Charlotte's Sequel

Chapter Nineteen

Because I'm The Chosen One!

Ryoga shuddered as Mercedes lunged for him, he threw himself to the side!

Betrayed by Mercedes? Ryoga could hardly believe it, the dog was so friendly . . . when Ryoga didn't look like a bite sized black baby pig.

The dog spun midair, landed on his back in exactly the way a cat never would have, rolled to his feet and charged again! Ryoga leapt backwards but ran right into Mr. Turtle!

The crocodile's jaws swung closed faster than anything Ryoga had ever seen, and the lost boy nearly lost himself in Mr. Turtle's jaws but strong arms took him and shoved him forward.

The arms of Tatewaki Kuno.

That didn't mean Ryoga would let him live. No, no, no. All Kuno had done in saving Ryoga from a bit of injury was further secure his own death.

So maybe Ryoga wasn't Nabiki's first choice anymore . . . he'd make sure before this fight was over that he was her only choice.

She'd love him once Kuno was dead. And if she didn't . . . if she . . . didn't . . .

She can die too.

'No. Not that . . .' Ryoga thought to himself.

And Mercedes rammed into him! The time for thought was over, Ryoga's fist flew out towards the dog's jaws, he held the dog's mouth open working not to actually harm the creature.

"Snap out of it Mercedes! It's me, Ryoga! Remember that new name I promised you?" Ryoga tried.

"It's no use great king." Jun's companion, Fenrir said, "Mercedes–as you call him–only obeys me. My powers allow me great influence over all animals, but most especially with my favorite kind . . . and I've always been a dog lover."

Suddenly Fenrir's two dogs were on Ryoga, each one latched on to one of his arms, weakening him so that he could no longer hold the massive Mercedes back! Ryoga fell to the ground and Mercedes lunged for him, hitting the ground hard and laying atop Ryoga, his mouth just inches from the lost boy's throat, and coming closer!

Ryoga had about a moment before Mercedes bit into his throat!

Only that moment came and went and the great dog didn't move. Mercedes was millimeters from Ryoga's throat, still he didn't strike.

Ryoga realized he felt a little heavier than usual, and understood Mercedes wasn't moving because he was too heavy to move.

Indeed closer inspection told Ryoga that the dog clearly was struggling just to keep standing, the other two dogs, while still latched to Ryoga's arms were not even capable of that.

Ryoga kicked Mercedes off of himself as gently as possible, a feat accomplished in such heavy gravity because Ryoga was so physically strong. Ryoga got up, ripping his arms free of the other two dogs, he rose to his feet and looked at Jun who was struggling to raise his gun. Kuno, Ryoga noticed was lying on the ground struggling to move his arms towards his sword which he seemed to have dropped . . .

"Flaunting your power, Bobby?" Jun asked, "This is some illusion, but just an illusion. Actual control of gravity defies far too many laws of science." Jun said.

Bobby–if that was the name of the K-Fighter–stood up with the same ease as Ryoga and said "Yeah, yeah. Say what you want to say . . . as long as some of what you say answers the questions I'm going to ask you." Bobby approached Jun and said darkly, "I'm through playing, master, this "illusion" isn't budging until you tell me everything you know about–"

"Hey little brother!" Fenrir shouted, struggling just to get to his knees, "Did you forget that I know you can only affect what you can see with your eyes?"

Ryoga blinked and noticed that Bobby, indeed, had not done the same. Not since everything got heavy.

Bobby shrugged. "So? I can see everything just fine."

"Yeah? Look behind you. What you don't see, that's what we like to call an ace in the hole."

A fourth dog leapt out, sinking its teeth into Bobby's arm, the youth closed his eyes and shouted, Ryoga felt lighter, the other three dogs got up, Fenrir laughed and rose, Kuno grabbed his sword and rose.

Jun got to his feet too. He raised his gun towards Bobby's head . . . and he fired.

At point blank range, missing Bobby just wasn't possible.


Ranma sighed as he walked down the street eating a hot dog a vendor had given him free of charge for being such a good customer. Ranma had never been the vendor's customer, not even once, but he wasn't going to turn down free food, and it was rare that he ate Italian food. Or Canadian, whatever the heck this "hot dog" was.

He was in search of nothing in particular, and finding it with ease.

The things Kasumi had said . . . they couldn't be true.

But if they were he supposed he should be looking for Ryoga. Who knew where the lost boy was? Naturally Ranma made a mental quip about how even Ryoga would never know where he was, but since there was no one around to appreciate his wit he kept it to himself.

It was then that Ranma noticed that there was someone who could appreciate his wit! Limping towards him, and waving to get his attention was Konatsu!

