AN: I Know I know it's been a while. It's just that all my teachers have been piling on the projects and with finals coming up I haven't had a lot of "me" time. Again I thank my editor for taking the time out of her even busier schedule to help me out, DOMO ARIGATO☻. Anyways here is the 3rd installment. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma 1/2, no matter how much I want to. Though the character I created is mine, so you can't have it.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Akane woke with a start. She had forgotten for a brief moment why she was lying on top of Ranma. Then she remembered the night before. "Oh, now I remember." She blushed lightly as she remembered her dream. She looked up at Ranma with eyes of longing. She wants him badly, but she knows that won't happen until Ranma is ready.
Then it struck her, 'When did I start wanting Ranma. I've never wanted Ranma anymore than I do now.' She pondered on this for a moment. 'When I found that note I just flipped out. Maybe it was because-'She stops her thoughts short as Ranma slowly opens his eyes.
"Good morning sleepyhead," chimed Akane. Ranma looked down and quickly pulled the blue haired beauty into a tight hug. Akane's expression quickly turned to extreme puzzlement questioning as to why Ranma hugged her. 'This is nice,' Thought Akane as her face began to relax. Ranma held her in his embrace for a moment or two longer.
'Thank kami it wasn't a dream,' thought Ranma. "Hey Akane, could you get off me now," asked Ranma. Reluctantly Akane obliged. Ranma crawled out of the tent followed closely by Akane. As they climbed out of the tent, they were hit by a cool morning breeze sending shivers down their spines. They both quickly got dressed; Ranma in his usual red Chinese sleeveless shirt and black trousers, and Akane wearing her long sleeved black and green sweater and tight blue jeans. When Ranma got done getting ready he looked over to his poor excuse for a father who was still sleeping. 'Baka,' muttered Ranma with a look of distaste. 'I can't believe he is still asleep. He would have been up by now. Weird.'
"Ranma, the firewood is all burnt out, we need to get more," informed Akane.
"I'll go get the firewood. You stay here and look over the campsite. When I get back we need to talk." Ranma turned to leave.
"Ranma wait," she called out. As she started to run after Ranma, her bad ankle gave out underneath her. As she fell forward a strong, comforting arm shot out and grabbed her around her waist, stopping her in mid-fall.
"I thought I told you to stay put. You won't be getting around much with that bad ankle of yours," scolded Ranma in a firm tone.
"I'm fine thanks for asking," shot back Akane.
"What is your deal," asked Ranma who was now getting irritated. He let go of her letting her plop on the ground.
"Nothing, Forget it." Akane got up and limped over to Ranma's father laying her back against his. 'I don't even know why I came,' she thought. Ranma was getting tired of this. He turned around to leave, 'Why does she always have to get an attitude with me all the time. It's like she lives to make my life a living hell.'
"AAHHHH" Ranma quickly turned around upon hearing the cry.
"AKANE!" Ranma watched as Akane seemed to fly through the air. Ranma started to run after her, desperately trying not to lose site of her. On closer inspection he saw a small figure carrying Akane by her torso, hopping from tree to tree.
"Is that you ya old freak," Cried out Ranma thinking it was the old pervert Happosai. He quickly scanned the surrounding area. His eyes landed on a large rock. He quickly grabbed it and heaved it towards the small figure. Bull's eye! The figure started plummeting toward the ground as did Akane. Ranma leaped into the air, catching Akane in his arms. When they landed Ranma promptly set Akane down and started to look around for the old freak.
"You give her back to me right now," called an ominous voice. They both looked up in the tree tops, their eyes landed on the small figure that kidnapped Akane.
"Step away from Jung-Woo and I will not kill you," threatened the figure.
"You're not Happosai, is that you ya old ghoul," retorted Ranma. While the figure did very much look like Cologne, there was something different (aside from the lump on her head). Her hair was put into an afro with a blue bandana running across her forehead. She carried the same cane that Cologne always carries. Her skin was far lighter than Cologne's skin. She wore the same type of ensemble Cologne wore with the same emblem on the front, except it was blue. The most noticeable aspect of this 'thing' was her battle aura. It was almost not there, to the point where you could just barely feel it. She wasn't using the Umi-ken-sen that was for sure. Snapping back to reality Ranma saw that the look-alike was glaring at him with a cold killing intent.
"I will say this once more; get away from Jung-Woo before I kill you."
"You, kill me? I'd like ta see you try," said Ranma nonchalantly. 'This definitely isn't Cologne. This one has a different feel, something not right.'
"Shut up Ranma, you're probably making things worse," Whispered Akane. "I am sorry but my name is not Jung-Woo. My name is Akane Tendo, and you have no right to jump to any conclusions."
"Hmm, I figured you might have used the formula 411 on my Great-Granddaughter you fiend," said the look-alike with an eerie calmness in her voice.
"Formula 411," repeated a quizzical Akane.
"Fiend," repeated a quizzical Ranma.
"Great-Granddaughter," repeated the couple in unison looking at each other with the same expression of extreme puzzlement about the current situation.
