A/N:
Ok, here we go, chapter 11.
This chapter hasn't been edited by Materia Blade as impatience has gotten the better of me. For that I'm sorry and I hope you enjoy this chapter regardless and chapter 12 wont be that far behind either.
Prepare yourselves because this can be an exhausting chapter to read, its long and its mostly fighting. I've tried to get as many of the grammar mistakes as possible that I could find and tidy it up as best I could. A lot of this was finished in the cause of an all night marathon consulting with a couple of friends about the fighting and such from a general perspective. Some – maybe a lot of you – might not agree with how the fighting plays out, but frankly I've reached the point with this story arc where I just couldn't care anymore and simply tried my best and stuck to my view of things. Keep in mind that unlike the anime, the character's abilities in this aren't as clean cut and dry in this like they are in the manga and anime. They're tired and some are hurt, and that affects their strength and skill as far as I'm concerned.
As I said I tried my best and I hope you'll enjoy it regardless. I just want to get this story arc over so I can get the story moving again. Part of me is glad I did the Delicate Touch Arc, but another part of me wants to kick my ass for it.
So without further ranting and raving, I present you with the second last part of the Delicate Touch arc.
Please enjoy…
Chapter 11
The Delicate Touch Pt 4
Blood, Sweat and Tears?
Ryoga snarled as waves of soldiers came at him from every direction, twisting around flashing blades that descended with murderous intent. His back screamed in protest, the scar stretching as tightness ached through the hastily healed wound, tiny razor blades of agony threatening to rip him apart against the sudden movements. He stumbled backwards, waving his umbrella back and forth battering weapons away and shattering hands and other body parts that got in the way.
The soldiers dropped like flies, one after another.
The teenager dashed backwards into an open area, chest heaving heavily, struggling to catch his breath, as Shampoo suddenly flew past him.
Purple tresses billowing behind her, the Chinese girl dove head long into the sea of men; she lashed out with her Chui's, the mace-like weapons crumpling soldiers left and right as she spun and twisted with the grace of a cat. There was over five thousand years of merciless Amazon women's fire and determination blazing like an inferno across her dark eyes, barely pausing as she moved from one opponent to the next.
She turned and glanced up as several men fell from above, swords raised and battle cries roaring past their lips. Muscles tensed in her arms and legs, grip tightening around the shafts of the Chui's, when the weighted ends of several chains smashed into their heads. Shampoo whirled around almost angrily as the men dropped like boneless bags of flesh behind her, to see Mousse already reeling the chains in and smiling; pleased with himself, Shampoo's cheeks flushing pink with annoyance and just a little of something else…
The near sighted martial artist whipped the chains around as soldiers streamed at him from behind, the speed and force of the interlocked pieces of iron screamed around and collected everyone in their path, doubling them over like rag dolls and sweeping clean a large swath of ground. Spears and darts flew past his head, more embedding in the ground between his legs as he released the chains and a pair of large bladed war fans slid from his sleeves.
Mousse disappeared into the streams of soldiers with a hawk-like cry; he didn't even see Ukyo charge past him, her oversized spatula cleaving through the air as she battered aside soldiers and weapons alike, scooping others up with the server end and sending them flying with heaving cries. Her long brown hair whipped at her face as she turned to block and parry, spinning around the newest attacker and slamming the butt of her spatula into the small of his back. Her gaze flicked to several more men charging towards her; shuriken spatula's appeared between her fingers and with the flick of her wrist each one of the men collapsed with shurikens embedded in their shoulders.
Even as more soldiers came at her she saw Konatsu appear above her, the male kunoichi sprinting along the side of the ravine wall with weapons biting at his heels, cracking against the hard rock, sending stony chips bursting into the air. The soldiers chasing after him bellowed and howled in frustration as the ninja disappeared again in a burst of smoke. Without warning one of them screamed and collapsed limply into the ones in front of him. The others whirled around in shock; Konatsu was there, his Takemitsu poised across his steely gaze. Weapons reflecting light flashed towards him, slicing through his exposed body like a hot knife through butter, before it exploded in another blast of smoke. The soldiers coughed and hacked, frantically waving their arms through the cloud to clear it faster. They balked with surprise and confusion when the smoke disappeared, finding their weapons embedded in a log.
The famous "Ninja Replacement" technique!
Konatsu reappeared amongst them, along with several copies behind each of the soldiers. The men barely had time to even blink. They lurched forward, agony screaming from their throats as the Takemitsu lashed them across the back, the bamboo sword cutting fabric and skin. One by one the soldiers fell in a jumble of limbs and tangled bodies, eyes wide and unseeing as they slipped into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, even as the copy ninjas vanished and the original was left gazing over the fallen with satisfaction. He tilted his head in the direction of a furious roar, spotting Akane a second later.
The youngest Tendo moved with the ferocity of a tiger, her deceptively small frame ducking and weaving through the groups of men, groups of soldiers piling up all around her. All her training was put to the test as she delivered bombardments of devastating blows, the grown men crumpling like paper bags under the force of her fists, the world turning upside down around them as she hauled them up over her shoulder and slammed them into ground with incredible force.
More and more soldiers pressed in around her from all sides, the others whittling down the others around them. Sweat poured off the sides of her face, eyes flicking from soldier to soldier trying to stay a head of them, watching their movements and their weapons.
She jerked to a stop suddenly, pressed against the ravine wall. She turned around in horror, not even realizing where she'd been pushed towards, even as the remaining men formed a semicircle around her, sneering angrily.
"Akane!"
Everyone glanced up, to see Ryoga suddenly falling out of the sky with his index fingers pointed to the ground. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
The bandanna wearing martial artists landed between Akane and the men. His fingers embedded in the rock, cracks shooting out from around the holes. At first nothing happened, the soldiers holding their breath suddenly sighing in relief…
…And then the everything around them exploded.
