And the Beat Goes On: Book Two

by Dreamweaver4121

With Ryouga's suicide attempt and the subsequent destruction of Nerima averted, the new first couple of Nerima begins their reign in the center of the wheel of insanity. Have mercy upon these poor souls...

9. This Week's Fight of the Century

Amazing.

It wasn't that long ago that something like this wouldn't be possible...not without a lot of yelling and punching involved anyway. Ranma stood staring at himself in the bathroom mirror, having just washed his face for his morning preparation for school. He pondered how, exactly, he got to this point. The change was sudden and, just like everything else in that town, difficult to go through. Most of the experiences he had been through he wouldn't wish on his worse enemies. He had to admit, though, he couldn't argue with the results.

"Are you just going to stand there and drip everywhere? Here!"

He turned around and regarded his fiancée clad only in a towel, recently finishing a bath, holding another towel in an outstretched hand. Ranma took the towel and dried off his face, but he couldn't take his eyes off of her. What was it, just one, two months ago? If they ended up in the bathroom together this way, even if it were by accident, she would've throttled him mercilessly. Now, they've gotten so comfortable with each other, the got ready for school in each other's company regularly. That, of course, elicited many fights with their fathers regarding immediate weddings. But what they had to go through now was nothing compared to what they had to endure previously and for those quiet moments, it all seemed worth it.

Akane tilted her head to the side, confused as to why Ranma was staring at her so intently. "Hey. Anything wrong?"

Ranma smiled and shook his head. "Nah. In fact, for the first time in my life, it finally feels as though everything's just right." He put his arms around her waist and drew her into him, nuzzling her hair slightly. "I wish these moments could last forever."

Akane put her arms around her neck and smiled in return. "Wow. You really surprised me there. And here I was thinking that my husband-to-be didn't have a romantic bone in his body."

"I guess I'm still feeling the effects of that stupid movie you made me watch. I hope I don't have to see one of those again for a long time."

She raised an eyebrow, "There was nothing wrong with that movie, you know."

"Are you kidding? It put me to sleep twice."

"Oh, so that was YOU I heard snoring? I ought to slug you for that..."

"OH MY!"

Hearing the startled cry coming from the outside, they nodded at each other, silently promising to continue their 'moment' another time. Of course, Ranma hoped the thing about the movie wouldn't come up again.

----+----

Now fully dressed, Ranma and Akane went to the dining room and saw Kasumi, Soun and Genma huddled around something in the middle of the floor just in front of the sliding door that lead to their back yard. Nabiki was sitting at the dining table, seemingly unconcerned with what was going on.

"Nabiki? What's going on?" asked Akane.

The middle Tendo sister shrugged, "It's just the old man. Looks like he got beat up again."

"Oh. Is that all?" went Ranma. He and Akane shrugged. It was no big deal to them, as he got beat up all the time.

"It's more serious than that, boy," said Genma. "It appears someone managed to beat the master in an actual duel."

That caught his attention. "Say what?" Ranma ran over to the crowd and knelt down next to the bruised and battered martial arts master. From the look of the injuries inflicted on him, it looked as though he was scalded pretty badly by a rather nasty ki attack. Now that he thought about it, those ki burns looked very familiar...much like the ones Ranma, himself, had recovered from not too long ago. He had to be sure, "Hey, who did this to you?"

Happousai looked up at him and weakly lifted his hand, "It...was...Kurogane. Hayate Kurogane..." After which, his hand fell lifelessly to the ground.

"Hayate Kurogane?" repeated Akane. "Ranma, isn't that the guy that challenged Ryouga to a duel"

Ranma stood up and nodded, "Yeah. I knew he was tough, but I didn't think he was THAT tough. If he's strong enough to beat the old freak, then Ryouga's really gonna have his hands full with that one."

While the engaged couple conversed, Soun and Genma quickly wrapped Happousai's form in ceremonial robes, sealed him in an ornate coffin with a spirit ward on the top and buried him in the back yard. They stood over his grave, clapped their hands together and prayed.

"Oh the poor, poor master," wailed Soun.

"Yes, he has left us far too soon," lamented Genma. However, they weren't very believable with the huge grins on their faces.

-BONK!- -BONK!-

The two men were laid out on top of each other in a twitching heap with Happousai, who appeared out of nowhere, standing on top of them. "You ingrates!" he yelled. "I'm not dead yet!"

