Dragonball Ryoga
!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"
Chapter One
Four days after having challenged Ranma to a man to man fight, Ryoga went racing towards the vacant lot behind his house as soon as it came into view only to find nobody there.
"Huff! Huff! Ranma, where are you?!" he screamed as he raised his fist to the sky.
After turning his head to the right and then to the left for a couple minutes, Ryoga stomped the ground, went inside, put on a backpack, and left his house for the last time in his search for Ranma.
XXX
"How much longer before we get to this Jusenkyo place, Pop? We've been walking for hours," Ranma Saotome asked impatiently as the morning sun shone brightly on them.
The young, moderately muscular young man of eighteen years turned towards his father who looked out towards a large valley with springs at the bottom of it. Both of them carried huge backpacks and were wearing karate uniforms that were white at one time but had gotten dirty due to all the traveling they had done. After having gone through cities, farm regions, jungles, and deserts, they had finally managed to make their way on a dirt road surrounded by several large mountains in the Mount Quanjing Region of China in the Bayankala Range of the Qinghai Province deep inside the interior of China. The journey had been long and hard, for Ranma especially, but he had become so much stronger than 90 percent of the fighters on the planet.
"We're almost there, Ranma. After this session, our training trip is over. There are some people in Japan I want you to meet after this, so get ready," a middle-aged man with a scarf on his head explained.
Genma Saotome was a hefty man with broad shoulders, but despite his frumpy appearance, he had a massive amount of martial arts skill that also went beyond at least 90 percent of the fighters of the world. He had trained Ranma himself along with many other various martial arts masters all over Asia, mostly China. Ranma was actually a more competent fighter than his father and would easily be able to beat his father except for the fact that Genma knew Ranma's fighting style so well that he had his number to an extent.
However, another martial artist in the 90 percentile was on their trail. Ryoga Hibiki had had many scraps with Ranma in the past. He had even challenged him to a man to man fight behind his house. However, because of his inability to keep from getting lost, He had arrived at the appointed place and time a day too late.
Upon finally noticing the ponds of water down below them with thirty-foot bamboo poles sticking up from them, Genma leaped forward. "We're here, boy. Follow me!"
"Right on your heels, Pop!" Ranma called out as he leaped after his dad. The young man felt a sense of euphoria as air, momentum, and an aroma of fresh water came rushing upwards towards him.
"This place is just beautiful! I can't wait to get down there!"
In a matter of seconds, they were at ground level with Jusenkyo. At that point, a man wearing a brown shirt, matching pants, and a hat with a star on the front of it approached them.
"Here, sirs, we come to famous Training Ground of Cursed Springs, Jusenkyo," the brown clothed guide announced as he showed them the kanji sign for Jusenkyo.
Upon regarding the guide and ignoring him, Genma turned towards his son. "Are you ready, Ranma?"
"I'm ready, Pop. This place isn't as daunting as I thought it would be. Even if it is impressive to look at," Ranma replied as he and his father put their huge packs down
"You very strange ones, yes?" the guide said in regards to the pair who continued to ignore him.
"This place is very dangerous. Nobody use now. More than one thousand springs here, and each one end in tragedy.
"Follow me, Ranma," Genma said as he leaped several yards into the air towards one of the bamboo poles landing on top of it.
"Right behind you, Pop!" Ranma replied as he did the same as his father, facing him, standing on another pole with one foot in the crane stance.
"Sirs, what you doing? I no finish telling you tragic story!" the guide called out to them anxiously.
"I won't go easy on you, Ranma," the father said to his son.
"That's just how I want it, Pop."
"Oh, sirs! It very bad if you fall in spring!" the guide called out to them as each of the martial artists leaped towards each other, engaging in hand to hand combat, punching and kicking as they seemed to hover in the air for a few scant moments. Then they each bypassed the other, leaping and landing on top of another pole.
The two of them stared at each other, tensing up. Then they leaped off their respective poles, charging each other midair. However, this time Ranma got the drop on his father, drop kicking him into one of the springs.
"Gotcha! What's wrong, old man? Are we done already?" Ranma said from the high vantage point of his pole.
To the surprise of the young man whose eyes widened, a giant panda came splashing out of the spring into which his father had plunged and leaped out of the spring and on top of the pole facing Ranma's.
"What the…" Ranma called out.
"He fell into the Spring of Drowned Panda. Is very tragic story of panda that drown there 2,000 year ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of panda. Is very cursed spring," the guide explained.
"This is the first time we've heard of this!" Ranma answered the guide as he stayed balanced on his pole.
"You won't escape me this time, Ranma!" a voice called out from a cliff overseeing the Jusenkyo springs.
"Ryoga, be careful! This place is dangerous!" Ranma yelled back.
