Chapter 9: Aspiring
The crowd went silent when both trainers hit the ground following the explosion of the Shi Shi Hokodan. Ranma clenched his teeth, grabbing onto the rail of the fence of the sidelines with all his strength. The spectators were in shock at the apparent tie between the two seemingly unconscious martial artists on the ground. Ranma stood up and forced himself to stay where he was. If he placed one foot on the battleground, Akane would be disqualified. This fact did not stop him from screaming at her from the stands. He could still feel her battle aura, it was faint, but it was there.
"Akane! I know you can hear me! Get up!"
The owner of the other school, turned to face the younger sensei next to him, scoffing with incredulity at his efforts to revive the fallen girl. "Are you seriously thinking that girl survived that blast? She was no match against my trainer! How could a tiny woman like her ever think she could beat him? You must be hitting yourself for allowing a woman to fight a man's fight."
Ranma remained silent for a moment, realizing how he himself, just a few years ago, had shared the man's mindset regarding Akane. Today, however, he knew that anyone who underestimated Akane and dared to fight her was in for the surprise of his life. The Master thought that he had won his argument against Ranma and decided to add insult to injury by continue his teasing. "What happened kid? Cat got your tongue?"
Ranma, not affected at all by the rival Master's comments, smiled when he finally provided his response.
"Have we not been watching the same fight, or are you just fucking blind and stupid? That tiny woman just kicked your trainer's ass!"
"What?"
Ranma pointed back to the battle arena, forcing the Master to look up.
"How the hell?"
Akane's arms began slowly moving, forcing herself up until she was on all fours. She was bleeding in some places, but Ranma did not think any of the injuries he could see from where he stood were anything to be concerned about. After she took deep breaths, she made herself crouch down and slowly stood up. The crowd cheered with Ranma, who heard the Master next to him curse aloud.
The opposing trainer began moving too, making the crowd gasp, readying themselves for another round. Ranma held his breath, not certain if either of them could take any more hits. The Red Lion School's Master saw his trainer stand and walk towards Akane, a ray of hope noticeable on his face.
"That's it! See? She couldn't possibly defeat him!"
Akane watched, unmoving, as her opponent wobbled towards her. He stood a couple of feet away from her, causing Akane to reflect a defensive stance. The other trainer's actions made the crowd silent for a moment, no one knowing what was to come. He slowly placed his hands on his sides before his head bowed down.
Akane frowned, not understanding at first what he was doing. From her vantage point, it looked like the trainer was getting ready to throw up. However, for the crowds surrounding them, he could only be doing one thing: he was bowing down to Akane.
"Forgive me, Akane-sensei, for doubting you. You have truly bested me."
Akane stared at the man before he fell on his knees and raised his left hand, telling the referee he had given up. After a moment of incredulity, the crowd cheered and chanted Akane's name. Akane, now recovering from the shock, bent down and offered her hand to the defeated trainer before her.
"It was a pleasure, Shigeru-san."
Shigeru accepted her hand and they aided each other to leave the arena to their respective sides.
Ranma heard the Master curse, making his way through the stands. The defeated dojo left the competition as soon as the entire team gathered around Shigeru and helped him stand. Ranma saw them leave, a broken stance bearing on their shoulders. Akane had done it. She had given him the ticket he needed to fight the last fight.
All he wanted was to run to her, and tell her how proud he was. He wanted to tell her how exceptional her fight had been, and that she could rest now, knowing she had done her part. Yet, he knew he would have to wait until after the battle for this. He was already been called down to the arena, and Akane had been taken behind the stages to receive any basic medical attention they could provide to the champion. Ranma forced himself to concentrate on his upcoming task. It was now his turn to make her proud of him.
He walked towards the center of the area, where the referee and announcer waited for him. The referee went over the rules of the match with Ranma, which were almost the same as with Akane: a full out, anything goes, martial arts fight. He was glad to know that he could use his ki attacks, and seeing as not everyone knew what tricks he had up his sleeve, he felt even more confident than he ever had.
