Welcome once again to another episode of Bill Erd the science nerd.
Today we shall look at what happens when we mix cold water with various
martial artists from Nerima... *SPLASH* "Mrrroooowwww! Quack quack!
Woof! Bweeeee! Growf! What'd you do that for!?"
All in the pursuit of science!
Ahem--- e-mail address: oddball22@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: The characters I'm borrowing (with the exception of Kenji)
are all the property of Rumiko Takahashi. When I'm through using them
I'll rewind and dry-clean them before returning them to her. Heck, I'll
even pay the late fee...
And now for our feature presentation (now in dolby digital surround
sound!)...
Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Winds of Change
Chapter 7
The movie they ended up seeing was some Hong Kong produced
martial arts flick. Kenji wouldn't be able to remember the name
afterward, since he slowly found himself paying more attention to the
chef's company. She was friendly and a great conversationalist. And she
didn't seem to be trying to get him to do anything. She was just talking
to him like a normal human being.
Ukyo, for the most part, was enjoying herself just as much. She
could see that her companion had withdrawn into himself, and that he was
just trying to be polite. Normally she might not have cared. But for
some reason, she was curious about what sort of guy this Kenji really
was, and was working to get him to open up more.
Ranma and Akane never did show up for the movie.
As they left the movie theater, they continued to talk about
the movie while walking along the streets towards the restaurant. If
either one had bothered to look up, they might've caught a glimpse of a
lone dark figure who was following them by rooftop.
The figure stopped when his master contacted him by way of a
translucent floating head.
"Where is he now?"
"With a girl. They just left a movie theater and are now walking
alone down the street."
"Perfect. I'm sending two others to you now. Wait until they
arrive and then capture them. There will be no individual rewards, so do
not attack alone, but work together. When you have them, inform me by
way of the signal and I will arrive. Understood?"
"Yes my lord."
The face nodded, then faded out.
Finally, the lone figure thought gleefully. I get to see some
action!
*RIIIIIIING!*
"I got it!" Akane yelled, then picked up the phone. "Moshi
moshi." Ranma was also in the room, so he only heard Akane's side of the
conversation.
They had met up at the bridge after Ranma ditched his pursuers,
then Akane decided they should just head home and leave Ukyo and Kenji
alone.
"Oh, hello Cologne," Ranma caught Akane's gaze. "We were hoping
you'd call so we could ask you about this fire lord guy."
"Yeah, he attacked Kenji-san last night, but Ranma saved him."
Ranma grinned and struck a heroic pose which was attacked by a flurry of
pillows from Akane.
"Well, he called himself the Fire Lord."
"Yes, that's what I said: Fire Lord."
"Yeah, Ranma said he was burning and tossing fireballs around.
He also cursed Kenji with Jusenkyo water so now he turns into a wolf."
"Yes, that's what I said, a wolf."
"Sure, no problem. Bye!" Akane hung up.
"What did the old ghoul want?" Ranma asked.
Akane sat down. "She said she may have figured out a possible
way to reinstate Kenji's memory. For some reason she got all excited
when I mentioned the fire guy and Kenji's curse. Told me to make sure
nobody to leaves the house and she'll be right over."
Ranma shrugged, then went back to the T.V.
When Cologne hung up the phone, her hand was almost shaking.
It's finally happened, the last cursed one has come. She sighed. I
suppose it had to happen sooner or later, that was why I remained in
this country for so long. She smiled slighty. That, and son-in-law has
provided the best entertainment in years. The smile vanished. But
now's the time for action. The wizard sects have returned.
"Shampoo, Mousse, come here at once!"
The two Amazons came running into the kitchen at Cologne's
urgent call.
"What wrong, great-grandmother?" Shampoo asked.
"Hurry, get your weapons and prepare for battle," she commanded.
"We have a most urgent task to perform."
Her two charges wasted no time questioning, but rushed to obey.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Kasumi
answered it and in came the Amazon trio. The rest of the family was
gathered in the living room. As soon as she bounced in on her staff, she
scanned the room, her face unreadable.
