Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. A few others are mine. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.
"Learning Curve"
Part XVI (v1.3)
by: J. Wagner
Akane's mouth moved, but no words came out. Her vision was far from clear, and her head was spinning to the point where it became nearly impossible to concentrate or focus on any one thing. Her mind flashed back to what seemed to have only been moments before. There had been a terrible splash and impact. She had used the pain, rode it up to galvanize her muscles and body, and started to try and move in a coordinated manner.
She was in water... she was sinking, drowning, and worse, she couldn't see. Her wide-open eyes could only see a torrent of black shadows, stark white bubbles, and rushing dark blue. She remembered gulping for another desperate breath, which went somehow wrong, as if she had sucked in an icicle. Then, suddenly, there had been nothingness, and it was like the moment between sleep and consciousness, when, if only for a moment, the mind works, but the body is stiff as a corpse.
And just as suddenly, she felt air enter her lungs, and water leave her mouth. She opened her eyes, praying to see something familiar to cling to, but her vision instead shivered with unnatural color, as if the world around, tress, grass, people, everything was producing light instead of reflecting it. She could barely inhale now; save for short, rapid, ragged gasps and hiccups.
She became aware, then, that water was tricking out of her nose and down her upper lip. She wiped at it, and that single tiny irritation, became the focus that anchored her. She blinked, and it was like a dream, passing away, and she could hardly remember any of it. Starting to get up, despite the weakness in her body, Akane felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked.
A word came to her mouth, unbidden: "Ranma?"
"... Akane, you up? You feeling ok?"
"Shampoo?" Akane blinked, not really believing it. Looking past the Chinese girl, she saw a decent sized campfire, and two people seated around it. The one closest inclined his head, slightly, and she caught sight of a bandanna holding waves of dark hair at bay. Past him, opposite her from the fire, she saw two blue-gray eyes, looking out from the shadows of a crop of wild hair. They dropped, as soon as her own eyes met them, in favor of staring into the fire, the movement of the head flicking a distinct pigtail over his shoulder.
"Shampoo? Ryouga?" Akane licked her lips - they were dry, which was something she found very odd, given the circumstances. "What are... how did you two get here?"
"Silly Tendo girl." Shampoo leaned back, giving Akane room to sit up, though unsteadily at first. "I find you. And Airen."
"She's very good at tracking people down." Ryouga smiled, though it seemed a bit forced, as if he was holding something important back. "How do you feel, Akane-san? When we found you and Ranma, you were ...a little out of it."
Akane hadn't missed the dark blush that appeared on Ranma's cheeks as Ryouga talked, or that Shampoo had turned away to stare at the trees. Inching closer to the fire, to warm her hands, she tried to catch more of Ranma's face, but he was avoiding giving her just such an opportunity. She decided to be done with it.
"What happened? I remember... I remember hitting the water. And blacking out."
"Ranma dragged you out," Ryouga answered. "He was pretty hurt himself, but he did it. He also..."
"Hey," Ranma broke in. "It wasn't anything important, ok?"
Ryouga gave him a quick look, and relented. "He saved your life, Akane-san."
Shampoo snorted softly.
Akane didn't hear it.
"Thank you, Ranma." She leaned in a little closer, and caught his eyes moving up to finally see her.
"Yeah, well." The pigtailed boy looked up, and waved it off. "Somebody had to keep you from drowning. Being built like a brick and all."
"As opposed to just having a head like one, right?" Akane smiled.
Ranma shook his head.
"You feel up to fight, Akane?" Shampoo cracked her knuckles.
"What?"
"Not fight Shampoo! Fight monster boy!"
"Yeah. Him." Ryouga scowled, and stood up. He inclined his head, and Akane followed it to see a billowing pyre of fire and smoke, set on a cliff overhanging the water. "He still has Nabiki... but not for long. Not once I get my hands on him."
"Now that you're up and ok, we can head out." Ranma started to build up some of his normal bluster. "You ready, man?"
"I've been ready for hours now." Ryouga balanced his umbrella in his open palm.
"Good, then..."
"Wait!" Akane jumped to her feet, startling the two men. "You can't just climb up there! The whole place is one big water trap... you're both sure to get splashed!"
"Splashed?" Ryouga's eyes widened, and he looked over the distance they'd need to climb before they got to the summit of the cliff, and to the fire. Water traps... of course. It all made sense now! When expecting to fight the Jyusenkyou cursed, why not pick a battlefield where your advantage will be as great as possible? Ryouga had fought with this pantyhose person before, and he was confident that, so long as they both stayed human, he would be able to simply overwhelm him with his superior strength and endurance. His cursed form would be a much more difficult opponent, but he was sure that with Ranma and Shampoo together, they'd be able to overcome the creature without too much trouble.
But Ranma, P-chan, and an angry tabby?
They wouldn't have much of a chance in a straight up fight with this monster. He growled, deep in his throat. Once again, his curse was keeping him from doing what needed to be done. Keeping him from those he cared about.
"Is there another way up?" He asked, keeping his voice level and approaching calm. "There has to be another way up."
"He always flew in..."
"What about blasting in from underneath? Ryouga... you think you could Bakusai Tenketsu down and up, into the place?"
"Not a problem... unless I hit a water vein. If the place is really a 'water trap' then it won't be possible, because the tunnels will flood and collapse anyway."
"He called it the Temple of the Watery Grave," Akane explained, tightly. "But..."
"But?" Shampoo prompted.
"But I remember the way I came down. There weren't any traps there that I saw. But that was only halfway up from the top to here. Maybe less."
"Well, it doesn't look like we've got much of a choice." Ranma's voice took on a truly determined tone. For him, at least, the decision had already been made.
"For once, Saotome, I agree." Ryouga's eyes narrowed at the signal fire. "Arrogant little bastard. Let's go... I won't allow him to keep her another night there. Not without a fight!"
"Right." Ranma faced Shampoo and Akane. "Akane... you can come, but don't do anything stupid, alright? This guy is dangerous."
"You think I don't know that?" She cuffed him on the cheek, lightly. "Baka."
Shampoo looked at the two, and occupied herself by smothering the campfire. Softly, she cursed both Tendo sisters equally. It was just loud enough for a certain someone to hear, but Ryouga had already decided to ignored the banter; keeping his mind focused on the task at hand.
"Hang on, Nabi-chan." He clenched his fist, and moved, keeping his eye on the large fire in the distance, and trusting those with him to keep his course straight and true. "I'm coming."
***
Pearl Adams had been waiting for almost two hours, by the look of the old two-handed clock to his left, which sat peacefully on one of the room's tables. His hand touched the cool glass of the office window that opened out onto downtown Hong Kong, and he looked down at the tiny scurrying forms of people below, and the crowded streets that crisscrossed the city. Truthfully, it made him uncomfortable. Cities were like ant nests, and it made him seem small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. He much preferred the delusion of importance.
He adjusted his collar nervously, went around the large central desk that dominated the office, and sat down. The chair seemed to have been purposefully engineered to make those unfortunate enough to end up in it uncomfortable. Looking ahead, he tapped his finger impatiently on the smooth marble of the desk, flanked and held up by finely crafted balsa wood. The top of the desk itself was clear, except for a large flat screen computer monitor, folded down and blending into the dark marble underneath it. On the other side, a small plaque read only 'Bishop Chen' in stark gold-on-black English.
Undecorated walls supported the office's high ceilings. Undecorated, save for a large and unusual curved sword, heavy looking, and hanging near a few framed pictures on a single wall, which had a cream white door. Above, hung from the ceiling, a large fan spun softly and slowly. He looked up at it, and when he looked down again, a man sat in front of him, behind the desk, wearing an irritated frown.
In appearance, the man seemed around forty or forty-five, stout but not corpulent, with a pleasantly ugly face and great strong sausage fingered hands, one of which seemed to be clenched uncomfortably. Both his eyes were a strong shade of blue, and his lips turned down as if he were perpetually inclined towards pessimism, or at best, bland neutrality. He was obviously slightly balding, and kept his hair short, even cut, in an almost military fashion. His forehead was high and innocent of wrinkles, which gave his face a younger aspect belied by the lines around his mouth and eyes.
"Yes?" He asked, frown still firmly in place. "Let's hear it. What did you learn?"
