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Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Trials
Chapter 10
Ranma-onna had been delayed in her attempt to reach Akane. As
she ran down the path towards the ravine where her iinazuke had been
ambushed, she ran into an ambush of her own, namely, a short Chinese man
(but twice as big as Happosai, she noted) that hopped out a tree and
blocked her path.
The yellow Chinese shirt with white lining and small fez-like
hat, as well as the black pants, told Ranma her enemy was the same one
who had kidnapped Akane in the truck. He held a wide blocking stance,
preventing Ranma from running around him.
"I'm afraid the path up ahead is closed, miss," he told her.
"You'll have to go another way."
"Out of the way, or you're gonna get hurt!" Ranma challenged,
taking up an attack postion.
He seemed somewhat amused. "Interesting, you wish to fight me?"
"You tried to kidnap Akane!" she accused. Part of her wanted to
beat this man into a pulp, but an even stronger part said she better get
to Akane and make sure her fiancee was alright. "Now move!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, miss," he replied sadly. "Too much
is at stake."
Ranma didn't bother with anymore words, but instead charged
forward with an attack designed to either incapacitate her opponent, or
force him to move out of the way. Neither option happened, however.
The pig-tailed girl found herself flying through the air back
the way she came, surprise written on her face. She landed
neatly, unhurt, then turned back to her adversary. His smiling
expression caused Ranma's to darken.
She charged again, leading off with the same attack, but this
time took careful observation of how he turned her punch around and
flipped her back into the air. This time, Ranma was ready for it.
Twisting in mid-air, she tapped into her gathered confidence.
"Moko Takabisha!"
The ki-blast caught the Chinese man off-guard. Though he was
able to avoid the worst of it, the explosion upon it's impact into the
ground pelted him with debris and tossed him several meters back.
Ranma was already moving as soon as she touched down. She came
flying through the cloud of smoke and debris, feet poised in a lean jump
kick. Her opponent was able to bring his defenses back up in time,
however, and flip Ranma into the ground.
She rolled away and sprung back at him, fists blurring at Amaguriken
speed.
Her skilled opponent somehow managed to turn away each punch in
the barrage away, then ducked and shot both hands straight up. The next
thing Ranma knew, she was receiving several strong blows to her
midsection that sent her flying to the ground. She groaned as sat up
slowly and studied her opponent, but he appeared only mildly winded.
"You are very good, young lady," he told her. "I am called Wen
Ho. May I have the pleasure of your name?"
The red-head stood up slowly. "Saotome Ranma of the Musbetsu
Kakuto-ryu. And you made a big mistake messin' with me!""
The Chinese man's eyes widened in surprise. "Saotome!? But
you're supposed to be a boy!"
Ranma grinned. "Heh." She
began to walk toward the man blocking her path.
As expected, he went back into his defensive stance, awaiting
the attack. Ranma could see the confusion on his face as she walked,
wondering what she was up to. He appeared to grow even more nervous as
she got closer, close enough to see the sweat starting to form on his
brow.
When Ranma had closed to within a meter, she suddenly blurred
sideways. There was surprise on Wen Ho's face for a split second before
he took off after the rapidly-moving girl, trying to keep her from
getting past him.
After several seconds of rapid movement, Ranma reversed
direction, moving at top speed the back the way she came. Wen Ho
mirrored her almost immediately, but there was a split-second gap.
Fortunately for Ranma, that split second was enough.
She sprinted around him, moving as fast as she could go and
thankful to be a girl at the moment for the extra speed. Her foe, trying
to stop her, lanced out with a foot that would've stopped Ranma cold had
she been where it was targeted. Instead, she came to a dead stop,
grabbed his foot, then lanced out with the same leg, foot blurring as it
struck the Chinese man over and over. A final snap sent him tumbling
away as Ranma let go.
He didn't get up. "How-?" he wheezed from the ground.
Ranma smirked. "I thought so. Your counters are near-perfect,
but ya must've spent so much time workin' on `em, that I figured ya
neglected other stuff." The smile disappeared. "I studied under a
counter attack master for awhile. Took me several days to figure out the
weakness in the style, though. All I had to do was get ya to attack me."
An explosion sounded in the distance, causing Ranma to look. "You'll
`scuse me now, gotta tomboy ta catch."
Wen Ho watched wearily from the ground as the red-headed girl
sprinted away.
The rooms and halls were all identical to the real thing, but
the layout was vastly different. Passages didn't lead where they were
supposed to and rooms were located in odd places. But to Tatewaki, it
was the Kuno mansion; the old one that was destroyed during the fight
with Galfgar, albeit much bigger. Not only that, but the interior seemed
to be changing, creating a maze-like effect that prevented the mother-
son pair from finding any sort of path.
Tatewaki glanced sideways at his mother. She hadn't said much
since they arrived in Kodachi's dream world and he wondered what to make
of her. His last memory of her was clouded from when he was very young.
Something about her going away.
As he got older, he just assumed she had died. His father
didn't speak much of her after she left and several years later his
behavior became increasingly odd, culminating with his trip to Hawaii.
He made the decision that after this was over he would demand to know
where she had gone and why.
The silence eventually became too much for him. "We have been
traversing this mockery for hours! Where be my kin!?"
"Patience, Tatewaki," his mother answered. "We will find her.
Galfgar cannot hide her forever; this is her mind, after all. In time,
she will sense our presence, and I'm hoping she will reach out to us."
Tatewaki frowned. "Hoping?"
Her eyes cast downwards. "If Galfgar's dream construct hasn't
totally preoccupied her attention. You... know her better." The words
were hard to say, since she was basically admitting that she hadn't been
around enough to know her daughter. "Is there something that she could
fixate on so much as to ignore everything else around her?"
"No, not that I-" He stopped, realization dawning on him.
"Saotome."
"Ranma?" She had seen the crush her daughter had on the young
Saotome boy through her viewing pool, but didn't think it was that
severe.
Kuno closed his eyes. "Aye, `tis one thing we had in common,
that our thoughts were consumed by him. Myself with hate and Kodachi
with infatuation."
