[Ranma 1/2 fanfic] "The More Things Change" part 7
RpM-acct2/5
A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
Based on characters and stories by Rumiko Takahashi.
Insert any other legal jargon I forgot -here-
Insert standard "it's my first..." stuff -here-
Written by Rod M. (R...@UH.EDU)
Final version (I hope)
=========================================================================
* The More Things Change... *
=========================================================================
"The hardest thing in life to learn is
which bridge to cross and which to burn."
- anonymous
==============
PART VII
BREAKING POINT: Clash of the umbrella kings!
==============
[Mid-Noveber: Thursday Morning]
Ryoga woke up very slowly. Even though his eyes were closed, it seemed
really bright. He could hear the breeze blowing outside. His head felt like
it was gonna explode.
Ryoga knew this feeling, although he hadn't had one in a long time.
This was a hangover.
"WAAAAAKE UUUUUP!!!!"
The wakeup yell shocked Ryoga and echoed in his head, compounding his
headache. He yelled in surprise and that boosted his headache even further.
"Rggarargh" he grumbled. Then, his eyes bolted open, he covered his mouth,
and he ran for the sink.
*BLEEEAACH*
"Here," Ukyo said, handing him a towel.
Ryoga splashed water on his face, dried himself off, and sat back down on
the floor. Then his body decided to give to his brain the current status
report. He felt cuts, bruises, a sore jaw, and a massive headace. Also, the
world wouldn't stop spinning.
"Ouch. What happened to me." He closed his eyes.
"You came home drunk last night."
"And you beat me up?"
"No, Kuno did that, or so you said."
"Oh." Ryoga searched his brain for this information, but it had been
trashed as part of a massive alcohol induced power-surge.
"But if you ever do this again, I'm gonna kill you."
Ryoga opened his eyes to look at Ukyo. {Uh-oh, she looks mad. Really mad.
Extremely mad.} Ryoga closed his eyes again. "Um... did I do... anything
stupid yesterday?"
"You don't remember?"
"Not really."
"Let's just keep it that way. C'mon, we'll be late for school."
-------
Mousse was feeling good. He had his legal arguements and precedents
all layed out. He was ready to finally defeat Cologne in the Amazon Legal
Council hearing. The council was due to arrive at any moment.
Shampoo and Cologne waited behind the counter. Mousse examined Cologne
and was dissapointed to see that she displayed an air of confidence. Did
she have a plan? He wondered.
The front door opened.
"Ah, welcome! How was the trip?" asked Cologne.
Mousse looked on in shock and horror as the council entered. "Oh no,
this isn't fair."
-------
Gosunkugi was walking home in a dark mood. He had finally heard of the
news about Akane, which left him feeling a little lonlier than usual. He
didn't have the strenght to fight on after that bit of news. Akane made her
choice, right? Gosunkugi wasn't really a fighter. He wasn't much of a lover
either. But he wasn't totally insensitive.
Time to look elsewhere. In fact, he felt like it was time for a lifestyle
change. He decided to try those self-help books his mother kept on pushing
on to him. It couldn't hurt to try, right?
Suddenly he was hit in the back of the head. He turned around to see
who was picking on him this time and his jaw dropped when he saw two girls.
One was young, maybe 12 years old, had long brown hair, in a t-shirt and
jeans, and was weilding a twin set of metal combs. The other seemed to
be about Akane's age, with very short tomboyish black hair, and wearing
a boy's school outfit, much like Ukyo used to. She was weilding a metallic
yo-yo, slinging it up and down. Her earrings resembled yo-yos too.
"Hey stupid, where've you been?" the older one said.
"Um..." Gosunkugi never was good with girls.
"Your fashion sense still sucks." the younger one said. "I thought you
were going with the well-dressed villian look?"
"Well..." Gosunkugi stammered.
"Dont' worry about it. That didn't work too well anyways." the younger girl
said.
"C'mon, you still owe me lunch." the older one said.
"You... wanna date?" Goskunkugi asked.
*WHAP* "I'm your sister, you idiot."
"Ew, Ryo's a pervert!" the younger one teased.
"I'm not Ryo!" Goskunkugi said. He felt it was time to get things
straightened out. "Who are you two?"
"C'mon, big brother, stop acting stupid." the younger one said.
"Yeah," Ryoko said, "besides, we were sent here to see what the hell was
taking you so long. Why aren't you finished with Ryoga yet?"
"I'm telling you, you've got the wrong guy!"
"Oh yeah, well... take this!" she yelled, and sent the yo-yo towards
Gosunkugi. It slammed into Gosunkugi's face, knocking him out cold, and
whizzed back into Ryoko's hand.
"Hey, Ryo would never let himself get hit by that," said Ryoko.
"Take out his wallet. I want to check something."
Kyoko took Gosunkugi's wallet out and handed it to Ryoko.
"Hey, he isn't Ryo after all. But he's got some cash. C'mon, let's get
some lunch." said Ryoko.
_______
The school day was a tense one for Ryoga. He felt scared of Ukyo every time
she guided him to his next class. Now and then he'd take a glance at her and
it seemed like she was sad about something. When she caught him glancing at
her, she just gave him the coldest glare in the universe.
The school day finished and they went back to Ucchan's, this time with Akane.
