Chapter Thirteen

The explosion was heard from a mile away.

Ranma looked up and saw a towering energy blast coming from the vicinity of the Kuno Estate, and immediately recognized it. That was Ryoga's Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan blast. The blast returned from which it came and he then saw smoke coming from the area.

Whatever Ryoga blasted had set something on fire. But with this heavy rain, it would soon smother it out. But why would Ryoga be using his Shi Shi Hokodan blast this far in to the residential community?

This warranted investigation, and Ranma ran to the Kuno Estate. He wanted to find Ryoga anyway and tell him about Oro Hiroshi, and it looked like he had found him. But what he found was nothing like what he would expect.

The two-door main gate to the Kuno Estate was ripped off its hinges by some great force and lay in a crumpled heap on the ground; its metal bars were bent outward. The sides of the wall where the gates were attached were blasted away and debris littered the grounds. He had to step over it to get into the Kuno Estate.

But there was something strange about the debris pattern, Ranma noticed. He turned around and looked back at it. The debris was spread beyond the front of the enclosure which was weird. It was as if something blasted the gate on their way out and not in.

Ranma ventured across the property jumping over the large mot Kodachi Kuno dug around the main house for Mr. Green Turtle, her pet crocodile. But it was strange. The animal should have been out at this time of day, especially in this rain. Crocodiles love damp weather like this. Maybe Kodachi took it inside and penned it up in its cage or wherever it lived.

Ranma reached the main entrance to the house and grabbed the knob on the left door and without any effort the entire door came off its hinge and fell at his feet. This was bad, this was very bad, Ranma thought.

He went inside and shouted, "Kuno!" standing in the middle of the main hallway. But no one answered back. And it was odd that none of his staff came to greet him at the door.

He ventured further inside the estate and got a dreadful feeling that no one was a home, absolutely no one. But he did sense something. It was weak, but there was another presence in the house. He couldn't sense it before because its energy was very weak or it was injured. He didn't know, but he felt he was no longer alone. "Show yourself, whoever you are!"

Sasuke dropped from the ceiling rafters in front of Ranma. He looked like he had been in a battle. His face was scuffed and his clothes were ripped and tattered. "Sasuke, what happened here?" Ranma asked.

"A terrible thing," Sasuke said, "a horrible thing!"

And then suddenly he collapsed to the floor. Ranma bent down and picked him up. Sasuke was unconscious, due to his injuries. Sasuke wasn't the strongest fighter in town, well honestly, he wasn't very strong at all, and he wondered why Kuno kept him around as the estate bodyguard, but his injuries were consistent with being attacked by Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan. He had a severe burn mark to his face which would result with a direct, short-range attack.

But if Ryoga did all this, the question was why?

Despite Sasuke's injuries he would live and Ranma carried him around the estate because he wanted to know exactly what happened here and perhaps he would find a clue. It wasn't until he reached the Arboretum that he found a big one. This was where the Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan blast came from, judging by the gigantic hole in the floor and the hole in the roof. And there lying in the water belly up was Mr. Green Turtle.

Was the animal dead? Ranma put Sasuke down to see. He stood on the edge of the aquarium and looked at it. He bent down and rolled it over in the water and saw burn marks on its back. It had definitely been hit by Ryoga's Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan blast.

Suddenly it opened its eyes and snapped at him. Ranma backed away quickly. Mr. Green Turtle roared at him and climbed up onto the concrete floor surrounding the aquarium, and it was very, very mad!

"Hey! I didn't do this to you," Ranma said. But apparently the animal couldn't distinguish between friend and foe, only that Ranma was an intruder in his domain and it was trained to attack him. "I'm sorry, but you give me no choice. I don't have time for this." And Ranma used his Moko Takabisha, the positive form of Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan to blast Mr. Green Turtle back into the water.

He then grabbed Sasuke and ran out of the Arboretum and out of the house.

It took him a few minutes to get home, and by that time the rain had subsided. Ranma entered the Tendo Dojo in his arms and Kasumi was the first to see them. "Ranma, my heavens, what happened?"

"I found him at the Kuno Estate," Ranma said, taking him into the tea room. He lay him down on a comforter that was next to the TV that was used to sit on while watching TV. Kasumi brought a blanket and covered Sasuku to make him warm. "The estate is in ruins, someone attacked it."

"Who could have done such a thing?" Kasumi wondered heartfelt.