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The area was deceptively quiet and peaceful amongst the forest, laying at the base of the enormous mountain in its shadow, with clouds drifting lazily across the sky. The sudden rumble that washed over the area came without warning, echoing across the land for miles around as a pillar of dirt shot up from one of the ridge lines.
One of the men came to a sudden halt and jerked his head up in surprise, frowning at the sight.
"This way," he called to the other man a few paces behind. "We need to hurry, I have a bad feeling about this…"
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Inside the mountain it was as if the world was trying to turn the Society's base inside out. The roaring rumble that that tore through the earth ripped great fissures in the walls, ceilings and along the floor. Tunnels collapsed, some imploded under the incredible force they were assaulted with. The sleeping volcano groaned and screamed, steam blasting up through cracks with just as much explosive force. Soldiers and workers alike fled through whatever escape route they could find; others took cover and prayed to all the gods that the base wouldn't collapse in on them.
The vibrations ripping through the earth seemed to last for an eternity, the constant rumbling unrelenting. Finally though, after the minutes crawled by at a snail's pace, the trembling started to settle, the mountain calming down as those still inside released a prolonged breath, relieved that they were still alive.
The Vice Chairman though, could only stare in horror at the destruction.
How could things have gone this bad so quickly?
His mind raced, trying to think of a solution.
He turned and paused as he glanced up at one of the few remaining security feeds that showed Yukino engaged in a battle with another woman. Of course, he thought almost excitedly; Yukino would win and she could help him get their prize out of here. Just because they had lost the base didn't mean they had to give up the goal. There was, after all dozens of other bases – most admittedly smaller than this one – scattered across the country.
He could even escape back to China and disappear…
The fat little man nodded to himself, confident and sure of his plan; sure that it couldn't possibly fail and ran from the room.
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Everyone coughed and hack, grabbing on to whatever purchase they could find as the mountain shook and heaved at the shockwaves rippling through it. The cloud of dirt was collected by the barreling winds and blown away as if by a powerful breath.
The group of Nerima martial artists struggled to their feet, dirt tumbling from their hair and clothes and bursting from their mouths with ragged coughs.
At the center of the blast Ryoga stood breathing heavily, his shirt clinging by mere threads to his sweat glistened body, covered in countless bloody cuts, and Akane protected behind him. The ground beneath them had turned into a large crater, larger than any his Bakusai Tenketsu had ever created before; even beyond the crater fissures stretched out from the rim. It was even bigger than the one he had created when he'd used Shishi Hokodan against the Brotherhood.
All around them soldiers laid sprawled across the ground and up the sides and over the edges of the crater. Even beyond that the rest of the soldiers laid unconscious at or around the feet of the fighters they'd attacked, laying amongst the ones already knocked out cold.
"Ryoga…..are you alright!" Akane asked, trembling slightly at the sight of him and destruction around them.
"I'm fine, just a couple of scratches is all," the teenager replied, though inwardly he knew that was bordering on a lie.
The breaking point training had made him monstrously tough, more so than he already had been, but being at the center of that blast had taken more out of him than he wanted to admit.
"Ryoga watch out!"
The teenager snapped his head up as a shadow fell across him, blinking a couple of times until Kinnii's gigantic frame filled his vision, the giant descending rapidly with the sun refracting off the length of the wicked sword. Ryoga clapped his hands up a split second later, stopping the blade a hairs width from his forehead, the ground around them fracturing from the impact. His face reddening with strain and effort as the taller fighter snarled and pressed down even more. Ryoga growled, feeling the edge of the blade lightly kiss the flesh of his forehead, cold shivers rippling through his body and the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end.
"I'm going to enjoy cutting you open boy!" Kinnii's eyes flashed with irrational unquenchable rage.
Ryoga, muscles bulging sneered and pushed with all his strength against the blade, moving it up slowly but steadily, his arms trembling. "I won't be beaten by the likes of you!"
The teenager's arms snapped up with a sudden surge of strength and threw the giant off balance. Kinnii stumbled backwards, his arms flailing wildly as he recovered his footing and swung the blade around. Ryoga spun at the same time, whipping free the belt around his waist and snapping it taut. The ki hardened cloth sword smashed against the flat of the blade, battering it away before grabbing Akane and jumping out of the crater. Kinnii leapt after him, sword spinning in one hand as Hibiki turned parried another strike.
The giants speed surprised him; it was nothing compared to Ranma's but then again there were few martial artists that could boast the level of speed the red head was capable of. He ducked and twisted under the blade as it cleaved the air around him, ignoring the burning pain shooting through his back and struggling to stay ahead of the giant. Ryoga leapt sideways as the blade crashed against the ground. He ripped loose several of his bandannas as fast as he could, letting his ki flow into the cloth and feeling the fabric harden. Kinnii sneered and leapt after him; Ryoga sent the bandanna shurikens soaring through the air like black and yellow buzz saws.
Kinnii didn't even slow as his sword sliced through the lot of them in the space of a second.
"You're childish toy's are useless against me!" Kinnii snarled.
Ryoga parried another blow, twisting the blade away from him as he spun past the sword and slammed his other fist into the giants face, crushing the man's bandaged nose beneath his powerful fist. Kinnii reared back, falling out of the air as he howled in agony, fresh blood spilling out from his nose and down his mouth and chin.
"I don't need any toys beat you!" Ryoga growled, landing in a crouch.
The words were barely out of his mouth before the back of Kinnii's fist crashed into the side of his face. Ryoga was lifted off the ground like he was made of straw, pain screaming through his face. He sailed through the air and slammed bodily into the ravine wall with a sickening crack.
"Ryoga!" Akane cried out.
