Chapter 2: Deck-out
Disclaimer: No woodland animals, cabbits or paramilitary grunts were injured during the production of this chapter. Vaporized, maybe, but certainly not injured...
- - -
The enemy figure stepped forward, his golden aura vanishing and making his features visible. His face, no older than thirty summers, was hardly exceptional and if not for the greenish hue of his dark hair and his bearing that spoke of great skill, nobody would pinpoint him in a crowd. His green and golden Chinese clothes were plain but practical and the only other distinguishable feature on his person was an ornamental brooch shaped like an Ouroboros serpent biting its tail while twisted to form an infinity symbol.
"For somebody that killed Saffron, he went down way too easily" he mused. "Perhaps his victory was a fluke." Moments later, he had to raise an arm and deflect a large piece of masonry that was poised to take his head. "Or not" he added, his eyes narrowing.
Ranma emerged from the hole of the fortunately unoccupied house, looking none the worse for wear. "Yeah, it's going to take more than some crummy chi blast to take me out" he declared, sounding fairly agitated. "I don't know who you are, but you are going down."
His opponent smirked. "How rude of me. I'm Rezzo, eighth Brass Finger of the Blank Globe syndicate. I have been sent to secure you by any means possible. Do not bother introducing yourself, I know who you are."
Ranma's eyes narrowed. While his opponent was clearly concealing his powers, he could tell he was good. "Rezzo, it is. Let me present a finger for a Finger then" he chuckled, displaying the appropriate aggravating hand gesture.
Rezzo failed to be impressed. "I'm sure we could spend a long time exchanging inane insults, but I believe I can think of something more interesting to do with my time. Watch the paint on a wall while it dries, for instance" he responded, vanishing from sight a second later.
"He is fast" muttered Ranma, concentrating a bit, then smiling. "But not fast enough" he added, dodging to the side as his opponent tried to blindside him with a vicious jab. Within the next second they both exchanged a furious barrage of punches jabs and palm strikes, most of which were blocked or parried. Ranma sensed a surge of chi from his opponent and quickly changed strategy. As a stream of energy emerged from Rezzo's open palm, he tilted his head to the side to avoid the blast, grabbing the offending wrist at the same time. The Brass Finger braced himself for a throw, but Ranma had other ideas. He rapidly flipped above his taller opponent, landing behind him and quickly turning to face his back, still holding the appendage that was now twisted above Rezzo's shoulder.
Smirking, Ranma placed his free hand on his foe's back. "MOKO TAKABISHA!" he exclaimed, releasing the confidence blast one-handed at point blank and freeing Rezzo's wrist a blink later.
The green clad warrior went flying with his arm dislocated and his spine in pain. He managed to gain control in midair, however, twisting and landing on his feet easily. With a fast motion, he raised his other hand and expertly reset his shoulder, ignoring the pain. Ranma gave no quarters, rushing forward to his exposed back, middle and index fingers extended and charged to hit the sleep point at the back of his neck. He was very surprised when a metal staff appeared out of thin air between his hand and his target.
"I think it is time I got serious" explained Rezzo, turning around, staff in hand.
- - -
In the meantime, the rest of the Nerima crew was trying to get their bearings. Ryouga and Ukyo seemed dazed, their minds not fully on the fight at hand but partly stuck in the past, right at the moment when they caught Akane and Ranma. Shampoo and Mousse were able to focus properly, ready to join the fight as soon as they could spy an opening. As per the amazon teachings, personal woes and happiness were irrelevant in the heat of battle. Kodachi was also paying attention, although she could easily tell the foe Ranma was fighting was far beyond her capabilities.
As for Akane, she quickly recovered from the unorthodox toss and was rapidly talking herself into trying to help her fiancé. Just as she was about to step forward, a wooden cane blocked her progress. She turned to glare at the offender, but Cologne seemed adamant.
"Stand your ground, child" she commanded sharply with the authority of a blooded war leader. "If you join son-in-law, you will only succeed in distracting him. This foe is beyond you."
Akane complied, although her hands were clenching the amazon's walking aid as if testing its integrity. Cologne could tell the younger Tendo was burning to rush in and try to help, most likely killing herself in the process. "We have to do something" she managed at length and Cologne nodded.
