She had lived a long, long time. And only twice in her life had she known fear. The first time was right before her first true battle. And the second time is now. At first she thought the paranoia of old age had caught up with her, but then she realized what she felt couldn't be paranoia. That true, pure evil that she felt that night two weeks ago. She had thought the stories weren't real, that they were just tales older warriors told the young to keep their ambitions in check. But now she knew the truth, and for the first time in her life, Cologne wept. She wept for those that would be slain, but most of all, she wept for those she knew and loved. She wept for her son-in-law, for that blind fool, Mousse, and most of all for her granddaughter and her one time pupil. For know she knew that the aura that the evil bonded with was his, and by now it may be too late to save him…
Ranma ½ / Soul Calibur - Year of Blood
Chapter 1 - Reunions
It had been the end of one lousy day for Ukyou Kuonji. No rest at all today, it seemed like there was an unending rush. She was happy for the business and all, but sometimes it just got too extreme.
"I need to get away, take a vacation or I'm gonna fall apart!" Ukyou thought aloud. She tentatively remembered her last "vacation" to the Cave of Lost Loves. That vacation ended up being more of a heartache than anything else, due to that jackass pal of hers Ryouga.
"Speaking of Ryouga, I wonder where he went. I haven't seen him in almost five weeks," Ukyou was beginning to worry for her friend. Sure, he was a stupid jackass, but he was nice, kind and well, a pal. And Ukyou would rather damn herself then lose a good friend.
"Ranchan might know where he is. (yawn) I'll head over there in the morning, I need to get some sleep," Ukyou thought as she stumbled up to her room. If anyone knew where Ryouga was, it was Ranma, and even if he didn't, Ryouga would no doubt come looking for Ranma soon enough.
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He
awoke to find himself near some old docks. In front of him was a
corpse. He moved closer to it and found it had only been dead for a few
hours now. Blood was everywhere, but that's not what caught his eyes.
The sword next to the corpse, the desire to grab it over came him. He
found himself reaching for the sword, when the corpse shot up, covered
in flames. Instinctively he grabbed his own weapon, and after a mighty
battle, he slew the beast. When the flames died, he looked at his own
sword, then cast it aside.
He could hear the voice now, it was
frightful at first, booming. It commanded him to take the sword of his
fallen opponent. He did so as if it were natural, and then horror
struck him. He saw it, the sword began to grow on him, began to merge
with his body. He tried to scream as he felt the darkness take his
soul, but all he could muster was a whimper. He heard dark laughter in
his head as his mind was consumed. Then he began to laugh manically as
the darkness warped his body, as the power the sword bestowed overtook
him.
What was left of the boy now looked up, his dark hair no longer obscuring his face. His dark green eyes flashed in the cool night, and he grinned evilly, allowing two small fangs to poke out from under his lips. He then let out a howl and ran off into the night.
Ryouga Hibiki awoke in a cold sweat, again. This was the third nightmare tonight, each one was the same. He glanced over at his pack, and was relieved to see that Soul Edge was still there. He had this nagging feeling in his mind that he should destroy the sword then and there, and be done with it. But he always came back to the bliss the sword brought him, the madness that soothed his mind.
He tossed aside his sleeping bag and grabbed the sword. "I haven't really trained enough with you. If I'm going to defeat Ranma, I'll need as much practice as I can get." Resting the sword on his right shoulder, Ryouga walked far enough away from his campsite so that he wouldn't cause any unnecessary collateral damage, but close enough so he could fend off and critters that may decide to raid his food supply.
"Alright, sword, let's begin," Ryouga stated, almost coldly. He began by just attempting to swing the massive blade. It was much heavier than he originally anticipated. Hell, the only time he actually used the sword in combat he was unconscious and could only assume the blade had taken control of his body.
"So, if the sword can take control of me, I wonder why it hasn't," Ryouga asked himself as he continued to practice. The sword became lighter with every swing, almost as if his body were remembering how to use it.
"Yes, my champion, your learning quite quickly," Soul Edge had once again entered Ryouga's mind, and he welcomed it. It had been a very lonely three days without his companion speaking too him, feeding his blissful madness.
"It's almost as if I'm remembering how to use you, like I've wielded you before," Ryouga said, eagerness in his voice. This was good, if he could continue to master Soul Edge this quickly, it would only be a matter of days before he saw Saotome dead at his feet, with Soul Edge feasting on his hated rivals soul.
"Hmm, this one is strong, he has much more potential than the last boy, however…if this Saotome is as strong as he says," Soul Edge began thinking to itself. Many believe that Soul Edge is just a cursed sword that twists the mind of it's user and eats souls. That is a common misconception. Soul Edge is a demon, it's alive. The sword has a will of it's own, even if that will is dominated by the desire to eat souls. However, Soul Edge also enjoys taking the purest, strongest warrior and warping them into a creature of darkness.
"Soon, I'll get to see for myself if this Saotome is as powerful as my champion claims him to be, but for now we must concentrate on training and regaining my former power," Soul Edge concluded, concentrating now on molding Ryouga into his new champion on darkness. For good or ill, Saotome would be dealt with soon enough.
Speaking of Saotome…
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"Aw, c'mon Mousse! It wasn't even my fault! Shampoo was the one that latched on to me!" Ranma tried in vain to explain the situation to Mousse. It was hopeless though, as Ranma knew very well. Mousse is about as stupid as he is near-sighted.
