Chapter One: Agony of Defeat
The sun rose, finally cutting through the light fog shrouding the summit of Jusendou mountain. The fog reluctantly abandoned its station, revealing three dark figures standing in the middle of the topmost clearing in the dense forests. Tensions built as battle auras flared, barely held in check as two of the figures, one boy and one girl, faced off against the third, a radiant figure sheathed in light.
"You WILL return the map to me, human," the lone figure commanded, aura flaming brightly. This man was not used to being disobeyed, as he, Saffron, had been the supreme ruler of Phoenix Mountain for over four thousand years. To better make his point, Saffron stretched his glorious, golden wings as wide as they could go. This action made Saffron appear every bit the near-god he was.
"Like hell I will," the boy of the pair answered. "I'm not going to let you destroy my chances of being all guy again." Just as Saffron was unused to being disobeyed, this boy was unused to being commanded. Ever since his father had insisted on dragging him to Jusenkyo, Ranma Saotome had lost all faith in any figures of authority.
"Then maybe this will change your mind," Saffron said, raising his left hand toward Ranma, flames dancing lightly on regal fingers.
The raven-haired young man tensed, every muscle in his body ready to dodge the spout of flame that would come from the hand of the king of Phoenix Mountain. As expected, flames shot toward him, and Ranma leapt out of the way easily; too easily. "Oh, no." Realization dawned on him and he moved as quickly as he could. The shot toward him had been a distraction and Ranma watched in horror as the full force of the true attack engulfed the girl who had come with him.
"NOOOOOOO!!! AKANE!!!" Ranma screamed, running to the girl's side. Scooping her up in his arms, Ranma tried desperately to find signs of life. Akane felt extremely light and fragile in his arms and she wasn't breathing.
"Give me the map, human, and I'll grant you access to the spring at the top of this mountain," Saffron said, an air of smuggness to his voice, "the water there is the only thing that will save her now."
Ranma heard these words and looked again upon the face of the fiancee his father had arranged for him long before either of the two children had been born. Ranma studied the short-cut, blue-black hair, the large eyes, and small mouth of the face that had brought him so much frustration, so much pain, and yet so much joy. "I love you," he wispered, almost inaudibly into the girl's ear. "I've been so afraid that you didn't love me back, and now it's too late." A lone tear ran down Ranma's cheeck, carving a path through the dust that had accumulated during the trip to China. "Don't worry, I'll save you. And I'll make that bastard pay."
"You had better hurry, human, soon it will be too late," Saffron said, adding fuel to the fire burning in Ranma's chest.
Ranma stood, battle aura flaring brightly, rivalling the light given off by Saffron, who was the embodiment of heat and light for the bird-people of Phoenix Mountain. "I'll kill you," Ranma said in a cold voice.
"So, that's how you want it, human? Then so be it," Saffron answered, raising both taloned hands in Ranma's direction.
Ranma blurred as flames shot toward him from Saffron's outstretched hands. "Katshu Tenshin Amiguriken!" Crossing the distance between them in mere seconds, Ranma landed several hundred punches on Saffron's side and back.
Saffron was somewhat surprised when he began feeling the punches raining down upon him. The human had moved faster than he could even see. Most of all, Saffron was angry. Saffron thought to himself. Launching himself into the air, Saffron called to Kiima, one of his high-ranking officers. "Stand down, seneschal, this one is mine."
Through a red haze, Ranma watched Saffron take to the air to escape his attacks. Vaguely, he registered the fact that Saffron yelled something, but rage pushed him well beyond the point of caring. To Ranma, Saffron seemed to move in slow motion as the Phoenix King began a dive bomb that would incinerate anything in his path. Ranma, moving at inhuman speed, danced out of the way, then pounced upon Saffron, landing several kicks that would have laid out even Ryoga before the Lord of the Phoenix could recover from missing his attack.
------------
As the battle between Ranma and Saffron raged, Ryoga Hibiki wondered where he was THIS time. He was, unbeknownst to him, standing underneath a large sign that read: "Jusendo Mountain" in both Chinese and Japanese.
Ryoga thought wistfully.
Ryoga was ripped from his thoughts by a large explosion and a great blast of fire coming from the top of the mountain. This, of course, could only mean one thing in Ryoga's mind.
With that, Ryoga set off, once again, to make Ranma pay for his crimes against Akane. Miraculously, he actually headed in the right direction.