"Where's Kenji-san?" she asked.
"Out on a date with Ukyo-chan," Akane replied. "Why?"
Suddenly Cologne looked very worried, and Akane knew that when
Cologne is worried, it couldn't possibly be good. "We have to find him!"
"Why's that?" Ranma asked, standing up.
"Because not only is his left in danger, but the fate of the
world is at stake!"
"Ukyo-san, look out!" Kenji yelled.
"I see it!" She jumped to the side, dodging a golem's fist and
swinging her battle spat', neatly slicing her attacker in two. Then she
backed up looking for the next threat.
They had been attacked a few minutes ago by three cloaked and
hooded individuals. One of them was shooting fire, and one was creating
humanoid rock monsters, golems, out of the ground. The last one was
hanging back and doing nothing. Currently, there were four golems
attacking, minus the three they had taken out. Still, they both sensed
it was a losing battle as three golems appeared for every two they
managed to destroy.
Kenji leapt to the shoulder of one golem and got the attention
at another. It promptly shot both fists at him, but Kenji jumped off and
golem #2 only succeeded in tearing apart golem #1. He swung in front of
another and got the attention of the fire tossing individual.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he taunted. "My grandmother's got
better aim!"
The fire thrower turned his attention to the amnesiac, telling
Kenji his ploy had worked... maybe too well. A very large fireball
streaked towards him and Kenji found his body unresponsive to his
commands. His limbs began to tremble uncontrollably, while his mouth
suddenly went dry. The blood in his veins turned to ice as he fell under
the mezmorizing spell of the approaching inferno.
"Kenji!" Ukyo yelled as she tackled him out of the way, just as
the fireball passed them and struck the golem, blowing it up in a shower
of sparks and gravel. They tumbled off the street and into the grass
with Ukyo on top. "You okay?"
Kenji slowly began to recover and shuddered. "Yeah, I... I
don't know what happened. I just... couldn't move."
"Might have pyrophobia."
"What's that?"
"Fear of fire."
"Ah!" Suddenly Kenji locked his arms around Ukyo and rolled away
just as a golem's fist came down and struck the ground they occupied a
second ago. "As much as I enjoy rolling around with you," he said with a
nervous smile when they stopped, "we really should get back to the
battle."
Ukyo grinned, then somersaulted off him, heading for her
dropped spatula.
Kenji kippuped and re-entered the battle after her.
Ryoga could hardly believe his luck. He was still in Tokyo!
Better yet, he had made it back to Nerima! Now he just couldn't wait to
get his hands on that punk who blasted him away, just as he was gonna
finish Ranma.
He stopped to look at his map again hoping it would tell him
where to go. Unfortunately, it was a map of Indonesia and was being held
upside down, but maps and Ryoga weren't exactly compatible anyway. Now,
which way?
As if to answer his question, an explosion sounded in the
distance and Ryoga looked up. Squinting, he managed to make out a battle
taking place way down the street. Intrigued by what was going on, he
headed in that direction. Being as it was a straight line to the fight,
Ryoga was relatively he sure could make it without getting lost or
sidetracked on the way.
"This is hopeless!" Ukyo yelled. "We have to get out of here!"
She smashed another golem to pieces with her large spatula.
"I think you're right," Kenji responded, ducking and rolling
away from a stone piledriver. "Either that or take out the guy who's
creating the golems. If only I had time to work up a wind strike!"
The number of golems had increased to seven, minus the one Ukyo
had just destroyed. They were surrounded and the fire thrower was
blowing things up whenever they tried to make a break for it. The golems
were slower, but not by much.
Approaching the battle, Ryoga could make out two people
fighting off half a dozen bigger guys. Then he caught sight of a giant
spatula and confidently made two decisions: to intervene, and to fight
the ones attacking the girl with the giant spatula..
