A Ranma ½ King of Fighters x-over fanfiction
Disclaimer: zzzZZZZZ… Wha? Oh, don't own them… zzzzzZZZZZZ…
Pairing:
Chizuru: 13
Shermie: 13
Leona: 5
The rest (Mature, Kasumi and Nabs): 1, 2, 1 respectively.
Don't care/hadn't decided: 4
E-mail votes counted as well.
AN: Well, well, well… Shermie is tied with Chizzy-baby. I was thinking if you guys want me to stop the polls for awhile and just have both Chizuru and Shermie (maybe even Leona) interact with our Orochi-cursed martial artist. That way, you can have a better perspective in regards to the girls and I'll let you decide which one is the better choice when I make one last deciding poll later on. Is that okay with you? (*shrugs* Oh well… really too bad he's not Juraian ^^)
Flames of Destiny
By Luc
Chapter 4: The Path Taken
Ranma studied his opponent with a critical eye. 'Either he underestimates me or he just likes to leave himself open.' thought Ranma as he observed the red-haired man's casual stance.
"What's wrong? Are you afraid of me?" Iori taunted. He then smirked after seeing the scowl on Ranma's face.
'That's fine by me…' Ranma thought as he charged Iori straight out. He was surprised to see Iori remain in that stance and was even more surprised that his punch connected to the red-haired man's face causing Iori's head to jerk back a little from the impact.
Iori quickly recovered from the punch as he grabbed Ranma's face and slammed it hard into the ground. Ranma countered with a knee to the red-haired man's stomach but Iori acted like it didn't even hurt him. He tore into Ranma's clothes with his bare hands like a wild animal would do to its prey.
'Why the hell am I thinking of ca-cats now?!' Ranma thought as he parried Iori's sharp fingers to the side.
Tired of Ranma's defensive stance, Iori began concentrating and then his purple flames of death appeared. "Feel the pain of my ancestors! Dark Thrust!"
A wave of magatama no Orochi made its way toward the ponytailed boy. Ranma jumped over the projectile and was preparing himself for a downward kick but Iori reached for the ponytailed boy's extended leg with his arm, twisted it and then threw Ranma with more than enough force to send the ponytailed boy flying towards a glass door of a shopping mall.
Iori slowly walked towards the place, the dust around the area hasn't dispersed yet so he couldn't get a good view from outside the shopping mall. He was almost inside the place when he was suddenly pushed back by a hard kick to his chest. Ranma followed it up with a shot to the ribs and then a roundhouse kick to Iori's head, causing Iori to fall to the ground hard.
It's Ranma's turn to gloat over the downed form of the red-haired man. "This fight is mine, Yagami."
Iori suddenly stopped grimacing in pain and just stared at the floor wide-eyed. 'That… that line…'
//FLASH//
1996 King of Fighters tournament
"We still hadn't decided the victor! I don't care about the rules! FIGHT ME!!!"
"This fight is mine, Yagami… its over." Kyo said as he walked away from the downed Yagami.
//FLASH//
Iori smiled a manic smile that made Ranma tense for a moment before going into a defensive stance. As Iori starts to get up, he covers his face with his left hand and begins to laugh quietly. "Hm Hm Hm… Heh Heh Heh…"
"What's so funny?" Ranma asked the slightly deranged man.
Iori managed to suppress his laughter. "Nothing… you just reminded me of someone… someone I know. Someone I hate with a passion… someone I want to kill so badly… since he's not here… I'll just have to settle with YOU!!!"
Rooftops
Billy Kane was watching the fight down below with interest. In the time he spent observing the last descendant of the cursed Yagami clan, Iori has never partaken in a fight unless it concerns that Kusanagi boy so he was wondering what had gotten into Iori to fight the ponytailed boy so viciously.
He glanced at his watch. 'Right… got to report back to Geese.' He pulled out his cellphone and dialed Geese's number.
Southtown
"Report."
"Boss, Yagami is fighting someone right now. I don't know the details but it seems that the ponytailed boy must've pissed Yagami off in some way." Billy replied over the phone.
Geese raised an eyebrow at that. "Ponytailed boy? Billy… can you give me a better description of Yagami's opponent?" 'It may just be a coincidence but still…'
"Huh? Yeah, black hair, blue eyes and he is wearing a loose black chinese shirt with matching black pants…" Billy paused when he heard Geese chuckle. "… is there something wrong boss?"
"Who would've thought that the two persons I'm monitoring turned out to be enemies…" Geese muttered to himself.
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just report back after the fight."
