Disclaimer: If you've gotten this far and haven't gotten the hint that I don't own this stuff, take the Kunos with you as you get some professional help. ;-)
Ranma-chan: female Ranma
P-Genma: Genma in Panda form his signs
C-Shampoo: Shampoo cat form
D-Mousse: Mousse in duck form
'…': denotes thinking
(B-D) : Scene Change!
:-) Flashback (-:
LEO: Low Earth Orbit
The Misadventures of Ryoga and Nabiki
Part 1
Soun had just put the finishing touches on the new contraption as a very nervous Ryoga handed him a screwdriver. He couldn't help but relate with the screws. His mind then wondered to what was going on in front of him. They had just finished their first "father-son" project. They had just attached small, forward facing, wooden chair with arm rests to Ryoga's backpack. Nabiki didn't want to walk the entire trip, so she would sit there giving directions…or at least, that was the plan. Soun was strapping two pillows on the seat and back of the chair as Nabiki came into the room.
"I just got off the phone with Cologne. She's going to help train the others to hold off Team Happi while we're out…looking good, daddy," she said, referring to the ride-on chair.
Soun wiped some sweat from his forehead. "Are you sure you want to do this, Nabiki? You haven't been on a training journey since you were eight."
"For the last time, Daddy, this isn't a training journey. We're just going out to find two things close to town and we'll be back by Tuesday." She grins. "Besides, I have Ryoga here to protect me."
Ryoga began to sweat as Soun continued.
"Ok, you're usually right about things, but I want you to promise me that you'll be extra careful out there."
"I'll be fine, daddy…" She was cut off by a bear hug.
"My little girl's growing up so fast!!!!!"
"Dad….dy…need…air…!"
"Umm, Mr. Tendo? Nabiki's turning colors."
Soun released Nabiki and color returned to her face.
"Ok, " said Nabiki as she caught her breath, "it's really time to go now."
"Oh, Nabiki!" exclaimed Kasumi as she emerged from the kitchen. "Don't forget these."
She handed her a compass and a bag of some kind of food.
"The compass I can understand, but what is…"
"It's some trail mix I made for you after we finished our…talk last night."
Nabiki caught on to the coded message.
"I see. Thanks, sis. I'll see you guys in a few days."
sob "Goodbye, Nabiki," cried Soun. "Please be safe."
Kasumi simply kept her hand on her father's shoulder and waved goodbye. Nabiki and Ryoga waved back before turning the corner. At last, all preparations were complete. Finally, they were on their way on their incredible journey. All that had to be done now was find out where the heck Ryoga just went.
"Nabiki!" She turned in the direction of her name and jogged back to the front gate. Kasumi pointed to the other side of the door. She looked around and found Ryoga looking every which way wondering where Nabiki went, while being seemingly trapped between the wrong side of the open door and the wall. Nabiki sighed as she grabbed Ryoga by the back of his shirt and nearly dragged him behind her. Of course, she had expected this to happen, but not before they had actually left the grounds.
After a few minutes of walking with her dragging him by the hand, they stopped at a store.
"Wait here. I'll be right back. Don't move a muscle, not even your lungs."
He held his breath as Nabiki went into the store. Doing his best imitation of a statue, he soon realized that she mustn't have meant the lungs part. Exhaling in relief, he relaxed.
'Man, this isn't going to be easy. I'm sure Mr. Tendo didn't tell her about last night…oh man, what am I going to do?'
"Ryoga, what's going on?"
He looked around to see Akane next to him. He doesn't notice the lack of a background.
"Oh, Akane…hi."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Wha…tell you what?"
"I had no idea, Ryoga, but if you feel that way about my sister, then at least you'll still be in my life…as my brother-in-law."
"Huh? What? No, that's not it!"
"Its ok, Ryoga. I'll just go be with Ranma, then."
"NNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Suddenly Ranma appeared with his arm around Akane. Ryoga started running after them, but they remained barely out of his reach, despite the fact that they're just standing there. "No, Akane, come back!!!!!!!!"
