War with the Undead
Ch3: Nabiki?!?
Ranma sat up as the sun shone strongly through his closed eyelids, disturbing his sleep. He felt better than he could ever remember, his body felt strong, vibrant and well rested. It was as if the past week of little food and rest had never happened, 'no' he decided he felt better and stronger than that. It was as if he had spent several month training with lots of rest and decent food.
Ranma smirked and turned north from the inner city park he found himself in, "my master."
"Agghh!!" Ranma clutched his head in confusion and pain collapsing to his knee's as sharp, hot needles stabbed through his skull. He had always considered himself his own master, although his father and later Happosai often cajoled him into naming and considering them his master he had always stayed firm. He might have suffered under his fathers training and Happosai might have thrown numerous challenges his way but he had had to rely on his own drive and motivation to push his boundaries and realise his potential.
Whatever had possessed him to even consider Incognito as his master was a mystery since the thought of having a murderous brute sickened him. While Genma and Happosai left a bad taste in his mouth with there actions, Incognito's actions had been inhuman.
Groaning and holding his head in pain as the needles stabbed deeper, Ranma didn't notice the other people in the park or the young child approaching from the swings until he felt the boy tugging on his red silken sleeve.
"Are you alright mister?" Although the question was innocent enough and well meaning Ranma felt a surge of irritation at the boy. Despite his experience in managing pain his head would not stop throbbing and the needles kept on stabbing hotter and deeper. The pain was worse than anything he had experience training with his father over the last decade of training or the period that followed in Nerima, Japan.
"Am alright, migraine" Ranma grunted in broken English. Children often brought a smile to his face even though their innocence and naivety reminded him of his lack of childhood. His experiences had caused him to have a great empathy for them but today the pain that spiked through his head interfered with that empathy and his smile was forced.
"My mamma says that a darkened room is always best for migraine mister," the boy added helpfully. Deciding that it couldn't hurt Ranma thanked the boy and watched him run laughingly back to the playground at the centre of the park. Stumbling in pain Ranma slowly made his way out of the park. The sound of traffic and the laughing children echoed loudly in his ears adding to the splitting pain that worked it's way deep into his head.
He didn't know how he got to the park after his fight with Incognito but as soon as he found the abandoned warehouse and quietened his pounding head he was sure an answer would come quickly. "Out of the mouth of babes," Ranma muttered sourly as the pain slowly lessened when he entered the shade provided by the eaves along the foot path. "Maybe the boy had a point," he continued, with the pain muted he was able to increase his pace to the warehouse.
Ranma may not have known how he had managed to make it to the park after his fight with Incognito but when he woke up he known exactly where he was. Over a week of exploring London on foot had enabled Ranma to recognise many landmarks throughout the city. Empty warehouses and dark alleyways that might prove useful in any future conflict with Incognito were of particular interest to him.
Sighing with relief he entered an abandoned warehouse he had noticed in earlier explorations. By closing the great doors of the empty building, the sound of the outside world along with the almost obliterating pain in his head was quickly shut out.
He certainly found it easier to concentrate on his fight with Incognito now that the pain wasn't so bad. He was able to recall the fight more clearly and it was apparent to him that he had been on the back foot throughout the course of his skirmish with the vampire. 'In fact' Ranma thought curiously examining his left arm 'I clearly remember being injured badly enough for this arm to become useless during the fight. Yet there isn't even a scar and it seemed to have healed enough to recover full range of motion – what's going on?"
It wasn't unusual for him to devise some sort of desperation technique during a fight or brawl in the face of defeat. He even recalled times in the past where he had woken up unsure of the outcome of a fight, only to find out later of some ingenious move he had used. Afterward, he almost never remember his desperate techniques, since the move would drain the last of his energy leaving him at the mercy of whatever destruction was being wrought.
It was how he pushed his boundaries, victory at all costs. Still, it was unlikely that he had done something like that this time, every time he had been forced to use such a technique he had always suffered for it for weeks afterward as he recovered from exhaustion and the injuries he sustained during the battle. Besides as he grew more powerful throughout the years, the instances where he had had to use such a move lessened.
This time could find no evidence of wounds or new scars and apart from his migraine which was already fading to nothing, he felt fine – better than fine. He was glowing with energy and that more than anything confused and frightened Ranma. He frowned as he recalled the final moments of his fight with Incognito
He hardly felt the purple blade which severed his spine and fatally wounded him. All he could do was sag in disbelief – he had hardly started to fight, how could it end like this?
