Liquid Fighter Gold
Part four
Ranko vs. Sakura.
Ranma Saotome sat in a field waiting patiently for his opponent to
arrive as the sun set. He sighed heavily and turned to face the rather
large crowd that had gathered. Many of them appeared to be students of
Furinkan; many others were older people who held small slips of paper in
their hands. He sighed at the familiarity of the situation and turned
back to await Kuno patiently.
Ranko moved about the crowd freely, she took in her surroundings as best
she could while avoiding the mob that had somehow gathered to observe the
fight. The question of how the people had managed to find out about the
fight had been answered when they first arrived an hour ago and helped
Nabiki set up her table. She had started taking bets immediately for
those who had arrived early.
Her smile fell slightly as Ranma's fianc�e kept giving her odd looks as
she moved among the people and she tried her best to ignore them.
"Hey babe, you here for the fight?" said an unfamiliar boy who walked up
to her casually. He was dressed in a school uniform, but she didn't
recognize him. He was probably from another school, there were quite a
few teens there that she didn't know from her memory files. A small smile
formed on her face as she turned towards him.
"I sure am, come to see the show handsome?" she purred.
"Sure, wanna sit with me and my buddies? We've got ringside seats," said
the boy, as his smile grew three times larger.
"No thanks, I think I'm gonna be a little closer to the action than you
pal," she retorted with a girlish giggle as she started to walk away.
"Come on, please? I want to talk with you a little," pleaded the boy
jokingly.
"Sorry honey, I'm with someone," she replied with an apologetic shrug.
"What's he got that I don't have?" snorted the boy confidently as he
struck a ridiculous pose that was meant to show how cool he was.
She smiled warmly and turned on her heels. "Me." With that said she
dashed off into the crowd again losing him in an instant.
"Hey..." the boy trailed off as he realized that she was a lost cause.
"Lucky guy I guess."
Nabiki frowned at her fianc�e as he leaned against the table watching
the exchange with mild amusement. "You are a sick man you know that?"
Ranma looked at her and blinked. "What are you talking about?"
"I saw what you did to that poor defenseless young man. You are a cad
Ranma Saotome. I kind of like that though." She gave him a playful wink
and turned back to the slowly dwindling line at the table.
"What I did?" muttered Ranma in confusion as he turned away from her and
looked towards the red head as she moved over to the food vendors near
the back of the crowd. He turned his attention back towards the small
field and waited patiently for his opponent to arrive.
A figure slowly walked towards the crowd with the sun at his back slowly
fading into existence as he neared the battleground. He remained silent
with his bokuto resting at his hip, as his Kendo gear slowly became
visible as his features became clear.
"I'll say one thing for him, he knows how to make an entrance,"
commented Nabiki dryly.
Kuno stopped and frowned as he noticed the spectators around him. "What
is this?"
"Nothing Kuno baby, just a few witnesses," said Nabiki as she waved her
hand.
The boy ignored her and turned towards Ranma with a cool glare. "You
have turned our battle of honor into a show for the masses? This is
unforgivable Saotome."
The boy blinked and took up a defensive posture. "Hey! This wasn't my
idea! Blame her!" He pointed at Nabiki who looked at the two of them and
frowned.
"Such cowardess, blaming your own faults on the woman you would call
wife," snorted the boy as he sat on the grass crossing his legs and
leaned against the tree that shades Nabiki's betting table. "For this
offence I shall destroy you quickly."
Ranma snorted and looked back towards the crowd. "Whatever, let's just
get this over with."
Ranko stood with a bag of cotton candy in her hands, she ate cheerfully
while chatting with a good sized group of boys who had surrounded her and
started to bombard her with questions. She stopped suddenly as her
cheerful attitude fell away. "Well, looks like I'm on boys, see you
later." In an instant she vanished from in front of them leaving the air
puffed sugar behind leaving them all staring in shock at the space she
had once occupied.
"What the hell? She was a liquid unit?" cried one of the boys in
disgusted shock. He and his friends turned and glared daggers at Ranma,
as he stood oblivious to them with his attention on Kuno as Ranko
appeared next to him.
