Dark Bunny4 – By DS Wynne
Disclaimer: "Sailor Moon", "Street Fighter" and other genres belong to their respective owners.
Note: This is an alternate, crossover story.
Special note: I know about the bastardization of the original Street Fighter translation to the American one (I read the FAQ at http:kattuggla.oru.se/dmd01/dm0103/test/faqs/SFplotguide34.htm) . However, for story purposes, I will say that Akuma's style of martial arts is a branch of Shotokan Karate, just like there are many other "sub-styles" of Karate. It just makes things easier for me story-wise to do this. C&C are always welcomed.
Part 4: Impact
"No, Master! I'll get it right!"
Usagi Tsukino felt pain, as her dark master was disciplining her for failing to master the next level in her development.
Akuma sneered.
"I saved you from death! You are a valuable resource for my design. YOU ARE MINE TO SHAPE AND TEMPER. Follow my instructions, and you will master the "Ansatsuken" branch of our Art. Fail me, and I will send you to the Otherworld!"
"I will! I will, Master!"
Usagi was released from the dark energies of Akuma's might. She panted, as her Dark Master threw her a towel.
"Get yourself cleanup, my apprentice. We will resume your training in the Morning."
And with that, Akuma faded in the darkness.
Usagi cried, as she remained in her spot for many minutes. She wanted to learn, but it was so hard! So…hard…
Usagi woke up from her daydream, as she realized that she had fallen asleep from reading her book, while sitting under her family's apple tree.
It was a cool, sunny Sunday. The winds gently blew the cherry blossoms across the lawn of the backyard.
"Usagi!"
Usagi turned to see that her younger brother Shango was calling for her from the back porch.
"Yes?"
"Mom wanted to tell you that it's time for lunch!"
"Thanks!"
As Usagi got up, an apple fell from the tree. Without even looking, she caught the fruit in her hand. She then examined its green skin, admiring the symmetry of its shape. Then, she frowned.
In rapid succession, Usagi "sucked" the life out of the fruit, by drawing upon its latent "chi". Soon, the apple was nothing more than a dried husk. Startled by what she did, Usagi dropped it, and ran to her house.
A few minutes later, a hand could be seen picking up the husk.
It was "Alan", and he was in his elfin alien form.
Alan had been trying to gauge what type of person he and his "sister" would be dealing with, so he a used subtlety to sift through Usagi's mind.
And then, he smiled.
"You will do, girl," Alan said with a smile. "That will do."
Meanwhile, across town…
"Ranma, you shouldn't move."
"Aw, leave me alone!"
"Fine, be that way!"
At the moment, a short-haired martial artist was trying to console a pig-tailed martial artist. Akane Tendo, the short-haired one, was the heir of a school of martial arts known as "Anything Goes". It relied on flexibility in combat by using the best methods that could work on any-given situation. Her specialty was "Earth", which relied on strength and stamina in combat.
At the moment, she was attending to the welfare of her fiancé Ranma Saotome, the pig-tailed martial artist. Ranma was also the heir of the Anything Goes School of martial arts. However, his specialty was "Air", which relied on speed and power in combat. In fact, out of the two, Ranma was the more powerful martial artist, especially after training on the road for ten years. Still, there was one other aspect to this young man that made him special…
SPLASH!
"What you do that for?!" said a now-female Ranma.
"Well, maybe you can cool off for a while, jerk!" Akane yelled.
"You are such an un-cute tomboy!"
About a year ago, Ranma and his father Genma had come across a valley filled with cursed springs. Each spring had been imprinted with that which was drowned their many years before. Some of the springs were hot, while others were not. At any rate, due to a mishap, both Ranma and his father were cursed to assume other forms, which were "activated" upon getting splashed with cold water. For Genma, he was cursed to have the body of a Panda; for Ranma, he was cursed to have the body of a girl. And since then, the two have gone on to meet Akane Tendo's family, in order to unite the two families through holy matrimony…if the main participants don't kill each other first.
Recently, the Tendo household was visited by a "dojo destroyer". However, this individual turned out to be a tan-skinned girl with dumpling for hair. The girl was dressed in a grey "gi" with the Kanji "Dark Bunny" stenciled in the back. Any martial artist worth his or her salt felt that there was something amiss about the girl. Nevertheless, Akane, as the head student of the Tendo training hall, accepted the girl's challenge…
FLASHBACK
"I am ready when you are," Akane said, as she got into a fighting stance.
Usagi looked at the girl, and began to analyze her potential.
Skill: nominal.
Power: pathetic.
Challenge: easy.
Meanwhile, Ranma was beginning to worry. He could have sworn that he saw the girl's eyes flicker red for a moment. He'll have to see what this girl does before he'll get into Akane's fight.
"I am ready," Usagi said, as she got into a fighting stance herself.
"Okay! HA!"
Akane charged forward, and began her assault. As she threw her punches and kicks, Usagi casually ducked and weaved.
What is she doing? Akane thought, as she panted. Is she reading my moves?
Then, Akane decided to goad her opponent into attacking.
"Why don't you do something?" Akane taunted. "Or are you a coward."
"If you wish that I get serious, then I shall oblige you."
The girl began to charge forward. Thinking that this was her chance, Akane threw a punch…
CRACK!
"OW!" yelled Akane! Her opponent's jaw felt as if she was hitting metal!
The fighters' audience, which was made up of the Tendo and Saotome families, were shocked.
"Akane!" yelled Ranma.
"Oh, my!" said Akane's older sister Kasumi. Kasumi has been acting as "housewife" ever since their mother had passed away years ago.
"I better get the medical kit," said Nabiki, who was older than Akane, but younger than Kasumi. She handled the family's finances.
