Miss Ranma

Chapter Twenty-One

"Here I come!" Mai Shiranui called out as she made her way towards Ranma with one hand on her hips while the other handheld a white fan. Her fleshy body jiggled as she sashayed with a switch of her hips. "You think you can make me sweat?"

"Not only will I make you sweat, but I'll also make sure you lose this fight," Ranma responded fearlessly with an intense stare.

Then Mai pointed a closed fan at Ranma and said, "I won't lose to the likes of you. Mai Shiranui of the Shiranui School must teach you a lesson."

"I'm Ranma Saotome of Anything Goes, and I accept your challenge. Your move," the pigtailed girl announced, getting in a stance with her knees slightly bent while on the balls of her feet as her hands moved slowly.

"Rolling fan!" Mai called out upon throwing a fire-infused white fan at Ranma who simply blasted it into smithereens with a ki blast.

"Is that all you got? You'll have to do better than that. Here, this is for you." The pigtailed girl quickly shot several dagger-like ki blasts in the ninja's direction, prompting her to leap up and over her opponent in the air in an arc, doing several acrobatic flips to avoid getting hit by the roving machine gunfire energy blasts. Then the ninja shot downwards like a dive bomber, nailing Ranma with her flying squirrel furiante attack, hitting the top of her opponent's head with her forehead. Before her adversary could counter-attack, Mai struck her with the basketball-sized end of her fire infused, decorative tail attached to her belt, sending the pigtailed girl to the ground in flames. Upon the end of her flashy acrobatic maneuvers, the nimble ninja deftly landed on her feet and sent a volley of countless fans in Ranma's direction causing her opponent to fall back and go on the defensive, using her ki blasts to shoot down the ki infused paper fans coming at her.

"I got more." Mai leaped into the air. Then she came down on Ranma like a dive bomber practically flying as she shot dozens of white fan projectiles on her opponent who had to give all of her attention to dodging these deadly attacks. Then the ninja landed right next to Ranma and crouched, using a leg sweep maneuver to knock her off of her feet.

"Not bad, but you're still no match for Anything Goes," Ranma replied, quickly utilizing an acrobatic maneuver that kept her from crashing to the ground. Upon getting back to her feet, the pigtailed girl was in a martial arts stance, ready for action.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" Mai immediately attempted to strike Ranma with a three kick combination while using acrobatic side cartwheels, but despite the senses-shattering speed of these attacks, Ranma had enough presence of mind to block all the hits coming from her opponent.

However, despite Ranma's fast-moving actions or because of them, the ninja girl rolled on the ground right past her, getting behind her opponent. Then she attacked, rising from her crouched position, using a ki sharpened fan to strike the pigtailed girl from behind, slicing up the back of her red tunic and bikini top almost to the skin. In addition to that, Ranma's pigtail string had come off, having fallen to the ground!

"Aha! Got you!" the ninja announced as the formerly pigtailed girl's hair loosened and cascaded down her shoulders and baring back.

Even though Ranma felt a draft from the nape of her neck to the small of her back, she was still in the fight. "So that's how you want to play it. Let's see how you like it. Tenshin amaguriken!" With blinding speed, Ranma struck her opponent with hundreds of punches and kicks, fists and feet working in harmony while knocking the ninja girl back.

"Ooh!" Mai screamed upon Ranma's onslaught which knocked her tied ponytail loose, causing her long, luscious, thick hair to cascade down her shoulders, breasts, and back. "My hair's all over the place! I'll get you for that!" Mai quickly fired up the bowling ball-sized object at the end of the tail attached to her tunic, nailing Ranma with it. "That's it!"

"Aaagh!" So you think you're hot stuff, eh?" Ranma said, gliding back a couple of feet to avoid the great ball of fire. "This girl can pull fire from out of her ass. It's a good thing I learned how to withstand lethal energy attacks in the Room of Time along with Pan and Bra, or I'd be in a world of pain right now. As it is, I'm still feeling some pain."

