Miss Ranma
Chapter Twenty-Three
"THOUGHTS"
"What's this all about?" Kenji asked, regarding Ranma looking like a very attractive raven-haired male, wearing her usual red shirt and green pants.
"I'll explain all of it later, Kenji. Right now I have to get going," Ranma answered as she leaped into the sky and flew off, the wind rushing against her. After Ranma's form got smaller and smaller as she got further away, she was gone in a matter of moments.
A few moments later, Ranma returned in her normal form with an empty okonomiyaki tray, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. "Tada! I've sold my okonomiyaki!"
As Ranma gave him the money, Yukio counted it and gasped in surprise. "How'd you do it so fast, Ranma? The way I seen it, it looked like you were doing awfully. Did you go off and sell to other people?"
"I had my ways," Ranma said with a smile.
Tsubasa glared at Ranma with visible steam coming out of his head. "I don't care what happened. You're still ugly. And it's obvious you're too ugly to win that contest on your own when you got that gorgeous guy to take your place."
Tsubasa was staring off into space with his hands clasped together, dreaming about the pigtailed boy he had seen. Thus he sighed audibly.
"Listen, Tsubasa. I did what I had to do to win. Saotome doesn't lose."
"Saotome obviously cheated. There's no way you could have beaten me fairly," Tsubasa answered, stomping his feet in a rage.
"Since when do you care about what's fair?" Ranma snapped back, getting angry, balling up her fists to the sides.
"Oh, yeah? Why don't you bring that gorgeous guy back so he can speak for himself?"
"Maybe I just will. At any rate, why don't you just get out of here, sweetie?" Ranma said with a brazen look on her face, tossing her head back.
"I won't give up!" the cute boy announced with his head sticking out of a man-sized tree that appeared right next to Yukio.
"Give up already, Tsubasa. I done told you that I wasn't interested in dating you. Now git," Yukio stated harshly.
"How could you? I was still the winner since I sold my okonomiyaki first. If you were so horribly against being my boyfriend why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"I've been trying to tell you that from the very beginning!" Yukio screamed.
"All right. I'll leave," Tsubasa cried with tears in his eyes, making an about-face and leaving while still inside of the tree.
As this happened, Ranma took off after him.
"Ranma, what are you doing?" Kenji asked upon noticing Ranma adjust something under her shirt. Then he saw Ranma turn into a guy again.
"I'm going to try to get Tsubasa on the right path. I'll explain everything later," the more masculine looking Ranma said as she took off after the boy.
"Hey, Tsubasa! Wait up!"
"What's going on here, Kenji?"
Kenji turned around to see, "Ken Masters! What are you still doing here?"
"This place is so exciting that I wanted to take another look at what's going on around here," Ken answered.
"You mean you wanted to take another look at my fiancée?" Kenji asked.
"She is quite tasty, dude. But who's that hot babe over there? You got two women? You're the man!"
"That's a guy, Ken," Kenji answered.
"No, it's not. That's a chick. I can tell that from here."
"Ken, it's obvious that you're so oversexed that you find a cute guy attractive, but to each his own."
"What?! No way, dude!"
Upon catching up to Tsubasa who was sitting on a swing, Ranma approached him. "Hi."
"Oh, hello. You're that guy who helped Ranma win. Why did you do that?"
"Ranma's a nice girl. At any rate, since I had to help her, you won the match."
"Are you Ranma's brother? You look a whole lot like her," Tsubasa said, regarding the pigtailed martial artist.
"Um, yes. That's right. My name's Ran. You're a nice guy, but…"
"You know I really didn't think your sister was ugly. In fact, she was so cute I hated her out of jealousy. I'm didn't mean to come off as being so cruel. No wonder Yukio hates me so much."
"You're not such a bad person. You just need to quit chasing after…"
At that point, Tsubasa took hold of Ranma in an affectionate manner. "Your hands feel so nice."
"Um, let go!"
"I love you," Tsubasa said gently.
"Um, I need to go." Ranma broke free of the boy's iron-clad grip and began to briskly walk away from her new suitor. However, as Ranma looked over her shoulder, she saw a large mailbox keeping up with her. Then Ranma sped up into a quick run.