"That sick bastard!" snorted another one of the boys angrily.
Sakura appeared in a shower of pink flower petals beside her master as
Ranko materialized beside her's. The two girls stood off for a moment
sizing each other up emotionlessly.
"Shall we begin?" said Kuno calmly as he sat in the lotus position and
closed his eyes. Ranma looked at him and merely nodded his head.
The battle started without formalities, Sakura pulled out her Katana and
sliced at Ranko, who avoided the strike and jumped into the center of the
field. Kuno's unit wasted no time in catching up and rushed the girl.
"You cannot defeat me, I am superior to you."
"We'll see about that!" retorted the red head angrily as she rushed and
punched at the girl catching her in the chest and sending her skidding
back a few feet.
Kuno smiled as a tiny amount of energy vanished from his bar. Ranma
leaned forward and blinked at the strain the boy seemed to be having at
the moment.
"Hey Kuno, you got a headache or somethin?" he asked in genuine concern.
The kendoist opened his eyes and looked up at him for a moment. He
almost fell over in shock, as Ranma did not appear to be paying any
attention to the fight at all. "What trickery is this?" He quickly turned
his attention back as Ranko managed to land another blow knocking off
another tiny bit of his energy.
"Your master has skill, it seems I must fight to win this match," said
the sword wielding unit as she slashed at the air again. Ranko moved
skillfully out of the way and countered the blow with a kick that was
blocked.
The pigtailed girl rolled away from the strike that followed and barely
managed to escape. She jumped back a ways and stood in a ready position.
"That was too close."
"You cannot hope to match me!" screamed her opponent as she charged
forward with her blade becoming a blur. Ranko backed away as the woman
charged and gasped as several nicks and tears appeared in her clothing.
She growled between her teeth and kicked off the ground putting some
distance between herself and her opponent. "Damn!" Her Chinese shirt was
in tatters and she only received a light blow as she escaped from the
barrage of strikes. Still, the amount of energy taken away from her was
about the same as all of the strikes she had managed to land on her
opponent.
Sakura simply stood calmly and lowered her blade into a low stance. "You
cannot hope to win," she said mechanically.
"I can always try," replied the red head simply as she rushed into the
attack again. This time she managed to peg the girl in the face knocking
away even more of her energy. Sakura staggered for a moment as her
retaliation strike missed by a hair's width.
The brown haired unit simply stepped forward and took the offensive
again as she charged forward slashing at an amazing speed with her blade.
This time Ranko was not so fortunate, her shirt split open revealing her
breast as the wind blew across the field. She didn't seem to notice, but
a long red mark appeared in her chest, as even more energy was lost. Once
again Sakura had taken as much as all of her strikes from energy bar
making their readings almost equal again.
Ranma stood watching the fight impassively, occasionally he would utter
a cheer of encouragement towards his unit or jump around excitedly. At
the moment he was dead serious, but still somewhat distracted. Nabiki
glanced over at him in confusion and shook her head before turning her
attention towards the battle again. Either way she would make a killing,
but it would be much more profitable if Ranma won. Everyone hung on the
edge of their seats as the pair continued to trade blows in the field,
neither one hit very often, Ranma gained more blows, but Sakura had the
clear advantage.
All this went unnoticed by a group of high school boys who approached
Ranma from behind with evil looking grins on their faces. They spotted
the pigtail and smirked as they approached him. He shifted about
excitedly as the battle raged and moved away from Nabiki towards the
center of the spectators.
The lead boy smiled as he pulled the lid off of a cup and walked within
two feet of the pigtailed boy. He threw the contents onto his back
sending Ranma into the air. "Hey! That's cold!" she cried as she spun
around to see a familiar group of boys standing behind her. Her eyes
narrowed suddenly as they stepped back in shock.
"Hey, that's the girl we were talking to," said one of the boys
nervously.
"Uh, I'm real sorry Miss Ranko, I thought you were someone else!" gasped
another one of them as he stepped away from her.