All Kenji could do was move as fast as possible and get the
golems and the fire thrower attack each other, since he didn't have any
weapons like Ukyo and wasn't strong enough to damage rock with his
hands.
He had to hand it to her, she was fighting like a woman
possessed. Despite their efforts, sooner or later there would be too
many golems, and/or he would slip, and/or make a mistake, and it would
be over for him.
Unfortunately, that moment came all two soon when Kenji felt
two strong hands grab him from behind. Locked in the golem's grip, it
began to squeeze.
Elsewhere, several figures ran through the night.
"Mind telling us where we're going and what exactly we're up
against?" Ranma asked as he, Akane, Soun, Genma, Cologne, Shampoo, and
Mouse moved through the streets.
"You'll soon find out, son-in-law," she replied.
That address earned a smile from Shampoo and a frown from
everyone else.
"Kenji-san!" Ukyo cried as she saw him being squeezed in the
golem's death grip. But there was no way to get to him as two golems
were in her way.
*WHACK!*
Make that one. Another one stepped in to fill the gap to make
it two again. She was almost out of maneuvering space and knew her time
was coming. A golem loomed over her and as she prepared to smash it, it
suddenly broke apart on it's own as a welcome and familiar fang-faced
figure came barreling through, wielding an umbrella.
"Ryoga!" Ukyo could almost hug him, if she weren't involved in a
life or death struggle for survival at the moment.
"Uh, hi Ukyo-san!" Ryoga smiled, his fangs showing. "Mind
telling me what's going on?"
A flash hit her. "Ryoga-kun! These guys are solid rock! Use
your breaking point and help me save my friend!" She pointed and he
nodded.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted, placing a single finger on a
golem. It exploded as Ukyo slashed another.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted again and yet another golem
exploded. Ukyo followed it up by sending her battle spat' slicing
through another. It immediately crumbled.
The golem guy's sneering grin at the far end of the battle
began to vanish as his golems started disappearing faster then he could
make them.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryouga struck again, this time on the golem
holding Kenji. The captive Kenji dropped to the ground as the golem
exploded. Ryoga caught him, jumped back, and got a good look at the guy
he just rescued and realized who he was. "YOU!"
Ukyo made her way over to him, right through another golem.
"What's the matter Ryoga?"
"This is the punk who blasted me when I was about to finish
Ranma!" he exclaimed.
"Kenji-san did that?" Ukyo asked. Ryoga nodded. "Look, you can
have your revenge later! We need to survive now!"
As if to underscore that, several fireballs exploded nearby
knocking the trio off their feet. The remaining golems closed in. The
jolt served to awaken Kenji, who sat up.
"Okay, but after this is over, we're," Ryoga said indicating
Kenji, "gonna have a match."
"Who're you?" Kenji said groggily.
"Kenji-san, I heard you mention a wind strike earlier?" Ukyo
asked.
"Yeah, haven't had much time to use it though." Kenji scratched
his head. "Didn't know if it would work if I tried it."
"Look, Ryoga and I are best suited to keeping the golems off
you. While we do, you hit the golem maker, and maybe we can end this!"
Ukyo proclaimed.
When Kenji nodded, He stood up and concentrated as they left to
cover him. It's time to do some protecting, he thought. Desire welled
up in him and a gray aura began to form around him.
An explosion could be heard in the distance.
Six figures ran on, with one additional person bouncing on a
stick.
All hoped they wouldn't be too late.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Another golem exploded.
Ukyo slashed another. This is getting rather repetitive she
thought. "Hurry up Kenji-san!" Fireballs exploded at her feet, sending
her tumbling along the ground. She glanced down the see that last attack
left quite a few burn marks on her pants. That's it, I'm going to kill
that pyromaniac! she promised to herself while returning to her feet.
The wind was gathering.
Kenji stretched his hands out, palms forward.
He concentrated on his targets, the three individuals down the
street.
He closed his eyes. I can do this! He heard Ukyo scream. NO!
I will protect you!
