PART TWO:

Ryoga looked on with grave concern after Ranma had dropped to the floor of the dojo and clutched his stomach in pain. His rival then reached around and grabbed his rear suddenly pleading for something not to happen.

Almost immediately, Ryoga could smell the putridness, and saw the red-face embarrassment Ranma had on his face as it progressed. Ryoga covered his mouth and nose.

The potion had worked, but not the way Ryoga had thought. The effects were beyond abhorrent. Indeed, it had weakened Ranma. But he had never before seen his rival collapse so quickly to his knees. This was embarrassing for the both of them.

Unfortunately, he had caused Ranma to the soil himself. Whatever was in the potion that Hikaru Gosunkugi had given him, Ranma reacted to it like it was a laxative. Ryoga could see the stains and the moisture that was soiling Ranma's pants.

"I'm gonna to kill you for this, Ryoga! I swear!" An unpleasant bubbling sound followed with more soiling. "And when I get through with you you'll never be able to sit again. I'll shove that umbrella right up your—Ohhh…"

Another reaction, and the smell got worse. But there was nothing that could be done about it until it had run its course.

"Oh my god!" Ranma looked at him with daggers in his eyes, then folded over again with deliberating cramps. "You're such a deadman!" Ranma said vehemently. "They are going to find your body in the canal somewhere, beaten to a bloody pulp. You hear me! What a cowardly thing to do! And you call yourself a martial artist?"

"I didn't know it would be so potent and cause that," Ryoga replied apologetically. "This was not part of my plan—honest!"

"I'll never believe you again!" Ranma groaned in pain.

"I'll go get someone to help from the house, Kusumi, Akane—anyone!"

"No!" Ranma retorted strongly. "Don't get anyone! I don't want them to see me like this and I doubt you'll want them to know that you were the one who did this to me? Just go get me some towels and a new change of clothes of me, then we'll settle this like men when the cramps are over! Don't make it obvious. Oh man, I'm gonna really hurt you for this, Ryoga! When this stops, you better run and keep running!"

Ryoga ruffled through his pack, tossing things everywhere. He took out a set of clothes, a green sleeveless shirt and green pants. "I'm sorry, Ranma. You can wear these for now and I wash your clothes. And no one will know about this, I swear!"

x x x

The fear and trepidation in Ryoga's face was enough for Ranma to get pumped up to deliver a good old-fashioned beating to his rival for what he had done. And no amount of meditation was going to alleviate the anger he felt.

Ranma cleaned himself, and dressed in Ryoga's spare clothes, minus underwear, then rolled up his dirty clothes and tossed them at Ryoga, who caught them. "Get washing, idiot! And use lots of soap and disinfectant. And if you ever tell anyone about this, I'll rip that bandana off your head and shove it up where the sun doesn't shine. No one will ever find it!"

"I'm sorry, Ranma," Ryoga apologized profusely, bowing.

Ranma knew Ryoga was apologetic when he knew he did something wrong, but this was beyond disgraceful—especially to the honour of a martial artist. Ranma considered this like a prank that went horribly wrong—not a loss to his rival by any means. But it didn't make him any less mad. In fact he was furious and he wanted to kill Ryoga.

He took several breaths to try to call himself.

With every fight they had, there was a good reason. And if anyone caught them fighting, an explanation would be evident. But he wasn't prepared to reveal what happened this time to anyone. If any of his other rivals found out, especially Kuno, he would be the mockery of the entire town, even in school. And along with honour, reputation was everything to a martial artist.

Ryoga already had the stuff to clean his clothes, considering how much time he spent in the mountains and wilderness training. His rival had something really awful and he knew it. The guy looked defeated as he turned to prepare to wash Ranma's clothes.

"If I told Akane what you did, how do you think she would react? I bet she would hate you forever."

Ryoga's turned, eyes tearing up. "Oh please—no! Ranma, I beg you! Please don't tell her. I'll do anything you want."

Ranma smiled. "Anything?"

Ryoga nodded. "Anything! Let me pay this debt. I won't be able to leave here in peace without doing so. Just name it."

"Fine. Kiss my feet."