"That's right. I am hot stuff in more ways than one, baby!" Mai announced as she struck a pose, putting one hand on her hip and making a sizzling sound while holding a fan with the other hand, shaking it at her opponent in a nagging fashion.

"Don't shake your fan at me, lady," Ranma said as she charged the ninja with fast-moving feet.

"I'll do whatever I want," Mai snapped back as she dropped downward in a diagonal slant with a shoulder on the ground and her feet in the air. With unforeseen quickness, she grabbed Ranma by her chin with her toes, slamming her to the ground.

Despite being on the defensive, Ranma speedily got to her feet, attacking with the tenshin amaguriken, but this time Mai rolled on the ground towards Ranma, passing right by her and her attacks. Before Ranma could react to the change of positioning, Mai used her feet to take hold of Ranma's neck from her prone position and slammed the redhead to the ground once again the same way.

Ranma quickly got to her feet only to get hit with the end of Mai's fire infused, decorative tail. "Aaaagh!" Ranma fell backward in a world of flames. Then she noticed Mai flying towards her with her elbow thrust forward, but Ranma wasn't out of it yet.

As the ninja flew towards her, the formerly pigtailed girl dropped to the ground, allowing her opponent to fly over her. Then she shot upwards, her ki infused fist nailing Mai in her stomach and taking her up further in the air. "Haaaryu ken!"

Mai cried out in pain but quickly recovered. Then she counter-attacked. "Super deadly, ninja bees!" The ninja executed a reverse somersault kick that struck the top of Ranma's head with each of her feet that came down as she landed on the ground. After that, Mai followed up with another attack, prompting her to raise her handheld fans upwards, using the sharp edges of them as yellow energy appeared all around her in a circle. "Burning knives!" !SLICE!

After counter-attacking with a few dagger-like ki blasts, Ranma abruptly shuffled back at superhuman speed. However, despite the busty girl's quickness, sparks bounced off of Ranma's legs, stomach, breasts, chin, and forehead as the ki infused blade-like fans came upwards. Even though the edged attacks hadn't pierced her apple-blossom skin, her green pants, red shirt, and a bikini top underneath weren't so fortunate. Even a couple strands of hair and shreds of her bikini underwear bottom had fallen to the ground in the wake of the razor-sharp fans' attack.

"Yeow! That was one of my favorite shirts! My pants are ruined as well. You've even sliced open my bikini top underneath!" Ranma screamed as her burgeoning pulchritude came bursting out, the busty girl feeling a draft from the bottom of her neck to her ankles.

A smile crinkled on Nabiki's lips as she videotaped the whole fight from the safety of her room. "All I need is for those strips of cloth that ninja chick is wearing to come flying off too and I'll make a fortune. What are her skimpy clothes made out of for them to withstand the punishment Ranma's been dishing out?"

"You should pay more attention to the fight instead of worrying about your clothes. Besides, no one is going to look at you with me standing here," Mai answered back with a smile as she leaned forward, putting one hand on her hip while using the other one to shake her fan in Ranma's direction in an admonishing manner.

Is that so? I'm not the only one with torn clothes," Ranma announced victoriously as she regarded the currently topless girl.

"Uh? What are you talking about?" Mai looked downwards, noticing that the straps of her tunic that covered her upper body had been sliced off. Fortunately, the ninja girl's abnormally long and full hair had covered herself up somewhat.

"This is my lucky day! I'll make a fortune off that," Nabiki calculated to herself greedily as the battle waged on.

"Wow!" Gosunkugi, Ryoga, Kenji, and Yukio exclaimed upon seeing the bodies of the beautiful combatants arrayed against each other. In addition to them, a large crowd of boys and girls had appeared, watching the battle in earnest.

"Something wrong, lady?" Ranma asked with a wry smile, her unblinking eyes regarding her opponent shrewdly.

"I'll show youu!" Mai came charging at Ranma in a run, swinging the fire infused ball at the end of her ninja tail to hit the pigtailed girl with it as she turned around.

