no place to run this time my friend,"
snorted Cartson.
"Whatever Cartman, see ya," Ryu jumped twenty feet up and over the
fence. Just when he reached the top however the back of his head exploded
in pain and he fell face first into the ground. "Augh! Shit, what the
hell was that?!" cried the boy as he clutched his head and struggled to
his feet.
Cartson placed a smoking shotgun back into the holster he had at his
waist. He sliced open a large hole in the fence and walked through with a
smile on his face. "Tough little bastard ain't ya? I should'a known that
wouldn't work," he lifted the massive blade over his head. Ryu responded
with a lightening quick jab to his crotch.
He felt something crush under his fist and smiled as Cartson dropped the
sword behind his head and fell to his knees clutching himself. "Well it
seems you have a brain after all. I should have realized that you'd be
wearing a cup after the last time..." said Ryu as he strolled away
shaking his hand in slight irritation.
"Bastard, I'll kill you yet," hacked the man between coughs. He lifted
his hand and a small pistol appeared from his jacket sleeve.
Ryu jumped straight up and the shot missed barely, Cartson rose to his
feet, as the boy landed and slammed the side of the blade into the boys
face as he recovered from the landing. Ryu was thrown into the side of a
dumpster and slumped down as he felt his consciousness slipping. He
looked up to see the man standing over him with a smug grin that wavered
as he coughed. Cartson scowled and jammed his boot into Ryu's crotch, he
grit his teeth and cried out in pain as the man twisted his foot slightly
from side to side. The man leaned in on him and lifted his head with his
blade. "Heh, not so tough in the city are ya? All these people keep you
from usin' any o' them nasty powers. I can't see how someone as weak as
you got your hands on my dragon heart," he said with a small laugh and
got himself a nasty snarl from his prey.
"What the?" the man screamed in shock as someone landed on his head
sending him into the wall. Ranma stood over Ryu with an angry stare and
reached down to help him up.
"Thanks," said Ryu weakly.
"I just don't want Akane gettin' all upset with me cause I let you get
killed all right?" snorted the boy as he looked at the man slumped
against the wall. "Who is he?"
"An old acquaintance. He's a hunter after my heart," said Ryu with a
scowl.
"Why would he want your heart?" asked Ranma with a strange stare.
"Because if he gets it he also gets my powers," said the boy as he
looked at his hands and flexed them.
"So why didn't you just do like you did to Kuno?" said Ranma with an
obviously jealous stare.
"Because there are people around here. I could easily kill allot of
people if I'm not careful Ranma. Even the weakest of my powers could kill
a family in one of these buildings, even if I hit him directly," said Ryu
with a sad gaze.
"Your really that strong?" said Ranma looking at him with a strange mix
of shock and pity.
"Yea, and I can't always control how strong my powers are, that's why I
need you. I need your help to learn to control my chi," said the boy
quietly.
"Me? I can't help you, maybe the ghoul or the old leach..." said Ranma
as he looked like he was thinking.
"The ghoul is trying to kill me too, and I don't trust Happosai with
this kind of power," said Ryu with a hard gaze. "It's either you or
Ryoga, and He's to hard to keep track of to do me any good. This damn
thing really is a curse." The boy pat his chest and frowned as the hunter
started to recover slightly.
"All right, I'll help you out for now. That doesn't mean I trust you
though. You almost killed Kuno the other day," said Ranma as he looked
him up and down.
"I was hoping that if I could get good enough in martial arts I could
maybe never have to use my powers at all. Unfortunately I know that will
take years," Ryu gave him a sullen look.
"Yea, well maybe we can get you to control them a little better or
somethin'," snorted Ranma as he looked towards the American with a
distasteful frown.
"Thanks," muttered the boy.
"Yea, whatever the sooner we get rid of you the better. If I'm gonna
help, you need to tell me why Taro was so scared of you," said Ranma as
he looked at Ryu evenly.
"Fair enough," said the boy with a small grin.
"Well?" said Ranma impatiently.
"I tried to eat him. Well I made him think I did anyway," said Ryu with
a small grin.
"You tried to what?" said Ranma.
"I surprised him and managed to catch him after he first attacked me. I
tied him up and set up a fire and started cooking. When he came to I
started asking questions, you know, stuff like 'Who are you and why did
you attack me?' Basic stuff really, he sat there and ignored me so I
decided to try to scare it out of him. I told him that Minator was a
delicacy in my ancient families past and that I'd always wanted to try it
so I pulled him over to the fire and started to cook him," said the boy
with an amused look.
"You what?" said Ranma in shock.
"I said I started to cook him. You know, I put on some vegetables and
basted him with some marinade while I held him over the fire," said Ryu
looking annoyed that he had to explain this.
"How did you hold him over the fire?" said Ranma looking skeptical.
Ryu looked at Ranma with a strange smile. "I am pretty strong ya know. I
may not be a martial artist but I am several times stronger than a normal
man."
That was when the attack came. Shampoo fell from a rooftop and threw
several darts at Ryu. Ranma shoved him aside just as they landed where he
had been. Cologne hopped down beside her with a small grin. "We have
you," she said poking Ryu with her staff. He was thrown back against a
fence roughly.
