Two Years Later
Ranma was older now, stronger, and had, in both forms, grown in many ways. Which mostly just annoyed him.
It's been about three months since the wedding fiasco. He didn't really want to marry Akane. He liked her. He might be tripping with her if she'd ever cool her jets, you know what I'm saying, but she blows her top way often, yo.
…
(please excuse the temporary lapse into ghetto-fabulous speak)
…
Anyway, Ranma was sitting in his room, alone. It had been one of those days that Ranma has come to worship. Long, boring days where no one would attack him and Akane wouldn't try to cave in his skull that much.
So far, he's had about an hour to himself. He couldn't stop thinking about his battle with Saffron. He mentally slapped himself every time that he remembered the end of that fight.
Flashback: Two Months Ago
Saffron couldn't believe his eyes. This… this mortal…
The finishing blow hadn't been dealt just yet, and Saffron could now plainly see the boy for the first time in several minutes. The smoke from the brimstone and ash had been blocking him from any detailed kind of view for a while now.
Saffron now knew… that he was severely screwed.
"No…" Saffron stared at the boy, "It couldn't be…"
Ranma was floating there, still in the air because of the Hiryu Shoten Ha. His eyes were cold and calculating, hiding the fact that he was extremely pissed off.
"No!" Saffron flung a humungous fireball at the boy. He started to feel at ease as Ranma disappeared from view. He would never survive that attack.
Saffron's world suddenly erupted into pain. His eyes zipped down to his chest. Ice now pierced him strait through. The fireball that he had fired split into pieces around Ranma's final attack.
Saffron glanced back at Ranma before succumbing to the darkness. Or actually, he glanced back at what Ranma had become.
Cologne stared at the sight before her. The others had ducked back into an alcove to avoid the falling debris. Shampoo was currently yelling at Cologne to try and get her to get in the alcove as well.
Cologne was the only one that had seen it. She, because she hadn't entered the alcove, was also the only one that could currently see it now.
Several large rocks slammed into the ground nearby, but she did not move nor speak.
A being stood in the ash and brimstone. It was tall and had something like a belt flapping behind it. It was looking around to get it bearings. The ash cleared a small bit, and Cologne's eye widened.
Ranma caught sight of Cologne staring at him. His eyes narrowed into a harsh glare and he ran back into the ashy mist.
End Flashback
Ranma chided himself again. Cologne had seen him. And he had lost his control in the fight with Saffron.
He had been desperate. His strength draining too fast. He would have had to been desperate to use what he had used. And it might end up destroying him.
He also knew that if he hadn't used what he did, Akane would have certainly died that day, and probably him with her.
But no, she lived. Ranma had saved her.
And Akane still treated him the same as she had before. Like a possession that no one else was allowed to touch. And her punching bad that she could beat up at any time.
Ranma sighed, glancing up at the few blonde strands of hair that had dislodged itself from his pigtail and was dangling in front of his face.
The wedding fiasco. God… that had been a nightmare.
"God damn it," Ranma muttered.
Ukyo had attacked, Shampoo had attacked; Ryoga, Mousse, and Happosai made damn sure that he wasn't cured of his damn curse; Nodoka had nearly been killed, Akane flipped, Genma and Soun almost went biblical on his ass. Ranma was tired of it.
Damn it, he wasn't even a part of Genma's family. Nodoka… he had accepted Nodoka. Although the woman was slightly off and still a little bit psychotic, she was quite nice to him. She… she didn't treat him as a son though. A close friend, but not a son.
Ranma shook his head. He felt oddly comforted that Nodoka didn't really treat him like a son. He… he didn't really have any friends besides those two perverts at school, and even they're avoiding him now.
Genma, for all Ranma cared, he could rot. Die and rot. He had seen Genma as a possible… father figure, up until the Neko-ken incident. After that, he completely stopped calling Genma father or 'pop' or anything like that. Genma was 'Genma', 'Saotome', or 'Old Fool'. Usually 'Old Fool'.
He was pretty sure that the back draft of all the recent messes was gonna hit him, and hit him HARD. Too much shit lately has gone unanswered. He could already see Akane's patience (what little there is) wearing thin.
Hmph, usually it doesn't 'wear' at all. It's either ON or OFF. No middle ground, and it seemed awfully opinionated about whom she is patient with… or more accurately, who she ISN'T.
Ranma shivered. A tingle arched up his spine. It disappeared a few moments later.
Ranma sighed. He turned to the door.
Which, as if on cue, opened to reveal an annoyed Akane.
"Get up," She said, her voice dripping with venom, "Time for school."
"Good," Ranma said simply. He walked over towards her. She was now even more annoyed (due to his simple answer) and was also slightly confused.
