Ranma / Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!
Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi
Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! Belongs to Minato Soft
Special thanks to Vandenbz who once again put in much time and effort to help me clean up this fight :) ./Bow Now onto what everyone's been waiting for!
Chapter 4: Seriously, For real?
The Kawakami shrine grounds were a wreck within minutes of the battle. The pavement was cracked, pillars broken, and trees were shattered, yet the two combatants continued to fight. One was bursting with joy while the other had been completely taken off guard by the continuous attacks of his opponent.
It was only after ten minutes that Ranma was able to finally put some distance between himself and Momoyo. 'She's relentless!' He thought as he finally had some time to think instead of fighting her on pure instinct.
'I can't believe it!' Momoyo thought joyfully. Ranma had lasted a good ten minutes against her and wasn't showing any signs of losing strength, in fact when she increased the speed and power of her attacks he responded in kind. She couldn't honestly remember when she actually had such a good workout against a single opponent over such a long duration.
'She switches between speed and power,' Ranma remained in his battle stance, ready at a moment's notice to counter anything she might throw at him, pondered his current situation. 'Is it natural or ki-enhanced?' He thought while looking at the girl who was still looking pretty fresh.
'Time to kick this up a notch.' Momoyo thought gleefully as with a light push off the ground she shot forward at incredible speed toward Ranma.
Reacting on instinct to the black blur coming at him, he back-flipped out of the way only to feel a powerful presence still closing in on him. "Tch!" He grunted as he decided to meet the powerful presence head-on and shot a fist out that was countered with a powerful fist of her own.
The shockwave from the two fists impacting kicked up a bit of dust all around the shrine floor.
Ranma was surprised that he was straining so hard to keep his fist extended against the pretty girl known as Momoyo.
Momoyo for her part was amazed by the fact that her fist at full power had been stopped, only a few others could boast that they had ever done so. "HUHHHHHHAHHHHHHHH!" She growled, pushing more of her strength into her arm to force Ranma back and overpower him. To her utter and complete delight he did not budge a single inch but instead matched her strength with his own.
'What a monster, she's easily as strong as Ryoga!' Ranma compared silently as he struggled to keep pace with her. It was a matter of pride that dictated that he did not submit and get forced back.
"YAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Momoyo yelled loudly as she flared up her ki and pushed Ranma back several feet despite his resistance. She had not overpowered him as she had intended, only succeeding in shifting his position.
Jumping up nimbly Momoyo lashed out with a flying kick at Ranma, only to be surprised by his reflexes as he trapped her leg with his arms and unleashed a palm thrust to her solar plexus that sent her flying away.
'I actually felt that!' Momoyo thought in amazement before grinning. 'More! I want more!' She thought as she began to let her carefully controlled ki free from her self-imposed limiters.
Ranma's eyes widened as he saw Momoyo's ki grow denser and darker, growing ever more powerful moment by moment. Herb was a ki dragon, Saffron was a magical creature, this girl was human just like him yet she had absurd reserves of ki. In response he wrapped himself in his own blue ki to show that two could also play this game.
Momoyo was once again surprised as she could see a faint outline of Ranma's ki manifesting itself. His energy had a soft dense blue hue, it was different from her own aura and a different color from the blast he had fired at her earlier. Once more Momoyo let loose another self-imposed chain on her being.
To keep the people around her safe Momoyo had been encouraged and trained to learn self-control, self-control that she had likened to chains. Now however if she wanted to win she would have to break those chains, her battle ki flaring even bigger in response.
Ranma responded in kind as he saw her ki level double, condensing his ki and wrapping it tighter around his body. 'Damn, how does she even have so much?!' He thought in stunned amazement.
Momoyo, unable to contain herself anymore, supercharged every cell in her body and shot forward faster than a bullet toward Ranma and launched a flurry of powerful hand strikes, her arms blurring as they did so.
'Fast!' Ranma thought as he tried to deflect and parry her incoming blows. He realized that her speed was now comparable to his as he was bombarded by her powerful explosive punches. However... If she wanted to trade blows like this, his speed wouldn't lose to anybody!
"Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken!" Ranma shouted as his arms blurred faster than before at Momoyo.
'Impossible!' Momoyo thought as Ranma's punches traveled even faster and overpowered her during their exchange.
Powerful blows hammered into Momoyo's body painfully as she could barely understand how Ranma's speed could surpass her own. She had never lost to anyone in a battle of speed except for Tachibana but even then that girl had lacked strength, Ranma had the raw power to back up his speedy blows, it wasn't just all light taps.
Her defense completely destroyed by her opponent's assault, Momoyo felt Ranma deal a final blow into her gut that knocked her away from him. She tumbled and rolled against the shrine floor helplessly before she adjusted her body to roll with the momentum in a bid to get back to her feet. She could have heard a pin drop as her family members were holding their breath.
'Quiet...' Momoyo thought as she picked herself up, she could feel the bruises on her body beginning to form. 'This is so exciting!' She said to herself as she raised herself back to her full height.
The only thing that prevented Ranma from closing in was his cautiousness. He wasn't stupid and so he waited until the girl stood up again so he could assess her physical damage. To his surprise the girl started to laugh, not Kodachi Kuno's crazy laugh but a laugh that seem filled with joy.
'Odd." Ranma thought as he looked at the girl in confusion.
'Finally!' Momoyo thought excitedly as she started to laugh in pure joy. 'Hey Ranma, please last just a bit more for me, just a bit more!' She mentally commanded the pigtailed boy as she let loose more of her power. After all, no matter how strong her opponent, Momoyo Kawakami would always win.
Ranma was on his guard as he felt her power build up again. Cupping his hands together, he was about to fire a ki blast when he noticed that the ki was being drawn into her body. "What the hell?" He asked confusedly since he hadn't ever seen ki manipulated like that.
"Instant recovery!" Momoyo yelled as a blue aura enveloped her body and instantly healed all her wounds, bringing her body back to one hundred percent.
"Son of a -!" Ranma said in shock as he felt her ki spike and witnessed her body recover from the damage he had inflicted on it.
'That was...That was incredible! Momoyo's ki-reserve must be out of this world!' Ranma thought, he would never waste his ki like that mainly because he couldn't afford to, yet it was spilling out of the girl like a barely controlled dam.
However, just because someone was a lot more powerful didn't mean that they were the stronger fighter as Ranma was well aware of. It was in that instant that Ranma stopped seeing Momoyo as a beautiful girl but instead as an opponent to overcome, after all Ranma Saotome did not lose!
Jumping up in the air with the goal of homing in on her with a powerful kick Ranma watched as Momoyo leapt into the air after him.
Momoyo had seen the shift in Ranma demeanor, it was a small one but she recognized. It was a look she herself wore from time to time. He had been holding back, He had been holding back on her!
It was inconceivable to Momoyo that anyone in her age group would actually think about holding back against her but with that small gesture, the look in Ranma's eyes declared that he would now go all out against her. She couldn't believe that he even had another level to unleash!
To the amazement of the people on the ground, instead of falling, the two somehow stayed in the air and furiously traded blows. In fact they were getting higher and higher up off the ground.
'Amazing Ranma , show me what else you have! Show me everything you are!' She thought excitedly as she decided to meet her dance partner in the air and was once again surprised when he fought just as well in the air as he did on the ground.
'Incredible...' Ranma thought in silent awe to himself. This girl was an amazing aerial combat fighter. Her style and technique was different but it was every bit as effective as his own. He was hard-pressed to keep her at bay, it was however because of his slight distraction at her skill in the air that made him take his attention away from her for half a second, a half a second that she was use to break through his defense and put him into an effective grapple hold.
"Big mistake Ranma-kun! Kawakami Style Izuna Drop!" Momoyo yelled loudly as she was able to get behind Ranma in mid-air and lock his arms in place behind him.
"I'm not out of tricks yet, Momoyo!" Ranma replied informally with as much fervor and he actually popped his arm's socket out of place, surprising the Kawakami heir.