She went there for cooking tips whenever Kasumi was too busy, like today. When
they got back, Ryoga immediately excused himself and tried to find his way to
the area behind the store so that he could practice some of his martial arts.
Ukyo and Akane headed to the grill to cook. Ukyo's angry glances at Ryoga
didn't escape Akane's notice.
"Ukyo, did he do something?"
"Eh?" Ukyo seemed distracted.
"Ryoga, I mean. It's obvious you're mad at him about something."
Ukyo got angry. "He got drunk again, that's what happened."
"No!"
"Yup. He stumbled in here like an idiot, bothered the customers... and..."
Ukyo's face softened slightly.
"And what?"
"Ryoga... he... the idiot kissed me."
Ryoga didn't made it to the back lot. He did wander near to where the girls
were talking. He also accidentally heard the whole conversation. Ryoga slowly
turned around and made a quiet and desperate attempt to find the back door.
"Oh," Akane said, "this is a bad thing?"
"I think. Maybe. I don't know." Ukyo replied, looking a bit flustered
and irritated.
"Well. Er. That's..." She wasn't sure how to handle this topic so she
employed the Tendo School of Anything Goes Conversation secret technique:
quickly change the topic. "Anyways, Happosai's been hospitalized."
"I know, Ranma told me that Ryo guy beat him up."
"But did you know how badly he was beaten?"
"Doesn't that old lech get beat up regularly?"
"Well, yes, but not like this." She pulled out the photos and the medical
records that Ranma had taken from the hospital.
"Wow. This is serious."
"Ranma's worried that this Ryo guy might come after him, Mousse, or Ryoga
next. He thinks Ryo might try to kidnapp one of us too."
Ukyo looked happy. Ranma was worried about her? How sweet! Then she
remembered something that had been bothering her, stuck at the back of her
mind. The mention of Ranma worrying about Ryoga made her remember it all too
clearly. "Akane, you're _sure_ Ranma hasn't been acting strange lately, or
maybe hit his head again?"
"No, he hasn't done anything un-Ranmaish or been hit on the head lately."
Ukyo didn't know what to expect from Akane once she was told. "Well...
I guess you should know since... you're his... Akane... it's just that a while
back... Ranma was..."
Ryoga had finally made it to the back lot and was doing some practice swings
and punches and other various attacks. Then he was take by surprise by a
really loud yell from inside the resteraunt.
"THAT PERVERT!!!"
Ryoga stumbled. He stood straight up. His eyes widened and he began to
sweat. {Oh no, that was Akane! What did Ukyo tell her? What else did I do
last night? I didn't... no way! Now Akane thinks I'm some kind of pervert
too!}
-------
[Later...]
=Nekohanten, may I help you?=
"Hey, Mousse, it's me, Ryoga."
=Oh. Listen, could you call back? I'm kinda busy right now. The Amazon
Legal Council just flew in and we're into the opening arguements.=
"Just a quick question. You busy at the end of the month?"
=Yeah, we should be at our closing arguements by then. Sorry.=
"Oh. Never mind. Good luck." *Click*
Ryoga was hoping that Mousse could guide him back to the appointed
location for the fight, but it looked like that was a no-go. He also realized
a big flaw in that plan: Mousse didn't know where the bridge was either.
It looked like he'd have to ask Ukyo.
--------
Gosunkugi was having just the strangest day. He silently declared that he
would never _ever_ understand women. Then he adjusted the icepack on his
forehead.
He was walking home and was turning the corner when he bumped into those
thugs that usually beat him up and take his lunch money.
Gosunkugi froze in place.
The thugs froze in place.
Everyone started to sweat.
Gosunkugi very slowly took a step back.
"AAH!" The thugs yelled, and ran like hell away from him.
--------
Akane was walking home from Ucchan's when she heard sounds of combat nearby.
She went over to the source of the noise, which was an empty lot with a few
trees and an enraged Mousse. Akane stayed hidden and decided to see what
was going on.
"DAMN OLD GHOULS!!!!" Mousse yelled to the sky. He whipped out a chicken
and instead of using it to hatch exploding eggs, he flung the surprised
fowl at a tree. It exploded, leaving behind a cloud of feathers. "Everyone's
getting in my way. It's always something... always!"
Akane felt sorry for Mousse. She was about to go comfort him when he began
ranting again. "My main rival to her heart turns his back and she still won't
accept me! I've beaten her in combat, and yet it isn't enough!" He pulled
a toilet trainer duck from his sleeve and angrily threw it at a wall nearby,
where it shattered. "The members of the legal council ARE ALL COLOGNE'S
SISTERS! DAMN THAT OLD GHOUL!!!" He whipped out blades and made a pin-cushion
of a nearby boulder.
Akane was really worried now. Mousse was starting to sound deranged.
Suddenly, Mousse sounded calm. "If that Muhoshin guy manages to survive
his fight with Ryoga, he said he'd consider killing Cologne. The price isn't
too bad. I'll still have a little of my life's savings left."
Mousse resorting to hiring the guy that nearly killed Happosai? This was
definitely bad.
"And if she still won't accept me after that... after all that I've done...
well I'll use the passion spice!"
Yes, Mousse was sounding really desperate now.