"This certification is in the bag!"
"Saotome-sensei, one last thing," the referee told Ranma. "Are you the only one fighting the last round?"
Ranma, looking confused as to the meaning of the question, answered the best he could.
"Yeah? Why?"
"Are you certain you do not wish another member of the dojo to be able to replace you, should you need the aid?"
Ranma shook his head. He could not leave the fate of the dojo to the students, regardless of how good they were. And, asking Akane to fight again after everything she had just gone through fighting Shigeru was out of the question. "No, I will be the only one to fight."
The referee nodded. "Very well, Saotome-sensei. Then you should know that this is a three-round fight."
"Three rounds?"
"Yes, you will have three different opponents, one at a time."
Ranma shrugged, not at all worried about the sudden turn of events. "Three, uh? It's OK, I can't take them all."
"Good luck, Saotome-sensei."
"Thanks."
The referee left the arena, and the announcer took it as his cue to begin the final fight of the night.
"Ladies and gentleman! The moment we have all been waiting for! The final battle for the certification under NRD. Please help me welcome the opponents for the night. Join your hands for the School of the Ascending Dragon!"
The crowd responded to the announcer and clapped as loud as they could. At the stands, Nodoka took her hand to her mouth. "This can't be."
Hearing her distress, Nabiki turned to face Ranma's mother. "What's wrong?"
Nodoka shook her head. "The School of the Ascending Dragon, that's Hitomi's husband's school."
"Who's Hitomi?"
"My…my stepmom."
Nabiki did not understand the relevance of the information, but was surprised to know that Nodoka had a stepmother. She shrugged off any possible hidden meanings to Nodoka's concerns, and concentrated on getting ready to watch Ranma beat the living daylights out of whoever dared to cross his path.
"The School of the Ascending Dragon," Ranma repeated in his head, after the announcer had revealed the name of the dojo he had to defeat in order to win the tournament.
"It has all come to this!" the announcer yelled at the microphone, making the crowd roar. "This is it! The final battle will be between the highest-ranked, certified dojo in the NRD, against the aspiring dojo of Anything Goes Martial Arts!"
The announcer waited until the crowd settled a little before beginning the introductions. "Our challenger, Ranma Saotome, will begin the first round of the final battle by attempting to defeat the trainer of the AD School: Hitomi Nakajima!"
"Nakajima? Where have I heard that name before?"
Ranma frowned when he realized the first opponent he had to defeat was a woman; a woman older than his own mother. "Great! There goes the never-hit-a-woman, rule!"
Hitomi walked towards the center of the arena, stopping a few feet away from Ranma. They both bowed to each other before they were asked to take the required ten steps away from each other. The announcer, who had begun taking steps back to return to his booth, quickly made himself comfortable on his seat before signaling the beginning of the fight.
Even though they had been given the OK to begin beating each other up, neither of them moved. Hitomi stared at Ranma up and down, smiling as she did.
"What are you looking at?"
"You look just like your mother, Ranma-kun."
Ranma flinched, not expecting the comment from her. "What are you babbling about?"
"What? Has your mother not talked about me? I took care of her after her mother died. I'm, you can say, your former step-grandmother."
"What?"
Ranma's mind searched for conversations with his mom. He remembered that her own mother had died young, just as Akane's, and that her dad had remarried. He never really paid attention to the name of the woman his grandfather remarried to, but she had mentioned that they had eventually divorced once they realized it was not going to work out between them.
"That girl of yours, she's something else, isn't she. No wonder my son was so interested in her. Doesn't matter now, though. His new fiancée is just as good as the Tendo girl."
Ranma, not accustomed to chatting with his opponents, was reaching the end of his patience. "I thought we were here to fight, not exchange stories while drinking tea."
"Always the desperate one. Very well, I'll make this quick."
Hitomi began her attacks against Ranma. He easily dodge them, quickly growing tired of the usual fights he had against girls. They would scream, cuss him out, and tell him what a despicable person he was. He would in turn yawn and roll his eyes before easily defeating them in an instant.