"You're just frightened over what I'm going to do with you! Well, now you're gonna get it!" Ryoga announced as he jumped off the cliff towards his target right into Genma's panda form that had leaped out of the spring he had fallen into.
The panda's eyes widened as he found that he had struck Ryoga knocking him towards a spring that was covered by a wooden plank, but despite this, Ryoga's hardened body came crashing through it anyway.
"Oh, no. You fall in Spring of Drowned Cyborg! Is tragic legend of powerful winged warrior that drown there over 1,000 year ago," the guide explained.
"Gulp. What?!" Ryoga came flying out of the spring with a pair of black wings bursting out of his back having torn away his shirt.
"What happened to me?! Ranma, this is your fault!"
Ryoga instinctively flew towards Ranma who was still standing on his pole, prompting the martial artist to look around and get a better feel for his environment. Then he noticed a spring that was a few meters away that glowed white when a bird had landed near it, making it vanish.
"This guy has gotten a whole lot more power and toughness. There's no way I can beat him unless I knock Ryoga into that interdimensional pool and send him away. That's my only hope. But I'll only get one chance," Ranma thought as he prepared himself.
"Ranma!" Ryoga called out as he flew at Ranma at an inhuman speed. At first, Ranma seemed to back away. Then to Ryoga's surprise, Ranma shot forward, grabbed him by his wings, spun him around several times until he threw him into the previous glowing spring.
"What did you… Nooo!"
"Whew!" Ranma gasped as he landed on the ground a few feet from the guide who had a look of shock on his face.
"I not know what that spring is."
"That's all right. You can call it an Interdimensional Spring."
Ranma turned towards his pandafied father and raised his eyebrows.
"Pop, you've turned into a panda. Do you still want to go back to Japan? This is some crazy place you had us visit."
"AAAAAAAGGHHH!" Ryoga screamed as he went flying through the inter-dimensional wormhole until he smashed into the ground unconscious.
XXX
"Here he is, Professor Long!" a large man called out as he kicked open the door and dragged Ryoga's unconscious form into a large lab which was one of the most well-equipped labs on the planet. There were even lab products and vials that the best scientists in the world would not have recognized.
"Hold him right there, Sergeant Metallic. I'll get to him in a moment."
Sergeant Metallic was giant of a man wearing a military jacket and shirt that bared his arms along with army boots, black gloves, and sunglasses. The powerfully built, warrior sported short cropped, red hair and large shoulders and arms.
"I got him, but watch your tone with me, little lady," the bruiser said, regarding the slightly perturbed doctor with a harsh glare.
"I didn't mean any disrespect, Sergeant Metallic. It's just that your boss wants this done right away and told me you'd help out."
Professor Chow Long turned away from her electronic equipment and regarded the Red Ribbon soldier. She was five feet six inches tall with a slender yet shapely physique that weighed 125 pounds. Chow had long, chest-length black hair and dark eyes. In addition to that, her protruding yet gravity-defying bosom threatened to burst through the white lab coat and blue shirt she wore underneath whenever she moved to the right or the left.
!BEEP!BEEP! Then the doctor turned away from the heavyset man and answered her cell phone.
"How is everything running smoothly over there, Chow?" a harsh, cultured voice demanded from the other end of the line.
"Everything's going fine, Doctor Gero. The test subject is here right now. We can get started whenever you want to," the professor explained.
"Good. Get him ready. I'll be there in a couple of minutes," the cold, harsh voice on the other end ordered.
"Doctor Gero was very pleased with the speed at which you've acquired such a good specimen, Chow. Too bad, his brain probably won't survive the experiment," Metallic interjected.
"Huh? What's going on?" Ryoga mumbled as he began to catch his breath.
"Is this the young man you think has so much potential?" a handsome, middle-aged man with long, luscious, red hair, a beard, and mustache, along with a fairly athletic physique announced as he walked into the large lab with four well-dressed bodyguards surrounding him along with four more scientists.
"This is him. Since you're here, we can get started. Everything's ready to go, Doctor Gero," Professor Chow Long stated with confidence, motioning to the two man-sized lab tables already set up.
"What are you doing?" Ryoga protested while struggling wake up.
"Quiet!" his king-sized captor commanded. Then he nerve pinched him on the side of the young man's neck, sending him into a world of unconsciousness.
XXX
Sometime later, Ryoga awoke to find himself strapped to a table while he was hooked up to a large, lit-up machine that illuminated the whole lab.
"Good. You're awake." Ryoga looked to his right and noticed the same middle-aged man from before.
"What are you going to do with me?"
"I'm planning on using you to increase my physical power. Even though this building is part of Rampart Labs, I've recently acquired it. As you might know, I am Doctor Gero, the greatest man in the world."
"I've never heard of you. It seems to me you're just a mad scientist. Am I even still on the planet Earth?" Ryoga asked.