"…stop…running…"
Ryoga stops for a moment.
"Who's there?"
He just now noticed that he was in the forest, no longer in town, and no longer with Nabiki.
"Huh? What happened?" He slowly turns around to absorb his surroundings…although he never was very absorbent. "WHERE ON EARTH AM I NOOOOOOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Maybe if you stop moving, I can tell you."
This startled Ryoga, as he spun around in a defensive stance, only to hear someone land hard on the ground to his right. He turned again, this time to find Nabiki on the ground rubbing her rear.
"I told you not to move…ow."
"Um…"
"You had me hanging on to that chair for dear life with you running all over Nerima like that!" Ryoga cringed. "Next time I tell you don't move, don't you dare move, you got that?" He nodded vigorously. "Good, now help me up, will ya'?"
He helped her to her feet, surprising her a little with his strength. She dusted herself off and took in her surroundings…doing a much better job than Ryoga did. She started to pull out the map, and then stopped and pulled out some rope instead out of the shopping bag she managed to hold on to.
"What's that for?" he asked while she tied one end of the rope to his left wrist.
"This," she started as she finished tying the first end, "is to make sure," she started to tie the other end to her left wrist, "that we don't get separated again," as she finished tying the rope.
Ryoga looked curiously at the rope as Nabiki carefully mounted the onboard chair on his backpack using an improvised foothold that Soun had installed.
"But what if one of us has to go to the bathroom?"
"That, Ryoga-baby, is why I got us a 100-foot rope," she answered as she studied the map and compass. "It'll give us both some privacy."
"Oh," was all he could find to respond with.
"Ok, looks like we need to head about five miles northeast from here…figures you'd bury this stuff in the middle of almost uncharted forest far away from most civilization."
"Well, Master Chengensan said that they shouldn't be near any cities."
Nabiki facefaulted. "Whoa, hold on…" He stopped. "Master who?"
"Master Chengensan."
Nabiki's hand slapped her forehead. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"What?"
"Chengensan just happens to be one of Happosai's best friends."
Now it was Ryoga's turn to face fault.
"What? Well, that would explain why we buried them all at secluded all-women hot springs…"
Nabiki just buried her face in her hands for a few minutes.
(B-D)
What a long and exhausting day. They had finally set up camp and sitting in front of the campfire. Nabiki had wrapped a blanket around her silently thanking God that it was late spring and not cold. Ryoga was on the opposite side of the fire trying desperately to figure out how to bring up the topic. After a while, the silence was finally broken.
"So, um…nice weather tonight, isn't it?" started Nabiki.
"Yeah, it's ok…a little cloudy, though."
"Oh, that reminds me…I forgot to read that note Kasumi gave me."
Ryoga managed to calm his heart as she started to go through her things. Mental note: don't mention clouds or rain. Soon she was reading a note as Ryoga watched the dancing fire. Nothing much going on, just the two of them. Soon the song Just the Two of Us started playing in his head. Shaking it out, he glanced up at Nabiki only to meet her eyes. The campfire giving her an unusual yet seemingly suitable "I'm a demon from hell" look to her face. Ryoga gulped audibly. That was her cue to begin.
"You know, Ryoga, I've been wondering…why is it that you're always fighting with Ranma?"
"Well," he started, wondering where to start, "Because of him…"
"…you've seen hell, I know. You say that every other time you fight him. I'm just curious as to why."
Now Ryoga started to think, going over all the pain and misery that Ranma had caused for him.
"You wouldn't understand. Nobody does."
"Oh really?" she smirked. "I'm thinking it's because of how Ranma treats Akane, isn't it?" This snapped him out of his wallowing. "What, you think nobody else notices?" He shrugged as she looked a little to her left. "I don't like it, either." This shocked Ryoga halfway to kingdom come. The scourge of Nerima, the Ice Queen Mercenary that had betrayed her family once for 10,000 yen, who had sold out Ranma countless times, was actually starting to open up to him. He didn't know how to handle this, thinking that he was one of maybe two living people on earth that she would trust like that. "Don't you just hate it when someone does something that just angers you to your very core?"