"Yes sir. I'll be going… $#%*!" Billy swore before hanging up.
Geese and Krauser looked at each other, blinked and then stared right back at the phone.
Back to the fight…
Iori lunged at Ranma once again, trying to grab the ponytailed boy's head with his right hand. The ponytailed boy countered with a well-timed uppercut to Iori's face but was surprised to see that Iori didn't seem to be affected at all. Instead, the red-haired man continued his assault and managed to grab Ranma by his face with enough force to knock him down onto the concrete floor once more.
'Damn it! Is he getting stronger the longer we fight?!' Ranma thought as he felt Iori's vice-like grip on his face tighten even more forcing him to crash deeper into the ground. 'I guess there is no other choice.' Ranma thought as he grabbed Iori's outstretched arm with both hands and started to concentrate.
"This is it… DIE!" yelled Iori as he was preparing to summon his purple flames. He suddenly felt Ranma's hands grab his arm. 'Heh, does he really think he can get it off? He's more stupid than I…' Iori couldn't finish the thought as he caught sight of something flickering on Ranma's hands. His eyes widened as he finally got a good look at it. 'The hell?!'
Both fighters screamed in pain as their bodies were engulfed in purple flames.
Rooftops
Billy stared at the scene down below in shock. 'Bloody hell! Is he another Yagami?! How the hell could I have missed him? I checked and double checked the Yagami clan registry! I'm pretty sure that no one else besides Iori is still alive and breathing… so how..?' For lack of better word, Billy was dumbfounded with the sudden turn of events. He prided himself with his work and he takes his job to heart so a slip-up like this one is a huge blow to him, not to mention…
'Geese is going to kill me…'
?????
Two figures were watching the intense battle hidden in the shadows…
"So the rumors were true…" the first voice murmured.
"Looks like it." the other voice replied.
Iori and Ranma quickly rolled over the ground in an attempt to put out the flames on their bodies. As the flames died down, both fighters shakily tried to stand up. Neither fighter was able to at the moment so both took a kneeling position facing each other.
Iori glared at Ranma. "Who… the hell… are you?!" the red-haired man said in between gasps.
Ranma smirked a little before answering. "Wouldn't… wouldn't you… like to know?" Ranma sputtered.
Iori scoffed at the ponytailed boy while trying to get up to his feet. "It doesn't matter… I'm just gonna beat it out of you!"
"Feh… that's my line!"
The two fighters leapt at each other yet again, both of them exchanging blows at a mind-boggling rate. This time however, their punches are reinforced with their own cursed flames.
To the spectators, it seemed as if the fight is at a standstill between the two but if they were to look a little closer they would see that Iori has the upper hand. Whilst Ranma has the quickness behind his punches, he couldn't even get a clean hit because of Iori's longer reach combined with the red-haired man's own magatama no Orochi.
'Damn! I can't win like this!' Ranma decided to change tactics; he ducked down to avoid Iori's flame-covered punch and proceeded to sweep the red-haired man's legs.
Iori landed on the ground hard but instead of grimacing in pain, he responded with a kick of his own to Ranma's right knee. The ponytailed boy screamed as he felt the full force of Iori's kick connect to his knee. Iori continued his assault with two consecutive uppercuts to the preoccupied ponytailed boy followed by an overhead smash to Ranma's cranium.
Ranma crashed face first into the ground. He slowly tried to get up but Iori just slammed his head right back into the floor.
Iori wiped the blood from his mouth. "Is that it? Is that the best you can do?" taunted Iori as he grabbed the ponytailed boy by the neck and then forcefully lifted him off the ground. Iori looked in surprise as Ranma merely smirked in response.
"No… this is! Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken!" shouted Ranma as he broke free from Iori's hold and began punching into Iori's stomach at an astounding rate. Iori reeled back from the steady stream of punches to his body; Ranma then delivered a spinning kick to the red-haired man's head causing him to crash into a brick wall.
Ranma went down on one knee as he coughed up blood at an alarming pace. 'NO! Not now! I must not lose control!' the ponytailed boy thought as he clutched his head in pain.
As the ponytailed boy was fighting down his urges, Iori has managed to get up to his feet even though his body was still in pain from Ranma's barrage of punches earlier. He spat out some blood and then began looking for his opponent, he saw the boy kneeling on the ground while coughing up more than enough blood than what is considered normal. 'Isn't that… the same way I looked before I lost control?' Iori asked himself. 'Doesn't matter, I'll beat him before he could even lose it!'
