The Fighter.
Part 4
The Finale.
Ryoga Hibiki sat with Ranma on the roof of the Tendo home, he was
slightly bruised and a small mark was visible on the corner of his mouth.
The pigtailed youth noted that he was the least injured of the boy's
challengers. "He's dangerous Ranma, you might not be able to win this
one."
"What are you talking about P-chan? I always win," replied the boy with
a confident smile.
"All joking aside Saotome, he isn't like anyone we've faced before, I
doubt you'll be able to goad him into a mistake. This power he has makes
him even worse, he knows where to hit you Ranma, one hit from this guy
could end the fight. You can't even let him touch you," Ryoga growled as
a strange determination burned in his eyes.
"I don't get it, I mean he can't be worse than Taro or Herb," Ranma
shrugged his shoulders and leaned back against the roof tiles.
"The way he moves in the air is unnatural Ranma, he can out maneuver you
easily," Ryoga shook his head as he tried to clear the memory from his
mind.
"That is because he as complete control of his center, it makes him a
most dangerous adversary," said a new voice from behind them.
"Old ghoul!" cried Ranma in shock.
"Hello Son in law. I understand you wish to challenge this boy?" she had
a strange smile on her face that both boys didn't like.
"Yea, but I can't seem to find him," said the pigtailed boy bitterly.
"Don't worry about that, Son in law. It's the battle itself you must be
cautious of. This boy lives only for the art; he wants nothing but the
feeling of perfect battle. He will not be distracted or tricked, when you
face him it will be wise for you to remember this," she narrowed her eyes
at him and he shrank back slightly.
"I can take him easy, this guy has nothin on Taro or Herb!" he stared
her down indignantly.
"If you think that way you will lose Son in Law, they all wanted
something or had some weakness you could exploit easily. This fight is
not like that, he will not be distracted, and he will not stop until you
are defeated," the old woman hopped on to the very top of the roof. "Good
luck boy, you'll need it."
"I don't need luck," growled Ranma bitterly as he watched her vanish
into Nerima.
Ryoga watched the exchange silently and frowned. "Ranma is really angry.
I hope he doesn't take this too far." A fresh memory of the Mountaintops
on Jusendo flickered in his mind and the lost boy shuddered.
Dan walked through Nerima and frowned slightly, he had been here to
long. "It's time to leave, I don't think I'll find much more here." He
shifted his roll of clothes on his back and started walking towards the
west. The Tendo dojo appeared on his right and he smiled a little at the
memory of the place. "So many people protected you, must be something
really special about her." He turned and started walking again only to
stop as a figure appeared in front of him in the road. It was the girl
again; she stood glaring at him with a hard determination in her eyes.
She lifted her fists up and stood directly in his path.
"No. You're not ready," he replied simply. "You don't really think you
can beat me after only a week of training do you?"
"I'm willing to try," said Akane simply, she stood and a strong gust of
wind blew by her blowing autumn leaves through the air dramatically
around her as her hair and her dogi shifted in the wind.
"You've got a good spirit girl, and many friends; you wouldn't believe
the amount of trouble I went through just for our little match," he
smiled at her and walked up directly in front of her fearlessly.
Akane raised her eyebrow at the statement and relaxed her stance. "Are
you leaving?"
"Yes, I don't think I can learn anything more from this area, I'll come
back through in a year or so and see if you and your friends have
improved any," he smiled and stepped by her quietly moving down the
street lazily.
Akane smiled as she watched him walk slowly away, a small tear formed in
her eye and she laughed despite herself. "Goodbye, and thank you," she
whispered as she walked through the gates of the Tendo dojo. For the
first time in her life someone had treated her as their equal in the art.
Ranma stood above on the dojo wall and watched the exchange with a
confused stare, "What just happened?" he muttered to himself.
"Akane finally got the respect she deserves from somebody," said Soun
Tendo from his place in the yard. He was standing just below Ranma
looking up at him with a strange smile on his face. "It's easy to forget
that Akane is a martial artist as well Ranma, she has her own passion for
the art. Not even you can protect her from that," he turned around and
walked back towards the porch to continue his game of Shogi. The
pigtailed youth jumped down from his place on the wall and started to jog
after Dan with a strangely calm look on his face.
Dan turned and smiled as the boy jumped down behind him in the road. He
tossed his belongings to the side of the street and smiled giving Ranma a
familiar hungry stare. "Hello."
