A Saiyan Tail
Part 15
Piccolo Strikes Back!
Ranma floated down on the ground and Akane rushed up behind him on the
street. They were in front of a large apartment complex in the middle of
Tokyo. "Here it is," said the boy as he pointed at the building.
"Wow, I guess he's doing pretty well if he lives here," commented Akane
as she looked up at the building.
"I guess so," replied the boy with a shrug. He walked up to the door and
pushed on it for a moment.
"Excuse me, can I help you?" said a rather large man as he walked up to
them. He was dressed in a dark colored suit and frowned at the two teens.
"I'm here to see Uncle Yamcha," said the boy as he turned towards the
man.
"Are you on the list?" asked the man as he raised his eyebrow and pulled
out a clipboard.
"List? What list?" said the boy in confusion.
"Ranma, this is one of those expensive apartments. You need permission
to visit people here," explained Akane with a sigh.
"Excuse me young lady...why are you wearing a turtle shell?" said the
man with a completely straight face.
"We don't have time for this," said the boy with a small frown. "I need
to see Uncle Yamcha. It's important."
"Sorry, fans aren't allowed to bother residents here kid. If you want
his autograph you'll have to go to the ballpark." The man stood in front
of the pair with his arms crossed and frowned at them.
"I don't want his autograph!" snapped the boy.
"His father is an old friend of his. We need to see him," said Akane as
she pushed Ranma aside gently.
"I suppose I could page him..." muttered the man. He walked over to a
panel with a long row of buttons and pushed one of them.
"Yes?" asked a feminine voice from a small speaker on the side of the
panel.
"Some kids are here to see Mr. Yamcha," said the man.
"He's not feeling well," said the voice.
The large man shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the pair again.
"Sorry, no visitors."
Puar turned away from the speaker box and sighed.
"Who was it?" asked the man as he limped into the room with a
questioning look on his face.
"Something about some kids to see you," said the cat as she floated
towards the kitchen. "Get back in bed! You're never going to get better
if you keep walking around like this!"
The man snorted and slumped down onto the couch. He picked up a remote
control and turned on the television. "Must be some fans or something."
"I told him you weren't feeling well," said the animal as it sat down
next to him and picked up a magazine. Something was bothering her though.
Yamcha raised his eyebrow and almost jumped from his seat. "Whoa! What's
that?"
"Is something wrong Yamcha?" fretted the animal as she tried to force
him back down.
"I just felt a huge power! It's right out side!"
"Maybe I should go look?" stuttered the cat nervously. She floated
towards the door quickly and the bell rang again. She paused and moved
towards the voice box again. "Yes?"
"Those kids really want to see Mr. Yamcha," said a small frightened
sounding voice.
Puar blinked and looked towards her master again. He was becoming
increasingly edgy and was moving towards the door with a jacket in his
hands. "Just a moment. What did you say their names were?"
Yamcha chuckled as he looked at the two teens. "You could have just
flown up here you know. I don't thing the door man will keep you out
again."
Ranma smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't know which apartment
it was."
"I can see that," snorted the man.
"I hope those burn marks will clean up easily," muttered Puar with an
embarrassed glance towards the window.
"So who's this? Akane was it?" asked Yamcha as he indicated the
relatively silent Akane.
"She's my fiancee," replied the boy cheerfully.
Akane just sank into her seat with a blush on her face and muttered
something. "Our parents..."
"Hey, that's great!" said the man with a huge grin on his face.
"Congratulations," agreed Puar.
"Somehow I doubt you came to tell me the great news though." Yamcha's
smile faded instantly and he stared at the pair seriously.
"Sorry but no. Who was this guy?" asked Ranma.
The man sighed; he didn't need any further elaboration to know who they
were talking about. "I'm not sure. I've never seen him before, he was
real strong though."
"We might know him, what did he look like?" said Akane with an odd look
on her face. Yamcha and Puar were both surprised by the anger in her
voice.
"He was about your age, and had a tail like your father used to."
Puar nodded in silent agreement.
"It's him, there's no doubt about it," growled Akane as she stood up and
clenched her fist.
"Who is this guy?" asked Yamcha with a worried look on his face.
"Ryoga Hibiki," said Ranma simply.
"He murdered my sister," finished Akane.
Everyone looked at her in silence for a long moment. Finally Yamcha
spoke up. "I don't know how much help I'll be like this, but you can
count on me if you need it."
Ranma nodded and stood up. "I'll tell my father when I see him."
After the teens walked out the door Yamcha leaned back in the chair with
a look of frustration on his face. "Looks like I'm gonna miss this one."
Puar nodded and started to clean up the tea she had made for the guests.
Secretly she was relieved, these things were getting worse and worse.
Someday he might not survive one of them.
"So now what?" said Akane as she walked beside her fiancee towards the
dojo.
"I'm not sure. You can be sure we'll see him again real soon though,"
the boy made the trip home in relative silence after that.
Kurillin shot towards the Turtle Hermit's island with a scowl on his
face. "This is getting to hot to handle, I hope I can make it in time to
catch him." He still had a way to go before he reached the island and the
ocean was all he could see around him. He pushed himself a little harder
and managed a bit more speed. Suddenly he slammed to a stop as a blur
appeared in front of him.
Piccolo grinned as he floated just in front of Kurillin with his arms
crossed in front of his chest. "Going somewhere little man?"
"I thought it was you? What are you up to?" said the man with a frown on
his face as he got into a ready position.
The green man snorted in disgust. "Don't make me laugh. I don't have
time to play with you."
The shorter man suddenly felt a wave of doubt wash over him and he
pulled back slowly. Without warning he blasted upwards in the hope of
escaping.
Piccolo merely watched from his place and smiled. "This is your last
test, take care of him and then we'll go get our revenge."