------------
Rage was beginning to give way to desperation. Ranma was throwing everything he had at Saffron, but the Phoenix King kept getting up. Ranma sidestepped another small fireball and snapped his foot at Saffron's head. The kick was blocked, but Ranma followed up with a flurry of punches, scoring several hits on Saffron's left side. One of the punches hit squarely on the joint of Saffron's glorious wing, and Ranma heard a sickening crack and felt delicate bones give way under his fist. Pressing his advantage, Ranma moved around Saffron's back to the King's right side and broke the other wing as well.
"Do you yield?" Ranma asked, looking into impossibly old eyes that were stricken with pain.
"Never," Saffron growled, flame gathering around him like a cloak. As Ranma watched, the bones in Saffron's wings straightened and knitted themselves together. "For that," Saffron said through clenched teeth, "you and your whore will die." Saffron leapt into the sky, drawing his power.
Ranma felt the imense power flowing around him and moved. He knew that he'd either be fast enough or he wouldn't, so he didn't even bother to think.
Saffron simply smiled to himself. His blast had nearly ripped the top of the mountain off. Suddenly, a hammerblow hit him square in the back, sending him tumbling toward the ground. Saffron cursed his human opponent as he hit the ground and his world went black.
Ranma spared a quick thought as he landed a few feet behind the still form of his opponent.
A split second later, Ranma was sprinting toward the spring at the mountain's summit, vaguely noting that Kiima was just beginning to stir from where she'd been knocked out by the force of Saffron's blast.
------------
Ryoga reached the clearing just as Ranma dissappeared into what was left of the forest ringing the summit of the mountain.
"Damn you, you coward!" he exclaimed, thinking that Ranma was running to get away from him. Then he noticed the devastation. Only the mightiest of trees still stood, the rest bowled over and still smoldering. The whole clearing smoked as blackened ash covered the ground that had formerly consisted of soft grass. A pretty, winged woman was dragging herself up from a tangle of fallen trees, rubbing her head and mumbling. Just at the edge of the scorched part of the landscape, a winged man lay motionless. Ryoga could tell that, when the man was cleaned and healthy, he would be regal at the very least. A few yards away from the man and the desolation, Ryoga saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop. Akane lay in the grass, still as death, and for a few agonizing heartbeats, Ryoga thought that she was dead as he ran to her side. Then, to his extreme relief, her chest rose and fell softly, but slowly.
Ranma finally appeared from the direction he'd gone, carrying a bottle of something. Ryoga intercepted him and grabbed his shirt with both hands.
"What have you done to Akane?!" Ryoga demanded.
"Aw, geez, Ryoga, I don't have time for- oh, crap," Ranma said, looking over Ryoga's shoulder. "Here, take this and give it to Akane," he said, addressing Ryoga again, "it's the only thing that'll bring her back. I'll hold him off."
"Hold who off? Ranma, where-," Ryoga asked, turning to see what Ranma was looking at. As he turned, he saw the man who had been on the ground rising and gathering flames around himself. Only sparing one more glance at the bottle Ranma had pressed into his hands, Ryoga raced to Akane's side, uncorked the bottle, and poured the contents into her mouth. Ryoga was only slightly aware of the sounds of battle behind him as he held his breath, waiting for Akane to awaken.
Ryoga's prayers were soon answered as Akane gasped and sat bolt upright. Suddenly, a loud battlecry broke into Ryoga's world of worry. Both Ryoga and Akane turned to see what was happening. What they saw would shatter the world as they knew it.
------------
Ranma could feel Saffron's power gathering, and could tell by the Phoenix King's posture where the blast would be aimed. It was a decision he'd been willing to make for quite some time now. With a cry, he launched himself at Saffron one last time. Ranma's punch hit Saffron squarely in the jaw, snapping his head back, but it was too late to stop the blast Saffron had been preparing.
The last thoughts that went through Ranma's mind as the fireball engulfed them both were of Akane and how he was proud to give his life to save hers.
----------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: Ok, assuming I have any readers left, I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry it took so long, but I was having trouble with the fight scene between Ranma and Saffron. That brings up another point... I know I'm probably butchering the Jusendo arc as you all know it, but I don't speak or read Japanese at all, and I had fun making my own events. I'd really appreciate some comments and criticism on how I did with this chapter. Again, thanks for reading my work! Oh, yeah, the characters used in this story were created by Rumiko Takahashi and are her property, not mine, and this is intended in no way to infringe upon the rights she has. Besides, I'm not making any money off of this, so there's no point in suing me, right? -Andy
Author's note revised: Ok, I fixed some of the bugs and streamlined the story some. Many thanks to Taliesin, who preread the story for me and made fun of me until I changed some of this stuff. Anyway, I plan to expand the rest of the chapters as well and add some more meat to the story, so keep an eye out for updates. Thanks for your support and please email me and let know what you think.
