RANMA ½: THE MADNESS OF RYOGA P.4
There was an old saying: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorn.
And like woman, men also harbored a hidden rage. But martial artists were trained to control their emotions, to allow their actions voice their words.
From the roof of the Tendo Training Hall, Ranma felt a chill simmer down his spine. It was an eerie feeling, and one he couldn't quite explain. He looked upon himself in the back courtyard, but how could he be in two places at once and be of two different sexes? He was female and the other was male.
The weather rained heavily down. How could the other not be affected by the Jusenkyo curse? Unless it was an imposter?
But from this fake he could sense an unbelievable and powerful aura. It felt familiar and yet simultaneously different. Almost as if there were two indomitable spirits inhabiting the same body. It was his body, but the aura radiating from it was from someone else.
His first thought was Copycat Ken, but there was no way this immense aura was coming from him. Copycat Ken was merely a trickster - not a martial artist.
--
The air around Ranma began to swell and he felt a tightness in his jolts and muscles he couldn't explain. It was almost as if something was draining all the energy around him. And it was then that he noticed that this aura he was feeling could only come from one person: Ryoga Hibiki. He had felt this kind of energy drain before. It was the depressive power of a heavy heart: the ShiShi Hokodan technique.
But that was impossible. He was holding Ryoga in his hand at the moment. How could he be sensing Ryoga's Lion Roar Shot now if he was a pig? There had to be another explanation.
He jumped off the roof and landed in the water that flooded the Tendo property; faced his mirror image.
"I want answers and I wann'em now!" Ranma demanded, dropping P-Chan. P-Chan squealed and make a splash in the water. Then he swam to the porch, shook off, and watched the events unfold. "Who are you? You're not me. I know who I am!" Ranma said.
But the other refused to give him a verbal answer and a malice smirk crept onto his face. Ranma didn't understand.
Suddenly a violent wind whipped up out of nowhere and tossed Ranma into the water, making a big splash.
Ranma emerged from the water. He spit and got to his feet, clenching his fists at his side. He gave the other a nasty and hateful stare. "You know what, buddy," he started to say, "I dunno who you are, but I don't care anymore. You're gonna down. And when you do, you better start explainin'!"
Ranma leapt into the air and attacked the other. However, his effects were in vain. And invisible force thrust him back tossed him back into the water. He made an even bigger splash this time and water thundered over him like a broken dike. Ranma emerged once more and looked back at the other, even angrier.
"Idiot! You're no match for me now." The other finally said. "By a freak of nature, I've been granted a wondrous gift. Hence my spiritual powers have grown immensely. I am no longer the weakling you used to push around, Ranma. My skills have increased a hundred fold. At first I didn't understand why this had happened to me, but it's clear to me now… and the conjoining of our body and souls has given me the power to finally defeat you once and for all! Our skills are one, genetically imprinted as one."
"You're nuts, whoever you are. And about that… who are you?"
"My name is no longer important because am I no longer and will never be him again. All you have to be concerned about it is how you wanna to die. But sorry. I'm afraid I've already chosen your fate."
And he pointed above him.
Ranma glanced up and gasped, seeing a gigantic ball of energy hovering high above the Tendo Training Hall. It was big enough to completely obliterate every living thing in the vicinity.
"I don't understand, how is this possible?" Ranma began to say. "Only Ryoga can perform the Loin Roar Shot technique. But you're not him … you're me…or are you? Are you some sort of demon? What grudge do you have against me?"
"The biggest one of all…" the other said. "The grudge of REVENGE!"
Instantly, the other summoned the reminder of his power and added it to the gigantic ball of energy, draining himself of all spiritual Ki, of all emotion. And the gigantic ball of energy began to plummet to the ground, like a meteorite striking the earth at a billion times a second.
There was a tremendous explosion and the ground rocked with what felt like a level ten rioter scale earthquake. The Tendo Training Hall was destroyed in seconds and all its inhabitants inside and out were instantly obliterated. All that remained of the property was a deep crater where the house once stood.
When the winds of the explosion subsided and the debris settled, the heat from the energy sizzling from the ground, the other opened his eyes and looked around. Temporarily disorientated he lost his balance and collapsed to his knees. But he got right back up and witnessed the huge crater he was standing in.
He had done it. He had generated enough power with the Ultimate ShiShi Hokodan to bring this much destruction. The entire Tendo property was destroyed, but he didn't care. He had finally defeated the only rival who had ever brought him dishonor. Ranma Saotome was finally dead!
And Ryoga laughed, and rejoiced.
"I finally did it! I finally beat you, Ranma!" he shouted out.
He climbed out of the crater and surveyed what he had done.
Seeing what he had done, he danced around and cheered.
Suddenly he bumped into something and nearly tripped. He looked down and there half-buried was a body. He crouched down and eyed the dead person. He didn't know who it was - maybe Ranma - because the person's face was planted deep into the debris and dirt he couldn't tell. Humoring himself, he brushed off some of the dirt from the body and then suddenly froze in horror. He knew who it was.
Of all people…
It was his beloved, Akane Tendo.
He swept her up into his arms and cradled her broken body and wept. He was so intent on killing Saotome that he'd forgotten about everyone else.
He looked down at her dirt encrusted face, her lifeless head limp in his arms. "I didn't mean it, Akane. Honest I didn't. My target was Ranma. Not you. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, my beloved." He brought her head under his chin and rocked her back and forth cradling her body in his arms, blubbering out loud, and he didn't care who say or heard him.
He should've listened to her before using the nan-ban mirror to time travel. She said they'd find a way to reverse what the lightning had done to him and Ranma. But he didn't want to listen. He was too blinded by rage that he blocked everything other than his own personal vendetta out of his mind. He couldn't bare living in Ranma's body the rest of his life even though he was cured of the pig.
But…
Wait a minute.
"But I can change these events, the magic mirror can take me back," he said. "I can use it to reverse what I've done. Yes! That's what I'll do. Go back. And bring you back to life, Akane."
"That's easier said than done," Happosai (the one who followed him through time) said, holding the magic mirror in his hand.
Ryoga looked at him standing on a huge rock that had been uprooted from the ShiShi Hokodan explosion. And to his shock and horror, the "nan-ban" mirror was shattered and lay in a thousand pieces at his feet.
There was no way to get back without the mirror.
-- tbc