However, Ranma ducked the attack, countering with a few low, rapid-fire kicks, striking her surprised opponent's calves and shins before Mai could move in for the kill. Upon executing a leg sweep maneuver, Ranma knocked the ninja off her feet.

Mai quickly performed an acrobatic maneuver, executing two head-over-heel flips that allowed her to land and stay upright. After gliding and skittering back and forth, she made a dash towards Ranma at full speed. "One, two, three! Aaaa, Aaah!" While the ninja screamed, a fan appeared in each hand, each one infused with pyrokinetic flame. Then she struck Ranma with both of the fans, spinning and leaping upwards as she knocked her opponent upwards into the sky again.

Upon the onset of the ninja's vicious attack, Ranma used her aerial acrobatic skill and finesse to keep herself situated in the air as she maneuvered backward a few feet. Then she put her hands out and blasted Mai's eyes with a blinding flash attack!

"Aaaagh!" upon the ninja's scream, her eyes rolled to the back of her head as the dazzling, blinking lights stunned her.

"My turn! Yattat-yattat-tao!" Ranma screamed upon speeding over to the dazed ninja, gliding on the ground with one foot and attacking with the other at lightning speed, her kicking leg moving in infinite figure eights as she scored multiple hits on her opponent.

"Aaaagh!" the ninja girl cried out in pain. However, before Ranma could follow up with more attacks, the ninja shot another much faster fan at Ranma, nailing her in the forehead.

"Ow!" Despite the previous attack, Ranma took to the air and responded with several rapid-fire ki attacks of her own, prompting her opponent to do several backward flips out of the way of the incoming waves of energy. Even though the ninja girl moved with a grace and speed that impressed the audience of boys watching the fight, a few of Ranma's attacks struck home, knocking Mai to the ground. At that point, Ranma touched down, moved in on her opponent at super speed, and hit her with countless rapid-fire punch and kick combinations, knocking her back even further.

Even though she was close to being rendered unconscious, Mai counter-attacked with the ball at the end of her decorative skirt tail, igniting it with more ki flame than usual while attacking Ranma with it and spinning around, creating a circle of flame.

"Yeow!" "This girl doesn't quit! I need to figure out a way to avoid that fireball of hers," Ranma speculated as she blocked the attack and blasted her adversary with another ki energy blast; this caused Mai to recoil backward, stunned.

"Ooooh!" Mai moaned in pain. By this point in the battle, the ninja girl was using all of her will and energy to remain standing. Then a sparkle appeared in the girl's eyes. "I have one more hand to play."

After an attempt to fly into Ranma elbow first had failed, Mai realized that she had blown her last chance in the fight and left herself open to attack. "Oh, no!" she cried out as Ranma came on like gangbusters, her eyes revealing that she was aware of Mai's vulnerability.

As Mai flew by, Ranma took advantage of all the available openings. Upon screaming, "Tenshin amaguriken!" she struck her opponent countless times.

At the end of Ranma's fist barrage, the ninja shot up in the air; then she went crashing to the ground. "Aaah! Aaieeeee!" Mai screamed before entering a world of unconsciousness.

"What a fight!" one of the boys in the large, burgeoning crowd called out.

After gracefully gliding on the ground with a spin, Ranma faced her audience, surprised that there were so many people there who had watched the fight with such enthusiasm. The formerly pigtailed girl flashed the victory sign with her fingers, making the excited crowd cheer even louder. Then she turned back towards her defeated opponent.

"You gave me a good fight. You even managed to defeat Shampoo right before our battle, but there was no way you were going to defeat me, the heir of Anything Goes," Ranma announced as she leaped in the air and executing a few graceful kicks while the ninja laid on the ground flat on her back.

"Ranmaaa!" Akane screamed as she stormed over to the disheveled girl.

"What is it now, Akane?" Ranma said with her rolled.

"You're practically naked! Must you give all these perverted boys a free skin show?!" the girl demanded hotly.