The wind blew passed Kenji and gathered in his palms. As his ki
built, his insides ran into that same barrier the last time he tried his
wind strike, meaning he couldn't gather any more power. It was now or
never.
"KIJIN BOUHUUKEN!" he yelled.
The explosion of wind was almost visible as it headed straight
toward it's first target, golem guy. The horizontal jet stream slammed
into him, picking him and tossing him against a wall like a rag doll.
Kenji fought to hold his concentration, then swept the wind to it's
second target, the fire thrower. 200+ mph winds did roughly the same
thing to him as they did to his partner. He was left lying against a
wall, unmoving.
After that, Kenji was unable to keep the attack up. I'm
sorry, he thought as his strength left him and he collapsed. The wind
attack dissipated.
With a "Bakusai Tenketsu!" and another slash for Ukyo, the last
two golems fell.
"All right Kenji-san!" Ukyo yelled, then saw him laying on the
ground, not moving. "NO!" She ran over to him, dropping her spatula and
picking up Kenji's head, holding it in her lap. "Speak to me!"
Kenji wearily opened his eyes. "Did we do it?"
Ukyo choked back her tears and smiled. "Yeah, you did it."
Ryouga walked over. "Uh, Ukyo-san, now might be a good time to
get out of here before reinforcements arrive."
Laughter echoed around them, but they couldn't make out the
source. "Oh please don't leave so soon!" A patch of ground several yards
away exploded, and a figure appeared when the fireworks died down.
Flames bathed the newcomer from head to toe. His gaze darkened. "I
insist you stay."
Ryoga turned to him. "I don't know who you are, but nobody
tells Hibiki Ryoga what to do!" He swung his umbrella defiantly.
"A pity." He snapped his fingers.
The third figure emerged from the shadows, touched the ground
with both hands, and raised them to the sky. The ground began to rumble,
then it erupted. Multiple geysers roared into the sky and began to rain
all present as the water mains under the ground broke. The droplets just
fizzled and evaporated when they hit the burning guy, but they had more
disastrous effects on two other people.
Ukyo looked down to see she was now holding a small grey wolf.
He's Jusenkyo-cursed? Some part of her mind noted that Ryoga was gone;
that he must've been cursed as well.
Suddenly, the realization hit her that she was alone.
She grabbed her spatula which was laying nearby, and stood up,
hovering protectively over Kenji as the flame-enveloped menace
approached.
"You ANIMAL!" she roared and sprang forward on the attack.
"SILENCE WENCH!" The Fire Lord launched a human sized fireball
at the charging okonomiyaki chef. Ukyo managed to block it in time with
her spatula, but the force of the explosion blasted it to pieces and
sent her sprawling. Her back slammed into a tree and she slid down the
trunk, barely able to move with the wind knocked out of her. The Fire
Lord moved over to her.
"Well fought, but you lose," he said with a grin. "Tell the one
called `Ranma' if you or he wants to see this one again," he pointed to
where water man had picked up the small wolf and placed him in a cage,
"then you can meet me at the summit of Hago mountain. Please don't be
late or he may not survive. I don't think he'll last more than 6 hours."
"No..." Ukyo managed weakly.
Fire guy grinned evilly, exploded into a fireball, then roared
skyward.
The two blasted servants had awakened and joined the third.
Together they made a circle around the cage containing the unconscious
wolf. They said a short chant and disappeared in a blue flash.
Ukyo watched them go, helpless to do anything. You wouldn't
have known she was crying unless you listened closely for her sobs, as
the artificial rain masked her tears.
"Kenji..." was all she could say quietly before passing out.
--------------------------------------------------------
Author's notes:
Yes, Kenji does have a fear of fire from the trauma of his burning house
and seeing his family killed in the blaze. It's not as bad as Ranma's
fear of cats, but it will be a problem for him. And no, it doesn't help
him in any way, like Ranma's cat fear does. Of course, he doesn't know
why he fears fire since his memory is gone...