Kinnii was up and charging as Ryoga struggled to center himself, the world spinning around him and his head throbbing. Kinnii whipped his sword around the blade tearing a ret in the ground as he brought it to bear. Ryoga was climbing to his feet when Kinnii was suddenly on top of him roaring like a rabid beat; terror surged across the teenager's eyes, drawn immediately to the deadly blade and the knowledge he couldn't parry or dodge the attack he knew was coming.
"Die you filthy insect!" Kinnii bellowed…
…As Mousse dropped out of the sky and slammed his sandal mounted talons into Kinnii's chest. Clothing tore like paper, six red gashed clawing down the giant's chest in even rows.
The sword wielding maniac staggered backwards, blinking wildly as Shampoo leapt over Mousse and slammed her Chui's into him, the Chinese girl screamed furiously.
He wrenched his blade around, slicing through the air but that's all it hit; Shampoo leapt backwards as Ukyo came charging at him, her long brown hair billowing behind her, strands whipping at her face as her oversized spatula crashed down over his head. Stars exploded across the man's visions, darkness flickering at the edges as the Okonomiyaki chef brought the spatula around for another attack, sun light glinting off the edges.
"Ukyo watch out!" Konatsu cried.
It was too late.
Kinnii kicked her savagely in the abdomen, grinning viciously as the spatula flew from her limp fingers and her eyes widened in agony as the air was forced out of her lungs in an explosive breath.
"Stupid children!" Kinnii snarled, wrenching Ukyo up by her long mane of hair. "You're nothing!"
He laughed and threw the girl aside like she was nothing more than a piece of trash, his booming laughter echoing off the ravine walls.
"Ukyo!" Konatsu's eyes were wide with horror as he watched his beloved chef slump to the ground coughing and gasping.
Ryoga swore under his breath, he hadn't expected Kinnii to be so strong. Not strong enough to last this long against all them. After all Ranma had defeated him so easily; but, he reminded himself, she'd had the benefit of having cold water to drop him in. None of them had ever been forced into a drawn out fight with him.
"He is very skilled," Mousse admitted grudgingly.
Ryoga hissed. "No he's not! It's just that his body is so tough it can take as much of a beating as mine can, and there's no skill to his attacks either, it's just that they're so destructive!"
"That doesn't change the fact that we can't hurt him," the Chinese boy shot back heatedly.
He was right about that, Ryoga thought, but he wasn't about to admit defeat just yet, not after they had survived against Herb and Saffron and all the other enemies they'd faced in the last couple of years. No, he refused to fail; there was too much hanging on the line.
Kinnii grinned at the sight of them, a dark ominous and completely malevolent predatory grin. "What's wrong boys! You're not afraid are you!"
He swept the blade across the ground, the earth splitting and heaving forward in a rolling wave of shattered rock lurching through the air. Ryoga and Mousse leapt sideways, rolling away from each other, bombarded even still by the shower of sharp fragments, slicing easily through clothes and skin, sending trickling trails of blood dribbling down their flesh. Ryoga was about to hit the ground with his breaking point technique when a large clump of rock caught him hard in the side of the head with a resounding thwack, pitching him sideways.
"Now you die!" Kinnii laughed, his blade rearing back.
Without warning Shampoo slammed into the giant from the side, sending the great lump of muscles tumbling sideways with an irritated snarl.
"No forget Shampoo!" the girl shouted angrily.
Kinnii turned and slammed the blade down on her, but the purple haired girl was faster, leaping up and landing on the blade as it buried itself in the ground. She smirked, her soft delicate features turning cool and hard.
He sneered at her; lips curling back to reveal his tightly clenched teeth. "I'll teach you to mock the Cult of the Muscle Sword!"
Shampoo leapt as he ripped the sword free of the rocks. Her Chui's screamed through the air, whipping around and smashing him in the side of the head, a satisfied grin splitting the girl's face at the direct hit. Kinnii staggered, but only for a second. Before Shampoo could blink he was whipping his sword around again with a bellowing roar. Konatsu appeared behind the giant and smacked the bamboo sword across the backs of his legs and driving the man to one knee. The ninja sheathed the bamboo blade and leapt on to the man's back, fingers tightening around Kinnii's ears and wreathing his head back as his feet pressed between the giant's shoulder blades.
"You'll pay for hurting Miss Ukyo!" Konatsu hissed into his ear.
The ninja, infused with rage and hate suddenly pushed every ounce of strength he had into his effeminate legs, and smashed the giants head into the ground with the force of a small explosion, sending pieces of rock flying in every direction. Konatsu leapt away from the oversized fighter, flipping backwards with long ebon hair whipping around him as he landed with practiced feminine grace beside Ukyo.
As he watched the ninja tend to the Okonomiyaki chef, Ryoga couldn't help but feel slightly cheated of his revenge against the hulking swordsman. His back twitched with an unsatisfied ache, longing to extract payment from the giant; for both himself, and Ranma, but now that chance had been taken away from him. He sighed under his breath, cursing himself for being so slow; but, on the other hand at least the monster had been defeated.
"Ryoga, we should proceed," Mousse pointed out.
Giving the fallen swordsman one last glance, Ryoga nodded. "L–"
Kinnii suddenly reared back on to his knees with an explosive roar that thundered across the ravine, each of the teenagers turning at once with shock etched into their faces.
"You have got to be kidding!" Ryoga hissed.
"I'll kill all of you!" Kinnii roared, rage burning like an inferno across his eyes. "I will not be humiliated by a bunch of children!"
He snatched up the sword and whirled around with the blade cutting through the air. Konatsu ducked at the last moment, strands of hair flying into the air the sword sliced them free. The ninja reared back ready to fight, hand going to the pouch of ninja stars at his hip…
…when the flat side of Kinnii's blade screamed around and slammed into the side of his face.