"If she were able to have Ranma, where would she take him?"
Tatewaki's mother asked him.
His visage darkened as he frowned. "Only one place." He could
almost visualize the location.
The scene around them blurred a bit after Tatewaki finished
speaking, and one of the nearby doors grew in size, splitting in two in
the process. Mother and son stared in astonishment at the huge double
door set, wondering what to make of it, when the sound of faint gentle
and carefree laughter echoed from the other side.
His mother spoke while he was still trying to comprehend the
change. "Of course, since this isn't a physical plane, simply
visualizing where you want to go would work. Good thinking, Tatewaki."
Kuno broke out of his surprise, tentatively reaching a hand out
to the door. He stopped just short of the doorknob, as if fearing what
he would find on the other side. He glanced sideways at his mother, who
nodded slowly.
Gathering his courage, he grasped a hold of the brass door
handle and and pushed open the door.
She stepped inside.
The room was just like she left it. Dark except for the two
candles, and quiet, with just the faint labored breathing coming from
the room's only occupant. The shadows from the candles made interesting
shadows dance off the room's dull-white shoji panels. A single dresser
stood off to one side, that she hadn't noticed before, but even now she
gave it only token thought.
Her main concern was the dying man lying in the futon on the
floor. Silently, she padded forward to kneel beside the bed, as she had
yesterday. His eyes were closed and, except for the rythmic rise and
fall of his chest, he showed no other signs of life. It was if the
disease had already claimed most of him.
"You came back." It was more of a statement of fact than
anything else.
Ukyo bit back the reply she was tempted to give. "Yes, Father."
"Why?" His eyes remained closed.
Ukyo closed her own eyes. "I've... thought over
your request, and... I've decided to accept. And... I'm sorry for
yelling and running out on you."
He slowly opened his eyes to look at her, then he nodded
slightly. "Then I will... transfer ownership to you and Kanzaka will run
the day-to-day operations-"
"No." Ukyo's fierce statement cut her father off. "I am your
child. You are my... father. I am registered as a boy with a boy's name.
If I am going to inherit your business, I will manage it as I see fit!"
She fixed him with a steely glare. "That's what a son would do, ne?"
Surprised by her words, he was unable to formulate a reply.
Ukyo toned her voice down, determined not to end this by
yelling and running out again. "I may not like how I was raised, but you
are my father and I... love you." She then noticed that water had
started leaking from her eyes. "Just this once,
can't you... can't you say the same?" She tentatively reached out a hand
to grasp on of her father's. It was larger than her own, but not quite
as warm.
"I..." His eyes were still wide with surprise, as if seeing the
girl before for the first time. "I have always... loved you, Ukyo."
Ukyo's own tear-filled eyes widened. "Then why...?"
He closed his eyes again and sighed. "I did what I had to. I
make no apologies nor excuses for the decisions I made."
"Father..."
"Now, I am feeling tired and would like to rest."
"I..." Ukyo stopped and retrieved her hand from her father's.
"Yes, of course." She stood up slowly, never taking her eyes off his
resting form.
As she walked silently back to the door, she heard his voice
speak up one last time.
"Arigato, Ukyo."
She turned her head back and smiled wanely. "Your welcome,
Father. And, thank you."
"Ahhh!" The skinny antagonist yelled as his back hit the rock
wall. He was bleeding from his nose and his mouth, his body was
incredibly sore, and both his shock whips were laying several meters
away. He knew he had lost this fight, his opponent was just too strong.
Glaring at him from the other side of the ravine bottom, Akane
panted heavily. This latest bout had been tough and had taken quite a
bit out of her. The whips had left several marks on her, her left ankle
was lightly sprained, and her body was still somewhat numb from the
electrical discharges of the whips.
But she had beaten him, as evidence by his body peeling off the
wall and hitting the ground. She beathed a sigh of relief, then winced
as she accidentily set too much weight on her left foot.
"Akane!" came Ranma's feminine voice.
Akane turned and smiled at the approaching red-head, who was
waving at her. "Ranma!" Then she frowned. Ranma wasn't waving at her,
but was... pointing? Up?
The hairs on on the back of her neck stood on end, as Akane
ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the scissor kick that
would have taken off her head. She returned to her feet to see a woman
with short, light brown hair and reddish-brown gi with white trim
confronting her. Her fists were pulled to her waist, and her feet were
stationed apart in an combat ready stance.
Akane sighed noisily in frustration. "Another one!? Who are you
people!?"
"I've watched you," her new opponent said simply. "You're very
good, just as we were led to believe."
The dark-haired martial artist blinked. "Uh, arigato."
The brown-haired girl smiled evilly. "But now you're worn out.
You won't be able to defeat me." She slid her right foot back as she
crouched a little at the waist, preparing to strike. "I am Li Chun. Give
up now, before I'm forced to hurt you."
Akane snorted, while sliding into her own stance, injuries
temporarily forgotten. "Fat chance!"
"Very well, Hyaaa!"
In the next instant, the two girls clashed, beggining combat
anew.
"Kodachi!"
Tatewaki's sister looked lazily up at him. "Oh, brother dear,
how nice of you to visit!" She snuggled up to the other person in the
huge, four-poster bed with her. "Aren't you going to congratulate me on
my marriage?"
"Sister..." The elder Kuno boy stared darkly at the pig-tailed
boy. He may not hate Ranma as much as he used to, but he still didn't
like him much, either. After all, he took Akane away from him. "This...
isn't real."
She looked at him strangely. "What are you saying, oniisan? Of
course it's real! My Ranma-sama has finally admitted his feelings for
me, just like I knew he would!'
"But he does not really love you!" Tatewaki protested. "You
yourself knew that, even in the real world!"
"Shut up!" she hissed at him. "And go away if you're going to be
this way."
Tatwaki felt his mother move around from behind him, then saw
her gaze sadly at his sister. "'Dachi.... How I have missed you."
Kodachi recoiled in near-terror as she hid behind Ranma,
pulling the bedsheets up around them. "Wh-who are you!? Go away!"