Adams, himself, was tall, his head capped by wholly white-blond hair with ashy brown skin acquired by years of hiking and tracking in the Outback. Still, despite the height and age advantage, he wasn't quite used to private audiences at this social level, or in similar environs. This was his first reporting here in person, having sent a detailed written report months before.
"Well," Adams said and cleared his throat. "His early intelligence tests were normal, not exceptional. Before the age of ten, the tests showed some immediate jumps, then about a year later, around eleven, they revealed that he was kind of an idiot."
"Standard aptitude tests, yes?" Bishop's English had an obvious Russian accent to it, though his features belied some Asian traits.
"Yes, sir. It seems more likely, however, in light of already acquired information that he simply doesn't test well."
Bishop leaned back, stood up, and walked to the far side of the room. Tapping a panel of the wall, it opened, and he reached inside. After a moment, he came back with a clear glass. He didn't offer any to the still seated Adams, who suspected it was Vodka or some other strong alcohol, and wouldn't have wanted any anyway. As he walked back to his chair, the man spoke. "No records of childhood illness, I assume?"
"There are two possible explanations for that, sir." The younger blond man shifted a bit, uncomfortable.
"Yes?"
"He did a great deal of moving around, as you know, so any major illnesses may simply not have been adequately recorded, and minor ones seen as not of consequence... or they may have gone untreated. Or..."
Bishop sat down.
"Or," Adam continued, "He may never have caught anything that needed reporting or recording."
Bishop slowly smiled. The other man was obviously stepping outside his expertise, and was uncomfortable with it. "Major, do you consider yourself a curious man?"
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Do you know the largest structure in the world?"
"Largest? No, sir. Not off the top of my head."
"The most densely populated place on Earth?"
"No, sir."
"My background?"
"No." The man scowled, as if he were being mocked or tested.
"Most people are ignorant of most things. They often don't care to know; tell them and they forget. The larger vision is lost in the day-to-day minutiae, which they know well enough to get along. What about the basic principles of Marxist macroeconomics?"
"Hell so, sir... pardon the language."
Bishop took a long drink, and set the empty glass down. "I'm a bit ignorant of that myself. No curiosity at all about such things. Do you worry about the world sometimes?"
"Sometimes, sir. Can't really be helped."
"Have you thought to complain to those in charge? Those in power?"
"Not really my place. There's so much to complain about, really, where to begin?"
"Of course. You're an excellent officer, Mr. Adams, and you have done good work for me in the past."
"Thank you, sir."
Bishop's smile faded, and he looked down at the polished copperstone floor. "Are you curious as to my interests regarding your mission... this boy, and those around him?"
"Not really sir. A mark is a mark."
Bishop dismissed his statement with a shake of his head. "You are curious, but too good a soldier to admit to it. I ask, only because I feel you should know what I'm about to send you to deal with. You see I know that this boy, and his acquaintances, never had oh... measles, or any other childhood disease. And not because it went unreported, or because of 'clean living.' This boy was more than merely resistant to such things."
"If you say so, sir."
"And his abilities... I know much of those things too. Intimately. Perhaps I should send one of my personal aides to help you deal with any potentially problematic situations regarding these people."
The other man said nothing, merely sat at parade rest, eyes fixed on the opposite wall's great glass window overlooking the city. Bishop could read the young man well enough without seeing into his mind; he did not much believe all this, and knew little or nothing of his personal guardsmen and women. Chen began again, "Can you continue to find, follow, and track these people for me?"
"With sufficient numbers of additional officers, we can have around the clock observation in place. At present, my small team is not well equipped to deal with the sheer numbers of targets present in any adequate fashion."
"Very well. The Society will provide you with what you need. Continue to send reports. When I give the appropriate orders, you will eliminate the targets, from a distance - large caliber shots to the head, to be safe. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"I realize this is different from your normal assignments in China, but it of the utmost importance, Major."
"Yes, sir."
"You will then have the bodies brought to my associates, especially those of the primary targets. You will not use our criminal contacts as anything except cover. The bodies must be in our hands within twenty four hours."
"Sir!" Major Adams stood, nodded once, and departed.
Bishop Chen rubbed his hands together, slowly, as he thought about the future. He did not much trust the competence of any police, in any country. They could be bribed easily enough, if need be, and convinced to turn a blind eye... or two. So many implications, so many theories! With a small, intent smile, he lost himself in speculation for several minutes, and then went to his desktop informer to move on to other matters that needed consideration. He scrolled through the information gleaned by the informant, and his most loyal sources within the Society and, most importantly, without.
After all, Marxist macroeconomics wasn't exactly rocket science.
***
"Looks like the whole gang's here... except for that old guy." Taro smirked. "Come on, girlie."
"No need to manhandle me, you know!" Nabiki gave a sharp tug away from him with her shoulder, but couldn't get anywhere. Her arms were well and tied behind her back, with pantyhose annoyingly enough (Taro seemed to have a stash of them), and he had a good grip on her restraints with his right hand. In the other he held a makeshift torch that kept the twilight darkness at bay. It was probably around midnight, though that would only be a guess.
"Looks like they see us. Good." Taro took a few steps forward, and have her a hard shove forward. Mentally, Nabiki cursed how helpless and indignant she probably looked - dirty, tied up, tired... But there they were, down at the bottom of a slightly winding path, poised to rush up and attack. Ranma and Akane seemed slightly ruffled, and a bit sores for wear, but defiantly alive and active. Ryouga seemed to be seething, and about to explode in their direction, and Shampoo seemed a bit pensive, and taking the rear.
"Brought reinforcements, eh Faggot?" Taro taunted. "Hey there, pig-boy! Come and get her!"
"Hold on, Nabiki!" Ranma called out. "We'll be right up!"
"No! Don't come any closer!" Nabiki yelled back down, hurting her throat to make sure she was heard. "This place is full of traps!"
"We know!" Shampoo yelled back. The group paused, and Ranma and Ryouga started to look for any signs of trap triggers obscured by the night's darkness. Taro saw them, and quickly realized that if they looked too closely, they would have a fair chance of actually seeing the traps he'd set, even in the dark - one of the reasons he'd wanted them to attack at night and set the signal fire.
"All right..." He softly said to himself, threw aside the torch, reached to his sash, and then spoke up. "Listen up, boys and girls! If you don't try and save this little cutie here..."
He whipped out a length of pantyhose, and made as if to put it over Nabiki's head. "I'll hide that pretty face behind pantyhose!!"
"What?" Ranma didn't know whether to be disgusted, surprised, or simply annoyed.
Ryouga, on the other hand, was without a doubt pissed off. "You wouldn't dare!"
"We all know what people with pantyhose over their heads look like..." Taro laughed, in true evil fashion. "Stupid, that's what!"
"Is very shameful be covered with pantyhose." Shampoo nodded gravely.
"This is... quite possibly... the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Like I would care if you put pantyhose over my head." Nabiki rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah?" Taro growled, and tossed the pantyhose on the ground, took her chin in his hand and forced her to face him. "How about this then?"
"What...mmfh!"
Ranma couldn't help but gawk. He was kissing Nabiki! That took balls: big brass balls. That, and Ryouga would undoubtedly now walk through burning shards of glass to tear him limb from limb now. Akane simply gasped. That bastard was actually kissing her sister! That... That...
"Pervert!" Akane yelled, fuming, taking a few steps forward.
"No. I won't allow it!" The voice was low, but without a doubt carried a dark and dangerous edge. Ranma pivoted, and felt the heat of Ryouga's battle aura blowing in his face. The lost boy was in a rage only matched by the height of their battle, months ago, minus the depressive elements, which was a good thing as Shampoo and Akane were both in range of the 'crushing' effect it had on things.
"NO," he said again, canines showing as his lips pulled back into a snarl.
He was going to charge, regardless of the water traps. Ranma was about to hold him back, impossible though it probably was, when he blinked, and Ryouga was a third of the way to his target. Taro hadn't even broken from the kiss, as his right leg kicked out a nearby log. A cascade of water immediately erupted to Ryouga's left and right, flooding down the narrow riverbed Ranma now realized they'd been following towards the signal fire. Ryouga's aura blazed against the torrent of water for a moment before being simply overwhelmed and swept away. In the white water and the darkness, Ranma couldn't even see his friend/rival/former enemy as he was washed away.