"If son-in-law starts losing badly, I will help him. However, what I am doing now is far more important for Ranma" she added cryptically, causing Akane to blink in confusion. The elder sighed. Youngsters these days could be so dense and clueless.
- - -
Rezzo soon proved his mastery of the staff was formidable. Using the longer reach and an impressive set of feints and strikes, he was successful in keeping Ranma occupied. The pigtailed martial artist refrained from attacking, eager to assess his opponent before trying to take him down. He was aware the self-proclaimed Brass Finger wanted to kill him or at last mortally injure him, but that was a common occurrence and not enough to cause him to go all out or use too lethal techniques. As he kept on dodging with grace beyond his years, his opponent started getting frustrated. Ranma could feel that and was hoping for an opening he could exploit. After a full minute of dancing around, however, Rezzo had proven it would be very difficult to lose his composure.
Ranma decided information gathering was in order. "You are not too much of a slouch after all" he remarked smirking, ducking a blow and leaping above twin low swipes. "This Blank Globe syndicate must think highly of me to send their best agent to get me" he added, trying to gauge Rezzo's reaction while the other warrior released a double spin kick followed by a swarm of staff thrusts.
The green-clad fighter did not disappoint. "As much as I'd want that to be the truth, I'll have to surprise you. As I said, I am the eighth of the Fingers. There are another seven that surpass me in prowess" he explained, taking a second to grin at Ranma's apparent indignation, then intoning his words by rapidly spinning his weapon towards Ranma.
"So they sent a mere underling? Aren't they cocky" he teased, expertly redirecting the blows and causing Rezzo to lose his rhythm.
His opponent smiled in condensation. "You are most unfortunate, boy. I know and accept my place. Time to learn yours" he exclaimed. That was the only warning Ranma had before a blade made of golden chi erupted from the top of Rezzo's staff, effectively turning it into a naginata. Not missing a beat, he swung the sharp weapon and Ranma had to leap backwards lest he lost an arm. The blade sliced through a car like a hot knife through butter causing the young Saotome's eyes to go wide. His leap caused him to rebound off a wall and reach the top of a power pole.
Rezzo spared no time, neatly slicing the column and causing it to collapse, cables and all. In response, Ranma retrieved one of Mousse's throwing knives from hidden weapon space and sliced one of the power lines, mindful to insulate his hand with his sleeve. Before the pole could crash down, he carefully grasped the cable and flung its tip towards his staff-wielding opponent. Rezzo instinctively tried to bat it away, but his metal weapon proved to be a good conduit. The electric current sent him flying backwards, although he refused to release his staff.
Ranma landed a moment later, then blinked in disbelief as his opponent recovered in seconds, albeit moving a bit slower than before since his muscles were still affected by the discharge. Changing tactics, Rezzo tried to skewer the younger Saotome by performing an onslaught of unpredictable forward thrusts, keeping Ranma away. The heir of the anything goes smirked and concentrated. Pouring chi in his hands, he snapped forward, arresting the spiritual blade between his pals and avoiding its edge. Before Rezzo could realize what was happening, Ranma twisted his body while still holding the blade, causing his feet to collide with his opponent's face. He then proceeded to make a very persuasive amaguriken with his legs, kicking repeatedly at the stunned Brass Finger and assaulting his head and upper body. He closed the attack with a flip kick that caused him to clear his opponent's weapon and launched Rezzo through another one of the constantly diminishing walls around them.
"Had enough yet?" he asked, breathing harder than usual.
His opponent was slow to rise, taking a second to wipe blood from his face and straighten his chin. "You are no mere martial artist, kid" he responded frowning. Gripping his staff, he caused the blade to its tip to vanish and be replaced by a ball of energy.
"It took you long enough to realize" replied Ranma, now smirking. "Are you going to use that thing as a mace now?" he asked, his eyes glued on the altered staff. A moment later, he ducked out of the way as a chi blast, comparable to the first one that hit him, erupted from the weapon and sped towards him. To his disbelief, the projectile altered direction in midair, still clipping him painfully.
"Homing chi blasts" he muttered to himself as he tried to dodge a second attack. The third one that followed promptly afterwards blew him off his feet and through a stone fence and he felt his body trying to fall unconscious.