Slipping out of Momoyo's grip Ranma reversed the hold on her while seamlessly plugging his arm back into place as the ground closed in on them.
Momoyo was shocked that Ranma had been able to copy her technique so skillfully, it was a rough way to perform the Inzuna Drop but he had succeeded in executing it, taking her off guard. However…
"You think you can copy my family's style that easily and use it against me?" Momoyo yelled as the ground rushed toward them. Easily breaking out of the imitation of her family's hold, she grappled with Ranma and placed him in a new hold with his head pointing downward first.
"What the-" Ranma said in alarm as the girl skillfully broke his hold on her and reversed it.
"Kawakami Driver!" Momoyo yelled as she smashed Ranma headfirst into the concrete with a mighty impact.
THOOOMMMM!
Momoyo felt the pavement crack as she drove Ranma's head into it, kicking up a cloud of dust and forming a crater on the surface. Yet something felt …off.
"Ngggghhh-" An impossible voice sounded out from beneath her as she felt that her body was still off the ground.
Eyes widening Momoyo looked down between her legs to where Ranma should have been broken only to be surprised by the sight she saw, one of his arms had broken free and he had literally blunted the impact with his palm.
"Yo-You!" Momoyo said in a shocked tone as she felt Ranma drop their combined weight slightly and then flexed his arm, shooting the two of them skyward once more. "Yo-YOU! Ugh!" She was cut off from any further thought as Ranma kneed her face and stunned her sufficiently that she'd loosened her grip enough to let him break free.
Ranma flipped back down to the ground casually and kept a good distance between himself and Momoyo. He slowly rotated his shoulder to get rid of the stinging sensation from his arm. 'Damn....' He thought once more as he looked over to his opponent.
'Unbelievable...' Momoyo thought as she eyed the boy.
Momoyo had thought it was over, Ranma had given her a satisfying fight . She had been able to go all out for a bit but she had been confident that her last move would have ended their battle, only for him to stop the attack at its apex. What surprised her even more was the fact that Ranma STILL looked ready to go.
Suddenly a light blush adorned Momoyo's face as she saw Ranma in a new light, her libido and battle lust exploded in response to her new found discovery.
Ranma was surprised when the girl's face dropped from her battle-charged mode to a softer more feminine look. That action took him by surprise as in that instant he thought she was the most beautiful girl that he had ever seen. He was taken aback when he saw a look of pure joy shining in her exotic red eyes.
"Huh?" Ranma asked, perplexed. That was not something he was using to seeing on his opponents. Usually it was more like something along the lines of 'You're dead Ranma!" or "You're only delaying the inevitable!" Not…happiness.
Momoyo saw the confused look in Ranma's eyes and shook her head with a laugh before looking back at the pig-tailed bo-no, man. She'd acknowledged him as a man.
"Thank you Ranma-kun," Momoyo said honestly with a grateful tone in her voice. "Thank you so much."
"Eh?" Ranma asked dumbly. "Thank you for what?" This girl was not making any sense.
"Thank you for letting me go all out Ranma-kun. You have been a worthy opponent." Momoyo said softly. She could finally cut completely loose and leverage all of her power against him. She had faith that he would survive it. Beaten? Yes. Broken? Yes. But he would survive.
To let herself go completely. It was something that Momoyo could only dreamed about before and Ranma was strong enough not only to let her do that but forced her to do so in order to win! "Prepare yourself." She warned.
Ranma knew something was wrong when she finished her sentence as a powerful explosion of ki washed over the area. "No way! She still had this much left!?" He blurted in shock. Suddenly the girl that he saw was gone, replaced by a warrior that wanted to leave him a broken mess. "Like hell." Ranma said as he focused on his opponent.
To the surrounding audience's surprise, instead of backing away Ranma shot forward at the same time Momoyo did and once again the two clashed right in the middle of the shrine grounds causing light shock waves as they once again exchanged blows.
'Shit, her punches and kicks just got stronger again!' Ranma thought to himself as he deflected Momoyo's latest attack and countered with an elbow thrust, one that she deflected. 'Her ki reserves are beyond incredible!' He once again marveled.