"Huh? Oh, that. My top just got sliced open. It's not as if they can see everything," Ranma answered obliviously. The continuance of the fight had caused the openings of her shirt to increase and widen a little more, exposing more of her midriff along with the outer sides her bosom, her ribs, stomach, and back, the fight having shredded her shirt into a couple of strips of cloth. In addition to that, her hips, thighs, and legs were bare. As it was, the remnant of her apparel barely covered her up.

"Will you look down and see what I'm talking about?! That's why all the girls in school hate you so much!" Akane screamed.

In response to Akane's red-faced rant, Ranma looked downwards, noticing the full extent of her wardrobe malfunction. "Oh, my!" Ranma said, blushing and smiling sheepishly at everyone as she put her arms over herself, trying to adjust what was left of her raiment.

"Sorry about that, everybody. I need to get going." However, as Ranma was about to take off into the sky, someone hailed her.

"Wait!" Ryoga called out as he came running up to her.

"Ryoga! What do you want?" Ranma said icily.

"I just wanted to see how you were. Why are you being so cold? I warned you about Yukio and his scheming," Ryoga said in his defense. Despite himself, the lost boy couldn't take his eyes off of the redhead's barely concealed body.

"That's nice, Ryoga. Thank you for that. You can go now." That having been said, Ranma turned away from the lost boy.

"Oh, come on," Ryoga replied a little sadly.

"Look, Ryoga, you only ratted out Yukio because you wanted me for yourself after finally realizing what I was, but before all that, you made crude comments about my body and put the squeeze on me while I slept. There's no way I can see myself having a relationship with you."

"But, Ranma!"

"Just give me some time. I'll get over what you've done, but for the time being, you need to leave," Ranma stated firmly.

Upon hearing how Ranma answered him, Ryoga morosely left her presence with his head bowed down and a hangdog look on his face.

"You didn't have to be so mean, Ranma!" Akane stammered. "Despite everything that's happened, Ryoga's a nice guy."

"Gee, Akane, if you like the guy so much you can go after Ryoga and console him. I'll decide who I like, not you," Ranma answered pertly.

Akane glared at the redhead for a moment. Then she took a look at the defeated kunoichi who lay on the ground barely moving. After giving Ranma another glare, she took off after the lost boy, running as fast as her stout legs could carry her. "Ryoga, wait up!"

At that moment, Yukio made his way towards the object of his desire. "Ranma, give me another chance," the slender, young man pleaded.

Ranma regarded Yukio with a pause. "I know my father ripped you off all those years ago, but I am not in love with you. I'd like to be your friend though, all right?"

Ranma regarded the okonomiyaki chef with a gentle sense of conciliation, her eyes slightly moist as she looked up at him. "Well?"

Yukio happily regarded the sparkling redhead and her state of undress for a moment. Then he calmed himself down. "All right, Ranma. Let's be friends."

"Ah'm going to have to play it nice and easy for a while. This ain't no time to be pushy."

"That's wonderful, Yukio!" Ranma cheered, forgetting about her previous wardrobe malfunction as she jumped up and down. Then she ran over to Yukio and gave him an affectionate embrace that made the young man feel warm inside.

"Golly, she feels so good and smells so nice!"

"And to show there ain't no hard feelings, yah can come to mah new restaurant, Yuuchan's for free okonomiyaki whenever yah like."

"Wow! Really? That's so nice of you, Yukio."

"You're welcome, Darlin."

"Here, Ranma," Kenji interjected as he came in between Yukio and the barely covered girl, putting his shirt on his fiancée.

"Oh, yes. Thanks, Kenji," Ranma said with acceptance as disappointed moans from the boys in the crowd became evident.

Despite Yukio's cordiality, Kenji looked upon the okonomiyaki chef with a sense of suspicion but kept his thoughts to himself.

"Wait a minute, Ranma. What about me?" Mousse requested, appearing right in front of the girl with a look of pleading.

"I've already told you, Mousse. I have no desire to live out in the boondocks. I'm sorry. Why don't you just go back home?"

"Yeah! Why don't you do that?" a harsh voice interjected.