Ranma growled as she wiped some of the water off of her back. "I'm
soaked you jerk!"
"Oh, man. I guess this means you don't want to go out huh?" said the boy
with the now empty cup.
Ranma snorted and cracked her knuckles. "You got a strange way of askin
a girl out ya know that?"
"Man, she was a real girl," whined another one of the boys as he backed
away as a rather large group of angry women surrounded them.
"Perverts! They got her blouse wet! What do you think this is? Some kind
of smutty bar?" screamed various girls within the crowd. Ranma smiled a
little evilly at them as a sudden realization and fear crossed all of
their faces. What was about to happen would really hurt.
Nabiki turned away from the fight attracted by the noise as the men were
pounded within an inch of their lives by the angry mob of girls and
women. A familiar looking pigtail caught her attention and caused her to
do a double take. Ranko was in the field fighting, but she was also
helping the feminist club beat the tar out of some unfortunate boys. She
turned and started to speak to Ranma only to find Kuno, still deep in
concentration, sitting alone. "What the? Ranma?" She glanced around and
noticed her fianc� was nowhere to be seen.
Sakura slashed at the girl taking off the last remains of her shirt, the
girl's pants were in tatters as well, but remained mostly intact. Ranko
was still in good shape. She had more than half of her energy left while
managing to whittle Sakura down to about one fourth of her reserves. They
had been fighting for about fifteen minutes so far. Still, only a few
well-placed blows would end the fight for Ranko rather quickly. She spun
into a kick and smirked as the woman staggered back. "I've got you!"
Sakura stood firmly as she regained her balance. "This fight ends now!"
Nabiki stopped her search for Ranma as Kuno suddenly got a huge grin on
his face despite the strain he was putting out. "And so it ends."
"What?" snapped the girl as she turned back towards the battle again.
Sakura's blade flew almost too fast for even Ranko to follow as she
slashed upwards. "Taste the Katana Wave!" A yellow arc of energy flew
from the after image of the strike and slammed into the pigtailed girl's
chest sending her sprawling across the ground with a look of complete
shock on her face. Her energy bar drained in an instant leaving only a
sliver behind. One more strike and the match would be over. She struggled
back to her feet while Sakura waited patiently.
"What the hell? You're no middle class unit!" she screamed with a look
of horror appearing on her features.
"Quite correct, you realize this too late I'm afraid," cried the woman
as she stepped forward slowly. Ranko backed away nervously.
Nabiki stared in shock at the spectacle not ten feet in front of her.
"What the hell is this Kuno! Middle class units can't do that!"
"You are quite correct Nabiki Tendo, Sakura was a middle class unit at
my last match. She has improved since that time, she is now a
medium-heavy class unit," replied the boy without opening his eyes.
"You've just been playing with her!" said Nabiki as she turned back
towards the pair. Ranma was retreating towards the crowd. She growled
under her breath and cursed, her hopes of making a killing on the fight
had ended abruptly, she how had to settle for merely coming out a few
thousand yen richer.
Sakura jumped into the air raising her blade for the final blow causing
Ranko to retreat further into the crowd not realizing how close she was,
after a moment she staggered back falling on her back amongst the crowd
seeming to vanish into the mass of spectators.
Sakura landed and stood watching calmly as her target seemed to
disappear suddenly. She turned to find her a little ways into the
spectators glaring at a group of badly beaten boys with a rather
satisfied look on her face.
"I have you! Die!" screamed a voice from behind Ranma as she slowly
turned around to see Sakura descending on her from above.
"Huh?" she managed as she raised her arms up instinctively. The blade
stopped inches from her head as if held back by some invisible force. She
lowered her arm and glared at the woman. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What is this?" cried Kuno in shock as he strained harder suddenly.
Nabiki smiled at him as she realized what had happened. Sakura had
somehow managed to mistake the strange girl as Ranko. She was continuing
the fight, but her safety programming would not allow her to harm the
girl.
