Choices and Consequences

Chapter 14

Ranma's Revenge

Your torment begins...

Disclaimer: I am not Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I own Ranma 1/2.

Sunday February 26, 1994

"RAAGH!"

Taro's rage was truly immense; he had been winning against that little pig-man and planning to, after he won, splash to splash that ancient relic Happosai with the water from the Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man, when that PIG had DESTROYED the jug holding the water, causing all of it to spill onto the rooftop at his feet, making it USELESS to him.

'That stupid IDIOT! I'll KILL him!' He roared mentally as his cursed form did so aloud; meanwhile, he continued pounding on the already unconscious Ryoga. Even unconscious, it would take quite a lot to kill him, but Taro was certainly willing to take the time in doing so in order to get back at the MORON for what he had done.

His cursed form almost grinning, Taro noticed that, already, Ryoga had more wounds peppering him than if he had had a cheese-grater scraped against his skin, and he expected that the pathetic fool would soon be on his last legs. He was getting ready for another assault, when suddenly, Taro saw a blur out of the corner of his eye, a blur that was shouting at him in a rage, "Get away from him, Taro!"

Taro managed to turn toward Ranma just in time to get slammed in the chest with Ranma's 'Pride of the Fierce Tiger', nearly blasting him off of the roof he had fought Ryoga on. Recovering quickly however, Taro charged furiously at Ranma, deciding to waste him as well as Ryoga, as Ranma was trying to keep him from his rightful revenge against the bandanna-clad boy.

Really, it should have been an easy hit, as Ranma had taken a few seconds to look over Ryoga's wounds, but when he got close enough to start swinging his tentacles at him he paused as he saw Ranma's eyes.

They looked like they were small fireballs, burning in utter fury and alight with rage, something that Taro had never seen at that level in the pig-tailed aquatransexual. Upon seeing those eyes, Taro started to think that maybe, just maybe, he might have pressing business elsewhere, or, more specifically, not here.

He also started reconsidering remaining anywhere near Nerima, not because he was terrified of that massive battle-aura that Ranma was generating, nor the teakettle that splashed him with hot water, robbing him of the might of his cursed form; really, it just so happened to be that he was feeling tired of Nerima for the moment, yeah...

As Ranma dashed up to him and sent him flying into a wall with a massive kick, Pantyhose Taro started to think that, as bad as his name was, he would rather keep it as it was than try to fight Ranma in this state. For once, Taro actually apologized for trying to change Happosai, not because he felt guilty for what he had done, but rather for fear of the immense pounding he was receiving from the enraged Ranma.

This attitude of contrition lasted only until he realized that the reason Ranma had been feeling such emotion was because of the pig. When Taro laughed at the idea of being sorry for pounding the idiot, surprised that Ranma would care about what had happened to his 'eternal rival', his pain quickly returned, as Ranma overwhelmed him in a matter of seconds, once more unleashing a punishing series of furious blows.

This time he was unconscious in seconds, having been laid flat by one of Ranma's fastest and most powerful fist-barrages, thinking of but one thing as his eyes closed, 'Ouch...'

Akane looked over at Ranma as they each dragged one of the unconscious fighters home, Ryoga in her case, and Ukyo in Ranma's. Apparently Ukyo had gotten in a battle with Kodachi while she had still been weak from the training with Ranma, badly weakening her; luckily, she had managed to knock out the crazy gymnast too, or Ukyo might have gotten really hurt, considering how much Kodachi sometimes enjoyed playing with her prey.

Akane felt a wave of pity for the okonomiyaki chef overtake her as she saw the cuts and bruises all over her, as well as one particular set of wounds that Akane was sure had come from one of Kodachi's spiked clubs. While both Ukyo and Kodachi had gotten knocked out, it was clear that Ukyo had taken far more damage than her rival, only barely managing to K.O. her as well. 'Still though, in spite of her pain...'

Sighing, Akane then spoke softly, giving Ranma a certain look, "You know Ranma, I am sure you feel guilty about what happened to Ukyo, but maybe it would be better to let me carry her. You don't want her to get any IDEAS do you?"