"Gosunkugi! You can leave too. Why are you here anyway?" Kenji asked with his arms folded on his chest in judgment of the creepy boy.

"I have just as much right to Ranma as you do. And I grow tired of your arrogance," Hikaru Gosunkugi responded harshly.

"No, you…"

"Hold! Who dost argue over my pigtailed goddess?" Kuno announced upon waking up from the previous beating he had taken.

"Hey, guys. Can't we all get along?" Ranma asked, trying to end the fight that was about to start up again.

As these events took place, Mousse's great-grandmother was perched on her stick on a building a couple of houses back, taking it all in.

"Enjoying the scenery, Elder?"

"Elder Cologne! What are you doing here?" Deodorant exclaimed with a jump, landing back on her stick with some effort.

"I was curious as to what's been going on around here. You and your clan have gone so far as to create a restaurant for the sake of trying to get this Ranma into the tribe under your control. You have such an imagination to think this outsider could become the matriarch of the Amazons with your tutelage, Elder Deodorant."

"Listen, Elder Cologne. Who says your clan should always get to rule us? You have been running the Amazons for centuries now, and what has it gotten us? Given more time you're liable to run our community of Amazons into the ground."

"What are you talking about?" Cologne demanded harshly.

"I'm talking about the Musk who still harass us at every turn, kidnapping some of our younger Amazon girls for their filthy, animalistic desires," Deodorant spat.

"The Amazons taken away by the Musk were the weakest of us. The Musk was probably doing us a favor," Cologne replied.

"A favor? Many of those Amazons haven't had much of a chance to get strong. The Musk would have had no problem grabbing either you or me had we been only twelve years old."

"You exaggerate," Cologne replied sharply.

"How long will it be before they invade and take us over? Do you know that their numbers have been increasing over the years? They've even gotten stronger warriors. And don't let me get started on the Phoenix people or even the Chinese government."

"All right, I won't. Listen, Elder Deodorant, bringing this outsider into our tribe will not fix the problems we face. And the idea that you and your clan could do a better job than me is simply ridiculous," Cologne answered with her arms folded on her chest.

"Is that so? Do you realize that Ranma has defeated Shampoo decisively time and time again? Her potential is unlimited. Given the right training and instruction, she would have no problem taking on any Musk warrior. In time she could even defeat Saffron himself."

"You're being ridiculous, Elder."

"No, I'm not!"

Cologne narrowed her eyes at the other Amazon elder. Then she responded calmly. "You forget yourself, Elder Deodorant. I'm the top elder of the Amazons…"

"You think I'm the only Amazon elder who's been taking things in her own hands? There are other elders engaged in similar actions. One particular elder has even taken to traveling to other dimensions to find ways of increasing our power."

"I know all about the grandiose plans of some of the other elders. I even know about the elder who has traveled to other dimensions looking for strong young men to marry her progeny. I also know about the other elder who used magic to time travel in hopes of finding some kind of secret that would have supposedly helped all of us. By the way, she met a gruesome end in her quest. Therefore you need to be careful, Elder Deodorant," Cologne said, giving the other Amazon a hard look.

"Elder Wash was simply an example," Deodorant said with a pause. "My plans aren't so grandiose. All I'm doing is…"

"I know what your plans are, Elder. You've gone so far as to train some of the men in your clan in martial arts."

"I haven't taught them any of our Amazon secrets if that's what you're trying to imply," Deodorant answered quickly.

"I haven't implied anything of the sort. I know you haven't done that. However, you have had your men learn martial arts techniques in other parts of China and the rest of the world outside of Joketsuzoku. Why have you done that?" Cologne asked with her eyes narrowed at the other Amazon.

Deodorant rolled her eyes and sighed. Then she turned towards Cologne and answered her question. "The reason for the training was to find out who the strongest male was. That male ended up being my great-grandson, Mousse. After that, the next goal was to find a powerful female to breed with him. The children of such a union would be very powerful."

"You mean a woman like Shampoo?" Cologne interjected.