"Konatsu!" Ukyo screamed as the cross dressing ninja's limp body flew through the air, limbs flailing like a boneless fish to crash in a heap several feet away, blood trickling down the side of his face
"Ukyo watch out!" Akane shouted.
The chef turned in time to side step the descending blade, covering her face as stone chips flew towards her eyes from the cracked and pulverized ground. Ukyo leapt sideways and rolled next to her spatula, grabbing up the giant weapon and whipped around to parry another strike. Kinnii snarled in frustration, drawing back for another attack when Akane suddenly appeared directly under the monster of a man's chin and slammed her opened palm into the man's jaw. He reeled from the blow, vibrations racing through his body in surges of pain as lower and upper teeth exploded against one another.
"You bitch!" Kinnii snarled.
Akane barely had time to blink before the pommel of the sword slammed down on her head. Stars exploded in her eyes, agony lancing through her as she pitched forward at the same time the giant slammed his knee up into her much smaller body. Akane couldn't even scream there was no air left in her lungs as she crashed backwards into Ukyo.
"Akane!" Ryoga watched, eyes flicking back and forth between the dark haired girl and the imposing monster, emotions of fear and hate playing across his eyes as they shifted from one to the other. His body shook with the rage that grip it, watching the girl groan in pain. At last his enraged gaze rested on the giant. "You bastard you'll pay for that!"
With Mousse close behind him and Shampoo falling into place beside the near blind martial artist, Ryoga charged at the giant with rage screaming from his lips. Kinnii turned, facing them head on as Ryoga flew at him with his fist drawn. The teenager ducked as the swordsman slashed through the air at him and lunged, fist slamming into the man's stomach with enough force to bring down a house. Mousse flew over the giant, chains whipping out from his oversized sleeves and wrapping around the man's wrists, pulling them and the sword up and back as the young man landed behind him. Kinnii looked up in time to see Shampoo dropping from the sky, a black speck against the sun at first, one that quickly took shape and smashed one of her Chui's into his head.
Ryoga attacked again, slamming punch after punch into the overgrown fighter with as much force as he could manage. Kinnii grunted and howled with each punch, feeling the hits exploding through his body like sledge hammers, trying to grit his teeth, but the teenager kept on punching, sweat flying from his body in sprays.
"Hurry up Ryoga!" Mousse shouted, struggling to hold the chains in place. "I can't hold him for much longer!"
"Just! Give! Up!" Ryoga screamed.
"NO!" Kinnii roar, kicking Ryoga backwards and snapping his arms back around and pulling Mousse off his feet. He turned around and back handed the Chinese boy in the side of the head, knocking him into the ground with the force of a pile driver. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Shampoo charging at him and whipped around again, sending one of the chains flying at her. The girl didn't have time to dodge; the chains wrapped around her body over and over, pinning her arms to her side. Kinnii snarled "You should learn your place girl!"
"Shampoo kill you!" the girl screeched stubbornly
Ryoga looked up in time to see the giant wrench the girl off her feet, swinging the bound Amazon around and sending her crashing hard into the ground dozens of feet away.
"Now for you!" Kinnii snarled, glaring over his shoulder at the young man.
"You want me, come and get me!" Ryoga growled.
The two slowly circled each other, both covered in cuts and darkening bruises as they sized each other up once more, taking into account new injuries. Ryoga knew the big guy had to be hurting, had to be getting close to his limit; surely.
At the same time they lunged. Ryoga ducked away from the blade, letting the cool metal scream past his exposed flesh before popping back up and driving a fist into the man's stomach with as much force as possible. Kinnii doubled over, air whooshing from his lungs. Ryoga punched him again, this time across the face and threw the giant backwards on to his ass.
Kinnii didn't move again; his chest rose and fell rapidly, fingers twitching around the hilt of his sword.
Ryoga sighed in relief, resisting the urge to fall backwards on his own butt.
Bent forward and breathing heavily, Ryoga didn't see Kinnii get up until the shadow fell over him. His skin tingled with the presence of danger and the young man leapt backwards, landing awkwardly and landing on his ass as the sword crashed down on where he'd been standing. He looked up in disbelief at the swordsman, one eye rapidly blackening where he'd just been hit with a punch that could pulverize concrete. Ryoga didn't know if he should be horrified or impressed.
"Your pathetic attacks are nothing!" Kinnii spat a glob of blood from the corner of his mouth.
Ryoga stared at him in a mix of injured pride and disbelief, knowing he only had one card left to play to end this fight now…
…He pulled himself up, letting his head hang and his shoulders slump, he drew around him memories of hurt and humiliations, despair and unhappy thoughts that left him cold inside.
"You made a big mistake Kinnii," Ryoga said with hollow emotions, eyes darkening and glazing over.
Kinnii sneered. "What mistake!"
Ryoga snapped his gaze up. "You should have taken me out first! SHISHI HOKODAN!"
For a second, a vacuum seemed to absorb all the sound around them. The glow of the pale blue ball of ki pulsing between the young man's hands as all his depression ki flowed into it. Then it blasted forth and barreled into Kinnii at point blank range. The explosion was deafening, rolling over the mountain, sending shudders through the earth as dirt and rock was thrown once more into the air.
Ryoga felt the strength flood from his body as the blast of energy dissipated, arms slumping to his sides and dropping on one knee, supporting himself on weak arms as he breathed heavily. A small warm glow of victor ignited inside of him and soon, he realized it would blaze like raging fire.
"It's not over yet," he thought wearily. "Still gotta rescue Ranma and get outta here."