Momoyo was now functioning completely on instinct, she was finally able to do the one thing she had always wanted to do. Let loose completely and empty all of her energy on an opponent. No fancy take-downs, no fancy attacks. Just pure blunt overwhelming power to take this person down, and on nothing but pure instinct.
'Shit shit shit shit!' Ranma thought worriedly as he felt himself begin to get overwhelmed by Momoyo's attacks. She was too focused! Her mind was in that zen-like state that all martial artists entered when they were operating at one hundred percent. Further increasing the problems he had to deal with was the fact that every time he actually damaged her badly enough she simply healed herself with that instant recovery ability.
Ranma knew he needed to bleed off some of that monstrous ki reserve and he knew just how to go about doing it.
Following her prey, she started briefly wondering why she could feel Ranma's body getting colder as they moved, he kept dancing backward and curving away from her at the last moment.
"Hiryuu-" Ranma started as he deflected some of her attacks and hammered her with a couple of quick jabs while backing away. 'Chase me Momoyo!' He mentally taunted.
"RARRRGHHHH!" Momoyo yelled savagely as she upped her attack and felt a couple of Ranma's ribs crack under her assault.
"-Shoten-" Ranma gritted his teeth from the pain as he led her deeper into the spiral.
It's almost over now, he's almost ...finished? That last attack of hers must have damaged him badly because he took a wild swing at her and completely missed. 'This is the end!' Momoyo thought respectfully as she finally caught up to her prey with her fist raised to end this. "Forbidden move Fuji Smasher!" She shouted as her glowing fist rocketed toward Ranma's face.
"-Ha!" Ranma said and punched his fist skyward as he watched their mixture of hot and cold ki ignite with a satisfied smirk. 'Gotcha!' He mentally shouted as he noted the girl's surprised expression and saw the energy from the Hiryuu Shoten Ha latch onto her pulling her away a split second before her own attack could have struck.
Momoyo's eyes widened as she felt something grip onto her ki and hold her in place before lifting her off the ground. Not only that the wind was starting to pick up but the once blue skies were actually getting darker.
'No, it's not the sky getting darker.' Momoyo realized as a thick black wind started to form around her. Panicked at her inability to do anything she looked around her and saw the wind starting to solidified around her and Ranma, it taking on the familiar shape not unlike her Kami Kaze No Jutsu ability yet even more menacing.
"No way!" Momoyo muttered helplessly as she was sucked into a nearly formed tornado against her will. This was not the attack of a martial artist, this was a natural phenomenon, one that Ranma had somehow created! "NO WAY!" She shouted loudly as she was trapped in the vortex, unable to escape.
"Hah…hah…" Ranma panted even as he kept his fist raised into the air. The only way for him to get this move to work was to mix his cold ki with an equal amount of his opponent's hot ki. He looked on as their mixed ki formed a powerful vortex that was slimmer yet even more powerful than the one he'd formed at Mount Horai.
'This ain't gonna be enough,' Ranma thought to himself while calculating his chances of victory. 'A regular fall like this ain't enough to beat this girl.' He knew that his conclusion was right. He needed to hit this girl with something more potent. An idea occurred to him as he formulated his plan.
Momoyo could not believe that she was literally being thrown around like a ragged doll. Her battle lust cooled as the ki was drained from her body, forcing her to think and analyze her situation.
'Wait a minute, the tornado get stronger every time I try to break free!' Momoyo realized as she kept getting lifted higher into the air. Her eyes widened. 'So I shouldn't fight!' She thought as she slowly stopped struggling letting her ki taper off.
'Never tried this before, probably gonna hurt.' Ranma thought to himself as he let his cold ki leak up the tornado to wrap itself around Momoyo's body.
'Yes!' Momoyo thought joyfully as the tornado's intensity begin to weaken as she stopped struggling. She decided to just to ride it out and then... 'What's that?' She thought as she felt a cold aura wrap itself around her body.'
"HAH!" Ranma yelled as he yanked down on his cold ki and invert the wind force sharply.