"Silence, Saotome! Today is the day I defeat you and win Shampoo's heart!" Mousse proclaimed, his fighting spirit fueled only by his love for Shampoo.
"All right, man. If you insist, I guess I'll start to get serious," Ranma stopped evading, and suddenly disappeared. Mousse looked around franticly, but couldn't sense his opponent anywhere. Suddenly he felt a thousand sharp blows against his back.
"C'mon, Mousse! I practically telegraphed you that move! Don't tell me you're slippin' now," Ranma taunted his opponent. He hasn't really had much in the way of good fights since the last time Ryouga was in town, and even though Ranma won, it was a grueling battle.
"Man, bacon-breath needs to come back," Ranma muttered to himself as he allowed Mousse the time he needed to recover. Thinking back to that fight a few weeks ago also brought up some other questions. Akane had been acting really weird since Ryouga left, she hardly looked at Ranma, or spoke to him. There had been a lack of malleting these past few weeks, so that was something to be grateful for.
Ranma's train of thought was broken by many quick sword swipes. Mousse was in an all-out assault, and even if he was no where near Ranma's level, Ranma would have to at least half dodge if he wanted to keep his head.
"Hey! Not bad duck boy!" Ranma taunted. Clearly Mousse was getting angry, and an angry opponent is as easy to defeat as a baby.
"I will end your taunts, Saotome, by severing your head!" Mousse cried, swinging his sword with all his strength and speed.
"Maaaan, that was kinda close!" Ranma exclaimed from his new perch on top of Mousse's head.
"You were really tryin' to kill me there man, so I guess I'll start to get serious!" Ranma jumped off Mousse's head, and with one swift kick disarmed his opponent. Without his weapons Mousse wasn't much, however the guy has a never-ending supply of them, so the trick is to close in and not give him a chance to rearm himself, something Ranma excelled at.
"Alright! Here I go!" Ranma exclaimed as he closed the gap between himself and Mousse. At this distance, Mousse had nowhere to dodge, and sat helpless as countless blows were rained onto his chest and stomach. His suffering was short, however, ad Ranma finished the fight with one quick uppercut. Mousse hit the ground with a dull thud.
"Man, that took longer than expected. Damn! It's past dinner time already? Man, Mousse, if there ain't any food left, I'm gonna hold you to it man!" Ranma shouted as he quickly left the area, using the trademark roof bounding to get home quickly.
Ranma arrived home about five minutes later, however that five minutes was all Genma Saotome needed to devour his son's would-be dinner and prepare for the onslaught that would ensue.
"Boy! You're letting your training slip. Don't tell me you couldn't make it home in time for dinner. What kind of martial artist are you?" Genma mocked his son, as well as taking a defensive stance.
"Well, Pops, duck boy held me up for a few minutes," Ranma shot an icy glare at his father. "After such a rotten day, to have my food stolen from me," Ranma thought with righteous anger filling his body.
"You let Mousse stall you? You're getting rusty boy, I'll have to retrain you from the begin---" Genma was cut off as Ranma began his relentless attack. He barely had enough time to block Ranma's beginning blows.
"Alright Pops! You've stolen my dinner for the last time! Moko Takabisha!" Ranma blasted his father with his confidence-backed chi blast. Genma never saw it coming, and took a one way trip to the Koi pond.
"Heh heh heh…that outta teach ya!" Ranma proclaimed in victory. In actuality, he knew that by this time next week, a similar problem would occur, but he wasn't going to let that get him down today. "Man, I'm starting to feel like Ryouga here, maybe I just need to take a bath and get some rest," Ranma mumbled to himself, preparing to make his way upstairs.
"Hey! Ranchan! You around?"
The voice was undeniably Ukyou's, and Ranma wasn't about to skip out on his oldest friend. "Hey, Ucchan! Yeah, I'm here. Hold on, I'll let ya in."
Ranma made his way to the front gate, wondering why Kasumi or even Akane hadn't let Ukyou in. "Well, Akane has been actin' all weird since Ryouga left, but I wonder what's wrong with Kasumi," Ranma didn't have much time to dwell on this thought, because no sooner had he Ukyou in he noticed another presence.
"What do you want this time, Old Ghoul?" Ranma ordered, more than asked. Ukyou just stood in astonishment, thinking Ranma had finally cracked.
"Good, it's good to see your senses aren't slipping, son-in-law. Because, if I'm right about this, you'll need to be at your best," Cologne responded, jumping down from the tree she had been inhabiting.
But before Cologne could tell Ranma anything, Ukyou was the first to speak. "Ranchan, have you seen Ryouga? I mean, he's been gone much longer than usual!"
"Actually, child, that's why I've come here," Cologne said grimly. Ranma noticed her expression, and instantly knew something was wrong.
"What's happened to Ryouga now?" Ranma asked, much more forceful than usual.
"Let us go inside, son-in-law. Bring the Kounji girl with you, we have much to talk about," with that, Cologne, Ranma and Ukyou entered the Tendo household. Cologne wondering how she was going to present the news of Ryouga losing his soul to Ranma and Ukyou….
Author's Notes - Okay! I know it's been a really, really, really, really, really long time since I updated or anything, but I had a really busy end to last semester, plus I took a month to study abroad in Japan, and I've been working almost non-stop since I got back! But I promise I'll be continuing the story as long as at least one person reads! And if no one reads it….I'll probably continue it anyways! Yay!