Ryoga looked at Ranma's bare feet. "You've got to be kidding me? I said I was sorry, but I won't humble myself before you like that. I won't bow down like some dog! Why would you even think I would even do such a thing?"

"You said you would do anything, so be my lap dog. You might as well get used to it, because I'm going to put you through hell. I'm going to hold this over for you for the rest of your life. And if you change into P-Chan in an attempt to hide behind Akane, the whole story comes out. You'll be forever ousted, and never be able to appear to her as a man." He was bluffing, of course. It would be too embarrassing if Akane ever found out what happened. "So, what will be?" Ranma raised his right foot, his knee up high to his chin; his balance perfect. "All you have to do is kiss my foot and all this will be forgiven." He smiled like a devil.
Ryoga shook his head. "This is rotten, Ranma. I said I was sorry. I'm not going to kiss your foot. No way! I have my pride as a martial artist. And I will not suffer that kind of humiliation!"

"So what you did to me was okay? You're sad and pathetic!"

Ryoga grabbed his bamboo umbrella from his back pack and flung it open wide, then he pushed it forward like a shield and sword combo. Ranma took an involuntary step back. He knew when Ryoga used his umbrella, the edges were razor sharp. It could cut through anything even steel. Whatever it was made of, it gave Ranma pause. Plus it was heavy as hell. And yet, Ryoga was able to wield it like it was made of the lightest material.

Ryoga didn't look like it, but he was strong as an ox. And in comparison, just as dumb. When he got going, he was like a bowl in a china shop. Until he was done what he set out to do, literally nothing could stop him. The guy had a short fuse and it was easily triggered by the smallest thing, mostly when it came anything averse to Akane.

"Apologize Ranma!" Ryoga demanded, "or I'll cut you down. And you know I can. One throw from my umbrella, one flick of the wrist, and I can bring this entire dojo down to the ground. You won't survive my attack. I'll give you one chance, say you're sorry to me now, and you'll live to see another day. You just crossed a line."

Ranma's eyes widened, he gave a quick look around the dojo. It wasn't the biggest place, but it belonged to the Tendo's, and if anything happened to it, he knew, most certainly, that he get blamed. Nine out of ten times, Ryoga instigated challenges and fights, but it was always Ranma that got the blame—the one who provoked him. The humiliation he suffered with the potion would be nothing to the fury Akane would set upon him if something terrible happened to the dojo. And between the two, Akane scared him more. No woman scared him more then her. When they say nothing is worse than a woman scorn, it is true with her.

It was now a matter to protect the dojo from Ryoga. He never thought it would come to that. Ryoga was his rival, but to become a dojo destroyer was beyond comprehension.

"You wouldn't dare!"

Ranma got into a defensive posture, his hands out front and his legs firmly situated in a solidifying fighting stance.

"I would!" Ryoga spat back. "Now hand them over! I was being charitable, but now I want them back."

Ranma was confused. "What do you want back—these clothes? You clean mine and then I'll give yours back to you. That was the deal. And Akane well never know what you did. You don't want me telling her, right?"

"You insulted my honour, that is unforgivable! And I don't care if you're engaged to her; one day she'll be mine. She deserves someone who is caring—someone who loves her, not a jerk like you! You're a coward when it comes to cats. When Akane and I get married, we're going to have lots of cats around, so you'll never see her again. Scaredy Cat Saotome! That's going to be the rumour I'll spread around."

"You no good, son-of-a…" Ranma growled under his breath. "Fine, you want these clothes back? Okay!"

Ranma stripped and then threw the clothes back at Ryoga. He then stood completely naked in the dojo, uninhibited.

"Okay, now what?" Being naked meant nothing to him at this point. He was a guy facing other guy. So what? "And plenty of people know that I don't like cats. My father put me through a horrific and rigorous training session, throwing me into a pit of cats. You don't think someone would get a little traumatic and develop a phobia after something like that? Bring it on, pork butt! Now that I have nothing to restrict me, I'm perfectly free to kick your—"

But just then, Kusumi walked across the dojo carrying a basket of laundry. She looked at Ranma and gasped, then dropped the basket. Ranma quickly covered himself, putting his hands over his dignity.

"Kusumi, it's not what it looks like—honest!" Ranma explained beseechly.

To be continued...