"Oh, Akane!" wailed her father.
"This is such a dark day indeed," said Genma's fighter.
"Akane, it is foolish to continue this match of ours," Usagi said. "Submit."
"I won't submit-!"
"I'll take her place!"
"Ranma?!" said Akane.
Ranma had purposely turned himself into a girl in order to fight Akane's opponent. No one is going to humiliate her fiancé like that.
"I don't care WHO I fight," Usagi said. "WHEN I win, I WILL be taking your dojo sign."
"That's fine with me!" Ranma said.
And with that, Ranma charged.
Usagi smirked, as she leaped at the last minute, outstretching her legs in a flying kick motion. This caused Ranma to run head-long into her feet.
POW!
Ranma found herself on her back.
"Boy, don't humiliate your self!" Genma yelled.
Ranma got up, and began to reassess her opponent.
With a grin on her face, Usagi began to bounce around a bit, like a boxer. She did so as she circled Ranma.
Ranma, thinking that she was being taunted, threw the first punch, and then another in rapid succession.
"Chestnut-on-an-open-fire!" Ranma yelled.
Now, this particular technique allowed its user to punch upwards of 100 punches per second. However, the flaw of this technique was that the focus was on the motion of the arms, not anywhere else. And this tidbit was picked very quickly by Usagi.
As soon as Ranma threw her punches, Usagi had ducked, and then she leg-swept her. Usagi then performed a cork-screw upper-cut from the ground.
"Hadoken!" Usagi yelled.
Taken by surprised, Ranma was up in the air. However, Usagi was not through with her opponent. As soon as she threw the first punch, Usagi peppered it with a-
"Hurricane Kick!"
After receiving multiple kicks, Ranma sailed towards the wall of the dojo, but recovered enough to land on her feet.
What…power! Ranma thought. However, she was Ranma Saotome! She was not about to loose!
"Tiger Shot!" Ranma yelled, as she let loose a chi blast attack.
"Shoryuken!" Usagi yelled back, as she let loose her own chi blast attack.
However, instead of canceling each other out, Usagi's blast overwhelmed Ranma's blast, and hit home!
"Arrgh!"
"Ranma!" yelled Akane.
"I want the sign, please," Usagi said, simply.
"I won't give up!"
Then, Ranma's aura began to glow, as she performed a move.
"Dragon-Rising-Ascension Revised: Horizontal Blast!"
Ranma shot out a twister, filled with her energy, towards Usagi
At the same time of this attack, Usagi's eyes glowed. Then, with a sudden move, Usagi ran forward, and yelled out her own attack:
"Instant Hell Murder!"
FLASH!
When the bright light and smoke cleared, Usagi was standing over a broken Ranma, who was almost as twisted as a pretzel.
"It is finished," Usagi said simply.
"Ranma? RANMA!"
Akane scrambled over to Ranma's unconscious form.
"You…you witch! What did you do to him?"
"I sent him to Hell…literally. Apparently, your fiancé will live."
"How did you know that Ranma is her?" Nabiki said, as she cautiously gave Usagi the dojo sign.
"SHE has the same aura as your Ranma. Plus, there are Akane's actions in this reality play."
And with that, Usagi broke the sign in half. She then turned to face Akane, who was cradling Ranma in her arms.
"I deem your Art to be weak, and therefore not worthy of continuance. Only by challenging me can you regain your honor and your right to teach."
And with that, Usagi faded into the shadows.
"Oh, Ranma…Ranma…"
END FLASHBACK
That Ranma! Akane thought to herself. The things I do for him…
Still, it was hopeful that Ranma will get out of traction soon enough.
Meanwhile, a few blocks away…
"So, this meeting has come to order," said a wizened old woman.
At the "Cat Caf", all of Ranma's regular friends and rivals were sitting down while eating noodles. Each one had a relationship with the martial artist in one form or another.
"Cologne, the only thing I want is knowledge on how to defeat…the Dark Bunny."
For Ryouga Hibiki's part, he wanted to get revenge on the one who had caused Akane's pain. Ryouga was cursed to have a body of a pig when doused with water; he had followed Ranma to where he would get cursed as well.
"Great-grandmother, I, too, seek to get revenge," said the Chinese Amazon Shampoo, another cursed victim; she was cursed to have the body of a cat. "No one get away with hurting Airen!"
"You said it, Sugar," said Ukyo. A cross-dressing female, and a Japanese pizza chef, Ukyo was Ranma's "cute" fiancé. "It's payback time."
"No one will defeat Ranma Saotome but ME," said Upper-classman Tatewaki Kuno, the expert kenodist.
"You said it!" said the half-blind Mousse, an expert in hidden weapons. He wanted the pleasure of defeating Ranma for Shampoo's hand in marriage.
"No harridan shall hurt Ranma-sama," said Tatewaki's younger sister Kodachi. "The Black Rose" would not tolerate interlopers.
"Then, I expect that each and every one of you to contribute for son-in-law's sake," said Cologne, the Amazon Matriarch. When she had heard that Ranma, her "son-in-law" had almost been murdered, she could hardly believe that such a thing was possible. Upon hearing the accounts of the fight, she was shocked to learn of this Dark Bunny. There was only one person who could have taught this girl her Art:
The Akuma.
The Akuma is known amongst the martial arts community as the one person you do not want to meet, unless you had a death wish. That didn't mean that one could not defeat the Akuma, but one must be prepared to face death when facing HIM. The fact that a girl had mastered his techniques was troubling. If the Akuma had chosen a student, then the world was in deep trouble.
"I will tell you all that I know…and what I know that you could do to stop this Dark Bunny."
Tbc