With a tired sigh he pushed himself up straight, and nearly swore when he saw Kinnii, covered from head to toe in varying singe marks and fresh bloody cuts and scraps rising once more amongst the clouds of dust and dirt, leaning on his blade for support. Ryoga shook his head slowly, as if to convince himself that what he was seeing wasn't real. It wasn't possible that the monster could still be standing after taking a point blank Shishi Hokodan.
Kinnii sneered hatefully at him, eyes wild. "You won't beat me! I won't allow it! I WON'T ALLOW IT!"
The giant raised the sword above his head, its massive length bouncing rays of light around its wielder.
Ryoga's eyes widened, memories of the last time he'd seen this flashing through his mind.
"NO!" He shouted.
"Feel the wrath of the Cult of the Muscle Sword!" Kinnii roared.
Ryoga could only watch at the swordsman spun the blade with increasing speed till the blade was just silver blur. The ground rumbled and shook, heaving and screaming in protest. Chunks of earth were ripped free of the mountain and drawn up by the powerful suction of the attack. Ryoga watched as bigger chunks were torn lose, turning his attention around to the other as they struggled to find their footing and run. He couldn't leave them though, he couldn't leave Akane. But neither could he get to her as the ground rolled beneath his feet and threw him backwards, smashing him down on a stubborn boulder that pressed agonizingly into his scar.
He screamed at the pain that exploded across his back
Darkness flickered at the corners of his vision, his mind spinning and the world turning around him. He saw, through pain wracked eyes boulders flying around and dropping with pulverizing force. Mousse appeared by his side and pulled him to his feet, his back protesting with searing pain. His legs nearly buckled beneath him, the air around them roaring with boulders whipping about. He could see Akane struggling to move Ukyo and Konatsu, and Shampoo was still where she had landed, struggling with the heavy chains binding her body in place.
All the while, Kinnii was at the center of it all, howling with victorious laughter. "Die you insects! DIE!"
No sooner had the words left his mouth did a giant boulder start screaming towards them. Ryoga felt cold dread ice his veins as he stared at the jagged giant piece of rock as it arced upwards and blocked the sun, plunging the two teenagers in a rapidly expanding shadow…
…When two figures leapt over them and slammed their feet into the oncoming boulder with a resounding crack. Kinnii's attack ceased suddenly, the swordsman pausing in surprise as he looked up at them. The two figures and the boulder seemed to be suspended for a second, before it plummeted out of the air and smashed into the ground in front of the young men, splitting in two. A second later the two figures each landed on a separate piece of the halved rock, balanced expertly on top of the boulder, one dressed in brown, and the other in white.
"Looks like we arrived just in time, eh Tendo?" Genma smirked.
Soun nodded casually. "So it would seem Saotome."
Akane looked back and forth between them, her confusion growing as she realized that she wasn't dreaming. Without much thought she raced suddenly across the battlefield and threw her arms around her father, squeezing tighter as his arms drew her close to.
"What are you doing here dad?" she asked finally, before turning to glare dangerously at Genma. "More importantly, what is he doing here….."
The venom in her tone was unmistakable, eye narrowing to mere slits as she eyes the elder Saotome with caution and distaste, suddenly once more worried for Ranma than herself. How would the red head react if she saw her father? Had enough time passed since the night of the fight for Ranma to even consider being in the same room with him again?
"Eh, I'll explain later," Soun assured her. "In the meantime let's make sure everyone's ok. You ok to handle things Saotome?"
Genma nodded once, slowly, eyes never wavering from Kinnii's. "I can take care of this one no problem."
Kinnii sneered. "Mighty big words for someone who ran away the last time we met. Ran away and left your own child to fight your battles for you."
"Don't worry," Genma shifted to a battle stance, ready to fight. "I'm not running this time."
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The winding tunnels filled with musical rings of steel clashing against steel, echoing through the dark. Yukino slashed again and again, watching the woman before her struggle to block and dodge the attacks, but despite her best efforts the housewife still managed to elude the edge of her blade with an uncanny sense of timing. Yukino glided backwards, heart racing as sweat trickled down her body; she panted heavily, chest heaving as she eyed the woman cautiously.
Nodoka Saotome looked just as bad, on one knee with her weight resting on the hilt of her katana. She stared back at Yukino with a dangerous glint of inextinguishable fire flashing across her gaze. Yukino couldn't help but shiver at that unrelenting look.
Where was she drawing this power from? None of the Society's reports suggested that the woman had any training of any kind, so how was it possible that a mere housewife could hold her off for so long? She had spent a good portion of her life learning the katana and its myriad of brothers and sisters; after all it would do no good for a Matsomuyri to be unable to defend herself if need be. From bows to polearms, she had trained in all the appropriate traditional weapons.
…so why could she not fell a single…peasant!
The woman had no style, no pattern! She was clumsy and awkward! Her strikes threw her off balance; she over reached and threw herself headlong into and avoided attacks that would have sliced any one else apart.
And yet the woman's lack of style was so infuriatingly effective…
"I've underestimate you," Yukino admitted grudgingly, sneering through clenched teeth as she glared at the housewife. "You're very skilled."
"Actually…" Nodoka replied, her tone flat and serious. "…I have never really been very skilled. I'm just very lucky."
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Yukino paused, staring in silent disbelief, sure she hadn't heard right the first time…
"Lucky?" the simple, single worded question dripped with poison.
Nodoka didn't even bat an eye. "Yes, it used to infuriate my father to no end when I was younger. I could only ever get the basics… I was more interested in other things…"
Yukino felt the muscles around her eyes contract dangerously. For a second she thought the woman was patronizing her, but even as she scanned the housewife's dark eyes, she knew without a doubt that the woman was being serious. As she looked at the woman, stared at the way she held the katana – like the way a kid held an oversized baseball bat – and awkwardly shifted her weight around, Yukino thought it should have been obvious to begin with.
