[Ranma][FanFic] Ranma's Fiancees - Part 8
jstai...@earthlink.net
America; it was really Leif Ericsson. (But if you think I'm
paying back the royalty money, you're nuts.)
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Ranma 1/2: Ranma's Fiancees
By Lady Tesser and Jack Staik
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Ranma and Ranko stood on either side of Akane, the three
surrounded in a single mighty battle aura.
They stared hard at the Kunos, Ryoga-buta, Ukyo, Neko-
Shampoo, and Cologne.
Ranko broke the silence, "Who's stupid enough to go first
against the Saotomes?"
<'The Saotomes'?> Akane thought. <Yes, the Saotomes.> In the
future, when anyone would ask her, it was at that point,
standing with those who loved and respected her, that she
became Akane Saotome.
Suddenly, a new person bounded through the hole in the side
of the cafe. He was soaked, causing the purple gi to cling
invitingly to his smooth skin. His blonde locks fell into
his dark eyes sensually, as his smoldering gaze rested upon
Ranko Saotome in the ripped Chinese dress.
"That ... " Cologne murmured. "Looks familiar."
A nosebleed appeared from the young man, and he made his way
toward Ranko.
"MY KAWAIIKOCHAN, I'VE COME FOR YOU, MY BRIDE!"
"Happosai???" Akane and Ranma stood in complete dumb shock.
"TRAITOR!!!" Cologne shrieked, raising her staff.
"EEK!!!" Ranko added, pulling the rest of her dress down to
cover herself.
Ranma pulled her behind him and Akane. "The cursed water you
drank did affect you, huh?" he asked.
"Of course," Happosai replied nonchalantly. "And unlike you
children, I don't have to worry about getting wet. Drinking
is the only way to trigger it."
Neko-Shampoo remembered to close her mouth and stop
drooling. <Hot damn! Hiba-chan didn't tell me he was *this*
cute!>
"Hmph," Akane said. "Betcha drinking sake messes you up."
"True," Happosai agreed. "Sake is properly drunk warm. Turn
back into a wrinkled dirty old man whenever I want to get
properly plastered." He leered at Ranko. "Of course, I'll
have no need of it - once I have my kawaiikochan."
Ranko shook her head. "I always wanted to be carried off by
a handsome martial artist, but not him!"
"You ain't touchin' my sister, scumbag!!" Ranma growled.
"What?" Kuno asked, only now understanding what was going
on. "You dare kidnap my Redheaded Goddess for your
perversions, foul demon?"
"Damn straight, boy!" Happosai replied. "And I've got
*thousands* of perversions, too!" he said proudly.
Kuno's mind was going at a thousand miles an hour, visions
of delicious domination going through his head. <Gah, this
is torture! I *must* have her!> "You shall never have her,
not whilst the Blue thunder lives!"
"Forget it, little man," Happosai told him, and posed to
fight Ranma to claim his young bride.
Kuno charged forward, weapon at the ready. "FOUL MONSTER, I
SHALL SMITE THEE - YOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!! OUCH!! OWIE!!"
Kuno found himself at Happosai's feet, twisted into a bow by
the young blonde man. "That didn't hurt," he said.
The old-pervert-trapped-in-a-stud's-body turned back to the
Saotomes.
<Oh hell - Kuno tried to protect Ko-chan. Now I owe him a
debt of honor.> Ranma thought disgustedly.
Ukyo whipped out a double-handful of mini-spatulas and
hurled them toward Akane's head. <So now I'm helping
Happosai,> she thought, <Who'd've thunk?>
Akane's hand flicked up, knocking the now-partially-molten
projectiles away. Her head snapped around, focusing on Ukyo.
"Oops," Ukyo chirped as Akane stomped up to her.
"Um ... forgive and forget?" Ukyo said in friendly tones.
"Forget it, sister! YAH!" Akane used her palm to push Ukyo
in a sudden snap, right to the back door of the cafe.
She crashed through the door, and landed face-first on
Konatsu.
"Ukyo-sama?" he blushed deeply, feeling her body on top of
his, her scent filling his nose.
She looked down at him, feeling a slight clench in her
stomach, and sighed. She collapsed, burying her head on his
chest, and sobbed.
"Ranchan wants to marry that gorilla! Ranma no baka!"
Konatsu did the only thing that came to him: he drew his
arms around her and hugged her to him.
* * * * * * * * * *
Happosai advanced on Ranma and Ranko, drawing up his ki to
get rid of the boy. His younger state made him stronger, and
his need to have the girl more dire.
"KACHU TENSHIN AMIGURIKEN!!" the Saotomes cried, bombarding
Happosai with hundreds of body-blows each.
He smirked, then shot his hand out to grab Ranko. Ranma
dived into the path of the Old Lech's hand.