"Nabiki, I had no idea. I thought I was the only one that really cared for how Akane feels about Ranma's abuse. You're right, though. What he does to Akane is maddening. I try to avenge her, but he's just too strong sometimes. I mean, she tries to reach out to him, but he keeps insulting her every time. He's just a big jerk to everyone."
"Then why do you do that to her?"
"Because…huh?"
"Why do you abuse my sister the way you do?"
Classic Nabiki verbal trap #3. Ryoga shook his head, hoping beyond hope that she wasn't talking about what he thought. He treaded carefully, this being the only subject that he actually thought about before speaking.
"How, or why would I abuse Akane?"
"That's what I'm asking you, P-Chan."
A flash of anger passed across Ryoga's face, quickly followed by fear, which was quickly covered with his actually impressive poker face.
"Don't call me that…I get enough grief from Ranma calling me that…um…"
Nabiki was gently dangling a glass of cool water just to the right of her serious face.
"I'm not as dense and naïve as my sister, Ryoga. I finally caught on to all the clues Ranma was dropping during every…single…encounter that you two have had since you showed up at our doorstep. I didn't want to believe it, but eventually I had it confirmed myself a while ago. I've been wanting to…what's the right word for this…confront you about this for a long time, but decided to see if Akane would finally figure it out." Her face softened a little as she broke eye contact with the Lost Boy. "Thanks to Kuno, then later Ranma, she doesn't trust the word of a man that much anymore. She tries, but not as often as she used to." She again made eye contact, showing some sadness in her eyes despite the seriousness of the rest of her face. "She considers you a friend, yet you abuse her trust be pretending to be her pet. You claim that you love her…"Ryoga's eyes went wide. "Yes, I know you have a crush on Akane, that's obvious, but her anger clouds her judgment and perception. That's why she hasn't noticed yet." She paused for a moment. "You know…I'm almost glad Cologne lost that fight. It's given my family a little break from all the chaos, I've made a near fortune by helping to break off one of Ranma's engagements, and it set things up to finally talk to you without any interruptions." She narrowed her eyes. "I want some answers, Ryoga, and depending on how truthful you are will determine how far this goes."
Ryoga regarded the woman across the fire carefully. He knew that this would be a rough conversation to say the absolute least. He had merely hoped that Nabiki wouldn't be the judge and jury, already knowing in advance who the executioner would be. He sighed in defeat once again as Nabiki's winning streak continued.
"You know, I was hoping that I would have this talk with Akane once I was finally able to defeat Ranma, but that doesn't seem to want to happen anytime soon. I try everything I can to beat him, but he always comes up with a way to beat me. I've always…no, not hate, but admired…no, more like impressed by that ability. There was nothing on my mind except how I was going to beat the living hell out of him. But that night changed everything. When Akane protected me from Ranma while in my cursed form, I had never met a girl that strong before. And then…" :-) flashback to Akane holding P-Chan for the first time, not only calling him but naming him cute, and that quick, yet life-changing kiss on the snout (-: "That was the first time I'd ever been kissed by a girl." He glanced back at Nabiki, seeing that every iota of her attention was still on him. So much for the usual falling asleep antics. He continued. "My biggest regret was that my first kiss was as a pig instead of a man. I've agonized for over a year about when the perfect moment to tell her my secret, but every time that moment came, something would mess things up. I was either too nervous or I was facing the wrong way or I was in the wrong city. The one true chance I had to tell her was when my dog had puppies and Akane came over to my house. My one real chance to finally tell her…"his aura started to glow, surprising Nabiki, "but that idiot Ranma had to stick his nose into it." He calmed himself a little, much to the relief of Nabiki, as he tried to hold back the tears. "For a guy who claims not to love her, he's just so…so…"
"Protective?" she finally said, snapping Ryoga's eyes back to hers.
"Yes, he's so darn protective of her. Why?" His fist started shaking as a few tears finally break through. "Why doesn't he just let us be…?"