Ranma had never felt particularly close to Konatsu, but with him, using her spatula as a crutch was Ukyo, and Ranma and Ukyo got on just swell. He ran over to them and said, "Hey! What's up? Looks like you guys got run through the ringer!"

"In a manner of speaking." Konatsu gasped.

"We've just been out partying all night." Ukyo wheezed.

"Cool." Ranma nodded." Hey, ya seen Ryoga anywhere?"

Ukyo looked funny, sort of guilty, "I wouldn't know where he is, Ranma honey, I don't care about him like I care about you!"

Ranma blinked. "That's kinda mean. Anyway I'm not asking you t'date him, I just wanna know where he is, he could get hurt out there on his own."

"Hurt?" Ukyo blinked, she hefted her spatula over her shoulder, her limp disappearing instantly, "Where's our leads? Do you know where he was headed? Have there been any witnesses?"

Ranma blinked at her again. "What happened to your limp?" He asked.

"Oh that. I was just pretending so Konatsu here wouldn't feel like a wimp."

"You got beat up?" Ranma asked.

"Naw." Konatsu said. "I tripped when we were running into battle and sprained my ankle."

"Ah." Ranma nodded. "That's too bad."

"But not as bad as this!" A woman's voice chuckled, Ranma turned around to see some woman dressed in black holding Nabiki with a knife to her neck! "If you want to see Hibiki's fiancee again, you'll do as I say!"

Ranma scoffed, "Oh great, this again!" He paused and then laughed, "Hey Ukyo, d'you remember that time Mousse kidnaped that stuffed animal and thought it was Akane?"

"No. Was I there?" Ukyo raised an eyebrow. "It seems like the sort of thing I'd want to remember."

"Oh I guess you weren't . . ." Ranma scratched his chin. "If you had been though, maybe we could have saved Akane's stuffed animal with a pincer."

The woman in black sighed and said, "Oyah! I have Hibiki's woman you fools! Can we focus on there here and now, not the there and then?"

Ranma was focusing quite well actually. "Of course a pincer is too cliche, been used way too many times."

"If I'd been there I would have come in behind Mousse while you took him from the front, and if Konatsu were there he'd have come up from beneath."

"My hand is getting tired, I may have to slice her throat just because of how bored I'm getting!" The woman in black said.

"Beneath eh?" Ranma grinned, "I'd love to see how you manage that, Konatsu."

Konatsu grinned back, "Then observe, I'll show you."

With that the three martial artists sprang for the woman, who only held her knife tighter, and pressed it against Nabiki's neck!


"Bobby" scowled as Jun fired his gun.

He could have stopped the bullet if it wasn't so close to him!

He prepared for death, an eternal rest with the knowledge that he'd failed in his most important task. What did it matter if he'd come close to the answers he needed? In the end close wasn't close enough.

There was a sound like lightning, Bobby felt a sharp pain in his face and he was thrown back several feet, slamming into a cage of birds, freeing the little finches so that they could be free to escape and overpopulate Japan.

So this was death? Wasn't really that bad.

He put a hand to his cheek and didn't feel any blood, but it did hurt.

He looked to Jun and saw the assassin rising to his feet, holding his wrist. Above him stood Tatewaki Kuno, a black smoking bullet imbedded in the wooden blade of his sword.

Bobby surmised that Kuno had kicked him out of the way and blocked the gunshot with his sword, daring and a little crazy but much appreciated.

"This fight," Kuno said, "is between myself and the man who has injured my Nabiki Tendo, newcomers will stay out of it."

Bobby's gratitude evaporated. His eyes narrowed. "Jun is mine, I need him to answer some questions."

"I'll leave enough of him for interrogation . . ." Ryoga said darkly, shoving Kuno aside, "Because she's my Nabiki, and he'll be answering my questions."

Bobby frowned, if Ryoga was about to fight Jun, and Kuno had been thrown into a wall, who was looking after–

Fenrir slammed into him, his older brother's fist slammed into his face while another hand wrapped itself around his neck!

Fenrir emitted something between a laugh and a snarl as he raised his clawed fist for a smashing attack on Bobby's head!

Bobby scowled, his hand flew up, hitting Fenrir in the face, the older man suddenly flew up as well, slamming into the ceiling, his two dogs leapt up towards Bobby but their leaps took them higher and higher until they too inhabited the ceiling.

"Grah! You little punk!" Fenrir roared in outrage.

Bobby got up, keeping his eyes on them as best he could.

And then the giant dog, Mercedes slammed into him!

Fenrir and his boys feel to the ground with a hard, wet "thud"

Bobby's eyes were on Jun for an instant, then on Mercedes.

He hated dogs.

He was pretty much running low on energy, he was panting from exhaustion caused both by the run, and by the battle.