"I'm more than a just a great scientist; I'm a powerful businessman as well. And this is the planet Earth. My soldiers tell me that they found you near the lab and that you weren't really from around here. I suspect that's true and why you're so useful to my plans."
"What plans are those?"
"I've created a few small devices that beep off silently when someone with great potential gets near it. For months no one has been able to find someone like you. When this experiment is done, I shall be the strongest man in the world."
"Are you crazy?!"
"No, of course not. I'm very sane," Doctor Gero answered matter-of-factually.
"First he steals my bread. Then he skips out on our man to man match. And lastly, he sends me to this other universe. RANMA THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
Gero turned towards Ryoga with his eyes raised. "Who is this Ranma? Oh, never mind. You're mine now."
"I still don't see how my presence here would help you," the restrained youth interjected.
"What I needed wasn't strength and power so much as potential. After one of my devices detected your potential, my more sophisticated computers analyzed you and informed me that you had the most untapped potential of anyone else around. There were others who had almost as much as you, but they had reached much of their potential already, making them hard to defeat and bring to heel. Not only were you the best subject, the fact that you were living such a humdrum lifestyle made acquiring you that much easier despite all the potential power that resided in you. Besides that, I plan to artificially increase your power before I drain you of it."
"You plan on jacking me up on steroids?" Ryoga asked, giving the middle-aged man a strange look.
"That's such an oversimplification, but you could say something like that," Doctor Gero answered.
"Why not take your glorified steroids yourself, thus making yourself the most powerful man in the world without having to involve me?"
"Now that's the question. I wanted to make sure the experiment worked before using it on myself. If the plan doesn't work, I'll have to find another guinea pig for my experiment at a later date."
"Noo!" the lost boy screamed as he shook against his bonds, trying again to break free. Then he breathed slowly, recovering from his efforts.
"Those bands are quite strong, so you won't be able to break them. Anyway, before this experiment commences, I'll make certain you're unconscious. Then after increasing your power to its maximum potential, I shall drain all of it into myself. It's a pity you won't live to see how powerful I'll become, but your life is a small price to pay for me acquiring what I want."
"No! I won't let you do this!" Ryoga yelled.
"Well, we've spent enough time talking. Now we shall commence with the experiment! Is everybody ready?!"
"We're ready, Doctor!" every one of his employers answered in unison.
XXX
A few hours later, after having been injected with all sorts of chemicals, elixirs, radiations, steroids, and serums, Ryoga awoke with a start as electricity surged through him. "Aaarrgh!" Then he vanished!
"What happened?" one of the scientists demanded.
"Our instruments tell us he's gone to another dimension. Maybe we should shut this down," another scientist commented.
"No!" Gero demanded. "I can feel the power surging through me."
XXX
!BOOM! A moment later, Ryoga reappeared, having grown bigger and stronger. He now had a larger than life muscular physique that put most bodybuilders to shame, having attained a height of six feet two inches tall while weighing 225 pounds of much-defined muscle. At the same time, his arms had grown to 20 inches around in circumference, being perfectly symmetrical with the rest of his body. Along with his new, more impressive appearance, his hair glistened along with his wings. Even his pectorals were powerful to behold as he breathed in and out against the bands that held him fast.
Being strapped to the table right next to Ryoga with wires injected into him as well, Doctor Gero had also become bigger and stronger.
"What happened to you? You've become powerful. Anyhow, soon your acquired power will be all mine," Gero said.
"Never! I refuse to be some pawn in your attempt to become stronger without working for it, especially after you almost killed me in a quest for power!"
"Sacrifices must be made. Now stay…"
"I can break these cuffs!"
"Your restraints are made of tempered steel. You can't break them," Doctor Gero answered, giving Ryoga a sideward glance.
"Aaaagh!" Ryoga screamed in a much deeper voice and with much more presence than anyone there had ever seen of him. To the surprise of everyone else in the room, he strained against the restraints that were now too small for him, bending them!
Then Gero looked up towards Professor Chow Long, narrowing his eyes at her. "You told me the drugs with which you injected him would have kept him unconscious during the whole process.
"They should have done just that, Doctor Gero!" Chow answered, her impressive bosom heaving as she gasped nervously.
"Then why didn't they?!" Gero demanded as he darkened towards her.
"The only way he could have woken up was if his willpower was a whole lot stronger than we thought it was, but that's impossible though since this guy was just a teenager."
"He obviously wasn't as weak minded as you thought! So what happened?!" Gero demanded.
"I don't know!" Chow replied in a matter-of-fact manner as she slowed her breathing to keep from babbling incoherently while sweating bullets.
"Fool! No matter! The process is almost done!" the now larger man answered.
"No, Gero!" the newly changed Ryoga screamed as power surged through him.
"No one says no to Doctor Gero! I always get what I want. That includes today. Now lay there quietly while I drain you of all your power!"