It was when Momoyo hit the apex of the vortex that she saw the clear blue sky before a powerful wind stream grabbed her and shot her down onto the ground at a speed that broke the sound barrier.
Due to the reversal of the polarity of his Hiryuu Shoten Ha, Ranma in turn was yanked into the tornado and tossed around briefly like a rag doll before the attack cleared up.
When the tornado dissipated , Ranma found himself high in the air momentarily before gravity took over and pulled him back down to earth unceremoniously.
+++Sideline +++
Yamato had been stunned for the entire fight, looking around he noticed that he was not the only one. All of the girls, Christiane, Miyako, Wanko, Mayuzumi, even the other two Devas watched the battle in stunned silence. He then turned his eye back to the friggin TORNADO of all things that just formed then abruptly stopped.
The moment the natural phenomenon stopped he could making out debris from the broken concretes, trees, shrines decoration and Ranma hanging in mid air before falling to the ground all around temple grounds. However, Yamato quickly spotted his Nee-san at the center of it all but she was on her back and not moving.
For Yamato himself this was the first time he had ever seen his Nee-san, the woman he had looked up to his entire life, breathing so hard , Her body looked bruised and battered and she appeared to be taking some laborious breath while still unmoving on the ground.
"Who the hell is this kid?" Yamato heard Kuki Ageha whispered in awe to the other Deva, Tsubame.
"..." Tsubame was speechless.
The only sound that Yamato could hear across the entire field was the hard labored breathing of both Ranma and his Nee-san.
It was then to their surprise that Ranma was the first one to move as he rolled himself onto his stomach and started to pick himself off the ground.
"Y-Yamato, should we.." Wanko asked worriedly for her sister, wanting to know if the fight was over.
"Momoyo-senpai lost? She can't lose, she's the strongest in the world!" Gakuto yelled into the battlefield. "Momoyo-senpai!"
"Look!" Miyako said, pointing at the battlefield and to their surprise they saw that Momoyo too had rolled onto her stomach and was getting back up to her hands and knees. Her clothes were ripped and torn, exposing portions of her black bra and panties.
"Nee-san! You can do it!" Yamato yelled out loudly.
"ONE-SAMA! KICK HIS ASS!" Kazuko yelled enthusiastically for her sister.
"Mo-Mo-Yo! Mo-Mo-Yo!" Gakuto, Moro and Capt chanted loudly. They were soon joined by Mayuzumi and Christiane.
"Momoyo-Senpai!" Christiane hollered.
"Momoyo- san!" Mayuzumi shouted hesitantly but only because of her shy nature.
'Momoichi!" Matsukaze , Mayuzumi 'spirit' horse shouted also loudly.
Happosai was feeling quite smug as he took a drag from his pipe. "So what did I say, did my boy deliver or not?" He asked of his old friend.
"More than I ever expected." Tesshin replied to his old friend before looking over at his granddaughter. 'You have never been so pushed to the limit by someone your own age that you simply couldn't overpower. Now how will you respond, Momoyo?' He thought as he continued to watch the battle unfold with a serious expression on his face.
++++Battlefield +++
Momoyo was pushing herself up to her hands and knees when the calls of encouragement from the sidelines came in. "Oi oi you little brats, I'm not supposed to be the underdog here." She chided them under her breath with a smile.
Looking up she saw that Ranma was also on his hands and knees, his shirt having been torn enough in some places to expose parts of his chest. It was pleasing enough to her eyes she mused. "Instant recovery!" She yelled as she gathered her remaining ki-reserves to heal her once again.
Ranma looked up and saw her pull the same recovery move again and all the injuries that she had attained were instantly healed once more. 'W-What is she?' Ranma thought to himself as he saw her act like she was none the worse for wear.
Momoyo on the other hand was surprised that her instant recovery move had worked. That last move of Ranma had drained so much of her ki yet she somehow managed to scrape together enough that she was able to healed most the damage she had suffered. That was however probably the last time she could do it.
Ranma looked on as Momoyo approached him and forced himself to his knees.
Steel gray eyes met sultry red eyes as they assessed each other's condition. Both however had matching looks of determination on their faces. Neither showed any signs of backing down.