"Ha! That sure did it!" Taro pulled back, and gave Nabiki a cruel smile. "Thanks."
Nabiki spat at him, but he dodged it without even trying. She quickly decided to resort to words, her specialty. "That was terrible. Don't get much practice with actual girls, do you?"
"Shut up." Taro turned back towards Ranma and Shampoo. They were already on their way up, jumping to keep their contact with the ground minimal. Smart.
Jumping back and away, with Nabiki in tow, Taro slung her over his shoulder, backpedaled slightly, and jumped up using a series of shortcuts to the top. Most of the way there, he stopped, and entered the broad mouth of a cave, decorated by dark stalagmites and stalactites. Hopping over a wire trap, and unceremoniously throwing his hostage to the ground, Taro quickly bound her mouth and her wrists with pantyhose, and then added another quick loop to a nearby stalagmite, keeping her in place.
"Enjoy the accommodations." He gave her a quick mock wave goodbye, and headed out. Now alone, he jumped up, gaining some height, and went in search of his prey. It turned out to be easier than he expected.
"Where are you, you underwear obsessive? Come out you coward!!"
Taro stifled a quick laugh, and dropped softly to a nearby boulder, near one of the traps he'd set up. Most of them, he'd scouted out and prepared in his cursed form (mostly because he ended up getting wet while doing it anyway, and because it involved a lot of heavy lifting), and while his perception of the world was slightly different in his monster form and only saw in black and white, he had an excellent memory and went over everything twice in human form, so he wouldn't forget.
His two opponents were both extremely dangerous individuals. One of them, the boy with the piglet curse, was insanely strong and nearly immune to conventional attacks. Amazingly, he was able to take repeated blows from Taro's cursed form, and still get up with little apparent injury. Worse, his technique was obviously well honed and combat tested, at least against human opponents, and indeed, even things much larger than a normal person - probably wild animals. He was damn fast, too, though not as fast as his friend with the pigtail, who seemed to have more of a human dueling style to his attacks. The bandanna boy seemed to compensate for his speed deficiency with more weapons, either of the bladed variety in some version of the Iron Cloth technique, or an incredibly durable umbrella, of all things.
Luckily, he had the worst curse of the lot. It had been a bit of a gamble, hoping that the water would take him out of the equation early, but it had paid off. From his fights with the two, he'd definitely end up having more trouble in a fair fight with the pig boy, rather than the fem boy, though he'd really only skirmished with the latter. It was the reason he'd been glad he'd still had that brown haired girl as a hostage, since she and the pig cursed martial artist were obviously an item.
What was this other one's name again?
"Saotome Ranma," Taro thought to himself, his excellent memory recalling the name the girl had used to describe the guy in the Chinese clothes. What concerned Taro about the little faggot was mainly his style - it was obviously Joketsuzoku inspired. He hadn't been sure at first, but the girl he had seen at that restaurant before, and who was now looking for him, was also obviously a martial artist. He wasn't totally sure, but he did remember hearing about an Amazon girl getting a curse recently. Yes, while training with her mentor, one of the Joketsuzoku Elders - no doubt that old crone that had sent him flying back in Tokyo.
Shan Pu.
Khu Lon.
"Interesting," Taro couldn't help but smile. That little bit of information could come in handy. One last quick leap carried him to the left of his target, whose back was still to him, and Taro immediately reached for a nearby rope, concealed as a vine. Below, the pigtailed martial artist seemed to get an inclining of the trap, and turned just as the rocks fell away and a wave of water exploded out of the opening into the sunken area he was standing in.
Taro scowled, as his target jumped just an instant before the water could hit him. The other boy obviously had well honed danger precognition. Better, perhaps, than Taro's own. Ranma twisted in midair, ricocheted off a side of the wall, and towards where Taro had been standing. 'Had' being the imperative word. He had several backup traps set up for just such a contingency, all in areas near where the main traps were set off. And even if his opponent was quick and wary enough to avoid those, there was always his backup third tier of defenses set up on the temple battlefield itself.
Chuckling softly to himself, Taro went to work.
***
"Come on. Come on... work, damn it."
Sighing in defeat, Nabiki Tendo finally gave up trying to weaken her pantyhose-binds by scraping them against the rock she was tied to. It was too slick to do any good, and the pantyhose themselves seemed to be unusually strong. Not for the first time, she felt a buildup of anger rise above her emotional controls. As it came, a slightly tingling sensation in her arms began to build up, as she strained against all reason.
Slowly, she remembered that there was no way she'd be able to break free using brute force, and the sensation died down and finally disappeared. Her concrete block-breaking sister could probably have broken free eventually, but regular all-too-human Tendo Nabiki? Not a chance. Still, there was that tingling in her arms... and she had been feeling stronger and in better shape than ever before over the last couple weeks and months. Ryouga had never really explained exactly what his Ki infusion did to her, and every time she asked, he gave some roundabout explanation about how he wasn't completely sure, and that it had something to do about life force and spiritual focus and a bunch of other quasi-religious mumbo jumbo.
So she'd pretty much forgotten about it.
Until now, anyway.
Now here she was, tied up in some dank dark cave, a piece of bait in some idiot's trap. And audacity of that creep continued to astound her. He'd single handedly pissed off everyone she knew, nearly killed two people in her family, and now totally humiliated her in front of everyone, including Ryouga. It was unforgivable. Of course, now Ryouga had turned into P-chan, and was probably miles away, Ranma was probably already splashed, and if Shampoo had also been taken out of action... that left Ranma-chan to fight Taro, probably in his monster form, all by him/herself.
Not good.
Mentally, she went over Ranma's chances, given what she'd observed, and what Ryouga had told her in half a dozen past conversations. His most powerful move, the Hiryu Shoten Ha, wouldn't help here, as she'd never seen or felt Taro unleash a battle aura, in either form. His version of the Happo Dai Karin wasn't nearly as refined or as powerful as Happosai's, and using it drained Ranma's Ki reserves more than it was usually worth. The Umisenken was a great school against human opponents, and its ability to 'cloak' the user, as Ryouga had called it, was very useful, but ultimately it was designed as a counter to another school of techniques called the Yamisenken, which Saotome Genma alone remembered how to practice. The Amaguriken was a very good general-purpose move, but not all powerful by itself.
The sound of a foot splashing through a shallow puddle drew Nabiki's attention back to the here and now. Her eyes well adjusted to the darkness, she could make out someone's outline, and even crouched, it was too small to be Ryouga, Ranma or Taro, which left Shampoo or Akane. In the gloom, she could make out the long hair, see Shampoo look up, and finally spot her from around a large rock that had probably been hiding her from view since the other girl had entered the cave.
"Ah. Shampoo find you!" She stepped forward, confidently now.
"Grmf!" Nabiki suddenly realized she sounded more like a certain sign-wielding panda than herself. Her attempt to warn Shampoo of the trap she was about to trip failed miserably, as the Chinese girl's ankle hit the tripwire, and a heartbeat later soaked her with several gallons of freezing cold water.
"Merow!" Shampoo complained, in her apparent direction, shrugging out of her now useless clothes.
"Grmf!"
"Mrew!"
"Gmmfr!"
"Che." Taro easily snuck up behind the angry feline, and lifted her up by the scruff of the neck. "All too easy."
"Mowr! Mowr!" Shampoo-neko scratched wildly, but couldn't get her claws anywhere near close enough to touch the arrogant young man. Taro spared her a quick glance, and his smile faded into a quick frown. With a hard flick of his middle finger, he struck her between the eyes, and knocked the small animal out cold.
"Stupid Amazon bitch." Taro sneered, and suddenly realized he'd said that in Mandarin. He quickly looked over to see if his hostage had understood what he'd said, and then decided he didn't really care. She was too in the dark to understand everything anyway, no matter how smart she thought she was. Tucking the now unconscious Shampoo-neko under his arm, he reached down, and undid the knot keeping Nabiki tied down.
"Come on, girlie." He pulled her up, and started towards the cave entrance. "I've got a queer bastard to skin, and you get to watch. Won't that be fun?"