The sun rose, finally cutting through the light fog shrouding the summit of Jusendou mountain. The fog reluctantly abandoned its station, revealing three dark figures standing in the middle of the topmost clearing in the dense forests. Tensions built as battle auras flared, barely held in check as two of the figures, one boy and one girl, faced off against the third, a radiant figure sheathed in light.
"You WILL return the map to me, human," the lone figure commanded, aura flaming brightly. This man was not used to being disobeyed, as he, Saffron, had been the supreme ruler of Phoenix Mountain for over four thousand years. To better make his point, Saffron stretched his glorious, golden wings as wide as they could go. This action made Saffron appear every bit the near-god he was.
"Like hell I will," the boy of the pair answered. "I'm not going to let you destroy my chances of being all guy again." Just as Saffron was unused to being disobeyed, this boy was unused to being commanded. Ever since his father had insisted on dragging him to Jusenkyo, Ranma Saotome had lost all faith in any figures of authority.
"Then maybe this will change your mind," Saffron said, raising his left hand toward Ranma, flames dancing lightly on regal fingers.
The raven-haired young man tensed, every muscle in his body ready to dodge the spout of flame that would come from the hand of the king of Phoenix Mountain. As expected, flames shot toward him, and Ranma leapt out of the way easily; too easily. "Oh, no." Realization dawned on him and he moved as quickly as he could. The shot toward him had been a distraction and Ranma watched in horror as the full force of the true attack engulfed the girl who had come with him.
"NOOOOOOO!!! AKANE!!!" Ranma screamed, running to the girl's side. Scooping her up in his arms, Ranma tried desperately to find signs of life. Akane felt extremely light and fragile in his arms and she wasn't breathing.
"Give me the map, human, and I'll grant you access to the spring at the top of this mountain," Saffron said, an air of smuggness to his voice, "the water there is the only thing that will save her now."
Ranma heard these words and looked again upon the face of the fiancee his father had arranged for him long before either of the two children had been born. Ranma studied the short-cut, blue-black hair, the large eyes, and small mouth of the face that had brought him so much frustration, so much pain, and yet so much joy. "I love you," he wispered, almost inaudibly into the girl's ear. "I've been so afraid that you didn't love me back, and now it's too late." A lone tear ran down Ranma's cheeck, carving a path through the dust that had accumulated during the trip to China. "Don't worry, I'll save you. And I'll make that bastard pay."
"You had better hurry, human, soon it will be too late," Saffron said, adding fuel to the fire burning in Ranma's chest.
Ranma stood, battle aura flaring brightly, rivalling the light given off by Saffron, who was the embodiment of heat and light for the bird-people of Phoenix Mountain. "I'll kill you," Ranma said in a cold voice.
"So, that's how you want it, human? Then so be it," Saffron answered, raising both taloned hands in Ranma's direction.
Ranma blurred as flames shot toward him from Saffron's outstretched hands. "Katshu Tenshin Amiguriken!" Crossing the distance between them in mere seconds, Ranma landed several hundred punches on Saffron's side and back.
Saffron was somewhat surprised when he began feeling the punches raining down upon him. The human had moved faster than he could even see. Most of all, Saffron was angry. Saffron thought to himself. Launching himself into the air, Saffron called to Kiima, one of his high-ranking officers. "Stand down, seneschal, this one is mine."
Through a red haze, Ranma watched Saffron take to the air to escape his attacks. Vaguely, he registered the fact that Saffron yelled something, but rage pushed him well beyond the point of caring. To Ranma, Saffron seemed to move in slow motion as the Phoenix King began a dive bomb that would incinerate anything in his path. Ranma, moving at inhuman speed, danced out of the way, then pounced upon Saffron, landing several kicks that would have laid out even Ryoga before the Lord of the Phoenix could recover from missing his attack.
------------
As the battle between Ranma and Saffron raged, Ryoga Hibiki wondered where he was THIS time. He was, unbeknownst to him, standing underneath a large sign that read: "Jusendo Mountain" in both Chinese and Japanese.
Ryoga thought wistfully.
Ryoga was ripped from his thoughts by a large explosion and a great blast of fire coming from the top of the mountain. This, of course, could only mean one thing in Ryoga's mind.
With that, Ryoga set off, once again, to make Ranma pay for his crimes against Akane. Miraculously, he actually headed in the right direction.
------------
Rage was beginning to give way to desperation. Ranma was throwing everything he had at Saffron, but the Phoenix King kept getting up. Ranma sidestepped another small fireball and snapped his foot at Saffron's head. The kick was blocked, but Ranma followed up with a flurry of punches, scoring several hits on Saffron's left side. One of the punches hit squarely on the joint of Saffron's glorious wing, and Ranma heard a sickening crack and felt delicate bones give way under his fist. Pressing his advantage, Ranma moved around Saffron's back to the King's right side and broke the other wing as well.