Just then Akane came down from upstairs. She saw Ranma had returned back from wherever he ran off to after school and was very angry at him. She stood at the threshold of the tea room. "Thanks for abandoning me after school, Ranma! Here's your book bag back. You left it in the stairwell." She threw it at him and it hit him in the face.

"Akane! That's not nice," Kasumi said.

He pealed his book bag off his face. "I had a legitimate reason!" Ranma said, angry at her.

"Sure you did, you always have an excuse for everything," Akane said. Then she saw Sasuke. "What's going on? What Sasuke doing here?" Kasumi explained to her what Ranma had said to her. "That's awful!" she commented. "Do you know who did it?"

Kasumi looked at Ranma, but Ranma shook his head meaning no. Though he did know, or at least it thought he did, but he didn't want to say anything just in case he was wrong. But from what he saw at the Kuno Estate, the damage was unmistakable. Ryoga did do it.

Nabiki Tendo headed home after spending some time with her friends. She hung out at a local malt shop and waited for the rain to stop before making her way home through the streets of Nerima.

She stopped at a cross walk and waited for the light to change, but as she stood there she thought she recognized a familiar face. She had only encountered him once before, but from that one encounter he had made a lasting impression.

Copycat Ken could change into anyone at a whim and duplicate their mannerisms and skills just by seeing them demonstrated once. He was a quick study and a master of disguises. He was like a magician, but his way of doing things was unique. Nabiki had never seen anyone quick change like he could, it was almost as if he had some strange magical power that aided in his changing abilities, a power not from his world.

But the thought of that was just ridiculous. But it would be interesting to know where he learned his trickery and then she could sell his secrets to make a lot of cash instead of just a little here and a little there.

Then she had an idea. Why not organize a benefit to raise money for the Tendo Dojo? She'd call it the Tendo Dojo Relief Fund Benefit Concert or something to that effect. Copycat Ken could do his tricks and wow the crowds and there would be music, food and other entertainment. But he'd be the star. Whether he'd go for it was another manner.

Ranma didn't like him. After the stunt he tried to put when first he encountered him and to everyone else when he first came to Nerima, it was no wonder anyone did.

Copycat Ken tried to match wits with Ranma and defeat him by learning all the techniques of his friends and use them against him, but in the end it was his quick change that ultimately decided the battle. Copycat had quick changed into so many people that he started to get confused and it affected his fighting style that he defeated himself without even throwing a punch.

Copycat Ken might not go for it, but it couldn't hurt to ask him. Besides it was much better and faster than Ranma's idea to make money. The notion of placing an ad in the newspaper for new martial art students wasn't very original and it she doubt it would be cost-effective either.

The light changed and she looked at the stop light for whatever reason, and when she looked back to see where Copycat Ken was, he had disappeared. She got the other side and looked around for him, but he was no where to be seen, which was strange, because he had a distinguished look with that bandana on his head. But knowing Copycat Ken and his sudden quick change, he could be anyone or anything.

Suddenly Nabiki felt a hand on her shoulder and she jerked startled because it frightened her. She turned around and saw it was her father. "Oh daddy, you scared me," she said.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Soun Tendo said. "What are you doing here?"

"I was hanging out with some friends. Oh, and I thought of a great way to make the Dojo some money." She looked around. "But he seems to have disappeared."

"Who has disappeared?"

"Copycat Ken," she said. "I have this great idea of putting on a benefit show to raise money for the dojo and Copycat Ken can be star attraction."

"That's very ambitious of you," he said smiling, "but we no longer need to worry about that. I just made a deal with Oro Hiroshi. He agreed to pay us for the use of our dojo until his is repaired."

Nabiki thought that was very strange. The last thing she remembered was her father being very upset and angry that Oro Hiroshi was taking all his business away. And now he goes and makes a deal with him for the use of their dojo? "But what about Ranma and Akane, where will they train if Oro Hiroshi uses our dojo?" she asked.

"It won't be forever, Nabiki-dear, only for two months. I'm sure Ranma and Akane will be able to figure something out to do in the mean time. I'm in a bind, Nabiki, we need this money to help me get out of debt."

"But I thought you liked Ranma's idea?"

"And what idea is that?"

She looked really puzzled.

"It's okay, honey. Whatever the idea was it's not important anymore. Let's go home."

Nabiki nodded. She didn't know why she felt this way, but there was something different about her father. But then she shrugged it off, because perhaps this deal with Oro Hiroshi was a blessing in disguise?

To be continued...