Ranma looked at her strangely for a moment, then seemed to go 'Oh!', eyes widening before he responded with a small chuckle, "Ya know, given how badly she is hurt, I'm pretty sure romance is the last thing on her mind."

Akane was about to start telling him off when Ukyo, still sleeping, moved; the chef hooked her arms around Ranma's neck and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "My Ranchan, mine", before hugging him and giving him a peck on the cheek, resting her own against his and causing him to blush slightly.

Ranma seemed to wait for Ukyo to do something else, but, as Ukyo just kept sleeping in that position, he eventually shrugged and kept walking. Akane's aura then sparked as she glared at Ranma for his hope that Ukyo would to do something more than peck him on the cheek. Still though, she kept her anger under control for the moment, as it wasn't Ukyo's fault that Ranma was acting so pervetedly, and anything that could hit him hard enough to seriously injure him would probably do severe damage to the sleeping girl.

'Besides, unlike RANMA and Shampoo, Ukyo isn't a pervert after all. Still, at least he didn't try anything, for once...'

Soon, they reached the point where they would split up pretty quickly, her to go to the hospital, and Ranma to Ucchan's, when Ranma smirked at her and started teasing her again, "See you soon, then make sure you tell me about your 'training' with Ryoga, Tomboy."

She smirked right back at him in order to cover her worry about what he would do once he was alone with Ukyo, and said with a touch of annoyance, "Get going, you perverted idiot."

He then laughed and started walking away, a smile visible on his face as he held Ukyo close, although Akane was mildly pleased to see that he moved Ukyo's cheek away from his own, perhaps uncomfortable at the idea of her being that close to him...

Walking swiftly, as she was not too worried about Ryoga's comfort, knowing that he would barely feel a thing from anything she could do, in spite of his injuries, and she wanted to get him treated as quickly as possible. Akane saw Doctor Tofu's clinic and smiled, then quietly said to the sleeping boy on her back, before walking inside, "Don't worry Ryoga, you will be OK soon."

The Next Day Monday February 27, 1994

Ukyo gritted her teeth as she continued changing her clothes for the 'soul of ice' and 'body of ice' training with Ranma that she planned on doing today. Although she was certainly happy that she was going to get the chance to learn a new technique, especially one that was a prequel to Ranma's mighty 'Flying Dragon Ascension Strike', Ukyo privately vowed two things.

First, she was going to make Ranma take her on one of those ridiculously romantic dates wherein the man comes in with a rose between his teeth and vows love practically every ten steps at least one time as revenge for THIS, and not settle for anything less.

The other thing she vowed was that the next time some proud parent asked her to dress up in order to host a 'Pretty Magic Princess Birthday Party Spectacular!', Ukyo would tell him/her to take a long walk off of a short pier; she did NOT need another one of these monstrosities in her closet if there was the slightest chance of having to wear it again, or period. It had been bad enough that she had left this particular one in there...

She looked into the mirror as she finished putting on the dress and grimaced. The dress was very long, almost dragging the ground at her feet; it was colored an embarrassingly hot pink with emblems of gold stars and red hearts festooned all over it; The monstrosity was fluffy and pouffy and reminded her of Princess Peach from Super Mario Brothers, except worse because of the adornments plastered all over it.

This great embarrassment of an outfit was topped off with a pair of transparent fairy wings and a crown that had 'Pretty Love Princess Ukyo' written on it; last but not least in the parade of embarrassing things were the shoes: a pair of bright red high heels covered in glitter with a pair of pink, pom-pom shoelaces and white-feathered wings on each shoe.

After carefully considering her appearance, she came to a conclusion, 'Whoever came up with the idea of this outfit must be a sadist; I mean, what kind of monster could even DREAM of something so disgustingly GIRLY!?' Ukyo then sighed as she realized it was time, and that she had no more excuses to avoid what she knew was coming. Shuddering, embarrassment already starting to stain her cheeks pink, Ukyo slowly walked out of the locker room, wincing in pain from her wounds the night before, mentally cursing the boy she was engaged to.

Almost as soon as she had walked out the door, Ranma had immediately started walking beside her. Tensed with fear, Ukyo gave a mock-twirl and waited for the inevitable explosion of laughter from him as they started heading outside. The laughter came, but not from Ranma, instead coming from the students surrounding them, although most had already left to eat outside.