"Darn...I mean, thank goodness!" Genma said.

"Oh, yes! We're very glad to see you're okay, master!" went Soun.

The miniature martial artist snorted, "I'm sure..."

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"This Week's Battle of the Century"

-

It was another bright, sunny day in Nerima, with only a few clouds in sight overhead. As Ranma looked up in the sky, he lamented the loss of another fine day being cooped up in school. But as much as he tried to keep his mind off of what happened earlier at the house, he thought about what was soon to face Ryouga. The guy was a pig-headed jerk to be sure, but Ranma didn't want anything serious to happen to him. He was a friend, after all...or something close to it, anyway. He tried to tell himself that Ryouga could handle himself; that, in the end, Ryouga would be alright, but he couldn't help worry.

There was something else that nagged him. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was shadowing him. He stood and looked around the area, but didn't see anyone or anything out of the ordinary; just students making their way to their various schools. As they were in close proximity to Furinkan now, the students were mostly their schoolmates. Akane, noticing her fiancée had stopped walking on the top of the fence had looked up at him with a worried expression on her face. "Something wrong?"

He took another look around the area, but found nothing out of the ordinary. "Nah. I guess it's just my imagination." Still, not taking any chances, he dropped down to street level and walked the rest of the way to school close to Akane. Just above them, a figure poked its head out of a tree and leapt to a neighboring building.

Walking up to Furinkan High's front gate, Ranma and Akane found Hayate standing in the middle of the walkway waiting for Ryouga. Keeping to his promise to not lose any more suits to Nerima's insanity, he wore a pair of nondescript slip on shoes, a white, long sleeved dress shirt and dark colored khaki pants. He was tapping the point of his new umbrella on the ground impatiently and had a very irritated look on his face. Noticing the engaged couple as they entered the campus grounds, he nodded his head to them. "Good morning." Ranma gave him a mean look, but decided to stay somewhat civil, nodding in return. "You haven't seen Hibiki lately, have you?" Hayate asked.

Ranma shook his head, "No, I haven't."

Hayate scowled, "That idiot. I told him the fight would be in three days. I bet he got scared and ran."

"Ryouga AIN'T the type to run from a fight," went Ranma. "Just hold your horses, would ya? It's only been two weeks. Give him time, he'll show up. You'll see." Hayate snorted and went back to tapping his umbrella to the ground. Ranma thought about beating the guy up himself, but he knew Ryouga wouldn't appreciate the pigtailed martial artist fighting his battles for him. Using every bit of restraint he had at his disposal, Ranma walked by.

Akane looked at him with a smile, "That's twice you've surprised me today. I've never heard you stick up for Ryouga like that before."

"I just don't like that guy," Ranma said, looking over his shoulder at Hayate. "I hope when Ryouga does show up, he pounds the chatterbox into the ground good."

"Seconded," said Akane with a nod. "You think he'll show up today?"

"Heh, you never know with Ryouga." All of the students suddenly stopped as a rumbling sound emanated from below, worried that an earthquake may have started. Ranma knew better, though and he shook his head. "Scratch that...I DO know. Erm, you may want to move..."

"What for?" asked Akane. The rumbling sound got closer and closer until the ground under Ranma and Akane exploded, causing them to go flying into the air and, consequently, crashing back to earth in a very painful heap.

"That'd be 'what for'," groaned Ranma.

Ryouga emerged out of the gaping hole, fanning away the smoke and dust that was flying around from the explosion. He looked around trying to catch his bearings and wondered aloud, "Now where am I?"

Ranma walked over to him and gave him a whack upside the head. "You're at Furinkan High School, dummy."

The perpetually lost boy took a look at his long time rival and grinned. He removed his backpack and got into a fighting stance, "I've found you at last, Ranma! After the rigorous training I've just undergone, there's no way you can defeat me now! Get ready!"

"Erm...you DO remember you're not fighting me this time, right?" the pigtailed martial artist said, pointing at a slack-jawed Hayate.

Ryouga looked at his real opponent, then back to Ranma, "Oh, that's right! Heh, sorry. Habit." Ranma shook his head again.

"Always have to make a flashy entrance, don't you, Hibiki? Just like the first time we met..." Hayate said, regaining his composure. "At any rate, it's about time you showed up. What in the world happened to you? We were supposed to have our duel two weeks ago."