- - -
Up to that point, even the most heartbroken of the audience were fully focused on the battle, staring in disbelief at the incredible skill of both combatants. When Ranma fell and failed to promptly rise, they decided to join the fray. Akane, in an incredible display of agility, dodged around Cologne's effort to stop her, manifesting a mallet out of her chi and sending it flying. Rezzo used his staff to bat the weapon away almost as an afterthought, deflecting it upwards where it demolished a building's corner. He then moved his staff to casually parry Ryouga's umbrella hard enough to toss the overweight weapon out of the lost boy's grip.
"BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" he bellowed hardly fazed, ducking away from the staff's return swing and poking the ground at Rezzo's feet. Before the explosion could happen, the green-clad warrior leaped in the air and landed on Ryouga's back, flattening him and using the lost boy's body as a shield. The breaking point technique threw them off the ground and Rezzo casually swung his weapon once more, catching Ryouga on the head and sending him to dig a deep trench on the tarmac below.
Landing casually at the opposite side of the explosion, he held his staff with one hand, neatly blocking Akane's second mallet, Shampoo's twin bonbori, Ukyo's battle spatula and a sword, a club and a kitchen sink, curtsy of Mousse. All four opponents tried to push together, but all gasped in disbelief as the green-clad warrior refused to budge an inch. Rezzo raised a brow when Kodachi's gymnastics ribbon wrapped around the butt end of his weapon and attempted to throw him off balance.
"Five on one and you still can't do it?" he observed mirthfully, causing everybody else to snarl in indignation. He then proceeded to flare his aura violently, the shockwave passing through his opponents' weapons and tossing them away like so many flies. Turning to the side sharply, he snap-kicked Ryouga that was attempting to blindside him. "Perhaps I should get rid of all you weaklings right away" he mused. He had to curse as he barely managed to avoid a fractured skull, dodging Cologne's cane that left a three-meter radius crater around the point of its impact.
"I believe I'll be able to give you a challenge, sonny boy" taunted the amazon mirthfully, silently wishing the rest would not rise to get in her way any time soon.
Instead of scowling, Rezzo, bowed his head in respect, then attacked. Staff clashed against cane many times and the Brass Finger found himself being pushed backwards. Cologne kept pressing her advantage, masterfully forcing her opponent into an offensive spiral. While Rezzo did not release too much of an aura, Cologne's mastery of the soul of ice contrasted to the air around them that was saturated with chi would suffice for an impressive Ascending Dragon Blast. She swore in mandarin as her opponent manifested a blade at the end of his staff and took a hit from her cane to try and slice directly at her body. Her spiral ruined, Cologne poured her chi away from her cane and back into her body, reinforcing the area that was about to be attacked. Rezzo gasped in disbelief as his impromptu naginata bounced off the retired matriarch's body. Thinking fast, he created a second blade at the butt end of his weapon and slashed at the wooden cane a moment later.
Cologne sent him flying by reflex, but the damage had been done. Her cane, used by her as a chi battery, was fractured by the surprise hit. The ludicrous amount of spirit energy tried to escape from its containment, causing the cane to explode violently. Cologne maintained the presence of mind to toss it away, but was still caught in the blast.
"Lady Artemis is pretty miffed with me it seems" she muttered, trying to will the world around her to stop spinning. Shutting her eyes, she brought two fingers to her temple and pressed the pressure points that would cause her to rapidly recover from her apparent concussion. When she opened them again, she saw a chi blade poised to relieve the head off her shoulders.
"MOKO TAKABISHA DOUBLE!" came the cry and the amazon elder sighed in relief as Rezzo's body performed a textbook ballistic flight. Perhaps she would live to grow twice as old after tonight. "Get them out of here, Cologne" demanded Ranma, indicating the dazed but fast recovering members of the wrecking crew and never bothering with the 'old ghoul' nickname. "He is mine" he added, his voice iced steel and the amazon had to remind herself that shuddering is not dignified for elders.
"You still have some fight in you then" stated more than asked Rezzo as he collected himself from the rubble. Twirling his staff, he started releasing a steady volley of homing chi blasts that did their best to strike the Saotome youth.
I have to think of something and fast. Pondered Ranma as he dived behind a car to avoid the first blasts then launched a convenient trashcan to intercept the next. Frowning, he released another chi blast of his own, not even bothering to announce it. The two shots collided in midair and dissipated but Rezzo seemed unfazed and determined to defeat his opponent with old-fashioned brute force.