"Surely you recognize our own mother, `Dachi?" Tatewaki asked.
"NO!" Kodachi screamed. "SHE IS NOT MY MOTHER! Mother was an
ugly, useless troll that abandoned us a long time ago!"
The kenodist glanced sideways to see his mother visibly recoil
from the outburst, shame on her face. He had held the some of the same
feelings as his sister, but not to the same degree. He did feel that
their mother had abandoned them, but he he really wanted to know why.
Unfortunately, this was not the time.
"Imoutosan, listen to me, this world is not real! Galfgar
created it to keep you trapped in here!" He strode up to the side of the
bed and took his sister's trembling hand in his. "Come, `Dachi. Come
back to us. Your family and friends await you on the outside..."
She snapped her hand back, anger on her face. "I have no
friends! Commoners fear me, as they should, but they are not my
friends!"
"Perhaps it is time to change that," he told her. "I had no one
to call friend, either. But that has slowly begun to change for me. It
is has been... rather pleasent. It can be that way for you, too."
The mistrust and anger still shone in her eyes, but Tatewaki
could see the hope and longing building in them as well. She had been
alone too along, as he had been, and now those needs were finally coming
to the surface.
"No, no, no, no," a new, gruff voice commanded. "Why would she
possibly want to go with you when she's got everything she needs here?
She's got her Ranma-sama 24 hours a day, and no worries or hassles from
anyone else. If she wants friends, I can buy her a few!"
"But it wouldn't be real," Lady Kuno said. "All you offer is
illusions and trickery, but the price is too high. She would lose her
body to you, and eventually, her soul as well. True friendship and love
is earned. There are no shortcuts, nor any worthy subtitutes."
"Oh please," the voice commented. "You sound like a bleedin' PBS
special."
Kodachi glanced back and forth between Ranma, Tatewaki, and her
mother, confusion written over her face. "Ranma-sama...? I... I don't
know what to do... I don't understand."
"Think, my daughter, and decide for yourself." The Kuno
matriarch took several steps towards the bed and gestured toward the
fake Ranma. "Do you want a man to love you just because he's made that
way? Or would you rather have him love you of his own free will?"
"I... want..." Kodachi mumbled, becoming more distressed and
confused by the moment. "But... Ranma-sama..."
Tatewaki knelt by the bed, taking his sister's hand in his own.
"You are many things, `Dachi, but I have never known you to settle for
anything that wasn't of the finest quality. You have also never been a
quitter." Her black eyes gazed uncertainly into his own. "Do not give up
on us. Please."
"You've got everything you could possibly want!" Galfgar
offered, enticingly. "Your Ranma-sama, a fancy house, a cushy room with
a view, and I even threw in a satellite dish! 784 channels for your
viewing pleasure!"
Kodachi glanced back up at the image of the smiling Ranma,
looking for some answer, but seeing nothing. Tears began to appear in
her eyes. "It's... not... real."
"Oh come on, does it really matter?" said the exasperated demon
figment. "Isn't just being happy the most important thing?"
Her eyes clenched shut, as she tried to cut off the sob that
welled up from deep within her, and failed. "IT'S NOT
REAL!" With that scream, the scenery around them shattered, plunging
them all into darkness.
"We did it, sister," Tatewaki exulted, while cradling his still
sobbing sister, who was now clad in a leotard. "You did it."
His mother shook her head. "Not yet. We still have to escape."
Kuno blinked. "What-?"
"Dang it all!" the much-disliked voice rang out. "Now why'd ya
have ta go and do that? Can't a demon get any breaks around here?"
Tatewaki scowled, then handed his sister off to his mother,
drawing his bokken in the process. "Foul demon! Thou hast taken
advantage of the noble house of Kuno for the last time! As heaven is my
guide, I shall send thy hated carcass back to the hells that spawned
thee!"
Galfgar sighed. "Oh, all right, already. You want your
showdown, you can have it." The blackness seemed to ripple, then his
grisly blood-red arm pushed through the emptiness, followed by the rest
of his body.
To Tatewaki's eye, he looked much the same as during the fight
at the Kuno estate. Sharp bone spikes protruded from his back, arms, and
legs, and his face was that of a disfigured mutt, topped by two white
horns. He was just as ugly as the young Kuno boy remembered.
"Truly, thou art the most hideous creature mine eyes have yet to
behold!" the kenodist remarked.
"Truly, thy speach is the most backwards my ears have ever
heard!" Galfgar mimicked. He flipped a quarter at Kuno. "Buy yourself a
modern dictionary, boy."
Tatewaki's anger rose several notches, then he screamed and
attacked. "One hundred strikes! TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!" The bokken blurred
as it intercepted it's target. The evil creature took several strong
attacks, then exploded into bits and pieces. Kuno stopped and held his
weapon in a triumphant pose. "I am victorious!"
That was when he felt the tap on his shoulder. "Huh?"
Galfgar's ugly face greeted him. "Dream on, stick-boy." *POW!*
Kuno went flying away from his opponent's mighty punch. "This isn't the
real world and I control half of this mind already."
Tatewaki Kuno struggled to his feet. "I fight on!"
"Of course you do," the beast remarked. "This wouldn't be much
of a showdown if you didn't."
"Silence! HA!"
Kuno slid in slower this time, planning each strike
caustiously. He thrust and sliced all over the place, but couldn't seem
to land a single blow on his grotesque advesary.
*POW!* The Kendoist went ballistic once more.
Kuno's mother watched all this from the sidelines, worry etched
on her face. In her arms, Kodachi's sobs were fading, but she still
wasn't that calm yet. Lady Kuno pulled back slightly from her daughter
so she could look her in the eyes.
"Daughter, you must listen to me," her mother told her
soothingly. "Your brother needs your help."
Kodachi stared at her mother, tear-streaks down her cheeks.
"'Tatchi...?"
"Only you can help him now, for this is still your mind." She
brushed the hair back from her daugther's face, relishing the touch
after so long. "Take control!"
"Okasan..." The leotard-clad girl studied her mother's face,
still not quite believing it was her.