"Charge!"
"Tsubasa done recovered a might quick," Yukio said from the vantage point on the top of a nearby building to see what was going on as Kenji, Akane, and Ken looked on too.
"Recovered from what?" Ken asked.
"Who are you?" Akane asked, looking at the stranger.
"Never mind this guy, Akane. He isn't too bright," Kenji replied.
"Well, Tsubasa definitely likes guys," Akane said.
"Won't he be surprised when what Ranma really is comes to the fore?" Yukio said to no one in particular.
"What's the problem? Tsubasa's a hot chick," Ken opined.
"That's a guy, Ken," Kenji replied.
"No, it's not. That's a chick. I can tell these things. I've spent a lot of time looking at women, so I know what I'm talking about," Ken answered.
"Whatever, Ken."
XXX
Later that day, Ranma in her male form found herself being pursued by a giant mushroom that was Tsubasa in disguise.
"Charge!"
"Get away from me!" Ranma screamed as she leaped up into the sky and flew away.
"My dear, Ran. I love him so much. Why does he keep running away from me?!" Tsubasa said to no one in particular.
"Has he looked into a mirror?" a bystander called out.
Tsubasa then turned around and noticed Kenji standing there. "Hi there."
XXX
"Sheesh! What's wrong with that guy?" Ranma announced on the roof of a nearby house.
"Once Tsubasa falls for somebody, he's like a pitbull locking his jaw on someone. He never lets go," Yukio answered as he jumped from another rooftop next to Ranma.
"What do I do to get rid of him?"
"Don't be gentle with him. Try a couple of whacks on the head. That will do it," Yukio answered as he regarded Ranma shrewdly.
"What?"
"You really look a lot like a guy, Ranma. How are you doing all that?"
"It's a long story, Yukio. When all of this blows over, I'll tell you how I'm doing this."
XXX
Later in front of a newspaper stand, Kenji and Tsubasa were having a conversation.
"Maybe you should give up on being with Ran. He's not what he seems," Kenji said.
"I like Ran."
"Why don't you find yourself a girlfriend? If you come by the school, you can have your pick…"
"I don't like girls!" Tsubasa stammered.
"What?"
"Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with girls. I just don't like the idea of being with them in that way."
"Oh. Well, I'm sure Ran isn't your cup of tea," Kenji answered.
"Why is that?"
"Well, um…"
"Could it be?"
"Could what be?" Kenji answered with a little bit of suspicion.
"Do you want Ran-Kun for yourself?" Tsubasa asked, raising an eyebrow in Kenji's direction.
"Ran-Kun?! No, not as she is," Kenji stammered.
"Whew! You had me going there for a moment," Tsubasa said with relief.
"Look, dude. Things are not the way you think they are."
"Hmmm."
"What is it?"
"It's great how you care so much about me. I really appreciate that," Tsubasa said, clasping Kenji's hands.
"Wait a minute there," Kenji said, using much of his strength to break free of Tsubasa's iron-clad grip.
!SPONG! At that moment, Tsubasa found himself struck in the back of the head with a toy arrow with a note attached to it.
"A message?" Kenji asked, looking over the cute boy's shoulders.
"Dear, Tsubasa, meet me at the fountain at Koen Park an hour later. Love, Ran," Tsubasa read.
"What is Ranma doing?" Kenji thought to himself, bewildered.
"Oh, wow!" Tsubasa yelled, jumping up and down for joy. Then he took off running for the park.
XXX
An hour later, Akane, Kenji, and Yukio were at the park, hidden behind some bushes with a full view of the fountain. The grass of the park was green and lush as little kids went running around playing soccer and baseball while parents and grandparents watched them.
Ranma did what?" Akane exclaimed incredulously as Kenji explained what happened to her and Yukio.
"That's right, Akane. I hope there's a method to her madness."
"I'm sure Ranma knows what she's doing," Yukio said.
"I don't know about that. With Ranma, madness is all there is," Akane answered as she and the others watched Tsubasa twirl around in a lovesick daze with a bouquet of flowers in his hands as he wore a nice dress shirt, jacket, slacks, and good shoes. Then Ranma made her way to him.