There was no way he could have imagined something like that, but if he had lost so badly how was he here. Clearly he hadn't been as injured as he thought, he was alive and had never felt better. There was no way he had lost so easily and died, a sudden thought masked his face with horror and filled his stomach with dread, what if… Reaching frantically for the Ki that always circled through his body and centred at his stomach Ranma grasped at nothing.
"No!!" He yelled in disbelief even as he reached for his pulse, "what have you done to me?!? INCOGNITO." There was no pulse and his body was devoid of any of the life energy which normally inhabited all living things – he was dead. "NOOOOO!!!!" Ranma's screams of anguish echoed and bounced around the closed abandoned warehouse making it unlikely any passer-by would have heard.
"What have I done slave? Why I only granted your wish," Incognito's amused voice was followed by a resurgence of Ranma's migraine. The slicing pain of the red hot needles forced Ranma to his knee's, "I have given you immortality." Incognito's grand announcement fell dead on Ranma's ears as he fought the migraine and the memories of his request
"Yes," Ranma mumbled almost inaudibly as blood leaked from his mouth and nose pooling beneath him. He knew that it should have been painful but he felt no pain, only an increasing dullness and a feeling of losing himself to death. "Yes, give me time."
"It doesn't have to be a burden little man, embrace the possibilities. Feed from the sheep that surround us and reveal in the destruction that you are capable of." Ranma groaned in pain before straightening his back and spitting in the direction he imagined Incognito's booming voice originated from.
"You may struggle against your nature but you will come to enjoy such pastimes. Mwhahahahaahha!!!" Incognito's amused voice left the warehouse along with the accompanying pain. For all Ranma's struggles it seemed that he had only managed to amuse the beast. That hurt his pride, he had spent years dedicating his life to training and it had been a long time since he had felt so overpowered and helpless.
He didn't know what to do now, would he really come to enjoy the slaughter and destruction as Incognito invariably did? Was it now necessary to feed of people to survive? Was it inevitable that he fall or would his struggles make him stronger, eventually strong enough to defeat Incognito. 'No matter what, I've come too far to fail now.'
Grunting in frustration, Ranma started a Kata, training always helped him think through problems more clearly and since he had awoken this morning his thoughts had been clearer than he could ever remember them being. He no longer had to force himself to concentrate through a mist of distractions and cloudy half thoughts. As he moved his way through the Kata his attention was focussed closely to the rhythms of his body as his fists lashed out crisply and his legs flew in tightly controlled attacks and defences.
If anything his transformation from the living to the undead seemed to have enhanced his reflexes and build upon his strength and speed. They were enhancements that he could use against Incognito, Ranma stumbled as a sharp pain stabbed through his head at the thought of using his new abilities against Incognito interrupting his Kata and making him start again.
'No' he decided, before he attempted another fight he would have to train himself more thoroughly in his new abilities and see what else he was capable of. All of his Ki based attacks were now unavailable to him in exchange for a slight increase speed, strength and reflexes; it seemed a poor trade off. Ranma continued moving through his Kata's at a frantic pace unaware that his thoughts had been influenced.
Starting a more complex Kata Ranma tried to see how far his enhancements went before quickly giving up. The only way he could truly test himself was by finding a sparring partner or engaging in a challenging fight which tested his limits and pushed his boundaries. No, what intrigued him were the vague hints and subtle references he had found in the book he had stolen from the Hellsing manor during the attack, on the special powers held by vampires.
While the book he had stolen from the Hellsing manor had spoken of numerous special abilities, the least of which was rasing ghouls and passing on the vampiric curse he had yet to see them manifest. While he had seen evidence of some of the skills described in the book he was also sure that many of the skills described were no more than legend, certainly many of the other 'facts' that were described had proven to be wrong or misleading. Incognito had not even been aware that he had added garlic powder to his attacks and coated his hands with the juices.
Sitting down in the lotus position Ranma attempted to find his centre, while he no longer had the ability to channel Ki or raise a battle aura he was sure that the Vampire had something similar that allowed them to cheat death. If he did have the abilities that matched those described the book he had thrown away in frustration, he couldn't find any indication of it.
Giving up after an hour of attempted meditation that neither calmed his mind nor physically relaxed him, Ranma started to once again started to work through his schools katas, starting from the most basic. If he were to engage in a fight or skirmish now which challenged his skill he would lose.