"Never! I'm not going to let you do it! You're simply a monster, no better than a tin-pot dictator!"
"I'm way better than any dictator! And soon I'll be running the Red Ribbon army. Then I'll be running the world. But don't worry. That will happen soon enough."
"There's no way I'm going to let you have your way!" With an increased herculean effort, the well-muscled captive broke his restraints, expanding his already increased chest. !SNAP!SNAP! "Free!"
"Seize him!" a scientist ordered, pointing at him, prompting a few guards to make their way towards the avian warrior.
As a guard ran up to Ryoga, he utilized a martial arts throw, slamming the oncoming security officer against a nearby wall. Thus the guard collapsed to the ground from the dent in the wall he created.
"I'm out of here, Gero! But one day I'll return, and then I'll deal with you for good!" That being said, Ryoga made his way to the door.
!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!
"We have a problem, Doctor Gero!" another scientist exclaimed.
"What is it now?!"
"The machines are overloading. They're going to explode!" !BOOM!
"Aaaagh!" Gero screamed. Then he felt a tingling all over his head and face as the radiation surged through him.
!KABOOM! "Yaaagh!" Ryoga screamed as another explosion knocked him through the normally shatterproof glass and down the street below.
"Aaaah!"
At that point, the ground that was coming up towards him at an inhuman speed began to slow down, allowing Ryoga to eventually land gently on the sidewalk without smashing into it.
"Wow!" a child called out, pointing at Ryoga as he hastily made his way away from the building.
"What is it, Hako?" the hefty woman holding onto the boy asked after having watched a nice car drive by.
"That guy has been flying!" the same kid answered.
Then the nanny holding his hand turned towards the young child. "Quit making up stories, Hako. You've been watching too many movies. We're going home." With that, the hefty, old woman took the child by the hand and walked off.
"Whew! That was close! I need to get back home as soon as I can. But I barely know the area around here that well. At any rate, I need to get as far away from this place as possible." Then Ryoga flew off faster than he had ever done since before the experiment.
Back at the lab, Doctor Gero had gotten up from the table on which he had lied during the experiment.
"Where is that guinea pig go off to?" Gero demanded.
"We don't know, Doctor Gero! The last we saw of him was when he jumped through the window and fell down to the area below."
"Then send a group to retrieve him!" Gero ordered.
"We did send a group, but by the time they had gotten there, he was gone without a trace. He must have flown off," one of his henchmen answered.
"Flown off?! Bah! Never mind. We'll deal with him later."
Then Gero looked down and regarded himself for a moment. "This wasn't a total loss. I feel a whole lot stronger now, better than I have ever have in my entire life," the powerful man said proudly. He now stood at six feet tall weighing 200 pounds of much-defined muscle.
"It was, but there was a side effect," Professor Chow Long said more than a little nervously.
"Hmm? What is that? I don't feel as if there are any problems. What side effects?"
"You're bald!" another scientist interjected.
"What?!" Gero exclaimed.
"Your head and face are totally hairless!"
Doctor Gero touched the top of his head and face, gasping when he found nothing there. Then he ran out of the lab in a huff and made his way into his personal suite where he had a full-length mirror.
"My hair, my beautiful hair! What happened to my beautiful hair?" Then he noticed the beautifully muscular physique he had. "I'd be perfect if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't have any hair. I'm going to have to get to the bottom of this."
"Why did this happen?!" Gero screamed at his scientists as soon as he had regained his composure and returned to the lab.
Chow sweated nervously, gulping before she gave an answer. "The fact that our captive's willpower and ki stores were so much greater than we had anticipated was what caused the process to go awry. All the power you should have gotten has split between the two of you with the winged guy getting the most of it."
Then Gero got in the busty brunette's face. "You should have made precautions, Professor Long!" Gero said, his face twisting in a rage.
"I-it's the fault of that kid! He's the one who ruined everything here. Besides, you do have a great deal of physical power and vitality. You're even agiler than an expert gymnast and stronger than a champion power-lifter. You're practically superhuman. Thus you have a practically perfect body which is more than a man your age has a right to have. We can look into getting your hair restored."
"We won't be looking into anything!"
"W-what do you mean?"
"You know the price of failure, Professor Long. Now die!" The bald man zipped over to the startled woman at an uncanny speed and grabbed her by the throat, using his immense strength to toss her out of the same hole Jimmy had made just minutes earlier.
"Noooooo!"
Then Gero turned towards his men. "Find the winged man! Search through the whole city if you must, but find him!" Gero ordered. "He must pay for destroying my hair!"
His agents rushed out of the room not just to follow the orders but also to get away from the malevolent presence.
XXX
AUTHOR'S NOTES: As you might have guessed this is another version of Dragonball Z with Ryoga taking the place of Goku.