"Hey, give me a break!" returned Ryouga as he took his umbrella out of its binding on his backpack. "I wanted to do a bit of training before we fought, but I got lost on the way back here."

"That figures," went Hayate. He began to twirl his umbrella, the glowing end streaming with ki as it did. "I'm rather antsy to get started immediately, but I'm sure after your long journey, you're going to want to rest a bit. I want to make sure that when I beat you, there won't be any excuses."

"Don't do me any favors," Ryouga said.

"As you wish!" Wasting no more time, Hayate attacked, stabbing and slashing purposely with the bladed end of his umbrella. Ryouga managed to dodge most of the first volley of strikes, blocking the rest with his own umbrella. As the fight got underway, a large crowd of students gathered to watch, some of which were surprised to note Ranma wasn't involved for a change. Not noted by most of the crowd, was a particular girl dressed in a ninja gi watching the unfolding battle from her perch high atop one of the many trees on campus.

Remembering the first time they fought in an actual duel, Ryouga noted Hayate's umbrella. After many impacts between his and Ryouga's own umbrella, it didn't bend from the impact. It seemed this new one was constructed with sturdier material. Though it could survive attacks, Ryouga doubted it could effectively block his own bludgeoning shots in tact. That was part of Ryouga's game plan going into the fight. He had never seen Hayate fight without his umbrella, even while it was damaged. Once the overly talkative martial artist was disarmed, Ryouga figured he would be helpless.

With that in mind, Ryouga shifted from defense to offense, swiping away with his own umbrella. However, Hayate managed to dodge every one of his strikes easily, using his superior speed to his advantage. The bandana clad martial artist watched his opponent's movements closely, taking mental notes. Ryouga surmised that Hayate would be what you get if you mixed he and his rival" slightly slower but stronger than Ranma, slightly weaker but faster than Ryouga. Having fought Ranma as many times as he had, Ryouga recognized that what he had to do was exploit his opponent's weakness and/or take away his advantage.

Hopefully, he should be able to take away his opponent's ground speed rather easily. It would give him an opportunity to test some of what he learned on his training trip. He took a swing at Hayate, forcing the pony tailed martial artist to hop backwards. Ryouga smiled, getting the space he needed to try out his move. He focused his ki into his finger and forced it into the ground, "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The ground underneath Ryouga exploded, sending rock and debris everywhere, forcing the gathered crowd to cover themselves, lest they be injured by the flotsam.

Still in the air, Hayate's eyes bugged out watching Ryouga's move. He didn't notice Ryouga doing that move when he was fighting against that giant robot. Seems as though the lost boy was holding out on him. Who knew what else he had in his arsenal that he hasn't shown off before? However, the show wasn't over yet. There were subsequent explosions that erupted 360 degrees around him, moving in an ever-widening circle. The explosions ended just before they reached the gate in front of him or the school behind him. The audience, however, was forced to move back to avoid getting into the quagmire Ryouga created.

Hayate landed expertly on the shattered earth and surveyed the damage. He was astonished knowing Ryouga had managed all of that devastation with just one finger. "That was quite an amazing display, Hibiki! I have to say, I am quite impressed. But what, I wonder, were you trying to accomplish-" Before he could finish his longwinded sentence, he found Ryouga charging at him with a fist reared back looking to deliver a very painful looking punch. He tried to dodge out of the way, but when he shifted his weight to create momentum, his foot sank into the softened ground, causing him to lose his balance slightly. Unable to move in time, Ryouga caught him with a hard shot to the face that sent him crashing to the loosened dirt.

Needless to say, the audience was astonished by Ryouga's maneuver as well. "Unbelievable!" Akane said in the crowd. "How in the world did he manage to do that?"

"Easy," explained Ryouga. "I remember that Ranma incorporated his ki with that chestnut fist of his. I figured since he could do it, why couldn't I? So I charged a bit of my ki into my finger when I used the breaking point. While the ground above exploded, the ki below ground shot out to other breaking points detonating them as well, causing the chain reaction. With the ground in the shape its in, a fighter that depends heavily on his agility would be at a severe disadvantage because of the bad footing." He gave Ranma a devious look.

"Not bad, bacon breath! Not bad!" Ranma would have to remember that for the next time he and Ryouga would battle.

"And yet, somehow, you're still able to move on the softened ground freely," Hayate mentioned, while rubbing his sore jaw. "Interesting."