Then a sound made her turn her head, where she watched her
brother attacking... that thing. As the grotesque creature batted her
brother around, Kodachi's face twisted into anger. THIS was the thing
that plagued her sleep with nightmares. THIS was the creature that had
made her act psychotic. THIS was the demon that had tried to steal her
mind.
IT was going to pay.
Galfgar lifted Tatewaki up, where the kendoist was smashed
between two large pieces of bread. "Hey look! A Hero sandwhich!"
"YAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHH!" With a banshee-like scream, Kodachi flung
herself out of her mother's arms, a ribbon suddenly in her hand and
flashing outwards. It coiled itself around a surprised demon's arm and
tossed him into a brick wall that wasn't there a second ago.
"Wazzit?" he asked deliriously while trying to get out of the
collapsed remains of the wall. He shook off the little succubi that were
flying around his head and stood up.
The enraged gymnast was on him a second later, clubs blurring
in her hand as she delived strike after strike to her hated enemy.
Galfgar shook off the attack, grabbing her arm and flinging her away.
"You know, missy, you're startin' to become more trouble than
you're worth," he commented.
Tatewaki was back up by now and prepared to move to assist his
sister when he found a hand on his arm. He looked up into the face of
his mother. "What-?"
"This is a fight only she can win," his mother told him. "We
must let her fight it alone."
"DIE!" Kodachi snarled in return. The air was suddenly filled
with hoops, angling toward the surprised demon.
Galfgar did the tokyo shuffle as he danced around wildly,
trying to avoid the lethal razor-like objects as they swirled around
him, removing some of his bone spikes. He fired off several shots of his
blood-red energy beams in reply, but found them all intercepted with
exploding balls.
Kodachi smiled evilly (which made even a demon shudder). "This
is my mind, vile dog." A dozen ribbons exploded into existence around
around her as they streaked toward their target.
The attempt to dodge them met without success, as the sticky
fluid they secreted had him rooted to the ground. The rest coiled around
his arms, legs, and body, wrapping him in a new ribbon suit.
Galfgar groaned. "Oh, ya gotta be kiddin' me. When the other
demons here that I was beaten by a gymnast wielding pink frilly
ribbons... I'll never live it down." He looked up to see his enraged
opponent approaching, twirling two more of the razor hoops. "Oi, at
least other demons that fought girls were beaten by blasts of fire,
lightning, and such." He turned thoughtful for a second. "Of course,
there were quite a few that were sliced in half by a tiara...
"Don't worry, dear," she said in mocking tones, readying her
deadly razor hoops. "I'll cut you free! OHOHOHOHO!"
His ears drooped, as his lower lip quivered. "Mommy..."
"You have a choice, demon," Lady Kuno informed him. "You can
take your chances with my daughter, or I can exorcise you back to your
own plane."
Galfgar glanced wildly back and forth from mother to daughter.
"But, if I run away now, the other demons won't let me hear the end of
this, and-"
"You know as well as I," she said, "That if your astral body is
destroyed here, you will simply cease to exist. And the explosion of
your astral energy could damage Kodachi's mind." The psychic backlash
might make her daughter truley mentally disturbed.
Galfgar took a last look back towards the approaching gymnast,
hate, death, torture, murder, and many other nasty things reflected in
her eyes, and made his decsion. "Alright, but step on it, lady!!!"
Lady Kuno nodded, then raised her hands into the air and began
to draw symbols into the air. Her fingers left red trails where they
passed, as she started to dance around the creature' s prone body.
Tatewaki stared in wonder, while Kodachi halted her murderous advance in
surprise. They watched as she not only danced around the demon, but over
and under him as well!
Finally, when a sphere of runes were enscribed around Galfgar,
Lady Kuno clapped her hands once and spoke one word. "Begone!"
The sphere glowed brightly, then flashed. When the light died
down, Galfgar was gone. The middle-aged woman collapsed to her knees.
"Okaasan!" Tatewaki strode rapidly to his mother's side. "Are
you injured?"
"Just over-exerted myself a little," she replied. "I'll be fine
in a few moments."
Her son nodded. "Then, I am relieved."
Both glanced up at Kodachi, who was still frozen in place. She
still looked like she didn't have a clue as to what had just gone on,
nor any idea of what to do. She was nervous, scared, unsure, angry, and
confused all at once. She no longer felt obsessed, and she could think a
little clearer, but her confidence had dropped off quite a bit. She had
been ready to kill a minute ago, but now the hate had dimmed. Or maybe
it had just switched targets?
She watched as her brother helped her mother to her feet,
wondering what to think. As far as she could remember, her mother had
abandoned them 12 years ago. She had held plenty of blame for her mother
for the way her family turned out after that. It wasn't always on the
surface, instead simmering silently underneath. But to know now that it
was that... horrid thing that was responsible for her family's madness.
What reason did she have to stay angry at her own mother?
She took one step, then another, and soon she was running into
her mother's arms. "Okaasan!"
The Kuno matriarch ger her daughter a loving squeeze. "'Dachi,
how I've missed you." She then looked up at her son, holding out an arm
to him as well.
Tatewaki glanced at the proffered arm with some trepidation,
but gave in to the moment and joined his sister and mother in the group
hug.
The scene around them dissolved, the blackness fading away to
be replaced by the hospital room where their actual bodies were. They
were still in the same group hug as before, tears running down the
female's cheeks.
It was at that moment that Tatewaki happened to glance up and
out the window, to where an oddly dressed figure was heading towards
them. He watched, fascinated, as the strange muscular man in dark green
plate armor raised a hand and pointed it at the trio.
In the next instant, the window and wall exploded.
--------------------------------
Author's Notes:
She's baaaaaaack! How's that for the return of Kodachi? *grins* I hope
all you Kodachi fans are happy with it. Expect to see her more often
now, and be surprised at the new life she makes for herself. It may not
be what you're expecting, but I guarantee you'll like it.