Instead, Ranma just started talking quietly, acting as if they were just going for a walk and she wasn't wearing the monstrosity, saying calmly, as he ignored her dress, "So Ucchan, think you are ready for it?"

Although grateful that Ranma wasn't laughing at her, Ukyo couldn't help herself and just looked down in embarrassment as she kept walking, thanks to the constant jeering that she was receiving from the students surrounding them. 'Right, left, right, left; that is all that matters. What I wouldn't give to break out my battle spatula on these jerks...'

Then, a sudden thought came to Ukyo, causing her to frown as she said it aloud, starting to feel a little angry, "You know Ranchan, while what your dad did during your training was embarrassing, it doesn't hold a candle to this; so why make it so mortifying for me?"

Ranma then grimaced and replied, just loud enough to be heard over the crescendo of laughter, almost apologetically, "Well, from what I heard, the more embarrassing the training, the faster the technique can be learned. It took me a fairly long time to get the 'soul of ice' down; but with this, you should be done with both that and the 'body of ice' in just one session."

He then said, shuffling in such a way that Ukyo's keen hearing could tell meant that he was shrugging as he did so, "Besides, I kinda figured that you didn't have much time because of the restaurant and all. Also, threatening me with...that stuff Akane cooks, is way below the belt in ANY situation, so I suppose you could say that this is my revenge..."

Ranma then continued with a tone of bitterness, "Besides, as funny as it was for you and Akane, the 'humiliating photo-fu' my dad used on me was probably close to as embarrassing for me as this is for you. How would you like to have horny teenage boys ogling pictures of you?"

Ukyo looked at him guiltily and said, a tone of some remorse audible in her voice, even over the constant mocking laughter of the people surrounding them, "Why didn't you use that on me then, I mean, turnabout would be fair play?" 'And I wouldn't have to be in this ridiculous dress.'

He simply replied, a bit of sadness visible on his face, "I don't have that many photos of ya, let alone embarrassing ones; most of the photos that had you in them were destroyed by rain and years of life on the road."

Ukyo looked at him and managed a grin, forcing herself to ignore the laughter; she then said, "Well after this, we are going to make a bunch more photos of each other, OK? I mean, I'm sure that a set of embarrassing photos of me would be almost-bearable if it was you who had it, you know?"

Ranma then smiled at her mischievously and said, "Sure. Besides, I always wondered what you would look like in a pretty dress…" He looked her over and his smile turned into a mischievous grin. "…I wonder if I will ever find out."

Just for good measure, Ukyo swatted him on the head after that comment, grinning as well.

As they crossed the threshold into the schoolyard, she looked over at him out of the corner of her eye and noticed that, like her own smile, his seemed to have faded as well, as the laughter grew to heights unreached before as, right then, a lot more students saw her in her hot pink travesty.

Ukyo then realized that, even though it made her want to find a convenient black-hole and jump in, she had come too far to back down, so she gritted her teeth and called upon her iron determination, finely honed by ten years chasing after Ranma to kill him and the past several months trying to win him. She had never before given up before on something important, and she wasn't going to give up now.

Ukyo then managed a saucy grin as she glanced over to Ranma and said to him, "Well, Ranchan, if you wanted revenge, you sure found one hell of a good way for once."

His grimace told her that, this was one form of revenge Ranma would have preferred not to succeed. He always did hate hurting girls, especially his fiancées. Ukyo then got into position, trying not to moan at the pain she was still feeling from yesterday's wounds, then looked over to him and spoke aloud while managing a small smirk, the best she could pull off given the situation,

"OK, you big jerk, lets get this over with!"

Kodachi Kuno frowned; she had just barely managed to defeat that peasant harlot Ukyo last night before she had fallen unconscious. However, from what she had heard, Ranma-sama, instead of congratulating her while kissing her on a soft bed covered in rose petals, had carried off her fallen foe to her house personally while leaving her to be taken home by her family, after calling them to let them know where to find her. This caused Kodachi to wonder if she had done something wrong, as it didn't make any sense.