Nabiki had been watching the whole scene, watching for his body language to see whether or not this was an act.
"So why do you pretend to be P-chan?"
He opens his eyes and looks Nabiki in the eye. "I love her, Nabiki, I can't deny that. I'm shy, I get nervous when I'm around her, and my resolve and self-discipline crumbles, but I guess since I have to be open about this, I guess…I'm just…too ashamed to tell her…"
"You know full well that it'll get worse the longer you wait," Nabiki said softly.
"I know. Ideally I would've waited until I was cured, then I'd tell Akane to her face how I feel about her, regardless of what Ranma would do. You saw what happened when I had my hands on that waterproof soap, right? I had her in my arms, I was THAT close! But it was only temporary. Afterwards I kept searching, but haven't found not even a clue to this curse."
"So what you're saying is that you're too much of coward to tell her the truth, and that if she ever finds out you'll lose any chance you might have had to win her love, right?"
Ryoga hung his head in despair as his aura flashed dark blue, making visible several shadows on his person. Nabiki sat up as she noticed these shadows and tried to watch them carefully, but they disappeared when his aura faded once again. She made a mental note about that as he replied.
"I know. In fact I know that fact all too well. That's actually what powers my Shi Shi Hokudon. I have to live with my demons until I can make things right again. Somehow I doubt that fate would allow me to do that."
With that last statement, Ryoga slumped down, emotionally drained, and yet had an unusual feeling of relief of finally sharing what was most important to him. Nabiki leaned back, digesting his story. She knew that he was a terrible liar, and she could tell that he wasn't lying. Her mind was already piecing things together everything. She thought for a few moments before speaking again.
"First of all, let me thank you for telling me the truth. I know it wasn't easy for you. Heck, it wasn't easy for me to hear it, but I do appreciate you not making me force it out of you. We still have about another fifty miles before we get to the fishing pole, which means that we'll still be out here for a while, so I'll put this discussion on hold for the night. This isn't over, yet, far from it, but at least we're on a good start. Let's get some sleep so we can navigate tomorrow."
Ryoga merely nodded his head in agreement as they got up and went into their respective tents. Nabiki made sure that the rope, which still attached them at the wrist, would not go anywhere near the fire.
(B-D)
Overlooking the forest on a high cliff stood a silhouette, the person's identity obscured by the campfire behind it. The person saw another campfire in a small clearing below and was about to dismiss it when he noticed an unusually strong aura flare up for a second. It was brief, so brief that he almost missed it. After concentrating for another few minutes, he was about to give up when the aura flared up again, although this time a different emotion. Interesting, perhaps finally his art can truly be put to the test. The person went back to the tent and replaced a CD in the stereo and put in some odd yet soothing sleeping music. The person disappeared into the tent. If one were to listen to the music, however, one would think that someone was playing some kind of game.
(B-D)
Meanwhile, back in Nerima…
They remained kneeling as their master paced before them. They kept their heads lowered to avoid eye contact, a difficult task. They knew what had happened…they had failed, and because of that, Happi was not very happy.
"What happened out there? Everything was going according to plan. Akane was occupied and Ukyo's shirt was almost OFF!" He wipes the drool off his mouth. "Sanzenin, how did you lose Akane?"
"I'm sorry, grand master, but a man named Kuno managed to hold me off…"
"Enough. Taro, explain to me how a girl managed to defeat the 'Terror of China?'"
"I was not defeated. I caught a projectile and next thing I knew I was paralyzed. All I saw were black rose pe…"
"Silence. Ok, we have things covered with just Akane and Mousse, but now I see that we'll have to deal with the Kunos as well. Time for a change in battlefield, boys. On Monday, we're going to school."
(B-D)
Ukyo and Akane, who were shortly joined by Mousse, had finally returned to the Cat Café. Ukyo is still shaken up by her close call, but managed to tough it out, what with her customers' lives at stake.
"I still think you should've let me cook in your place while you recovered."