Find my stories at: www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000
Ranma 1/2: New Challenges
Trials
Chapter 10
Ranma-onna had been delayed in her attempt to reach Akane. As
she ran down the path towards the ravine where her iinazuke had been
ambushed, she ran into an ambush of her own, namely, a short Chinese man
(but twice as big as Happosai, she noted) that hopped out a tree and
blocked her path.
The yellow Chinese shirt with white lining and small fez-like
hat, as well as the black pants, told Ranma her enemy was the same one
who had kidnapped Akane in the truck. He held a wide blocking stance,
preventing Ranma from running around him.
"I'm afraid the path up ahead is closed, miss," he told her.
"You'll have to go another way."
"Out of the way, or you're gonna get hurt!" Ranma challenged,
taking up an attack postion.
He seemed somewhat amused. "Interesting, you wish to fight me?"
"You tried to kidnap Akane!" she accused. Part of her wanted to
beat this man into a pulp, but an even stronger part said she better get
to Akane and make sure her fiancee was alright. "Now move!"
"I'm afraid I can't do that, miss," he replied sadly. "Too much
is at stake."
Ranma didn't bother with anymore words, but instead charged
forward with an attack designed to either incapacitate her opponent, or
force him to move out of the way. Neither option happened, however.
The pig-tailed girl found herself flying through the air back
the way she came, surprise written on her face. She landed
neatly, unhurt, then turned back to her adversary. His smiling
expression caused Ranma's to darken.
She charged again, leading off with the same attack, but this
time took careful observation of how he turned her punch around and
flipped her back into the air. This time, Ranma was ready for it.
Twisting in mid-air, she tapped into her gathered confidence.
"Moko Takabisha!"
The ki-blast caught the Chinese man off-guard. Though he was
able to avoid the worst of it, the explosion upon it's impact into the
ground pelted him with debris and tossed him several meters back.
Ranma was already moving as soon as she touched down. She came
flying through the cloud of smoke and debris, feet poised in a lean jump
kick. Her opponent was able to bring his defenses back up in time,
however, and flip Ranma into the ground.
She rolled away and sprung back at him, fists blurring at Amaguriken
speed.
Her skilled opponent somehow managed to turn away each punch in
the barrage away, then ducked and shot both hands straight up. The next
thing Ranma knew, she was receiving several strong blows to her
midsection that sent her flying to the ground. She groaned as sat up
slowly and studied her opponent, but he appeared only mildly winded.
"You are very good, young lady," he told her. "I am called Wen
Ho. May I have the pleasure of your name?"
The red-head stood up slowly. "Saotome Ranma of the Musbetsu
Kakuto-ryu. And you made a big mistake messin' with me!""
The Chinese man's eyes widened in surprise. "Saotome!? But
you're supposed to be a boy!"
Ranma grinned. "Heh." She
began to walk toward the man blocking her path.
As expected, he went back into his defensive stance, awaiting
the attack. Ranma could see the confusion on his face as she walked,
wondering what she was up to. He appeared to grow even more nervous as
she got closer, close enough to see the sweat starting to form on his
brow.
When Ranma had closed to within a meter, she suddenly blurred
sideways. There was surprise on Wen Ho's face for a split second before
he took off after the rapidly-moving girl, trying to keep her from
getting past him.
After several seconds of rapid movement, Ranma reversed
direction, moving at top speed the back the way she came. Wen Ho
mirrored her almost immediately, but there was a split-second gap.
Fortunately for Ranma, that split second was enough.
She sprinted around him, moving as fast as she could go and
thankful to be a girl at the moment for the extra speed. Her foe, trying
to stop her, lanced out with a foot that would've stopped Ranma cold had
she been where it was targeted. Instead, she came to a dead stop,
grabbed his foot, then lanced out with the same leg, foot blurring as it
struck the Chinese man over and over. A final snap sent him tumbling
away as Ranma let go.
He didn't get up. "How-?" he wheezed from the ground.
Ranma smirked. "I thought so. Your counters are near-perfect,
but ya must've spent so much time workin' on `em, that I figured ya
neglected other stuff." The smile disappeared. "I studied under a
counter attack master for awhile. Took me several days to figure out the
weakness in the style, though. All I had to do was get ya to attack me."
An explosion sounded in the distance, causing Ranma to look. "You'll
`scuse me now, gotta tomboy ta catch."
Wen Ho watched wearily from the ground as the red-headed girl
sprinted away.
The rooms and halls were all identical to the real thing, but
the layout was vastly different. Passages didn't lead where they were
supposed to and rooms were located in odd places. But to Tatewaki, it
was the Kuno mansion; the old one that was destroyed during the fight
with Galfgar, albeit much bigger. Not only that, but the interior seemed
to be changing, creating a maze-like effect that prevented the mother-
son pair from finding any sort of path.
Tatewaki glanced sideways at his mother. She hadn't said much
since they arrived in Kodachi's dream world and he wondered what to make
of her. His last memory of her was clouded from when he was very young.
Something about her going away.
As he got older, he just assumed she had died. His father
didn't speak much of her after she left and several years later his
behavior became increasingly odd, culminating with his trip to Hawaii.
He made the decision that after this was over he would demand to know
where she had gone and why.
The silence eventually became too much for him. "We have been
traversing this mockery for hours! Where be my kin!?"
"Patience, Tatewaki," his mother answered. "We will find her.
Galfgar cannot hide her forever; this is her mind, after all. In time,
she will sense our presence, and I'm hoping she will reach out to us."
Tatewaki frowned. "Hoping?"
Her eyes cast downwards. "If Galfgar's dream construct hasn't
totally preoccupied her attention. You... know her better." The words
were hard to say, since she was basically admitting that she hadn't been
around enough to know her daughter. "Is there something that she could
fixate on so much as to ignore everything else around her?"
"No, not that I-" He stopped, realization dawning on him.
"Saotome."
"Ranma?" She had seen the crush her daughter had on the young
Saotome boy through her viewing pool, but didn't think it was that
severe.
Kuno closed his eyes. "Aye, `tis one thing we had in common,
that our thoughts were consumed by him. Myself with hate and Kodachi
with infatuation."
