Chapter Six : A Very Long Fight (Condensed Version)
The Next Day
Ranma walked onto the school ground just like he had the day before, except without having to step around the piles of bodies that normally clogged the gateway. Looking around, he didn't see a single injured person anywhere nearby. Not even a unconscious Kuno.
Except for a collapsed Hikaru Gosonkugi just to his right.
Ranma couldn't tell if he was conscious or not. He laid there, as still as a corpse. His pale skin seemed to have a little bit more color than usual.
Of course, it wasn't more of the right color. Patches of his skin were purple and bruised, like he had just been beat up fairly badly. Seeing this, Ranma walked over to him.
"Hey..." He said, "Gosonkugi. You awake?"
"Is that..." Gosonkugi mumbled, "Is that god? Am... I dead?"
Ranma quirked an eyebrow.
"Um... no," Ranma said, "You're not dead."
"Ah yes," Gosonkugi groaned, "That would explain the unearthly pain."
Ranma reached down and stood him up. Gosonkugi nearly collapsed again, but Ranma steadied him.
"Oh... Ranma," He said, still dazed, "What are you doing here?"
"Um... going to school?" Ranma supplied, "What the hell happened to you?"
"Oh..." Gosonkugi said, "I... I tried to talk to Akane."
"She beat you up?" Ranma asked, kinda surprised.
"N-no," Gosonkugi shook his head, "Kuno did, saying how a weakling such as I would never be able to defeat the fair Akane."
"Well," Ranma said, "I guess there really wouldn't be any way for you to beat Akane, but that doesn't mean he can just wail on ya like that."
Gosonkugi just looked down.
"Hmph," Ranma said, "Don't worry. I'll probably have to kick Kuno around today anyway, so I'll get him back for ya."
"Really? Thank you," Gosonkugi said, "I'd do it myself, but I doubt I should cast any spells on school grounds. Plus most of the spells that would do anything adverse to him would make me pass out anyway."
"Uh... don't worry about it."
Lunch
The day had progressed normally. Ranma had trampled Kuno into the dirt a few times already, making sure to hit his head a few extra times for Gosonkugi's sake.
Akane was strangely distant so far. She didn't hardly talk to him except for a few passing words.
Uneventful.
That is until the tree that Ranma had been sitting up against at lunch time suddenly disappeared from behind him.
He pinwheeled his arms to try and regain balance, but he still ended up head over heels in the whole that had replaced the tree.
Blinking a few times, he looked up to see where the tree had gone.
Above him there stood a rather peeved looking guy with a yellow and black headband. His face was construed into a face of barely contained rage. In his hands above him, he had the tree.
Ranma quickly flipped out of the hole before the angered youth could slam the tree back down on top of him.
"Heh," He said, "You haven't changed a bit, Saotome. You're still only good at running away."
Ranma looked at him for a moment. The boy did seemed familiar.
The boy seemed to notice Ranma's look of bewilderment.
"What?" The boy asked, "You don't remember me!?"
"Of course I remember you!" Ranma shot back before going silent.
My those crickets are loud.
"Well?" A student asked.
"Gimme a sec!" Ranma yelled.
"Saotome..." The boy growled, "Tell me one thing... Why did you run out on our fight!?"
"Our fight...?" Ranma muttered, "Oh, wait! I remember you! Ryoga Hibiki! Long time no see!"
"'Long time no see'?!" Ryoga roared, "Answer my question! Why did you run away from our fight!?"
"I waited there for three days," Ranma answered, kinda confused.
"Three days?" A student asked.
"Yes, and when I arrived on the fourth day, you had already fled to China with you're father!" Ryoga yelled.
"Ryoga..." Ranma asked, "Why did it take you four days to get to an empty lot only few blocks away from your house?"
"You think I was out on a stroll for three days!?" Ryoga yelled, "I suffered through hell to get there!"
"Wow, talk about a bad sense of direction," A student said.
"Shaddap!" Ryoga yelled at him before turning back to Ranma. However, upon not seeing him, he had to turn around to find him again, "Now, I've tracked you down. Prepare to die, Ranma Saotome!"
Ryoga whipped out a large bamboo umbrella from his pack, lashing out at Ranma violently. Ranma was able to dodge them by backing away from him.