Martial arts 101: If you can't dodge or block, then redirect. Ranma concentrated again, firing a smaller chi blast. It fizzled against the next projectile but successfully altered its trajectory to crash it on the ground. Ranma sighed as he leaped above another shot that blasted the wall behind him.
Is this guy for real? His blasts are as strong as Herb's and he is barely winded. Herb's blasts... Perhaps I can pull another Hiryū Kōrin Dan against this guy. Between the old ghoul's staff and his blasts there is enough chi around here to shoot several. Entering the soul of ice, Ranma kept dodging while trying to will the cold energy his body generated into a tight spiral before him. Just as he was about to form a horizontal mini-tornado to suck the excess energy, one of Rezzo's chi blasts got him and he was blasted through a tree trunk.
Note to self. Do not presume your opponents will be as stupid as Herb and allow you to develop new techniques on the spot. Okay, a chi blast is made out of spirit energy and a chi construct that keeps it together and makes it move. I'll just aim for the construct's weak point. Now openly smiling, he brought both his hands forward, facing the next batch of incoming blasts without flinching.
"HIRYŪ JOUGO DAN!"
- - -
As soon as Ranma resumed his fight, Cologne hastily collected the downed martial artists, removing them from the battle's epicenter. Ryouga and Kodachi seemed still out of it, but the rest were already stirring.
"I don't believe that jackass" spat Ukyo, rubbing a particularly nasty bruise on her arm. "He brushed as away as if we were nothing.
Shampoo nodded. "He too too powerful and scary. Only Ranma and Grandmother a match for him" she added groggily, shaking her head to clear away the dancing little amazons. "We only get in way" she finished sadly, biting her lip.
"Xian Pu, my love! Are you safe?" exclaimed Mousse, jumping towards Akane and earning a mallet in the face for his effort.
"Really, sugar, you should put a lease on lover-boy there" commented Ukyo while Shampoo nodded.
"Disregarding blind amazon gropes, what are we going to do now?" asked Akane, sparing a glare towards the once again dazed Mousse. "We can't just watch!"
Cologne had retrieved a second cane, identical to the first from hidden weapon space and used it to neatly brain all three girls. "You can and you will" she ordered, frowning as she watched Ranma dancing around an onslaught of chi-balls. "You know very well that son-in-law is not very good with teamwork. Even if you WERE a match for this opponent, you'd still get in his way," she added, wincing as Ranma was squarely nailed by one of the blasts. She sighed in relief when he shrugged it off immediately.
"Anyone got the number of the tank that got me?" asked Ryouga dazed as he and Kodachi started to stir.
"The tank would probably need to get your number, Hibiki" commented Mousse, shaking the lost boy out of his stupor. "It's this Rezzo guy that wiped the floor with us" he reminded and Ryouga snarled.
"How dare he! If anyone's going to off Ranma, it's me!" he declared, ignoring the baneful stares from the group's female population. The gnarled cane that tripped him could not be ignored, though.
"Save your strength, child" advised the amazon elder, frowning at how she seemed to be talking to kindergarten kids instead of almost adult warriors. "A chance might present itself."
"O-ho-ho. There will be no need for that. Ranma-sama will surely prevail against such dastardly a foe" offered Kodachi and the rest were split between cheering along her or knocking her out to escape her shrill voice.
They all watched mesmerized as Ranma took another blast, then extended his hand forward.
"HIRYŪ JOUGO DAN!"
Ukyo raised a brow. "Heavenly dragon funnel bomb? What kind of crazy technique is that?" she asked, mostly at Cologne.
They observed in disbelief as an extremely thin, ice-cold tornado erupted horizontally from Ranma's hands, writhing like a serpent and piercing every chi blast it encountered. Akane and Cologne even noticed how the air around the attack seemed to glow.
"There is no such technique that I know of" stated the amazon elder, her eyes secretly awed. "He devised it on the fly."
The mini-tornado vanished and they all gasped as Ranma released a chi blast of his own that caused everybody's extrasensory senses to wail in horror. The ebbing ball of energy, blue and golden swirls dancing on its surface, shot towards a very stunned Rezzo and detonated in a luminous explosion that shamed Ryouga's perfect Shishi Hokodan.