Iori pounced on the unsuspecting ponytailed boy; he began slashing into Ranma's body with his bare hands. Ranma staggered after the assault, his entire body was filled with various cuts and lacerations. Iori leapt at Ranma once more intending on finishing the fight.
'I… won't… LOSE!!!' Ranma cupped his hands in front of him. "Mouko Takabisha!" shouted Ranma as a huge confidence-based ki blast darted towards the red-haired man. Iori was struck dead center causing him to be blasted into another wall. Ranma then fell to his knees while breathing heavily, that last attack of Iori's took a lot out of him.
Ranma's eyes widened as he saw Iori get back up to his feet albeit slowly. 'He IS getting stronger the more this fight goes on! In that case…' the ponytailed boy cups his hand once again. "Mouko Takabisha!"
"Dark Thrust!" Iori shouted as his magatama no Orochi negated the ki attack.
Ranma did not stop there. "Mouko Takabisha Double!" Two ki blasts surge toward the red-haired man, Ranma was startled to see Iori duck under the attacks and resumed his assault on the ponytailed boy.
"Asobi wa… OWARI DA!!! (1)" Iori proclaimed as he connected with a series of punches and slashes to the ponytailed boy. He grabbed Ranma by the shoulders, he grinned at the bloody figure in front of him. "Shi…" Iori was cut off by a knee strike to his chin forcing him to let go of Ranma.
Unfortunately for the ponytailed boy, the one he used to counterattack was his injured right knee. He falls to the ground with a large thump… 'Great… looks like I won't be doing flips for awhile…' Ranma thought as he clutched his right knee. He then saw Iori scowl at him 'It's now or never…' Ranma shakily stood up and managed to smirk at the red-haired man.
"Heh, shall I finish this?" asked the arrogant ponytailed boy.
"The hell you are! You can't even stand straight anymore moron!" Iori snapped back.
Ranma's grin widened even more. "Just shut up and fight!"
Iori, enraged by Ranma's taunts and attitude, lunged at the ponytailed boy like a wild animal running on pure instinct. He was furiously slashing and punching into Ranma's defense that he didn't notice that they were going in circles… a spiral actually. Ranma on the other hand, just stayed on the defensive. He has gotten used to the soul of ice technique to such a degree that he can perform it in an instant. Iori thought that Ranma has nowhere else to go so he attempted an all out charge at the ponytailed boy. Ranma just raised a lazy uppercut…
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!"
Iori swore loudly as the tornado lifted him off the ground. He screamed in pain as he was struck repeatedly by the intense winds inside the hurricane. Ranma was about to let off a sigh of relief but then his right knee gave in as it couldn't handle the air pressure causing him to lose balance thus getting himself sucked up into the hurricane as well. The hurricane lasted for ten minutes before it showed any signs of weakening. Both fighters were then flung across the sky to the far opposite sides of the street.
Ranma tried to stand up but his injuries got the better of him, his vision started to blur and unconsciousness followed suit. 'Damn…'
Iori shared similar thoughts with the blue-eyed boy as his wounds and exhaustion finally caught up to him as well.
Rooftops
"Bloody hell! I lost them! Where in the bloody hell did that tornado come from anyway?!" Billy asked himself in a mixture of astonishment and disbelief.
'No, no, no… focus. You still have a job to do Billy.' With that thought, he decided to report back to Geese.
Southtown
"Well..?"
"I… um… err…" Billy mumbled over the phone.
"Billy, what happened to the fight?" asked an irritated Geese.
That tone of voice snapped Billy from his shock. "Oh! The fight… err… I don't know boss…" a dejected Billy answered.
Rubbing his temple, Geese asked another question. "What? Billy, what can you remember?"
"Well… that boy used the… magatama no Orochi as well…" he trailed off.
"And?"
"Well… the boy used some sort of tornado right near the end and all went to hell after that."
'A tornado? Hmmm…' Geese sighed. "Fine… try and find those two as soon as possible."
"Yes sir."
Geese then turned to his half-brother. "What do you think?"
"This just confirms it, another one with that mysterious Orochi blood." Krauser said. He then turns around and heads toward the door.
Geese merely raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"
"You should know the answer to that." With that said, he quietly left the room.
Geese remained silent for a minute before he started laughing like a madman as he got out of his chair and out of the room as well.
Osaka battle ruins
Police soon arrived at the scene… or what's left of it. The entire street was destroyed, the front of the buildings was scorched, and some were not even recognizable anymore. Fortunately, neither Iori nor Ranma were found at the scene… like the two of them just vanished into thin air. Unfortunately for those two, a news crew managed to capture the closing moments of the fight…
A couple of hours later…
?????