She grumbled something in reply that sounded awfully like an unladylike curse, and it almost made Taro smile. This girl was a lot wittier and verbally abusive than the other one, who mostly sulked and looked about to lash out at him. Of course, once he was finished with the cross dresser, and had hunted down and taken care of his animal friends, he'd lure out and bargain their ...remaining lives for a change of name from that perverted old man. Given that he'd jumped to the girls' defense earlier, and that he'd pulled back when they were in danger, it was virtually certain that he'd capitulate and comply with Taro's demands.
And if not, he wagered that the old bastard's mind would change when he started mailing bit and pieces back to their weeping old man. After his official business here was completed, AND his name was changed, he'd be back off to China. He was already running a little late, and potentially angering several parties whose attention he had. Taro hated them all, pretty much, but some more than others. ...Some much more than others.
"Up we go!" He jumped, keeping a tight hold of his charge as they moved from rock to rock on their way to the top. The girl didn't seem to like being dragged around, but Taro really didn't care less. He wasn't a bad guy, he always figured, just a guy dealt a bad hand and doing what needed to be done to get ahead. In a dog eat dog world, you don't worry about what you're eating, or who you're beating to the punch.
At the top, near the temple, he tied Nabiki up to one of the supports near an old well. He toyed with the idea of drop kicking the annoying Amazon girl-turned-cat into the sea, but decided against it. She'd be another valuable hostage when the time came. Only the two men were really disposable at the moment. Scratching his chin, he picked up a sturdy wooden pole, and walked over to the edge of the battlefield, giving the whole place a once over, and making sure everything was ready and in place.
He didn't have long to wait.
"What's this? A faggot in my very own front yard? I thought those people came by and sprayed just the other day." Taro hopped down a bit, one foot's heel grinding into Ranma's hand as he neared the top of his climb even as he gave him a falsely warm smile. "Still... I'm impressed that you can this far without getting wet. Out of respect, I won't dumb water on you, femboy. How's about that?"
"You sure that's smart?" Ranma smirked, ignoring the pain in his hand. "You may regret not turning me into a girl, Pantyhose Prince."
That last insult seemed to cut especially deep, and Taro's smile disappeared instantly. With one end of the wooden pole he held, the Chinese youth dug it into the other boy's right shoulder, grinding it mercilessly until the wood snapped in half. A trickle of blood gave proof that it had broken the skin under Ranma's silk shirt.
"That was for our last encounter, you little prick." Taro's voice was cold, but he was obviously back in control of his emotions as he threw the remains of the pole aside and stepped back a few feet. "Come on up, cross dresser. I want to take you apart myself."
Ranma quickly climbed up the last few feet, and followed his opponent to an open area. It was dark, but he could see Nabiki and Shampoo, the latter in her cat form, tied up to several posts near an old stone well. Akane was still below, making her way up. She had insisted on coming, but in the actual climbing had lagged behind. He'd hoped for as much; it wouldn't do for her to get in the way when the actual fighting started.
"So I guess we're even then, huh?" Ranma slid his left foot back, and got into a low crouch. "Good. That means I won't have to pull my punches as much then."
Taro simply took the pantyhose wrapped around his right arm and threw it to the ground, revealing an unwounded arm largely healed from before. Even with his eyes closed, he'd be able to lead this arrogant fool into half the geyser traps the other boy didn't even know had been scouted out. He'd still soak this Saotome Ranma, and then deal with him at his leisure. Slowly, Taro got into a lazy stance Ranma didn't recognize, one leg forward.
"Alright, you Pantyhose Pirate!" Ranma let out some of his cold battle aura, felt it energize him, and accelerated forward, nearly a blur. He opened up with a barrage of blows, mixing closed fists with open palms, searching a weakness. Amazingly, Taro blurred backwards, despite not manifesting any battle aura at all, his forearm bracers and hands blocking all the attacks.
Taro recognized it as the unspoken version of the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken - a filthy Joketsuzoku technique stolen from the Seven Lucky Gods School, which he was also familiar with. Still, this was the fastest he'd ever seen it performed. Content to observe for the moment, Taro kept up his alternating passive /active defense, noting that the blows behind the individual strikes were much less than he remembered this same boy's regular strikes being. It seemed that this Ranma fellow was either new to the technique (not likely, given the speed he used it at), holding back dramatically (also not likely given the wild nature of the technique itself), or more used to concentrating his blows at a single point rather than trying to use them to overwhelm an opponent.
"Come on, you underwear addict! Fight back, why don't ya?"
No doubt the latter, due to the nature of his friend: the boy with the bandanna and rock hard constitution. Backing up further, and relying on his memory of the battlefield, Taro drew his opponent into a trap, even as he observed his abilities. Finally, sensing that the moment was right, he waited, leaving an opportunity for the other fighter to take.
"I'm gonna end this right now!!"
A foolish lunge, and a quick scoot to the left, and Ranma found his fist buried in a wall, and a second later, himself doused by water. Before he could even bat an eye, he was a she, and she was in serious trouble. Taro chuckled softly. "Did I forget to mention that behind nearly every stone here is a wall of water about to burst through? You should be more careful femboy."
"Do you know what that was... that was just plain cheap!" Ranma-chan turned, and attacked wildly, but her charge was cut immediately short as a kick to the nerve clusters in the neck stunned her for a moment. It would have easily snapped the neck of a normal man, or paralyzed even a very tough individual, but Ranma-chan's Ki protected her, and she recovered before her feet touched the ground.
"Cross dressing freak!" Taro lowered his leg, his voice dripping contempt. "I don't show mercy to real women. How do you think I deal with man-chasing fags like you?"
Taro moved with remarkable speed, his right hand firing in pistol like blows before the last word had even left his mouth. Ranma-chan kept moving, to the left, right, back, erratically avoiding the blows. Taro was fighting at a speed that almost rivaled Ryouga when he went all out, but Ranma-chan knew she was an order of magnitude faster still. The problem now was doing damage. Her standard tactic, a refined and focused version of the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken, worked well against the lost boy, though she knew all too well that in girl form even that wouldn't do much but annoy the Hibiki fighter.
But against Taro... he couldn't possibly be tough enough to take it. What she needed was an opportunity - an opening to set up and deliver the steady stream of blows. The Pantyhose boy seemed to almost be expecting it by keeping a hand in constant position to block and counter, and simply wasn't giving her the chance to get a good set of shots in. Worse, he wasn't generating a battle aura of any significance, which meant the Hiryu Shoten Ha was out of question. A different approach was in order.
"I'm going to make you eat those words!" Ranma-chan jumped and flipped, up and over her opponent, locked her ankles around his neck and upper torso, and used her momentum to bring him to the ground, the back of Taro's head taking the brunt of the impact as he hit the hard ground. Nabiki watched, and winced as the ground exploded in a geyser of water, obscuring the two. Expecting to see Taro's cursed form blast out, she instead saw Ranma shielding him with her body, as the eruption of water dwindled to a trickle.
"Thanks a bunch, cross dresser!" Taro scrunched up a bit, locked his legs around Ranma-chan's chest, and slammed her face first into the ground nearby. As another geyser of water blew up and into Ranma-chan's face, Taro got to his feet, and brushed his hands together almost playfully as he walked towards the water fountain. "Now... time for *me* to change."
"I don't think so!" Ranma-chan's voice had a panicked edge to it, as she leapt into a hasty jump kick, that Taro easily avoided.
"Ha!" Taro gave a curt laugh as he struck out, nailing Ranma-chan across the jaw and sending her flying back. "I was only kidding, cross dresser! Don't soil yourself."
Ranma rolled back, and got to her feet quickly. Taro snapped his fingers, and stomped, once, cracking the ground under his left foot. Ranma was forced to attack again, as water splashed out, threatening to turn the Chinese youth into his cursed form.
"Hey!" Ranma-chan was cut off, as soon as she came through the upwards-bound water, by another of Taro's blows, delivered in a casual manner. Ranma wiped a bit of blood from her lower lip, frustration and anger written on her features. She was losing her cool, and everyone knew it except her.
"Will you stop that?!"
"Why?" Taro gave a quick laugh, "This is so much fun... Come on, aren't you having fun, you queer bastard?"
"Why... you!!" Ranma-chan's cool aura faded, replaced by red-hot anger. "Nobody... Nobody calls me that and gets away with it!"