Fenrir got to his feet, Bobby lay motionless beneath the giant dog. If he had a set amount of morale, that was running low too.

Lying on his back the only thing–other than Mercedes–that Bobby could see well was the ceiling. The annoying finches were now dive-bombing random people in the crowd who'd decided to watch the battle, a bit of humor on Fenrir's part that was only funny if you were the one being dive bombed.

Under different circumstanced Bobby might have laughed too. It was kind of funny to see little birds flying around the room attacking people. Back in the day, when they were still able to say the word "brother" to one another without malice, Bobby would have laughed.

Before the betrayal. Before the Hong Kong Battle. Before Tokai and Maggie, and everyone else had been . . .

Bobby took a quick, deep breath to calm himself before he got carried away and someone really got hurt. Killing Fenrir wasn't an option, but neither was wasting any more time with his older brother.

Jun was his objective and if Kuno and Hibiki were left alone for too long there wouldn't be enough of Jun left for questioning.

But how to end this fight in a quick and nonlethal way, and then deal with Jun, Hibiki and Kuno?

The young man continued to stare at the ceiling . . .

He rolled backwards and came to his feet. He dashed out the door.

Fenrir followed him–predictably–he'd get rid of Fenrir, give him the slip, it wouldn't take but a minute, and maybe Jun would still be alive when he got back.

His plans were usually far better than this. It was a bad plan, a terrible plan, it was all he could come up with under such stress and it annoyed him to no end.


Ranma sprang forward, the woman in black leapt backwards . . . into Ukyo!

Ukyo kicked her in the back and sent her and Nabiki flying towards Ranma, the woman dropped her knife and let go of Nabiki as she raised her hands to prevent Ranma from damaging her–to be honest, rather striking–face.

The 'Nabiki' she'd been holding evaporated before it ever hit the ground, and Ranma felt confused enough to tilt his head to the side, but at the same time he was expert enough not to let his focus travel too far from the battle.

He felt something on his ankles, Konatsu swung out from between Ranma's legs, the ninja's feet came up, slammed into the woman's chin and sent her into the air, Konatsu flipped and landed on Ranma's shoulders, however his injured ankle ruined the delicate landing and he fell off, onto his face.

"Aww Konatsu, that was so cool, why'd you mess it up?" Ukyo demanded.

The woman that had held Nabiki slammed into the ground and evaporated as well.

Ranma raised an eyebrow, "What the heck is this?" He demanded.

"A dream, an illusion." The woman said, and Ranma saw her sitting on a park bench watching them, she held a familiar fan in her hands, though how she'd gotten it Ranma did not know. "Did you like it? I knew that you, Saotome were resistant to such things, so I used a bit of my own talents on you to empower the fan."

"Your own talents?" Ranma scoffed, guessing by her apparel and the gold rings she wore as bracelets that this woman was a member of the guild Kasumi had told him about. "You're unusual?"

"No. I am proud to say that I am not a freak like you or that fool Lo-Chun. None of the top assassins of our order are Unusual. You see you simply cannot trust a mutant." The woman smiled, her red hair reminded Ranma of his own when he was in his female form, in fact a lot about her reminded Ranma of himself. "My talent is with drugs and poisons, I slipped you a little something through that hot dog to make you more susceptible to illusions. Feel privileged, I gave you just enough for it to take effect but not enough for you to end up addicted, like just about every American boy your age."

"You put sex in the hot dog?" Ranma gasped, hiding the sarcasm in his voice.

"Illegal narcotics! I put drugs in the hot dog!" The woman cried angrily. "You're so stupid!"

"So what d'you want?" Ranma demanded.

"For you to show me what you've got, after all you might be the chosen one." The woman shrugged.

"Impressed yet?" Ranma smirked.

"Not yet. But . . . if you can defeat these two . . ." The woman said, trailing off.

Ranma heard Ukyo and Konatsu both shout in surprise, he spun around and saw a pair of figures in black standing atop of his unconscious friends.

"It has been a long time, Ranma Saotome." A familiar female voice said. This voice belonged to the taller of the two figures, dressed all in black with a mask over her face Ranma couldn't be sure who it was. Her smaller compatriot waved shyly so Ranma assumed whoever it was they couldn't have been on very terrible terms when they last met.

Neither of these two wore gold or silver rings, but they were clearly adorned in the same basic clothing type as the woman on the bench. Ranma took up a fighting stance and said "There's no need to be bashful, why don't you quit hiddin' your pretty faces and let me see who it is I'll be beatin' down on!"

The taller woman complied, removing her mask and revealing a face that Ranma decided should be familiar, but wasn't.

The shorter one removed her mask, there was a slightly famished look in her eyes and Ranma felt like that should be familiar, and again it wasn't.