Today we shall look at what happens when we mix cold water with various
martial artists from Nerima... *SPLASH* "Mrrroooowwww! Quack quack!
Woof! Bweeeee! Growf! What'd you do that for!?"
All in the pursuit of science!
Ahem--- e-mail address: oddball22@hotmail.com
DISCLAIMER: The characters I'm borrowing (with the exception of Kenji)
are all the property of Rumiko Takahashi. When I'm through using them
I'll rewind and dry-clean them before returning them to her. Heck, I'll
even pay the late fee...
And now for our feature presentation (now in dolby digital surround
sound!)...
Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Winds of Change
Chapter 7
The movie they ended up seeing was some Hong Kong produced
martial arts flick. Kenji wouldn't be able to remember the name
afterward, since he slowly found himself paying more attention to the
chef's company. She was friendly and a great conversationalist. And she
didn't seem to be trying to get him to do anything. She was just talking
to him like a normal human being.
Ukyo, for the most part, was enjoying herself just as much. She
could see that her companion had withdrawn into himself, and that he was
just trying to be polite. Normally she might not have cared. But for
some reason, she was curious about what sort of guy this Kenji really
was, and was working to get him to open up more.
Ranma and Akane never did show up for the movie.
As they left the movie theater, they continued to talk about
the movie while walking along the streets towards the restaurant. If
either one had bothered to look up, they might've caught a glimpse of a
lone dark figure who was following them by rooftop.
The figure stopped when his master contacted him by way of a
translucent floating head.
"Where is he now?"
"With a girl. They just left a movie theater and are now walking
alone down the street."
"Perfect. I'm sending two others to you now. Wait until they
arrive and then capture them. There will be no individual rewards, so do
not attack alone, but work together. When you have them, inform me by
way of the signal and I will arrive. Understood?"
"Yes my lord."
The face nodded, then faded out.
Finally, the lone figure thought gleefully. I get to see some
action!
*RIIIIIIING!*
"I got it!" Akane yelled, then picked up the phone. "Moshi
moshi." Ranma was also in the room, so he only heard Akane's side of the
conversation.
They had met up at the bridge after Ranma ditched his pursuers,
then Akane decided they should just head home and leave Ukyo and Kenji
alone.
"Oh, hello Cologne," Ranma caught Akane's gaze. "We were hoping
you'd call so we could ask you about this fire lord guy."
"Yeah, he attacked Kenji-san last night, but Ranma saved him."
Ranma grinned and struck a heroic pose which was attacked by a flurry of
pillows from Akane.
"Well, he called himself the Fire Lord."
"Yes, that's what I said: Fire Lord."
"Yeah, Ranma said he was burning and tossing fireballs around.
He also cursed Kenji with Jusenkyo water so now he turns into a wolf."
"Yes, that's what I said, a wolf."
"Sure, no problem. Bye!" Akane hung up.
"What did the old ghoul want?" Ranma asked.
Akane sat down. "She said she may have figured out a possible
way to reinstate Kenji's memory. For some reason she got all excited
when I mentioned the fire guy and Kenji's curse. Told me to make sure
nobody to leaves the house and she'll be right over."
Ranma shrugged, then went back to the T.V.
When Cologne hung up the phone, her hand was almost shaking.
It's finally happened, the last cursed one has come. She sighed. I
suppose it had to happen sooner or later, that was why I remained in
this country for so long. She smiled slighty. That, and son-in-law has
provided the best entertainment in years. The smile vanished. But
now's the time for action. The wizard sects have returned.
"Shampoo, Mousse, come here at once!"
The two Amazons came running into the kitchen at Cologne's
urgent call.
"What wrong, great-grandmother?" Shampoo asked.
"Hurry, get your weapons and prepare for battle," she commanded.
"We have a most urgent task to perform."
Her two charges wasted no time questioning, but rushed to obey.
Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Kasumi
answered it and in came the Amazon trio. The rest of the family was
gathered in the living room. As soon as she bounced in on her staff, she
scanned the room, her face unreadable.