Happosai's hand wrapped around Ranma's throat, choking him.
Ranma brought his foot up, connecting it with the blond
man's face, then cracked his forearm down on Happosai's
wrist, forcing him to drop the boy.
"Neechan, get out of here!" Ranma shouted.
"Hell, no!" she cried. The girl jumped up and toward the Old
Pervert, her body twisting as she delivered a perfect Flying
Crescent Kick, her foot slamming across Happosai's handsome
face.
Happosai rolled with the blow, and grabbed her ankle,
throwing her down to the floor.
"AAARRGGHHHHHHH!!!" she shrieked, her ki draining at the
contact. Happosai's face had a leer of inhuman lust as he
drained Ranko's very life force.
Suddenly, a staff walloped Happosai behind the head, and
Ranma's fist connected with the pervert's face.
He let go of her ankle, dazed by the double play. "That
didn't hurt, y'know," he croaked before he fell.
Cologne stood behind Happosai as he collapsed to his knees
from the double blow. "The bastard had been asking for it
for almost three hundred years.", she stated with dignity.
"Whatever works, Old Ghoul.", Ranma grinned. Ranko smiled
and kicked a piece of wall toward Kodachi to help out Akane.
* * * * * * * * * *
Kodachi, meanwhile, had regained consciousness and was
engaging Akane in an impromptu Martial Arts Rhythmic
Gymnastics contest; her need to save her Ranma-sama from a
doomed marriage driving her to beat Akane with all weapons
known to her.
Akane had given as good as she got, not only using the items
and debris around her, but catching and re-using Kodachi's
weapons as well.
A chunk of masonry hit Kodachi in the side, causing her to
fall to her knees.
"Give it up, Kodachi-ama!" Akane snarled. "You've lost!
Again!"
"NEVER!!" snarled the mad noblewoman. "I'll kill you and
he'll be MINE!!" The ribbon snapped forward like a whip.
"LIKE HELL!!" Akane yelled, bringing her hands up before
her.
Ranma had tried to teach her the basics of ki-blasts, but
Akane had never managed to focus her power enough. Now her
emotions were pure, unclouded by doubt or self-hate. Now she
didn't think or question - she acted.
"JEIGOKU SEISATSU!!"
The Inferno Spirit Obliteration - fueled by her (for once)
righteous fury - slammed into Kodachi, searing her clothes,
vaporizing her ribbon, and hurling her into the wall. She
groaned, then fell smoldering out of the gymnast-shaped
depression onto the rubble-strewn floor.
While Kodachi examined the inside of her skull, Akane made
use of the leftover noodles to quickly wrap up the demented
girl.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Saotome siblings and the Old Amazon looked at the prone
body of Happosai.
"Damn!!" Ranko exclaimed. "We nailed him!"
"Not ... yet ... " Happosai moaned, and reared up, slamming
his face right over Ranko's panty-covered groin.
"OH GOD NO!!!"
Ranko felt the drain begin, her life swirling out of her
with her heart in a frenzied dance.
The two of them were locked together by tendrils of life-
force, with Ranko getting visibly weaker while Happosai got
stronger.
"KO-CHAN!" Ranma cried, and grabbed her around her
shoulders.
The tendrils wrapped around him, linking him with them,
Happosai between the two.
Akane finished binding Kodachi and stood up to see the play
of energy between Ranko, Happosai, and Ranma.
Ranko felt Ranma's strength pour through her veins, his ki
mingling with hers, fighting to save it from death. A
circuit connected between their souls, their yin and yang
energies blending and dancing together in perfect balance,
creating a deeper, stronger, and far greater power than man
or martial artist had ever known.
Between then, over the prone Happosai, a greenish-blue ball
of force gathered.
And, unknown to them, a greater Power reached out ...
<Ranko.>
<Ranma.>
<Ready.>
<Now.>
Like a lightning bolt, the force-ball descended upon
Happosai.
The blast screamed through Happosai's body and soul, down to
his DNA and genes. A blinding flash filled Ucchan's and
exploded like a silent nuclear light.
* * * * * * * * * *
The smell of ozone filled the shell of a building, as the
winds and rain continued their rant over Nerima.
Akane held her fiance and his sister in her arms, both weak
from the ki blast. Tears stung her eyes, but she held them
in, never letting the old Amazon know she was weak enough to
cry.
A hand touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see
Cologne holding a squirmy baby in a tattered purple gi.
"Want a taste for yourself, Ghoul??" Akane snarled.
"Not today, child." Cologne said. <Especially since I've
seen what you've become. Eliminating such potential would be
a waste.>
"Arigato." She looked at the child. "So, what are you going
to do with Happosai?"
Cologne looked down at the baby in her arm, smirking at the
blond child.
