Author's rantings: Well, I got this chapter up quickly to make up for my delay last time, just hope the quality matches! Much more action in this chapter and Ranma style fighting – you'll understand what I mean. Again, thanks for the reviews, I swear they are good for my health! A just one question to answer I think, Ranma and Inuyasha are on an island near a village that can see Mt. Hakurei, not Mt. Hakurei itself, the living Buddha loses control of the island when the dokki is messed with by Miroku and the village head's son.
Inuyasha and Bankotsu faced off as Ranma watched. While Ranma did not know who this Bankotsu was, he could see that the other pigtailed man was a seasoned fighter. In Bankotsu's eyes, Ranma could see a certain cruelty, one which said that Bankotsu would not hesitate in killing one thousand men. Coupled with the fact that Ranma had heard Bankotsu mock Inuyasha's question about Souta's sister, he was quite sure that Bankotsu was probably not the one who people wanted to win.
"And that Inuyasha still hasn't finished his fight with me," Ranma muttered, "he shouldn't be starting other massive fights."
Meanwhile Bankotsu's sword had started to swirl with energy and moments later, another wave of blue energy had surged towards Inuyasha.
Already badly injures, Inuyasha was unable to dodge the blast in time and the resulting explosion obscured the dog demon for a few moments. As the smoke cleared, Ranma saw Inuyasha leaning on his large sword for support.
"Fight him, Inuyasha!" Ranma turned to see a small fox-like child shaking his fists at Inuyasha. Next to him, Ranma saw a small creature, the details of which he could not make out.
The same "small creature" started growling and ran towards Bankotsu, transforming into a much larger feral animal as it did so. Though it reminded Ranma a bit of a cat, its bushy tail luckily made him think otherwise.
The creature ran leapt towards Bankotsu, who swung his sword lazily back at it. The creature recoiled backwards to dodge the blade, unable to get closer without being diced.
"Is that all you've got?" Bankotsu smirked, "whats going to happen when I do this?" The man stabbed into the ground with his sword and flipped upwards until his sword was pointing towards the sky. Above him, the sky was swirling and becoming darker, what seemed like a storm started to form.
"Ryuuraisen!" Glowing yellow, Bankotsu pointed downwards. Lightning started various areas on the ground. One of them nearly hit Ranma, but he leapt sideways, just avoiding a very painful scorch.
Inuyasha was using his robe to shield himself as a lightning bolt hit him almost directly. Dust was kicked up from the impact and Inuyasha once more disappeared from vision.
The young fox child was now standing with the monk, the child and a woman whom an oversized spatula that Ranma had not noticed earlier. They were similarly trying to defend themselves from the random bolts. Luckily for them, none of the lightning hit them directly – they were very badly shaken however and were pinned to the ground.
After what seemed like an eternity of dodging lightning, it finally stopped. Ranma was the only person besides Bankotsu left standing as Inuyasha and his companions were all lying on the ground, dust blowing softly away in the aftermath.
Bankotsu turned to Ranma, "I didn't notice you before, what do you want?"
"I don't know what's happening, but it looks to me that you're causing a lot of trouble here," Ranma replied, "I was sent here to make sure that the village chief and his son were safe."
"You came at the wrong time." The other man laughed, "there's the precious village chief," Bankotsu pointed at a dead body that Ranma had not noticed earlier, "and I'll kill the child later."
"You jerk!" Ranma swore at the man, "to kill people in cold blood like that is totally inhuman!"
"Hey, I didn't kill that guy, and I am human you know." Bankotsu looked irritated, "All my power is human, though sometimes I wish I wasn't. This fight for example would have been unfair had we not started the fight here." He looked at Ranma, "You're a fighter, aren't you?" indicating the bracers, "you understand right? There seem to be some people who possess power that they get out of chance, people who you could never beat not because of lack of skill, but because of who you are."
Ranma thought about his previous fights - Herb, Tarou, Saffron, "So what about it?"
