Tattoon Ranma
Disclaimer: Ranma and Tattoon Master belong to their respective creators so go bother them!
: Thoughts
Chapter 4
Explosion of Rage
Ranma opened his eyes as he awoke from his futon. He got another feeling of deja vu as he found himself looking into a very attractive pair of eyes as he saw Balla lying beside him.
"Hello." Balla lovingly sighed.
Outside the apartment building, the citizens of Hiroshima were given a loud wake-up call as a former resident of Nerima, recently turned woman-hater, screamed at finding a scantily-clad and curvaceous girl sleeping beside him.
"AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Ranma scrambled to his feet and backed away from Balla as she sat up and smiled up at him.
"W-W-What the....? H-H-How the hell?! What are doing sleeping beside me?!"
Balla gave him a mischievous smile as she stood up in nothing more than the Tattoon Tribe's version of undergarments, which looked like a grunge bikini. The fact that her ample bosom was just barely held back by her top and that her long and slender legs, curved hips and shapely rear were accentuated by her skimpy bottoms didn't do anything to calm Ranma's already frazzled nerves.
"Last night after dinner, you said you were in the mood for some hot jungle loving, and then you made all my dreams come true!" Balla said with glee.
"WAIT A MINUTE! I DON'T REMEMBER ANY OF THIS!"
Ranma desperately tried to get away from her, but Balla simply followed him with that same smile and then, when she had him backed against a wall and in a state of total panic, she then turned towards an open window and said, "Hey guys! That was a pretty funny reaction, don't you think?"
Brody and Deiner gave her a thumbs up as Brody held up a camcorder. Both of them were grinning at what had just been filmed.
Realizing that this had been a joke by his classmates, Ranma's battle aura suddenly flared.
"BRODY! DEINER! YOU PERVERTS!"
The residents of the suburb that Ranma lived in, got a second wakeup call as a huge explosion of ki suddenly shot up and sent two jokers into low Earth orbit.
Later on...
Ranma grumbled as he purposely ignored Balla in class. Though he didn't really blame her for the morning's incident, since she had believed Deiner and Brody when they said that their little prank was harmless and would get him to lighten up. She was still very naive about the modern world and was very open with her feelings. Just like a certain Chinese Amazon he once knew. However, unlike Shampoo, Balla had apologized for her part and was trying to make up for it. The purple-haired would simply shrug it off and try another scheme.
The teacher continued to go on and on about some boring lecture about some period in history that was unimportant at the time, as Balla was tugging at his sleeve. It seemed that no matter how things were, Balla seemed to be as cheerful as ever.
"Eric, should I be writing any of this down?"
Ranma continued to ignore her as he sighed and hoped that the lunch bell would ring soon.
"Please pay attention in class.." Lisa said with irritation. Though the duel that she had fought with Balla had been resolved, she still considered Balla to be a nuisance and a traitor for loving that woman-hater. Even though she herself denied the feeling she had for Ranma as well. "The last thing this world needs is yet another DUMB blonde!"
Balla however, decided to tune her out by putting in her index fingers in her ears and humming a little ditty. When Lisa turned around and saw this, Balla took out her fingers and just gave her a shrug and happy-go-lucky smile. She then turned back to Eric and continued to tug at his sleeve.
"Come on Eric! Let's go eat!"
Unfortunately, this got Lisa's temper boiling as she turned around with her back hunched over and her glasses flashed.
Why does she insist on incurring my wrath? This sent her over the boiling point and she suddenly shot up from her desk and was aiming her bow at Balla with the arrow point just millimeters from her nose.
This of course got everyone's attention in the classroom as yet another explosive situation between the class president and someone close to Eric was about to go critical. The other students began whispering among themselves. In a way, the incident was welcomed relief from the tedious boredom of the history class.
"There she goes again!"
"What is she, demented?"
"Wonder what Eric did to tick her off THIS time?"
"Has she finally snapped?"
"Ooh, this ought to be good!"
The history teacher, seeing that bloodshed might be imminent, quickly turned around with a sweat drop on the back of his head and began to hurriedly scribble on the board and talking fast.
"SOlikeIwassaying,nothingterriblyimportanthappenedduringthisperiodsotherefore..."
Ranma growled as he looked up at Lisa. He had thought things had calmed down after that duel, but it looked like things had gone back to what they were. He stood up to stop Lisa while giving everyone a glare to mind their own business. The other students got the message and averted their gaze. After seeing what he did to the football team, the rest of the class knew better than to get either Ranma or Lisa riled up.
Ranma gave Lisa a snort before grabbing Balla's arm and leading her out of the class. "Come on, let's get out of here."
"Soeverybodydiedandtheyalllivedhappilyeverafter...hee, hee..." The teacher laughed nervously as he gave a sigh of relief that war had been averted, yet again.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of town, a certain lost boy was silently cursing a former rival for all of his past, present and any future misfortunes of his life. It had been several months since Ranma had left Nerima but things had not been going smoothly for Ryoga since his departure. Naturally of course, he put the blame solely on Ranma.
How dare you leave Akane like that? I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR INSULTING HER AND LEAVING HER LIKE THAT! Ryoga thought as he continually searched for his foe. During his wanderings, Ryoga had also been wondering just what new move Ranma had used to defeat himself, Kuno and Mousse at the same time and leveled an entire city block. His search for Ranma had made him inadvertently take a trip to China, and there he had come across an old scroll that was given to him by a demolitions engineer. It had taken him several weeks to begin mastering the technique and he was more than eager to use it on Ranma when he found him. In his mind, he could still see Akane's tears as she sat in her bedroom. At the time, he was in her arms as P-Chan.
Flashback...
"Ranma, you baka!" Akane spat out as she tried to hold back her tears, but wasn't very successful. "He's such a big jerk! I should be glad that he's gone! Right P-Chan?"
"Bweee!" P-Chan agreed. Oh Akane! He doesn't deserve someone like you. Now that Ranma's gone, I'll take care of you! Please don't cry over him! I can't stand to see you like that!
"Dummy! Jerk! Pervert! Baka! Baka! Baka!" Akane said over and over again. "After everything I did for him! All those times I gave him hot water. He didn't even appreciate how hard I worked to cook him that sukiyaki and he wouldn't even try it! He went off, probably to go eat Ukyo or Shampoo's food and flirt with them! Fine then! Let him go! I never agreed to this engagement anyway and... (sob) he can just off and die... (choke).... for all I care! It's all his fault that I have to fight those damned boys again! Kuno is even worse than ever, now that Ranma is gone. The only thing that's keeping him from totally smothering me is him pining away for Ranma's girl side. I've got Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi after me because they blame me for Ranma leaving, when it was really all his fault! Dad and Mr. Saotome are no help! They keep on going on and on about that stupid pledge! Why can't they all leave me alone?"