"Possibly, but I was never thrilled with Shampoo in the first place. And when I heard about Ranma, my hopes soared."

"Ranma isn't even interested in being an Amazon matriarch. And that plan of yours to take away her womanhood blew up in your face. Besides, Ranma's destined for death and destruction at the hands of Shampoo. So there's nothing you can do about that."

"I'm a patient woman, Elder Cologne. And I know for a fact that there's no way Shampoo can ever hope to defeat Ranma. Be grateful Ranma is such a kind-hearted woman, or she'd have finished off Shampoo permanently a long time ago."

"Don't be so sure about that, Elder Deodorant. Shampoo gets stronger every day. Pretty soon, she'll defeat Ranma and take her new husband back to Joketsuzoku."

"Oh?" Not too long ago, a Korean girl who only knew that newly made martial art, Tae Kwon Do, defeated Shampoo in a matter of seconds without much effort," Elder Deodorant responded with her arms folded on her chest as if she had won the argument.

"That artificially enhanced girl attacked Shampoo without honor, striking her from behind by using the element of surprise," Cologne responded harshly.

"That's not all. Did you see the previous fight? That ninja on the ground with her raiment in tatters had no problem defeating Shampoo in less than two minutes. There was no surprise taking place there," Deodorant stated with her lips curled up in a wry smile.

"All of that is irrelevant…"

"Shampoo is overrated and you know it!" Deodorant announced.

Cologne bristled at the insult to her progeny. "This conversation has gone on long enough. I'd suggest another grandiose plan. This current one leaves a lot to be desired, Elder Deodorant." With that, Cologne pogoed on her stick, taking off into the sky.

XXX

After things had cooled down and most everyone had left the Tendo compound, Kenji and Ranma went inside only to see a broad-shouldered, muscular, clear-headed young man, wearing black, shiny pants and boots, being bare-chested, standing over the prone forms of Genma and Soun with several pieces of shogi scattered on the floor. With the Tendo dojo sign in one hand while holding a huge, three-foot diameter wrecking ball attached to a six-foot-long three-inch-thick chain in the other, he stood in the center of the Tendo Dojo.

Upon rushing inside the training hall with Ranma right behind him, Kenji abruptly looked up at the thick browed man who regarded him with a vicious sneer that would have frightened everyone except the bravest of people. "Kyushu Metaka!"

"That's right, Kenji Tendo. It's been a while since we last fought. Now, I'll get the chance to get my revenge on you for what you have done to me," the intruder responded, quickly turning towards him with a hideous glare. A contemptuous laugh came out of his mouth as he regarded Kenji's bare-chested physique as he flexed showing he was a much bigger man, standing at six feet six inches tall, weighing a muscularly defined 300 pounds.

"What are you doing here?!" Kenji demanded of the intruder.

"I'm the Dojo Destroyer everyone's been talking about. What's wrong with you? Have you been too cheap to pay attention to what's been going on around here as of late? I'm sure your sister, Nabiki wouldn't be so cheap. Heh, heh. Anyway, while I enjoyed the big breast fest you had going on," Kyushu said, giving a lustful look at Ranma's burgeoning bosom where the slope of her cleavage had managed to become visible out of the tight, buttoned-down shirt she wore. "I didn't want to wait too long so when the fight ended, I decided to beat up your dad and his fat friend, so I could take your dojo sign."

Kenji stood up against the newcomer without flinching. "I remember the fight we had. You had a bunch of guys from your dojo attack me. And when I had defeated all one hundred of them, you surprised me and struck me from behind with your wrecking ball. But despite all that, I defeated you anyway."

"That's not how it happened, you wimp! There weren't that many guys attacking you. You always like to exaggerate the numbers you've fought!" Kyushu interjected angrily.

"That is how it happened!" Kenji retorted.

"Fool! All you did was whip out that hammer of yours out of thin air. Then you used it to defeat me and my men. Your skills were never that great, and they're not that great now. I've proven my superior to you by taking your dojo sign along with the others I have. After I leave here and gather more dojo signs, my family's Metaka Kenpo Karate style will dominate all of the martial arts of Japan. Then my fame will be world-renown!"