"Learning Curve"
Part XVI (v1.3)
by: J. Wagner
Akane's mouth moved, but no words came out. Her vision was far from clear, and her head was spinning to the point where it became nearly impossible to concentrate or focus on any one thing. Her mind flashed back to what seemed to have only been moments before. There had been a terrible splash and impact. She had used the pain, rode it up to galvanize her muscles and body, and started to try and move in a coordinated manner.
She was in water... she was sinking, drowning, and worse, she couldn't see. Her wide-open eyes could only see a torrent of black shadows, stark white bubbles, and rushing dark blue. She remembered gulping for another desperate breath, which went somehow wrong, as if she had sucked in an icicle. Then, suddenly, there had been nothingness, and it was like the moment between sleep and consciousness, when, if only for a moment, the mind works, but the body is stiff as a corpse.
And just as suddenly, she felt air enter her lungs, and water leave her mouth. She opened her eyes, praying to see something familiar to cling to, but her vision instead shivered with unnatural color, as if the world around, tress, grass, people, everything was producing light instead of reflecting it. She could barely inhale now; save for short, rapid, ragged gasps and hiccups.
She became aware, then, that water was tricking out of her nose and down her upper lip. She wiped at it, and that single tiny irritation, became the focus that anchored her. She blinked, and it was like a dream, passing away, and she could hardly remember any of it. Starting to get up, despite the weakness in her body, Akane felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked.
A word came to her mouth, unbidden: "Ranma?"
"... Akane, you up? You feeling ok?"
"Shampoo?" Akane blinked, not really believing it. Looking past the Chinese girl, she saw a decent sized campfire, and two people seated around it. The one closest inclined his head, slightly, and she caught sight of a bandanna holding waves of dark hair at bay. Past him, opposite her from the fire, she saw two blue-gray eyes, looking out from the shadows of a crop of wild hair. They dropped, as soon as her own eyes met them, in favor of staring into the fire, the movement of the head flicking a distinct pigtail over his shoulder.
"Shampoo? Ryouga?" Akane licked her lips - they were dry, which was something she found very odd, given the circumstances. "What are... how did you two get here?"
"Silly Tendo girl." Shampoo leaned back, giving Akane room to sit up, though unsteadily at first. "I find you. And Airen."
"She's very good at tracking people down." Ryouga smiled, though it seemed a bit forced, as if he was holding something important back. "How do you feel, Akane-san? When we found you and Ranma, you were ...a little out of it."
Akane hadn't missed the dark blush that appeared on Ranma's cheeks as Ryouga talked, or that Shampoo had turned away to stare at the trees. Inching closer to the fire, to warm her hands, she tried to catch more of Ranma's face, but he was avoiding giving her just such an opportunity. She decided to be done with it.
"What happened? I remember... I remember hitting the water. And blacking out."
"Ranma dragged you out," Ryouga answered. "He was pretty hurt himself, but he did it. He also..."
"Hey," Ranma broke in. "It wasn't anything important, ok?"
Ryouga gave him a quick look, and relented. "He saved your life, Akane-san."
Shampoo snorted softly.
Akane didn't hear it.
"Thank you, Ranma." She leaned in a little closer, and caught his eyes moving up to finally see her.
"Yeah, well." The pigtailed boy looked up, and waved it off. "Somebody had to keep you from drowning. Being built like a brick and all."
"As opposed to just having a head like one, right?" Akane smiled.
Ranma shook his head.
"You feel up to fight, Akane?" Shampoo cracked her knuckles.
"What?"
"Not fight Shampoo! Fight monster boy!"
"Yeah. Him." Ryouga scowled, and stood up. He inclined his head, and Akane followed it to see a billowing pyre of fire and smoke, set on a cliff overhanging the water. "He still has Nabiki... but not for long. Not once I get my hands on him."
"Now that you're up and ok, we can head out." Ranma started to build up some of his normal bluster. "You ready, man?"
"I've been ready for hours now." Ryouga balanced his umbrella in his open palm.
"Good, then..."
"Wait!" Akane jumped to her feet, startling the two men. "You can't just climb up there! The whole place is one big water trap... you're both sure to get splashed!"
"Splashed?" Ryouga's eyes widened, and he looked over the distance they'd need to climb before they got to the summit of the cliff, and to the fire. Water traps... of course. It all made sense now! When expecting to fight the Jyusenkyou cursed, why not pick a battlefield where your advantage will be as great as possible? Ryouga had fought with this pantyhose person before, and he was confident that, so long as they both stayed human, he would be able to simply overwhelm him with his superior strength and endurance. His cursed form would be a much more difficult opponent, but he was sure that with Ranma and Shampoo together, they'd be able to overcome the creature without too much trouble.
But Ranma, P-chan, and an angry tabby?
They wouldn't have much of a chance in a straight up fight with this monster. He growled, deep in his throat. Once again, his curse was keeping him from doing what needed to be done. Keeping him from those he cared about.
"Is there another way up?" He asked, keeping his voice level and approaching calm. "There has to be another way up."
"He always flew in..."
"What about blasting in from underneath? Ryouga... you think you could Bakusai Tenketsu down and up, into the place?"
"Not a problem... unless I hit a water vein. If the place is really a 'water trap' then it won't be possible, because the tunnels will flood and collapse anyway."
"He called it the Temple of the Watery Grave," Akane explained, tightly. "But..."
"But?" Shampoo prompted.
"But I remember the way I came down. There weren't any traps there that I saw. But that was only halfway up from the top to here. Maybe less."
"Well, it doesn't look like we've got much of a choice." Ranma's voice took on a truly determined tone. For him, at least, the decision had already been made.
"For once, Saotome, I agree." Ryouga's eyes narrowed at the signal fire. "Arrogant little bastard. Let's go... I won't allow him to keep her another night there. Not without a fight!"
"Right." Ranma faced Shampoo and Akane. "Akane... you can come, but don't do anything stupid, alright? This guy is dangerous."
"You think I don't know that?" She cuffed him on the cheek, lightly. "Baka."
Shampoo looked at the two, and occupied herself by smothering the campfire. Softly, she cursed both Tendo sisters equally. It was just loud enough for a certain someone to hear, but Ryouga had already decided to ignored the banter; keeping his mind focused on the task at hand.
"Hang on, Nabi-chan." He clenched his fist, and moved, keeping his eye on the large fire in the distance, and trusting those with him to keep his course straight and true. "I'm coming."
***
Pearl Adams had been waiting for almost two hours, by the look of the old two-handed clock to his left, which sat peacefully on one of the room's tables. His hand touched the cool glass of the office window that opened out onto downtown Hong Kong, and he looked down at the tiny scurrying forms of people below, and the crowded streets that crisscrossed the city. Truthfully, it made him uncomfortable. Cities were like ant nests, and it made him seem small and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. He much preferred the delusion of importance.
He adjusted his collar nervously, went around the large central desk that dominated the office, and sat down. The chair seemed to have been purposefully engineered to make those unfortunate enough to end up in it uncomfortable. Looking ahead, he tapped his finger impatiently on the smooth marble of the desk, flanked and held up by finely crafted balsa wood. The top of the desk itself was clear, except for a large flat screen computer monitor, folded down and blending into the dark marble underneath it. On the other side, a small plaque read only 'Bishop Chen' in stark gold-on-black English.
Undecorated walls supported the office's high ceilings. Undecorated, save for a large and unusual curved sword, heavy looking, and hanging near a few framed pictures on a single wall, which had a cream white door. Above, hung from the ceiling, a large fan spun softly and slowly. He looked up at it, and when he looked down again, a man sat in front of him, behind the desk, wearing an irritated frown.
In appearance, the man seemed around forty or forty-five, stout but not corpulent, with a pleasantly ugly face and great strong sausage fingered hands, one of which seemed to be clenched uncomfortably. Both his eyes were a strong shade of blue, and his lips turned down as if he were perpetually inclined towards pessimism, or at best, bland neutrality. He was obviously slightly balding, and kept his hair short, even cut, in an almost military fashion. His forehead was high and innocent of wrinkles, which gave his face a younger aspect belied by the lines around his mouth and eyes.
"Yes?" He asked, frown still firmly in place. "Let's hear it. What did you learn?"
