Chapter Thirty

Ryoga rubbed his throat, trying to coax away some of the soreness of Ken's non-physical attack. He would never have expected the demon to have that much power, and for now on he would have to be very careful around Ken. But what could he do against an invisible power that could kill him without any way to fight against it?

Ryoga cleared his throat. His voice was still a little raspy, but it had cleared up. "We can't destroy it, Ranma. Energy can only be displaced not destroyed - even spiritual, demonic energy," he explained. "We have to cast it out, just like all the others."

"Where'd you learn all this philosophy and science stuff? You aint goin' to school."

"Books. Free from libraries or what people throw away," Ryoga said. "I've started to train both my body and mind while on my journeys."

"Well, I don't care whatcha say, I'm fightin' it!"

"I didn't say I wouldn't help." Ryoga subconsciously rubbed his throat again. He couldn't get that sensation of being choked out of his mind and it made him a little apprehensive to launch an attack on Ken. "But we need a strategy. We can't just blast away with our Ki. That'll hurt Ken."

"He was all ready to kill you a minute ago."

"That was the demon inside, not Ken."

"Are you scared? Before, you'd be all charging in there like a dead man on a suicide mission, no matter what happened."

Ryoga didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. He looked at Ranma trying to look unafraid, but he felt he couldn't pull it off. And there was something else. "Something happened when I was on my last training journey, something terrible…I'll hafta tell ya about it sometime later. But I have an idea. You have a positive Ki and I have a negative one...we combine our Ki to increase our power. I envelope Ken in a spiritual barrier and you purify Ken's soul so the demon will leave."

"And how do I do that?"

"I'll grab him and surround him in an aura of dark, negative energy. This will confuse the demon temporarily. While its distracted, you purify Ken's spirit, and cast the demon out with your version of the LRS."

"Again, how?"

Ryoga sighed with annoyance. "Improvise, that's what a martial artist does! Maybe Ken was right, if we fought, I mean really fought, I'd win. Not like one of our silly challenges, but hardcore, no holds barred - "

"You calling our challenge's silly? I'm insulted! Look, I aint book smart like you, but I'd beat ya hands down in a fight, pal! No prob! That's been proven before! I always beat ya!"

Both looked at each other with an intense hateful stare and growled and snarled like two rabid dogs, until Akane pointed between them at Ken. "Look!"

Ranma and Ryoga broke away from their discord, and looked in the direction she pointed, and saw Ken's father face-to face with his son. But Copycat Ken had regained his composure and was eye-balling at the old man with "a-who-do-you-think-you-are" stare. The demon was once again in complete control.

"What does he think he's doing?" Ryoga said, wide-eye and shocked, seeing Kaio Ashward Lionhart standing up to the demon.

"The demon will kill'em!" Ranma said.

"You have to stop him, guys!" Akane said.

Both nodded, but how to do just that was obviously the question on both their minds.

But all of a sudden, Kaio Ashward Lionhart leaned in and hugged his son, and squeezed tight. "I love you son, and I'll never let you go until that demon is out of you!"

Ken looked at Kaio in utter shock, and then screamed, or rather the demon did, "What the hell - Let go! He's mine! You'll never have him!"

"Mr. Lionhart! He's dangerous!" Ranma shouted. "Let go of Ken! He'll kill you!"

"He's my son, he belongs to me! This demon can not have him!" Kaio replied back above the protest by Ken. Ken struggled against Kaio's vice-like grip and surprisingly was unable to brake it. "I love you Kenneth, and I won't this demon have you!" he said. "Not as long as their is still breath in my body will I let this thing exist in you!"

"Quick!" Ryoga said, running to the pair. "This is our chance!"

Ryoga ran over and grabbed Ken's shoulders, focused, and erected an aura of dark, negative energy around the magician's body using his recently discovered additional techniques of the Lion Roar Shot. An adaptation of what he used to brake Mousse's chains, but using the LRS in such a way in an attempt to trap and weaken the demon inside Ken. If he could focus enough Ki to suppress the demon's power, hopefully Ranma can force it out with his Ki. If the idiot would get here. "What are you waiting for!"

Ranma shook his head. "What do I do?"

And then it suddenly occurred to Ranma. Ryoga and he were polar opposites, (rivals), negative and positive, like magnetic north and south...

"Can it really be that simple?" he said.

"What are you babbling about?" Ryoga said.

Ranma smiled, and ran over and cupped his hands on Ken's father's shoulders, concentrating his Ki into Kaio. Kaio and Ken then became conductors for each of his and Ryoga's Ki's. Ryoga and Ranma were the current. If this worked, both N and S would repel the other and cast the demon out of Ken. Theoretically, of course.

