[Ranma][Fanfic] Destiny's Wish, Part Eleven

[Mike Koos]

Destiny's Wish
Part Eleven: How Much Does Victory Cost, and Where Can I Buy It?
written by Mike Koos
----------------------------------------------

Ranma barely heard the bell signaling the beginning of the
match when it sounded. Her thoughts were focused elsewhere. Why,
the nerve of that girl who called herself the 'Black Rose,' Kunou
Kodachi! Somehow, Kodachi had... *kidnapped* P-chan and brought her
here to chain to Ranma's arm, in the hope that being chained to a
little pig would seriously hinder anything Ranma did in the ring.
This was true; Ranma certainly didn't want P-chan to get hurt.
She considered calling a foul or dropping out for P-chan's sake
- but that was probably what Kodachi wanted. Sheesh, even after the
start of a match the Black Rose wanted a win by default. Had Kodachi
*ever* won a match using skill and not treachery?
"I'm sorry, P-chan," she apologized in a low voice. "Did she
hurt you? I didn't mean for you to get involved in this..."
P-chan shook her head no. It was a good thing she couldn't
talk, otherwise Ranma might discover she had another reason for being
here... though not *this* close to the action, she had to admit.
One match, no limits except the rule that no fighter could
attack without using a tool. One fighter must force the other out of
the ring using nothing but those same tools.
Everyone close to the ring knew these rules; the ringside
announcer had just finished explaining them for the benefit of the
gathered crowd.
"Are you such a coward," Ranma asked Kodachi, "that you have to
kidnap my own pet and try to use her against me?"
Kodachi laughed. "I don't know what you are talking about.
This is a fair fight."
"Oh, *please*!"
Ayumi caught the anger in Ranma's eyes, wondering if it was a
good thing. After all, if she was determined *and* not concerning
herself with how she carried herself, Ranma was a force to be
reckoned with. She had already proven that during her shintaisou
practice, at least to Ayumi. But if all Ranma had was anger...
Ayumi recalled the times he'd provoked her into a fight on their
way to or from school. It was a lot easier to dodge her punches if
she let anger control her moves.
At the far end of the line? Ryomi, whose wide-range brute-force
attacks combined with her short-fuse temper to form a dangerous
fighter, indeed.
Not that the pig-girl could do too much in her current state...
Placing P-chan on the mat behind her to keep the pig out of
harm's way for the moment, Ranma readied her ribbon, forcefully
twirling it. She knew she was starting off on the wrong foot - so to
speak - by not keeping grace in her attacks. Grace wouldn't count
for much in the long run, though.
Kodachi blocked the attack with two precise flicks of the wrist,
snapping the ribbon she held up, then down. All too easy.
A fragment of the announcer's play-by-play made it to Ayumi's
ears. "...skill! Another fine performance from the Academy's star
gymnast, Kunou Kodachi!" Ayumi promptly tuned it out again. Hmph,
both the ringside announcer and the referee were Academy students.
Who was to say they weren't on Kodachi's side?
He'd just have to keep his eyes open for any sign of treachery.
A second later, he saw a good sign of treachery... but from *Ryomi*,
not Kodachi. So Ryomi *did* have an ulterior motive. Convince Ranma
she was there to help, then turn around and stab her in the back, all
without Ranma knowing it, of course. Had Ayumi but known Ryomi had
revealed her plans to sabotage Ranma just last night...
Ranma was surprised to find P-chan darting in circles around
her, tangling her in the chain. "P-chan, no! Please, calm down..."
Too late. The chain connecting her to P-chan was long enough to
bind her the way the ribbon and rope had so well during practice.
She told herself not to move once the chain bound her legs together.
The last thing she needed was to fall on her face during a gymnastics
competition.
For one who adamantly claimed to play by the rules, Kodachi
wasn't about to do so now. She drew out an unusually solid-looking
rope, doubled in half... and proceeded to hit Ranma about the head
with it. Those closest to the ring heard the unmistakable sound of
something harder than a mere rope coming into contact with Ranma's
head...
The announcer and Ayumi came to the same conclusion at the same
time. Kodachi was using a rope with some sort of rod hidden inside,
or something made up to look like a rope. "Referee!" Ayumi yelled.
"She's cheating! That can't be legal!"
"Uh..." the referee paused. "It's a tool, so we have to allow
it."
<What a crock!> Ayumi swore inwardly. He considered saying it
out loud, but he didn't want to give the officials an excuse to kick
him out of the arena. Ranma had to have *someone* in her corner...
Certainly not P-chan, who was keeping Ranma tightly bound in the
chain. What was Ayumi going to do? Call foul on a pig who wasn't
officially a part of the fight? No. He could only hope Ranma was
skilled and strong enough to fight with her hands tied. Or break the
chain.
Ranma nervously tried to gauge Kodachi's next move. She
couldn't move; not until P-chan released the tension on the chain.