"If she were able to have Ranma, where would she take him?"
Tatewaki's mother asked him.
His visage darkened as he frowned. "Only one place." He could
almost visualize the location.
The scene around them blurred a bit after Tatewaki finished
speaking, and one of the nearby doors grew in size, splitting in two in
the process. Mother and son stared in astonishment at the huge double
door set, wondering what to make of it, when the sound of faint gentle
and carefree laughter echoed from the other side.
His mother spoke while he was still trying to comprehend the
change. "Of course, since this isn't a physical plane, simply
visualizing where you want to go would work. Good thinking, Tatewaki."
Kuno broke out of his surprise, tentatively reaching a hand out
to the door. He stopped just short of the doorknob, as if fearing what
he would find on the other side. He glanced sideways at his mother, who
nodded slowly.
Gathering his courage, he grasped a hold of the brass door
handle and and pushed open the door.
She stepped inside.
The room was just like she left it. Dark except for the two
candles, and quiet, with just the faint labored breathing coming from
the room's only occupant. The shadows from the candles made interesting
shadows dance off the room's dull-white shoji panels. A single dresser
stood off to one side, that she hadn't noticed before, but even now she
gave it only token thought.
Her main concern was the dying man lying in the futon on the
floor. Silently, she padded forward to kneel beside the bed, as she had
yesterday. His eyes were closed and, except for the rythmic rise and
fall of his chest, he showed no other signs of life. It was if the
disease had already claimed most of him.
"You came back." It was more of a statement of fact than
anything else.
Ukyo bit back the reply she was tempted to give. "Yes, Father."
"Why?" His eyes remained closed.
Ukyo closed her own eyes. "I've... thought over
your request, and... I've decided to accept. And... I'm sorry for
yelling and running out on you."
He slowly opened his eyes to look at her, then he nodded
slightly. "Then I will... transfer ownership to you and Kanzaka will run
the day-to-day operations-"
"No." Ukyo's fierce statement cut her father off. "I am your
child. You are my... father. I am registered as a boy with a boy's name.
If I am going to inherit your business, I will manage it as I see fit!"
She fixed him with a steely glare. "That's what a son would do, ne?"
Surprised by her words, he was unable to formulate a reply.
Ukyo toned her voice down, determined not to end this by
yelling and running out again. "I may not like how I was raised, but you
are my father and I... love you." She then noticed that water had
started leaking from her eyes. "Just this once,
can't you... can't you say the same?" She tentatively reached out a hand
to grasp on of her father's. It was larger than her own, but not quite
as warm.
"I..." His eyes were still wide with surprise, as if seeing the
girl before for the first time. "I have always... loved you, Ukyo."
Ukyo's own tear-filled eyes widened. "Then why...?"
He closed his eyes again and sighed. "I did what I had to. I
make no apologies nor excuses for the decisions I made."
"Father..."
"Now, I am feeling tired and would like to rest."
"I..." Ukyo stopped and retrieved her hand from her father's.
"Yes, of course." She stood up slowly, never taking her eyes off his
resting form.
As she walked silently back to the door, she heard his voice
speak up one last time.
"Arigato, Ukyo."
She turned her head back and smiled wanely. "Your welcome,
Father. And, thank you."
"Ahhh!" The skinny antagonist yelled as his back hit the rock
wall. He was bleeding from his nose and his mouth, his body was
incredibly sore, and both his shock whips were laying several meters
away. He knew he had lost this fight, his opponent was just too strong.
Glaring at him from the other side of the ravine bottom, Akane
panted heavily. This latest bout had been tough and had taken quite a
bit out of her. The whips had left several marks on her, her left ankle
was lightly sprained, and her body was still somewhat numb from the
electrical discharges of the whips.
But she had beaten him, as evidence by his body peeling off the
wall and hitting the ground. She beathed a sigh of relief, then winced
as she accidentily set too much weight on her left foot.
"Akane!" came Ranma's feminine voice.
Akane turned and smiled at the approaching red-head, who was
waving at her. "Ranma!" Then she frowned. Ranma wasn't waving at her,
but was... pointing? Up?
The hairs on on the back of her neck stood on end, as Akane
ducked and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the scissor kick that
would have taken off her head. She returned to her feet to see a woman
with short, light brown hair and reddish-brown gi with white trim
confronting her. Her fists were pulled to her waist, and her feet were
stationed apart in an combat ready stance.
Akane sighed noisily in frustration. "Another one!? Who are you
people!?"
"I've watched you," her new opponent said simply. "You're very
good, just as we were led to believe."
The dark-haired martial artist blinked. "Uh, arigato."
The brown-haired girl smiled evilly. "But now you're worn out.
You won't be able to defeat me." She slid her right foot back as she
crouched a little at the waist, preparing to strike. "I am Li Chun. Give
up now, before I'm forced to hurt you."
Akane snorted, while sliding into her own stance, injuries
temporarily forgotten. "Fat chance!"
"Very well, Hyaaa!"
In the next instant, the two girls clashed, beggining combat
anew.
"Kodachi!"
Tatewaki's sister looked lazily up at him. "Oh, brother dear,
how nice of you to visit!" She snuggled up to the other person in the
huge, four-poster bed with her. "Aren't you going to congratulate me on
my marriage?"
"Sister..." The elder Kuno boy stared darkly at the pig-tailed
boy. He may not hate Ranma as much as he used to, but he still didn't
like him much, either. After all, he took Akane away from him. "This...
isn't real."
She looked at him strangely. "What are you saying, oniisan? Of
course it's real! My Ranma-sama has finally admitted his feelings for
me, just like I knew he would!'
"But he does not really love you!" Tatewaki protested. "You
yourself knew that, even in the real world!"
"Shut up!" she hissed at him. "And go away if you're going to be
this way."
Tatwaki felt his mother move around from behind him, then saw
her gaze sadly at his sister. "'Dachi.... How I have missed you."
Kodachi recoiled in near-terror as she hid behind Ranma,
pulling the bedsheets up around them. "Wh-who are you!? Go away!"