Ryoga felt his heart near the breaking point again as Akane gave into her urges and began crying again. She had been doing this for some time now, often crying herself to sleep, only to wake up with red and puffy cheeks. After several weeks, Ryoga couldn't stand it any more. After waiting for Akane to fall asleep, he began to plan on how to punish Ranma for causing Akane so much pain.
End of flashback...
As always, Ryoga's lack of a sense of direction got him lost within a dozen feet. He had ended up in China by the time he finally cooled down to think. Ranma had left without a trace and even if the directionally-challenged Hibiki boy could find him, how was he going to beat him? He became very depressed when he remembered back to when Ranma suddenly let loose with some kind of super battle aura technique that caught him, Mousse and Kuno totally off guard and sent them all into the hospital. Somehow, Ranma had learned a new move and Ryoga needed a way to counter it.
It had been his good fortune that he had met that civil engineer in China, who had given him a scroll about a technique called Shi Shi Hokodan. The man had told him that the technique was powerful enough to level buildings and Ryoga was more than eager to learn it. It had been sheer luck that he stumbled upon the secret to the technique, when he had inadvertently caused an avalanche, while departing from the mountainous region. He had used his Breaking Point to blast a boulder out of his way, but that had been a bad mistake as the resulting explosion caused other large boulders and more debris to come crashing down on top of him. He had tried the Bakusai Tenketsu to blast his way out, but that only caused more rubble to come down. Fortunately, his training in the Breaking Point had made him tough enough to withstand the impacts, but that still left him trapped. He then began to get depressed, even more so than usual. His desire to find Ranma and make him pay for hurting Akane, coupled with his current predicament, finally pushed his depressed feelings to the point that his own aura exploded, fueled by his emotions of despair.
After unintentionally releasing a normal Shi Shi Hokodan and freeing himself, Ryoga had been studying the scroll as it had hinted at a perfect form of the technique. He knew he was close. He could taste it. And when he found Ranma, his rival would know true agony and darkness.
And so we flash back to Nerima, now six months after Ranma had left...
Nabiki was listening very carefully to the headphones of the device she had gotten from a flea market, as she hid behind a tree. The machine was an ancient piece of junk that dated back to World War II. It was large, clumsy and very difficult to operate, but it wasn't as if Nabiki had any choice. The bugs that she had hidden in the clubhouse of those techno-geeks had been found and stripped within the first week after she had them installed. This was her last chance to get any information on Ranma's whereabouts. She hoped that the tree and the surrounding hedges were enough to camouflage her activities as she eavesdropped on Takuya Shibana, who happened to be eating lunch with two of his fellow computer programmers. It didn't help that the listening device would periodically cut in and out with static.
"Hey Shibana. It's been a good semester without having to pay off the Ice Queen every week." Daimon commented. "We've got enough in our treasury to upgrade four of our computers."
The leader of the club nodded as he took a bite of his sandwich. "Yeah, and can you believe how low Nabiki has sunk since Ra.... I mean, you-know-who left?"
Another member by the name of Shingo Yamaki chuckled. "Those bugs she planted in our clubhouse were ancient! I built those things when I was still in diapers! She must be really getting desperate, now that she doesn't have Ra... I mean, you-know-who."
"Yeah. I heard that she sold Kuno the last photo of you-know-who's girl side for five hundred and fifty thousand yen!" Daimon commented. "Man! She was hungrier for the cash more than Kuno was for that picture!"
The three laughed out loud in agreement.
As she listened in her hiding place, Nabiki growled.
Takuya nodded as he stood up and solemnly held out his can of grape soda. "Gentleman, I would like to propose a toast. To the one who had saved us from the hospital and freed us all from the clutches of the Ice Queen!"
"Here! Here!" The other two students agreed as they got up and raised their own soda cans.
"To our savior... Eric Kobayashi!"
The three knocked their sodas together before they drank them down. A minute later, they all let off loud burps and laughed as they sat back down.
"So what gave you the idea to give him that name?" Daimon asked.
Takuya shrugged. "I didn't give him that name. He told me to enter that into his new files. He figured that using a western first name and a common Japanese last name would throw anyone off the trail. Pretty sharp thinking on his part."
"So, do you know where he went?" Shingo inquired.
"Nope. And I have no intention of finding out. And neither do you guys. We all owe him that much, right?"
"Right!" Both boys said simultaneously.
It was then that Daimon asked a hypothetical question. "Just out of curiosity... if you were in Eric's shoes... where would you go?"
Shibana thought for a good while before replying. "Well... taking all things in consideration, I'd go to some place that was far from Nerima, had lots of job opportunities, and didn't really care where you came from. Tokyo's too densely populated, so... I'd go to Hiroshima."
"Why there?" Shingo asked.
"Well, it's far enough away from here, so no one would have even heard of the crazy stuff that happens in Nerima. Considering how much money he had left on him, he could probably make it there and get a job. I hear that the economy there is favorable for growth and industry, so he shouldn't have much trouble finding work and a place to stay. The local schools up there aren't as picky with identification papers as they are in Tokyo, so he should be able to enroll there."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Daimon agreed.
"Still, I'm going to miss him." Shingo said with a bit of sadness.
"We're all going to miss him, but he told me himself that he wasn't going to find what he's looking for here."
"And what's that, Takuya?"
"Peace."
At that moment, the listening device shorted out. However, Nabiki had heard enough. She now had a name, and a place to look.
Back in Hiroshima, present time, at Ranma's high school on the roof, Balla was trying to share her lunch with him, but was making no headway as the martial artist turned his head away and tried to ignore her. However, his stomach began to protest and with a little more pleading and the sad puppy dog looks that the Tattoon girl gave him, Ranma finally decided that one bite wouldn't hurt. Just as he was leaning forward, he caught a glint of light flashing off some glass and looked toward the door to the stairs to the roof.
There was Lisa with tears in her eyes and Ranma found himself in a bad spot. He desperately tried to salvage the situation by frantically waving his arms and called out to Lisa. "We're just having lunch!"
However, the door closed as Lisa began to cry as she clutched not one, but two bentos to her chest.
Balla looked up at Ranma as he winced and tried to act tough, but she knew that he was just pretending.
"Oh Eric."
Ranma took another puff of his cigarette and gritted his teeth. Geez! How did I end up with all this crap?
Later that afternoon...
The students of Ranma's high school were just exiting the building and heading for home as the martial artist and the Tattoon priestess followed Brody and Deiner out the front door.
"Man, I don't ever remember history class being so fun." Deiner said with a chuckle.
"Yeah, I should ask Eric to bring his girlfriend to my trigonometry class." Brody said with a light laugh.
It was that that moment that Ranma wound an arm around Brody's neck and pulled him close. He had a very evil grin on his face which promised immense pain. "Say Brody, how would you like to come to my butt-kicking class?"
Brody was sweating nervously while Deiner was totally clueless as he said, "Oh, I didn't know they taught that."