Heh, although he usually pays for it, confusing Akane happens to be his favorite pastime activity. It's right next to eating seeds.
Ranma strolled into the courtyard that was in front of the school. He glanced around. Nothing unusual.
He then listened and breathed deep.
A small clinking sound. Shampoo is about half a mile away coming in fast on her bicycle.
The rich smell of pine and topsoil, also the same misplaced smell of wet dog. Ryoga, not far off.
A set of footsteps coming closer and the shuffling of something on the ground. Kuno.
Another, slightly different clinking sound, and a satisfying SHING. Ukyo, having just pulled out her Spatula.
A hell of a lot of metallic sounds. Most definitely Mousse.
Roses. And chemicals. Lotsa chemicals. A small chuckle. Kodachi.
A slightly louder chuckle and a distant yell of 'what a haul, what a haul'. Happosai coming in from behind the school.
The small sound of grinding teeth. Akane was about to snap.
Also, a small voice, saying, "Damn Pervert doesn't even wash the dirt out of his hair."
Ranma glanced evilly at Akane. She caught it.
"What are you looking at?" She growled.
"It isn't dirt, you tomboy," Ranma said back, his voice just as cold, "I have spotted hair. I CAN'T wash it out."
Akane was angry. And, of course, confused. She couldn't believe that he had caught what she said.
Akane whipped out her mallet. Ranma let it impact him. He took the force of the blow and flowed with it, softening the still painful strike. He flew backwards before rolling and standing some ways away from Akane, who was now even more confused.
The first to reach his location was Shampoo, easily going sixty on her bike. He whirled around and grabbed the front wheel just before it impacted him. The wheel instantly stopped and the bike buckled, sending Shampoo flying over his head and away from him. She impacted the concrete HARD and was knocked unconscious.
Ranma kicked the bike and it snapped in half.
The next was Mousse. He had seen Shampoo go flying and had doubled his speed.
"DAMN YOU RANMA!" Mousse yelled as he shot weapons out at him.
Ranma diverted all of them, not even caring to attempt to dodge. Except the last one, one of Mousse's chains. He gripped it, and used it to whirl Mousse in a while circle before hurling him.
He winced slightly as the weapons, for some reason, started to burn him slightly as he touched it. That always happened.
Mousse effectively slammed head on into Kodachi. Ranma would later say that that was an 'accident'.
Ryoga was next, and with him came Ukyo. Ukyo was trying to fend off Ryoga, but often times almost hit Ranma. Ranma snapped a foot into Ryoga's stomach. It staggered him a little, but didn't really affect him.
The other fifty kicks delivered at near Arimuriken speed did. Ryoga flew a few yards away, leaving Ranma to dodge Ukyo's hug.
This, of course, confused Ukyo.
"KNAVE!"
For once, Kuno had foregone his idiotic speeches and attacked without warning (although the yell of 'KNAVE' was pretty good of a warning). This was mainly because he slightly believed that Ukyo was under his 'spell' as well.
Ranma lashed up and grabbed the bokken in mid swing. He used the downward momentum to jerk the bokken from Kuno's grip. He then, utilizing Kuno's confusion, slammed it full strength on the side of Kuno's head. He flew quite a ways away, unconscious.
Ranma didn't expect water to pour on him though, although… with Happosai coming, he should have.
She also should have expected Happosai latching onto her now feminine breasts.
"GET OFF!" She roared at him. She violently shoved him deep into the ground.
A small ways away, Cologne watched. She sighed, Ranma was about to explode. Finally. The poor boy was smart as hell, but a bit dense, and lacked common sense. She had wondered when he was going to get fed up and go on a 'rampage'. She just hoped nobody was hurt too badly.
Except the Kuno's. They're idiots.
Ranma's rage, however, was leaving her blind to several other things that were happening around her. Ryoga had recovered, as had Mousse. And Akane had finally snapped out of her confusion.
Ranma's head flew backwards as a very strong and very painful blow hit her right in the forehead.
The blow from Ryoga easily lifted her a few feet into the air. She landed on her feet though, and instantly went into an attack on Ryoga.
Ryoga started to sweat nervously. Ranma… wasn't supposed to be this strong, or this fast!
Maybe it was because she was pissed.
Ranma didn't notice but Ryoga was showing abilities that he himself shouldn't have. They were both at about twice the speed that they normally said was their top speed.
Cologne watched the two fight, silently amazed at Ranma's speed, and visibly surprised that Ryoga could almost match it.
Could… could Ryoga be the same?
Ryoga finally became flustered in his attempts to block or dodge (which were rarely successful) the gruesome attacks.