Hitomi, seeing Ranma was not placing any effort into the fight, began growing desperate. She stopped and took a few steps back, seeing Ranma stand there, arms at his sides.
"Are you done?" he taunted her.
Hitomi was visible tired already, making Ranma's suspicious come out. Why would the most highly consecrated school under the NRD roster send a woman who was clearly below his rank to fight him? His senses told him there was more than what she was allowing him to see.
"Are you always this condescending, Ranma-kun? I'd hope your mother raised you better than that."
Ranma shrugged, not at all offended by the jab. He placed his hands behind his back and looked to his side. "I have two other people waiting to fight me, so, if you don't mind, I'd like to get this match over with."
Hitomi chuckled at his arrogance. "Aren't you the ever overconfident one? Things are not always as they seem, Ranma-kun."
"You're absolutely right. You seemed intimidating until you opened your mouth."
Hitomi had it with his insolence. She knew she did not have a chance to beat him, but she was here with only one purpose in mind. The night had begun falling, so she needed to end this fight quickly so that her husband could kick the smug boy's butt.
She turned around to see the water faucets that were behind her. She used one of her special techniques to cut the pipes, causing the water to leak out. She then turned back to Ranma and held her hands high in the air. The water behind her began pouring faster now until it created a wave behind her. She guided the wave to go above her and aimed at Ranma to push him off the stage.
Ranma scoffed at her attempt before increasing his body temperature. He extended his left arm and aimed it at the water, creating a wall of fire between him and the liquid. The water hit the invisible wall causing it to evaporate on contact. The steam left behind blinded him enough for Hitomi to launch herself at him, hitting specific points on his chest. He grabbed her arms as she flew over him and sent them both rolling towards the edge of the ring. Their bodies flew off the stage, but he twisted them so that her back landed on the grass, and he landed on her, making a handstand while holding on her shoulders.
She looked up at him once she regained her bearings, and saw his face directly above her, smiling down.
"You lose," he said as he pushed himself off her and somersaulted back to the ring. Hitomi laid there on the grass, officially disqualified. The announcer broke the silence of the crowd by declaring Ranma the winner of the first round. The referee approached him and asked him if he wanted to take a break, but Ranma declined. Hearing this, the announcer asked the crowd to clap for the defeated opponent as she made her away back to the stands.
"Ranma-kun, you know my intention was to lose to you, don't you?" Hitomi yelled at him as she walked close by.
"Is that the hurt ego talking? I don't know of any respectable martial artists who fight to lose a match."
"What makes you think I lost?"
She turned around, leaving Ranma to ponder what she had meant. He looked back to the sidelines and saw Akane sitting there, clapping with the rest of the team, which had now been allowed to sit at the bench on the field to watch the fight. Happy to see she was fine and after waving at her, he returned his concentration back to the next fight.
"Let's welcome to the ring the next opponent of this match. The very own Master of the School of the Ascending Dragon: Daichi Nakajima!"
The crowd cheered to welcome the newcomer. Ranma remained at his position, clearly unimpressed with the old man. He was tall, slender, and had short brown hair. His eyes were gray, which reminded him of someone, but he could not place his finger on it, just yet. They both bowed at each other as they joined the referee at the middle of the ring.
"Gentleman, you know the rules of the match. All out, anything goes, touch the grass and you're done. Any questions?"
Both men shook their heads.
"Alright. MASTERS, FIGHT!"
Ranma began the fight immediately, growing tired of this useless waiting around. He connected a series of kicks and punches with the man. Daichi was avoiding most of the damage, but was not able to stop a few of the punches Ranma sent his way. The opposite Master was not able to land a punch on him until the last minute before his body neared the edge of the battleground. The punch sent Ranma flying away from him, and Daichi was able to regain his balance and remain in the ring.
Ranma sat on the ground, feeling as if his jaw had just been broken in half.