All her efforts to try to nudge the little pig back around had failed.
She was wrapped up tighter than anything, and could only run
from Kodachi's attacks, consciously aware of the overhead tracklights
- the only lights left on in the arena - making her problems
painfully obvious to all.
Kodachi attempted to shove a baton through her opponent's face.
<Child's play,> thought Ranma, tilting her head to the right, then
the left, and the right again... until the baton suddenly grew
dangerously sharp spikes about a millimeter from her cheek. Ranma
recoiled in shock further than she had meant to.
Ayumi cried foul. "She's using a baton that's got hidden
spikes!"
The referee squinted to get a good look at the batons in
Kodachi's hands. Somehow, the spikes had vanished, leaving behind
normal batons for the referee to see. "I don't see any spikes."
"Mmmm... she's had special batons made that turn into spiked
maces and back at her command," Kunou murmured, while the crowd
around him expressed their outrage that the referee hadn't seen the
illegal weapon. "My young sister must be commended for her
wickedness."
Meanwhile, Kodachi was making sure Ranma hadn't forgotten the
other important reason for this fight. "Do not forget that this
fight is also for the love of Tendo Ayumi and the male Saotome Ranma!
Naturally, I deserve to win!"
"You're *nuts* if you think I'm gonna go out with you...!"
growled Ranma, locking a ball between her feet and leaping high into
the air, to imbed it in Kodachi's face an instant later. The chain
binding her loosened; P-chan flailed, losing control.
Kodachi lost her grip on her batons and fell backward to the mat.
"Saotome Ranma succeeds with a special ball attack!" the
announcer's voice reverberated throughout the arena. "Again, please
remember that an attack is only permitted if done with a tool." Next
to the announcer's table, Kodachi's pit crew cheered for her.
Ranma's supporters, except for Ayumi, were all in the stands.
Ranma landed gracefully on the tips of her toes some feet away,
arms outstretched, the chain and P-chan dropping to the mat. She
turned and held the chain before her as if to shield herself.
Kodachi's face reddened in anger and confusion. "Why in the
world would I want to have a relationship with *you*, you misguided
fool?"
But Ranma had more on her mind than her slip of the tongue. "If
you lose this match, will you *promise* to forget all about Ayumi and
Ranma and leave them alone? Well!?"
"I know you believe you are engaged to Tendo Ayumi... but what
is your relationship to the male Ranma-sama?" Kodachi leaned in
close to try to read Ranma's expression. "Hmmmmmm?"
Uncomfortable, Ranma edged away. "Na, nani yo?"
"So... you are two-timing Tendo Ayumi with Ranma-sama! It is
all very clear to me now!"
Both Tatewaki and his younger sister did have a tendency to miss
the insanely obvious, didn't they? "Answer my question!"
"That's why you interfere. You wish to keep them both to
yourself! What kind of girl are you, you...!?"
Ranma safely deflected Kodachi's renewed baton attack with the
help of her chain. "Idiot! You just don't get it, do you?"
"I understand perfectly!" snarled Kodachi, calling for a hoop
from her ringside crew. "Obviously, there is more to the reason you
take the name Saotome Ranma than you would have me believe!" She
twirled the hoop above her head on one wrist. "In the name of the
Black Rose... you shall learn not to trifle with the feelings of
others!"
Kodachi sent the hoop flying toward Ranma. Ranma leapt over the
weapon; only when the hoop sheared the top cleanly off the cornerpost
directly behind her did she and Ayumi realize how dangerous the hoop
truly was.
<Some kind of... razor?>
P-chan watched anxiously as Kodachi used her ribbon to catch the
hoop before it went too far and bring it back to Ranma. The Black
Rose's arsenal was making *hers* pale in comparison. As long as she
was chained to Ranma, any attack that could hurt Ranma stood a chance
of hurting her. Thankfully, Ranma would make it a point to keep
little P-chan out of danger...
Ranma held P-chan in hand now, dodging the razor-hoop while
Kodachi continually tried to dice her with it. She ducked, losing
half an inch of a lock of hair in the process, leaned as far back as
possible and for the final touch vaulted, ballet-style, over the
guided-missile hoop.
She came to a halt, her toes finding a place to rest upon the
top rope of the ring.
"Ranma!!" Ayumi darted two batons to the girl. Ranma caught
one in hand, the other between her free toes.
"If you don't wanna listen to reason, then I guess it'll have to
be force!" The cursed girl whirled the batons about in her hands...
"I don't believe it!" one of the Fuurinkan students exclaimed.
"She's moving those things like a pair of nunchaku!"
Indeed Ranma was, but the move failed to impress Kodachi.
"*Hmph*. You do love to put on a show, don't you?" A baton in each
hand, Kodachi's arms began to blur. "Prepare to face a Black Rose
special technique, the One-Thousand Baton Strike!"
True to her word Kodachi lunged at her opponent with a barrage
of baton jabs so fast it seemed to the crowd that there was more than
the pair of batons Kodachi had been holding. Ten, twenty...