Before the attack's dust and smoke could subside, Ranma created another tornado, preparing a second shot in mere moments.
"He is sucking the energy from the blasts as well as the ambient chi, and pours it all into one attack" marveled Cologne. "He would need years of training to do that normally."
Akane sighed in relief. "That's Ranma for you" she muttered, almost talking to herself. She had to wince again when the second blast detonated, widening the crater.
- - -
Ranma cockily looked down on Rezzo while standing at the edge of the twenty-meter wide crater. The Brass Finger did manage to stand, a testament to his endurance, but the strain was evident in each of his moves.
"Are you ready to give up, yet?" asked Ranma, the beginnings of another Funnel Bomb visible on his hand. "I know you can still fight, but between your wounds and the energy you have used, there can't be too much chi left in you."
Rezzo offered him a tiny smile. "Unfortunately, I will keep trying until I either succeed or can't go on" he clarified. His eyes briefly danced to his side. "And as you know anybody can be brought down when a weakness is exploited."
Without bothering to clarify, he brought a finger to his brooch. "Fire at non targets at my command" he whispered, then his smile turned ugly. "As you may recall, this is hardly a duel for me. Team one, team two!" he bellowed and everybody's eyes went wide.
Ranma sensed a weak glow of fighting spirit and turned incredulously to watch as a team of ten black clad individuals sporting automatic weapons appeared on one of the surviving roofs. They were aiming towards the rest of the group, but for a brief second Ranma could only see Akane. After that second and before a single bullet could be fired, the young Saotome performed another 'Hiryū Jougo Dan' that completely vaporized the upper half of the building and anyone on it. A second team emerged from one of the corners at the opposite side, also taking aim.
"You lose" whispered Rezzo as a chi blast got him squarely at the back of his neck, knocking him out. "Team three, now!" he added, recovering a syringe from his clothes and injecting Ranma.
- - -
Cologne sensed Ranma's chi blast and ignored the first team. The second one, however, would have to face an angry amazon elder. She spared a glance towards the rest of the wrecking crew, confirming that most of them were too tired, too injured or not skilled enough to dodge the incoming hail of bullets. With a sigh, she appeared between the two groups, cane moving faster than the eye could follow. Seconds later, the whole hostile team fell to the ground, killed by their own bullets that were deflected back at them.
"Ranma!" screamed Akane and Cologne turned around swearing. Rezzo, carrying an unconscious pigtailed martial artist, was half-way up a ladder attached to a black helicopter that was already moving away. Cologne raised her cane, sending a silver chi blast of her own that destroyed the vehicle's back rotor, causing it to spin out of control. Then her eyes went wide as Rezzo, still carrying his cargo, leaped on a second helicopter that vanished into the night just as the first one crashed down in an impressive and explosive display.
"Damn, damn it all!" snarled the amazon elder, falling to her knees in defeat. Some seconds later, she turned to regard the ashen faces of everybody around her and could distinctively feel the despair seeping from their auras. She decided that if she were to help Ranma, she would have to help his friends and rivals first. Most of them had not even realized it, but in times of crisis, Ranma had been their unchallenged leader, always dependable and always invincible.
"Snap out of it, all of you!" she demanded harshly. "Tonight we lost, but tomorrow we can still save Ranma." She sensed how most of them did not want to wait. "All of you are tired and couldn't fight your way out of an anthill. You will go to the places you call homes and you will rest" she ordered and was very relieved when all of them nodded mutely.
- - -
Akane reached the Tendo estate with small slow and mechanic steps. Her sisters were waiting for her at the gate, their faces streaked with worry.
"Akane!" exclaimed Kasumi, rushing and hugging her sister, growing even more worried when she failed to react.
Nabiki frowned. "Cologne called and told us what happened. Auntie Saotome is worried out of her mind, father is wailing and uncle Saotome is trying very hard to remain calm. I guess you don't want to deal with them now" she stated more than asked.
Akane simply nodded and walked inside, causing her sisters to exchange glances. "She is in shock" noted Kasumi and the middle Tendo shot her a 'you think so, genius' glance. They went inside just in time to hear Akane's door being locked.