Ranma didn't see Akane as she lifted her now bigger than ever mallet above her head. She soon realized that she was there because of the brutal impact on the top of her head. The impact staggered her quite a lot, but didn't force her to the ground.
"RANMA!" Akane yelled in anger, "STOP PICKING ON RYOGA!"
Akane stepped back, loosing her angry expression as Ranma turned to her and snarled. She ripped the mallet from Akane's hands, before arching a long swipe at Akane's face. Ranma's oddly sharp fingernails scraped lightly but painfully across her neck, leaving four long marks and even a little blood.
"Slice," Ranma growled, "You're dead."
Ryoga slammed his foot into the back of Ranma's knee, easily dislocating it. Ranma whirled around, her knee bending in a very odd fashion. She slashed at Ryoga just as she had Akane. The scrapes, again followed by a small amount of blood, appeared not only on his right cheek, but they appeared on his brow and forehead as well.
"Slice," Ranma growled, "You're blind."
Mousse then slammed a ball and chain into Ranma's right shoulder.
As the shiny metallic ball slammed into his shoulder, Ranma left off an unearthly scream of pain. It easily dislocated her shoulder.
Ranma nearly dropped to the ground, clutching her shoulder. Everyone was confused. Ryoga hit Ranma a LOT harder than that, but it sounded like it hurt a hundred times more.
Ranma ripped towards Mousse, traveling at speeds no one expected that even Ranma could do. Ranma's left hand, again acting like it had claws, sliced twice at Mousse's chest.
The first one ripped four long gashes into his shirt. The second slash flew into the holes and scrapped his skin.
"Slice," Ranma said, "You're dead too."
Ranma actually managed to avoid the next attack.
Mainly because of the shout of 'Shi Shi Hokodan'. Ranma used her one good leg to leap out of the way. In mid-air though, she was met with a large impact. A small gremlin had flown into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her.
Luckily, the impact had jerked her leg back into alignment. She yipped out as it was painfully snapped back into place.
"RANMA," Happosai said, "How dare you attack your sensei!"
Happosai then bounded off to land on top of the school. The damage had been done.
His attack to Ranma's stomach wouldn't do anything lasting, but it gave Ranma's attackers time to regroup and go after her again.
The next mallet swing DID knock her onto the ground. Ranma coughed up a small bit of blood.
"Happosai," Cologne said, "How could you?"
"Ranma deserves a small beating," Happosai hmphed, "He should learn not to do these things."
"Oh come now," Cologne said, "You know well enough that not even a third of the horrible acts that Ranma has been through has been in any way his fault. Most of it was because of his idiotic father, Genma."
"Genma is an idiot, true," Happosai said, "But Ranma was born from him and raised by him. Ranma is then, logically, an idiot as well."
"Ranma is no idiot, and you know that," Cologne felt slightly odd backing up Ranma, "And I'll have you know that Genma is in no way related to Ranma in any way except legally."
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't notice that Ranma doesn't look at all Japanese in either of his forms?"
"What?"
"Watch, and you might find out."
Ranma was pissed, although his face was too bruised to really see it. Ryoga, Mousse, and Akane had easily flattened Ukyo. Kodachi was still unconscious from Ryoga impacting her head, and Kuno was still unconscious from Ranma's hit.
Ranma was also getting her ass royally handed to her as blows rained down on her in a constant fashion that kept her in place, trapped on the ground.
Most of the strikes hit her back. She was quite lucky that her spine hadn't broken, but the hits were now more towards her ribs and appendages.
Suddenly, the blows lessened. Ranma sighed. She then felt hot water pour down on top of her head, turning him again into a man.
"I want you to be a boy before I reward you for putting me through hell," Ryoga's voice called.
Ranma's eyes closed, trying to bite back the intense pain. He gritted his teeth and a low growl started to come from him.
"Is it just me or is Ranma looking a tad… yellow?" Happosai asked.
"So," Cologne said, her eyes closed, "He's finally snapped."
"Snapped?" Happosai said, "What does that have to do with anything?"
"His body is broken and beaten," Cologne said, shaking her head, "His survival instincts are combining with his rage, and his heritage is about to revealed to the entire school."
"Heritage coming forth, eh?" Happosai watched, now very interested.
At first, Ryoga, Mousse, and Akane didn't notice Ranma's change. Several more blows came to his back side, overshadowing the slightly sick noises of his joints realigning and his broken bones mending at inhuman rates. Some of the bruises didn't disappear though.
"I…" Ranma growled.
The blows didn't stop.
"Have…"
The blows slowed slightly.
"Had…"
The blows slowed tremendously.
"ENOUGH!"