"Where's Kenji-san?" she asked.
"Out on a date with Ukyo-chan," Akane replied. "Why?"
Suddenly Cologne looked very worried, and Akane knew that when
Cologne is worried, it couldn't possibly be good. "We have to find him!"
"Why's that?" Ranma asked, standing up.
"Because not only is his left in danger, but the fate of the
world is at stake!"
"Ukyo-san, look out!" Kenji yelled.
"I see it!" She jumped to the side, dodging a golem's fist and
swinging her battle spat', neatly slicing her attacker in two. Then she
backed up looking for the next threat.
They had been attacked a few minutes ago by three cloaked and
hooded individuals. One of them was shooting fire, and one was creating
humanoid rock monsters, golems, out of the ground. The last one was
hanging back and doing nothing. Currently, there were four golems
attacking, minus the three they had taken out. Still, they both sensed
it was a losing battle as three golems appeared for every two they
managed to destroy.
Kenji leapt to the shoulder of one golem and got the attention
at another. It promptly shot both fists at him, but Kenji jumped off and
golem #2 only succeeded in tearing apart golem #1. He swung in front of
another and got the attention of the fire tossing individual.
"Hey, what's the matter?" he taunted. "My grandmother's got
better aim!"
The fire thrower turned his attention to the amnesiac, telling
Kenji his ploy had worked... maybe too well. A very large fireball
streaked towards him and Kenji found his body unresponsive to his
commands. His limbs began to tremble uncontrollably, while his mouth
suddenly went dry. The blood in his veins turned to ice as he fell under
the mezmorizing spell of the approaching inferno.
"Kenji!" Ukyo yelled as she tackled him out of the way, just as
the fireball passed them and struck the golem, blowing it up in a shower
of sparks and gravel. They tumbled off the street and into the grass
with Ukyo on top. "You okay?"
Kenji slowly began to recover and shuddered. "Yeah, I... I
don't know what happened. I just... couldn't move."
"Might have pyrophobia."
"What's that?"
"Fear of fire."
"Ah!" Suddenly Kenji locked his arms around Ukyo and rolled away
just as a golem's fist came down and struck the ground they occupied a
second ago. "As much as I enjoy rolling around with you," he said with a
nervous smile when they stopped, "we really should get back to the
battle."
Ukyo grinned, then somersaulted off him, heading for her
dropped spatula.
Kenji kippuped and re-entered the battle after her.
Ryoga could hardly believe his luck. He was still in Tokyo!
Better yet, he had made it back to Nerima! Now he just couldn't wait to
get his hands on that punk who blasted him away, just as he was gonna
finish Ranma.
He stopped to look at his map again hoping it would tell him
where to go. Unfortunately, it was a map of Indonesia and was being held
upside down, but maps and Ryoga weren't exactly compatible anyway. Now,
which way?
As if to answer his question, an explosion sounded in the
distance and Ryoga looked up. Squinting, he managed to make out a battle
taking place way down the street. Intrigued by what was going on, he
headed in that direction. Being as it was a straight line to the fight,
Ryoga was relatively he sure could make it without getting lost or
sidetracked on the way.
"This is hopeless!" Ukyo yelled. "We have to get out of here!"
She smashed another golem to pieces with her large spatula.
"I think you're right," Kenji responded, ducking and rolling
away from a stone piledriver. "Either that or take out the guy who's
creating the golems. If only I had time to work up a wind strike!"
The number of golems had increased to seven, minus the one Ukyo
had just destroyed. They were surrounded and the fire thrower was
blowing things up whenever they tried to make a break for it. The golems
were slower, but not by much.
Approaching the battle, Ryoga could make out two people
fighting off half a dozen bigger guys. Then he caught sight of a giant
spatula and confidently made two decisions: to intervene, and to fight
the ones attacking the girl with the giant spatula..