"No thanks, Akane. You know what they say, 'cooking is good for the soul.'"
"She has a point, Akane. Some people heal in different ways than others. You like to crush various objects, she saves her customers lives…ooppss."
Akane growled at Mousse, who knew what was coming.
"Hey, guys. How'd things go?" interjected an unusually cheerful Ranma-chan.
Seeing Akane caught off balance from Ranma's demeanor, Mousse responded, "Not that great. They were attacked on their way to Ukyo's."
"What!"
"It's ok," replied Ukyo. "It was a close call, but…I'm fine."
"Um, Ucchan, I hate to say it, but you don't look okay. Are you sure you're fine?" She couldn't even meet her eyes, so she simply bolted up the stairs. "Ucchan!" And Ranma-chan gave chase, leaving Akane and Mousse alone.
"Um, Akane?" She glared at him for a moment. Mousse put up his hands. "Whoa, hey, I just wanted to ask…how did you guys get away from Happosai's gang? That's mighty impressive by any account." This deflated Akane's temper enough not to get pulverized for the next few seconds.
"Well, I wish I could say it was just us, but they picked me off pretty quick…" she made a shaking fist. "Next time I see that Mikado…"
"I see. So you fought Mikado while Ukyo took on Taro and Copycat Ken?"
"No, Ken wasn't around. Actually, it was the Kunos that saved us. Kuno saved me from Mikado and held him off while Kodachi knocked out Taro and saved Ukyo…but why in the world is Kodachi helping us?"
"Oh, you must not know what happened earlier this week."
Akane arched an eyebrow. "What happened?"
Mousse then filled her in on the terminated engagement of Kodachi and Ranma.
(B-D)
Meanwhile, Shampoo was finally catching up on her new favorite American show, Invader Zim, when she noticed movement by the door. She glanced at the door for a second, then saw Ranma-chan run by. Wondering what was going on, she got up and walked after him.
"Ranma, what going on here?"
"Ukyo's inside. They were attacked this mourning and the freak almost got her." Shampoo gasped. "I know. I just asked if she was okay and she just ran up here and shut herself in your room…I guess this is your room, too, right?"
"Yes, and Shampoo have key too."
She unlocked the door and they entered a dark room. Shampoo turned on a lamp and found Ukyo rolled into a fetal position on her futon. Ranma-chan leapt to her as Shampoo merely rushed to her side.
Ranma-chan put a hand on Ukyo's shoulder. "Ucchan, are you alright?" only sobbing could be heard. "Ucchan, please, say something."
"So close…" she whispered, "he was so close…" and her body convulsed with a sob.
"Ucchan, don't worry. He didn't get you. You're OK now." Ranma-chan was now trying to hold Ukyo so that she could see him eye to eye.
"Ranma right. You with friends now. You safe here."
"But…he…"
"He won't here, Ucchan. No matter what happens, we'll be here for you."
Ukyo sniffed and managed to open her eyes. She saw Ranma's determined face of support. She glanced at Shampoo, who also had a determined face on.
"You're really serious? sniff Both of you?"
Ranma-chan and Shampoo looked each other in the eye. Then Ranma-chan replied, "Of course we're serious. You're my best friend, and I can tell you and Shampoo have become better friends, too. You know I'm always there for my friends."
Ukyo looked Ranma-chan deep into her eyes, and then stared deep into Shampoo's eyes. The caring and concern flowed from both their souls and she felt it. Again, she broke down crying, grabbing onto Ranma-chan for dear life, but this time she began to find comfort in her arms. She opened her eyes again when she felt another air of arms wrap around her. Shampoo had joined to comfort her new friend. Ukyo smiled a little as she closed her eyes once again and cried herself to sleep; the fact the Shampoo shared this moment causing no hard feelings whatsoever.