"You got big dreams. You want fame? Well, fame costs. And right here's where you'll start paying," Kenji answered, cracking his knuckles.

Kyushu opened his mouth wide, baring his sharp teeth as he laughed voraciously. Then he gave Kenji another contemptuous glare. "You think you're the one who is going to make me pay? Your cowardly father couldn't beat me, so what makes you think you can?"

"You call my father a coward when you've attacked others without honor? Then you have the gall to think you can beat me one on one?"

"That's right," the larger man answered with a heave of his massive chest. "Honor is overrated anyway."

"Well, if you want to leave with my family's sign, you'll have to go through me first," Kenji answered with finality.

"I'll leave with it. I'll even leave with that sweet piece of ass you got there," Kyushu said with a lascivious leer in Ranma's direction.

"What?!" Ranma exclaimed hotly, her anger and excited breathing causing one of the buttons on the tight shirt she wore to break off.

"No one's talking to you, bitch. Women should only speak when spoken to. After I've beaten up your boyfriend, I'll put you in your place."

Ranma glared at the powerful, young man with her battle aura heating something fierce. "You won't do anything of the kind. I'll…"

"You'll do nothing. When I'm done with your boyfriend, I'll pick your fruits!" Kyushu called out harshly.

"Over my dead body!" Kenji snapped at him with his eyes reddened with rage as his corded muscles pulsated!

"That can be arranged. Haaaagh!" Kyushu screamed, swinging his ball and chain faster than the eye could follow, striking Kenji with it.

"What the…!" Kenji screamed as he went crashing through the wall and out into the yard a few feet from the koi pond.

"This is what, you long-haired fool!" Kyushu responded as he followed up by leaping through the hole Kenji had just made.

"Huff!" Kenji breathed as Ranma made her way to him.

"Are you all right, Kenji?"

"Stay out of this, Ranma. I can handle this guy!"

"All right, Kenji." Ranma backed up a few feet, giving the two warriors the space they needed. Then when no one was looking, a couple of bald muscular guys snuck up on the exhausted girl, putting a chloroform soaked handkerchief on her mouth. Then they took her back into a darker corner of the compound.

"Bah. That wouldn't matter anyway. No woman can beat me. Come to think of it. You have a few sisters too. I think I'll enjoy them as well," the larger man called out as he made his way towards his opponent, swinging his ball and chain.

"Never!" Kenji responded, giving his opponent his undivided attention as he used his ki hammer to block another wrecking ball strike.

"Oh, yeah? I've been waiting for my revenge against you for my defeat at your hands for months now, and finally, I've gotten my chance!"

!CRACK! Upon being hit, Kenji went flying back up and over the walled entrance of the Tendo compound and on to the street.

After leaping over the wall himself, Kyushu came bearing down on Kenji with his ball and chain smashing down on him, but Kenji blocked the attack with his ki hammer, putting their weapons in a clinch. Then Kenji attacked with his left hand, striking his opponent in the jaw.

"Aargh! Not bad, pretty boy. I almost felt that one. In time, your blows might wear me down. Therefore I'm not gonna let you hit me like that again." Kyushu then struck the ground with his right foot, creating a shockwave that sent Kenji into the air and broke their weapons free of the clinch.

After barely managing to land on his feet, Kenji took stock of his situation his opponent. "Kyushu has become much stronger than the last time we fought. He's even more proficient with his mystical ball and chain. It's strange how he's able to make the chain stand straight like an iron rod whenever he wants. Defeating him is going to be more difficult than it was before."

For the tensest of moments, the two combatants glared at each other with their prospective weapons at the ready. With only six feet of concrete separating them, a whistling wind passed through the area between them, ending the deafening silence and the calm before the storm.

"Aaaaah!"

"Aaaaah!"

The two martial artists came running towards each other screaming loudly until their weapons clashed and clinched again. Then the both of them tried to push the other back with all of their strength and martial skill with Kenji pushing his opponent back a little.