"You need power right? Power to defeat those people, like me," Bankotsu smiled, "and I'm going to get it – sorry this isn't personal but if I kill you, it's going to give me the power that I want. I'll deal with the others later."
Bankotsu crossed the distance between him and Ranma in a second before slashing at him. Ranma dropped low, barely missing decapitation before sending a spinning heel kick into Bankotsu's exposed back.
The kick knocked Bankotsu a meter away, the dust scattering where he fell. Standing about again Bankotsu smirked again, "You're a good fighter then? Even better, that's the way I like it." With one hand, he swung again at Ranma before following with a rear kick and another slash.
Ranma ducked the first slash before dodging to the side to avoid the kick and flipping over the blade. "I don't know what your problem is," he said as he blurred from Bankotsu's vision, appearing behind him, "and I don't know how you're going to be more powerful by killing me," Ranma again ducked to narrowly dodge a wide slash of Bankotsu's blade, "but I think you're being stupid." Bankotsu blocked Ranma's punch with his free hand before having to leap backwards to avoid a flurry of kicks. "You don't need to kill people to become strong, just train harder and get as good as them." Ranma again blurred before appearing above Bankotsu's head, smashing down on his skull.
"You're pissing me off now." Bankotsu growled as he rolled away and stood up again, "I'm going to get rid of you and your preaching now."
Ranma jumped sideways to avoid the wave of blue energy that Bankotsu fired with his sword. "So you aren't going to listent o me are you? Mouko Takabashi!"
The chi blast was deflected by Bankotsu's sword, the other man sliding a few feet backwards from the impact. "You are going down!"
Ranma dodged another energy wave, his mind working furiously. "My chi blasts can be blocked but I can't take his attacks. If this goes on, I'll tire way before he does."
Bankotus laughed, "worried are you? I'll give you a less painful death if you just submit."
The killer was met with a smirk, "I don't lose." Ranma again flipped over another wave. "What is that energy?" He wondered, "It feels like normal ki but more dangerous, kind of tainted…" something seemed off.
Bankotsu was getting annoyed, quit running and die will you? You can't go on forever!" More energy attacks ensued.
"I've got it!" Ranma realized that the strange energy was coming out of the sword, and he had realized what was bugging him, "that energy is the same kind that I've felt from the other youkai that I've felt… its like a youki!" Ranma smirked, "ok, time to get serious."
Ranma fired a Mouko Takabashi directly at another blast that moved towards him, the energy within the wave seemed to repel slightly from the chi blast before completely engulfing it, the chi dissipating. Ranma leapt over the ongoing attack.
"It's useless!" Bankotsu laughed, "your attacks are too weak!"
Ranma was looking at Bankotsu calmly, "you admit yourself that you fear weakness, who are you to call me weak?"
Bankotsu scowled in anger and sent another wave of energy, "this is going to finish you off, too tired now, aren't you?"
The wave struck Ranma and dust rose to cover him. Bankotsu smirked as he saw a pathertic chi blast dissipated immediately in the haze, "got him."
Bankotsu was therefore shocked when the dust had settled that not only did he see Ranma's figure appear standing within the dust, but a familiar blue energy rushed strait back at him, the only difference being that it was a massive ball of energy. Not expecting the attack, Bankotsu took his own attack in full force, leaving him badly injured and nearly helpless, having also been thrown a large distance away.
Ranma gave a satisfied smirk, "You may have had more power than I did, but I've been in situations like these before. That youki is very dense, a lot like cold ki. However, your anger just then generated warm ki, and that was passed on through your attack as well. With both light and dense ki moving towards me, it's very easy to fire a spinning cold chi blast to cause a spin in your attack. Though the chi blast dissipates, the imbalance will cause the two energy forms to swirl together and form a cyclone. All I need then is fire another cold blast so that the warm ki goes the other direction and after having gathered up the energy, I can return it all to you!"
"What?" Bankotsu croaked.