"Surely you recognize our own mother, `Dachi?" Tatewaki asked.
"NO!" Kodachi screamed. "SHE IS NOT MY MOTHER! Mother was an
ugly, useless troll that abandoned us a long time ago!"
The kenodist glanced sideways to see his mother visibly recoil
from the outburst, shame on her face. He had held the some of the same
feelings as his sister, but not to the same degree. He did feel that
their mother had abandoned them, but he he really wanted to know why.
Unfortunately, this was not the time.
"Imoutosan, listen to me, this world is not real! Galfgar
created it to keep you trapped in here!" He strode up to the side of the
bed and took his sister's trembling hand in his. "Come, `Dachi. Come
back to us. Your family and friends await you on the outside..."
She snapped her hand back, anger on her face. "I have no
friends! Commoners fear me, as they should, but they are not my
friends!"
"Perhaps it is time to change that," he told her. "I had no one
to call friend, either. But that has slowly begun to change for me. It
is has been... rather pleasent. It can be that way for you, too."
The mistrust and anger still shone in her eyes, but Tatewaki
could see the hope and longing building in them as well. She had been
alone too along, as he had been, and now those needs were finally coming
to the surface.
"No, no, no, no," a new, gruff voice commanded. "Why would she
possibly want to go with you when she's got everything she needs here?
She's got her Ranma-sama 24 hours a day, and no worries or hassles from
anyone else. If she wants friends, I can buy her a few!"
"But it wouldn't be real," Lady Kuno said. "All you offer is
illusions and trickery, but the price is too high. She would lose her
body to you, and eventually, her soul as well. True friendship and love
is earned. There are no shortcuts, nor any worthy subtitutes."
"Oh please," the voice commented. "You sound like a bleedin' PBS
special."
Kodachi glanced back and forth between Ranma, Tatewaki, and her
mother, confusion written over her face. "Ranma-sama...? I... I don't
know what to do... I don't understand."
"Think, my daughter, and decide for yourself." The Kuno
matriarch took several steps towards the bed and gestured toward the
fake Ranma. "Do you want a man to love you just because he's made that
way? Or would you rather have him love you of his own free will?"
"I... want..." Kodachi mumbled, becoming more distressed and
confused by the moment. "But... Ranma-sama..."
Tatewaki knelt by the bed, taking his sister's hand in his own.
"You are many things, `Dachi, but I have never known you to settle for
anything that wasn't of the finest quality. You have also never been a
quitter." Her black eyes gazed uncertainly into his own. "Do not give up
on us. Please."
"You've got everything you could possibly want!" Galfgar
offered, enticingly. "Your Ranma-sama, a fancy house, a cushy room with
a view, and I even threw in a satellite dish! 784 channels for your
viewing pleasure!"
Kodachi glanced back up at the image of the smiling Ranma,
looking for some answer, but seeing nothing. Tears began to appear in
her eyes. "It's... not... real."
"Oh come on, does it really matter?" said the exasperated demon
figment. "Isn't just being happy the most important thing?"
Her eyes clenched shut, as she tried to cut off the sob that
welled up from deep within her, and failed. "IT'S NOT
REAL!" With that scream, the scenery around them shattered, plunging
them all into darkness.
"We did it, sister," Tatewaki exulted, while cradling his still
sobbing sister, who was now clad in a leotard. "You did it."
His mother shook her head. "Not yet. We still have to escape."
Kuno blinked. "What-?"
"Dang it all!" the much-disliked voice rang out. "Now why'd ya
have ta go and do that? Can't a demon get any breaks around here?"
Tatewaki scowled, then handed his sister off to his mother,
drawing his bokken in the process. "Foul demon! Thou hast taken
advantage of the noble house of Kuno for the last time! As heaven is my
guide, I shall send thy hated carcass back to the hells that spawned
thee!"
Galfgar sighed. "Oh, all right, already. You want your
showdown, you can have it." The blackness seemed to ripple, then his
grisly blood-red arm pushed through the emptiness, followed by the rest
of his body.
To Tatewaki's eye, he looked much the same as during the fight
at the Kuno estate. Sharp bone spikes protruded from his back, arms, and
legs, and his face was that of a disfigured mutt, topped by two white
horns. He was just as ugly as the young Kuno boy remembered.
"Truly, thou art the most hideous creature mine eyes have yet to
behold!" the kenodist remarked.
"Truly, thy speach is the most backwards my ears have ever
heard!" Galfgar mimicked. He flipped a quarter at Kuno. "Buy yourself a
modern dictionary, boy."
Tatewaki's anger rose several notches, then he screamed and
attacked. "One hundred strikes! TA-TA-TA-TA-TA-TA!" The bokken blurred
as it intercepted it's target. The evil creature took several strong
attacks, then exploded into bits and pieces. Kuno stopped and held his
weapon in a triumphant pose. "I am victorious!"
That was when he felt the tap on his shoulder. "Huh?"
Galfgar's ugly face greeted him. "Dream on, stick-boy." *POW!*
Kuno went flying away from his opponent's mighty punch. "This isn't the
real world and I control half of this mind already."
Tatewaki Kuno struggled to his feet. "I fight on!"
"Of course you do," the beast remarked. "This wouldn't be much
of a showdown if you didn't."
"Silence! HA!"
Kuno slid in slower this time, planning each strike
caustiously. He thrust and sliced all over the place, but couldn't seem
to land a single blow on his grotesque advesary.
*POW!* The Kendoist went ballistic once more.
Kuno's mother watched all this from the sidelines, worry etched
on her face. In her arms, Kodachi's sobs were fading, but she still
wasn't that calm yet. Lady Kuno pulled back slightly from her daughter
so she could look her in the eyes.
"Daughter, you must listen to me," her mother told her
soothingly. "Your brother needs your help."
Kodachi stared at her mother, tear-streaks down her cheeks.
"'Tatchi...?"
"Only you can help him now, for this is still your mind." She
brushed the hair back from her daugther's face, relishing the touch
after so long. "Take control!"