Although he maintained the skill which had developed throughout his lifetime, his body felt different, stronger and more agile but different. He would need to retrain himself in all his schools techniques. It would take him weeks to fully retrain his body and the sooner he started the better it would be fore him. He was lucky in one respect, he had already had to retrain his body once upon the gaining of his curse so he knew what to expect.
It was fortunate that he had found this warehouse in his initial search for Incognito. Over the next few days Ranma ignored his growing hunger and slowly weakening body to retrain. He refused to succumb to the urge to go out and slaughter crowds of people so that he could drink the rivers of blood which would inevitably follow the slaughter. As isolated as he was in the warehouse he only had to deal with the growing hunger and the pain of red hot needles piercing his skull and not the distraction of crowds of people testing his restraint.
It was on the forth day that not even training could distract him from the hunger of his weakened body. As he grew weaker he found himself less and less able to resist the growing hunger and the mounting pain in his skull. His body finally gave out in the midst of a mid air manoeuvre causing him land awkwardly.
Groaning in pain and frustration at his weakening will Ranma picked himself up only to find himself standing in the middle of the undamaged and blood soaked Tendo dojo. "Your struggles are amusing but how long will you be able to withstand the blood lust?" Incognito's amused smirk floated before him as he winced in the pain of sharp skewers slowly drilling through his skull. "Even know your body has weakened to that of a feeble mortal. How will you ever get you revenge like this? How much longer can you struggle against the pain?"
"AS LONG AS IT TAKES INCOGNITO!!!" Ranma ground out through his blinding pain and hunger. He watched Incognito's smirk widen in amusement, the vampires red eye widened and his purple tattoo's flared over all the surfaces of the dojo.
"Your ability to withstand compulsion is nothing before my power slave, do you think this is the limit of the pain I can embed into your pitifully weak mind. You have experienced nothing!!"
Ranma screamed as the needles of pain intensified, causing the dojo and Incognito to vanish into the darkness of unconsciousness. "Yes my master," Ranma murmured before finding himself back in the warehouse, the pain which had been building over the last few days had thankfully vanished leaving Ranma with only the gnawing hunger to deal with.
"Dammit, no matter how much I train unless I eat I will never defeat Incognito," Ranma muttered unaware of Incognito's influence on his mind. "I refuse to drink from the citizens of this cursed country; there are hospitals enough to supply me with the blood I need." The sharp pain at the back of Ranma's mind vanished almost as soon as it appeared at the thought of finally sating his hunger.
Leaving the warehouse for the first time since he had arrived four days ago, Ranma made his way to the nearest hospital. It was night time, 'good – I seem to be able to work better at night' he thought, idly noting the full moon in the starless sky. It was a long hike and he had to travel through some of London's less savoury boroughs. 'Heh, weak as I am no gang of human will be able to take me down,' Ranma thought proudly. His skill combined with the now lessened vampiric gifts would be more than enough to take down a few toughs so he wasn't too worried about travelling to the hospital at night.
Moving slowly to conserve his strength, Ranma considered the best way to sneak into the hospital to steal enough blood to sate his hunger. His stealth techniques were all based on the principle of Ki or rather hiding his aura completely, since he lacked all life energy then hiding his aura was no longer an issue since he had none to start with. Regardless, as weak as he was he could not afford to encounter any security since evading and fighting an army of security guards seemed to energy intensive in his weakened state. Ranma stopped and turned slowly upon hearing a few soft impacts behind him.
Three knife wielding men had jumped out of some open windows bordering the dark alley he was moving through. 'Only three, how insulting' Ranma thought superiorly unconsciously mimicking incognito's arrogant look. Although he felt physically weak he knew he cut an imposing figure and felt insulted that these three thought they could take him on. The sound of some more impacts behind him brightened the smile on Ranma's face.
He had been feeling frustrated at the way he had so quickly lost control of the situation here in London. A quick brawl would be just what he needed to restore that sense of control. "Give us yer wallet fool," a man drawled behind him "yer don' wan' us to gut ya." Ranma smirked at the mans confidence, he knew from experience that back alley brawls were far from sure things, he had seen plenty of upsets and contributed to plenty more.
Not even bothering to respond, Ranma flipped over the group of men behind him foiling their attempt to surround him and facing the armed seven assailants down the alley with a eager smile. Leaping into the fray, Ranma back handed the man who had demanded his wallet into the wall and used his momentum to embed his knee into the man standing behind the first victim of Ranma's fury. Ignoring the crunch of grinding bones and cartilage, Ranma used the man to word of the knife attacks of the other men.