Akane, who had been following Ranma's hits, knew that whatever punch Daichi had landed on him was not a particularly significant one. Ranma, however, seemed as if a twenty ton boulder had dislocated his jaw. Daichi, knowing very well what was happening to Ranma, began to laugh.
"Confused, boy? Did you really think my wife would walk away from this battle without leaving her trace on you?"
"What is he talking about?" Ranma thought as he massaged his injured jaw. It was not broken, not even bruised, but it felt like it had.
"I'm surprised a man of your caliber is not familiar with the Itami Zoka technique."
"Itami Zoka?"
Tofu frowned from the stands. Nodoka, seeing how hurt her son seemed with one punch, placed her hands on the doctor to ask what was going on. "What is he saying, Ono? What's Itami Zoka?"
The doctor sighed. "This is not good," he began.
"What do you mean not good? What did that woman do to Ranma?" Genma asked.
"Itami Zoka is a technique that involves pressure points. The goal is to alter the nerves that act as pain receptors to the brain. Ranma, being as strong as he is, has a high resistance to great pain, so that sucker punch shouldn't have made any impact on him. If my theory is correct, however, Hitomi changed his pain receptors. Ranma will now feel any hit, as small as it is, and it will hurt twenty times worse than it really is."
At the same time Tofu had explained the technique to the attentive members of his family, Daichi had explained the technique to Ranma.
"That bastard! He set me up for this! I can't let him touch me."
"This will be a swift fight, Ranma-sensei."
Ranma stood up, ignoring the pain in his jaw. He took a defensive stance, which he rarely used, but he had no other option. His students had worked their butts off to get them here, and then Akane had taken quite the beating for him to be where he was now. He could not allow a cheap technique to take away what they had worked so hard to obtain.
"Good luck lying on a hand on me again, Daichi."
"We'll see about that."
Daichi neared Ranma and stopped close to him before disappearing. Ranma took a step back before feeling a kick on his back. He flinched and crouched down as the pain was sent to every nerve of his body.
"Ugh, this really hurts!"
When he partially recovered, he looked up and saw he was surrounded by a dozen of Daichi, running circles around him. They took turns taking hits at him, preventing him from standing up. Every punch and every kick sent waves of heightened pain through him, making him curl up and clench his jaw.
"Ranma!"
Akane yelled from the stands as she watched the assault on her fiancée. "I have to stop this fight! They're not playing fair," she thought as she recalled Daichi's explanation of the technique Hitomi had used on him. She stood up and began her way to the referee to end the match, but her students stopped her.
"Akane-sensei, where are you going?"
"Where do you think, Daisuke-kun? To stop this fight! Ranma is at a disadvantage, here!"
"Don't do that, Akane-sensei! Ranma-sensei can still win. The fight just started; give him a chance," Shinji stated.
"But…"
"Shinji is right. Ranma-sensei believed in you to win your fight. Now it's your turn," Hisoka said.
Akane listened to the pleas of her students, but could not help to feel like stopping the fight was the right thing to do. She would allow him to continue for now, but if she saw that Ranma could get severely hurt, she was throwing in the towel and would deal with his anger later.
Meanwhile, Ranma continued to be showered with hits all around his body.
"I gotta get out of this circle. They're gonna make me pass out!"
He ignored the pain as much as he could as he gathered enough energy to invoke the electricity technique. He screamed as his energy was expelled through his pores and towards the illusion Daichi was creating around him. The flare reached its target and sent Daichi flying away from Ranma. Ranma took this chance to roll away from him, and rested on his back. He took deep breaths as he stared at the sky, slowly recovering from the whipping he had just received.
"Fuck! I can't let him do that again."
Ranma sat up and stared at Akane. She was chewing her nails and twisting her clothes with her fingers. He knew she was worried, and with a cause this time. Daichi was slowly standing up, feeling the pain of electricity run through his muscles. Ranma finally stood up and spoke to his opponent.
"I'm sure that hurts like a son of a bitch, uh?"