Perhaps she had made a mistake somehow that would cause her beloved Ranma-sama to bring the harlot to help instead of her without knowing it. 'What could I have possibly done wrong? All I did was attack the harlot in order to protect my dear Ranma-sama...'

Jumping up in shock, Kodachi suddenly realized what had to be the truth, 'Of course! He is such a great, noble man that he felt himself obligated to assist the pathetic peasant as she didn't have access to the same resources I do! He is probably getting his revenge on her on my behalf right at this moment!'

While she was pondering this, she rushed from St. Hebereke's over to Furinkan high school, planning to apologize for her lack of faith; however, as she jumped over the wall, her mouth dropped open in shock at the sight before her. Quickly recovering herself, she laughed and yelled out.

"Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho! I should never have doubted you my dear Ranma-sama. In your brilliance, you have come up with a truly delicious and diabolical vengeance on my behalf for that whore Ukyo. I must leave, but when you wish to enjoy my company again, my door is always open. Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!"

The sight of Ukyo walking slowly in a spiral in that ABOMINATION of a dress truly made Kodachi's day, nay, her week. Indeed, for the next week, she had more solitude than ever before as whenever she thought of Ukyo's humiliation, she would break out into gales of her...distinctive laughter; causing everyone nearby to run immediately as far away as they could. She found this situation to be quite to her liking.

As Ryoga woke up in Doctor Tofu's office, he was immediately inundated by the immense pain of his injuries from the night before and barely managed to stop himself from groaning aloud; managing to keep it down to a single whimper, he looked around the room.

As he did so, the doctor that he had had the unfortunate luck to need once more, something he generally disliked as he had a rather strong streak of independence, smiled at him and asked him a question, "Oh good, you're awake. How do you feel?"

Ryoga then gave Doctor Tofu a look of annoyance and replied with a growl, "Just...perfect...Doctor."

Tofu only smiled lightly at him and ignored his somewhat rude reply, causing Ryoga to muse, 'It's ironic how much he is like Kasumi in his calmness when he isn't around her... It's like a Kasumi away from Kasumi!' Chuckling internally at his little joke, Ryoga just looked away, hoping that maybe he could be left alone in his pain. At least he hoped this until said something that drove that thought far away.

"Oh, by the way, your father Kaze is at your house. He called me and told me to have you come home as soon as you recover enough. So after you rest a few more hours, you might want to go home and say 'hi' to him."

Ryoga gaped in shock at this; he almost NEVER saw his father because of his father's stupid directional issues, so this was quite a surprise. Quickly deciding that, whatever pain he was in, it was better than missing this chance to see his dad; he got up, groaning in pain again, and said, "OK, thanks Doctor Tofu! Have a nice Day!

He practically screamed in pain as he left, leaning too much on one of his legs, but it was worth it as, given enough time, his father would need to go to the bathroom and somehow make it to Okinawa.

As his patient, against his better judgment, left, Tofu said aloud, pondering to himself, "Hmm, maybe I should have told him that Miss Tendo was rather worried about him and would probably like it if he stopped by to let her know he is OK. Mmm, nah..."

As Shampoo looked down at the Furinkan schoolyard, wherein she had been planning to meet her Airen, she started crying, not from anything sad or horrible, but purely at the sight of what lay before her. Her main rival Ukyo, was running again and again in a spiral, apparently completely insane; not only that, but Ukyo was wearing something that could only be called a insult to the term 'fashion disaster'.

Barely managing to walk over to Ranma because she was laughing so hard, Shampoo somehow managed to choke out what she wanted to say between laughter and giggling, "Airen, hee-hee, wou-hic-ld you ike -ha- to talk to me- HAHA- somewhere else a -BAHHAHA-second?"

He looked at her, appearing a bit guilty for some reason, and said, glancing back at Ukyo momentarily, "Uh sure, in a couple minutes. Just lemme finish with Ukyo here."

Shampoo blinked; 'What is he doing with Ukyo? If it's not just a joke, then...' Shampoo then looked more carefully at the Pretty-Princess-Ukyo-dressed okonomiyaki chef; she then noticed her aura and frowned. Ukyo's aura was icy cold; so cold that Shampoo could see a sort of mist starting to form around her. No longer laughing at all, as the scene wasn't very amusing now that she knew what it signified, Shampoo murmured quietly, "Soul of Ice..."