It was at that moment that Lisa came barreling angrily around the corner with a large broom in her hands. "ERIC! Just where do you think you're going?!" She stopped in front of them and thrust the broom out in front of Ranma's face. "We got stuck with clean up!"
"And who's fault is that?" Ranma growled as he pushed the broom away. He had experienced enough of people getting mad at him for things that weren't his fault in Tokyo. He'd be damned if he was going to let Lisa pin this one on him! "No thanks!"
"Hmpf!" Lisa then leaned forward with a determined look on her face which brooked no argument.
Ranma then sighed as he saw that he wasn't going to win this one. "Oh... whatever." He then turned to the Tattoon girl. "Balla, wait for me at the store."
" 'Kay!" The blonde-haired girl said with her usual perky style.
At that moment, just a few blocks away...
Ryoga grunted as he pulled the can of soda from the vending machine and chugged down the contents in one gulp. He was close in finding Ranma. He could just feel it. After all the time he spent wandering lost and perfecting his new technique, he was more than willing to make Ranma pay for all the misery and suffering that he had caused to him and Akane.
Since the time he had first met with him, Ryoga had begun on a path of vengeance that had gradually gone from simple obsession to psychotic. The minor insult of the bread had been the trigger. It had become a matter of personal honor for Ryoga to defeat that smart-aleck pigtailed boy. However, with Ranma's act of cowardice with not showing up for their infamous duel, that slight to personal honor became a fixation. The Curse of the Drowned Piglet had upgraded that fixation to homicidal lunacy. Ranma's faithlessness to Akane and leading on those other girls made it into a kind of self-righteous insanity to see that Casanova punished, (never mind the fact that Ryoga himself was in love with an ENGAGED girl). Now Ryoga had passed that level and had gone into sheer psychosis.
There was another reason why Ryoga was Hell-bent on making Ranma pay. With Ranma gone, Ryoga's chances for happiness were eventually snuffed out. For without the pigtailed boy to cover for him, Ryoga's secret as P-Chan had been inevitably blown. Akane had initially welcomed the company of her beloved pet when he showed up after Ranma had denounced all of his engagements and left. That is, Akane had welcomed P-Chan until he later got splashed by some hot tea by Soun Tendo, who continued to bawl about the schools never being joined.
The short-tempered girl needed something to vent her fury on, and since Ranma was gone, Ryoga was there to fill in as a target for that fury. Akane had felt much better afterwards, but the Lost Boy's life had been totally destroyed. He could still remember that day...
Flashback...
"RYOGA?! YOU'RE P-CHAN?!"
"A-A-A-AKANE, WAIT! I CAN EXPLAIN EVERYTHING!" A naked Ryoga said as he covered his privates.
At that point, Akane's temper hit a new high as she made her mallet appear.
"YOU PERVERT! YOU BAKA! YOU.... YOU.... PIG! DIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!"
WHABOOOOOOOOOOM!
With one mighty swing, Ryoga set a new altitude record for a projectile to be launched by a mallet.
End of flashback...
This was all Ranma's fault. It had always been his fault! Even if he had absolutely nothing to do with the situation, it was always his fault because.... well, just because! And now Ryoga had the power to punish that bastard for abandoning Akane and for making his life a constant, living Hell! He was going to make certain that Ranma would truly know Hell on Earth before he sent him to the real thing!
Little did he know that he had just made a choice that was akin to a death wish, considering how much Ranma had changed since coming to Hiroshima. The former heir to the Anything Goes was no longer the same naïve martial artist from before. He was not going to hold back.
At a corner store, Balla was licking an ice cream cone as Deiner and Brody were sitting on the curb. Deiner was having a bit of a problem as he had a can of soda stuck to his tongue.
"My tongueth ith stuckth." Deiner said as he winced.
"Geez! Why did you stick it in there, man?" Brody said while grinning like an idiot.
"I'll get it off for you." Balla said helpfully.
"No, itth okay. Ow."
Meanwhile, Ranma and Lisa were busy scrubbing the desks and cleaning the floors. Every now and then, the girl would briefly cast her gaze at him, as her eyes would wander over his well-muscled form and noted the grace in which he moved with. She would then become disgusted with herself for even thinking about that woman-hater and all-around jerk, and she would throw herself into the work with new vigor.
I'm not interested in that arrogant baka! Why should I be?
However, a small part of her knew differently. There was just something about him that pulled in the opposite sex like steel ball bearings to a magnet. Maybe it was because that like Balla, Lisa could see a much more sensitive side to Eric underneath that gruff exterior.
As Balla finished off her ice cream cone, she then pointed to her forehead. "Guess what? I can see what Eric sees through the mark he has here."
"Really?" Brody said.
"That is so cool!" Deiner remarked.
It was then that Balla took on a more coy look and she blushed a bit as she addressed Eric's friends. "Tell me... would either of you help me fulfill... one of my... fantasies...?"
Of course, these two hormonally-driven boys took this the only way they knew. "They both shot up and said simultaneously, "Oh yeah!"
"Really?"
"You bet!"
"Then... would you...?"
"Yeah?"
"Would you mind telling me what Eric was like before he met me?"
Both guys facefaulted after being let down and had huge sweatdrops as Balla giggled and waved her arms around like a certain meatball-head that we know of.
"Oh, I'm just soooo embarrassed!"
"Let me level with you, Balla. We don't know much more about Eric than you do." Deiner admitted.
"Yeah, but I have to admit that he's more laid-back now than he was then." Brody added.
"Really?" Balla asked.
"Yeah." When we first met him, we thought he was going to kill us! He made one hell of an impression on us." Deiner remarked.
Flashback...
We see a scene in which Ranma is in the school uniform and facing Deiner and Brody alone in the classroom.
"What are you looking at?! Just who do you think you are?!" Deiner said as he grabbed the front of Ranma's shirt.
Ranma simply glared at him and said, "Remember those football players you were chucking beer cans at? Well, they're looking for you, upstairs."
"So what do you care?" Deiner said as he cocked back a fist.
"Kick his ass!" Brody cheered on, but both were sent sprawling to the floor as the martial artist tossed Deiner like a rag doll and slammed him into his associate.
They both looked up at the snarling Eric as he glared down at the two dopes.
"Listen here... and listen good! Don't you EVER touch me again! Got that?"
He then turned away without another word, leaving the two in a state of shock and confusion.
End of flashback...
"There was no way either of us could be tough after that." Deiner finished.
"Yeah, he was a total badass!" Brody added. "But then, what happened later was..."
A little while later, Balla smiled as she listened in on Brody and Deiner's description of her Eric. She then nodded and said, "Wow! I didn't know that! So he made you two what you are today!"
"A couple of losers?" Brody asked.
"Uh uh! My two new best friends!" The Tattoon Priestess said gleefully. "I just knew that he was like that deep down inside! Is there any more about him that you can tell me?" When the two boys shook their heads, her face went into a small pout. "I wish there was someone that could tell me more about Ranma."
In another district of Hiroshima...