Adams, himself, was tall, his head capped by wholly white-blond hair with ashy brown skin acquired by years of hiking and tracking in the Outback. Still, despite the height and age advantage, he wasn't quite used to private audiences at this social level, or in similar environs. This was his first reporting here in person, having sent a detailed written report months before.
"Well," Adams said and cleared his throat. "His early intelligence tests were normal, not exceptional. Before the age of ten, the tests showed some immediate jumps, then about a year later, around eleven, they revealed that he was kind of an idiot."
"Standard aptitude tests, yes?" Bishop's English had an obvious Russian accent to it, though his features belied some Asian traits.
"Yes, sir. It seems more likely, however, in light of already acquired information that he simply doesn't test well."
Bishop leaned back, stood up, and walked to the far side of the room. Tapping a panel of the wall, it opened, and he reached inside. After a moment, he came back with a clear glass. He didn't offer any to the still seated Adams, who suspected it was Vodka or some other strong alcohol, and wouldn't have wanted any anyway. As he walked back to his chair, the man spoke. "No records of childhood illness, I assume?"
"There are two possible explanations for that, sir." The younger blond man shifted a bit, uncomfortable.
"Yes?"
"He did a great deal of moving around, as you know, so any major illnesses may simply not have been adequately recorded, and minor ones seen as not of consequence... or they may have gone untreated. Or..."
Bishop sat down.
"Or," Adam continued, "He may never have caught anything that needed reporting or recording."
Bishop slowly smiled. The other man was obviously stepping outside his expertise, and was uncomfortable with it. "Major, do you consider yourself a curious man?"
"What do you mean, sir?"
"Do you know the largest structure in the world?"
"Largest? No, sir. Not off the top of my head."
"The most densely populated place on Earth?"
"No, sir."
"My background?"
"No." The man scowled, as if he were being mocked or tested.
"Most people are ignorant of most things. They often don't care to know; tell them and they forget. The larger vision is lost in the day-to-day minutiae, which they know well enough to get along. What about the basic principles of Marxist macroeconomics?"
"Hell so, sir... pardon the language."
Bishop took a long drink, and set the empty glass down. "I'm a bit ignorant of that myself. No curiosity at all about such things. Do you worry about the world sometimes?"
"Sometimes, sir. Can't really be helped."
"Have you thought to complain to those in charge? Those in power?"
"Not really my place. There's so much to complain about, really, where to begin?"
"Of course. You're an excellent officer, Mr. Adams, and you have done good work for me in the past."
"Thank you, sir."
Bishop's smile faded, and he looked down at the polished copperstone floor. "Are you curious as to my interests regarding your mission... this boy, and those around him?"
"Not really sir. A mark is a mark."
Bishop dismissed his statement with a shake of his head. "You are curious, but too good a soldier to admit to it. I ask, only because I feel you should know what I'm about to send you to deal with. You see I know that this boy, and his acquaintances, never had oh... measles, or any other childhood disease. And not because it went unreported, or because of 'clean living.' This boy was more than merely resistant to such things."
"If you say so, sir."
"And his abilities... I know much of those things too. Intimately. Perhaps I should send one of my personal aides to help you deal with any potentially problematic situations regarding these people."
The other man said nothing, merely sat at parade rest, eyes fixed on the opposite wall's great glass window overlooking the city. Bishop could read the young man well enough without seeing into his mind; he did not much believe all this, and knew little or nothing of his personal guardsmen and women. Chen began again, "Can you continue to find, follow, and track these people for me?"
"With sufficient numbers of additional officers, we can have around the clock observation in place. At present, my small team is not well equipped to deal with the sheer numbers of targets present in any adequate fashion."
"Very well. The Society will provide you with what you need. Continue to send reports. When I give the appropriate orders, you will eliminate the targets, from a distance - large caliber shots to the head, to be safe. Understood?"
"Yes, sir."
"I realize this is different from your normal assignments in China, but it of the utmost importance, Major."
"Yes, sir."
"You will then have the bodies brought to my associates, especially those of the primary targets. You will not use our criminal contacts as anything except cover. The bodies must be in our hands within twenty four hours."
"Sir!" Major Adams stood, nodded once, and departed.
Bishop Chen rubbed his hands together, slowly, as he thought about the future. He did not much trust the competence of any police, in any country. They could be bribed easily enough, if need be, and convinced to turn a blind eye... or two. So many implications, so many theories! With a small, intent smile, he lost himself in speculation for several minutes, and then went to his desktop informer to move on to other matters that needed consideration. He scrolled through the information gleaned by the informant, and his most loyal sources within the Society and, most importantly, without.
After all, Marxist macroeconomics wasn't exactly rocket science.
***
"Looks like the whole gang's here... except for that old guy." Taro smirked. "Come on, girlie."
"No need to manhandle me, you know!" Nabiki gave a sharp tug away from him with her shoulder, but couldn't get anywhere. Her arms were well and tied behind her back, with pantyhose annoyingly enough (Taro seemed to have a stash of them), and he had a good grip on her restraints with his right hand. In the other he held a makeshift torch that kept the twilight darkness at bay. It was probably around midnight, though that would only be a guess.
"Looks like they see us. Good." Taro took a few steps forward, and have her a hard shove forward. Mentally, Nabiki cursed how helpless and indignant she probably looked - dirty, tied up, tired... But there they were, down at the bottom of a slightly winding path, poised to rush up and attack. Ranma and Akane seemed slightly ruffled, and a bit sores for wear, but defiantly alive and active. Ryouga seemed to be seething, and about to explode in their direction, and Shampoo seemed a bit pensive, and taking the rear.
"Brought reinforcements, eh Faggot?" Taro taunted. "Hey there, pig-boy! Come and get her!"
"Hold on, Nabiki!" Ranma called out. "We'll be right up!"
"No! Don't come any closer!" Nabiki yelled back down, hurting her throat to make sure she was heard. "This place is full of traps!"
"We know!" Shampoo yelled back. The group paused, and Ranma and Ryouga started to look for any signs of trap triggers obscured by the night's darkness. Taro saw them, and quickly realized that if they looked too closely, they would have a fair chance of actually seeing the traps he'd set, even in the dark - one of the reasons he'd wanted them to attack at night and set the signal fire.
"All right..." He softly said to himself, threw aside the torch, reached to his sash, and then spoke up. "Listen up, boys and girls! If you don't try and save this little cutie here..."
He whipped out a length of pantyhose, and made as if to put it over Nabiki's head. "I'll hide that pretty face behind pantyhose!!"
"What?" Ranma didn't know whether to be disgusted, surprised, or simply annoyed.
Ryouga, on the other hand, was without a doubt pissed off. "You wouldn't dare!"
"We all know what people with pantyhose over their heads look like..." Taro laughed, in true evil fashion. "Stupid, that's what!"
"Is very shameful be covered with pantyhose." Shampoo nodded gravely.
"This is... quite possibly... the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Like I would care if you put pantyhose over my head." Nabiki rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah?" Taro growled, and tossed the pantyhose on the ground, took her chin in his hand and forced her to face him. "How about this then?"
"What...mmfh!"
Ranma couldn't help but gawk. He was kissing Nabiki! That took balls: big brass balls. That, and Ryouga would undoubtedly now walk through burning shards of glass to tear him limb from limb now. Akane simply gasped. That bastard was actually kissing her sister! That... That...
"Pervert!" Akane yelled, fuming, taking a few steps forward.
"No. I won't allow it!" The voice was low, but without a doubt carried a dark and dangerous edge. Ranma pivoted, and felt the heat of Ryouga's battle aura blowing in his face. The lost boy was in a rage only matched by the height of their battle, months ago, minus the depressive elements, which was a good thing as Shampoo and Akane were both in range of the 'crushing' effect it had on things.
"NO," he said again, canines showing as his lips pulled back into a snarl.
He was going to charge, regardless of the water traps. Ranma was about to hold him back, impossible though it probably was, when he blinked, and Ryouga was a third of the way to his target. Taro hadn't even broken from the kiss, as his right leg kicked out a nearby log. A cascade of water immediately erupted to Ryouga's left and right, flooding down the narrow riverbed Ranma now realized they'd been following towards the signal fire. Ryouga's aura blazed against the torrent of water for a moment before being simply overwhelmed and swept away. In the white water and the darkness, Ranma couldn't even see his friend/rival/former enemy as he was washed away.