The woman before her was not a warrior at all.
Yukino felt waves of anger crashing inside her. Anger at the Saotome Matriarch; anger at herself for not being able to over come her; anger towards the incompetent soldiers the Society employed for letting the woman touch even one foot inside the base.
With a cry she swept her blade around in a deadly arc towards the housewife's neck, her murderous rage greater than ever. But when the blade should have met soft pliable flesh it only found metal. Nodoka's blade screeched as Yukino's slid up and over the woman's head.
"No one mocks the Matsomuyri clan!" Yukino roared, swinging the blade up and around. "I won't allow it!"
Nodoka didn't try to stop her this time; instead she dropped to the ground as the blade raced towards her, but it only slashed air. The sudden momentum behind the blade caught Yukino by surprise with a squeal as her entire body twisted and fell, feet twisting around one another before she could stop herself.
A second later she crashed face first into the hard ground.
Nodoka stifled a small smirk of amusement.
Yukino screeched furiously, hands slamming against the ground as she heaved her upper body up, blood oozing from several serious grazes marring her once devastatingly beautiful face. She glared death at the housewife several feet away, irrational, undeniable hatred filling the jade rings, finger nails breaking as they clawed at the rocky floor.
Yukino snarled. "I am really going to enjoy killing you!"
….
…
…
…
….
Everyone watched in silent awe, tending to their injuries and recovering their strength as the elder Saotome exchanged a fury of blows with Kinnii, his seemingly out of shape body twisting and turning in ways that didn't seem possible for a man of his age. Kinnii roared with frustration, his sword missing its target every time, his own body sporting bruises across its large frame. They watched as Genma fought on equal ground, surprising them all with the ferocity of his attacks. It was as if they were watching a completely different man.
This wasn't the Genma they all knew.
The Genma they knew was never this strong. He was weak and cowardly, irresponsible and greedy. But yet, this was the man that had trained Ranma, and Ranma was one of the strongest fighters they had ever met short of Happosai and Cologne. To think that Genma could fight with this much skill surprised them.
Akane couldn't believe what she was seeing.
It was almost – almost – like watching Ranma fight.
The older man's feet crashed into Kinnii's stomach, doubling the giant forward with spit flying from his mouth. Genma whirled around again, barely pausing for even a second before his foot crashed into the man's face and sending him spinning sideways, crimson mist spraying from his lips.
It wasn't so much in the way he fought though that made something, seem different about him; they had all seen fighters that were deceptively stronger than they first appeared. No it was more in the way he held himself, a strange assurance or confidence that had been absent before.
"Dad…whe…..when did Mister Saotome…..get so strong?"
Akane couldn't contain the disbelief in her voice. Even though she was seeing it right before her eyes, it seemed so impossible.
Her father didn't reply straight away; he watched the fight with a small smile, a flicker of amusement and nostalgia shining through his eyes as the ring of red embers devoured a little more of the cigarette dangling from his lip. "Genma, is fighting the way he used to…"
"What do you mean?" Akane asked, confused.
"Genma wasn't always the man you think he is. There was a time when Genma was an incredible fighter. He devoted his entire life to the arts, nothing was more important, except his family. He could be a womanizer and even be greedy at times, but that was never the most important thing to him. But then, we met the Master and everything changed. We changed," Soun frowned, pausing as he thought back on the past, a twinkling of regret lining his eyes. "It was perhaps our greatest mistake when we agreed to be his disciples, but we were young and we wanted to be strong. We wanted to be the best and that's what Happosai offered us. We were blinded with ambition."
Akane stared in shock. She had never heard her father sound so bitter and regretful in her entire life. She had only ever known him as the caring, albeit overbearing and overemotional father he had always been. She had only ever thought of him as her embarrassing dad; she had never once considered the sacrifices he had made to establish his own dojo; the dojo that she was to carry on one day…
Suddenly, the weight and importance of that meant so much more to her now, more than it ever had. The dojo wasn't just a place to train in, to train others in. It was a legacy he had built for her…
"I don't understand," Ukyo said after a long while. "If it was such a mistake, why did you both continue to train under the old freak? Why not quit?"
"There were times when we wanted to. But, we both thought we were doing the right thing. That by enduring the Master's training we could do the best things for our families and in the end that was what kept us going." He looked up Akane. "We wanted to give our children a legacy they could be proud of. We just didn't understand the evil we had attached ourselves to. When we thought we had sealed away the Master forever, we were determined to turn the Anything Goes School into something decent, but it was too late. We had already been warped by his training."
"What do you mean?" Akane asked.
Soun sighed, stubbing the butt of his cigarette against the ground. "While the Master's training can allow you to endure almost any hardship imaginable, it also crushes the fighting spirit you once had. You start to make compromises. Break a moral rule here, another one there. You tell yourself that its ok, you'll make up for it later, but you never do. Before long, the person you were is gone. That's what happened to us. I stopped going on Genma's little adventures after we sealed the Master away, and devoted myself to my family and establishing my own dojo, while Genma decided to devote all his efforts to training Ranma. Sometimes I wondered why he didn't start his own dojo. I always thought that maybe he just didn't have the passion to run his own anymore. But, it seems that he's starting to regain that fire once more. I felt it the moment he showed up looking for Nodoka and Ranma a couple of days after the rest of you had left. It was a glimmer of the same fire he used to have when he would drag me along on one of his training trips."
Everyone was silent for a moment, wrestling with the concept that Genma hadn't always been the greedy, scheming old man they all knew; that he hadn't always been the same irresponsible, insensitive fool that had gotten himself and his son cursed. It was too easy to think that that was what he had always been like, that there was no other side to him.
But now they were seeing first hand, Genma fighting for someone other than himself without being forced to.