A figure dressed in yellow appeared behind him and snarled angrily. "I
don't care about him! This is between me and Ranma!"
"Fool! I need to make sure you can do your job. I'm not going to take
chances! Besides, if we don't take care of him there might be
interference. If we want to face Goku and his brat alone, we need to
eliminate their allies or they could cause trouble. Now don't question me
and get moving!"
Ryoga gasped as the green man grabbed him by his face and threw him up
into the air. He spun out of control and righted himself before giving an
angry glare down at his teacher. "Damn you!" With a final moment of
hesitation he shot forward in pursuit of his prey.
Kurillin smiled as he looked back over his shoulder. "I can't believe it!
I made it!" He felt his confidence soar as he blasted towards his
destination at top speed. So engrossed in his escape, that he didn't
notice the blur of almost golden yellow materialize in front of him. He
slammed to a stop with a look of shock on his face as he plummeted
towards the water from a heavy blow to his face.
Ryoga crossed his arms in front of his chest and smirked to himself.
"Heh, fool."
Goku scratched the back of his head and looked towards his friend as he
stood on the beach on Roshi's island and stared at the boy in front of
them. "Uh, Tendo? Can you understand this guy?"
"Not really no," replied his friend honestly.
"He's been going on like this since I found him washed up on the beach.
I haven't understood a word out of his mouth yet," muttered Roshi as he
stood next to his students as they simply stared in confusion at the
ranting youth in front of them.
"Can't you speak like a normal human? Who the heck are you brat?"
snapped Happosai as he jumped off of the youth's head.
Kuno stood up from the ground immediately after he landed and calmed
down for a moment.
"Finally," commented Goku. "Now tell us why you're here?"
"I am the rising new star of the high school fencing world! The sound of
my voice sends fear into the hearts of my peers! They call me the Blue
Thunder of Furinkan High! Tatewaki Kuno, age seventeen!" The boy raised
his seaweed-covered bokuten into the air and lightening crashed in the
distance.
The four men simply stared at him.
"I seek to improve my already perfected skills, in truth I shall allow
the training of this personage so that I might finally defeat the
beauteous Akane Tendo and win her hand from the foul sorcerer Ranma
Saotome! Thus I shall prove my prowess and lay claim to the mightiest
champion under heaven. For the vengeance of heaven is slow but sure. Fear
not Akane Tendo, for I shall soon...."
"Does he ever shut up?" muttered Soun.
"Who did he say he was again?" asked Goku as he turned towards Happosai.
"I think he said his name was Gray Thunder," said the old man.
"What an incredibly stupid name," commented Roshi.
"I'll say," agreed Goku.
"How could parents be so cruel?" said Happosai. "I'd have at least given
him a dignified name. Something like Panty Liner...or Garter hose."
Meanwhile...
Kurillin reeled from yet another blow as his mysterious opponent slammed
his knee into his gut sending him flying upwards again. He righted
himself and wobbled in the air for a moment as he glanced around in
search of the boy again. "Where?"
"Can't you do better than that? Don't you know you're fighting for your
life here?" snarled Ryoga as he appeared above him and elbowed him in the
back.
"Damn! He's too fast!" thought the man as he fell again and turned.
"I'll show him a thing or two though!" He cupped his hands at his sides
as he neared the surface of the water. He jerked to a stop just above the
waves and spun around. "Kamehameha!"
The blast shot along the surface of the water and pushed the waves aside
as it blasted towards the boy who appeared a few hundred yards away from
Kurillin. Ryoga snorted and raised his hand as the blast neared him. "Shi
shi houkoudan." He almost whispered the words as a huge ball of Ki
slammed into his opponent's wave stopping it cold in a massive explosion.
"You'll have to do better than that."
"No way!" Kurillin couldn't believe what he was seeing. The kid had
stopped him with almost no effort at all. "I was hoping that it wouldn't
come to this." He steeled himself and raised his palm into the air with a
determined stare.
"What the heck is he doing? Why won't he just run away?" Ryoga growled
as he stared down at the man. He didn't really want to hurt him, but he
just kept coming. He originally wanted to lose him, but ended up directly
in front of him instead thanks to his direction sense. After smacking him
around a bit he was hoping the smaller man would run away, he could then
fake losing him and get back to the original task. Unfortunately he also
knew that he couldn't hold back much, Piccolo was watching the fight from
a fair distance away, so that meant he couldn't just let him go either.
"Almost there, good he's just sitting there!" Kurillin smirked as a
small disk of ki energy formed in his palm. He raised his hand over his
head and his smile faded completely.
"What the hell is that?" growled Ryoga as he saw the disk suddenly grow
to five times its original size. The diminutive man tossed the spinning
wave of energy towards him and it shot forward like a bullet. Ryoga moved
up and twisted his body to avoid the strike. He paused and righted
himself facing off against the man again. Kurillin was much closer now.
He turned his head and saw a piece of his cape flutter down towards the
waves, sliced off easily by the attack moments before. "So that's how you
want to play it is it?"
Kurillin rushed forward screaming as he charged. Ryoga simply shifted in
the air causing the man's strike to miss. He frowned at him and slammed
his knee up into his gut. Kurillin lurched forward with a look of shock
on his face.
The lost boy felt the energy from his opponent drop suddenly as his
consciousness gave out finally. The small bald man fell into the churning
waters below and vanished into the water. Ryoga glared at the spot where
he disappeared and frowned again. He turned away and flew towards
Piccolo.
"You did well, far exceeded my expectations. Let's get moving." the
demon turned and flew off in what seemed like a random direction.
Ryoga growled and looked over his shoulder at the water one last time
before following.
TBC...
Next time: Ranma and Ryoga meet again at last!
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/misatira/