"Hi there, Tsubasa," Ranma said, arriving there wearing a nice pink dress with her hair cascading down her bare, apple blossom shoulders, showing some décolletage.
"What the… What are you doing here?" Tsubasa demanded.
"I'm your date for today. Now let us enter the ring of love together," Ranma said with a smile.
"Has Ranma done gone loco?" Yukio asked no one in particular.
"I hope Ranma knows what she's doing," Kenji commented.
"Ooh, that idiot!" Akane exclaimed.
"I'm your sparring partner in love. Now let's …"
"Where did you get those corny lines?!" Akane demanded, abruptly appearing in the midst of them with her hand cocked back.
"Akane, what are you doing?"
"I thought you were going on a boy-boy date!"
"I'm trying to set Tsubasa on the right track," Ranma said under her breath.
"What are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to…" Ranma turned around, noticing that Tsubasa walking away.
"Wait!" Ranma called out to the departing boy.
"What do you want?" Tsubasa answered as Ranma caught up to him.
"I thought we could hold hands or something like that."
"I don't think…"
"My birds! My birds! Come back!" an old man called out as he chased after over a dozen pigeons that made their way towards Ranma and Tsubasa.
"Yeow!" Ranma screamed, grasping hold of Tsubasa, hanging on for dear life.
"Let go of me!"
"Aaargh!" the frightened Ranma screamed as Tsubasa struck her with a fierce uppercut, knocking her backward into a nearby newspaper stand.
"My business!" Newspapers went flying all over the place as the owner of the kiosk tried to maintain everything in vain.
"So much for the girlfriend idea. Ranma can be such a ditz sometimes," Akane said as she and the others looked on.
A couple of minutes later, what looked like a handsome, young man with a pigtail, wearing a red shirt and green pants came out of the wreckage.
"Ran!" Tsubasa called out running towards the new object of her desire.
"Look, Tsubasa. Things aren't always what they seem," Ran answered.
"What do you mean?" Tsubasa asked with a tilt of his head.
"Let's go over here." Ran lead Tsubasa away to a hidden, shaded area of the park where most people couldn't see them.
"What did you want to tell me?"
At that point, Ran removed the mystical straps from her bosom that allowed her to appear to be male.
"Are you getting the picture now?"
After staring at Ranma's impressive bosom in horror for a moment, Tsubasa did an about-face. "Come to think of it, Kenji is the right one for me."
However as Tsubasa started to leave, Ranma took hold of him. "Will you stop chasing guys and start dating…"
"Date who, girls?! Exactly what kind of girl do you think I am?!" Tsubasa exclaimed as Ranma grabbed the person's baggy clothes, pulling them off and revealing that Tsubasa was actually a girl wearing a pink bra and panties.
"What the…"
"Does a girl's body interest you so much?"
"So all of this time I've pretended to be a guy so I could compete with someone like you?" Ranma stated angrily as she cracked her knuckles.
"So that's why you did it!" Kenji announced as he landed on the ground near them.
"You kept those straps?! I thought you threw them away!" Akane stammered.
"I simply tricked my father into thinking that I had thrown them away. What I threw at him were fakes," Ranma answered.
"Look at this Tsubasa chick! I told you she was a girl!" Ken stated, appearing out of nowhere along with the others as he admired the unclothed girl.
"Do you have to stare so much?" Tsubasa said, blushing as she tried to cover up her burgeoning bosom.
"Why would you dress like a dude when you're a hot chick?" Ken asked.
"I'm a sweet girl who likes to dress up. We should be friends since we both have the same hobby," Tsubasa said regarding Ranma.
"I suppose so. But I don't do this kind of thing all the time."
"Did you know, Tsubasa was a girl?" Kenji asked the okonomiyaki chef.
"Yeah, I knew. I didn't say nothing since I done figured everybody knew," Yukio answered.
"How could we have known?!" Akane stammered.
"You got hot babes dressing up like dudes?! What's this country coming to?"
Everybody looked at the blond-haired martial artist for a moment. Then someone came running up to Ranma.