"After all, it worked so well when I used it on Ranma and Akane, and they
didn't even notice. They're even getting married. Why shouldn't it work as
well on Shampoo?"
Akane was in shock. She quietly snuck away and headed back home, suddenly
feeling very cold and empty.
---------
[Thursday night]
Ryoga felt he needed to know more about his adversary, so he asked Ukyo
to bring him to the one person in town that seemed to know a little about
everything.
"Hello son-in-law. What brings you here?"
"I am not your son-in-law."
"Whatever. You'll owe me for this sometime."
"You're sounding like Nabiki."
"No need to be insulting, boy."
"Sorry. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Unorthodox Weaponry School of
Martial Arts?"
Cologne inhaled from her pipe, blew, and began to speak. "Ah, yes, the
Unorthodox Weaponry School of Martial Arts. It is a very old school indeed,
going back for many years. In fact, its base of operations was in this
town for several years and its influence can be seen in many of this city's
martial artists today. I think you've seen the people I am referring to."
Ryoga and Ukyo nodded in comprehension. That would explain all the bizzare
styles of martial arts that had been appearing, such as martial arts takeout
delivery, martial arts tea-ceremony, rhythmic gymnastics martial arts,
and the bizzare signboard martial arts that the Dojo destroyer used.
Ukyo wondered if her own family was influenced by this school.
"Originally," Cologne continued, "the school served to train guardians of
royalty and important members of govornment. You see, sometimes, assassins
resorted to attacking their targets at the most awkward or inconvenient places
or times, such as tea ceremonies, or catching them in the middle of a raging
storm, or even attacking them as they play with their children. Thus, a group
of men trained so that they could fight no matter what circumstances they found
themselves caught in. Thus began the school. As time passed, the various
sub-schools branched off and soon severed their connections to the main
branch. Those that remained were considered too ridiculous by many and so
the school was slowly forgotten. Apparently it still exists today."
"I need to know about some attacks that I've seen used. Have you heard
about the Ryugeki-ken?" Ryoga asked.
"Hm..." Cologne looked deep in thought. "Never heard of it."
"No?"
"Sorry, sonny boy."
"Er... What about the gekihou?" Ryoga asked.
"Nope." Ryoga was stunned. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. After
all, with Ranma, she always had answers.
"Is there anything else you could tell me that could help me beat him?"
"Well... tell me, how did he execute these moves?"
"What?"
"Did he do a motion with his hands? Did he yell out the name?"
"Well, he did them with his umbrella."
"Did you see him execute any moves without the umbrella?" asked Cologne.
"Well... no."
"Bah. Sonny boy, the solution is obvious. I strongly believe that your
enemy is quite useless without his umbrella. After all, the Unorthodox
Weaponry School concentrates on _armed_ combat, does it not? Disarm him, and
your enemy shall probbably be greatly hindered."
"By the way," Ryoga said, "he knocked Akane out by poking her around this
spot." He pointed to the spot.
"That?" Cologne asked. "A temporary stun pressure point. If your fighting
spirits are up, then this point will be useless against you. It works only
as a surprise tactic during non-combat situations."
"Really?" asked Ryoga.
Mousse walked by, carrying some supplies. Cologne poked him at the spot
and he promptly collapsed on the floor.
"There. You see?" she said.
---------
[November's End]
"Ukyo? Where'd you go?" said Ryoga, as he was wandering hopelessly
lost in the main room of the resteraunt.
"I'm in the backroom!" Ukyo yelled.
Ryoga turned to the direction from which her voice came. He checked his
compass. {Okay, if I keep on walking in this general direction...}
Four minutes later Ryoga made it there.
Ukyo was in the storage room, standing on a small stepladder arranging the
contents on a high shelf.
"Hey there," he sheepishly said.
"Hm."
"What?" she replied, flatly.
"Well, um, first of all, I'm really sorry if I did anything to make you
mad last night. I mean it. If you wanna throw me out, I'd understand."
Ukyo looked surprised at this. "Throw you out?" she said, turning towards
him, "No, that's alright. It's not like you wrecked the store or anything."
"So exactly what did I do anyways?" asked Ryoga.
Ukyo turned back to the high shelf. Unfortunately, she turned rather
quickly and the stepladder was a rather old and shaky one. Ukyo wobbled
a bit and then fell off. She closed her eyes when she realized she was going
to hit the floor.
But she didn't.
Ukyo opened her eyes and looked right into Ryoga's. He managed to catch
her neatly into his arms. They stayed that way for a few long seconds.
"Er... thanks." she said, blushing a bit.
He put her down quickly.
"Do you remember that bridge where Ryo first attacked me?" he asked.
"Mm-hm."
"Could you... guide me over there? I've gotta be there in an hour."
"Oh? What for?"
"Me and Ryo... talked, you might say. He agreed not to attack any of
my friends anymore... that is, if I showed up today for a formal duel."
Ukyo sighed. "Wouldn't be a normal month without at least one big martial
arts duel. Fine. C'mon, let's go."
***
Ukyo and Ryoga walked slowly to the bridge, each silent and thinking.
Akane had shown Ukyo exactly how banged up the old lech was after he faced
off against Ryo, and everyone knew how tough Happosai was whenever he decided
to really fight. She wanted to tell Ryoga to call off the fight, but she knew
his honor wouldn't allow that to happen. She didn't want to show him what
happened to Happosai either because she didn't want to rattle his confidence.