Ranko stood from her spot on the ground and shook her head wondering why
she wasn't beaten yet. She shakily rose to her feet and glared at the
back of Sakura as she struggled to strike Ranma with her sword and finish
off the fight. "Well now, isn't this interesting?" She charged.
Ranma blinked as a battle cry erupted from behind the crazy liquid unit.
Sakura grit her teeth in what appeared to be pure hatred as she struggled
even harder to push the blade down. After a moment a look of surprise and
shock covered her features as she jolted forward sailing over Ranma's
head as Ranko flew right through him in a flying sidekick. Ranma smiled
slightly and looked at his counterpart.
"Hey, good one," she commented.
Ranko stood huffing for a moment before falling to her knees in
exhaustion. "It's over?"
Sakura lie on the ground for a moment longer before she vanished in a
ripple of air. Ranma smiled at Ranko and grabbed her shoulder as her
clothes reverted back to normal. "Hey! We won!"
Kuno stood up with a look of shocked horror on his features as Sakura
faded into existence beside him. "This cannot be! How could I lose? It is
impossible!" He turned and gasped as he saw a short red haired girl that
mirrored Ranko exactly standing with the unit with her arm around her
shoulder. "I see, the fiend Saotome's luck is unimaginable."
Nabiki glanced around at the scene and frowned. "Where is Ranma anyway?"
"No doubt he has run away lest he face my wrath for such a dishonorable
victory!" cried Kuno as he looked around for the boy. "I shall not allow
this to stand!"
"For whatever the reasons Kuno, you lost today," replied Nabiki with a
smirk.
"Never! I shall never concede defeat!" screamed the boy as he rushed off
in a mad rage.
"Whatever," commented Nabiki as she completely forgot about the boy and
her fianc� after realizing all the money she had made. A very small and
very happy line appeared to collect their earnings.
Moments later a slightly damp Ranma Saotome walked back from the vendors
near the back of the fight, once again in male form. He smiled as many
angry people walked by him, occasionally though someone would
congratulate him. He mingled a bit as the crowd dissipated.
Nearby a lone figure pushed a thin pair of sunglasses up his nose
despite the fact the sun had set about a half-hour ago. He was dressed in
a leather jacket and had spiky black hair. He smiled to himself as Ranma
stood with his unit talking animatedly too her. "This is... interesting."
"Wow, that was great!" said Ranma proudly as he pat the red head on her
back as they walked towards the table where Nabiki cheerfully counted her
earnings. Ranko blushed at this and smiled nervously,. "Yea, but that
Kuno guy seemed a little mad though."
When they reached the table Ranma froze in place as his fianc�e gave him
a gaze of pure ice and stopped counting her money. "Ranma, who was that
girl?"
The boy blinked and turned away nervously. "Girl? What girl?"
"The one who looked exactly like our friend here? You know, the one who
showed up just after you vanished?"
The boy coughed into his hand and stepped back from the table nervously.
"Oh she's no one. Just someone from China."
That caught Nabiki's attention definitely. "China? If there's one thing
I don't like, it's competition. She looked at the pile of money in front
of her and shoved it into the large purse she had brought with her. "It
seems I may have to work harder than I thought to make sure we work out
Ranma Saotome." She whispered to herself as she stood and walked away
from him.
"What was that about?" said Ranko.
"Got me," replied the boy obliviously, the thought that Nabiki might see
his female form as a possible rival had never even crossed his mind.
"Come on, we've got school tomorrow. I know everyone's gonna want to hear
about this too. Well, maybe not Akane, but I'm sure Pop and Mr. Tendo
will want to know."
Without another word Ranma started to walk after his fianc�e. "Hey wait
up!" he called. He was only a little surprised when she actually waited
for him and took his arm. He didn't even notice the smile on her face
wasn't one of contentment.
"I won't lose to the likes of her, Ranma Saotome is mine. I'm not going
to lose him no matter what now."
TBC...
Next time: Ranma tells of his victory against Sakura, and the reactions
he gets from his family. Some other crazy stuff happens too, also the
heralding of someone else's arrival.
C&C: Carrotglace@juno.com
URL with previous parts: Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/
Ja ne!