"As I have said, it has been a long time, Ranma Saotome." The taller woman said.

Ranma held up a hand, "Wait up." He said and he tapped his foot.

"What's wrong?" The younger woman asked.

"Just a second . . ." Ranma said.

"We do not have all day." The older one said cooly.

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Ranma cried, punching his fist into his palm, "You're Hikaru Gosunkugi and Pantyhose Taro!"

The two women looked at one another in horror, "He doesn't remember us Natsume! Even worse he thinks we're boys!"

"That is because he is a fool, Karumi. We'll make him remember us."

"Oh yeah, now I remember, you're Natsume and Karumi!" Ranma said quickly, feeling sly.

"Oh . . . I guess he does remember us, sister!" Karumi said with relief.

"Don't be so easily tricked, we just told him our names!" Natsume scowled at Ranma.

"Oh yeah . . ." Karumi said, blushing with embarrassment.

Ranma shook his head, "What're you two doing becoming assassins?"

"We don't have to assassinate people, we're just muscle." Karumi said and shrugged, "It's a job."

"Yes it is." Natsume said darkly, "Besides, what else is there for us since you helped deprive us of our right to inherit our father's school?"

Ranma blinked, "Me? But I didn't really do anything." He said, trying to sound innocent and harmless. "It was Akane!"

"Never mind that, you're going down now, and she'll go down too!" Natsume cried, lunging forward.

Ranma didn't doubt his ability to win because Ranma never doubted himself when it came to martial arts as a general rule, however a fight against the two estranged Tendo sisters–as far as they were concerned–was not something he looked forward to.


Ryoga kept his eyes on Jun and Kuno at the same time, as far as he was concerned they were both his enemy, but Jun was his target.

If he got a chance to kill Kuno, and believed he'd still be able to defeat Jun afterwards he'd do it.

Kuno lunged in, sword tip leading, "For Nabiki Tendo's honor!" He roared.

"He's not the one who damaged her honor!" Ryoga snapped, slapping Kuno aside with one hand and reaching out for Jun's face with the other. "You're the one who kissed her, knowing she was engaged to me!"

"Oh!" Jun gasped, "Master, has this man defiled the woman you love? Let me kill him for you, let me show you my loy–!"

Ryoga's fist reached Jun's face and the assassin flew back ten feet! "Stop calling me 'master' you sniveling worm!" Ryoga called, "And anyway his life is for me to take, just as yours is!"

Yes! YES! You sound like the chosen one now . . . now carry through, show me that you are the chosen one . . . the voice in Ryoga's head told him, not even bothering now to pretend to be a part of him.

Ryoga smiled. What lovely advice. The question now as not 'would he kill them' it was 'whom would die first' and Ryoga felt a little bit like a kid in a candy store trying to decide.

The man who had nearly killed our beloved, or the man who has sullied her and made her a whore? Oh yes, so difficult to choose, I want them both to die . . . perhaps if I slay them both at once? Ryoga, or the voice in his head thought, it was getting harder and harder to distinguish them.

No. It was definitely the voice in his head, "I'd never refer to Nabiki as a where" He snapped aloud at himself.

Jun, rubbing his jaw looked confused, and Tatewaki stood up, his wooden sword pointed towards Ryoga.

"We didn't say anything like that, great king!" Jun said.

But she is . . . she's betrayed me, and gone off with him, I should be mad, I should want to hurt her as well . . . I should want to kill her.

'But I don't. You're starting to annoy me.' Ryoga thought darkly, but aloud he snapped, "Stop calling me 'great king!' It's like you have a crush on me, it's getting on my nerves!" Ryoga felt power inside of him hitting a dam, and he knew that power was the strength of the chosen one, at least that was what that little voice inside of him was telling him.

Kill them and it's yours! Kill them and find the physical strength to kill Ranma, find the emotional strength to discard Nabiki, find the spiritual strength to rule over the entire world from the shadows!

Ryoga glared. "The only strength I need to kill Ranma is my own. Nabiki already left me and I don't want to rule the world. Your promises are all worthless to me." He said aloud, drawing odd stares from Kuno and Jun.

"Then Nabiki Tendo has finally left you . . . for me." He said with a smug grin.

Jun moved so fast it was as if he'd teleported, he appeared next to Kuno, a gun pressed to his head, "Shall I kill him for you, chosen?" Jun asked, carefully avoiding the title of Great King. Despite having a gun pointed to his head, Tatewaki remained smug.

Seeing that on his face Ryoga couldn't help it, he had to wipe that look off! He lunged forward and drew his fist back, grabbed Kuno by the collar with his other hand and . . .

Slammed his fist into Jun's face!

