Chapter III
Ryoga laughed.
"I now see the tremendous possibilities of this 'Switcharoo', as Happosai calls it," Ryoga said with a joyous grin. "I'm tried of living in your shadow, Ranma. It's time to break away from the bleakness of my life. I now have the means to get everything I ever wanted!"
"Over my dead body!" Ranma said exceptionally angry.
"That's precisely my intention, Ranma," he said. "You'll be dead here and now, but I'll be living in the past. I'll be living two lives, but the other Ryoga won't know I'm really you."
"If you do this, Ryoga, I'll never speak to you again," Akane said.
Ryoga chuckled sadistically. "My sweet, Akane," he began, "you'll never know this even occurred when I'm done."
"I won't allow you to harm my son," Genma said. "I'll fight you with every breath in my body!"
"And I will too!" Soun Tendo said. "This isn't like you, son; you need help, Ryoga."
"You're wrong, Mr. Tendo," Ryoga said. "It's opened my eyes."
"You don't have a hope in hell of beating me in my own body, Ryoga," Ranma said. "Being a martial artist is more than just having skill and aptitude, you have to be attuned to your own body's strengths and weaknesses and to overcome them, and that takes years!"
"I don't have to be attuned to your body, Ranma. I know it's strengths and weaknesses, and it's one major flaw—your curse. It made you weak. Now it's no longer a factor in the equation. I know all your moves and now I have your speed. I need nothin' else to beat you!"
"You're so stupid, Ryoga. After all these years, you're still as thick-headed as ever. I would've thought you'd figured it out by now."
"Figured what out?"
"THAT YOU CAN'T BEAT ME!" Ranma shouted.
Ranma attacked Ryoga and delivered several swift blows to his stomach using the Chestnuts Roasting Over An Open Fire technique. The attack took all but seconds. Even in Ryoga's body, Ranma was still pretty fast.
Ryoga staggered back from the attack and tripped over a bucket of water on the porch. He dropped to his butt. He rubbed his stomach.
He eyed Ranma and then shook his head. He started to blubber into his hands. "I'm so sorry, Ranma," he said. "A fleeting of madness came over me. But it's all over! Akane knows my secret and I can never live that down. She hates me now!"
Ranma stood over him and smiled with pride. "Ryoga…" Ryoga lifted up his face from his hands. "Trust me, we can fix it. She won't hate you."
"How?"
"We'll use the Nanban Mirror to go back into the past and change this so it never happens. No one will ever know." He turned to Happosai, then said, "Old freak, get the mirror!"
"I will not be spoken to in such a disrespectful manner," Happosai said with an angry look on his face. But then suddenly smiled with a lustful inwardness. "Yet again, I can't be denied those lovely, buxom breasts of yours, Ranma."
"Just get the mirror, will ya!" Ranma said annoyed. "Just look at it this way, Ryoga. You may have to deal with becoming P-Chan again, but I'll have to deal with changing into a girl and having to deal with that perverted goat! Lesser of two evils, ya think?"
"What about what I think?" Akane chimed in. "Now that I know that Ryoga fell into Jusenkyo, I don't want things to go back to the way things were. All those times I slept with him in my bed and changed in front of him—it was really Ryoga! We'll change you two back another way. I never want to forget this."
"There isn't another way, Akane," Ranma said.
"See, she hates me," Ryoga said, tears forming in his eyes. "I'll never be able to live with myself. I might as well go and kill myself, my life is over."
"Not in my body you're not," Ranma said.
Happosai returned from his room with the mirror. It had a crack in it, but it still worked. He went to give the mirror to Ranma, but at the last second, Ryoga snatched it away instead and quickly got to his feet. He backed away.
"Ryoga! What're ya doin'?" Ranma said.
Ryoga chuckled maniacally. "I finally have the Nanban Mirror," he said. "And now I can put forth my plans to end you, Saotome!"
"I thought we settled this?" Ranma said. "Stop acting so…not you! This is beyond dumb. Look, I know you're not thinking straight, something's messed up in your head—or is that my head?—I'm perfectly fine. I think? I'm confused now. We need to change back. I'm starting to think more like you. And I want to keep my sense of direction."
"This is not a joking matter, Ranma!" Akane said.
"You may want to return to your previous life, Ranma, but I don't," Ryoga said firmly. "I'm perfectly fine in this body, and I intend to keep it! No more changing back into a pig. I can live a life with Akane. I will have her and the Tendo Dojo. And with you outta the way, they'll be no one to stop me of world domination!" Ryoga laughed loudly. Then: "Okay, maybe not that last part."