Ranma turned to face them. "What the hell are you doin'?" he cried
angrily.
"Stay out of this son in law, it is none of your concern," said the old
woman with her gaze never moving off Ryu. He stood and broke into a run
away from them, but Cologne was too fast. She poked him in the back and
sent him into the air.
"Shit!" cried Ryu angrily as he felt his body being thrown painfully
into the air. He looked and saw that he would come down in a nearby
drainage ditch, he braced himself and felt the chill of the water as he
landed with a loud splash. Unfortunately the ground was only about a
half-foot under so the water did not do much for the blow.
Cologne leapt up onto the fence and into the ditch. She looked around
and saw Ryu was not anywhere to be seen. Shampoo landed on a stump nearby
and glanced around nervously. Then she saw something disappear into a
large drainpipe nearby that led to the tunnels of the underground
drainage system. "Look," she said to her Grandmother.
"He thinks he has escaped us?" said Cologne with a withered grin. She
pogoed over to the hole and peered in. Shampoo landed nearby and stood in
front of the pipe. She smiled darkly and climbed in. She walked forward
into the tunnel system and frowned as she reached a large square room
that lead to many other pipes. She was about to turn back when she saw a
pair of yellow eyes in the darkness that seemed to glow. "You no get away
Shampoo!" she said to herself as she stalked towards them.
"My thoughts exactly. Die," said a voice that seemed to come from all
around her. She looked down one of the tunnels as a low rumbling slowly
grew into a roar. She moved closer to one of the larger pipes to see
flames rushing towards her.
She looked around with dead calm for an escape; to panic now would mean
certain death. A man hole cover was the first thing she saw and she
jumped up onto the ladder that led to it and climbed. She reached the
top, just as the floor below her seemed to become covered in flames. They
moved like water along the ground and spread to the other tubes;
unfortunately, they also rose upwards towards her. She shoved the cover
up and scrambled up through the hole as she felt the flames lick at her
feet. She quickly rolled away and a small burst of flame erupted from the
now cover-less hole. She stood and dusted her self off. She could see the
covers up and down the street had begun to glow bright red. She frowned
and peered carefully into the darkness below the street to see the flames
had vanished as quickly as they had appeared. No evidence could be seen
that they had ever been there save for the hissing of the cooling
concrete and a small rat skeleton.
She walked back to the sidewalk and looked at her leg passively. She had
been badly burned on her right calf and would need to have it looked at.
About that time the adrenaline in her system began to die down and the
shock of what had happened to her hit her hard. She turned and emptied
her stomach onto the sidewalk and gasped for breath as she grabbed her
body and started to shiver with a frightened look in her eyes. Regaining
herself somewhat, she looked at her reflection in a nearby store window
and glared at it for a moment. She stood tall and made her way back to
her home. She would just have to be patient now, Her Great Grandmother
would not fail and she would have the last laugh in the end. That was the
way of things, the Amazon tribe remained the strongest and it always
worked out. Still, this Ryu would pay. He would pay for threatening her
and humiliating her like this. Strangely the voice in the tunnels did not
sound like him at all...
Ranma stood next to Cologne and glared at her. "What the hell do you
think your doing?" he cried angrily as he stood in his girl form in the
water.
"Why hunting, son in law," said Cologne cheerfully.
Ranma was about to retort when Cologne's eyes went wide. "Son in law
jump now!" she cried as she leapt into the air.
Ranma followed her up and onto the fence. Then a huge blast of steam hit
him and he screamed as his entire body was scalded. He managed to keep
his balance somehow and jumped down onto the street. Cologne watched in
horror as Ranma stood and joined her. They watched with shocked
expressions on their faces as almost liquid looking flames shot out of
the pipe like a geyser. The flames flowed onto the water and almost
immediately evaporated it. "Shampoo!" cried Ranma as he prepared to jump
down after her.
Cologne stopped him. "Son in law, if Shampoo was in there then she did
not survive," she said with a ghostly look on her face. It was clear that
she had not quite understood what she had just told him yet.
A few moments later a manhole cover moved to the side and Ryu climbed
out looking angrily at Cologne, he seemed close to tears. "I warned you,"
he said simply before diving back below into the darkness.
"Hateful being! I will hunt you to the ends of the earth for this! I
swear it!" screamed the old woman as she fell to her knees and glared
into the darkness below the street. All either of them could see was the
concrete bottom twenty feet below.
Akane sat and stared at the television and grew more agitated by the
minute. Ranma had not come home from school yet and Ryu was late for his
lesson. "If he's done anything to him," she muttered angrily.
The phone rang and Soun stood from reading his paper. "Hello? Yes. Well
thank you for calling. I understand. Goodbye."
Akane looked at him questioningly and he sat at the table. "It seems Ryu
ran into an old friend from out of town and had to miss today's lesson."
"Then where is Ranma?" said Akane quietly. "I bet he's at Ukyo's or with
that Shampoo!" she growled to herself.