Ryoga's head was swirling. What did he do to Ukyo when he was drunk? Did
Akane think he was some kind of pervert now? Exactly how good was Ryo at
martial arts? Why on earth did Ranma kiss him? Was Ranma's curse beginning
to bend his personality and turn him into a girl, both in mind and body? Would
this happen to Ryoga too? This was no good. Too many distractions before the
fight, that's what was wrong.
They noticed a fair sized crowd up ahead.
"Hey, what's with the crowd?" Ryoga asked.
"Dunno."
"EVERYBODY PLACE YOUR BETS! IT'S THE BATTLE OF THE DECADE! RYOGA 'THE
ROCK' HIBIKI VS. RYO MUHOSHIN, THE MAN WHO CRUSHED THE MEGA-PERVERT! C'MON UP
AND PLACE YOUR BETS!" Ryoga and Ukyo blinked. That was definitely Nabiki on
the megaphone.
"Ryoga the Rock?!?!?" Ryoga yelled. The crowd saw him and cheered.
{What kind of a name is Ryoga the Rock? This was just great, more
distractions..} he thought.
Ukyo was shaking her head sadly. "I don't believe she did this. No,
actually, now that I think about it, I'm not surprised.
Just before they entered the crowd, Ukyo grabbed Ryoga's shoulder.
"I'm gonna go get a good view."
"Oh." he said. Ryoga turned away, feeling not quite ready for the fight.
"Ryoga!" Ukyo yelled. Ryoga stopped and turned around. Ukyo gave him a
quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey, good luck out there, okay? Don't get hurt.
I'll bet on ya, okay?"
Ryoga was speechless as he strode towards the battlefield.
***
Some distance away, Akane had noticed Ryoga and Ukyo's approach. She
watched as they walked up, talked, and smiled a bit when Ukyo kissed him.
{Well, there's one happy couple} she thought. Then she sadly looked at her
fiancee. {What's happening with us?} she thought. {Is the curse starting to
warp your mind? Is what Mousse said true? Does he really... do I really...
should I tell him...} she looked down and sighed.
Ranma noticed something was wrong. He looked at Akane and noticed that she
was looking sad. He put his arm around her. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure
Ryoga's gonna come out of this alright. I've hit him hard plenty of times and
he still comes back for more." Despite his words, Ranma was worred. His
other arm was still sore from the hit he took from Ryo's umbrella.
***
Ryo strode confidently to the appointed place of battle. He would have worn
his usual suit, but he was starting to run out of suits, and he had a feeling
that this fight might get ugly. For today's festivities, he decided to go
with the classic white t-shirt, black pants, black button-up shirt left open
over t-shirt, and combat boots look. He used to not worry about fashion so
much, but constant naggings from his more fashionable sibblings had ruined his
carefree days.
Once again, he was dressed alot like Gosunkugi.
He was a litttle stunned to find out that his much-anticipated duel with
Hibiki had become a public attraction.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?!" he yelled, pushing through the crowd and
stepping unto the bridge.
The crowd seemed confused. There were murmers in the crowd. "This is
the guy?", "I thought he always wore a suit", "What's with the umbrella?"
were some murmers he heard, but the one that was heard the most, and the one
that bugged him the most was "Hey, isn't that Gosunkugi?"
"I AM NOT GOSUNKUGI!!!!" He yelled.
***
Somewhere out there, Gosunkugi sneezed.
***
Across the bridge, he saw that his opponent had arrived as well.
Ryo examined the battlefield beforehand, as any good tactician would do.
It was concrete, four lanes wide, fairly long, and not used much anymore
since a new overpass nearby was infinitely more convenient for traffic. No
traffic should come through at all during the fight. The bridge was so unused
that the city hadn't bothered repairing the damage inflicted from the last
battle Ryo had with Ryoga.
***
Up in a tree nearby, Kyoko and Ryoko sat in a tree, observing the crowd.
"Hey, the idiot's here." Ryoko said.
"And he's still ugly." Kyoko said. "He's dressed up alot like that
Gosunkugi guy. You think he'll win?"
"I dunno." She replied. "Actually, all I want is a tie. I don't _really_
want to see Ryo actually _loose_, but then, Ryoga..."
"It's obvious. Ryo will get killed." A male voice interrupted.
Sitting above the girls was a boy maybe a year younger than Ryoko, with hair
tied up in a ponytail and round glasses. He idly fiddled with a bagpipe.
"Hey, Megane, that's not a nice thing to say." Kyoko said.
"They're both great fighters. It _will_ be a tie." Ryoko firmly said.
"You know," Megane said, "nobody ever told him about that arrangement.
If they both live through this, he'll be mad as hell."
Ryoko pouted. "He's not my dad. He can't tell me what to do."
"But he'll try" Megane said.
***
"Good day, Hibiki."
"Muhoshin."
Ryoga was in a ready stance.
"Wait! Hold on!" Ryo yelled.
"Eh?"
"I'd just like to make one modification to the playing field, if I may?"
"No tricks, Muhoshin."
"No tricks. I just don't want any interference. AND I don't want you
wandering off in the middle of battle. Don't think I haven't forgotten about
your pathetic sense of direction."