"Do you yield?" Ranma asked, looking into impossibly old eyes that were stricken with pain.
"Never," Saffron growled, flame gathering around him like a cloak. As Ranma watched, the bones in Saffron's wings straightened and knitted themselves together. "For that," Saffron said through clenched teeth, "you and your whore will die." Saffron leapt into the sky, drawing his power.
Ranma felt the imense power flowing around him and moved. He knew that he'd either be fast enough or he wouldn't, so he didn't even bother to think.
Saffron simply smiled to himself. His blast had nearly ripped the top of the mountain off. Suddenly, a hammerblow hit him square in the back, sending him tumbling toward the ground. Saffron cursed his human opponent as he hit the ground and his world went black.
Ranma spared a quick thought as he landed a few feet behind the still form of his opponent.
A split second later, Ranma was sprinting toward the spring at the mountain's summit, vaguely noting that Kiima was just beginning to stir from where she'd been knocked out by the force of Saffron's blast.
------------
Ryoga reached the clearing just as Ranma dissappeared into what was left of the forest ringing the summit of the mountain.
"Damn you, you coward!" he exclaimed, thinking that Ranma was running to get away from him. Then he noticed the devastation. Only the mightiest of trees still stood, the rest bowled over and still smoldering. The whole clearing smoked as blackened ash covered the ground that had formerly consisted of soft grass. A pretty, winged woman was dragging herself up from a tangle of fallen trees, rubbing her head and mumbling. Just at the edge of the scorched part of the landscape, a winged man lay motionless. Ryoga could tell that, when the man was cleaned and healthy, he would be regal at the very least. A few yards away from the man and the desolation, Ryoga saw a sight that nearly made his heart stop. Akane lay in the grass, still as death, and for a few agonizing heartbeats, Ryoga thought that she was dead as he ran to her side. Then, to his extreme relief, her chest rose and fell softly, but slowly.
Ranma finally appeared from the direction he'd gone, carrying a bottle of something. Ryoga intercepted him and grabbed his shirt with both hands.
"What have you done to Akane?!" Ryoga demanded.
"Aw, geez, Ryoga, I don't have time for- oh, crap," Ranma said, looking over Ryoga's shoulder. "Here, take this and give it to Akane," he said, addressing Ryoga again, "it's the only thing that'll bring her back. I'll hold him off."
"Hold who off? Ranma, where-," Ryoga asked, turning to see what Ranma was looking at. As he turned, he saw the man who had been on the ground rising and gathering flames around himself. Only sparing one more glance at the bottle Ranma had pressed into his hands, Ryoga raced to Akane's side, uncorked the bottle, and poured the contents into her mouth. Ryoga was only slightly aware of the sounds of battle behind him as he held his breath, waiting for Akane to awaken.
Ryoga's prayers were soon answered as Akane gasped and sat bolt upright. Suddenly, a loud battlecry broke into Ryoga's world of worry. Both Ryoga and Akane turned to see what was happening. What they saw would shatter the world as they knew it.
------------
Ranma could feel Saffron's power gathering, and could tell by the Phoenix King's posture where the blast would be aimed. It was a decision he'd been willing to make for quite some time now. With a cry, he launched himself at Saffron one last time. Ranma's punch hit Saffron squarely in the jaw, snapping his head back, but it was too late to stop the blast Saffron had been preparing.
The last thoughts that went through Ranma's mind as the fireball engulfed them both were of Akane and how he was proud to give his life to save hers.
----------------------------------------------------------
Author's note: Ok, assuming I have any readers left, I hope you enjoyed this. Sorry it took so long, but I was having trouble with the fight scene between Ranma and Saffron. That brings up another point... I know I'm probably butchering the Jusendo arc as you all know it, but I don't speak or read Japanese at all, and I had fun making my own events. I'd really appreciate some comments and criticism on how I did with this chapter. Again, thanks for reading my work! Oh, yeah, the characters used in this story were created by Rumiko Takahashi and are her property, not mine, and this is intended in no way to infringe upon the rights she has. Besides, I'm not making any money off of this, so there's no point in suing me, right? -Andy
Author's note revised: Ok, I fixed some of the bugs and streamlined the story some. Many thanks to Taliesin, who preread the story for me and made fun of me until I changed some of this stuff. Anyway, I plan to expand the rest of the chapters as well and add some more meat to the story, so keep an eye out for updates. Thanks for your support and please email me and let know what you think.