"That's right," said Ryouga with a smile. "Looks like this fight is just about over already. You're nothing without your mobility. But just to make sure, I'll take that umbrella away from you."

Hayate stood back up and said defiantly, "You're pretty full of yourself to think you've beaten me already! KIHAKU SETSUDANKI!" He fired his crescent attack at Ryouga, which the bandana clad martial artist was able to dodge just in the nick of time. But the distraction was enough for Hayate, even with his poor footing, to close the gap between them and strike the lost boy in his abdomen, the same place he was struck before, with his aura crusher. The force of the attack propelled Ryouga into the front wall of the school.

Peeling himself off of the wall, Ryouga grabbed his abdomen and winced in pain. He had gone off to retrain in the breaking point technique, toughening up his body so he could withstand such hard blows. It didn't hurt as much as it did when he got hit outside the movie theater, but it still hurt more than he hoped it would. "KIHAKU SETSUDANKI!" Ryouga looked up and saw that crescent shaped energy attack heading for him again. He allowed himself to drop to the ground, letting the attack to slice through the wall.

The lost boy got back to his feet, thankful to still have his head. "YOU'RE FINISHED! REIKI TSUUDAKEN!" Ryouga found his opponent nearly on top of him. He didn't have the time to dodge to the left or the right and he couldn't block with his own umbrella since he dropped it after Hayate's previous attack. Steeling himself to the best of his ability, Ryouga took the aura crusher at full strength in the gut. The force of the attack pounded Ryouga's body into the wall, creating a very sizable crater. His shoulders slumped, head drooped forward and eyes glazed over, apparently loosing consciousness from the strength of the attack to his front and the unforgiving brick wall behind him.

In the audience, there was an audible gasp at the turn of events. No one was more shocked or disturbed than Ranma and Akane. Ranma pumped his fist and spurred Ryouga on under his breath, "C'mon, Ryouga! I've hit you harder than that and you've kept goin'! If you loose to this jerk, I'll lose every bit of respect I have for you! Now wake up and beat this guy!"

Hayate chuckled to himself. It had taken so much time, caused him so much pain, but he had finally come through. This moment, this sweet victory made all of the hardships he had to endure over the years well worth it. Now, he can return to his school with the news of Hibiki's defeat and those fools will have no choice but to give him the respect he richly deserved.

He tried to withdraw the handle of his umbrella but to his chagrin it wouldn't budge. Turning his gaze to his umbrella, he found Ryouga's hand had it wrapped in an iron grip. Hayate looked back up and found the lost boy favoring him with an almost sadistic, fangy grin. With his free hand, Ryouga grabbed Hayate by his button down shirt and gave him and slammed their heads into each other. Hayate staggered backwards dazed slightly, reeling from the lost boy's head of stone. He was further dismayed as he watched the now three Ryougas in front of him toss his umbrella to one side.

"Let's see how well you fight unarmed," Ryouga said. He charged, striking Hayate in the stomach with a straight punch, followed by an uppercut to the jaw. He finished with a spin kick that landed on his opponent's chest, causing him to crash into a tree. As Hayate slid down to the ground, writhing in agony, Ryouga walked up to him, cracking his knuckles. "Just as I thought. Can't fight without your umbrella, can you?" Hayate raised his hands in front of him and Ryouga raised an eyebrow, "Aww, don't tell me you're begging off now..."

"KIKOKEN!" There was a bright, light blue flash and Ryouga was flung backward at the surprise ki attack. Now out of the corner, Hayate scurried over to his umbrella and took it firmly in hand. "Heh...heh heh! Did you really think I would be so short-sighted that I wouldn't learn some unarmed techniques?"

"Well, I was hoping..." went Ryouga, clutching his chest in pain.

"Tsk, I thought for sure Ryouga had him that time," Ranma said on the sidelines.

Hayate stood to his feet and wobbled slightly, unable to keep proper balance because of all the damage he had endured. He bared his teeth and began a breathing exercise in an attempt to get his second wind. Ryouga pushed himself up, wiped the sweat off of his brow and got back into a fighting stance. He was in pretty bad shape as well, but he still looked like he could bulldoze his way through a mountain if he wanted to. It didn't even look as though he was winded, not to mention the fact that he hadn't used that shi shi whatucallit yet.