"What did you have in mind?"
Ryo walked over to where the concrete bridge connected to the land.
He poked the pavement with his umbrella and returned to the middle. The
concrete exploded a second later, leaving a big gap between the bridge and
the land.
"Well?"
Ryoga went to his side and did the same.
--------
"What on earth are they doing?" Akane asked.
"I think," Ranma said, "that they're making sure nobody butts in and nobody
runs away."
"They both know the bakusai ten-ketsu?"
"What a coincidence, huh?"
In the distance, thunder roared through the skies.
--------
They stood at the center of the bridge, Ryoga in an alert stance and serious
demeanor, and Ryo holding his umbrella like a fencer's sword and smiling with
eyes narrowed.
The fighting opened up with alot of sword.. er.. umbrellaplay by both
combatants, as Ryoga swung his umbrella left and right. Ryo dodged easily.
He didn't try to block since he knew how heavy that thing really was and he
was afraid that his own umbrella would break under a direct hit. Ryoga
targeted Ryo's gut with a straight thrust but Ryo dodged left and swung
across at Ryoga's face. Ryoga tried to dodge, but recieved a cut on the
jaw.
Ryoga took a few steps back and felt the cut.
***
"Hm," Ranma said, "this could be a good or bad thing."
"Good or bad?" Akane asked.
"Well, when he gets mad, he fights harder, which is good. But sometimes
he also fights like an idiot, which is bad."
***
Ryoga was mad. In front of EVERYBODY watching, he'd recieved the first
blow. Failed to draw first blood. Ryo stood there, still alert, but with
a smug look to his face.
"That's it. TAKE THIS!" Ryoga yelled, snapping open his umbrella. He
spun it in his hands and then swung forward. Ryo dodged the first swing,
which hit the pavement and sent sparks flying.
"Yow." Ryo muttered. He'd never seen the umbrella-buzzsaw trick done
properly before, until now.
Ryoga swung madly at Ryo, sending sparks flying everywhere. Finally,
Ryo tripped a bit and Ryoga caught him in the back, slicing through skin
quickly. Ryo screamed and twisted away before he got cut any deeper.
It wasn't a fatal cut, he knew, but he was bleeding, and it did hurt enough
to be a distraction.
Ryoga reared back with the umbrella and threw it at Ryo, who ducked and
swung the handle-end of his umbrella at Ryoga's feet, where it telescoped
and hooked Ryoga's foot. Ryo grinned and yanked hard, pulling Ryoga's foot
out from under him. Ryoga fell down hard, hitting his head on the pavement.
The umbrella retracted to it's normal length quickly and Ryo swung down hard
yelling "GEKIHOU!". The umbrella hook glowed brightly and exploded with light
as it slammed into Ryoga's chest. Ryoga gritted his teeth and gave a small
yell of pain. The hit had knocked the breath out of him, and he wasn't sure
if any ribs were broken or not.
Ryo swung back and hammered Ryoga repeatedly while yelling "Hyaku-Gekiou!"
striking down with his charged umbrella at amazing speeds. Ryoga managed to
turn left and right to dodge some blows, which made deep gashes in the
pavement, and had to use his arms to block others, which left his arms feeling
incredibly sore.
Ryoga's umbrella zoomed back from it's flight, flying straight towards the
back of Ryo's head. Ryo suddenly felt an incredibly hard blow slam into the
back of his head and stumbled forward with a ringing in his skull. Ryoga
kicked his legs out from under him and Ryo fell face first into the pavement.
***
"Looks like it's gonna be a tie." Ryoko said, smiling.
"How much you wanna bet that Ryoga wins?" Megane said.
"Dinner. Looser pays."
"Fine."
***
Both combatants wobbled uneasily to opposite corners, getting a bit of
a breather. Ryoga was feeling bruises all over. Ryo's head was spinning
and his back wasn't feeling any better either.
Ryoga pulled off some bandannas and threw them at Ryo, who just evaded
them by opening his umbrella and hiding under it. Ryoga then pulled out a
streetlamp from the bridge and threw it at Ryo, who smashed it in half with
a gekihou. Ryoga snapped his umbrella open and sent it flying towards Ryo,
who opened his own and flung it towards Ryoga.
***
"Pretty good fight so far, huh?" said Kyoko.
"Wait a minute, Ryo's umbrella is NOT aerodynamic." Megane said.
"That's true. I don't know why he likes those London style umbrellas."
said Ryoko. "They just aren't as handy as traditional ones in fights like
this one."
"But don't they just look so cool?" said Kyoko.
***
Ryoga's umbrella zoomed in hard and fast, in a slightly curving trajectory,
gracefully cutting through the air. Ryo dodged out of it's way, and ducked
as it zoomed by again to return to it's owner.
Ryo's umbrella wobbled through the air in a drunk sort of way. Certainly
not gracefully. However, this made it hard to tell where it was going, and
Ryoga stutter-stepped left and right trying to determine what way would be
the safe way. He finally decided to just duck, which worked fine. The
umbrella wobbled (to the astonishment of everyone) back to it's owner.
Ryoga stood up and caught his umbrella. Ryo stepped left and right,
uncertain of where his would go, and made a lunging grab for it.
***
"Amazing." Megane said.