Ranma said nothing and stood returning the gaze at the boy. Finally
after a long moment he spoke. "I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes
School of Martial Arts! I challenge you!"
He could tell that formality was a rare thing with this boy and he
smiled slightly. "I am Dan, of the Kirasama School of Karate. I accept
your challenge." He got into a basic stance and smiled as he prepared
himself for Ranma's attack.
The boy charged in with a battle cry as he rushed forward and punched
out at Dan at an unbelievable speed. The boy was forced back as he
returned a quick punch at his midsection that was blocked easily. Dan
smirked as he spun around and kicked at Ranma's head forcing him to block
yet again. The pair exchanged blows at an amazing rate with Ranma often
tagging the boy with a few punches while blocking strikes at the same
time.
Dan staggered back and frowned as he realized that the boy was to fast
for him to take on the way he was trying. He jumped into the air and flew
over Ranma's head spinning in midair and turning into a flying sidekick
that took the pigtailed youth across the back. Ranma staggered forward
and spun into a back kick that knocked his opponent back but did no real
damage. He rushed forward again realizing that he had the clear advantage
in the battle punching out hundreds of times in the space of a second.
Dan's eyes narrows suddenly and his fist shot out, he smiled at Ranma as
he grabbed his wrist in a locking hold and bent the joint back sending
the boy to his knees in pain. "Your attack is fast Ranma, but it follows
a pattern."
Ranma glared up at him as he felt the bones snap inside of his wrist
sending waves of pain through his body as they boy's crushing grip
severed the joint in two cleanly. Ranma screamed in rage and stood up
again punching out with his free arm. He was shoved back as Dan kicked
him in the chest three times sending him sprawling across the pavement as
the areas exploded in pain. Ranma staggered to his feet and rolled away
as his opponent slammed into the pavement cracking the asphalt.
The pigtailed martial artist was forced on the defensive as the boy
charged him and forced him back. He was able to keep up with Dan's
attacks with only one arm, but barely so. Finally Ranma turned to face
the boy with an evil looking smirk on his face.
"I have you! Hiryu Shouten Ha!" Dan gasped as a blast of cold ki struck
him dead in the chest throwing him into the air violently as the tornado
formed around them in an instant. He growled and shifted his center
suddenly as Ranma smirked triumphantly from his place in the center of
the blast.
The pigtailed boy's smile was short lived as Dan instantly righted
himself no more than ten feet in front of him falling fist first through
the center of the blast and slamming into the ground forcing Ranma to
jump into the winds created by the blast. He was thrown violently into
the air and sailed out of the twister thirty feet over the street landing
on the pavement on his bad wrist. He screamed in pain as Dan emerged from
the blast unscathed. Ranma frowned when he noticed that the boy seemed to
be crouching and was having a little trouble lifting his feet up to walk.
Once out of the attack he righted himself and dusted off his Dogi.
Shampoo and Cologne looked up at one another as the distinctive sound of
the Hiryu Shouten Ha floated towards them from nearby.
Mousse appeared in the room and smiled to himself. "Let's go you two,"
said the old woman calmly.
"Aiya! Ranma just defeat bad Martial artist man! Shampoo know it!"
squealed the girl happily.
Ranma staggered back from another kick aimed at his arm and grunted in
pain as it connected sending new waves of pain down his spine. "Eat
this!" screamed the boy as he punched out again.
Dan frowned, as a blade of air seemed to shred at his clothing as he
dodged the impossibly fast strikes. Suddenly he felt very glad that he
had taken this boy's arm out early.
Ranma was growing tired fast, while he still had quite a bit of energy
left the boy was showing no signs of tiring any time soon. "I've got to
think of something!" his mind screamed. His fist blasted by the boy and
he noticed a strange smile cover his face as he jumped up and didn't come
back down again. Ranma frowned when he noticed the air blade slam into a
fire hydrant. "Damn."
Dan smiled as he stood on the bottom of the lamppost, he watched calmly
as Ranma was blasted in the chest by the pressurized water. The boy was
thrown back into the wall and slumped down for a moment before standing
up again.
"I'm impressed, this is by far the best battle I've ever had," said Dan
calmly. He was bruised and battered, but hardly in as bad a condition as
Ranma was.
He was slammed in the chest by a young red haired girl in the boy's
clothes and sent sprawling across the street. Dan's eyes went wide as she
stood over him kicking him in the chest and sending him back down as he
tried to stand again. She kicked the ground only to find he had somehow
jumped up from the ground without using his arms and legs flipping over
her head and landing in a defensive posture.