Ranma-chan, however, found herself in a weird position. After several minutes, Ukyo was asleep with an impressively strong grip around him. Even Shampoo found that she was stuck, unable to remove her arms from between the others, so she shrugged and began to drift off to sleep, too. Ranma-chan noticed this and tried in vain to get her attention without waking Ukyo. Her legs asleep, she fell to the floor, the two girls sleeping in a tangled mess around her and no way out. Ranma-chan didn't just resign to her fate, however, but instead found a renewed faith in God and prayed all night long that nobody else would see this. God smiled and told Murphy not to apply her law on the household until mourning.
(B-D)
"Ok, we need to go 3 o'clock."
Ryoga looked at the watch Nabiki lent him to see which direction to go. Of course, as he looked down and tried to go in that direction, instead he went in the 8 o'clock direction, which was exactly where Nabiki wanted him to go. She had somehow managed to learn a pattern of his sense of direction, although she was ready to switch tactics once his sense of direction adapted. She found that this was one of the hardest codes that she ever attempted to crack, and she didn't want to do this again. She was mentally exhausted from trying to figure out how to steer him in the right direction, so she didn't bring up any other topic other than directions. Ryoga, on the other hand, was still agonizing over how to bring up the topic of their supposed engagement, but by noon had decided to wait till they set up camp that night. Throughout the day, he kept thinking that he heard some kind of music in the distance, but quickly dismissed it. Lunchtime finally hit and they stopped for a while to eat. Nabiki somehow produced some McDonald's food while Ryoga had two cups of instant noodles. Finally, he could dismiss it no more.
"Hey, do you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
They both stopped eating and listened to their surroundings. Just nature with a light beat, was all.
"I hear a light beat, but that's it…a beat…in the middle of the wilderness?"
"That'll be a first for me, too, Nabiki."
"Let's hurry up and finish so we can keep going. We should be able to reach that hot spring by dusk if we can keep this pace."
They were finished and cleaned up in five minutes and promptly left. About twenty minutes later, someone came upon their lunch site.
"Hmm, ok, they were here, alright…" as he picked up a McD's hamburger wrapper. "Where the heck did they find a Miccy D's out here? Heck with it, I'm not too far behind. I should be able to catch up to them well before dusk at this rate. Finally, an actual challenge…I hope."
He put the wrapper in his pocket of his large tan backpack and continued to follow Ryoga and Nabiki.
(B-D)
"We're almost there," said Nabiki as she glanced at the map again, then to her watch. "Ok, it's about 5:00, so…
"Ok."
"Whoa, no! Wait!" He stopped turning. "I was saying what time it was, not which way to go.
"Sorry."
"Ok, now turn to the right…" he slowly turns left. "Okaaayyyyy…stop. Now forward…good, we're in the right direction again."
"Glad to hear it…you know that music's getting louder, right?"
"It is?" She listened again. "Hmm, I've been concentrating so much on directions that I didn't even notice."
"It's been behind us for hours, now, and I think it's getting closer. It did stop for a minute, then came back with a faster beat."
"…hello…"
"Did you hear that?"
"Yeah, that time. He must have finally caught up. I really hope he doesn't want to fight."
"Why not? I could use a workout."
"Carrying me and all my stuff plus your own backpack isn't a workout for you?" she asked, mildly impressed.
"Heh, I kinda hardly noticed the extra weight. You aren't that heavy to begin with."
"Flattery will get you a slight reprieve tonight."
"Greetings!"
"Oh boy, here we go," deadpanned Nabiki as she disembarked her onboard chair.
Finally, the music was loud enough for everyone to hear, but was turned down as the person came into view. He was easy to spot with his orange vest. He also wore black pants and a gray t-shirt with the words "Innocent Bystander" across his chest. He was a tall 6'1", had a large build, and seemed to be an African-American in his early twenties. He placed his backpack on the ground and turned off his stereo, which was strapped to the top part of his pack.
"I'm glad I was finally able to catch up with you."
"So you did," replied Nabiki. "So, what was so important that you followed us half the day?"
"Straight to the point, I see. Well, you kinda left this back where you had lunch." He tossed something to Nabiki, who just barely caught it. She facefaulted when she recognized her hamburger wrapper. "I just wanted to know where you found a McDonald's in the middle of nowhere?"