"Hey, you!"
"Yeah, what?" Ranma answered, turning towards the newcomer.
Upon stopping a few feet in front of her, the person spoke. "Hey, I recognize you! You're that girl, Ranma Saotome!" the girl announced, sharply pointing at Ranma with her index finger as she wore a white karate gi along with a yellow scarf around her neck.
"Yeah, that's right. What's it to you?"
In response, the girl completed a couple of well-executed forward punches and an aerial roundhouse kick, landing on her bare feet perfectly upon the end of her karate maneuvers.
"I'm Makato Rindoukan of Rindoukan Karate, and it would be great for my dojo's reputation if I fought and beat you, so I challenge you!"
"You're rather tomboyish aren't you?"
"You're one to talk after what I've just seen!" the girl whose black hair was spiked on either side of her head answered with a ruff Tosa dialect. She was moderately attractive and slightly buxom with her red sports bra being visible under her open midriff gi.
"All right, I accept your challenge. Your move," the pigtailed girl announced, getting in a stance with her knees slightly bent while on her toes as her hands moved slowly.
"Get ready! Hiyaaaah!" Makoto screamed as she zipped over to Ranma practically gliding on the floor at superhuman speed as she struck the pigtailed girl with a powerful forward punch, making the buttons of the buxom girl's tunic pop open. Upon blocking this attack by toughing it out, Ranma skidded backward a couple of feet.
As Makoto zipped over to her again, Ranma counter-attacked by crouching downwards and rising upwards with a powerful punch screaming, "shoryuken!"
"Uuuah!" Makoto went flying into the air after taking a hit from the dragon punch then she executed an acrobatic flip that allowed her to land on her feet several meters from Ranma.
"I'll show you! Aiyahh! Aiiyahh!" Makoto moved in on Ranma with fast-moving high kicks that her opponent ducked by bending her knees and rolling under the attack. After a couple more failed punches, Makoto shot downward as Ranma was crouching for a leg sweep attack. Then the spiked haired girl leaned forward, striking Ranma with a low, sweeping punch that knocking the redhead off of her feet. At that point, Ranma felt a sharp enduring pain in her head, causing her to pause for a moment.
"Ow! What was that?"
Then the slightly disoriented Ranma found herself hit with a roundhouse kick that rocked her head to the side. And before she could counter, Ranma found herself being kicked in the jaw from her left and from her right by her opponent's lightning-fast feet.
"Uungh!" Makoto huffed upon the end of her exertions, being surprised that Ranma had recovered so quickly.
"That it? What else do you got?!" Ranma called out as she did an aerial cartwheel, then gliding on the ground out of range of her opponent's kick barrage.
"Way more where that came from! Aaaaah!" the karateka screamed as she bent her knees slightly, flexing her muscles while making fists. This caused her skin to redden for a moment. Then she struck Ranma with several roundhouse kicks, being in the air for the last one.
"Oof!" "This girl has some serious power!"
"Don't underestimate me!" Makoto exclaimed as she attempted another low attack, ending with an arm sweep when Ranma attacked!
"Tenshin amaguriken!" Makoto reeled back upon Ranma rapid-fire attack being composed of hundreds of punches.
"Uuuah!" Makoto wasn't out of the fight yet! However, when Ranma ran forward to supposedly finish her off, she felt another pain in her head.
"Ungh. That's a psionic attack. Who's doing that?"
"Aaaah! Itsa!" Makoto yelled as she stomped the ground and got in a martial arts horse stance with her hands balled up into fists with her elbows bent at the sides.
"Seichusen Godanzuki!" Upon Makoto's words, she struck the pigtailed girl in the crotch three times, sending another hit to her chest, then another to the jaw. Upon the end of her attack, the spiked haired girl had sent Ranma shooting up into the air with a powerful fist thrust upwards.
"Yaarrgh!" Ranma screamed as she came crashing down with a thud as she hit the ground.
"This looks like a good fight," Ken Masters said to no one in particular as he admired the battle.
