RANMA ½ - THE ENEMY WITHIN, CHAPTER 28


"You underestimate me, Ryoga Hibiki!" Ken declared. "I and this demon are one! And his power is my power!"

"Is this really what you want? To be someone's puppet?"

"I'm no one's puppet! I chose this bond, this enlightenment, and after I destroy you and fulfill the Master's wishes, there's one other person I will take my revenge on! The very person that made me the person I am today!"

"Kaio Ashward Lionhart," Ryoga said pointedly.

Ken blinked, shocked. "How do you know my father's name?"

"As I said, I travel a lot. And I heard what happened - one day when I visited an eatery in Japan. How your father threw you out for stealing a piece of candy when you were a kid. I can't believe how devastating that was for you. But regardless of what he did to you - "

"Shut-up! You don't know anything! My father abandoned me! He was a cruel bastard, and if it takes my whole life, I'll get my revenge!"

"Revenge is never the answer."

"Sometimes it's all a person has to live for. I struggled to get where I am; I had to make a living as a magician in a carnival, until I learned I could make a lot more money stealing from people using my chameleon illusions; but I still struggle everyday - "

"By stealing, as the notorious Copycat Ken," Ryoga said. "I struggle too. We all have inner demons, so to speak. But we strive on, battle through them, move on..." Ryoga gave a brief glance back at Akane. "Some, we never accomplish," he said softly. He looked back at Ken. "There's an old Buddhist proverb: 'Living is hard, death is easy'."

"And what does that mean?"

"It means - fight! Fight that demon inside you! Cast it out!"

Ken narrowed his eyes, and looked like he was about to lunge forward in an attack - but then put a hand to his head and recoiled in pain. "Stop it! Stop fighting me! You're mine! Now and forever!" a voice, much like Ken's, but with an deep demonic echo, said.

And just as quickly as the pain came, it stopped - and Ken smiled sinister at Ryoga. He shook his head. But it was the demon inside that spoke, "Not this time, Hibiki. All your philosophizing won't bring this one back!"

"Am I now talking with the demon?" Ryoga asked. "What is your name?"

Ken nodded. "I was once Emperor Xi'an's field general Yuen. I am much stronger than the others who possessed your friends. I won't be so persuaded like the others. Ken's mind is too weak to withstand my influence. He's tried before to cast me out, but my will is absolute!"

"What will it take?" Ryoga said. "Obviously we're at a standstill. What will fighting each other accomplish? Devastation and destruction, even death will follow...I can use my Lion Roar Shot and wipe Nerima off the map. I have that power. But what will it accomplish? Just to kill you?"

"I'm not giving him back, plain and simple. Try what you want. Do what you want. It'll prove nothing. Nothing you do will make me relinquish this body!"

"This will..." a harsh, gruff voice said.

Pini-size martial artist Happosai suddenly appeared from around the corner of the Tendo residence, stepping over what was left of the dojo. And with him, was a tall, thin, grey-haired man with a mustache.

The man's face looked weathered, beaten, as if he had been sad for a very long time.

"Father?" Ken said, his voice siphoning through the demon's. He was more shocked than angry. "What are you...doing here? How did you find me?"

Kao Ashward Lionhart smiled. "Happosai told me where you were. I've been looking for you for a very long time."

Ken looked at Happosai, a scowl on his face. "How dare bring this man here, you little..."

"Hey, respect your elders!" Happosai said. "This is your father!"

"He's not my father! My father banished me from the Lionhart family long ago for a stupid child mistake. My real father runs a traveling carnival troupe in China and Japan. If anything, this man is the true embodiment of a demon!"

"But son...you don't know how long I've been looking for you, how I regretted my decision...I asked your brothers to go out and scour all of Japan to bring you back."

"I know," Ken said. "I saw them in the streets when I was begging for food. But I hid from them. I vowed never to go back, never to again to subject myself to your cruelty! I gave up my name when I was a member of the traveling carnival troupe. I never revealed who I was. . .I didn't want to! I did not want to be your son!"

"I'm so sorry, Kenneth. Your mother had just died and I was feeling - "

"So you took your anger out on me? You don't know how much what you did hurt me!"

"And if it takes the rest of my life to repent, I will. I just want you to come home, son."

Ryoga observed Ken's jaw clench tight and the muscles in his face twitch with unsheathing anger.

And it was his chance. He would attack Ken while he was distracted and avoid any unnecessary bloodshed.

But the moment Ryoga moved, he was suddenly caught in some sort of invisible grip when Ken looked at him - with Ken out stretching his left arm and hand - and he gasped for air. A telekinesis force was choking him, and it raised him off his feet, his throat feeling like it was being crushed.

Ryoga reached for his throat, but there was nothing he could do to stop Ken from killing him. Indeed, Ken was much stronger than he was - he had been telling the truth, especially with the power of the demon inside him. He could be unstoppable!


Kaio Ashward Lionhart couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Stop this Kenneth! Stop it, right now!" he demanded.

Ken smirked back to his father, and said, "You're next, Father!"

His father's eyes widened. He looked down at the pint-size martial artist named Happosai. "What do we do? My son is going to kill that young boy. Where did he get that power? What has he gotten himself into?"

"He's obeying orders," Happosai explained. "From a Chinese warlord named Xi'an, whose spirit has taken over the body of a local martial artist in Nerima named Oro Hiroshi. He wants revenge on the last of the Saotome family for casting his family into the depths of limbo at Jusenyko, a series of cursed springs in China, and believes the only way to free them is to kill Ranma and his father, and whoever gets in his way."

"But why is my son involved in all of this? He's always been so kind-hearted."

"Perhaps that was before, Kaio," Happosai said. "Before you kicked him out of your house."

Kaio Ashward Lionhart sighed. "I'm such a bad father," he said. "All my sons have left home now. I scared them away."

"There's always hope that - "

"Why does my son want to hurt these boys?"

"Your son lost to Ranma and his friends, when Ken was tricked into revealing his best trick. It failed, and your son ran away in disgrace, bested by his own chameleon illusions. He then joined forces with Xi'an somewhere, to get the power he wanted to defeat them. Which it looks like he has."

"Chameleon illusions? You mean magic? He loved magic when he was a kid." Kaio snapped his fingers in revelation. "That's it, Happosai! I know how what to do! I know how to help that boy!"


"You've annoyed my long enough, Ryoga Hibiki," Ken said, looking at him. "I'm going to crush your windpipe like an insect!"


Tbc.