"Ha! That sure did it!" Taro pulled back, and gave Nabiki a cruel smile. "Thanks."
Nabiki spat at him, but he dodged it without even trying. She quickly decided to resort to words, her specialty. "That was terrible. Don't get much practice with actual girls, do you?"
"Shut up." Taro turned back towards Ranma and Shampoo. They were already on their way up, jumping to keep their contact with the ground minimal. Smart.
Jumping back and away, with Nabiki in tow, Taro slung her over his shoulder, backpedaled slightly, and jumped up using a series of shortcuts to the top. Most of the way there, he stopped, and entered the broad mouth of a cave, decorated by dark stalagmites and stalactites. Hopping over a wire trap, and unceremoniously throwing his hostage to the ground, Taro quickly bound her mouth and her wrists with pantyhose, and then added another quick loop to a nearby stalagmite, keeping her in place.
"Enjoy the accommodations." He gave her a quick mock wave goodbye, and headed out. Now alone, he jumped up, gaining some height, and went in search of his prey. It turned out to be easier than he expected.
"Where are you, you underwear obsessive? Come out you coward!!"
Taro stifled a quick laugh, and dropped softly to a nearby boulder, near one of the traps he'd set up. Most of them, he'd scouted out and prepared in his cursed form (mostly because he ended up getting wet while doing it anyway, and because it involved a lot of heavy lifting), and while his perception of the world was slightly different in his monster form and only saw in black and white, he had an excellent memory and went over everything twice in human form, so he wouldn't forget.
His two opponents were both extremely dangerous individuals. One of them, the boy with the piglet curse, was insanely strong and nearly immune to conventional attacks. Amazingly, he was able to take repeated blows from Taro's cursed form, and still get up with little apparent injury. Worse, his technique was obviously well honed and combat tested, at least against human opponents, and indeed, even things much larger than a normal person - probably wild animals. He was damn fast, too, though not as fast as his friend with the pigtail, who seemed to have more of a human dueling style to his attacks. The bandanna boy seemed to compensate for his speed deficiency with more weapons, either of the bladed variety in some version of the Iron Cloth technique, or an incredibly durable umbrella, of all things.
Luckily, he had the worst curse of the lot. It had been a bit of a gamble, hoping that the water would take him out of the equation early, but it had paid off. From his fights with the two, he'd definitely end up having more trouble in a fair fight with the pig boy, rather than the fem boy, though he'd really only skirmished with the latter. It was the reason he'd been glad he'd still had that brown haired girl as a hostage, since she and the pig cursed martial artist were obviously an item.
What was this other one's name again?
"Saotome Ranma," Taro thought to himself, his excellent memory recalling the name the girl had used to describe the guy in the Chinese clothes. What concerned Taro about the little faggot was mainly his style - it was obviously Joketsuzoku inspired. He hadn't been sure at first, but the girl he had seen at that restaurant before, and who was now looking for him, was also obviously a martial artist. He wasn't totally sure, but he did remember hearing about an Amazon girl getting a curse recently. Yes, while training with her mentor, one of the Joketsuzoku Elders - no doubt that old crone that had sent him flying back in Tokyo.
Shan Pu.
Khu Lon.
"Interesting," Taro couldn't help but smile. That little bit of information could come in handy. One last quick leap carried him to the left of his target, whose back was still to him, and Taro immediately reached for a nearby rope, concealed as a vine. Below, the pigtailed martial artist seemed to get an inclining of the trap, and turned just as the rocks fell away and a wave of water exploded out of the opening into the sunken area he was standing in.
Taro scowled, as his target jumped just an instant before the water could hit him. The other boy obviously had well honed danger precognition. Better, perhaps, than Taro's own. Ranma twisted in midair, ricocheted off a side of the wall, and towards where Taro had been standing. 'Had' being the imperative word. He had several backup traps set up for just such a contingency, all in areas near where the main traps were set off. And even if his opponent was quick and wary enough to avoid those, there was always his backup third tier of defenses set up on the temple battlefield itself.
Chuckling softly to himself, Taro went to work.
***
"Come on. Come on... work, damn it."
Sighing in defeat, Nabiki Tendo finally gave up trying to weaken her pantyhose-binds by scraping them against the rock she was tied to. It was too slick to do any good, and the pantyhose themselves seemed to be unusually strong. Not for the first time, she felt a buildup of anger rise above her emotional controls. As it came, a slightly tingling sensation in her arms began to build up, as she strained against all reason.
Slowly, she remembered that there was no way she'd be able to break free using brute force, and the sensation died down and finally disappeared. Her concrete block-breaking sister could probably have broken free eventually, but regular all-too-human Tendo Nabiki? Not a chance. Still, there was that tingling in her arms... and she had been feeling stronger and in better shape than ever before over the last couple weeks and months. Ryouga had never really explained exactly what his Ki infusion did to her, and every time she asked, he gave some roundabout explanation about how he wasn't completely sure, and that it had something to do about life force and spiritual focus and a bunch of other quasi-religious mumbo jumbo.
So she'd pretty much forgotten about it.
Until now, anyway.
Now here she was, tied up in some dank dark cave, a piece of bait in some idiot's trap. And audacity of that creep continued to astound her. He'd single handedly pissed off everyone she knew, nearly killed two people in her family, and now totally humiliated her in front of everyone, including Ryouga. It was unforgivable. Of course, now Ryouga had turned into P-chan, and was probably miles away, Ranma was probably already splashed, and if Shampoo had also been taken out of action... that left Ranma-chan to fight Taro, probably in his monster form, all by him/herself.
Not good.
Mentally, she went over Ranma's chances, given what she'd observed, and what Ryouga had told her in half a dozen past conversations. His most powerful move, the Hiryu Shoten Ha, wouldn't help here, as she'd never seen or felt Taro unleash a battle aura, in either form. His version of the Happo Dai Karin wasn't nearly as refined or as powerful as Happosai's, and using it drained Ranma's Ki reserves more than it was usually worth. The Umisenken was a great school against human opponents, and its ability to 'cloak' the user, as Ryouga had called it, was very useful, but ultimately it was designed as a counter to another school of techniques called the Yamisenken, which Saotome Genma alone remembered how to practice. The Amaguriken was a very good general-purpose move, but not all powerful by itself.
The sound of a foot splashing through a shallow puddle drew Nabiki's attention back to the here and now. Her eyes well adjusted to the darkness, she could make out someone's outline, and even crouched, it was too small to be Ryouga, Ranma or Taro, which left Shampoo or Akane. In the gloom, she could make out the long hair, see Shampoo look up, and finally spot her from around a large rock that had probably been hiding her from view since the other girl had entered the cave.
"Ah. Shampoo find you!" She stepped forward, confidently now.
"Grmf!" Nabiki suddenly realized she sounded more like a certain sign-wielding panda than herself. Her attempt to warn Shampoo of the trap she was about to trip failed miserably, as the Chinese girl's ankle hit the tripwire, and a heartbeat later soaked her with several gallons of freezing cold water.
"Merow!" Shampoo complained, in her apparent direction, shrugging out of her now useless clothes.
"Grmf!"
"Mrew!"
"Gmmfr!"
"Che." Taro easily snuck up behind the angry feline, and lifted her up by the scruff of the neck. "All too easy."
"Mowr! Mowr!" Shampoo-neko scratched wildly, but couldn't get her claws anywhere near close enough to touch the arrogant young man. Taro spared her a quick glance, and his smile faded into a quick frown. With a hard flick of his middle finger, he struck her between the eyes, and knocked the small animal out cold.
"Stupid Amazon bitch." Taro sneered, and suddenly realized he'd said that in Mandarin. He quickly looked over to see if his hostage had understood what he'd said, and then decided he didn't really care. She was too in the dark to understand everything anyway, no matter how smart she thought she was. Tucking the now unconscious Shampoo-neko under his arm, he reached down, and undid the knot keeping Nabiki tied down.
"Come on, girlie." He pulled her up, and started towards the cave entrance. "I've got a queer bastard to skin, and you get to watch. Won't that be fun?"