As a matter of fact, there was someone who could tell Balla more about Eric. A certain woman with brown hair, wearing the traditional kimono of a Japanese housewife and had a long bundle strapped to her back, was currently in Hiroshima. This person was visiting relatives on her side of the family, which incidentally went by the name of Kobayashi. However, after she had married, she had taken the family name of Saotome. Her name was... Nodaka.
"Ranma? Who's Ranma?" Deiner asked.
Balla snapped her fingers. "Oh, I forgot that he doesn't go by that name any more and..."
It was then that a huge explosion of light blew up behind then and they all turned to see the mega-depressed figure of Ranma's rival.
"RANMA! WHERE IS HE?!"
Balla and the others backed off at the intensity of Ryoga's aura as he glared at the blonde gaijin girl who had spoken the name of the person with whom he hated the most. "YOU! WHERE IS HE?! WHERE IS RANMA?!"
Balla of course, had no idea who this person was and good-naturedly asked, "Uh excuse me, but I don't believe we've met and..."
"TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" Ryoga roared.
"Hey man!" Brody said as he and Deiner stepped out in front of Balla. "Don't you go shouting at her! She didn't do nuthin'!"
"Yeah, where do you get off?" Deiner asked. "We don't know of any guy named Ranma."
"Yeah, so why you don't you get lost before we have to kick in your butt!" Brody added as he cocked back his fist.
Ryoga however, just snorted as his battle aura flared. This insect dared to get in the way of his long-overdue vengeance, and therefore was beneath him. Ryoga was on a righteous mission of justice and no one would stop him. Before Brody could react, the Lost Boy slammed a fist into his gut and sent him sprawling. At the same time, his depression and rage-fueled aura went off.
Balla gasped as she saw Brody knocked back like a broken toy.
In the classroom, Ranma suddenly felt an throbbing sensation as he suddenly fell to his knees and held his head as the mark on his forehead began to glow.
"Eric! Stop messing around!" Lisa said as she saw him fall to the floor, then saw the glow on his forehead. "Eric? What's wrong?"
Ranma winced as the sensation grew more intense. "It's... Balla... I don't know how, but I can feel her... calling me!"
Without another word, Ranma bolted straight up and ran out of the classroom.
"Brody!" Deiner called out as his friend tumbled to the pavement and moaned in pain. It was obvious that he had sustained some broken bones.
Balla stepped forward and took a ready stance in-between them and the fuming Ryoga. "You! Why have you done this?" She spread her arms out and tensed up.
"I'll ask you one more time! Where IS RANMA?!"
"Why do you want him? What has he ever done to you?"
"DONE?!" Ryoga roared as his battle aura became even bigger and more violent. "BECAUSE OF THAT BASTARD, MY LIFE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT A LIVING HELL BECAUSE OF HIM! NOW WHERE IS RANMA?!"
Balla saw that things were getting out of hand and she felt that she had no choice. This stranger's power was similar to what her Eric often emitted but it was much darker. She began focusing her own power and the tattoos on her hands began to appear.
"Hold it Balla! This is MY fight!"
"Eric!" Balla cried out as she saw her beloved standing on a rooftop above. He nimbly leapt down and landed beside her.
"RANMA!" Ryoga snarled as he glared at him. Though his hair style was different and he now sported an x-shaped scar on his forehead, the Lost Boy still recognized the source of all his life's past, present and future problems. "I see that you're still as cowardly as ever! Out seeing another girl, eh? You're nothing but a faithless bastard and a coward! Just like I always knew you were!"
"Don't you say things about my Eric!" Balla defended, but that was when Ranma held out an arm in front of her and his eyes met with hers.
"Leave him to me."
"But Eric..."
"I can handle him. I've handled him before. Besides, Brody's hurt pretty bad. He may be a pinhead, but he didn't deserve that. Do you think you could use those powers of yours to heal him?"
"Yes, but..."
"Don't worry about me." Ranma then held up both of his hands and cracked his knuckles. "I needed to work off some steam and pounding this moron flat is just what the doctor ordered."
Balla saw a fire in Ranma's eyes which told her that he wasn't in the mood to argue. She gave him a slight nod and went to Brody's side to tend to his injuries.
Ranma nodded as he faced off against his fuming rival. "I'm disappointed in you, Ryoga. Picking on guys that don't stand a chance against you? I thought you had SOME honor."
"Don't you preach to me about honor!" Ryoga spat back. "Because of you, I have seen HELL!"
Eric growled. "Oh please! Not that old 'because of you, I've seen Hell' bit! That was one of the main reasons WHY I left Tokyo! I told you before, that it wasn't MY fault that you couldn't find that stupid lot! It wasn't MY fault that it took you four days to GET that place! You had no business whatsoever to have followed me to China! So as far as I'm concerned P-Chan, you don't have anyone to blame but yourself for your problems!"
"DON'T CALL ME P-CHAN!" Ryoga screamed. "ENOUGH! IT'S TIME WE SETTLED THIS, ONCE AND FOR ALL!" Ryoga's battle aura became even more intense as his rage and depression seethed like a volcano.
"Whatever." Ranma shrugged as he went into a ready stance, his own red aura blazing. "If you want to fight, then come on! I been wanting to pound on something, and I think you'd make the perfect punching bag!"
"NOW YOU WILL PAY FOR ALL MY SUFFERING!" Ryoga yelled as he charged at him with fists blazing.
However, unlike the Ranma of old, Eric was not pulling any punches. He easily ducked under Ryoga's wild attack, then sent a hard straight into his opponent's gut, followed by a hard chop to his Adam's apple.
THOP!
The Backusai Tenketsu training may make Ryoga more resistant to impacts, but a hit in that spot would fell any opponent, no matter how strong he was.
The Lost Boy gasped out and choked a bit as he fell to his knees. Ranma had never tried a tactic as brutal as that one in all of their previous battles. Before he could recover, Ranma sent a hard kick to Ryoga's side, sending him flying toward an opposite wall. Ranma's rival crashed into the concrete, crumbling it. However, Ryoga came back to his feet, still seething as he shouted at his foe.
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!!!"
"OH SHUT UP!!" Ranma raged as he dodged another of Ryoga's rage-driven attacks, then countered with a brutal six-punch combo to his foe.
WOP! WHAM! WHAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
"DO YOU KNOW JUST HOW PISSED OFF I WAS EVERY TIME I HEARD THAT?" He then delivered a savage spin kick to his adversary's other side as his red aura continued on burning like a bonfire. "IT WAS ALWAYS RANMA DIE THIS AND RANMA DIE THAT!"
"YOU WILL... ERK!" Ryoga's rant was cut off as Ranma slammed another hard blow to his gut, then brought his right knee up to smash into the Lost Boy's chin, snapping his head back with such force, his teeth would have snipped off his tongue if it had been sticking out.