Ayumi threw Ranma another ball. "*Ranma*! Catch!!"
Ranma rose to intercept the ball, then batted it into Kodachi's
Baton Strike, hitting the other girl's hands.
Twenty batons clattered to the floor around Kodachi.
"She really did have that many batons!" Ayumi heard the
Fuurinkan crowd say behind him. "Why doesn't the ref say anything?"
<Because they're tools, that's why,> answered Ayumi in his
thoughts.
"Do not think you have won, yet!" The Black Rose drew her
ribbon once more. "The strength of a Combat Gymnast depends upon not
limiting yourself to the same attacks again and again!"
With those words Kodachi flipped onto the cornerpost nearest the
announcer's ringside table. She snatched the bell that signaled the
beginning and end of the match up and away with the aid of her
ribbon, flinging it at Ranma.
Ranma and P-chan barely avoided being beaned by the bell. "Are
you okay?" Ranma whispered to P-chan.
She didn't have time to wait for an answer, as Kodachi wasted no
time in finding other, larger objects outside the ring to heave
Ranma's way. After dodging two metal fold-up chairs Ranma decided
enough was enough. If Kodachi wanted to use this tactic and was
allowed to get away with it, then she could do the same!
Ranma dived for the ribbon she had left behind on the mat, then
headed for the top of an opposing cornerpost. She whipped the
announcer's table out from under the shocked announcer's crew, to
throw at Kodachi.
Despite the fact that her sound equipment had crashed to the
floor and was now flooding her words with loud static, the announcer
kept going. "Saotome Ranma tries an innovative new move, the table
attack! How will Kunou Kodachi handle this new attack?"
Kodachi responded by using her ribbon to draw her brother into
the ring and having him deal with the table instead, by slicing the
table in half with his wooden sword. Kodachi's crew at the sidelines
applauded the move before the announcer could say anything about it.
Ayumi was in the process of wishing there was something he could
do to help when he felt a set of panda claws grasp his shoulder. He
started, more out of surprise, than fear. "Mr. Saotome?" he asked,
noting that the giant panda's presence behind him was already
blocking the view of several people in the first few rows. What was
the old man doing here? Ranma had already told Ayumi how Genma had
felt in the past about her attempts at being a gymnast; and while her
father hadn't made much of a fuss over Ranma's participation in this
match she'd fully expected him not to come. Guess showing up as a
panda was Genma's way of pretending he wasn't really there.
Just once, couldn't the old man lighten up and be a father to
her, rather than a sensei?
The panda raised a kettle of steaming hot water and a tea set
into view. "What?" Ayumi shot him an annoyed glance. "We're in the
middle of a big match and you want us to stop for tea?"
"The battle here has certainly escalated to never-before seen
levels today, folks! Both fighters have thrown everything but the
ring itself at each other, and I wouldn't be surprised if they tried
to do just that sooner or later!" The announcer drew a breath.
"There's barely any place left in the ring to stand among the tools
they've used littering the mat! For now, they have resorted to
fighting each other with their ribbons yet again, and are locked in a
tug-of-war battle for control!"
Kodachi pulled and spun her ribbon about. <Why is this girl
being so unnaturally stubborn? Surely she knows by now she does not
stand a chance against me!> But the determination was still present
in Ranma's eyes. <Very well. I shall have to try harder to convince
her!> Scanning the arena for an all-new weapon to use, she spied the
ice-water dispenser next to the ring. <Yes, this will do!>
She aimed her ribbon for the dispenser and hauled it into the
ring. Perfect... it was heavy, full of ice and water... ideal for a
painful two-step attack.
Ayumi saw what she was doing. "Huh...?! No!"
Kodachi lifted the dispenser before her. "Prepare to be the
first to fall victim to the Black Rose's newest attack - the
Ice-Water Shock!"
Ranma reflexively froze in horror. Ice water... if any of it
was splashed on her, her curse would transform her body into that of
a boy's. She would be humiliated publicly here in the center of
the arena in front of hundreds of people from both Fuurinkan High
School and the St. Hebereke Girls' Academy...
In the next instant Kodachi turned the spigot of water on her.
Desperation influenced Ranma's moves; she rushed to get as far away
from the water as possible. Kodachi laughed, savoring her opponent's
misfortune. Afraid of a little cold water, was she? Well, then,
she was going to get more than a little trickle of icewater...
<I can't change into a boy! Not here!> Ranma grit her teeth
and backed away. One foot, then the other, until she felt the
presence of a padded cornerpost digging into her back. She had no
place left to move!
Well, there *was* the choice to leave the ring, but that
wasn't an option.
In other words, she had succeeded in turning herself into an
easy target for an awful lot of cold water.
Kodachi tore the top away from the dispenser and doused Ranma
with the remaining water and ice.