"ENOGH TALK," cried the look-alike. In a swift blur the look-alike leaped off the tree branch she was currently standing on, swooped up Akane and was back to tree hopping in the opposite direction. Ranma gave chase again with determination in his eyes; one reason being that he needed to save Akane but mostly it was to beat the shit out of the look-alike for not listening to Akane. She seemed just as delusional as Kuno. He mimicked the look-alikes every move, closing the gap between the two of them. Closer and closer he got with every leap he made. Finally he was within reach of Akane and made a desperate dive towards them; the look-alike suddenly tossed Akane into the air and turned around to face the human dive bomb. Ranma felt a slight change in the air.
"GHIBLI FIST!"
If Ranma hadn't noticed the slight change in her battle aura he would have been hit squarely between the eyes. He was able to shift his weight an inch and a half to the left, but the look-alike was still able to brush the side of his face. Ranma smashed into the branch at the torso, which wasn't good for the branch as it had cracked a little upon impact. He quickly recovered and jumped back on top of the branch to face the look-alike. By the time he got up, the look-alike caught Akane and they took off (again).
"Get back here and fight you old bat," challenged Ranma. Then there was a snap underneath him and Ranma started to plummet to the ground. 'How could I not sense the tree branch about to break underneath me!' Ranma temporarily set the thought aside when he realized he was still falling. He tried to flip right side up in mid-air but he couldn't tell which way was up or down. He landed on the ground face first, hard, and let a groan escape his lips. He rolled over onto his side clutching his gut. Shivering, he tried to get up on his feet but only succeeded in getting on all fours. He retched all over the forest floor, leaving evidence of last nights miso soup.
'What the hell did she do to me," thought Ranma before he upchucked again. His face was flushed and he was breathing very heavily as if he was breathing for the first time. His mouth stung with stomach acid that accompanied last night's meal. Exhausted and dizzy, Ranma collapsed back onto the ground.
'No, I can't black out here. Akane is still in trouble…' his thoughts trailed off as he drifted into unconsciousness.
"Ranma!"
"Don't you worry now Jung-Woo," reassured the old woman. "When we get back to the village we will restore your memory. Then we can decide what to do with your Kidnapper."
"He is not my kidnapper and I am not Jung-Woo," shot back Akane.
"Nonsense, it is the formula 411 he used on you that is manipulating you. All will become clear to you when we return to the Amazon village," scolded the look-alike.
'That's the second time I got scolded today when I didn't do anything wrong. What is with these people,' thought Akane who was now fuming at the ears in anger as she thought. "Wait a minute, the Amazon village Joketsuzoku, in China?"
"YES," wailed the look-alike. Twin waterfalls of tears now flowed down her face for sheer joy. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! You're finally starting to remember! I can't wait to fully restore your memory now." Akane Thought for a moment, then she got an idea.
"I guess it makes sense, it does explain why I always feel uncomfortable in my clothes he bought me. You wouldn't happen to have…"
"Say no more child, I know exactly what you need." With that she hopped down to the forest floor, promptly set down 'Jung-Woo' and rummaged through her robes.
"Ta-Da." She held up a beautiful battle suit. The top was emerald with azure stripes running down both sides of the shoulders and had the same onyx emblem on the chest as the look-alike had. The pants were also emerald and connected the stripes and continued to run down the legs and ended with a spiral at the ankles. Finally, the shoulder pads, elbow pads, and knee pads were a lovely Ruby red and had a different animal design on each pad.
"As fresh as the day that you left. The day you left…" she trailed off. "OH WHAT A TRAGIC DAY THAT WAS," wailed the look-alike.
"No, please no more crying now," she hesitated,"Great-Grandmother."
"OH SHE IS CALING ME GREAT-GRANDMOTHER AGAIN! IT HAS BEEN SO MANY YEARS," continued to wail the emotionally distress look-alike into the clothes Akane was supposed to wear.
'She's just as emotional as daddy, at least I'll know he'll be with me emotionally.'
Akane quickly grabbed the change of clothes before the look-alike could stain them anymore, and ran behind the nearest tree to change. She took off her sweater and jeans, pulled out a switch blade and proceeded to carve letters into the tree. C-H-I-N-A.
'I hope Ranma finds this,' thought Akane to herself. She placed her sweater against the tree, covering the writing and stabbed it with the sweater with the switch blade keeping it in place.
'Maybe I can find out where Nannichuan is to help cure Ranma,' she thought as she tried to slip on the rather tight Amazon outfit.
'Damn, this fits on like a second skin.'
She stepped out from behind the tree and with a big smile she said, "Alright Great-Grandmother, we have a long way to go so let's get moving." The elder nodded in response and turned around to lead the way to the village.
'What am I gonna do when I get to the village though. I'll be in real trouble if they try to restore my memory and I don't act the way they expect me to.' She dwelled on these thoughts and more as she followed the Matriarch towards China.
AN: So There it is. Rest assured I will answer your questions and take your suggestions to heart in later chapters. So Review already, what are you all still reading this.