"DAY IN AND DAY OUT, THE SAME CRAP! OVER AND OVER AGAIN!" Eric went on raving as he continued to pummel his foe mercilessly with increasing force.
WHOMP! THUMP! POW!
His aura became so intense that it was like being near a blast furnace. The Lost Boy soon realized that Ranma had gotten a LOT stronger since they last battled and his blows were having substantial effect. He had suspected in the past that Ranma had been holding back somewhat, but he never truly realized how much. He kept on fighting back, landing many blows, but Ranma didn't seem to even notice them as he returned each blow with hefty interest.
"IT NEVER ENDED! KUNO, HAPPOSAI, MOUSSE, SHAMPOO, UKYO, AND ESPECIALLY THAT UNCUTE, TOMBOY BITCH AKANE!"
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT..."
WHAM!
Ryoga was sent flying again as he received a double-fisted blow to the chin. He slammed into another wall and crumbled that one as well, but he stubbornly got to his feet once more.
Eric snorted as his rage continued to climb. "STILL WANT MORE? FINE WITH ME!" He then leapt up and shot toward him in a flying side-kick.
Ryoga dodged the kick and countered with a kick of his own. He felt a bit of satisfaction when his foot connected with Ranma's back, but then winced as his opponent simply shrugged it off, grabbed his still-extended leg and swung him around. Ryoga's face impacted hard into a steel lamp post, then he was slammed again and again into the same post.
WHANG! WHANG! WHANG! CLANG! CLANG!
The metal buckled and shuddered under each impact and it soon had a very detailed imprint of Ryoga's face before it finally snapped in two. The Lost Boy shook his head and turned to face Ranma, though he now had a loud ringing in his ears.
"JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I HAD GOTTEN AWAY FROM ALL THAT, YOU HAPPEN TO COME ALONG WITH THAT STUPID 'RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE AND I'VE SEEN HELL' SHIT! DO YOU KNOW JUST HOW MUCH THAT FUCKING PISSED ME OFF?!"
Ryoga snarled as he wanted to hear no more of Ranma's ravings and charged at him. However, Ranma swatted aside his punches as if they were bothersome flies. He then delivered several more hits to his foe's face and upper torso. With adrenaline pumping and rage-enhanced battle aura blazing, Ranma's strength, speed and endurance had increased by ten-fold! All the torment, pain and suffering that he had endured in Nerima came bubbling to the surface and gave him a berserker strength that was unheard of. Ryoga's iron ribs began to buckle under the repeated blows.
"DID ANYONE WANT TO LISTEN TO ME AND HEAR WHAT I HAD TO SAY? NO!"
"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR..."
Ryoga was cut off once again as his punch was intercepted. He winced as Ranma began applying pressure to his captured wrist. Cartilage and ligaments threatened to snap under his iron grip as the enraged former heir to the Anything Goes continued to squeeze. Ryoga desperately tried to make him let go by throwing a hard right cross to Ranma's cheek.
WHAM!
CRACK!
"AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!"
When Ryoga's fist hit, it felt to him as if he had punched a reinforced steel plate of battleship armor. He pulled back his hand and winced as he knew that he had a couple of fractured knuckles. Ranma snarled as he mangled his foe's wrist, making bone crack and pop. Ryoga screamed out as he was then pulled by that arm and slammed repeatedly to the pavement.
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The Lost Boy's body had made an impressive pothole in the pavement before Ranma kicked him back up, and then slammed three more hard punches to his chest, this time fracturing some ribs.
CRACK! CRACK! SNAP!
Even an insanely strong and tough martial artist had his limits and Ryoga was rapidly approaching his breaking point.
"I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY! BUT YOU'RE GOING TO LISTEN TO EVERY WORD THAT I HAVE TO SAY!" Ranma roared as he slammed another kick to Ryoga's already injured side. "NOBODY EVER CARED AS TO WHAT I HAD TO SAY OR HOW I FELT! WELL, NOW I'M TELLING YOU! I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT WHAT MY FATHER SAYS! I DON'T FUCKING CARE ABOUT WHAT AKANE SAYS! AND I SURE AS HELL DON'T FUCKING CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY! I DON'T CARE, DO YOU HEAR ME?! I... DON'T... FUCKING CARE!!!!"
That was when Ranma's aura exploded and swept up a huge gust of wind. Over the time since he had left Nerima, he had been steadily improving on his techniques, including the Hiryu Shoten Ha. He didn't need to keep calm nor fight in a spiral while his foe was using a red-hot battle aura. Now his own rage-fueled aura created a kind of thermal tornado, which swept up the Lost Boy and sent him flying.
"I'M NOT FINISHED!" Eric screamed as he rocketed upward in a leap that sent him up to more than a hundred feet (Don't you just love that adrenaline and battle aura?). He caught up with Ryoga, laced his hands together, and brought the double-fist down into his back, nearly shattering his spine. Ryoga was sent plummeting down like a meteor and hit the pavement a block away.
Eric simply snarled as he landed on a nearby rooftop and began heading to where his adversary had landed. He was still running at full steam with no signs of ever stopping.
"Eric!" Balla called out as she saw the two taking their fight away from where she was healing Brody's injuries. She never seen his rage take on this kind of intensity before and she began to fear for her darling's mental health. If he wasn't stopped, then Balla feared that he would do something that would haunt him for the rest of his days.
After finishing with her ministrations, she stood up and silently focused her Tattoon Power. She then disappeared from sight, just as Brody regained consciousness.
"Whoa. What hit me?"
Deiner could only shake his head in disbelief as he helped his friend up.
Ryoga groaned as he painfully extracted himself from the crater he had made in the concrete. Only his Backusai Tenketsu training and the endurance he had gained from his long wanderings had allowed him to survive the impact, but just barely. He wondered just how Ranma had gotten THAT strong. He had planned to wear down Ranma a bit before letting him have it with the Shi Shi Hokodan, but he had never expected Ranma's battle aura to be that intense. So far, he had taken the worst of the exchange, while Ranma was shrugging off any blows that the directionally-challenged Ryoga had managed to land. Just as he got to his feet, Ranma arrived with battle aura blazing.
"You don't get off that easy, P-Chan!" Eric growled dangerously. "You're not going to get lost in the middle of this fight! Like you said, we're going to FINISH this, once and for all!"
The expression that he wore on his face was all too clear to his opponent. He wasn't going to just defeat Ryoga. True to his promise, he was going to FINISH the fight... permanently.
Ryoga knew that he had only one chance at him as he cupped his hands and focused all his feelings of depression. He thought about all the pain and suffering that Ranma had put him through and how angry Akane had been when she had discovered the truth about P-Chan.
"SHI SHI HOKODAN!"
A huge blast of ki exploded from his hands and rocketed toward his foe. However, when the blast hit, Ranma's own aura flared like a miniature supernova, easily causing Ryoga's attack to be dispersed into wisps of green-white light.
Ryoga paled as he saw that his Normal Shi Shi Hokodan was worthless against his foe as he continued to advance toward him.