Still huddled against the cornerpost, Ranma buried her face and
chest in her arms, curling in on herself. Hopefully no one would be
able to tell she was changing - growing larger in size and stature,
body metamorphosing from a girl to a boy. Nothing new to her,
certainly, but it was a transformation she never, ever wanted anyone
else to see.
What now? Ranma couldn't spend the rest of the fight like this.
The pose alone was embarrassing enough. Thank goodness she wore a
leotard and not something that would fall apart when she changed
size, anyway.
All the lights in the arena went dead.
This Ranma didn't see. He heard the resulting confusion,
however, and *felt* hot water insinuating its way into his hair not
half an instant later...
<Whew!>
When the lights were clicked back on a minute and a half later,
Kodachi found a fully recovered Ranma standing in the same spot,
cradling her pet pig to her side - much to Kodachi's surprise. Why,
then, had the girl acted the way she had upon being hit with the
water? An attempt to feign vulnerability for Kodachi's benefit? You
would have thought the girl with the pigtailed hair wanted to shrivel
up and die. If it was indeed an act, this Saotome Ranma was a poor
actor!
Outside the ring, Ayumi let the now-empty teakettle fall to the
floor. He collapsed, sliding down to a seat beside it, somewhat
relieved.
He felt he'd earned a tiny break; he'd saved Ranma from the
brink of disaster. After turning off the lights Ayumi had taken the
kettle of hot water away from Mr. Saotome - the guy practically
enjoyed remaining in panda form anyway - and poured the water over
Ranma... taking care to toss P-chan far out of the way first. It
just wouldn't be right for Ranma to have to endure the rest of the
fight chained to a naked Ryomi. The Fuurinkan guys would have a
field day...
The reason for this was that Jhusenkyou curses did *not* apply
to clothes. If Ryomi changed to a pig and back, her clothes didn't
go with her. Ranma could keep hers, to a certain extent. Genma the
panda defied the laws of the Universe; no matter where he went as a
panda he always had a replacement gi, headcloth and pair of glasses
handy. How, no one knew.
"You are truly pathetic, little girl. Not only are you a poor
gymnast and a sore loser, I see you fail at many other things as
well!"
"Oh, come on!" Ranma frowned slightly. "That act of yours is
*so* old."
Kodachi launched her razor-hoop at Ranma one more time. "You
are one to talk! I will *not* allow you to steal MY Ranma and
Ayumi-sama away from me!"
At the mention of his name Ayumi sank even farther below mat
level.
Ranma sighed. <I repeat: the Kunou family's nuts!> "When did
they become *yours*?"
"They were mine to begin with!" The spiked baton was back, and
Kodachi was again fighting to shove it through Ranma's face. What
was that she said about *variety* in one's attacks?
Ranma backflipped to dodge, maneuvering so that she could stand
on her hands and take hold of the baton between her ankles. The
gambit worked; she turned Kodachi's own custom shintaisou tool
against her, twisting the baton so that Kodachi was sent spinning out
of the ring like a child's toy. "I really don't think so!"
The announcer strained, more than ever on the verge of losing
her voice. "Kunou Kodachi is now out of the ring! If she touches
the ground, it will be all over!"
Not if Kodachi had anything to say about it.
As she literally flew toward the arena's exit Kodachi calmly
pulled out the whistle she wore around her neck, and sounded one long
blast.
All at once the entire ring began to move underneath Ranma and
P-chan's feet. "Huh!?"
Ayumi echoed Ranma's question. The ring was actually moving of
its own accord to *catch* Kodachi! And bulldozing through a great
deal of startled spectators at that...
Landing neatly in the ring, Kodachi laughed. "You fool!
As you can see, it is impossible to cause me to leave the ring!"
Ranma crouched down, took a firm grip on the tarp that formed
the mat they stood on and ripped the entire mat up and away.
Whatever the secret of Kodachi's moving ring was... it had to be
underneath the tarp.
There, hiding in the midst of the debris the moving ring had
created for itself, was most of the Academy's Shintaisou Club team.
Ranma threw aside the tarp and glared angrily at the girls from her
cornerpost perch to send them on their way.
"With the mat gone, the only places left for the fighters to
legally stand are the cornerposts and the ropes! Since there is very
little of the ring left, it shouldn't take long before this match is
over!"
Ayumi leaned forward in his new seat at ringside. Next to him,
the panda sipped unconcerned at the only cup of tea he'd managed to