Upon getting to her feet, Ranma saw Makoto zooming towards her with her fists leading the way. Despite Makoto's inhuman speed, Ranma caught the flying fist, prompting the spiked haired girl's eyes to go wide. Then Ranma struck her with countless spinning roundhouse kicks, hovering in the air as if she was doing the splits.
"Uuuah!" Makoto moaned as she recoiled backward.
However, as Ranma went in for the kill, she stopped as she felt another shooting pain in her head. "Somebody is psionically blasting me. The ki signature isn't familiar so who is it?"
"Yeow!" Ranma yelled as Makoto struck her with a twisting in the air reverse scissor kick.
"Pay attention!" Makoto called out as she attacked.
"This Ranma has a stronger mind than I would have thought possible. She even has mental defenses of a sort. I'm surprised she's still conscious after what I've done. Her strength of will and spirit are as amazing as her body. But she's starting to get wise to me so I'll wait until she's too engrossed in the fight before I mentally flat blast her again," Ranma's stealthy attacker thought as he hid in the shadows being practically invisible.
After blocking several more attacks from Ranma, Makoto put her foot down! "Itsa! Seichusen godanzuki!" Upon this attack, Ranma went flying into the air once again.
"Aaagh! My head! I'm going to have to deal with the guy who keeps mind-blasting me after I've dealt with Makoto."
Despite her attempts at acrobatics, Ranma went crashing to the ground. Upon seeing an advantage, Makoto zipped over to Ranma and punched downward before her opponent could get up. Then Ranma surprised her with a leg sweep that knocked Makoto off her feet.
"Uuugh!"
As Ranma got to her feet and pressed her attack, she felt pain in her head again. "Ungh!" "Enough with the mental attacks!"
A barely aware Ranma snapped out of it only to find herself facing Makoto a couple of inches in front of her in a horse stance with her elbows bent and her hands at her sides as her closed palms faced upwards. "The end!"
"Huh?"
The large fisted girl struck downward, hitting Ranma in her crotch twice. Then she punched her opponent five times in the chest in an auto fire fashion. And upon the end of her barrage, she hit Ranma with an uppercut to the face, knocking her high into the sky spinning end over end.
"Rindoukan Karate, remember that! Seichusen hachi danzuki!" Makoto announced as her arm stayed thrust upward with her fist in the air.
"Uuuh, oooooooh!" Ranma screamed as she went crashing to the ground into a world of unconsciousness.
While everybody else was aghast in surprise to see Ranma lose the fight, Makoto executed two punches for every kick as she performed a complex kata that seemed more like a victory dance.
"You were very strong, the strongest I've ever faced, but nobody beats Rindoukan Karate." Then as Makoto was about to take her leave, Ken said something.
"The crossdressers are out and about today! I'm not sure if that's a guy or a girl. And I'm normally able to tell the difference."
"Whaaat?!" Makoto yelled as she zipped over to Ken as her face is red with rage.
Ken was so busy laughing at his own words that he didn't see it coming.
"Aaaaah! Seichusen go danzuki!" Makoto yelled as she struck the martial artist five times with a punch and kick combination that ended with a blow to the crotch that sent Ken into the atmosphere. Then the spiked haired girl walked away feeling really good about herself.
"Serves Ranma right to finally lose a fight to a nobody like that spiked haired girl," Akane said with a sneer.
"Nobody?" Yukio said.
"That's right. She's a nobody. Who's ever heard of Rindoukan Karate?"
"She took out Ken Masters so it's not as if she didn't have some mad skills," Kenji said.
At that point, black flying bat-like creatures appeared, surrounding them. The numbers of these bats eventually increased until the whole area surrounding them was so thick with these ethereal creatures that none of them could see their hands in front of them. Then a couple of minutes later the bats vanished.
"What was that?" Akane asked no one in particular.
Then Yukio and Kenji looked on the ground where Ranma was only a few moments ago. "She's gone! Where did she go?!"
"I have no idea, Yukio. Ranmaaaa!" Kenji announced, putting his hand over his eyes and searching for his fiancée.
"Ranmaaa!" Yukio called out in vain.
"Woah! What's with the black magic?!" Ken asked upon finally returning from where he had been sent.