All Kenji could do was move as fast as possible and get the
golems and the fire thrower attack each other, since he didn't have any
weapons like Ukyo and wasn't strong enough to damage rock with his
hands.
He had to hand it to her, she was fighting like a woman
possessed. Despite their efforts, sooner or later there would be too
many golems, and/or he would slip, and/or make a mistake, and it would
be over for him.
Unfortunately, that moment came all two soon when Kenji felt
two strong hands grab him from behind. Locked in the golem's grip, it
began to squeeze.
Elsewhere, several figures ran through the night.
"Mind telling us where we're going and what exactly we're up
against?" Ranma asked as he, Akane, Soun, Genma, Cologne, Shampoo, and
Mouse moved through the streets.
"You'll soon find out, son-in-law," she replied.
That address earned a smile from Shampoo and a frown from
everyone else.
"Kenji-san!" Ukyo cried as she saw him being squeezed in the
golem's death grip. But there was no way to get to him as two golems
were in her way.
*WHACK!*
Make that one. Another one stepped in to fill the gap to make
it two again. She was almost out of maneuvering space and knew her time
was coming. A golem loomed over her and as she prepared to smash it, it
suddenly broke apart on it's own as a welcome and familiar fang-faced
figure came barreling through, wielding an umbrella.
"Ryoga!" Ukyo could almost hug him, if she weren't involved in a
life or death struggle for survival at the moment.
"Uh, hi Ukyo-san!" Ryoga smiled, his fangs showing. "Mind
telling me what's going on?"
A flash hit her. "Ryoga-kun! These guys are solid rock! Use
your breaking point and help me save my friend!" She pointed and he
nodded.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted, placing a single finger on a
golem. It exploded as Ukyo slashed another.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" he shouted again and yet another golem
exploded. Ukyo followed it up by sending her battle spat' slicing
through another. It immediately crumbled.
The golem guy's sneering grin at the far end of the battle
began to vanish as his golems started disappearing faster then he could
make them.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Ryouga struck again, this time on the golem
holding Kenji. The captive Kenji dropped to the ground as the golem
exploded. Ryoga caught him, jumped back, and got a good look at the guy
he just rescued and realized who he was. "YOU!"
Ukyo made her way over to him, right through another golem.
"What's the matter Ryoga?"
"This is the punk who blasted me when I was about to finish
Ranma!" he exclaimed.
"Kenji-san did that?" Ukyo asked. Ryoga nodded. "Look, you can
have your revenge later! We need to survive now!"
As if to underscore that, several fireballs exploded nearby
knocking the trio off their feet. The remaining golems closed in. The
jolt served to awaken Kenji, who sat up.
"Okay, but after this is over, we're," Ryoga said indicating
Kenji, "gonna have a match."
"Who're you?" Kenji said groggily.
"Kenji-san, I heard you mention a wind strike earlier?" Ukyo
asked.
"Yeah, haven't had much time to use it though." Kenji scratched
his head. "Didn't know if it would work if I tried it."
"Look, Ryoga and I are best suited to keeping the golems off
you. While we do, you hit the golem maker, and maybe we can end this!"
Ukyo proclaimed.
When Kenji nodded, He stood up and concentrated as they left to
cover him. It's time to do some protecting, he thought. Desire welled
up in him and a gray aura began to form around him.
An explosion could be heard in the distance.
Six figures ran on, with one additional person bouncing on a
stick.
All hoped they wouldn't be too late.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!" Another golem exploded.
Ukyo slashed another. This is getting rather repetitive she
thought. "Hurry up Kenji-san!" Fireballs exploded at her feet, sending
her tumbling along the ground. She glanced down the see that last attack
left quite a few burn marks on her pants. That's it, I'm going to kill
that pyromaniac! she promised to herself while returning to her feet.
The wind was gathering.
Kenji stretched his hands out, palms forward.
He concentrated on his targets, the three individuals down the
street.
He closed his eyes. I can do this! He heard Ukyo scream. NO!
I will protect you!