"I'll kill you once he's dealt with!" Ryoga barked at Kuno.

"I don't understand Great King, she is a harlot, unworthy of you, I did you service in shooting her, and her death was never my intention to begin with! Why do you seek to destroy me?" Jun asked.

Ryoga wasn't really sure how to put his answer into words. There were so many reasons that Jun had to be dealt with. He was a murderer who'd turned Lotion and who knew how many other children into murderers, he'd hurt Nabiki, kidnaped her and shot her, escaped justice, tried to kill Ryoga and his friend Ranma, yes Ranma was his friend!

No he's not!

Oh shut up. Yes Ranma was his friend, and Ranma wouldn't deliberately shatter him. Hurt him yes, Ranma did that a lot, though it was never done maliciously and not always intentionally, but he wouldn't shatter his entire world around him. Jun shooting Nabiki had shattered Ryoga's world, Kuno kissing Nabiki had shattered Ryoga's world. Nabiki was his world and in one form or another both of these men had damaged her. He would never forgive either of them.

He felt that power again, not the power of the chosen one but the Shi Shi Hokodan . . . and he wasn't even depressed. He was just really angry.


Ranma didn't want to give the two sisters the opportunity to draw their weapons or go into their fighting stances, they'd gotten off of Ukyo and Konatsu and both were breathing lightly, Ranma glared at Karumi, since she was the nicer of the two and easily bribed he said, "Karumi, I've got some rice crackers in my pocket and you look really hungry. You want 'em?"

"Don't fall for his tricks Karumi!" Natsumi cried.

"No tricks, I just want to make sure you're fed Karumi, and in top form so this fight can be worth while." Ranma reached into his pocket and was so relieved to find he wasn't lying, but man how long had those crackers been there?

He offered them to Karumi who looked at him with a bizarre kind of affection. It wasn't the physical affection that he got from Ukyo or Akane, it was more the 'I wont bite the hand that feeds me' affection which one might expect from a starving animal, and that was just fine by Ranma.

Harume took the crackers and devoured them.

Ranma nodded to the girl, "See? No catch. By the way, how'd you guys end up with the Nekekami?" He asked, trying to stall the fight, see if he could get Ukyo or Konatsu to come to while he talked to the sisters.

"There's actually a funny story behind that, isn't there Natsume?" Karumi said, licking her fingers.

"Well . . . yes." Natsume admitted.

"Can I tell it?" Karumi asked. "Please?"

"Ugh. Fine, tell him and then we fight!" Natsume allowed.

"Excuse me? You're supposed to be fighting right now." The woman in black called from behind them. "I've got other things to do so I'll be leaving . . . please make sure he's dead by the time I get back."

"Yay!" Karumi bounced up and down, which Ranma didn't recall being one of her regular characteristics before.

"Okay, so it was a dark and stormy night and it was raining really hard so we went and hid in this abandoned barn. And there were all these people there so we thought it was like a party or something but–"

"But a member of the Nekekami was actually in the barn, a prisoner of the local townspeople, he was being held for the police and he claimed that he had a rescue party coming, when we showed up he claimed we were they," Natsume said.

"So the townspeople attacked us, and we beat 'em all up!" Karumi giggled, "So we free the guy and he offers us a job, we take it 'cause we need money and it doesn't have anything to do with Natsume taking her cloths off–"

"Enough Karumi!" Natsume cried, "I have never–"

"Yeah, I know you're smarter than that. "Ranma nodded, but mostly he wanted her to shut up so he could hear the rest of the story.

"Yes. Well it's time for you to be destroyed." Natsume pointed out.

"Just one thing. Why'd a rare and elite guild invite two nobodies–forgive me–to join them? You could have been spies!"

"From what we've learned they're nearing a civil war with other guilds, they need muscle as well as assassins, they need people like us if they want to win the war." Natsume said.

"War?" Ranma raised an eyebrow.

Natsume frowned, "I shouldn't tell you." She said.

"But since you're our pal," Karume said, "They're going to use their power to start another world war, in all the chaos and violence they can swallow up the other guilds and rebuild the cabal! The Nekekami are the strongest so we definitely picked the right side!"

"Okay but how is that funny?" Ranma asked, the sisters shrugged.

"Traveling around with no place to really go is boring. I guess we're just easily entertained." Karumi admitted.

"Yes Karumi, but now can we please beat him up and earn our checks?" Natsume demanded.

"Okaaay!" Karumi grumbled.

"Oh . . . right . . . about that . . ." Ranma smirked, "I don't go quietly." He said, and he rushed forward!

"Hold it sugar!" Ukyo shouted.

Ranma stopped, he looked back and saw a very enraged Ukyo, and Konatsu.