"Hey, wait!" Ranma shouted, jumping away from a brutal kick, "What the hell is wrong with you!?"
"What the hell is wrong with me!?" Ryoga yelled, jumping after him, "You're the one who wussed out on our fight!"
"Wussed out!?" Ranma replied loudly, avoiding a blow from the umbrella by leaning to the left, "You were four days late!"
"Excuses!" Ryoga yelled, swiping at him, "You skipped out on our man to man duel!"
"It was a fight about cafeteria lunch food for gods sakes!" Ranma yelled as he struck out at Ryoga, managing to hit him in the upper torso, forcing him back.
"You... you think this is just because of the bread!?" Ryoga yelled back, "This is about revenge!"
"Revenge for what!?" Ranma asked.
"I went through hell to get to that fight!" Ryoga yelled out, coming at him again, "Words cannot possibly describe the depths of my sorrow!"
"Don't blame me for your horrible sense of direction!" Ranma yelled back, blocking the blow, "It's your own damn fault for getting lost for three days!"
"You think those three days were the end of it!?" Ryoga asked, "I would have tracked you down to the ends of the earth! I will never stop until I have destroyed all of your happiness!"
"Do I look happy to you!?" Ranma yelled back.
"Do not think you can talk your way out of this!" Ryoga yelled, "I even had to walk to China to find you!"
Everything stopped for a moment.
"Wait..." Ranma said plainly, "You walked to China?"
"What?" Ryoga asked, kinda confused at the question.
"How the hell did you walk to China?" Ranma asked.
"You dare mock me!?"
"It's a legitimate question!"
"Shut up!"
The fight went on well after lunch was over. The two fighters seemed evenly matched. Ranma' was far faster but Ryoga seemed to be far stronger, as he had demonstrated by ripping the tree out of the ground.
The final bell of the day rang out, signaling that the school day was over. Akane walked out onto the school yard to see that it had sustained massive amounts of property damage. And smack in the middle of all that property damage was Ranma and Ryoga. Most of the students started to gather around that area to see what was going to happen next.
The two, at this point, weren't in any condition to fight. Neither of them were injured beyond a few cuts and bruises. It was their exhaustion from having fought for so long non-stop.
They were almost leaned up against each other, both looking far to tired to actually make a move against the other.
Actually, they both looked far to tired to make any sort of movement at all.
"Y-you..." Ryoga panted, "You w-won't... defeat me... Saotome..."
"Ah shuddap..." Ranma answered, "You... couldn't beat me... if both hands... were tied... ya know... tied up..."
"What's... wrong?" Ryoga asked, "Outta breath...?"
"N-no...!" Ranma said, "I'm perfectly... capable of... beating someone who... couldn't hit... a damn fly or something..."
"Why you...!" Ryoga managed to lash out one final time. A hard punch strait to Ranma's face.
Ranma, however, was also able to counterattack at the expense of taking the hit. His own hard punch also managed to hit Ryoga in the face.
The end result...?
They were both knocked unconscious.
A Small While Later : Tofu's Clinic
"Yes," Tofu said, "I'm glad you brought them here. Without aid, these injuries might of worsened. But how long were they fighting?"
"From noon till school let out," Akane said, "It's their own fault for exhausting themselves and then knocking each other senseless."
Tofu adjusted his glasses.
"I suspected as much," Tofu said, "Only a very long fight could drain all of the energy from two martial artists of their caliber. What were they fighting about?"
"I dunno," Akane said, making it clear that she really couldn't care less, "Something about food and hell or something."
"Well," Tofu said, "They won't wake up for a while, so why don't you just leave them here for the time being. Being so exhausted, they may even be out of it until tomorrow afternoon. I'll send them on their way when they awaken."
"Okay," Akane told him, "Just don't get caught up in their stupid fight."
"I won't," Tofu replied.
Tofu waved and smiled as Akane left the store. As soon as she rounded the corner and was out of sight, Tofu's smile disappeared and turned into a look of concern. He looked over the two, especially Ranma.
"Hmm..." Tofu said, "These bruises and cuts aren't healing as fast as they should be, even if he is in human form. That could only mean..."
Note: There is no non-condensed version of this fight scene. No. No! NO! BAD MONGOOSE! NO BOISENBERRIES FOR YOU!!!