"Black magic? Good point, Ken. This sounds like the work of Gosunkugi!" Kenji confirmed.
"Who's that?" Ken asked.
"He's a creepy guy who pulls stunts like this. When I get my hands on him, I'll…" Kenji said, cracking his knuckles.
"You'll what?" a creepy yet handsome boy said as he appeared in front of them.
"Where's Ranma, Gos?!" Kenji demanded.
"Watch your tone with me, Tendo. And for your information, I have no idea where she is."
"It's a good riddance! And it's not like we can find Ranma anyway!" Akane said.
"I'm going to search for her," Kenji said, noticing a flying bat making its way towards the normally uninhabitable mountains of Japan. Then the young warrior made his ki hammer appear and used it to take off into the sky after the flying creature.
"Hold on now. I'm coming along," Yukio said.
"I'm coming too," Gosunkugi said as he floated upwards, increasing his speed to catch up with Kenji.
"Wait for me!" Akane called out as she swung her own ki hammer countless times and threw it, holding on to it at the same time, taking off after Kenji.
"Oh! Hey!" Akane yelled as Yukio leaped on top of her flying form, using her as stepping stone to catch up to the others.
XXX
Sometime later, Ranma woke up, lying down on a wooden oak table with her wrists and ankles attached to the table with metal bands. As she lay there, she found that her arms were held up and her legs were spread apart. In addition to that, her tunic was open and her shoes were off.
"This would be the day I decided to go without underwear. Now, where am I?"
Upon looking around she noticed several silver weapons and crude instruments on the black walls surrounding her.
"Let me out of here!" Ranma screamed as she tugged against her restraints. Then she tried to use her escape artist skills to get out.
"Ah, ah, ah!" a large man with sharp teeth in the shadows said, making denial gestures with his hands and shaking his head.
"I can break these restraints! Ungh!"
"No, you can't. And even if you managed to slip out of those restraints, they'll simply modify themselves to keep you in line."
"Who are you?" Ranma asked, noticing her well-dressed captor wore a cape and the clothes of an 18th-century nobleman from Eastern Europe with an accent to match.
"We'll get to that in good time."
"Let me go or else!" Ranma demanded.
"Or else what?! As of now, you're helpless and at my mercy," the man in the shadows said as he regarded her open midriff.
"Why'd you do all this?" Ranma said as calmed down.
"I've brought you here, so I can drain your beautiful body of its blood and essence," her captor answered in a low tone.
"What?! You're just like Happosai!"
"Are you talking about that little gnome I've seen sneaking into homes and stealing women's underwear? That old man is a joke. What I'm planning on doing is far more interesting," her captor said, coming closer, his cruel red eyes staring into hers, giving her a frightening glare!
"You're not scaring anybody, so spare me the drama, Drack."
"Hmm. You are a brave one, aren't you? I normally love to drain women since their blood is so much like fine wine, but if you prove to be strong enough, you would make a fine bride for me," her captor said with a lustful leer.
"Your bride?! Over my dead body!"
"That can be arranged! At any rate, your gorgeous body is mine to do with as I wish," the shadowy figure said with a sharp, toothy smile.
"Don't even think it!"
At that point, her captor slapped her. "I think what I like. And I do what I like as you will soon find out."
Then Ranma looked up at the creepy guy with a look of determination on her face. Then she made another effort to break out of her restraints.
"Huff!"
"You'll only wear yourself out. But come to think of it. I like how your bosom threatens to come out of your open shirt whenever you exert yourself. So maybe I'll let you entertain me a little longer with your futile efforts," the cloaked figure said with a creepy smile in her direction.
"Why would you pick me?" Ranma asked.
"You're a beautiful woman with a great deal of power. One way or another you will serve me well."
"How am I going to get out of this?"
XXX
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the long gap in chapters, but I hope you've enjoyed reading this. Who is Ranma's new captor? Anyone can take a guess with a review and find out in the next chapter.
Now I'd like to inform everyone reading this that I have a new fanfic called Attack on Ranma. It's crossed over with Attack on Titan. You might not have seen it because I had to place it in the Ranma anime crossover section. Take a look at it and tell me what you think of it.