"Nobody gets the jump on us from behind. We'll handle these two, you get the one that ran off." Ukyo said.

Ranma smiled at his childhood friend, "You're the best Ucchan." He said, "Oh, and don't take it easy on these two, they're tough, but also don't kill them!"

"I don't tell you how to do your job, get out'a here Ranma honey!" Ukyo called as Ranma ran off.

He knew Ukyo, she wouldn't hurt Karumi and Natsume too badly . . .

The person Ranma was worried about now was Ryoga.


Ryoga glared at Jun, he thrust his hand forward the way Bobby usually did, just to see what happened.

A blast of teal light erupted and engulfed Jun! He screamed in agony.

When the blast cleared Jun was lying on the ground trying to raise his gun and failing. "But chosen one! I found you! I should stand besides you in glory!" Jun pleaded.

"Yes . . . but now I want you to die." Ryoga said with a twisted smile.

"Hold fanged wanderer," Kuno said, "to slay an opponent in such a manner is without honor."

"To kiss a man's fiancee, to lay your filthy hands on her while he and she are still involved with him, that is totally without honor. Really, how you get off talking about something you don't possess is beyond me." Ryoga said, he smirked when Kuno gripped his sword hilt tightly.

"Nabiki Tendo loves me." Kuno said coldly.

Ryoga's eyes narrowed, "No she doesn't!" He snapped, "She can't! She . . ." He frowned. "I . . . I don't care anymore!" He roared, "You're both going to die, and not because of her, because of me! I've spent too much time thinking about her, serving her, it's time now to serve myself!"

Time now to do what you must!

"Time now to break the dams, the barriers, to shatter the walls!"

Time now to break the glass, seize the world on the other side!

"Time to . . . what?"Ryoga whispered. Break the glass? That sounded so familiar.

It gave Ryoga Hibiki pause, it did not do so for Tatewaki Kuno who lunged in, sword poised for the strike, a war scream on his lips!

Ryoga's arm flew out, snapping Kuno's sword in half, "Learn your place!" Jun shouted, finally raising his gun and shooting Kuno!

For reasons he'd never be able to explain Ryoga's hand shot forward, his legs propelled him forward and he knocked the gun out of Jun's hands, it went off harmlessly and fell to the ground.

Jun reached for another, Ryoga's fist flew, laying the older man out flat, he then viciously kicked Jun, causing the assassin to cough out just one more breath before he lay there motionless . . .

Motionless . . . but breathing.

Ranma's words rang in Ryoga's head, the words of Ryoga's friend–yes that was what Ranma was, once you got down to it.

Between the three of them, Ranma was the one who hadn't ruined things for Ryoga lately, sure the whole P-Chan episode wasn't completely behind Ryoga, but Jun had shot Nabiki, and Kuno had kissed her. Ryoga had allowed it all. He hadnt protected Nabiki well enough, and she'd been kidnaped. Hadn't given her good enough reason to be loyal, she'd been unfaithful.

Well . . . that last one isn't really my fault completely, she can share blame for that. Ryoga or whoever the hell thought darkly.

Either way Ryoga had himself lost the thing most precious to him, Tatewaki Kuno was not to blame. As for Jun . . .

Well . . . Jun could face the authorities.

"You're going to prison." Ryoga said coldly, "You say I'm your master. Call it my will."

Tatewaki put a hand on Ryoga's shoulder. "You have made the right choice." He said.

Ryoga had to literally fight himself not to break Kuno's hand just then, how dare the rich boy touch him?

Ryoga's fists shook as he worked to keep calm, "Tatewaki Kuno . . . because of my own feelings for Nabiki I will not cause her to cry over your mangled corpse." Ryoga said.

Tatewaki wisely withdrew his hand, though his voice when he responded was foolishly pompous, "A wise maneuver. Yes it is good to see that you understand, it is better to have loved her and lost her than never to have–"

"Mind you," Ryoga said darkly, "I said 'mangled corpse' as long as I leave some breath in you, and some beat to your heart you're just a 'mangled body' and there's enough of a difference there to satisfy both my sense of honor and my desire not to hurt the woman I love." Ryoga said, and his arm whipped out to hit Tatewaki Kuno!

But as Ryoga's fist flew he saw Tatewaki was no longer there, he had been shoved aside! In his place was a woman dressed in black.

She threw herself back to avoid his blow, flipped and stood on her hands.

She looked vaguely familiar, Ryoga would swear on his mother's black heart that he'd seen this woman before. She looked up at him through eyes covered by thick black lense goggles, she smiled a playful smile and said flipped herself right side up.

"You like that Nabiki girl? Good. She's yours . . . if you can defeat me." The woman said.

"What do you mean?" Ryoga demanded.