"Power isn't everything," Ranma summarized, "now you and that dog boy over there are going to give me some answers." Before Ranma could continue however, a dokki flew towards Bankotsu and generated what seemed to be a barrier around him. "What the…?"
Ranma watched as Bankotsu slowly faded out of sight, "You jerk! Come back here!"
Cursing angrily, Ranma turned back towards Inuyasha after Bankotsu had fully disappeared. Prodding the dog boy with his foot, Ranma succeeded in waking Inuyasha up.
"What- What happened?!" Inuyasha shouted.
"I defeated him, but he got away," Ranma told Inuyasha, "and now you're going to tell me what's happening, do you know how worried Souta is right now?"
"Don't judge me! You don't know the whole situation!" Inuyasha yelled defensively.
"You're just an un trustworthy jerk you know that? We've got no idea whats happened to Souta's sister while you're prancing around fighting wierdos!" Ranma shouted back at him.
"Why the heck are you here anyway? Go back to your own world!"
"Not until you tell me what's happened so that I can go back and reassure Souta."
"Don't go meddling in other people's business!"
"It's affecting the people who I'm living with right now, of course its my business!"
"Look, you don't belong here!" Inuyasha snarled, drawing his sword, "I'm going to beat you back to your place if you don't stop messing with us!"
"That's some thanks for me helping you," Ranma said indignantly, "I think I'll beat you up right now!"
The two boys were face to face and snarling at each other.
"Inuyasha, would you mind introducing us to this person?" Ranma turned away to see the monk from earlier standing beside them.
"I don't know who the heck he is! Ask him yourself!"
"My name is Miroku," the monk told Ranma, "who might you be?"
"Saotome Ranma." Ranma replied, "I was sent here by the village to see whats happened, apparently they don't trust that guy," Ranma jerked his thumb at Inuyasha. "and I can see why."
"What!" Inuyasha had sheathed his sword and was glaring at Ranma.
"Really? Then I suppose its fine to tell you our situation. Let's go back to the village and we'll tell you as we go along." Miroku said peacefully as he started walking towards the shore, motioning for the others to follow, "We're done with our business here now anyway."
*****
Footnote: If you can't follow what Ranma's attack did, compare it to the Hiryuu Kourin Dan, I tried to make it quite similar.
Inuyasha and Bankotsu faced off as Ranma watched. While Ranma did not know who this Bankotsu was, he could see that the other pigtailed man was a seasoned fighter. In Bankotsu's eyes, Ranma could see a certain cruelty, one which said that Bankotsu would not hesitate in killing one thousand men. Coupled with the fact that Ranma had heard Bankotsu mock Inuyasha's question about Souta's sister, he was quite sure that Bankotsu was probably not the one who people wanted to win.
"And that Inuyasha still hasn't finished his fight with me," Ranma muttered, "he shouldn't be starting other massive fights."
Meanwhile Bankotsu's sword had started to swirl with energy and moments later, another wave of blue energy had surged towards Inuyasha.
Already badly injures, Inuyasha was unable to dodge the blast in time and the resulting explosion obscured the dog demon for a few moments. As the smoke cleared, Ranma saw Inuyasha leaning on his large sword for support.
"Fight him, Inuyasha!" Ranma turned to see a small fox-like child shaking his fists at Inuyasha. Next to him, Ranma saw a small creature, the details of which he could not make out.
The same "small creature" started growling and ran towards Bankotsu, transforming into a much larger feral animal as it did so. Though it reminded Ranma a bit of a cat, its bushy tail luckily made him think otherwise.
The creature ran leapt towards Bankotsu, who swung his sword lazily back at it. The creature recoiled backwards to dodge the blade, unable to get closer without being diced.
"Is that all you've got?" Bankotsu smirked, "whats going to happen when I do this?" The man stabbed into the ground with his sword and flipped upwards until his sword was pointing towards the sky. Above him, the sky was swirling and becoming darker, what seemed like a storm started to form.