"It's over, looks like whatever move you did exhausted a lot of your ki reserves too." Momoyo said casually as she approached Ranma. "You acquitted yourself better than any of my other opponents." She said softly. She heard the gasps from her friends in the crowd at her compliments.
"There is -Hah- one thing- huff- You should know about me -Hah- ..." Ranma panted as he sucked in gulps of fresh air.
"Oh? And what would that be?" Momoyo asked, interested in what this amazing fighter had to say. She would hear his last words.
"Ranma Saotome doesn't LOSE!" Ranma said confidently as he stood up straight, facing her after having gotten his second wind.
"Well, that is unfortunate because Momoyo Kawakami has never been defeated!" Momoyo replied back and matching Ranma's swagger.
The two warriors grinned at one another, an understanding having passed between them.
"Then I guess we'll see who's better then who, eh Momo-chan?" Ranma said in a teasing yet flirting way.
"Let's see if you have enough 'stamina' to keep up with me, Ranma-kun." Momoyo replied back in a seductive tone.
Despite their overly flirtatious conversation the two rushed at each other, both intent on putting the other down once and for all.
"Ranma!" Momoyo yelled as she charged at the pigtailed boy. 'YOU ARE FINISHED!' She mentally shouted Ranma.
"Momoyo!" Ranma yelled back in reply as he charged the long haired beauty.' I ain't done yet!' Ranma mentally shouted to Momoyo.
"Fall!" They both said in unison as Ranma was socked across his face while Momoyo took a vicious blow to her gut. The two combatants were rocked by their opponent's blow before recovering and counterattacking each other at the same time. "Fall!" They shouted at each other again.
What followed was a battle between skilled martial artists using the art in its purest form. No fancy tricks, no powerful ki attacks. It was punch, dodge, parry, block, deflect, strike, and grapple.
'You might have the larger ki reserve Momoyo-' Ranma acknowledged mentally as he blocked her strike and countered with a blow underneath the beautiful girl's chin. '-But in terms of skill I won't lose to anybody!' He shouted mentally as he deflected two more of her punches and landed two jabs on her body.
For a long time Momoyo had felt dissatisfied with herself, as she became progressively stronger honing her skill became pointless. Her challengers never lasted long enough for her to even try out any new skills she had learned and so as far as practical use went, the Kawakami style was not as sharp as it could be. 'Ranma, your skills have been honed to a fine edge,' Momoyo acknowledged mentally. 'I am jealous of the opponents you had to face to get it that strong, however, in terms of power I won't lose to anybody!' She mentally reaffirmed.
'She's gonna wear me down,' Ranma mentally gritted his teeth. 'I'm gonna lose if I don't think of something!' He thought in a panic. It was like this girl was inexhaustible.
'His blows are getting weaker,' Momoyo thought with renewed determination. 'He's at his limits!' She focused on her continued assault.
'No, No! Ranma Saotome never loses, I'm the best damn it!' Ranma mentally berated himself as more and more of Momoyo's powerful blow started to tag him.
'FALL DAMN YOU!' Momoyo mentally demanded at Ranma. Despite the fact that she was landing such powerful punches and kicks on his body, he was still standing, denying her victory. 'Why won't you fall?!' She thought forcefully as she landed more powerful blows onto Ranma's battered body.
'Only one thing left to try, all or nothing gamble!' Ranma thought even as he gritted his teeth.
'There, an opening!' Momoyo mentally crowed in joy. 'It is FINISHED!'
To Momoyo's surprise the moment she went to attack Ranma's opening, Ranma grabbed her wrist and using her momentum, ricocheted it back into her, earning her an ear-ringing punch to her face.
'Now while she's stunned I have to attack with everything I got! Can't hold anything back!' Ranma mentally shouted as he put all of his remaining strength into his attacks and abandoned all efforts at defense. Taking three steps forward he jumped up and socked Momoyo across her face with all his might, the sheer force of the blow sending her spinning. Moving quickly to where she dazedly staggered, Ranma put all his strength again into his attack and he launched her into the air with a textbook-perfect uppercut.