"Show me your true strength, and I'll tell you where Nabiki Tendo is being held prisoner." The woman explained. "Mind you she's under guard, many Nekekami agents are watching her . . . if you want her back you'd best shed this current manifestation, take Jun's life there and become our Chosen One . . ." The girl tilted her head towards Tatewaki, "or just kill him master. I know you can. You were fighting so enthusiastically before, such power, such passion, I've fallen in love with your movements."

Ryoga scoffed, "Ryoga Hibiki never harms a woman!"

"Pity." The girl shrugged. "Then I guess she'll die." She grabbed the collar of her shirt and spoke to it, "Condition Omeg–"

That was all she said as suddenly Ryoga's inhibitions about fighting women disappeared.

So, it seems, did Tatewaki Kuno's, though such inhibitions never really existed in the older boy, the main focus is that with a sword provided him by his ninja butler–who didn't seem too keen on being any more involved in the fight than that–Kuno lunged forward and struck out for the girl.

She laughed maniacally and looked up at the ceiling, "Don't take me for a weakling master!" She cried, and threw something into the air!

There was a blaring sound and Ryoga realized he'd made a major mistake, miscalculated a major factor . . .

And now he wouldn't get to beat Kuno or this woman . . . unless he moved like the wind!

He shot for the exit and threw himself out of the building right through an unbroken glass door, he felt his rage build again and hurled a blast of Shi Shi Hokodan–well it couldn't really be that, he didn't feel depressed, he'd have to make up a new name for this–into the building.

The fire alarm went off, water sprinkled down on the inhabitants of the pet show, it was then that Ryoga remembered that was where they had been, but the animals weren't attacking anymore . . .

Fenrir and the K-Fighter were already gone . . . so was Mercedes . . .

Ryoga suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, he spun around and there was the woman again.

"You can be fast when you need to be master. Good. Now . . . shall we play?"

"Gladly." Ryoga scowled.

"Good. Who knows, perhaps in time we will become more than friends. You will need a new consort . . . since that other boy interrupted me in the middle of giving the order to spare Nabiki Tendo's life for an additional ten minutes."

Ryoga's heart stopped.

No way that was true, this woman probably didn't even have Nabiki . . .

But if it were true . . .

If it were true . . .

He scowled and dashed back into the building, Tatewaki had to die!

He stopped himself right outside, he spun around and glared at the girl, who was inspecting her nails. "You're trying to trick me!" He roared. "You want me to get wet!"

"Probably." She shrugged. "But who can tell?"

Ryoga smiled darkly, "You'll tell. I'll make you tell. I'll beat it out of you."

"I thought you didn't hurt women?" The girl in black smiled slyly.

"Ryoga Hibiki never harms a woman, that's what I said isn't it? Well I'm not Ryoga Hibiki. I'm the chosen one!"

"Maybe."

"No maybe about it, I am the chosen one, and the question you've got to ask yourself now is do you want me as your enemy? Unfortunately my patience is very short so answer it fast . . ."

The girl smiled and said–

"Nope, too late." Ryoga snarled, and punched her into the far building.


Bobby leapt backwards and onto a chain link fence, "Give it up Fenrir, you cant win! Keep this up and your partner is going to be killed!" He called back at his elder brother.

Bobby didn't expect a positive reaction, didn't want one, he wanted to give Fenrir the shake and his plan to do so was now in place.

Led by the giant German Shepherd and Fenrir's two mongrels the beast master advanced along with quite a few other dogs, some from the pet show and some he'd just added to his pack from conscripts along the way. Bobby noted that the number of animals his brother could seize control of had increased.

That was fine. Fenrir's strengths weren't the only ones to increase since Hong Kong.

A pair of poodles suddenly came in at Bobby from the left side, they easily leapt the six foot height of the fence and would have ripped him down from the top of it had he not spotted them.

He flipped them over his shoulder without ever laying a finger on them, as they soared through the air the gravitational pull suddenly switched directions and the dogs were sucked into the area behind Bobby, which was a large flowing waterway.

Bobby gasped in surprise as another pair of dogs took him from the left side while his attention was on the poodles on his right. "Oh no!" He cried as he fell backwards rather than being pulled forwards, he stopped himself by grabbing onto the fence.

Fenrir laughed like the moron he was, "Startle you brother?" He asked.

"Oh no, I'm doomed! I give up!" Bobby cried, forcing a bit of fear into his voice.

Fenrir laughed and his dogs slammed into the fence, barking, growling and snarling, Bobby almost lost his grip.

The two behind him were struggling to get at him as well, swimming towards the steep concrete incline that would take them to the fence and allow them to attack him.

He was surrounded.

He'd planned to be.