"Ryuuraisen!" Glowing yellow, Bankotsu pointed downwards. Lightning started various areas on the ground. One of them nearly hit Ranma, but he leapt sideways, just avoiding a very painful scorch.
Inuyasha was using his robe to shield himself as a lightning bolt hit him almost directly. Dust was kicked up from the impact and Inuyasha once more disappeared from vision.
The young fox child was now standing with the monk, the child and a woman whom an oversized spatula that Ranma had not noticed earlier. They were similarly trying to defend themselves from the random bolts. Luckily for them, none of the lightning hit them directly – they were very badly shaken however and were pinned to the ground.
After what seemed like an eternity of dodging lightning, it finally stopped. Ranma was the only person besides Bankotsu left standing as Inuyasha and his companions were all lying on the ground, dust blowing softly away in the aftermath.
Bankotsu turned to Ranma, "I didn't notice you before, what do you want?"
"I don't know what's happening, but it looks to me that you're causing a lot of trouble here," Ranma replied, "I was sent here to make sure that the village chief and his son were safe."
"You came at the wrong time." The other man laughed, "there's the precious village chief," Bankotsu pointed at a dead body that Ranma had not noticed earlier, "and I'll kill the child later."
"You jerk!" Ranma swore at the man, "to kill people in cold blood like that is totally inhuman!"
"Hey, I didn't kill that guy, and I am human you know." Bankotsu looked irritated, "All my power is human, though sometimes I wish I wasn't. This fight for example would have been unfair had we not started the fight here." He looked at Ranma, "You're a fighter, aren't you?" indicating the bracers, "you understand right? There seem to be some people who possess power that they get out of chance, people who you could never beat not because of lack of skill, but because of who you are."
Ranma thought about his previous fights - Herb, Tarou, Saffron, "So what about it?"
"You need power right? Power to defeat those people, like me," Bankotsu smiled, "and I'm going to get it – sorry this isn't personal but if I kill you, it's going to give me the power that I want. I'll deal with the others later."
Bankotsu crossed the distance between him and Ranma in a second before slashing at him. Ranma dropped low, barely missing decapitation before sending a spinning heel kick into Bankotsu's exposed back.
The kick knocked Bankotsu a meter away, the dust scattering where he fell. Standing about again Bankotsu smirked again, "You're a good fighter then? Even better, that's the way I like it." With one hand, he swung again at Ranma before following with a rear kick and another slash.
Ranma ducked the first slash before dodging to the side to avoid the kick and flipping over the blade. "I don't know what your problem is," he said as he blurred from Bankotsu's vision, appearing behind him, "and I don't know how you're going to be more powerful by killing me," Ranma again ducked to narrowly dodge a wide slash of Bankotsu's blade, "but I think you're being stupid." Bankotsu blocked Ranma's punch with his free hand before having to leap backwards to avoid a flurry of kicks. "You don't need to kill people to become strong, just train harder and get as good as them." Ranma again blurred before appearing above Bankotsu's head, smashing down on his skull.
"You're pissing me off now." Bankotsu growled as he rolled away and stood up again, "I'm going to get rid of you and your preaching now."
Ranma jumped sideways to avoid the wave of blue energy that Bankotsu fired with his sword. "So you aren't going to listent o me are you? Mouko Takabashi!"
The chi blast was deflected by Bankotsu's sword, the other man sliding a few feet backwards from the impact. "You are going down!"
Ranma dodged another energy wave, his mind working furiously. "My chi blasts can be blocked but I can't take his attacks. If this goes on, I'll tire way before he does."
Bankotus laughed, "worried are you? I'll give you a less painful death if you just submit."
The killer was met with a smirk, "I don't lose." Ranma again flipped over another wave. "What is that energy?" He wondered, "It feels like normal ki but more dangerous, kind of tainted…" something seemed off.
Bankotsu was getting annoyed, quit running and die will you? You can't go on forever!" More energy attacks ensued.