"What?" asked Ryoko.
"Ryo's umbrella actually flew. Kinda ugly flight, though."
***
Ryoga felt that he had recovered enough and charged madly at Ryo, who did
not feel all that recovered at all. Ryoga was soon face-to-face with Ryoga,
who lunged forward and tried to grab him. Ryo jumped up (using that specially
reserved martial artist high jump thing) behind Ryoga, twisted around in the
air, and shot off a ryugeki-ken. Ryoga saw the incoming bolt of energy
and jumped over it and in pursuit of Ryo. Ryo landed and shot off another
ryugeki-ken at the still-airborne Ryoga, who caught it in the gut, tumbled
on his landing, but managed to roll to his feet.
"That's it," Ryoga muttered. Ryo shot off another ryugeki-ken, but was
flattened as Ryoga's shishi houkou-dan demolished it and slammed Ryo off
his feet and into a streetlamp.
"Sonovabitch, that hurt," Ryo muttered. "THAT'S IT!" he yelled, as he
jumped high into the air again, almost above the very center of the bridge.
Then he yelled "GOU-RYUGEKI-KEN!" and a storm of dozens of energy bolts rained
down into the bridge. The bolts hit everywhere, making craters and holes in
the bridge, throwing debris everywhere. Ryoga was caught in the blast,
getting hit directly by one, sent flying through the air by the explosion
of another that hit right next to him, hammered again by several more while
flying through the air.
***
"Wow. Always impresses me when he does that." Megane said.
"That always wears him out alot when he puts _that_ much effort into the
move. You think Ryoga's finally down?" Kyoko asked.
"No! My fiancee won't loose that easy!" Ryoko said.
"Oh, so you're hoping that Ryo looses." said Megane.
"No! I just really believe that it's gonna be a draw match."
***
"Ryoga!" Ukyo yelled. She stared helplessly as Ryoga was bounced back and
forth in the explosions.
Ranma gritted his teeth. This wasn't going well. If it got really ugly,
he was ready to jump in and interrupt. After all, Ryoga was something vaguely
like a friend, and there were no other candidates for Best Man at the wedding
(unless Ukyo wanted to cross-dress again.)
Akane watched, unflinching. She believed Ryoga could win.
***
Ryo zoomed down from his flight, umbrella charged and ready for the
final blow. To his surprise, he saw Ryoga slowly and unsteadily getting up
to his feet. Ryo descended towards Ryoga, umbrella raised high and held
like an axe. Ryo screamed "DIEEEE!" and swung down hard, only to have the
umbrella caught with one of Ryoga's hands and Ryo's foot caught by Ryoga's
other hand. Ryoga pulled the umbrella out of Ryo's hand and then slammed
him back and forth by the foot like a rag doll. Ryo flailed desperately
for something to grab, screaming "ACK" "OOF" "UGH" and "OW" with each impact
on the hard concrete. Finally, he grabbed a chunk of cement, and as he
sailed right over Ryoga's head, he threw it down hard, causing Ryoga to loose
his grip.
Ryo landed right behind Ryoga, and grabbed him around the waist. Quickly,
Ryo pulled back and hammered Ryoga with a backbreaker, and then flipped while
still holding Ryoga and gave him another backbreaker.
Ryo let go and stumbled unsteadily away to regain his senses. To Ryo's
horror, Ryoga slowly got up again as well.
***
"Jeez, neither of these guys is falling," said an impresesed Ranma.
"Well," said Akane, "they both know the breaking point technique. I guess
they both have super endurance."
"But Ryo looks like... like... Gosunkugi! When somebody's built like THAT,
super-endurance isn't what you'd expect.
***
"Damn," Ryoko muttered.
"What's wrong?" asked Kyoko.
"She's gonna loose, that's what," Megane said. "Ryoga has ALWAYS had the
superior endurance. I'm surprised Ryo is still standing, but you can tell
by looking at them that Ryo's loosing steam. Looks like I'm having something
foreign and expensive for dinner tonight."
***
Ryo went for his umbrella as fast as he could but Ryoga suddenly caught up
with him and, using one of his bandanas, snared Ryo's left wrist. "Let's see
how you do without the umbrella," Ryoga sneered.
Ryo zoomed in and hammered Ryoga's head with an elbow, followed by a knee to
the gut, all with lightning speed. It was at moments like these that Ryo
was extremely gratefull that he studied a little Muy Thai kickboxing.
Ryoga reeled back a bit, but didn't let go of the bandana that tied up
Ryo's left wrist. He looked right into Ryo's eye, smiling. "Those hits,"
he said, "felt like a baby's kick!" Ryoga gave Ryo a viscious headbutt that
flung his skull back.
Ryo wobbled a bit and then surprised everyone by headbutting Ryoga right
back. "Headbutt me, will ya?" Ryo sneered.
Both of them reared back with their skulls and hammered each other
again and again and...
***
"Ryoga's gonna win." Ranma said, smiling. "That idiot's head can smash
through buildings. This'll be over in a snap."
***
*WHAM*
"Give up yet?" Ryo sneered, looking at the seven Ryogas in front of him.
*WHAM*
"YOU'LL be the one giving up," Ryoga confidently said to the two Ryos
that were looking angrily at him.