"Even the Gods know all debts must be paid. I will take him
back to the Amazon village and raise him to be a virtuous
knight and protector of down-trodden women."
Akane smiled. "A fitting second chance for the old hentai.
Good luck." A thought crossed her mind. "What about his
Jusenkyo curse? Won't he change back to his pervert self
when he gets ahold of warm liquid?"
"I don't know," admitted Cologne. "But in this form, and
with the nature of his curse, the cure will be easy to
administer."
Akane's eyes got wide. "You have a cure??"
Cologne smiled. "I see no harm in telling you." <Besides
which, the gesture will make you will feel friendly towards
me. The Amazon Nation can always use new strong blood - male
or female.>
"The cure to the Curse of Jusenkyo is simple in principle,
but difficult in implementation. All a victim need do is to
avoid transforming for a year and a day, and the victim is
frozen in whatever form he has been in."
"A year and a day?" Akane gasped. "When he tries to stay in
one form, every weird coincidence in the world suddenly pops
up to change him!"
"That's why it's difficult in implementation." Cologne
affirmed.
"Akane?" Ranma mumbled.
"yeaaa," Ranko bleated.
Knowing that they typhoon made leaving for assistance
dangerous at this point, Cologne hopped down from her staff
to check on the Saotome's condition.
It wouldn't do for three such prime candidates for Amazon
citizenship to die prematurely.
* * * * * * * * * *
Later that evening, the winds had died to a gentle howl, but
the rain was still hard, causing minor flooding in the
streets.
A knock came from the front door of the Tendo house. Kasumi
went to the door, hoping it was the rest of the family
returning from wherever they went. Ranma, Akane, and Ranko
would probably have a tale to tell. (After all, *Akane*
charging out to rescue *Ranma* from a kidnapper? Probably a
unique event.)
Instead, she found an older man with grey-shot black hair
standing in the doorway, looking around in puzzlement.
Kasumi brought him in from the storm and offered him a
towel.
"Welcome to the Tendo Dojo. May I help you?" she asked.
"Yes. I'm looking for my son Ryoga. I hear he sometimes
frequents the Tendo Dojo."
Kasumi's face hardened. "He did. He is no longer welcome
here for the offenses he has committed against this family."
Mr Hibiki looked somewhat shocked at this statement.
"However, Hibiki-san, there's no reason to turn you out into
the storm. Please make yourself at home. When the storm lets
up, we can escort you to the Tofu Clinic, where your son was
last seen."
Hibiki-san bowed. "Arigato, Tendo-san."
She bit her lip and went back into the dining room.
"Oneechan? Hibiki-otosan is in the hall, looking for Ryoga."
"Hibiki?" Nodoka looked up. She stood up and entered the
hall ahead of the girls.
Her blue eyes met the senior Hibiki's brown ones, and she
clasped her hand over her mouth.
"Ichiro-kun - it's you!"
"Nodoka-chan?"
Nabiki facefaulted and Kasumi said, "Oh, my ... Ranma and
Ryoga are ... oh, my ..." <Well, it explains the resemblance
between them ... >
* * * * * * * * * *
Tofu felt the flare of a ki-blast all the way from his
clinic. Even though he disdained the prominent acrobatics of
the younger crowd, tonight he leapt across the rain-slick
rooftops of Nerima toward Ucchan's, medical bag in hand.
A leap brought him to the sundered front window of Ucchan's.
Looking in, he saw the Saotome siblings in Akane's arms,
Kodachi Kuno in a smoldering heap and tied with noodles,
Tatewaki Kuno twisted in a heap, the familiar forms of
Shampoo-cat and Ryoga-pig under a table, and Cologne holding
a baby.
"Hell of a party," he commented.
As he rushed over to the Saotomes, he noticed that Akane was
sweating in rivers. Looking with his third eye, he saw that
Akane's body was on the verge of collapse. She had used
almost every bodily reserve, pouring her entire supply of
life-force into her battle aura.
<The Heart's Fire,> he remembered.
The Heart's Fire was a very dangerous - and rare - advanced
ki ability, enhancing every physical ability and reaction,
as well as generating an aura of heat. She must have been
virtually invincible during the battle that had (obviously)
just taken place. Indeed, the burns and melted weapons lying
around testified to the struggle her opponents had put up.
But now she was near death.
A quick tap on the proper shiatsu point put her to sleep,
and a few more slowed down her bodily processes enough to
allow her to begin healing.
A quick examination of the Saotomes showed that they were
exhausted, but not to the extent Akane had been. And their
imbalanced auras were now normal - powerful, but normal.
A quick glance showed the rest were in no danger.
"Cologne-san," he asked. "Can you describe what happened
here?"
Cologne smiled. "Where to begin ..."
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To Be Continued