"Is that all you got, P-Chan?" Ranma said while glaring at him.
Ryoga delved deep into his innermost being, pulling out the most intense feelings of depression. He would have to go all out. Thinking of all the things that had gone in wrong in his life and how Ranma was the cause of those problems, Ryoga's aura became at its best intensity as he launched the largest blast he had ever produced, not caring if any innocents were in the way. He would win!
"PERFECT SHI SHI HOKODAN!"
The huge globe of energy rocketed up in a column of power as Ryoga expended just about all he had to destroy the one he hated most in the entire world. However, just as the globe came plummeting down at Ranma like a flaming meteor, the former resident of Nerima let off a blood-curdling cry as his own aura flared like the atomic bomb that had been dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
The Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan hit Ranma's aura and tried to blast through it. However, the enraged Ranma would not be stopped as his aura expanded into a red-hot umbrella of power and caused Ryoga's attack to explode harmlessly against it. As Ryoga held up his arms to shield his eyes from the blinding light, a figure charged at him from within that conflagration and slammed his fist into his gut, causing him to double over.
"THIS IS THE END, RYOGA!"
CRACK!
Ryoga's jaw received a hard blow and was dislocated.
"I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU BLAMING ME FOR ALL YOUR GOD-DAMNED PROBLEMS!"
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Several savage hits to the chest broke three ribs.
"NOBODY WANTED TO HEAR MY SIDE OF THE STORY OR GIVE ME A CHANCE TO EXPLAIN!"
CRACK!
A hit to Ryoga's right shoulder caused it to dislocate.
"IT WAS ALWAYS MY FAULT, EVEN WHEN I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT! WHENEVER SOMETHING WENT WRONG, IT WAS ALWAYS BLAME IT ON RANMA!"
WHOMP!
Ryoga was now coughing up blood with every hit to the abdomen.
"RANMA, EVERYONE'S FAVORITE PUNCHING BAG!"
CRUNCH!
There goes the other wrist.
"MOUSSE AND HIS HIDDEN WEAPONS!"
CRACK!
Shattered left kneecap.
"THOSE AMAZONS AND THEIR 3000 YEARS OF CHINESE AMAZON HISTORY BULLSHIT!"
CRACK!
Fractured left tibia.
"KODACHI AND HER POISONS. KUNO AND THAT STUPID STICK!"
WHAM! WHAM!
The collarbone has been broken in two places.
"THAT OLD PERVERT HAPPOSAI!"
WHAM!
Make that three places.
"THAT STUPID PLEDGE TO UNITE THE SCHOOLS!"
BASH! CRASH!
You wouldn't recognize Ryoga's face now.
"AKANE AND HER FUCKING MALLET!"
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
Say goodbye to three more ribs, Ryoga.
"EVERY DAY, THE SAME CRAP, OVER AND OVER AGAIN!"
SNAP!
Hope that broken arm heals soon.
"YOU THINK YOU HAD IT BAD?"
CRACK!
May take longer now that the arm has a compound fracture.
"YOU THINK YOU'VE SEEN HELL? I WENT THROUGH HELL EVERY FUCKING DAY!"
WHAM!
Now the other arm has been dislocated.
"BUT DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HATE THE MOST? THE MAIN REASONS WHY I LEFT?"
WHAM! BAM! WHAM!
Don't know what's keeping Ryoga up now.
The massacre continued on as Eric landed blow after blow against Ryoga's now battered and broken form. In another minute or so, the Lost Boy was going to breathe his last. However, Eric did not care. He wasn't going to stop until every bone in Ryoga's body was reduced to splinters. If he were to let his opponent survive, he would just come back and attack him again for some stupid reason, just like always!
"POP SOLD ME OUT GOD KNOWS HOW MANY TIMES, BUT STILL SAYS I HAVE TO MARRY AKANE OUT OF HONOR! MOUSSE KEEPS ON ATTACKING ME EVEN THOUGH I KEEP ON TELLING HIM THAT I NEVER WANTED SHAMPOO! SHAMPOO AND THAT OLD GHOUL ALWAYS TRYING TO TRICK ME OR USE SOME KIND OF POTION ON ME! NABIKI TAKING EVERY OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF ME AND SELLING PICTURES OF MY GIRL SIDE TO THAT PERVERT KUNO! AKANE AND HER GOD-DAMNED MALLET, TEMPER, COOKING AND ALWAYS JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS, EVEN WHEN IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"
Ryoga's vision began to cloud as he was about to slip into unconsciousness.
"AND THEN THERE WAS YOU! ONE OF THE BIGGEST FUCKING HYPOCRITES IN THE WORLD!" Ranma emphasized his hatred of hypocrites with every blow.
"IF... (WHAM)... THERE'S... (WHAM)... ONE... (WHAM)... THING... (WHAM)... I... (WHAM)... HATE... (WHAM)... IN... (WHAM)... THIS... (WHAM)... WORLD... (WHAM)... IT'S... (WHAM)... A... (WHAM)... GOD... (WHAM)... DAMNED... (WHAM)... HYPOCRITE!"
The enraged fighter then began raining high-speed punches on Ryoga. What appeared to look like a hundred blows per second was actually one thousand hits per second. Ranma's aura was boosting his speed to unprecedented levels and a person would only see the thousandth hit. The remaining nine hundred and ninety-nine blows were too fast for the naked eye to follow.
"YOU SAY I STAINED YOUR HONOR? YOU SAY I'M AN HONOR-LESS BASTARD? I WAS THERE FOR THAT DUEL! I KEPT YOUR SECRET! AFTER ALL THE SHIT I HAD TO TAKE FROM AKANE TO PROTECT YOUR IDENTITY AS P-CHAN, YOU'VE GOT SOME NERVE TO CALL ME HONOR-LESS! YOU'RE JUST LIKE THE PIG YOU TURN INTO!"
Ryoga was now unable to hear any more as he slumped off, but Ranma didn't care as he held up the broken Lost Boy by the front of his shirt and cocked back his fist.
"IT WASN'T ENOUGH THAT I HAD TO TAKE ABUSE FROM AKANE TO SAVE YOUR MISERABLE BACON! NO! YOU JUST HAD TO KEEP ATTACKING ME FOR SOME STUPID REASON AND NOT GIVING ME ANY CHANCE TO EXPLAIN! YOU NEVER TOOK RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL YOUR PROBLEMS AND JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, YOU JUST DECIDED TO DUMP THEM ALL ON ME! WELL I'M NOT GOING TO BE ANYONE'S DUMP SITE ANY MORE! IT'S TIME I PUT YOU OUT OF MY MISERY ONCE AND FOR ALL!"
Ranma's fist cocked back even further and then hurtled toward Ryoga's head. With the power backing it, the blow would split Ryoga's head like a ripe melon.
"Eric! Stop!"