Timing needed to be perfect, Fenrir laughed maniacally and clapped his hands as he tended to do before killing someone. Bobby scoffed, has his brother fallen so low and so deep in the Nekekami beliefs that he would kill him?

A pity, but then they'd really stopped being brothers that day in Hong Kong. Bobby's eyes narrowed, "I give up Fenrir, don't hurt me!"

"Naw little brother. I want to hurt you. I want to see your blood all over these beautiful animals' teeth, then I'll take my pack back to master Jun and annihilate that idiot with the sword, gain favor in the eyes of the chosen one. Never mind your death brother, it'll be slow and painful, just the way you've always wanted."

Bobby rolled his eyes. Fenrir's pack slammed into the fence again, and the poodles finally reached Bobby's ankles, he screamed in pain and pretended to loose his grip.

Fenrir laughed insanely and clapped maniacally . . .

Bobby fell into the water.

"Get him! Rip him apart!" He heard Fenrir laugh before he submerged.

He thrust his fist forward and the poodles were suddenly pulled in a direction opposite his own. He saw, above the murky water the fence collapse and the dogs rush into the water.

He waited . . . holding his breath beneath the surface until they had all piled into the water.

Fenrir, for all his love of dogs had failed to recognize that they were not sharks.

Dogs could bite him sure, but under water . . . well he doubted it. He held his breath longer and waited.

This had to be timed just right, the instant Fenrir entered the water for him he'd make a big splash–he couldn't resist–and close his eyes for just a moment.

That was when it had to happen, when Bobby needed to escape.

He saw his brother coming, he spun under the water so that he faced the ground, he thrust his hands forward as he heard the splash and he shot up out of the water as if he were falling into the air!

He took a relieved breath and switched the pull to bring himself towards a roof top, Fenrir viciously searching the water for him.

Now if Jun was still alive Bobby would have a little time to go in, save him, get his information, then leave the area before more blasted Spirit Cats showed up.

He nearly made it to the building before a large white shield appeared right in front of him, and unable to respond in time the young man slammed right into it.

It knocked the wind out of him, and broke his concentration, he fell to the ground some twenty feet below him.

A great white claw suddenly shot out and gripped him, just touching it cut the young man as if it were made of several small razors. It slowed his descent and almost gently placed him on the ground.

A man in black emerged from the alleyway, sucking the great white claw into his oversized sleeve.

Bobby, now covered in small cuts coughed.

Fenrir was rushing over along with the pack, "Good job partner!" He shouted, "Poor idiot brother, did you assume Jun was my partner? No way. They gave me someone familiar, someone I'd work well with."

Bobby ignored his brother stared with eyes full of hate at a man whose disturbing face he knew all too well. Dressed in black, his emotionless eyes hidden behind a pair of thick, black sunglasses, wearing a huge black trench coat and standing perhaps a bit over six feet tall, a mohawk on his otherwise shaven head it was impossible for the young man not to recognize the man that had killed all of his friends in a few grizzly minutes, the man who had taken her prisoner.

If Bobby had not believed this man to have died a year ago he'd have been hunting him down instead of Jun.

Now he smirked. It had just become extremely hard to remember why he'd sworn never to take another human life. It also didn't seem he'd need Jun after all . . . if this man knew where she was he'd be able to rescue her, see her again, make sure she was all right.

For that he'd gladly give up his life, even his soul and break the oath he made, take human life, take his brother's life if necessary. If he died in the attempt . . . that just wasn't possible, he would not allow himself to lose.

He felt his eyes opening and he didn't bother trying to stop it, he felt the surge of blood lust that accompanied newly opened eyes, "This was fun while it lasted." He said calmly, lunged forward!

To Be Continued . . .

Next Time: "Bobby" is about to be smashed, but who is this new assassin? Jun may be down and out, but can it be that Tosa actually has what it takes to stop an over the edge Ryoga? Karumi and Natsume intensify their attack on Ukyo and Konatsu, while Ranma races after Tosa, but it seems as if things are getting out of control, and the mysterious Hong Kong Battle is mentioned again and again . . . two more assassins join the fight, but neither is a Nekekami, and our heroes may just get some unlikely help, but will it be rejected?


The Innocent Never Suspect GrimmZ's Original Character Profiles!

Though this section is devoted to original characters made by me or otherwise, because I'm not certain everyone knows who they are we now tackle Natsume and Karumi, real and actual characters of the Ranma universe.

Natsume & Karumi: Natsume is the elder of two sisters who for reasons that escape me decide Soun Tendo is their father. She is also a babe. Karumi is the younger and she can eat anything, including Akane's cooking. She is always hungry. The two go so far as to challenge Akane for the right to inherit the school, and prove to be quite formidable.