Ranma Saotome was in a world of hurt. He can feel that his entire body was covered with massive cuts and bruises from that Hiryu Shoten Ha of his but the question in his mind was… where in the world is he? He opened his eyes but he quickly shut it back due to the strong lighting in the room. He tried moving his body but it was a futile attempt as he was once again struck by a tremendous surge of pain that made him groan loudly.
"How do you feel?" a soft voice soothingly whispered.
"Like I've been fighting Cologne and Happosai at the same time..." Ranma reflexively answered. "… Either that or I was hit by several ten wheelers in a row…" he then stiffened when he realized that he was talking to somebody he doesn't even know. "… who?" he asked.
He turned to the source of the voice and tried once again to open his eyes, he managed to open them… only to have his vision blocked by an abundant amount of cleavage. His eyes widened and he completely forgot about his injuries as he suddenly jumped from the bed and rolled onto the ground. 'A girl here? Alone with me?! Not good!' The ponytailed boy thought before being hit again by the painful surge on his entire body causing him to scream loudly.
Giggling at the boy's antics, the owner of the voice slowly approached Ranma. "My! You're a funny one… and cute too!" the soft voice said causing Ranma to blush beet red even when under extreme pain.
Ranma slowly opened his eyes this time and looked up. It was an attractive woman with blonde hair and clear blue eyes that is similar to his. She is wearing a black dress, a white jacket and a pair of earrings. "Who are you? Where am I?"
The blonde woman beamed at him. "Oh! I'm sorry, you're at my hotel room. My name is Mature and you are?" she asked while leaning closer towards the ponytailed boy.
Ranma gulped as he caught sight of those attributes once more. "R-R-R-Ranma Saotome." 'Not good! I can't move my body!' "Wh-Where you the one that helped me?" he asked.
"Yes, me and my friend saw you fight Iori and we decided to help you when you became unconscious." She responded as she sat by the bed.
"Uh… thanks and…" he paused when her words sank in. "You know Iori?!" shouted Ranma. He slowly stood up, enduring the pain in doing so, and looked at Mature seriously.
"No need to give me that look." She calmly responded. "Yes I do know him…" she said with a bit of anger in her voice. "Iori, me and my friend were partners during the last King of Fighters tournament, that is until he went berserk on us and tried to rip us to shreds."
Ranma pondered for a minute. 'Now I remember… the article, she was one of two girls that tried to subdue Iori… that means that…' "You are of Orochi blood..?" he asked warily.
Mature smiled at him in response. "I'm a full-blooded Orochi warrior… Mature of the Orochi Hakketsu Shuu (2). Don't worry… I won't bite. What I'm wondering is your connection with Orochi… are you a member of the Yagami clan?"
"Why does everybody always ask me that?! (3)" Ranma bellowed. "I am NOT a Yagami! Never was, never will!"
Mature just blinked at the sudden outburst. "Riiiight… can I ask how you got Orochi blood in you?"
The ponytailed boy glanced sideways. "I… I'm not sure myself. That's why I'm searching for clues about the Orochi and this damned flame."
The blonde-haired woman studied him for a moment. "I see… well, from what I saw earlier, I think that you only have a part of Orochi blood in you."
"Huh?"
"I said that you only have some Orochi blood in you. You were coughing up a lot of blood, that is a symptom of the phase half-breeds or one with a little bit of Orochi blood in them goes through… it is called the Riot of Blood." The blonde explained.
Ranma grabbed Mature by the shoulders. "What?!" the ponytailed boy shouted once more.
Mature just smiled. "Don't be so surprised. I am of Orochi blood you know and I am more knowledgeable than Yagami when it comes to the history of Orochi."
"Please! Tell me everything! I want to know about this curse!"
Mature's smiled faltered for a bit. "Curse? I don't think you should only focus on its bad side, it has its benefits too you know…" she trailed off.
A frown was Ranma's response to that. "Benefits?! What benefits?! This damn curse made my life a living hell!!! Not to mention the dreams and nightmares that attacks me when I sleep!"
The blonde-haired woman's eyebrow shot up. "Dreams..? Nevermind. I meant the plus side, surely you've felt that the pain caused by those wounds is disappearing rather quickly haven't you? Or the fact that you can stand up after the thrashing your knee received when you fought Yagami. That is one example of the good things it gives you."
Ranma stared at the blonde before realization kicked in. 'She's right. I was pretty sure that I won't be able to use my right leg for a couple of weeks but I can only feel a slight soreness in my right knee right now.' "Okay, let's take that as a given. What other 'benefits' would that monster give me?"