- - -
Cologne left Shampoo's and Mousse's rooms after making sure they were both asleep and that they would remain asleep for at least eight hours. None of them had said a lot after the battle, but she had been in enough wars to know how they felt. For Mousse, Ranma had been a rival, a friend and an idol. Seeing the one that slain Saffron despite the odds falling and failing like that had been a vicious hit to his world image.
As for Shampoo, she had even more reason to be decimated. Cologne was not sure when her heir stopped pursuing Ranma because of the law and when she started doing so for her own reasons. Sometimes, the elder thought this had never been about the law.
Sighing, she descended to her base of operations, three basements below her restaurant. In her nicknamed Neko-Cave, she made it a point to find any information on the Blank Globe syndicate. Sleep could wait for her, after all.
- - -
Ukyo and Kodachi were not sure how to feel. They both reached their homes alone and they both collapsed in Konatsu's and Sasuke's arms respectively. They both fell asleep seconds later, even though Kodachi had to use her ribbon once more to gag her brother that was babbling something about Ranma and dark sorcerers.
Their sleep was fitful and uneasy.
- - -
Akane collapsed on her hands and knees as soon as she was behind her locked door. Her eyes were wide but refused to shed tears just yet. Bringing her fingers to her mouth, she tried to remember how Ranma's kiss had felt.
"He wanted me" she whispered. "Out of everybody else, he wanted me." Of course she had known that for some time but having it confirmed affected her much more than she would have thought.
Reaching for her bag, she retrieved her gi, the one she had worn earlier that night, the one she had triumphed in. Her hands clenched uncontrollably on the rough fabric and a single tear left her face. "I'm a martial artist too" she whispered dejectedly. "What a joke" she added mirthlessly, tossing the garment to the other side of the room with unnecessary violence.
"I should be able to stand beside him as his partner, but instead... he lost because they used me as a distraction. A worthless, worthless distraction." Intellectually, Akane knew that was not true per se. She knew she was part of the elite one-percent when it came to martial arts. If she wanted to, she could have broken any official athletic record in the world that did not involve swimming.
As she pitifully crawled on her bed and fell asleep seconds later, she also knew it had not been enough.
- - -
Akane woke up late in the next morning. Mercifully, she managed to enjoy a full minute of calmness before last night's disaster crashed in. Groaning, she left her bed, muscles stiff. She would have berated herself for not taking a chance to relax in the furo before sleeping but she had more important things to do. Then her eyes went wide and the ghost of a smile appeared in her face.
"P-chan!" she exclaimed, hugging the small animal tightly. A bit too tightly it seemed since Ryouga almost lost consciousness. "I really needed to see you today," she added calmly. "Isn't it ironic? I can finally admit how much I love Ranma and that jerk is probably being tortured somewhere. Or perhaps he has already escaped and will come through the door any second now like nothing is wrong" she added, not really daring to hope. "If he does that, I'm first going to brain him just enough to leave him conscious for making me worry, then I'm going to improve our... lip technique for the rest of the day" she added, her mood becoming brighter by the second.
She absently noticed a thermos on her desk and she guessed Kasumi had brought it there yesterday. Opening it, she confirmed it was tea and still warm. Sighing in delight, she never bothered with caps, drinking directly from the bottle.
Then she choked, spilling some of the tea.
With an oblivious P-chan still on her lap.
A P-chan that turned into a white-faced and very naked Ryouga right before her eyes.
The neighbors watched in disbelief as a deep crimson light vaporized one of the Tendo estate's walls, seared the top of the Tendo fence and left a burning three meter deep crater on the road with a naked and unconscious young man inside.
Oh well, stranger things were known to happen.
- - -
22-06-07: And thus ends the second chapter. I hope you liked the battle, even though it lasted a bit too much. I'm trying to balance angst with some humor, but I have to confess it's tricky. At least the next chapters will prove a bit less dark than this one. To answer Kachie's reservations, I don't think plucking bullets out of the air is beyond Ranma. In the breaking point arc, he was able to pluck hundreds of fast-moving pebbles out of the air in less than a second. Seeing as the breaking point is like a grenade blast sans the metal shards and keeping in mind that my Ranma had six months of more intense than usual training after Saffron, catching bullets is nothing. And he is still not Superman. Superman doesn't need to dodge or catch bullets ;-) Anyway, I want to thank everybody for the reviews and alerts. They supply me with proper motivation.