"I've got it!" Ranma realized that the strange energy was coming out of the sword, and he had realized what was bugging him, "that energy is the same kind that I've felt from the other youkai that I've felt… its like a youki!" Ranma smirked, "ok, time to get serious."
Ranma fired a Mouko Takabashi directly at another blast that moved towards him, the energy within the wave seemed to repel slightly from the chi blast before completely engulfing it, the chi dissipating. Ranma leapt over the ongoing attack.
"It's useless!" Bankotsu laughed, "your attacks are too weak!"
Ranma was looking at Bankotsu calmly, "you admit yourself that you fear weakness, who are you to call me weak?"
Bankotsu scowled in anger and sent another wave of energy, "this is going to finish you off, too tired now, aren't you?"
The wave struck Ranma and dust rose to cover him. Bankotsu smirked as he saw a pathertic chi blast dissipated immediately in the haze, "got him."
Bankotsu was therefore shocked when the dust had settled that not only did he see Ranma's figure appear standing within the dust, but a familiar blue energy rushed strait back at him, the only difference being that it was a massive ball of energy. Not expecting the attack, Bankotsu took his own attack in full force, leaving him badly injured and nearly helpless, having also been thrown a large distance away.
Ranma gave a satisfied smirk, "You may have had more power than I did, but I've been in situations like these before. That youki is very dense, a lot like cold ki. However, your anger just then generated warm ki, and that was passed on through your attack as well. With both light and dense ki moving towards me, it's very easy to fire a spinning cold chi blast to cause a spin in your attack. Though the chi blast dissipates, the imbalance will cause the two energy forms to swirl together and form a cyclone. All I need then is fire another cold blast so that the warm ki goes the other direction and after having gathered up the energy, I can return it all to you!"
"What?" Bankotsu croaked.
"Power isn't everything," Ranma summarized, "now you and that dog boy over there are going to give me some answers." Before Ranma could continue however, a dokki flew towards Bankotsu and generated what seemed to be a barrier around him. "What the…?"
Ranma watched as Bankotsu slowly faded out of sight, "You jerk! Come back here!"
Cursing angrily, Ranma turned back towards Inuyasha after Bankotsu had fully disappeared. Prodding the dog boy with his foot, Ranma succeeded in waking Inuyasha up.
"What- What happened?!" Inuyasha shouted.
"I defeated him, but he got away," Ranma told Inuyasha, "and now you're going to tell me what's happening, do you know how worried Souta is right now?"
"Don't judge me! You don't know the whole situation!" Inuyasha yelled defensively.
"You're just an un trustworthy jerk you know that? We've got no idea whats happened to Souta's sister while you're prancing around fighting wierdos!" Ranma shouted back at him.
"Why the heck are you here anyway? Go back to your own world!"
"Not until you tell me what's happened so that I can go back and reassure Souta."
"Don't go meddling in other people's business!"
"It's affecting the people who I'm living with right now, of course its my business!"
"Look, you don't belong here!" Inuyasha snarled, drawing his sword, "I'm going to beat you back to your place if you don't stop messing with us!"
"That's some thanks for me helping you," Ranma said indignantly, "I think I'll beat you up right now!"
The two boys were face to face and snarling at each other.
"Inuyasha, would you mind introducing us to this person?" Ranma turned away to see the monk from earlier standing beside them.
"I don't know who the heck he is! Ask him yourself!"
"My name is Miroku," the monk told Ranma, "who might you be?"
"Saotome Ranma." Ranma replied, "I was sent here by the village to see whats happened, apparently they don't trust that guy," Ranma jerked his thumb at Inuyasha. "and I can see why."
"What!" Inuyasha had sheathed his sword and was glaring at Ranma.
"Really? Then I suppose its fine to tell you our situation. Let's go back to the village and we'll tell you as we go along." Miroku said peacefully as he started walking towards the shore, motioning for the others to follow, "We're done with our business here now anyway."
*****
Footnote: If you can't follow what Ranma's attack did, compare it to the Hiryuu Kourin Dan, I tried to make it quite similar.