'How? Where is he getting this strength?!' Momoyo mentally pondered in a haze as she got rocked again and again from Ranma's counterattack. She'd gotten too confident and now he had damaged her more then he should. Yet the question she had on her mind was where Ranma was getting his strength from.
'He's not trying to defend himself! ' Momoyo suddenly realized. One punch, she could end him with just one punch.
'Damn it, almost at my limit!' Ranma thought to himself as he exerted his body further than ever before to dance away from her blows and keep pouring all of his strength into hammering her down. 'FALL damn it!' He mentally screamed at her.
Momoyo could not believe that she was unable to land another hit. It probably had something to do with the blood in her eyes or maybe the constant skull-shattering force being directed at her. Maybe it was her broken ribs. 'No it can't end like this! It can't! It won't! I, Momoyo Kawakami, will win!' She mentally affrimed to herself.
Ranma just finished landing one more hit when suddenly staggered on his feet. 'No! Not like this!' Ranma mentally shouted to his traitorous body. He willed his body to recover and move forward for one more attack. Just one more.
'There! An opening!' Momoyo's spirit gleamed with hope as Ranma slowed down for a second. 'Now's my chance!' She thought, determined to put him down.
'Move damn you, move!' Ranma screamed to his body and felt his body respond to his will as it found some way to move. 'Yes!' He mentally crowed and looked up only to see Momoyo closing in on him. He launched a quick counterstrike, hoping to deflect her attack somehow.
"RAAGGGHHHHH!" Momoyo yelled as she shrugged off Ranma's latest attack and landed a full-power punch to the young man's abdomen. She could feel more of Ranma's ribs break as they were no longer protected by his ki. Seeing Ranma double over on her arm, she used her last remaining strength to lurch forward so she could lean him against her.
"It's over," Momoyo whispered intimately to Ranma. "You were absolutely wonderful Ranma-kun." She said softly into his ears.
"No-not yet ,Mo-Momoyo!" Ranma voiced between wheezes.
Momoyo's eyes widened. 'Impossible! He shouldn't be conscious!' She thought incredulously.
"MOMOYOOOOOOOOO!" Ranma let loose a primal roar and landed a direct hit on Momoyo's face, making the two of them fall down together at the same time.
The final attack from Ranma did it as it broke through the last of Momoyo's defenses and hammered home. Her already horribly strained endurance finally exhausted itself as it was too much for her body to handle. Never had she taken that much continuous damage, it was simply too much.
As if in slow motion Momoyo fell backward with Ranma's momentum carrying him with her.
'A tie huh…' Momoyo thought listlessly as she fell onto her back with a dazed expression, already she could see the darkness swimming at the edges of her vision. 'Guess I'll take it.' She thought ruefully as her exhausted body thought that the ground was the most comfortable place it could possibly be.
A moment later Momoyo saw Ranma falling forward onto her, for a second she thought he was going to land on her when impossibly at the last second he turned his body to face her, with his hand extended next to her head as he braced himself from falling. 'How?' Momoyo thought listlessly as she looked at Ranma. Momoyo watched the blood drip down his face as Ranma clearly struggled to even breath much less hold himself up.
Ruby red eyes meet steel once again but this time it was different. Even though their eyes locked with one another, Momoyo felt that Ranma was not looking at her, as if he was looking at something beyond her.
Employing a strength that Momoyo did not know Ranma still had she watched as he struggled to get to his feet before standing over her body, his breathing ragged.
'H-how?' Momoyo wanted to ask Ranma but no sound came out. She was depleted. Exhausted. That was when her grandfather's words came back to her.
++++Flashback++++
Six year old Momoyo had her little legs dipped into the Kawakami shrine's koi pound, a pout adorning her face.
"And what can cause such a frown on my cute granddaughter's face?" Tesshin Kawakami asked gently.
"Mmmm..." Momoyo said evasively as she turned her head away from her grandfather.
"Come now, a frown does not suit you." The old man said as she made funny faces at her.