As she was no longer howling with laughter, Shampoo was able to focus and ask her favorite pig-tailed martial artist to train with her Wednesday afternoon in return for something to help him deal with his problems with his mother and the stupid Seppuku contract. After he agreed, a spark of interest in his eye, even if it was marred by a little suspicion, Shampoo started to consider what she had seen that day and what it meant.

'Maybe the okonomiyaki chef is more dangerous than I thought; they have to be rather close for him to be willing to teach him one of his most powerful techniques, let alone one that powerful, especially considering that, although I doubt he remembers it, he agreed not to teach it just anyone...although I suppose that Ukyo is within the requirements to learn it, considering what Great-Grandmother said...'

Refocusing on her main interest, Shampoo then thought to herself, 'Still, Akane is the most dangerous to my chances as, even if she doesn't end up marrying him, Violent Pervert Girl will have plenty of chances to kill him accidentally as long as he remains at her home. On the other hand, even if Spatula Girl were to somehow win Airen, at least he wouldn't be at risk of dying from a lucky hit or awful food. Besides, he will eventually realize that I am the much better choice, won't he?'

Shampoo then thought of something and smirked, before saying aloud, "Even if he doesn't realize it yet, let's see if he changes his mind Wednesday!"

Although she was beginning to get hungry, Ukyo kept moving in a quick spiral, doing her best to ignore those around her, as, apparently, even though she had been doing it for the past twenty minutes, the laughter at her predicament still had yet to die off.

Nonetheless, she just kept repeating it again and again, trying to pay attention to only Ranma's voice saying "Again, Ucchan..." continuously. Focusing on this in order to ignore the jeering bystanders, she kept repeating the spiral.

As time passed however, Ukyo found it to be easier and easier to ignore the mocking laughter from the catcalling crowd; the only things that mattered to her were herself, Ranchan, and the blasted spiral pattern. Eventually she realized that, even though the crowd was still laughing and mocking her, it no longer mattered to her. With a radiant smile she shouted over to her beloved, pig-tailed fiancé, allowing her icy-cold battle-aura to dissipate.

"I think we did it! I learned the 'soul of ice'...more or less! Now let's get out of here before the laughter kills some of these jerks out here!"

Ranma's grin was just as wide as her own as they left the field, not even bothering to hurry; after all, it was good practice. Ukyo decided that she would thank him profusely as soon as she got finished changing, it wasn't everyday that one was taught a powerful martial arts technique; at least, not if your name wasn't Ranma or Ryoga.

Author's Note: Ryoga's father has arrived in Nerima! At least for a little while. Remember, the wish that Ryoga received only affected him so, while he no longer has directional issues, his parents sure do. Yes, Taro is being a little bit of a chicken, but he always seemed the bully-type to me and, quite frankly, he would get pasted in an honest to goodness fight against Ranma sans cursed form and he knows this.

As for Ukyo's outfit, you may notice some similarities between it and the one described in Chapter 8 of Another Rainy Day in Nerima (Read it!), this is no accident, rewind gone nuts and I came up with the idea for it together.

As for Ukyo learning the 'soul of ice' in the time it takes for a lunch break. I would suspect that, if she puts her mind to it, she would be close to as fast of a learner as Ranma. This is just theory mind you, but considering that she put up a pretty good fight their first battle wherein Ranma had already been trained by people such as Cologne and (even if he is a dirtball) Genma while it seems that most of her training was solo on her journey, I would suspect that she would have to be very good when it comes to training to even be able to keep up.

Also, she was practicing the technique on her own to some extent before she got Ranma's help, just not effectively as the actual training, giving her a fair bit of a head-start.

Still, don't expect her to be finishing the training anytime soon, as, even considering how fast her progress was so far, the third part is the hardest of all, and it is likely going to be the most difficult to replicate...

Lastly, I'd suspect that Ranma would be strongly encouraged, at the least, to not teach the move to just anyone by the Amazons, but, assuming they didn't say he couldn't, they would probably allow him to teach Ukyo, as they have bigger things to deal with than who he teaches techniques to….

Edited 6/03/09