"Wait a minute…" Ryoga started suddenly, turning to look at Soun in shock. "You said he's starting to regain his fighting spirit…..that means…"
Soun nodded seriously. "Genma could be as strong as either you or Ranma. The only thing holding him back, is himself."
Even as they looked on in disbelief as the older Saotome fought the crazed sword welding giant, they were reminded once more of one very simple fact…
This man was the one that had trained Ranma…
...
...
...
Genma felt the sword brush him as he twisted sideways, felt the weight and cool touch of the blade as the flat of the sword skimmed his arm before it smashed into the ground. He savored the rush that surged through him, the adrenalin, the excitement of being in a real fight, not just a sparring match or against cannon fodder, but a real fight against a dangerous foe. It had been so long since he had felt these sensations, that at first they felt so foreign to him, but it was almost like riding a bike; Soon, they felt as familiar as to him as breathing.
His lungs burned and his chest ached, sweat pouring off his skin as he moved with the speed and power of a man half his age in a body simply not designed anymore for such a punishment; and he loved it. He felt more alive than he had in a long time.
The elder Saotome attacked with a rapid left then right hook. Kinnii staggered back from the force of the punch. On top of everything else the enormous swordsman started to sag, the myriad of minor and major attacks he'd taken starting to creep up on. Genma could see it in his eyes.
Genma grinned. "What's wrong Kinnii, you're not gonna let an old man like me beat you are yah? That's nearly as pathetic as being beaten by a little girl!"
Kinnii's face quivered and reddened with barely contained murderous rage, eyes twitching, lips parting to reveal tightly clenched teeth as his body trembled.
"You couldn't even stop six kids from taking out all your men," Genma continued, glancing around at the fallen soldiers strewn everywhere. "And let's not forget that pathetic curse of yours."
That was it.
Kinnii snapped like an over taxed dam.
The swordsman attacked with blinding impossible speed for a man his size. The sword cleaved through the air, screaming with equal rage as a roar ripped from its wielder's lips. Genma threw himself backwards as the sword raced past above him. Kinnii swung in a full circle from the momentum, nearly clipping the elder Saotome again as her jumped above the swordsman and nailed him in the face with the heel of his foot. Staggering backwards again, Kinnii whipped the sword up, slicing through the martial artists dirty white gi, tearing a large chunk away.
Genma dropped to the ground and leapt backwards, wincing as blood seeped from the light cut across his ribs. It wasn't deep, but it was enough to hurt like hell.
Kinnii grinned at the sight of the blood, licking his lips with anticipation.
"Don't get cocky," Genma warned. "Just because you managed to scratch me doesn't mean you've won yet."
"Yet," Kinnii echoed, smirking evilly.
Despite himself, despite how serious this fight was, despite the fact that his child, his flesh and blood had been kidnapped by this monster, Genma smiled; If not because this fight was more fun than he'd had in a long time, then because he was going to enjoy wiping that smirk off the swordsman's face.
They circled each other slowly, Genma breathing shallowly with tingling pain pressing against his ribs with every breath. He watched the other man's movements with a careful eye, watching the measured steps, the tentative shifting of weight with every movement. The swordsman was in pain; his body weakened from his other battles, probably not even aware himself of just how much damage he had taken from the six teenagers. Genma did though. He knew how powerful each of them could be if they wanted to win badly enough. Kinnii was operating on irrational rage, the desire for revenge.
Kinnii grinned suddenly, sadistically. "You have no idea how beautiful the sounds of your girl's screams are."
Genma stopped in mid step, a chill washing over him. "What?"
The bastard's grin widened. "Like the sound of music they are and she can scream for hours at a time."
Genma could hear the sound of his blood pumping, fists tightening as the blood rushed through his body, making it start to tremble.
"You'll never know how good it feels to hear that little witch beg for mercy, sobbing like a pathetic child. The only thing that would have made it better was if I was the one inflicting the pain myself!"
With a enrage roar Genma lunged. Kinnii balked in surprised at the older man's speed, reeling backwards as the fist connected with his face. The enormous swordsman flew backwards and slammed into the remains of the ravine wall. The others watching from a far, jumped up in shock as Genma sprinted across the distance separating the two and kicked the swordsman. Kinnii howled as the foot buried itself in his abdomen, slamming him harder into the wall with cracks branching out behind him. Genma grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and hauled him over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground.
Images flashed unbidden through the father's head of his child – it didn't matter if Ranma was a boy or a girl – being hurt, or being tortured for the Kami only knew why. The rage flowed through him in an uncontrollable flood, surging through his limbs with every strike as he threw the swordsman around, slammed and punched and kicked him into the ground and ravine walls.
As he slammed the swordsman again into the wall and drew back to deliver another punch, Kinnii lunged forward and slammed his knee into the elder Saotome's stomach.
Genma was unprepared for it, eyes flying wide as the air was forced from his lungs. Kinnii slammed the interlocked fists into the man's back, smashing him against the ground and kicked him away, snarling like a wild animal with blood oozing from dozens of new wounds.
Saotome growled, clawing to his feet as Kinnii went for his sword that had been knocked from his grip in Genma's insane outburst. Genma lashed out with his foot, tripping the swordsman up, his hand a mere inches from the weapon. The elder Saotome lunged through the air as Kinnii lurched forward and grabbed the blade, rolling on to his back and slashing up at the martial artist. Genma twisted at the last second, landing next to the giant and rolling away as the sword crashed down next to him.
Both men jumped to their feet, panting heavily as they glared murderously at one another.
"You'll pay for whatever you've done to Ranma," Genma rumbled.