"You've got to be kidding me."
"I am," he said with a smirk, annoying Nabiki to the next level. "Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke. Anyway, the real reason why I followed you was to challenge you to a duel. No stakes, just for fun. I noticed your aura last night from a distance and thought you may be a challenge."
"Sure, I need a light workout, anyway," replied Ryoga. 'He has no idea who he's dealing with.'
"Oh, so I guess Duel Monsters is out then. Good, cause I wanted to fight, too…" the two look at him in confusion. "It's a card game…never mind."
"Who are you, anyway?" asked a mildly irritated Nabiki.
"Heh, I'm sorry. I am Guy Bogard Hyabusa, of the next generation of the Old School Fighting Gamer's School of Martial Arts."
Ryoga and Nabiki just gawked at him.
"Were you on your way to Nerima to challenge Ranma?" asked Nabiki.
"Where?"
"Never mind, I guess crazy martial arts styles aren't just around home, I guess."
Guy shrugged. "So, may I have your names?"
"I'm Ryoga Hibiki, and this is Nabiki Tendo. We're just taking a walk, is all."
"Ha! A walk? You're like fifty miles from the nearest town. You guys are funny. I like you."
Nabiki held her forehead as Ryoga put his pack on the ground.
"So," he said, cracking his knuckles, "Are we going to do this?"
"Hey, Ryoga-baby, we don't really have time for this."
"Don't worry," replied Guy, "This won't take too long. My fights follow the rules of the old school fighting games, or at least as much as practically possible. We do 3 rounds of 30 seconds each, or just one fight at 99 seconds. Whoever's the most beaten up at the end loses. A 'K.O.' of course wins."
"What the?"
"Don't worry, the fighting music will stop when time's up, so we don't go over…"
"What kind of rules are these?"
"Ones that keep the fights short, non-lethal, and fun." With that he walked over to his backpack and put in another CD and hit play. A jazz remix of the character select screen from Street Fighter II started playing as he got in his stance. "Ok, once the stage music starts playing, the fight begins. We'll do the one round, 99 second fight. Ready?"
Ryoga got in a ready stance, wondering what was going to happen next. Suddenly a remix of M. Bison's music from the first SF2 game started playing loudly and Guy jumped toward Ryoga. Slightly distracted by the music, he didn't jump up to meet him. Guy did a flip and landed right in front of him as he shouted "Final Fight Guy Combo!" and threw three quick jabs, followed by a left back punch, followed by a right elbow, and finished with a spinning roundhouse kick. Only the kick got through, knocking Ryoga back a few steps. They both grinned.
"Believe it or not, most people can't block that."
"As you'll soon see, I'm not most people."
"I was hoping for that."
This time Ryoga rushed in, throwing several punches and kicks, surprising Guy as he was struggling to block and dodge them all. On his last punch, Guy managed to duck under it, grab his shirt, and performed SF2's Ken's rolling leg throw and launched Ryoga into a tree. They both got back to their feet and stared at each other.
"Wow, you're a heckofa lot more durable than anybody else I've fought."
"Heh, you ain't seen nothing yet."
"Good, cause its time for some special attacks."
"Huh?"
Guy held up his fist as it started to smoke. "FATAL FURY ATTACK, BURN KNUCKLE!"
"Whoa!" he exclaimed as he saw the attach coming a mile away, but was surprised at how fast it came at him.
"Finally, someone I can go all out on! Let's go with a gamer's classic. OLD SCHOOL FIGHTING GAMER'S STYLE CHANGE, STREET FIGHTER II!"
"Okaaayyy."
Suddenly Guy was in the air again, this time about to land on Ryoga's head. He tried to block, but then found the heel of Guy's foot in his face, and again, and again near the back of his head as Guy went over (classic Chun Li heel kick). Ryoga staggered for a second shaking it off as Guy turned around.