The blazing fist stopped within an inch of contacting with Ryoga's face as a small wind was stirred up. Ranma looked over his shoulder with an angry glare as Balla appeared behind him with her hands held out in a pleading gesture. On her forehead, the Tattoon symbol glowed with a soft red light.
"Please, Eric. No more. He's had enough."
Eric began to feel the soothing energies of Balla's presence begin to wash over him and his battle aura started to diminish. However, one final burst of rage made itself known as he threw Ryoga away like a broken rag doll, causing the unconscious and nearly dead martial artist to crash into another wall. He then let off a scream of pure, unadulterated anguish to the heavens above.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As the adrenaline and berserk rage finally wore off, he slumped down to his knees. Balla immediately went to his side and knelt down, cradling his head in her lap as he started to sob.
"W-Why? Why can't they all just leave me alone? I gave up my name... I gave up my life... what the FUCK more do I have to do to get them to go away?!" Eric cried out as tears flowed.
"Shhhh, it's all right, Eric." Balla soothed. "I'm here for you. Just... let it all out."
As Ranma continued to cry, Balla looked over to where Ryoga lay and her eyes narrowed as she extended a hand toward him. The tattoo that was hidden on the back of her hand appeared as she began working her healing magic. However, unlike Brody, the Tattoon Priestess had decided not to heal all of his injuries and made certain that when Ryoga awoke, he'd still feel all the pain. He had no right to have hurt Brody or attack her beloved like that. As she had said before, the enemy of her husband was her enemy as well.
With that thought, she decided to add something extra as she drew a pattern in the air with her index finger. The symbol briefly appeared on Ryoga's forehead, then vanished as Balla continued with her healing magic.
Much later...
"Eric? Won't you talk with me?" Balla asked as she sat kneeling on the living room floor while Ranma quietly made dinner in the kitchen. After finishing with her healing, she had Ryoga placed in a nearby emergency ward and had brought Ranma back to their apartment. Since that time, she had also healed the injuries that Ranma had suffered in the battle, but he had remained silent since then.
Ranma shook his head and replied. "I don't feel like talking with anyone. Not that it matters. No one ever listens to me. Not my father. Not the Tendos. And especially not girls. No offense to you, but girls are nothing but trouble and they don't consider anything that I have to say as important. Just about all the problems I had in Nerima were linked one way or another to girls. So why bother?"
Balla felt a pang of hurt at his harsh words, but knew deep in her heart that he really didn't mean it. That was his bitterness talking and she had to get through that wall he had erected. She then took a deep breath and said quietly, "I'll listen."
This caught Ranma off guard as he turned his head to her. "What?"
"I said... I'll listen... to anything that you have to say."
"You... want to ... listen to me?" Ranma asked tentatively. To him, this was an absolute first. After all the craziness that he had endured in Nerima, a girl was actually willing to hear what he had to say before trying to hit him, either with a mallet or with affection. "You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?"
Balla shook her head. "I truly wish to listen to you and learn more about you. Maybe I did make you uncomfortable at first, but I truly believe that you are a wonderful person underneath that abrasive surface. Please, Eric... can't we just... talk?"
Ranma paused for a long time as he looked into those innocent eyes of the Tattoon girl. There was something about those violet depths that made even Akane's so-called cute smile seem like nothing. She was emitting an honesty that he found both appealing, yet scared him at the same time. At this moment, she was acting like Kasumi, (or a certain Goddess of the Present that we all know and love), and was showing him a kindness that he rarely ever knew. However, unlike the eldest Tendo daughter, who tended to ignore the bad things about people, (especially about Akane's violent tendencies and the chaos that surrounded Ranma's life), Balla was willing to accept Ranma as he was.
"You're really serious!" Ranma exclaimed as Balla nodded. "You really want to hear what I have to say?"
"Your words are important to me, Eric." Balla affirmed.
The martial artist found himself at a loss for words. This had never happened to him before. For the first time in his life, a girl was actually willing to hear him out. Ranma continued to look at the Tattoon girl for a long time before finally asking her. "You... really want to listen to me? No strings attached or anything?"
"Why would I ask for anything?" The girl said in confusion.
Ranma was almost overwhelmed at her honesty to him. He was actually with a girl who thought that his opinions and feelings were important. It was a totally new feeling for him and he was somewhat unsure of how to handle it. Finally, he nodded as he took a deep breath and set down in front of Balla. Then he began to talk.
Ranma began at the beginning, with his earliest memories of his training and the hardships he had to endure under his idiotic father, Genma. He told her of the various engagements and all the problems that had accumulated when he had come to Jusenkyo, then later to Japan. He informed her of the events which led to his problems with Ryoga as well as Mousse, Kuno and all his other rivals. He even told her of Ryoga's curse, since he considered that he was no longer Ranma Saotome and therefore was not bound by his promise to the Lost Boy. Most of all, he told her of the various girls who treated him as nothing more than a prize to be fought over and the countless acts of abuses that he had to endure with Akane. It was partially his hope that Balla would give up this silly idea about being married and go home, though he did felt a pang of regret at hurting her. After all this time, he had gotten... used to her. Though her personality did remind him a lot of a certain purple-haired Amazon he once knew, what set her apart from Shampoo was her honesty and willingness to actually give him a chance to speak. Furthermore, she was kindhearted like Kasumi and showed a loyalty that he admired. Even though she appeared flighty and somewhat a bubblehead, she wasn't stupid.
Balla began to understand why he was so set against getting close to a girl. If any man had been subjected to the kinds of pressure that he had to experience then he too would have sworn off women. However, she also knew that he did have a kind heart, deep down that he was a good person, despite his outward personality.
When Ranma finally finished with his long explanation of his previous life in Nerima, he took a long sigh and said to her, "Well, now that you know everything, I guess you can understand why I want nothing to do with girls. Still want me as your husband?" Ranma said the last part with a bit of a bitter edge to it.
However, Balla surprised him again as she leaned over to where he was sitting and kissed him tenderly on the mark she had made on his forehead, when they first met. "You bet!"
"What?" He leaned back in confusion at the smiling Tattoon Priestess.
Ball nodded as she explained. "I can understand at why you were so angry at that Ryoga person. He had no right to have attacked you or hurt Brody like that. He's just as much as the pig that he turns into. He deserved what he got, though I think that you went a little too far. As for those other people, the enemies of my husband are my enemies too!"
"You really don't..."
Balla shook her head cutting him off. "I mean it, Eric. All those people had no right to have forced those things on you. And I also know that you really are a good person deep down inside. You're so very kind."
"Me?"
Balla nodded as she began to tell Ranma of what Brody and Deiner had told her.
Flashback...
Deiner (narrating): We didn't take Eric's words seriously. Guess what? Those football players caught up with us. They totally humiliated us in front of everyone. Then Eric showed up.
We now see a scene in which the bullies are suddenly beset by Ranma and are beaten down in short order as both Brody and Deiner look on in awe. When the bullies are littering the landscape, Ranma simply walks away.