"See, you're not thinking straight, you idiot! Give me that mirror!" Ranma demanded. "But just try me, Ryoga." He crackled his knuckles. "I'll make bacon strips out of your hide!"
"I always figured Ryoga was bi-polar disorder," Nabiki said to Kasumi.
Kasumi agreed. "With everything he's been through, I don't blame him," she said.
"I know something you don't, Ranma," Ryoga carried on. "The perfected Ultimate Shi Shi Hokodan technique! And this time I'm not going to be distracted by any of your tricks. This time it's do or die, and you're gonna die! I'll use the mirror to enhance my technique."
"Oh yeah, and how?"
Ryoga didn't say anything for a moment. "I don't know yet, but—"
"Not if I have anything to say about it," Happosai said, and he ran at Ryoga. He snatched the Nanban Mirror from his hand. The minute marital artist landed. In the other, he had he an onion that he had brought out with him. He rubbed his eye with the onion and a tear began to form.
"No, STOP!" Ryoga said.
The tear dropped on the mirror, and Happosai said, "I wish to go back five minutes from now before all this happened."
"NOOO!" Ryoga cried out horrified, and jumped towards Happosai in an attempt to make him stop. But it was too late—
They were both engulfed in a bright, white light, and vanished.
Ryoga agreed to help dump water out into the backyard after he was discovered hiding in the closet. The Tendo house was flooded with rain water during the storm that had hit the town of Nerima recently. Akane had been persuasive and Ryoga couldn't say no. Dressed in a yellow rain coat and hat, Ryoga was still frightened to get wet. But he braved his fear and helped out.
It was often said: 'Slippery when wet' and he slipped on some water on the back porch of the Tendo home and grabbed onto Ranma for support, so he wouldn't fall into the floodwater in the backyard. But it was a poor choice and Ranma came with him.
"Hey!" Ranma shouted.
As they began to fall backwards, something suddenly pushed Ryoga back and Ryoga fell forward onto Ranma back onto the porch. He felt directly onto Ranma full frontal and Ranma's female breasts pressed into him. He gulped embarrassed.
"I'm sorry—" Ryoga started to say.
Suddenly, lightning struck the backyard floodwater.
Ryoga looked back as the water sizzled for a moment. He breathed a sigh of relief. Not only for staying out of the water, changing into P-Chan, but for what could have happened if that lightning had struck them if he and Ranma had been in the water at that time.
Electricity and water don't mix, Ryoga knew.
He turned back to Ranma. Ranma looked at him annoyed. "Thank you, Ranma," he said.
"For what? You fell on me!" his rival stated.
"No, you pushed me."
"How could I've pushed you if you fell on top of me?"
"You have a point," Ryoga said and rolled off Ranma.
"All this water around is makin' ya crazy. If ya not goin' be any help, then stay outta the way."
"Heads up!" Nabiki said, and heaved a bucket of water out the back porch. The water soared through the air and smacked Ryoga squarely in the face. He staggered backwards and fell off the porch and into the backyard. P-Chan surfaced in the water, but unconscious.
"Oops!" Nabiki said.
Ranma saw him and dived in. Ranma snatched P-Chan from the water and leapt onto the roof.
Ranma breathed a little sigh of relief. He slapped P-Chan awake. "Hey, looks like I saved your bacon-butt again," he said. "I don't think Nabiki saw much, but I suspect she already knows. Akane's goin' wonder where ya got to, so just stay outta sight for a while until ya can change back. But I prefer you like this, it means less hassle for me." P-Chan cried sorrowfully. "Don't be sad, there's nothin' I can do. But if you think your life is rotten, just try living my life for while, then you'll change your tune real quick."
All of a sudden the house started to shake violently and Ranma grabbed onto the peak of the roof to steady himself. He then noticed that there was a stranger standing in the backyard, knee deep in water. It had been sunny a moment ago, but now the clouds rolled back in and darkened the area. Ranma couldn't see the identity of the person.
The stranger, masked in darkness, extended his right arm in the air. Lightning coursed across the sky as if controlled by the stranger.
Ranma slid down the roof, then flipped down and landed safely, facing the stranger in the water.
"Who the hell are you?" Ranma asked.
Lightning flashed across the sky lighting up the area, revealing the stranger's identity. It was then that Ranma got the shock of his life—he was looking at himself.
The other Ranma stepped into a more lightened area.
"I've come to finish the job I started, Saotome, and this time I don't intend to make any mistakes," he said. "Time to die!"
To be continued...