pour before Ayumi took the teakettle for Ranma's sake.
Likewise, those in the crowd who hadn't been left behind when
the ring moved or nearly steamrolled by it were on the edges of their
seats. They had seen what both fighters were capable of doing.
Neither of them would be thrown from the ring now without a fight.
<Ha! She's in my element now!> gloated a self-assured Ranma.
Most of the time she trained with her father one of their favorite
maneuvers was to clash in midair over some kind of peril. Here, the
entire ground was the peril.
She knew midair fighting like she knew the back of her hand...
or so she had come to believe.
"Let's get this over with!" she yelled, leaping toward Kodachi
to begin the final phase of the match.
"As you wish!" Kodachi yelled in return while bringing up a
spiral of ribbon to meet Ranma head-on.
Ranma never made it. After only a short distance the chain
snapped taut. She frantically looked back to see what the problem
was - P-chan, who had decided to grab hold of the rope behind Ranma
and not let go. "Waah!" blurted Ranma, flailing her arms and legs
to stay airborne. "P-chan, *no*! Let go!"
Kodachi entered another razor-sharp hoop into the equation.
"Kamisori HOOP!" she punctuated the attack by announcing it.
The hoop sailed past Ranma and cut the rope P-chan held before
Ranma could react. Ranma swung her body violently about to track the
hoop's arc as P-chan released her hold on the newly-severed rope,
causing a wave effect that coursed through the chain. Like a whip,
the end of the chain - with P-chan attached - curled tightly around
the corner post Ranma had vacated.
The little pig collided with the post and passed out.
Ranma's face went pale. She pulled on the chain to draw herself
back to the post... and P-chan. "P-chan?" she asked, through
strained breath. "Are you all right? Please, don't be hurt..." She
unraveled P-chan from the post and held her carefully. "I'm sorry,
P-chan..."
She became aware of Kodachi's ribbon tightening around her neck.
"Such concern over the welfare of a silly little pig," said Kodachi,
darkness influencing her voice as she yanked Ranma back into the air.
Ranma struggled to get her fingers in between the ribbon and her
neck... when the ribbon suddenly went slack. She noticed to her
horror that she was now falling head-first to the concrete arena
floor from over twenty feet in the air!
Ayumi called her name, worried for her safety, forgetting about
Ryomi for the time being. At his side, a more-or-less unconcerned
panda munched handful after handful of a large bag of chips that only
*seemed* small in comparison to the large bear.
In fact, everyone in the arena save Kodachi was concerned with
Ranma's safety.
Thinking quickly Ranma jerked the ribbon free from Kodachi's
hands and redirected it up and around one of the metal supports in
the gymnasium ceiling. The ribbon secured itself tightly to the
support, with the help of a little extra added weight from the stick.
Now she had a rope to... well, for starters, stop her fall!
With that step out of the way she used the ribbon to swing back
toward Kodachi, foot extended for a kick... Her anger was at a
boiling point. Kodachi had used many, many dirty tricks throughout
the course of the match, including a handful that utilized her own
pet, P-chan, against her. She wanted nothing more than to pay
Kodachi back tenfold for all that Kodachi had put her through. And
what better way to start than a kick to the midsection?
Kodachi remained on her post, daring her. "Surely you know that
you cannot attack me unless you use a tool?" she sneered.
Fortunately, Ranma hadn't yet given in to complete anger and
had the sense to know this was true. Kodachi was using her anger
against her! Did it ever end? She shifted her weight so that the
ribbon took her away.
The Black Rose loosed a pair of spiked batons to sever Ranma's
lifeline from the ceiling. Ranma landed on the top rope at the side
of the ring farthest from Kodachi... but she wasn't there for long.
Dropping the ribbon, she sprang after Kodachi, extending her foot for
the final kick.
Kodachi saw her sure victory approaching. Her laugh was louder
than any Ranma had previously heard, even that deep belly laugh her
father liked to use. "You fail to understand!" She threw an armload
of batons at Ranma. "I warned you and you still wish to attack
without a tool? You wish to lose?"
Ranma raised her arms to shield herself and let the batons
bounce off her. No move by Kodachi would take her out of the running
that easily, now... "My tool... is the post you're standing on!"
With that, she snapped the post in half, her kick plowing straight
through it.