He had hoped he wouldn't have had to use this, but Hayate felt he no longer had a choice. His usual moves just weren't doing enough damage to Hibiki's super hardened hide. He began to twirl his umbrella and his ki, which was usually either focused on the handle or the tip of his parasol, enveloped his entire body. As his umbrella spun faster and faster, the wind in the area of the school began to whip up violently. All of the girls gathered in the audience had to hold their skirts down to keep from being embarrassingly exposed to the world.

In the center of the battlefield, the wind grew stronger and stronger and Ryouga found it increasingly difficult to remain upright. "W-what's going on?" he wondered aloud. "Is he generating this wind?"

Hayate smiled, "That's right, Hibiki. You stayed at the school long enough to learn the basics so that you could humiliate me in front of everyone there. However, you didn't learn any of our division's more advanced techniques. But not to worry, I'm going to teach you one of them...the hard way! Prepare yourself for the Kongming School of Unorthodox Weaponry Martial Arts Inclement Weather Division Final Attack!"

"Would that mean you'd be running away?" A particularly strong gust of wind whipped by and nearly knocked Ryouga over. "I guess not..."

----+----

Two weeks and not one word. Ukyou shook her head just thinking about the rather rude behavior of her houseguest and employee. Sure, he may have gotten so desperately lost that he could've been on the other side of the world. But there were other ways of getting in contact with a person. She does have a computer, after all. Sure, she didn't use it much, but she did hop online every now and then to check her e-mail. Plus the postal service was still active. He could've sent her a postcard or something to let her know he was okay.

But then, what if he couldn't? What if something happened to him? Did a predator eat him while in his cursed form? Was the training he subjected himself to too much for him? She tried to clear her head of such thoughts. Ryouga was one of the strongest people she knew. It didn't matter what was thrown at him to knock him down, he always managed to bounce back to his feet and keep pushing forward. She didn't have to worry about him as much as she did. Still, she couldn't help but remember that time when they ran into each other just before they found out about Ranma and Akane. If he hadn't stumbled into her, he may have died from then.

After Ukyou left her father to pursue Ranma and Genma, she spent the majority of her time alone. Even while here in Nerima, even though she held the hope of marrying Ranma and raising a family close to her heart, she spent most of her time by herself. When she found out Ranma finally chose Akane, it was as if her world crumbled apart. She never felt so lonely in her life. Even though she irrationally lashed out at Ryouga, she came to realize what a comfort it was to have him with her. It didn't feel as bad being with a kindred spirit. She didn't think she could take it if she found out she lost him too.

Sure, the guy was thicker than molasses at times and just as bright. Not to mention the fact that he was a literal emotional time bomb. But he was probably the only guy in town that came close to really understanding her, as their trials, tribulations and trauma's were so similar. She would definitely miss that understanding if she had lost him. She would also miss that goofy grin of his whenever he did something stupid. And the cute way he would...

Ukyou gave her head a couple of good whacks, as if she were trying to dislodge the thoughts from her head. She still must've been feeling the effects of that stupid movie Akane invited her to see. She hoped she didn't have to see one of those again for a long time.

She made her way to school at an even pace, not wanting to be late, but not having so much time that other students would have the opportunity to stop her and ask more questions about Ryouga. She was trying hard not to think of dire situations that could've prevented him from returning and their questions would be a very good way to get her to start thinking about them again. She also hoped to avoid Hayate. No doubt the blowhard would be there waiting for Ryouga again today as he had been for the last two weeks. The less she saw of him, the better.

Speaking of blowhards, where in the world did that biting wind come from?

----+----

From what Ryouga could tell, the wind had reached its strongest point. He found that lowering his center of gravity allowed him to stand against it effectively. The crowd found it more difficult to stand against the wind and the fact that chunks of the loosened ground were whipped up and started flying around didn't help matters. Most dispersed to the relative safety to the building leaving Ranma, Akane and a few other hearty souls to witness the battle's escalation.

The chunks of the ground were giving Ryouga a good pounding, but with the breaking point training, which he put himself through again during his two weeks away, he could barely feel them. "Is this your so-called final attack, Hayate?" he said with a grin. "I have to say, I'm very disappointed. I was expecting more than this."

Hayate grinned in return, "This? This isn't the final attack, although it usually is enough to intimidate my opponents into backing down. HERE'S the REAL final attack!"

Ryouga readied himself again for whatever was coming. Before the attack came, though, someone making their way onto the school grounds behind his opponent caught the bandanna clad martial artist's attention. Their hand was covering their face because of the powerful wind, but the chestnut hair flying franticly behind her gave her identity away. "Ukyou?"