*WHAM*
"Oh no, for once, it's gonna be me beating you, Hibiki."
*WHAM*
"Not on your best day!"
*WHAM*
"That's my line!"
*WHAM*
"WIMP!"
*WHAM*
"IDIOT!"
*WHAM*
"PANSY!"
*WHAM*
"DIRECTIONALLY STUPID DENTAL DISASTER!"
*WHAM*
"Oh, make fun of my teeth, will you?"
*WHAM*
***
"What does he think he's doing?" Ryoko said.
"Apparently, they've suffered some brain damage and now both of them think
that they are goats. That would explain the double-headbutt action going on
right now," said Megane. "Not only that, but do you _really_ think that Ryo's
head is harder than Ryoga's? I think somebody's gonna fall."
***
*WHAM*
After quickly observing the fourteen Ryogas in front of him, Ryo decided
that enough was enough and kicked Ryoga in the crotch.
Ryoga's head was already swinging forward at the three Ryos when the kick
landed, sending Ryoga stumbing a bit but too late to prevent Ryo from being
headbutted one more time and sent flying back against another lamp post.
"That does it," Ryoga muttered, "THAT'S IT! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!" He
charged at the wobbling Ryo and started throwing punch after punch at him.
***
Ukyo, Akane and Ranma were watching the fight intensely when Ukyo suddenly
noticed something. She looked up. She ran to where she saw Ranma and
Akane.
"Ranma! We've got to stop the fight!" Ukyo yelled.
"What? You don't interrupt a man-to-man fight." Ranma wondered why
Ukyo was so anxious about. "Besides, he's obviously winning."
"Hey stupid, look up."
Ranma looked up, and saw the very dark rainclouds hovering overhead.
"Uh-oh.."
***
The battlefield looked like a warzone. Holes, craters, and rubble lined
the bridge everywhere. If the battle continued any longer, everyone suspected
that the bridge would collapse.
Ryo staggered back as Ryoga landed punch after unbelieveably hard punch
on him. Ryo tried to get focused, and his vision showed twenty Ryogas, and all
were looking very pissed off.
Through the haze of pain Ryo realized he'd have to go for his desperation
tactic, which might not work and would definitely cause Ryo alot of pain
even if it did hit.
Meanwhile, Ryoga was fighting on, fueled by his anger, landing elbows,
uppercuts, roundhouses, and all sorts of blows on Ryo. {He's still conscious?}
Ryo thought, surprised at the level of endurance that his adversary was
showing. Finally, with a solid punch to the gut, Ryo fell to his knees.
Ryoga, fully into his berzerker rage, grabbed him by the neck and held his
fist high and ready to smash Ryo's skull in.
The crowd was stunned. From everyone's viewpoint it looked like Ryoga was
going for the killing blow. Akane and Ukyo were surprised as well. They
never thought of Ryoga as a killer.
Ryo looked at the twenty-three fists raised up and aimed at his head. He
didn't want to die yet. Time for _very_ desperate measures. Ryo suddenly
reared back with his left hand, which glowed brightly. He gritted his teeth
in anticipation of how bad this was going to hurt and concentrated his ki
as hard as he possibly could.
***
"I don't believe he's gonna do this." Ryoko said.
"Do what?" Kyoko asked.
"His gekihou." Megane said.
"But he doesn't have his umbrella anymore!"
"The idiot. His arm's gonna explode into a big bloody mess." Megane added.
"Eww." Kyoko said. She covered her eyes.
***
Ryo swung forward, yelling "GEKIHOU!". He tried to hit a vital spot on
Ryoga like his skull or his chest but was too weak to properly lunge forward
and ended up connecting with Ryoga's leg. Bright light exploded and a boom
could be heard on impact as the two were flung apart.
***
"Ouch, that had to hurt." said Megane.
"The idiot did it," Ryoko sighed. "Amazing, his arm is still attached.
Kyoko, you can uncover your eyes now. There's no gross stuff."
"You sure?" said Kyoko in a tiny voice.
***
"We've got to interrupt," Ranma said sternly, looking up at the rainclouds.
"Definitely," said Ukyo, as both walked towards the edge of the bridge and
prepared to jump over.
"What are you two talking about?" Akane said, struggling to keep up.
***
Ryoga was gritting his teeth and holding his leg. {Damn! This hurts!}
He was angry at himself for letting himself open stupidly like that. He
was afraid that his leg was shattered.
Ryo was on the floor growling in pain. "Yeeeeow! Oh shit! Ow! This
hurts!" He looked to Ryoga (the twenty-two others seemed to have left) who
looked like he was in great pain and was holding his leg. He looked at his
own left hand. It was bruised beyond belief. The pain was unbelievable,
worse than he imagined it would be. The damage went down the entire length
of his arm and he couldn't move it at all. He wouldn't be using that arm
for a long while, if he survived this fight. {Swell, he looses a leg, I
loose an arm.}
Slowly, Ryo got up. His arm was limp at his side. He slowly staggered over
to where his umbrella was dropped and picked it up with his right hand.
He noticed some movement in the ranks of the observers and saw that two
of Ryoga's allies were getting ready to jump over the gap and interrupt the
fight. Ryo quickly stabbed the ground with his umbrella, yelling
"BAKUSAITENKETSU!" The bridge got even smaller as half of the remains of the
bridge crashed down into the waters. "NO INTERFERENCE!" he yelled, angrily
glaring at Ranma and Ukyo.