"TATSUMAKI SENPUU KYAKU!" Guy connected with every hit from the classic hurricane kick, and Ryoga staggered again. "SHORYUKEN!" Ryoga was knocked up several meters from the ground and landed with a not-so-pleasant thud. Nabiki winced at that last attack. Guy turned around to see his opponent on the ground. "Wow, is that game?" It was faint at first, but then both could hear the laughing as Ryoga slowly rose to his feet. "Oh, crud, since when did you learn Gill's Resurrection?"
"Ha, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I barely felt those attacks!"
"What? You can't be serious!"
"I am."
"Oy vey. Alright then, take this, HADOUKEN!"
Ryoga's eyes went wide as he saw the chi ball going straight at him. Thinking that a chi blast had to be charged first, he reacted just barely too slow and Guy got a head shot in.
"Ouch, sorry, I wasn't aiming for your head."
"It's ok…" said a dazed Ryoga. "I've had…worse…"
"Ok, time to finish this. The round's almost over…whoa!"
Guy barely dodged several bandanas that Ryoga had thrown. He threw another, this time larger barrage. Guy knew he couldn't dodge them all.
"NEXT GEN FIGHTING GAMER'S SMASH BROTHERS ATTACK, GAME & WATCH SAUSAGE RAIN!"
Guy pulled out a frying pan and started tossed smoking sausages into the air. Ryoga and Nabiki watched in shock as the sausages actually stopped all of the bandanas.
"How in the…?" started Nabiki.
"I gotta admit, I didn't expect that to work, either," replied Guy.
"Hey, wait a minute!" exclaimed Nabiki. "How can you claim to be 'old school' and use a next generation attack?"
"Perceptive. Like I said, I'm the next generation of the Old School Fighting Gamers. My generation has incorporated the next gen fighting games into our style."
"I still don't know what you're talking about, but I think this fight's over."
"Huh?"
Sure enough, the music had ended.
"Oh man, well, since I got more hits in, I think I'm the winner."
"What! How can you say that when I'm barely even hurt, not to mention I got a few good hits in on you, too."
"This is why they never should've gotten rid of the points system."
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!"
"Ok, how about a rematch, then?" CRUSH! "AARRRHHHG!"
Guy's scream echoed in the forest as he found himself unconscious under the sheer weight of the Near-Undodgable Hammer of Clobbering™. Ryoga jumped back in shock as Nabiki replaced the hammer to its proper dimension.
"Wha…?"
"Never mind that, let's get going. We've wasted enough time here already. Get your pack and put that rope back on."
"…Um, ok," he said, still wondering how Nabiki was able to use Akane's mallet.
They got their stuff together and walked off, leaving Guy in the capable hands of Mother Nature. Later, as a stray woodchuck sniffed at Guy's face, he woke up. Looking at the time on his stereo, he'd been out for about fifteen minutes.
"Freaking OW, man!" he exclaimed while holding his head. "Man, that was a heckofa cheap shot. Where the heck did she get Mario's Hammer from, anyway? Ok, calm down." A deep breath is taken. "Ok, desired effect achieved. Good. Man, that guy was good, darn strong, too. I can't believe he didn't feel some of that. Ok, time to figure out how to make all of my moves stronger, then. Next time, Ryoga, you'll feel my attacks, and I'll have a nice little discussion with you, Nabiki, about cheapshots. Let's see, it was Nerima, right? Yeah…" And Guy walks off in a random direction talking to himself about how to improve his techniques, forgetting to turn on his music. Of course, he was also walking in the same direction as the other couple.
(B-D)
Wow, that was fun. Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Ok, running out of time, so I'll answer some reviews:
a: I'm really glad you liked it. I never believed that Kasumi was oblivious. As they say, it's the quiet ones you gotta watch out for.
Dark1: I'm glad you like the story too, but I must remind you that the regular rules of the Ranmaverse still apply, which means I can't kill anybody, not even Akane. However, they do allow for a fate worse than death. Read FJH to see what I mean.
Thanks again and I'll try to update again in a couple of weeks. :-)
© Den Scurman 2004 (just the story and maybe Guy)