"Not before I make you and your brat pay for humiliating me last time!" Kinnii snarled. "Leaving me in that pathetic body! Do you know how long it took to retrieve my sword from the bottom of that river? I trained tirelessly for every day since then, for almost two years just waiting for the day I could get my revenge against you all! I vowed I wouldn't be humiliated like that again!"
"Oh poor you," Genma hissed. "So you're cursed, get over it! None of that gives you the right to torture people!"
"And who are you to judge our methods!" Kinnii snarled. "We're doing what's right for the world!"
"Who asked you to?" Genma snapped.
The two men fought like rabid dogs, twisting and weaving around brutal attacks and all the while Genma could only picture the last time he had seen Ranma and Nodoka back in Nerima. The look of hurt on both their faces when they had looked at him, the harsh words that had torn at his heart and the unspoken words that were even worse was unbearable. He loved his wife and to have her say that she didn't want to be reminded that he was her husband was a pain worse than anything he had ever felt. But, to have Ranma not even be able to look at him was a new pain he had never felt before.
His own child hated him, and it was his fault.
He felt like the failure he was.
…He wasn't going to fail them again though.
The elder Saotome glanced around with quick gaze, scanning the area as he parried and dodged Kinnii's attacks.
"Perfect," He almost smiled.
"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Kinnii bellowed.
Genma snapped his attention back as the massive sword screamed down through the air, glinting light along its edge…
…Then smirked before he vanished as the sword passed straight through him.
His sword buried in the partially in the hard ground, Kinnii blinked in surprise, twisting and turning every which way in shock. The old man was gone; completely and utterly gone. His eyes flickered across every piece of earth, searching out every hiding place he could find, but there was nothing. He couldn't even sense the fat bastard anymore.
Kinnii snorted in disgust. "So the coward ran away again!" He turned to glare at the Soun. "Your turn!"
Soun exhaled a cloud of smoke, giving the giant a flat stare in return. "You're not done yet."
Kinnii frowned in confusion, and looked around again. Straight away he knew something was wrong, but he didn't know what. He turned a full circle, frowning the entire time, frustration steadily growing inside him. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention and he spun around in time to see chunks of rubble disappear in the blink of an eye. His eyes widened and he turned again, realizing now what was wrong.
The rubble from all the attacks was disappearing.
"What are you doing!" he shouted as he turned. "WHERE ARE YOU OLD MAN?"
"Over here!"
The giant spun to see him standing atop a boulder, only for him to disappear a second later.
"Now I'm here!"
Kinnii jumped in fright as a finger tapped him on the shoulder and slashed around as he started to turn again, but this time there was a rush of darkness as something crossed his line vision, blanketing him in absolute black. Then it was gone, the world returned and he couldn't sense the man anymore; and what's more every scrap of rubble, every bit and piece of broken rock littered across the wide trail was gone.
The sound of snickering forced him to turn around to glare at the grouped teenagers; the girl's giggling reservedly while the boy's could barely contain the laughter threatening to split their sides. Had they gone mad he wondered? What the hell was wrong with them, and why did it everything feel chillier than before all of sudden?
He blinked a couple of times and looked down, his eyes widening in disbelief to find himself standing in only his boxers.
His face reddened in humiliation.
The bastard had stolen his clothes!
"You will pay for this you over grown rat!" Kinnii thundered, raising his sword above his head as he started once more his most fearsome attack. "I'll rip you to shreds old man!"
The sword spun so fast it was practically a blur of glinting silver. The vacuum broke apart the earth around him and drew it up faster and stronger than before, the entire mountain range rumbling with effort, protesting against the forces exerted upon it. Huge chunks of the remaining ravine walls collapsed inward and were drawn up into the vacuum like balls of cotton, the rushing wind drowning out Kinnii's bellowing roar.
Genma appeared high above him, a huge cloth sack to his back.
"You should have stayed hidden old man! NOW YOU DIE!" Kinnii shouted.
"Not today!" Genma pulled the giant sack off his back and brought it around with a tight grip. "Saotome school of Umisen-ken secret technique! Yasha Tankai Hō!"
Kinnii noticed too late the ground around him breaking apart into fine small pieces of rock and loose dirt, dropping him into a large crater, as the old man and the giant sack plummeted towards him. All of a sudden the sack burst apart like an overfilled water balloon as razor sharp fragments of rock sliced along the outside and from within every scrap of rubble Genma had collected exploded forth in a rush of earth. Kinnii could only stand and watch in horror as the plummeting debris cut off all escape and buried him beneath it all.
"NO!" he screamed in rage. "This isn't fair!"
He cries of defeat echoed through the ruined ravine for several seconds, before they were abruptly cut off, the mountain rumbling with the echo of hundreds of tons of earth settling into place. Genma landed on top of the newly formed dome of earth, discarding the tattered cloth with an indifferent flick of his hand.
As the other's came scrambling over, he started at the center of the mound with a tingling of mercy. He leant forward and drove his fist through the soft dirt. He fumbled around for a second or two, till he finally felt his fist close around a thick neck. With all his strength he heaved Kinnii up till his head was just peeking out of the mound. The swordsman coughed and spluttered violently, puffs of dirt escaping his mouth and tumbling from his hat and streaking his face.
When he looked up, Genma was already hurrying onward to the base with the others close behind.
"This isn't over yet!" Kinnii growled…
To Be Continued…
A/N:
Well only one part left to go and we can get back to things.
Now, yes I have purposely played down the fighting strength of some characters because the story isnt about them, and played up the strength of others for my own selfish reasons, so please don't go on about how some things wouldn't have happened to character x or character b wouldn't have done that. If you want them to do that or not have it happen to them, you're more then welcome to write you own story.
I'm sorry if this all sounds really surly or nasty, but I'm tired and I feel like crap.
Chapter 12 will be up in a few days to a week from now and I hope, yahs'll stick around for it and more.
Cya's later