Ranma would know, as he himself had shocked his body as he had shocked Daichi just now, while trying to master the technique himself. He would make sure to thoroughly thank Akane for teaching him these techniques once the battle was done. Daichi finally regained his senses, and walked closer to Ranma. Ranma took another step back, not wanting to experience another round of hits.
Daichi made a fist with his hand, and then aimed it Ranma, releasing some form of energy from his hands. It had been quick, so only Ranma had noticed it. To the spectators, it seemed as if he had just made a gesture of fight to Ranma. The energy missed Ranma by a mile, making him wonder about its true purpose. He did not have to wait long to know when he heard Akane yelp.
He turned around and saw Akane holding on to her leg as the wound on her thigh had reopened and blood began trickling down her leg again. Ranma growled as he saw her sit down while his students attempted to help her. Ranma cursed under his breath when he realized that Daichi had purposely missed him so he could hit Akane to upsurge her wound.
"Motherfucker! I'm gonna kill him."
Ranma turned around to face his opponent, but Daichi was already on him, beginning a new round of hits. Ranma dodged what he could, but the few hits he did receive were painful enough to limit his ability to return the favor to Daichi.
"What's the matter, Ranma? Are you letting your anger blind you?"
Ranma clenched his jaw, feeling the pain return to him. "You didn't have to touch her, Daichi! She was not involved."
"Oh! But she is! You will soon find out why. Besides, didn't the referee say that anything goes? You oughta know that yourself, seeing that's the name of your pathetic school."
"You….ugh!" Ranma was not able to finish his comeback when he felt Daichi's fist connect with his stomach. Ranma felt to the floor holding his stomach with one hand. "I think that idiot just broke a rib!"
Ranma looked up to see Daichi coming closer to him, ready to end the fight. The ground below him received droplets of sweat coming from his forehead. He had to end this fight now or he was going to lose. He closed his eyes as he got up and walked up to Daichi, meeting him halfway.
Daichi took this as a sign that he was going to attack, so he jumped the gun and began attacking Ranma again. Ranma used all his energy in dodging his attacks and lulling his opponent to his final attack. Akane, knowing what he was doing, jumped up from her seat.
"He's doing it. He's calling on Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
Ranma continued to avoid Daichi's hits until they reached the middle of the spiral. Once there, Ranma's last bit of energy was used to connect the punch with Daichi, sending him flying upwards inside the biggest invocation of Hiryu Shoten Ha Akane had seen. The crowd held on to their seats and covered their heads as debris flew everywhere. The students, being so close to the action, were sent to hide under the bench they had been sitting on by Akane while she stood in front of them and created a barrier of thick ice around them, protecting them from the impact.
The students watched in awe at Akane's ability to call upon the technique, and sustain the blows of Ranma's attack. They knew that Ranma and Akane were stronger than they led people to believe, but they never imagined how strong they truly were. Slowly, the wind stopped and once Akane felt there was nothing else that could harm them, she lowered the barrier of ice and waited for the dust to settle.
Once the cloud of dust disappeared, Ranma was still standing in the middle of the ring, his fist still pumping in the air. The crowd got up from their covers behind the stands and sat back in their seats. The students that had been hiding behind Akane slowly crawled out from under the bench, and walked closer to where Akane was standing. Everyone stared at the ring, in utter confusion, until the announcer expressed the same question that was in everybody's mind.
"Where is Daichi-sensei?"
He was nowhere to be found. The ring held only Ranma's body. Ranma lowered his arm and kneeled down, breathing hard after exerting so much energy so fast. He looked up and saw that Akane was all right, so he let out a sigh of relief. It had not been until he released his punch that he realized Akane was too close to the battleground. He hoped that she had found some sort of shelter, and was glad to see she had done so.
"Ranma-sensei," the announcer began, "What happened to Daichi-sensei?"
Ranma looked at the announcer before lifting his arm and pointing away from him. Everyone followed the direction of his pointing hand and found what he was aiming for. Daichi was hanging from a lamppost, clearly knocked out. He then proceeded to fall down and hit the grass.