Deiner (narrating): We never saw anyone fight with such ferocity, like it was personal or something.
We now see Brody and Deiner calling after Ranma.
"Hey man! Who's side are you on?"
"I guess we owe you one, right?"
Ranma angrily turned around and glared at the two. "NO YOU DON'T! JUST DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID AND PICK A FIGHT WITH SOMEONE STRONGER THAN YOU!"
End of flashback...
"I know how you hate it when the weak are picked on by the mighty." Balla said. "You have much honor, far more than that Ryoga or those other people could ever hope to achieve. And the way you came to Brody's defense just shows just how much you care."
Ranma found himself at a loss of words as Balla leaned over and gently kissed his forehead again. "No matter what happens Eric, I'll always be on your side!"
Yet another rarity. A girl who was on HIS side? The marital artist just didn't know what to do. He couldn't get rid of Balla... and yet, did he really want to?
Balla could only smile at her husband's bewilderment.
Meanwhile, in Nerima...
"I protest! The Heavens would weep at five hundred thousand yen!"
"Take it or leave it, Kuno baby. Unless you WANT your beloved pigtailed girl to remain in Ranma's clutches?"
"SOLD!"
"All right, Kuno. Just meet me after school tomorrow and I'll give you Ranma's whereabouts."
Nabiki smirked as she hung up the phone. It had been a very profitable night. After months of searching and following countless false leads, she had finally gotten a hold of where Ranma was now living. Takuya Shibana's theory had proven to be correct. Ranma had gone to Hiroshima. After following up on Ranma's new name of Eric Kobayashi, she had managed to access the academic register of the local high schools that had taken on new students in the last six months. Though she wasn't as proficient with computer hacking as the Computer Club members, she did possess some considerable talent and a head for numbers. After long hours of sifting through thousands of names, she had finally find the records of one student who had recently moved to Hiroshima from Tokyo, specifically from the district of Nerima. The student's name.... was Eric Kobayashi.
She had to admit that it had been an almost-perfect getaway. If the head of those computer nerds hadn't slipped up, then she would have never been able to find Ranma.
Nabiki looked at the money she had already collected from Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi and Mousse, which amounted to a large fortune. However, even adding the amount that Kuno was going to pay her was pocket change, compared to the money she would make when she once again had Ranma under her control.
The middle Tendo daughter decided that now was the time to let her family in on Ranma's whereabouts, for a small fee of course. She would need their help to drag Ranma home, but come home he would. He had no choice in the matter and that was that. She owned him and as her property, he was going to have to accept that fact.
Nabiki didn't know that she was starting on a road to her own demise as she went to tell her family and Genma of where Ranma was.
Things were going to get hot in Hiroshima, very soon.
One final scene...
Nodoka was tired after shopping all day and decided to stop at a coffee shop for some tea, before heading back to her relatives. As she sat down, she was greeted by one of Eric's coworkers.
"Hello again. What can I bring for you today?"
"Green tea please." She gazed at her server for a moment. "What happened to the other server? The one with the mark on his forehead."
"Oh, Eric? Today's his day off. Should I tell him that you are looking for him... Miss?"
"Kobayashi. Nodoka Kobayashi."
"Kobayashi? Are you related to him?"
"No. I don't have any relatives named Eric, and Kobayashi is a fairly common last name. In any case, I only use my maiden name when I'm in Hiroshima, since I do have family here."
"I see. So you know Eric?"
"Oh yes. I've seen him several times over the last few months. He's usually here whenever I come to Hiroshima to visit my family. I find him to be very charming, despite that gruff attitude of his. He's assertive, bold and not afraid to express himself. Oh, he's so manly and any girl who captures his heart would be extremely lucky."
The server cocked his head in slight puzzlement, but decided not to argue. "If you say so. I've heard that he has a girlfriend now. A real beauty from what I hear."
Nodoka clasped her hands together. "Really? How wonderful! I must remember to ask Eric to introduce her to me the next time I see him."
"It sounds like you and Eric are really close." The waiter commented as he went to fill Nodoka's order.
The wife of Genma smiled as she thought back to the last time she had seen Eric. She had found his wild, carefree spirit to be invigorating and his rough exterior made him seem so strong and sure! The scar on his forehead just added to his rugged good looks. He knew exactly what he wanted in life and didn't beat around the bush to get it. He was forceful, direct and didn't hesitate. That was a true mark of a man among men! However, he never failed to serve her with a smile and she could tell that he had a kind soul. He had soon became a favorite with Nodoka. And now he had a girlfriend! Further proof of his manliness!
Ah, if Ranma turns out to be even half as manly as Eric, then I would be so happy!
To be continued...
Author's Notes
Well, that takes care of the rewrite of this chapter. Yes, it is a bit more violent, but I wanted to convey just how anguished Ranma/Eric was as well as fill in some plot holes. This isn't the old Ranma that we know of. The original knew which lines not to cross. This new one doesn't even acknowledge those lines as he knows that they were what was holding him back, and causing new problems to appear, as well as having old ones to repeat themselves. Furthermore, Eric does not consider himself as Ranma anymore, so he doesn't play by those old rules. That outdated code of Ranma Saotome is for weenies! Eric's new code is simple; Don't bother me, and I won't have to break you.
For all those who think that Ryoga was portrayed as a homicidal maniac, well think about it. His biggest secret has been revealed and his worst nightmare has come true. Akane hates him. However, does he realize that it was his fault in the first place for not telling her? Does he ever realize it in the original story? Does he ever take responsibility for his mistakes? Nope. What does he do? He blames it on Ranma, like everyone else. Typical. Ryoga fans may say that he has a sense of honor, but I tend to think of it as a skewed version that's similar to Kuno's. He'll only use it when it suits him, and disregards it when it gets in his way. If he were truly honorable, he wouldn't have teamed up with Mousse, nor kept Shampoo's waterproof soap, which didn't belong to him. He wouldn't have tried to attack Ranma in his sleep. He tends to fight in a reckless manner, and in several cases, endangers innocent bystanders.
Ryoga is pretty much like Kuno and Mousse. They are driven by obsession and pride, which centers on the love of their lives, and the threat that Ranma represents to their goal to win the affection of the girl each one desires. They each may portray it differently, but it's still an obsession. And it is because of that obsession that they develop very narrow-minded views of their past actions, rationalizing them as correct, when simple logic denounces them as dishonorable or downright ludicrous!
This story portrays Ranma as he changes to a more direct and independent person who takes charge of his own destiny, while the personalities of the other characters remain the same. What will happen? Obviously, there's going to be a LOT of friction and conflicts. Can you blame Ranma for getting POed? All he wants is to start over and find the peace that was denied in his previous life. To paraphrase an old song lyric, he's saying that 'You can take this life and shove it!' Wouldn't you do the same?
In any case, that's enough rambling and I better start working on the next chapter rewrite.