Ranma closed his eyes and focused his Ki through Kaio and into Ken. Ken screamed, both in protest and in pain. It was a spiritual pain. A demonic echo filled his throat, as both Ki's flowed through Ken and his father's bodies.

"I think it's working," Ryoga said. "I can sense the demon weakening!"

"I feel it too," Ranma replied.

But the demon was not about to relent, and suddenly the demon's power jumped ten fold, as if it had some stored away for just such an occasion. It was not going to give up Ken without a fight. Ranma could feel the demon trying to repel him and Ryoga away with a force he had never felt before. And a gigantic whirlwind began to swirl around them, a spiritual essence of raw power that tried to rip them both away.

But they held tight, digging their heels into the ground for support.

Kaio grunted by the pain of Ranma's squeeze, and Ranma could feel the old man's shoulders tense. But he did not dare loosen his hold.

Kaio hugged his son tighter. "Don't let go, boys...whatever you're doing, it's weakening the demon! I can feel it!"

"Father, help me," Ken finally cried out, his voice pleading.

"Fight it, son! Don't let that demon win!" his father said.

"I'm trying, Father..."

But Ranma could feel this was also taking a toll on Ken, which was weakening his resolve against the demon. And he didn't know which one would win this fight.

Xi'an sat cross-legged in the middle of Oro Hiroshi's dojo with his eyes closed, and he frowned. He could feel Yuen's hold on Ken weakening.

His students had failed, Ryoga had used his Lion Roar Shot on them. Xi'an found that unexpected as he never thought Ryoga would use such a powerful fighting technique on such weak fighters. But the LRS was more of a defense than an offensive technique, and Ryoga must have knew this.

Ryoga Hibiki had recently become very knowledgeable on the LRS and its hidden techniques. Xi'an was curious who had taught him to bring these hidden techniques out. The power Ryoga used to incapacitate Xi'an students was minimum but effective. It was enough to stop them, but not seriously hurt them.

"That boy…" he started to say. "He has a very old spirit. I knew I should have destroyed him when I had the chance. Ryoga Hibiki has an indomitable spirit. He must be destroyed, along with Ranma Saotome and his father!"

Xi'an opened his eyes sharply with sudden revelation.

That's it!

Xi'an knew he felt a familiar spirit inside that boy! Something about Ryoga Hibiki had nagged him all this time even when he used a demon to possess him. The power Ryoga possessed was about to cast out the demon inside him with conceivable ease. Xi'an had found this curious, but now he knew the reason why it had happened.

Xi'an couldn't quite put the pieces together until now.

Ryoga had a deeper connection to Ranma than even the boy knew, now that Xi'an started to recall the past. Time has a way of making people forget, even the spirit to forget. But after a century, he has returned…they were back together again!

Saotome was the Emperor of China's army's general, but it was Hibiki who actually damned Xi'an's army to the depths of Jusenkyo with his spiritual power as Saotome's mystic/sorcerer, trapping everyone in a negative barrier, casting them into the waters, letting them drown alive. It was then Saotome purified Jusenkyo, to an extent, that cursed his army for eternality. And Xi'an's family.

It was only after a century did Xi'an's angry and rage manage to build up enough spiritual energy to allow him to escape. He then called upon Yuen, his own army's general, and a few of his soldiers to battle against Ranma Saotome and his father, giving his soldiers god-like powers to kill Xi'an's enemies.

It all seemed simple. Kill two meaningless martial artists and free his family from an eternal limbo.

However, it appeared Saotome's mystic/sorcerer was still protecting his Master after all this time, even if he doesn't remember why.

Xi'an swore a rude Chinese curse.

Yuen's resolve weakened. His power was being suppressed by the power of Ranma and Ryoga's Ki. And the boy, Ken, was also fighting him. And like a marionette doll that's had too many strings cut to move fluently, all his influence over the boy was being snatched away. Ryoga and Ranma's energies that flowed through Ken and his father were purifying the boy. And there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The demonic spirit spewed out of Ken's mouth in a pillar of dark energy with great force, and then dissipated into the night sky until there was nothing left.

Ken cried, hugging his father. Despite all the years of separation and hurtful memories, Ken squeezed his father and sobbed into his shoulder. Fear urged him more than anything. He needed to feel safe right now.

"I missed you, Kenneth," his father said softly.

Ken sniffed. "I missed you too, Father. I'm sorry."

"No, it is I that should be sorry. I know forgiveness is never instantaneous, but I hope over time, we can start to forge that father and son relationship I foolish discarded."

"I'd like that," Ken said smiling, wiping tears from his eyes. "And you can also show me how you really did that card trick."

Kaio Ashward Loinhart laughed.

To be continued...