"Take this! JUANFENG-DA!" Hayate took his spinning umbrella and swung it over his head. This created three compact tornadoes that spun around him sucking up everything around them. The suction was so powerful Ryouga could feel it pulling him in. Unfortunately, the move that served him so well earlier in the fight was proving to be his undoing as the loosened ground provided him with no traction to brace against the fearsome wind.

Ukyou, however, with no warning as to what was going on, was immediately drawn into the attack. Getting sucked into the vacuum so suddenly knocked all of the air out of her, causing her to lose consciousness. Steeling himself, he stopped struggling and allowed himself to be drawn into the attack as well. He found Ukyou spinning in the center of one of the twisters and sort of swam up to her and wrapped his hands around her. Now came the part he didn't think about...he got up to her, but how in the world was he going to get down? He was holding his breath trying to keep from passing out himself but he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep the air in.

"KIHAKU SETSUDANKI!"

A volley of Hayate's crescent attacks ripped through the tornados. Ryouga put his body over Ukyou's to protect her from the attacks and used his own ki to blunt the strikes. However, under the extreme circumstances, he couldn't maintain his concentration and the edge of one of the crescents managed to cut into the small of his back. Thanks to the crescents, the tornadoes dissipated, causing Ukyou and Ryouga to fall back to the ground.

In the dwindling audience, Ranma pinned Akane to the outside wall of the school, shielding her with his body. Once the winds died down, he released her and both breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't believe it," went Ranma. "That was almost like the Dragon's Blast of Heaven, but he didn't need to do a spiral, nor did he need any of Ryouga's ki to do it. Intense! But why in the world did Ryouga let himself get sucked in like that?"

Akane looked over to her friend to see how he was faring and she gasped, "Is that Ukyou?"

Ranma's jaw dropped, "Ukyou?"

Painfully, Ryouga sat up, carefully laid Ukyou down and gave her a once over. She had some scratches due to the flying rocks and earth in the tornado. Her uniform was shredded in a few places, but otherwise, she seemed okay. Suddenly, he felt a vice grip clamp around his neck and he was hoisted into the air. Below him, he heard Hayate give a somewhat tired laugh. "You put up quite a fight, Hibiki," he said. "I hadn't had to go that hard in a very long time. But this fight is now over. You lose."

Ryouga wasn't usually one to give up, however, he couldn't help but agree with Hayate. His trip through the tornado took more out of him than he expected. When he was cut in the back, he yelled out, which allowed the vacuum to knock the wind out of him as well. He hadn't fully recovered from that yet before Hayate grabbed him, totally cutting off his oxygen supply. His arms and legs felt like they were made of lead. There was nothing he could do to defend himself. He looked down at the unconscious Ukyou and thought it was good he'd been able to see her one last time. He regretted their time would be cut so short and wondered...

His ki flared to life and Hayate suddenly found it impossible to continue holding his adversary up. "W-what's going on?" went Hayate, his voice cracking looking at Ryouga's eyes glowing an eerie shade of red, the same color as his ki. Now that he thought about it, it was the same shade of red as the...His jaw dropped, "Oh no..."

"SHI SHI HOUKODAN!"

The remainder of the crowd shielded their eyes as the bright column of energy exploded and the full Shi Shi Houkodan pierced the early morning sky. Once the light went away, the crowd noted Ryouga was still standing, but Hayate wasn't. In fact, he wasn't anywhere to be found. But they could hear him; it was low at first, but it got louder and louder until it suddenly stopped as he fell from the sky and crashed into the ground right at Ryouga's feet.

Slowly, Hayte pushed himself up onto his elbows and he looked up at Ryouga. "I-I'm not finished yet!" Ryouga looked down his nose at Hayate, then bowed his head completely. In the sky beyond his adversary, Hayate could still see a speck of green from Ryouga's attack. Instead of getting smaller, though, it was getting bigger, as if...it were coming back. "Aw crap..." The energy from Ryouga's attack slammed back down to earth with a wide radius, completely demolishing everything it touched.

When the smoke cleared, there was a huge crater where the school's front gate was supposed to be. In the center of the crater, Ryouga stood above the unconscious form of his opponent and said with a snort, "You're finished now." And with that, his knees buckled beneath him and he fell to the ground unconscious as well.

----+----+----+----+----

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