"Look at this guy. He's as determined to win this fight as I am. And here I thought he was prancing fairy. Bah, no matter. I'll kick his sorry ass just the same," Kyushu thought to himself as brought more of his strength and power to bear.

"How will this struggle end? I'm willing to guess that I have more endurance than Kyushu, but can I bank on it?" Kenji speculated.

To the larger man's surprise, Kenji removed one of his hands from his hammer, letting himself keep up the clinch singled handed even though this caused him to lose a little bit of ground. Then another ki hammer appeared in his previously empty hand, allowing him to strike his opponent with his left, knocking him a couple of blocks down the street.

"Aargh!" Kyushu screamed as he went smashing through the windshield of a medium-sized a car, his wrecking ball still in his hands.

"My car! My beautiful, new car!" a well dressed, young man cried out as he ran out of his house upon hearing and seeing the carnage.

"So what, little man?"

"How are you going to pay for all this damage?" the anxious man demanded. "You better make amends or I will sue you!"

"Shut up!" !WAP! The man went down to the ground as Kyushu bitch slapped him. Then he noticed Kenji coming straight for him!

"He's flying towards me too fast there's no way I can dodge!" !SMASH! "Aaaaargh!" Kyushu screamed as Kenji waylaid into his midsection hammer first.

"It's over, Kyushu. You've increased your power, but your skill and quickness haven't changed all that much. You've given me a pretty good workout, but it's time to give me back my dojo sign and get out of here," Kenji ordered, standing over him in triumph.

"Is that so?" the clear-headed man answered back harshly as he gasped for air.

"That's right. Now give me back the sign," Kenji demanded while he held on to a ki hammer in his right hand, his left hand being empty.

"Yeah, all right." The seemingly defeated martial artist calmed down and appeared to acquiesce. "So far, so good. As long as Kenji thinks he's won this fight, his guard will be down so I can pull my trump card." Kyushu went inside of his subspace pouch and retrieved the sign, but instead of handing it back, he violently threw it at his opponent who caught it with his free hand. Then to the surprise of the long-haired martial artist, Kyushu zipped forward, gliding on the ground at an inhuman speed. Upon reaching out for the ki hammer in Kenji's hand and touching it, his body changed and turned into the same translucent silver/white color and diamond-like texture of the ki hammer of his opponent.

"What have you done?" Kenji asked, puzzled over what had occurred as he did a double-take from his ki hammer to his changed adversary.

"You thought I was incapable of learning exotic techniques, but you were wrong. A few months ago, I acquired the ability to change my body by taking on the properties of whatever I touched. Since I've taken on the properties of your ki hammer, I'm now made of pure ki. Your hammer's practically indestructible, therefore so am I. Even my magic wrecking ball has changed along with me," Kyushu stated with pride.

"It isn't indestructible, and even if it was I wouldn't give up," Kenji stated as he stood his ground, holding on to his weapon as the wind tugged at his long hair and his rippling muscles tensed in anticipation of the resumption of the battle.

"Oooh!" not a few girls who had noticed the battle and decided to watch it moaned upon the sight of Kenji Tendo's gorgeous body being naked from the waist up.

Upon noticing the enlarging crowd, Kyushu laughed harshly. "You can't do anything to me now. I'm practically invincible. What can you do to stop me, pretty boy?"

At that point, the size of the fight's audience had increased, even more, several people watching the fight, impressed by what they were watching. Even Soun and Genma had recovered from their previous beating at the hands of Kyushu and made their way to the fight.

"Don't give up, Kenji! Get our sign back!" Soun called out with his hands cupped around his mouth, making himself heard above the crowd.

Genma cheered along with Soun. Then he looked around, searching through the crowd. "Where is Ranma, that worthless child?"

Once again, the two warriors faced off with each other. Then Kyushu attacked with his ki powered wrecking ball.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Be here next time when Kenji takes on his greatest opponent. Then find out what happened to Ranma.