She grumbled something in reply that sounded awfully like an unladylike curse, and it almost made Taro smile. This girl was a lot wittier and verbally abusive than the other one, who mostly sulked and looked about to lash out at him. Of course, once he was finished with the cross dresser, and had hunted down and taken care of his animal friends, he'd lure out and bargain their ...remaining lives for a change of name from that perverted old man. Given that he'd jumped to the girls' defense earlier, and that he'd pulled back when they were in danger, it was virtually certain that he'd capitulate and comply with Taro's demands.
And if not, he wagered that the old bastard's mind would change when he started mailing bit and pieces back to their weeping old man. After his official business here was completed, AND his name was changed, he'd be back off to China. He was already running a little late, and potentially angering several parties whose attention he had. Taro hated them all, pretty much, but some more than others. ...Some much more than others.
"Up we go!" He jumped, keeping a tight hold of his charge as they moved from rock to rock on their way to the top. The girl didn't seem to like being dragged around, but Taro really didn't care less. He wasn't a bad guy, he always figured, just a guy dealt a bad hand and doing what needed to be done to get ahead. In a dog eat dog world, you don't worry about what you're eating, or who you're beating to the punch.
At the top, near the temple, he tied Nabiki up to one of the supports near an old well. He toyed with the idea of drop kicking the annoying Amazon girl-turned-cat into the sea, but decided against it. She'd be another valuable hostage when the time came. Only the two men were really disposable at the moment. Scratching his chin, he picked up a sturdy wooden pole, and walked over to the edge of the battlefield, giving the whole place a once over, and making sure everything was ready and in place.
He didn't have long to wait.
"What's this? A faggot in my very own front yard? I thought those people came by and sprayed just the other day." Taro hopped down a bit, one foot's heel grinding into Ranma's hand as he neared the top of his climb even as he gave him a falsely warm smile. "Still... I'm impressed that you can this far without getting wet. Out of respect, I won't dumb water on you, femboy. How's about that?"
"You sure that's smart?" Ranma smirked, ignoring the pain in his hand. "You may regret not turning me into a girl, Pantyhose Prince."
That last insult seemed to cut especially deep, and Taro's smile disappeared instantly. With one end of the wooden pole he held, the Chinese youth dug it into the other boy's right shoulder, grinding it mercilessly until the wood snapped in half. A trickle of blood gave proof that it had broken the skin under Ranma's silk shirt.
"That was for our last encounter, you little prick." Taro's voice was cold, but he was obviously back in control of his emotions as he threw the remains of the pole aside and stepped back a few feet. "Come on up, cross dresser. I want to take you apart myself."
Ranma quickly climbed up the last few feet, and followed his opponent to an open area. It was dark, but he could see Nabiki and Shampoo, the latter in her cat form, tied up to several posts near an old stone well. Akane was still below, making her way up. She had insisted on coming, but in the actual climbing had lagged behind. He'd hoped for as much; it wouldn't do for her to get in the way when the actual fighting started.
"So I guess we're even then, huh?" Ranma slid his left foot back, and got into a low crouch. "Good. That means I won't have to pull my punches as much then."
Taro simply took the pantyhose wrapped around his right arm and threw it to the ground, revealing an unwounded arm largely healed from before. Even with his eyes closed, he'd be able to lead this arrogant fool into half the geyser traps the other boy didn't even know had been scouted out. He'd still soak this Saotome Ranma, and then deal with him at his leisure. Slowly, Taro got into a lazy stance Ranma didn't recognize, one leg forward.
"Alright, you Pantyhose Pirate!" Ranma let out some of his cold battle aura, felt it energize him, and accelerated forward, nearly a blur. He opened up with a barrage of blows, mixing closed fists with open palms, searching a weakness. Amazingly, Taro blurred backwards, despite not manifesting any battle aura at all, his forearm bracers and hands blocking all the attacks.
Taro recognized it as the unspoken version of the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken - a filthy Joketsuzoku technique stolen from the Seven Lucky Gods School, which he was also familiar with. Still, this was the fastest he'd ever seen it performed. Content to observe for the moment, Taro kept up his alternating passive /active defense, noting that the blows behind the individual strikes were much less than he remembered this same boy's regular strikes being. It seemed that this Ranma fellow was either new to the technique (not likely, given the speed he used it at), holding back dramatically (also not likely given the wild nature of the technique itself), or more used to concentrating his blows at a single point rather than trying to use them to overwhelm an opponent.
"Come on, you underwear addict! Fight back, why don't ya?"
No doubt the latter, due to the nature of his friend: the boy with the bandanna and rock hard constitution. Backing up further, and relying on his memory of the battlefield, Taro drew his opponent into a trap, even as he observed his abilities. Finally, sensing that the moment was right, he waited, leaving an opportunity for the other fighter to take.
"I'm gonna end this right now!!"
A foolish lunge, and a quick scoot to the left, and Ranma found his fist buried in a wall, and a second later, himself doused by water. Before he could even bat an eye, he was a she, and she was in serious trouble. Taro chuckled softly. "Did I forget to mention that behind nearly every stone here is a wall of water about to burst through? You should be more careful femboy."
"Do you know what that was... that was just plain cheap!" Ranma-chan turned, and attacked wildly, but her charge was cut immediately short as a kick to the nerve clusters in the neck stunned her for a moment. It would have easily snapped the neck of a normal man, or paralyzed even a very tough individual, but Ranma-chan's Ki protected her, and she recovered before her feet touched the ground.
"Cross dressing freak!" Taro lowered his leg, his voice dripping contempt. "I don't show mercy to real women. How do you think I deal with man-chasing fags like you?"
Taro moved with remarkable speed, his right hand firing in pistol like blows before the last word had even left his mouth. Ranma-chan kept moving, to the left, right, back, erratically avoiding the blows. Taro was fighting at a speed that almost rivaled Ryouga when he went all out, but Ranma-chan knew she was an order of magnitude faster still. The problem now was doing damage. Her standard tactic, a refined and focused version of the Kachuu Tenshi Amaguriken, worked well against the lost boy, though she knew all too well that in girl form even that wouldn't do much but annoy the Hibiki fighter.
But against Taro... he couldn't possibly be tough enough to take it. What she needed was an opportunity - an opening to set up and deliver the steady stream of blows. The Pantyhose boy seemed to almost be expecting it by keeping a hand in constant position to block and counter, and simply wasn't giving her the chance to get a good set of shots in. Worse, he wasn't generating a battle aura of any significance, which meant the Hiryu Shoten Ha was out of question. A different approach was in order.
"I'm going to make you eat those words!" Ranma-chan jumped and flipped, up and over her opponent, locked her ankles around his neck and upper torso, and used her momentum to bring him to the ground, the back of Taro's head taking the brunt of the impact as he hit the hard ground. Nabiki watched, and winced as the ground exploded in a geyser of water, obscuring the two. Expecting to see Taro's cursed form blast out, she instead saw Ranma shielding him with her body, as the eruption of water dwindled to a trickle.
"Thanks a bunch, cross dresser!" Taro scrunched up a bit, locked his legs around Ranma-chan's chest, and slammed her face first into the ground nearby. As another geyser of water blew up and into Ranma-chan's face, Taro got to his feet, and brushed his hands together almost playfully as he walked towards the water fountain. "Now... time for *me* to change."
"I don't think so!" Ranma-chan's voice had a panicked edge to it, as she leapt into a hasty jump kick, that Taro easily avoided.
"Ha!" Taro gave a curt laugh as he struck out, nailing Ranma-chan across the jaw and sending her flying back. "I was only kidding, cross dresser! Don't soil yourself."
Ranma rolled back, and got to her feet quickly. Taro snapped his fingers, and stomped, once, cracking the ground under his left foot. Ranma was forced to attack again, as water splashed out, threatening to turn the Chinese youth into his cursed form.
"Hey!" Ranma-chan was cut off, as soon as she came through the upwards-bound water, by another of Taro's blows, delivered in a casual manner. Ranma wiped a bit of blood from her lower lip, frustration and anger written on her features. She was losing her cool, and everyone knew it except her.
"Will you stop that?!"
"Why?" Taro gave a quick laugh, "This is so much fun... Come on, aren't you having fun, you queer bastard?"
"Why... you!!" Ranma-chan's cool aura faded, replaced by red-hot anger. "Nobody... Nobody calls me that and gets away with it!"