The wind blew passed Kenji and gathered in his palms. As his ki
built, his insides ran into that same barrier the last time he tried his
wind strike, meaning he couldn't gather any more power. It was now or
never.
"KIJIN BOUHUUKEN!" he yelled.
The explosion of wind was almost visible as it headed straight
toward it's first target, golem guy. The horizontal jet stream slammed
into him, picking him and tossing him against a wall like a rag doll.
Kenji fought to hold his concentration, then swept the wind to it's
second target, the fire thrower. 200+ mph winds did roughly the same
thing to him as they did to his partner. He was left lying against a
wall, unmoving.
After that, Kenji was unable to keep the attack up. I'm
sorry, he thought as his strength left him and he collapsed. The wind
attack dissipated.
With a "Bakusai Tenketsu!" and another slash for Ukyo, the last
two golems fell.
"All right Kenji-san!" Ukyo yelled, then saw him laying on the
ground, not moving. "NO!" She ran over to him, dropping her spatula and
picking up Kenji's head, holding it in her lap. "Speak to me!"
Kenji wearily opened his eyes. "Did we do it?"
Ukyo choked back her tears and smiled. "Yeah, you did it."
Ryouga walked over. "Uh, Ukyo-san, now might be a good time to
get out of here before reinforcements arrive."
Laughter echoed around them, but they couldn't make out the
source. "Oh please don't leave so soon!" A patch of ground several yards
away exploded, and a figure appeared when the fireworks died down.
Flames bathed the newcomer from head to toe. His gaze darkened. "I
insist you stay."
Ryoga turned to him. "I don't know who you are, but nobody
tells Hibiki Ryoga what to do!" He swung his umbrella defiantly.
"A pity." He snapped his fingers.
The third figure emerged from the shadows, touched the ground
with both hands, and raised them to the sky. The ground began to rumble,
then it erupted. Multiple geysers roared into the sky and began to rain
all present as the water mains under the ground broke. The droplets just
fizzled and evaporated when they hit the burning guy, but they had more
disastrous effects on two other people.
Ukyo looked down to see she was now holding a small grey wolf.
He's Jusenkyo-cursed? Some part of her mind noted that Ryoga was gone;
that he must've been cursed as well.
Suddenly, the realization hit her that she was alone.
She grabbed her spatula which was laying nearby, and stood up,
hovering protectively over Kenji as the flame-enveloped menace
approached.
"You ANIMAL!" she roared and sprang forward on the attack.
"SILENCE WENCH!" The Fire Lord launched a human sized fireball
at the charging okonomiyaki chef. Ukyo managed to block it in time with
her spatula, but the force of the explosion blasted it to pieces and
sent her sprawling. Her back slammed into a tree and she slid down the
trunk, barely able to move with the wind knocked out of her. The Fire
Lord moved over to her.
"Well fought, but you lose," he said with a grin. "Tell the one
called `Ranma' if you or he wants to see this one again," he pointed to
where water man had picked up the small wolf and placed him in a cage,
"then you can meet me at the summit of Hago mountain. Please don't be
late or he may not survive. I don't think he'll last more than 6 hours."
"No..." Ukyo managed weakly.
Fire guy grinned evilly, exploded into a fireball, then roared
skyward.
The two blasted servants had awakened and joined the third.
Together they made a circle around the cage containing the unconscious
wolf. They said a short chant and disappeared in a blue flash.
Ukyo watched them go, helpless to do anything. You wouldn't
have known she was crying unless you listened closely for her sobs, as
the artificial rain masked her tears.
"Kenji..." was all she could say quietly before passing out.
--------------------------------------------------------
Author's notes:
Yes, Kenji does have a fear of fire from the trauma of his burning house
and seeing his family killed in the blaze. It's not as bad as Ranma's
fear of cats, but it will be a problem for him. And no, it doesn't help
him in any way, like Ranma's cat fear does. Of course, he doesn't know
why he fears fire since his memory is gone...