"Those that are of Orochi blood have an accelerated healing process. We are also a lot stronger than normal people so that's why you can do those things to Yagami…" she paused when Ranma began laughing his head off. "…what's so funny?"
"Oh please! I can do those things even before I got this curse! I really don't think I can count that as a benefit." The ponytailed boy answered.
"Really..? Well at least you know some of its uses. You still want me to tell you the story?"
"Please…" he pleaded.
"Hmmm… I'll tell you if you come with me…" she said in a serious tone.
Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Where exactly are you gonna take me?"
Mature nonchalantly shrugged. "Just a place where a lot of information is stored. I'm not yanking your chain Ranma; I just want you to see it for yourself."
The blue-eyed boy thought about it. 'Should I go? She doesn't seem to be lying but what do I know? I suck at reading people. Sigh… what have I got to lose..?' "Fine… I'll go with you… for now."
"That's great! Um… perhaps you should wear something more… appropriate first." Mature said in an amused tone.
The ponytailed boy blinked, looked down and screamed… "Ack!" Ranma then dashed back behind the bed covers. "Umm… I'm sorry! I didn't! I mean..!" he mumbled.
"Haha! It's quite alright. Your bag is in the other room, you really should get dressed."
"H-Hai!" he quickly replied.
Meanwhile…
France
Chris sighed, his dreams hadn't receded at all. In fact, it has gotten worse when he arrived at Sweden. That's why he left the place and began travelling the world once more. He was now in France, he really doesn't know why but his gut feeling tells him that this is the place… a place for what? He then bumped into someone that caused him to fall to the ground.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Are you alright?"
Chris looked up to see a red-haired woman standing in front of him. 'Ranma?! No… not him… especially not in THAT outfit!' "Yes, I'm fine." He replied. He glanced at the woman once again, she has her hair tied up in twin ponytails, her bangs completely covers her eyes and she is wearing a very revealing dress.
The woman sighed in relief. "That's good. Hi! My name is Shermie what's yours?"
"Um… Chris. Nice to meet you Shermie." The blue-eyed boy answered back.
"Hey Shermie! Let's go!" A girl shouted.
"C'mon! We're still going shopping right?" Another girl said.
"Alright!" She turned to Chris once more. "I'm sorry but I have to go! Adieu! (4)" with that, she ran towards her friends.
Chris stood there for a bit, blinked twice then shrugged his shoulders. "Oh well… like Ranma said… women!"
……????
"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!" A certain bandana-clad boy shouted to the heavens. 'I must get back to Akari! Kuso… where am I anyway?'
"Excuse me sir, but you should move away from this area." A police officer said.
"Huh?" Ryoga naively replied. He then looked around to see an entire street in ruins. "What happened here?" he asked the officer.
"I don't know the details but some people say that there has been a big fight a couple of hours ago, we haven't identified the persons responsible yet so we can't say much more."
"I see…" 'Heh, kind of reminds me of the fights by everyone in Nerima… No, no, no! Don't go there! That part of your life is over! Still…' "Anyway can you direct me to this place…"
Once Ryoga got the directions, he leaves the area, turns at the corner and suddenly finds himself inside of a deep forest…
"%*#$! WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!" 'This has got to be somebody's fault! I'm sure of it!'
(1) – Playtime is over!
(2) – Hakketsu Shuu or Hakkeshu It was Hakketsu Shuu in the English manga. *shrugs* Anyway, I think it sounds okay either way.
(3) – He doesn't know the entire history yet, remember?
(4) – Goodbye.
# # #
AN: zzzzZZZZ… whoa… feels like I've been hit by one of Goenitz' "koko desu ka" hurricanes… stupid headache… I hope that the fight scene with the two Orochi warriors was okay. If not, I'm just gonna have to try a lot harder, ne? ^^ The fight ended in a draw… Kurai Seishin got it right. Anyway, it will give those two a chance to further improve their skills for future fights.
There is no way I'm letting Ranma walk out of fights with the top KOF characters unharmed. If I did that, then I might as well take back what I said about this not being a 'Ranma is a god' fic. Why Mature? It will become clear in the following chapters. Who's next to appear? A certain blue-haired half-breed that meows when angry perhaps..? ^^
As for Ryoga? Wellllllll… I don't know yet! But expect some familiar Ranma ½ faces to appear soon.
Must… kick… Ash's… ass… (If you saw the 2003 God Caliber Team ending, you'll know why…) gotta… go… now… Ja ne!
Luc
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