She stormed up to her room, before she reached it however she heard a
noise. She gasped and looked into the room that Happosai had commandeered
when he arrived. Inside a familiar figure rummaged around. She looked
around and tensed herself before walking in.
Taro glared at the empty room and frowned. He had risked allot coming
back here and came up empty again. He kicked over a pile of carefully
folded panties and cursed to himself. Then he heard a noise from the
hallway. The Tendo girl had seen him; he frowned and glared at her as she
entered the room nervously. "What do you want?"
"Just to talk to you, about Ryu," said Akane quietly.
"What about him?" said Taro as he glared at her in anger.
"Why are you afraid of him?" said Akane as nicely as she could.
"Me? Afraid of him? I've been looking for him for a long time now, I
found him and he won't get away this time. That was just a clever
ploy..." Taro began to explain unconvincingly but Akane interrupted.
"I may not know you well at all but I know you'd never 'pretend' to be
afraid of someone in front of me and Ranma. You know something about him.
Maybe even what Ranma seems to feel," she said looking at him coolly.
"Why the hell should I tell you anything?" snorted Taro indignantly.
"You don't have to," said Akane looking defeated and turning towards the
door.
"You'll turn him away if you know what's good for you. He is very
dangerous," said Taro giving her a hard gaze.
"Why? Why should I? He's never been anything but polite. He sort of
reminds me of Ryoga in a way. I'm sure I could be friends with him if..."
started Akane defensively.
"Curse me for being so damn nice," snorted Taro as he glared at her and
crossed his arms in disgust.
"Look you don't know anything about him. I met him in China, back when I
was looking for Happosai. You don't want to get mixed up with him."
Ryoga sat in the Cat cafe' and frowned. It wasn't like them to offer him
a free meal, much less one with some information on the side.
"What's this all about?" he asked as he dug into his ramen.
"I have some information for you, a way to defeat the son in law. Be
warned the price you must pay is great," said Cologne.
"I don't have much money." said Ryoga eyeing her carefully.
"That is not what I meant, you of all people should understand that. You
must be willing to do anything to defeat my son in law," said Cologne
carefully.
"You know I will," said Ryoga bitterly.
Cologne pulled out a photograph of a man practicing in a dogi. "Good,
this man has a great and powerful secret. If you can take it from him
then you will easily be able to defeat my Shampoo's groom," Cologne's
voice seemed to tense as she mentioned Shampoo's name.
"Why are you telling me this?" asked Ryoga. "What's this secret?"
"Because this man has become a threat to our tribe. He must be dealt
with; I may not be able to catch him because he will be wary of me. You
how ever..." said Cologne cautiously.
"How does this help me defeat Ranma?" said Ryoga as he looked at the
photo of Ryu.
"He holds a magic item, a dragon heart. If you can get it away from him
you will become strong enough to defeat Ranma. However this is no easy
task, he is a ruthless and cunning soul completely evil. The most
powerful of chi attacks are at his disposal. He is not, however, a
martial artist, he will try to defeat you using his hands at first most
likely and if you can defeat him quickly..." explained Cologne.
"Then I might be able to get this thing away from him," said Ryoga with
a slow comprehension crossing his face.
"You must defeat him," said Cologne.
"Why should I help you? How do I know this isn't just some trick to get
something you want?" said Ryoga calmly.
"If you do not do as I say Akane Tendo may be in danger," said Cologne
with a carefully planned amount of worry in her voice.
"What?" said Ryoga as his full attention was placed on her immediately.
"He is training at the Tendo training hall. He has already almost killed
my Shampoo; he may turn on Akane Tendo as well if pressured. He is very
dangerous," said Cologne with a hard stare.
"Akane?!" gasped Ryoga as he stood. "If you're lying about this..." he
said as he stormed out into the night.
"Why we use stupid pig boy?" said Shampoo as she limped out of the
kitchen.
Mousse followed close behind her. "You shouldn't be walking on that leg
Shampoo! Let me carry you," he said only to be punched in the face by his
beloved.
"He may draw the boy out. I doubt he will take the dragon heart himself
but he may make the young Ryu careless enough to be caught. As it is he
will probably stay out of sight for a while."
"When I get my hands on him," growled Mousse from the floor. He looked
at Shampoo and clenched his fist. "Fear not Shampoo I will avenge your
injury!" he cried falling to his knees before a stool.
"Idiot," muttered Shampoo.
"At any rate we must smoke the prey out into the open, it is far too
dangerous when cornered," said Cologne as she sipped at her tea.
TBC...
You're probably wondering what the hell is going on right now if you
haven't figured a few things out yet. Don't worry it'll all get cleared
up in a week or two. We'll find out how much success Akane has with her
conversation with Taro and vice versa.
More about Ryu's motives and his problems, including Cartson. How will
Ranma handle the near death of Shampoo and does he even know she is still
alive? What the hell happened at the beginning of this Chapter? [The
opening scene with Happosai.] and how does the print involve Ryu?
And then there's Ryoga...
Lots o' questions this time I'd say.
Ja
Carrotglace
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com