Momoyo could not help herself and she giggled at her grandfather's antics. "It's just...it's just that everyone is so weak!" She said in frustration. "I have to try and get the kids older than me to fight me seriously!"
"Oh ho, and why are you so concerned that they are weak?" Tesshin asked his pouting granddaughter.
"Because it's boring!" Momoyo huffed. "I can beat them blindfolded and with one hand tied behind my back!"
"Now now, there are 20 other students here, surely one of them could-" Tesshin started to say.
"There's none! I already beat all of them already!" Momoyo exclaimed which made the old man face-fault. "They are all so weak!"
"Well, I bet you somewhere out there, there is someone that is just as strong as you." Tesshin said sagely while stroking his snow-white beard.
"Really grandpa? You think so?" Momoyo asked doubtfully but on a six year old it was a cute expression.
"Yep! I am sure of it and when you meet this person, boy are you going to regret it!" Tesshin said with a chuckle and causing Momoyo to face-fault.
"What? Why would I regret fighting someone as strong as me?" Momoyo asked. Was her grandfather stupid? She wanted that challenge!
"Because, when you face someone as strong as you, the only way you can overcome them is to overcome yourself." Tesshin said sagely. "And sometimes the difference between victory and defeat is just a matter of experience."
"What?! I don't get it at all!" Momoyo said with a huff.
"By the way, I found a couple of more children today around your age. One Yamato Naoe and Gakuto Shimazu." Tesshin said offhandedly.
"Ohh! Are they strong?" Momoyo asked eagerly.
"Not like you no, but I am sure they will find their own strength." Tesshin said with a big smile.
"Phooey, I wish I can meet someone strong now!" Momoyo pouted, kicking her little legs in the koi pond.
"Remember my warning little one, enjoy the here and now, learn, study." Tesshin said. "Few defeats sting worse than a close one but no victory tastes sweeter.
"You talk funny gramps." Momoyo said and puffed up her cheeks before she ran off leaving the old man alone.
++++End Flashback ++++
'So that's what the old man meant...' Momoyo recalled as darkness threatened to swallow her. 'No! I can still fight! He can't win! I have never been defeated!' she wanted to protest but her body refused to move.
"Momoyo Kawakami is unable to continue! Winner, Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of martial arts!"
As if by magic ,Momoyo strength completely fled her after hearing that declaration. 'I..I lost?' She thought dazedly.'I ..I ..can't..'
Momoyo thoughts were interrupted as she saw Ranma body sway in front of her , the last image that she saw before darkness took her was Ranma falling forward onto her.
TBC...
A/N: So I hope this fight did not disappoint but if it did then I am sorry! Probably shouldn't have hyped it up as much right! Kinda shot myself in the foot there! If I did then awesome! Whew! Now for fans familiar with one series or the other probably going "Wait they both have more in their arsenal!" Well you're absolutely correct! However this is how I see the fight and how I broke it down, when Ranma fight an enemy, the enemy is always the one that escalate the fight to cause destruction. When Momoyo fought the three Devas in the anime, there were not that much collateral damage, when she fought Tachibana cyborg, the Cyborg was the one wrecking most of the city.
So what happen when two skilled fighters come against each other? To me, I felt that they would use special ability that would be best suited to the situation, the reason why there aren't more damages and destruction is by nature they are not that destructive and most of those destructive force are focused and channeled and used against one another. So imagine ALL of that destruction that you see in a normal Ranma or Momoyo fight and condense that all into each other and that kind of gives you the idea of the damage they suffered personally.
For some reason when I was writing this story, I was listening to Kingdom Hearts Fate of the Unknown. It felt..appropriate because up until that very last bit of line I haven't decided who I wanted to win.
So all in all , I tried to highlight and show case how they each differ from one another and hopefully show you that edged that Ranma won with.
Once again thank you for the overwhelmingly positive response and all the people who took the time out to leave a review, it's very encouraging!
As for anyone that actually take the time out to read my little thoughts and notes, thank you !
Next up! The Aftermath! What will the fall out be now?
As always C+C Appreciate, Reviews welcome!