"Ranma Saotome I presume?" the girl was holding her wrist against her
side and the battle scars were still present. "That's an interesting
trick." He charged forward and attacked her only to find all of his
strikes were deflected or dodged easily.
Ranma frowned as she realized that she was much faster as a girl and
could keep up with him despite her injuries. She kicked out and caught
the boy in his face, his hand shot out despite the blow and grabbed at
her chest.
"Hey Pervert!" screamed Ranma as the boy was sent flying away only to
land in a wall and slump to the ground. The pigtailed girl frowned when
she realized that he was smiling at her with a strange look in his eyes.
She stepped towards him and lurched as some unseen force forced her into
a crouch. "This is how he beat Ryoga!" screamed her mind as the boy
walked towards her with a smirk on his face. She looked at the ground and
tried desperately to think of a plan. She could stand all right, but
there was no way she could move fast enough to beat him like she was now.
Dan rushed forward and slammed his fist into her gut sending her to the
ground; the girl frowned and closed her eyes as he jumped down towards
her for the final blow.
"Moukou Takabishi!" screamed the fallen Ranma as a ball of yellow energy
blasted upwards slamming into the martial artist chest sending him into
the air with a shocked expression on his face. Her Ki shuddered in the
air for a moment before slamming back down on the ground around her.
Ranma sighed and lay on the ground for a moment as the light faded away
around her. She tried to open her right eye and found it shut completely
closed. Slowly she staggered to her feet and looked around at where she
was, whatever he had done to her had worn off after he was blasted away.
Dan was slumped face down on a pile of garbage bags out cold. "I won,"
she muttered to herself as she fell to her knees in exhaustion.
"Well, it seems Shampoo doesn't have to marry that boy after all. Good
job Son in law," the old woman appeared next to her and she looked over
numbly as the three Chinese martial artist walked towards him.
Dan opened his eyes slowly and groaned as he stood up during the
exchange. He looked over at Ranma and smiled. "Well, it seems I've been
defeated," he extended his hand to her and she accepted it quietly. "I
look forward to a rematch."
"I'll be ready," replied the girl with a small frown.
"Good, when I return I'll be sure to look you up," said Dan as he walked
over and retrieved his belongings.
Cologne smiled at him and glanced him up and down. "Where will you go
now?"
Dan looked at her in surprise; "I was on my way to China for some more
training when I got distracted here in Nerima."
Ranma froze suddenly and smiled. "Good luck, it's a dangerous place."
"I hope so," said Dan cheerfully as he rubbed the side of his face
absently. "Otherwise it won't do me any good to go."
Cologne hopped forward and handed him a small piece of paper. "Here, go
to the village marked on the map and tell them I sent you. Ask for a girl
named Lo shiun. You could learn a lot there."
"Thanks, I'll do that," said Dan with a small smirk appearing on his
face.
Ranma was about to speak, but Cologne poked her in the back silencing
the girl as she passed out on the ground again. Dan looked at the
exchange quizzically and said nothing. "Well, I'm off, I'll remember this
place. Perhaps I'll see you again one day." The boy bowed politely and
turned away from the group of Amazons; all of them had large grins on
their faces. They watched him vanish into the horizon and turned back
towards the restaurant.
"Perhaps sooner than you think," replied Cologne cheerfully as he walked
off with a slight limp in his step.
"Great Grandmother, you think cousin will like?" asked Shampoo calmly.
"I kind of feel sorry for him, Lo shiun has a worse temper than that
Tendo girl," quipped Mousse with a sigh.
"I'm sure they'll get along fine," said the elder with a small chuckle;
the group turned back towards the Cat Caf� and walked into Nerima as the
sun set in the distance.
THE END...
Well, that's the end of that. Sorry if I disappointed anyone with the
ending, but Ranma had to win or Shampoo would have had to chase after
him. I didn't want to really change anything in the Ranmaverse with this.
It was just fun to do, I should also note that some things in this story
point to it being after vol.38 of the Manga.
And yes Ryoga was still IC despite the fact that he's given up on Akane,
that doesn't mean he doesn't still care enough to beat up Ranma for
letting something like that happen in the first place. You'll also notice
them getting along pretty well in the rooftop scene.
This should be on my web page sometime tomorrow, if you want to read the
whole thing you can find it there.
Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203
As always C&C appreciated send to: CarrotGlace@juno.com