The audience was stunned. Kodachi lay on the floor at the base
of the post, at a loss for words.
And Ranma? Above her, Ranma clung to the remnants of the post
to keep from falling to the floor - except she'd had to grab the post
as she flew past it, resulting in a rather uncomfortable upside-down
squeeze. She hugged the pole, her face all the way up to the waist
one step away from becoming a permanent feature of the damaged post.
The panda yawned and shuffled off on his way.
One of the announcer's assistants tapped her on the shoulder.
Oh, right! The decision! "Ku... Kunou Kodachi has been forced out
of the ring!!"
The referee helped Ranma pry herself away from the pole and
although Ranma wanted to collapse, she had to stand for the whole of
the gathered crowd to see. It had been a good fight... supposedly...
and she'd won. Yippee...... The referee held Ranma's wrist to the
air. "Saotome Ranma is the winner!"
The crowd cheered. Well, that was that.
A tear dropped from Kodachi's cheek as she turned her face away.
"I have been defeated. And, as we agreed, I shall abandon any claim
to Tendo Ayumi and the male Saotome Ranma. The Black Rose always
keeps her word."
"Kodachi..." said Ranma, feeling a slight bit numb.
"But tomorrow begins a new day for Kodachi, the Black Rose, and
a brand-new love for Ranma and Ayumi-same burns dearly in my heart!
Ranma-sama... Ayumi-sama... one day, you will be mine!"
Ranma collapsed to the ground in sheer disbelief. That, and her
legs were already starting to feel like pure jelly...
Ayumi shook his head, removing the towel from around his neck
and glancing down at Ranma as he did so. "Is it too late to throw in
the towel?"

(end)

--------
Credits:

Written by: Mike Koos
Pre-readers: Richard Beaubien, Tom Williams, David Wills

With apologies to Rumiko Takahashi...

All parts of this series available at the RAAC archives at
ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works
or from my WWW pages at
http://www.mother.com/~makoto/stories.htm
Comments and questions welcome.

**********************************
* Mike "Ranma Saotome" Koos * "I can do nothing to stop you. Your
* (AKA "Makoto Kino") * background music is too strong for
* -------------------------------* me."
* Internet: mak...@mother.com *
* * - Whose Line is it Anyway?
**********************************
WWW: http://www.mother.com/~makoto/stories.htm