"Okasan..." The leotard-clad girl studied her mother's face,
still not quite believing it was her.
Then a sound made her turn her head, where she watched her
brother attacking... that thing. As the grotesque creature batted her
brother around, Kodachi's face twisted into anger. THIS was the thing
that plagued her sleep with nightmares. THIS was the creature that had
made her act psychotic. THIS was the demon that had tried to steal her
mind.
IT was going to pay.
Galfgar lifted Tatewaki up, where the kendoist was smashed
between two large pieces of bread. "Hey look! A Hero sandwhich!"
"YAAAAAAUUUUGGGGHHH!" With a banshee-like scream, Kodachi flung
herself out of her mother's arms, a ribbon suddenly in her hand and
flashing outwards. It coiled itself around a surprised demon's arm and
tossed him into a brick wall that wasn't there a second ago.
"Wazzit?" he asked deliriously while trying to get out of the
collapsed remains of the wall. He shook off the little succubi that were
flying around his head and stood up.
The enraged gymnast was on him a second later, clubs blurring
in her hand as she delived strike after strike to her hated enemy.
Galfgar shook off the attack, grabbing her arm and flinging her away.
"You know, missy, you're startin' to become more trouble than
you're worth," he commented.
Tatewaki was back up by now and prepared to move to assist his
sister when he found a hand on his arm. He looked up into the face of
his mother. "What-?"
"This is a fight only she can win," his mother told him. "We
must let her fight it alone."
"DIE!" Kodachi snarled in return. The air was suddenly filled
with hoops, angling toward the surprised demon.
Galfgar did the tokyo shuffle as he danced around wildly,
trying to avoid the lethal razor-like objects as they swirled around
him, removing some of his bone spikes. He fired off several shots of his
blood-red energy beams in reply, but found them all intercepted with
exploding balls.
Kodachi smiled evilly (which made even a demon shudder). "This
is my mind, vile dog." A dozen ribbons exploded into existence around
around her as they streaked toward their target.
The attempt to dodge them met without success, as the sticky
fluid they secreted had him rooted to the ground. The rest coiled around
his arms, legs, and body, wrapping him in a new ribbon suit.
Galfgar groaned. "Oh, ya gotta be kiddin' me. When the other
demons here that I was beaten by a gymnast wielding pink frilly
ribbons... I'll never live it down." He looked up to see his enraged
opponent approaching, twirling two more of the razor hoops. "Oi, at
least other demons that fought girls were beaten by blasts of fire,
lightning, and such." He turned thoughtful for a second. "Of course,
there were quite a few that were sliced in half by a tiara...
"Don't worry, dear," she said in mocking tones, readying her
deadly razor hoops. "I'll cut you free! OHOHOHOHO!"
His ears drooped, as his lower lip quivered. "Mommy..."
"You have a choice, demon," Lady Kuno informed him. "You can
take your chances with my daughter, or I can exorcise you back to your
own plane."
Galfgar glanced wildly back and forth from mother to daughter.
"But, if I run away now, the other demons won't let me hear the end of
this, and-"
"You know as well as I," she said, "That if your astral body is
destroyed here, you will simply cease to exist. And the explosion of
your astral energy could damage Kodachi's mind." The psychic backlash
might make her daughter truley mentally disturbed.
Galfgar took a last look back towards the approaching gymnast,
hate, death, torture, murder, and many other nasty things reflected in
her eyes, and made his decsion. "Alright, but step on it, lady!!!"
Lady Kuno nodded, then raised her hands into the air and began
to draw symbols into the air. Her fingers left red trails where they
passed, as she started to dance around the creature' s prone body.
Tatewaki stared in wonder, while Kodachi halted her murderous advance in
surprise. They watched as she not only danced around the demon, but over
and under him as well!
Finally, when a sphere of runes were enscribed around Galfgar,
Lady Kuno clapped her hands once and spoke one word. "Begone!"
The sphere glowed brightly, then flashed. When the light died
down, Galfgar was gone. The middle-aged woman collapsed to her knees.
"Okaasan!" Tatewaki strode rapidly to his mother's side. "Are
you injured?"
"Just over-exerted myself a little," she replied. "I'll be fine
in a few moments."
Her son nodded. "Then, I am relieved."
Both glanced up at Kodachi, who was still frozen in place. She
still looked like she didn't have a clue as to what had just gone on,
nor any idea of what to do. She was nervous, scared, unsure, angry, and
confused all at once. She no longer felt obsessed, and she could think a
little clearer, but her confidence had dropped off quite a bit. She had
been ready to kill a minute ago, but now the hate had dimmed. Or maybe
it had just switched targets?
She watched as her brother helped her mother to her feet,
wondering what to think. As far as she could remember, her mother had
abandoned them 12 years ago. She had held plenty of blame for her mother
for the way her family turned out after that. It wasn't always on the
surface, instead simmering silently underneath. But to know now that it
was that... horrid thing that was responsible for her family's madness.
What reason did she have to stay angry at her own mother?
She took one step, then another, and soon she was running into
her mother's arms. "Okaasan!"
The Kuno matriarch ger her daughter a loving squeeze. "'Dachi,
how I've missed you." She then looked up at her son, holding out an arm
to him as well.
Tatewaki glanced at the proffered arm with some trepidation,
but gave in to the moment and joined his sister and mother in the group
hug.
The scene around them dissolved, the blackness fading away to
be replaced by the hospital room where their actual bodies were. They
were still in the same group hug as before, tears running down the
female's cheeks.
It was at that moment that Tatewaki happened to glance up and
out the window, to where an oddly dressed figure was heading towards
them. He watched, fascinated, as the strange muscular man in dark green
plate armor raised a hand and pointed it at the trio.
In the next instant, the window and wall exploded.
--------------------------------
Author's Notes:
She's baaaaaaack! How's that for the return of Kodachi? *grins* I hope
all you Kodachi fans are happy with it. Expect to see her more often
now, and be surprised at the new life she makes for herself. It may not
be what you're expecting, but I guarantee you'll like it.