Flinging the stabbed and lacerated man to the side, he implanted his foot into the face of a masked man, neatly disarming him and using his knife to impale his unmasked mate. Seeing their leader and three of their fellows so gruesomely and effortlessly put down the other three men fled the ambush site quickly disappearing into the endless maze of alleyways. While adrenaline flooded Ranma's body from the fast skirmish, he knew that he was never in much danger. He was far too fast and skilled for a normal thug to hit.
Allowing his gaze to be drawn to the leader's fallen form, Ranma's eyes hungrily traced the trail of blood which marked the wall he had flung the man against. The hunger which had gnawed at him for days roared to life and time seemed to slow. He watched as the still fresh blood slid down the wall in rivulets like tiny feeders into a great river of blood ending at the mans slumped form at the base of the wall. He wasn't aware that he had been approaching until his tongue lapped at the rough brick wall almost inhaling the coppery liquid.
Once he had finished with the traces of blood on the wall, he moved hungrily to the man's crushed skull which leaked blood like a tap. Revelling in the feeling of the returning strength and clarity of thought he had associated with his vampiric curse Ranma wasn't aware of how he looked surrounded by the slaughtered thugs until he heard Incognito's laughter echo in his mind and realised what he was doing. By then he had already stated his driving hunger and backed deeper into the alley, horrified by his actions.
He had slaughtered a few street thugs and drunk their blood to feed his insatiable appetite, the leader's lifeless corpse looked completely drained. Sure he rationalised, they had been armed but he had outclassed them so much he should have simply breezed past them and onto the hospital. Incognito's words came hauntingly back to him then
"You may struggle against your nature but you will come to enjoy such pastimes."
'Impossible' Ranma thought scrubbing his face of blood as if trying to scour away any evidence of his actions. "Never will I enjoy this!! Never!!"
Fleeing the scene in panic at his actions in the alley, Ranma slowed before changing directions for the warehouse that he had made his temporary home. He had merely defended himself against armed thugs. Outnumbered seven to one had guaranteed that he would have to use more force on them than he would in normal circumstances. Once they were already dead they wouldn't miss the blood he had feed upon. Besides it was all for a cause, Incognito's defeat would save hundreds of lives and families from experiencing what he had.
Feeling better after his rationalisation of events Ranma slowed to a leisurely walk back, enjoying the clear night air and the feeling of strength imbued by the full moon. With his strength returned and his thoughts once again clear Ranma felt able to continue with his training and exploration of whatever he was capable in this new body.
After having spent several days in his new form he had decided that it was no worse than another Jusenkyö curse and decidedly better than that of his former cursed form. Although he had lost access to his great store of Ki he didn't feel disadvantaged, he felt stronger, faster, healthier and he was still male. Only a fight would truelly demonstrate to him the benefits and disadvantages of the vampiric curse.
Sighing happily Ranma felt at peace for the first time since he had arrived in London. He still felt the need to extract revenge from Incognito but he wasn't driven by the passing of time anymore – after all, according to Incognito he had eternity to extract that Revenge.
Grinning ferally, Ranma hauled open the derelict warehouse where he had made his home. He had all eternity to get stronger and when he did meet Incognito in the flesh there would be a reckoning. Thoughts of the Thugs left lying in the alley drained of blood where long forgotten in favour of his plans for the future.
Slamming the warehouse shut Ranma retreated to a darkened corner and assumed a defensive stance. There was someone here, surely Incognito wouldn't have decided to attack him just after he had fed – when he felt strongest. Looking around more carefully Ranma's eyes narrowed, "no – you're dead!! I SAW you die, its impossible."
Ranma clutched his head as the pain of a thousand hot needles once again invaded his brain along with the image of Nabiki tumbling into Incognito's arms as if drawn by some unbreakable chain, her face dazed and unaware of the bloodbath around her.
Incognito smirked at Ranma as if daring him to prevent what he was about to do before biting down noisily and deeply in Nabiki's neck – STOP!!!
"I saw you die!!" he shouted racing up to the young girl and hauling her up by the collar. "You can't be her."
"Hello Ranma," Nabiki winced as his hand cut into her neck cutting of her air supply "glad to see you survived – but then you always do."
Ranma dropped Nabiki watching her gasping for breath at his feet as his recollection of events shattered and all the while al he could hear was Incognito's mocking laughter bouncing around his head.