He gave Ryoga a menacing glare as he began to twirl the umbrella and
its handle began to glow. "This... ends... now."
The skies grew darker by the second. The winds became cold and swift.
Ranma and Ukyo were yelling at Ryoga desperately but he was too focused
on the battle to notice anything else.
"You're ... right." Ryoga replied.
Ryo didn't have the strength left for another GouRyugeki-Ken, not even for a
plain Ryugeki-ken. He'd just have to bludgeon Ryoga to death. Ryo lunged
forward swinging the umbrella down hard. Ryoga caught it in one hand, pulled
it in, and grabbed Ryo by the throat.
"Surrender, Ryo?" Ryoga asked. "Last chance." He was feeling good.
about his chances. It looked like Ryo's let arm was a mess and he looked
exhausted already. Ryoga had him in a chokehold, and he knew that Ryo's
normal punches would have no affect on him in his current state.
Ryo tried to shake Ryoga off, moving left and right, without success. Then
Ryo hit Ryoga's leg. It didn't get Ryoga to let go, but Ryoga did flinch
violently and succeeded in making them both fall into a mini-crater nearby.
Ryoga still had Ryo in a death grip and he was feeling weaker by the second.
And then it rained.
Ryoga, now Ryoga-pig, was stunned. {Why? Why didn't I notice the
rainclouds coming? Why me? Why NOW?}
***
Akane wondered what was going on. Ryoga fell into some kind of hole but
from where she was standing she couldn't see Ryoga any more. She noticed
that Ranma-chan and Ukyo were looking very nervous.
"Where's Ryoga?" She asked. "I can't see him."
"You can't see him?" Ranma asked.
"I can't see either of them. I'm too short and this is a lousy view."
***
Ryo was confused. {What the hell was this? A pig? Ryoga turned into
a pig? Is this really Ryoga? What's going on? Wait a minute, I'm out here
all beat up struggling with a pig! Dammit, I look stupid! This had better
just be a wild delusion after getting my brains beat in so much.}
Ryo looked down at the pig and noticed that it looked like a mess. In fact
it seemed to have all the injuries that Ryoga had...
"Either I've just gone mad, or you've turned into a pig. Either way,
Hibiki, you're still gonna die." Ryo picked up the pig and smashed it against
the pavement. He let go and raised his foot to stomp on it.
A total wave of helplessness overwhelmed Ryoga-pig now. Suddenly, and
with a grunt, Ryoga-pig let out an incredibly massive blast in the form of a
huge pillar of light. It was the Full Shishi Houkoudan, the most powerfull
form of ki-blast Ryoga had. It impacted full-force into Ryo, who was flung
back several feet and landed roughly on his back, almost unconscious.
The Shishi Houkou-dan rocketed Ryoga through the pavement making a small
pig-sized hole in the floor. The massive ki-wave traveled onward and upward,
through the clouds, expanding in size as it flew into the dark skies.
***
Out in the crowd, Ranma was stunned. That was the biggest Full
Shishi houkou-dan Ryoga had ever shot. And in pig-form too. He wondered
what would happen to Ryoga if he did it in pig-form because the technique
was not developed with farm animals in mind.
Meanwhile, Akane was yelling at Ukyo, who was several people in front
of her. "Hey, Ukyo, move your spatula, I can't see!"
***
The Muhoshin siblings looked on in shock at the massive energy wave that
had burst forth from the crater where Ryoga and Ryo had dissapeared from.
Their jaws were hanging down.
Finally, as a group, they murmered, "Holy shit."
***
Ryo groggily looked up. "Oh no." he muttered. He crawled, trying
to reach the edge of the bridge to escape.
Ryoga-pig was struggling not to fall into the river, as his blast had
shot him almost totally through and under the bridge. He was furiously
scrambling up, trying to get out of the self-made tunnel he made when he
noticed that the sky was getting brighter.
And then the Full Shishi Houkou-dan, now big enough to cover the entire
bridge, dropped back down from the sky and slammed into the battlefield,
destroying the bridge totally in a massive explosion.
-------------
From the view of the crowds, it was a massive explosion, sending concrete
and metal flying everywhere. The sound of the Full Shishi Houkou-dan slamming
into the bridge was heard from far away. The assembled spectators scrambled
for cover.
When the dust cleared, the bridge was nothing but rubble floating in the
water. Despite the rain and the wind, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyo searched
desperately for Ryoga in the rubble, but nothing was found except the
umbrellas of both combattants, a jacket, and a few bandanas.
"He couldn't be..." Ranma said, sifting through the rubble.
Akane was stunned into silence.
Ukyo looked down the river. "They went downstream. If they were knocked
off the bridge, they must've fallen into the river. C'mon!" She ran, ignoring
the wind and the rain, down the riverbank with Ranma and Akane not far behind.
-------------
[December 2]
Ukyo stood by the riverbank, where the now demolished bridge had
once connected with the land. She hammered something, not stopping until it
was firmly planted into the ground.
She looked at her work, sighed, and walked away.
A ragged red umbrella was implanted into the ground, the torn cloth swaying
with the breeze.
- end part 7 -