The announcer adjusted his glasses, not believing his eyes. He then quickly recovered from his shock and spoke into his microphone. "Daichi-sensei is unable to continue! Ranma-sensei wins the round!"
The crowd roared at the announcement as the paramedics lifted Daichi from the ground. Ranma smiled at his short-lived victory, knowing that he still had one more person to fight against. The referee walked up to Ranma and asked him to leave the ring for now, as they had to do some major cleanup before the last match. Ranma complied and ran towards Akane, who hugged him as soon as he was within reach.
"Ranma! Are you alright?"
Ranma nodded, returning her embrace. He looked over her shoulder and saw his students, their mouths still wide open after seeing the damage Ranma had not only received but inflicted as well. "Ranma-sensei! When are you gonna teach us how to do that?"
Ranma chuckled at the eyes of admiration his students were giving him, even Satoru. "How about when you are old enough to drive?"
"You're on!"
Ranma pulled away from Akane and she led him to sit with her at the bench on the sidelines. He looked down at her leg and saw she had a rag wrapped around her thigh. "Are you OK?"
Akane nodded, smiling at him even though the pain in her leg was bad. "I'll be all right. How about you? That bitch screwed you up. Next time I see her, I'm gonna make sure she regrets that."
Ranma smiled at his fiancée's jealous and overprotective side. Even if she complained about this, hers was not any better than what he had shown so far. Their conversation was interrupted when Akane's cell phone rang. She reached over to grab it, and flipped it open.
"Doctor Tofu?"
"Yes Akane, it's me. Is Ranma with you?"
"Yes, he is. Want to talk to him?"
"No. Is he still feeling pain?"
Akane looked up and slapped Ranma on the face, making him cry in pain.
0"Oi, Akane! What the fuck was that for?"
Akane frowned and returned to her conversation on the phone. "Yes, he is. Can you help him?"
"Security won't let me come down there, but I can tell you what to press to reverse the effects of the technique."
"That will have to do," she said as she paid attention to Ono's instructions. Ranma saw her nod a few times and ask for clarification. Once she was done, she thanked Tofu and flipped the phone closed.
"What was that about?"
"Tofu just told me how to reverse the trick Hitomi used on you…"
"OK, well…then use it!"
"Uh, Ranma I don't know if I should."
"Why not? I can't take on a third guy like I did Daichi. They already saw me using the Hiryu Shoten Ha. That trick ain't gonna work on them again."
"Ranma, if…if I miss a pressure point by an inch…you…well, you won't like what it does to you."
"What?"
"Doctor Tofu said that the pressure points I'm about to use are close to other pressure points for another technique."
"If you miss, what would they do?"
Akane blushed and looked behind her, making sure the students were out of hearing range. She leaned closer to Ranma and whispered in his ear. Ranma matched her blush before looking at his crotch.
"How long?"
"Three days."
Ranma sighed. Did he really want to risk carrying a tent in his pants for three days while trying to get his pain endurance back? "Yes, I do."
"Ranma?"
"Just, do it, Akane."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Hurry up; they're about to finish cleaning up."
"OK," she said as she practiced the finger movement on the air without touching him yet. After she practiced it three times, she readied herself to actually do it. Ranma closed his eyes and felt the points being touched. When he opened his eyes, his eyes went immediately to his crotch. When nothing happened for a few seconds, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Akane looked up to him before she spoke. "Do you think it worked?"
Ranma shrugged and was about to stand up when Akane punched him in the face as hard as she could. Ranma did not flinch or move, but raised an eyebrow at her. "Was that really necessary?"
"It didn't hurt?"
"No."
"YES! IT WORKED!"
Akane threw herself at him and kissed him, making their students turn around and whistle as their eyes caught something of interest on the walls. Once she pulled back from him, she grabbed onto his sleeves. "Ranma, I just want you to know that I lo-"
He silenced her by pressing his index finger to her lips. He knew what she about to say, but after thinking about it, he wanted to be the first one to say it. "I know."
He kissed her forehead one last time before his name was called again by the announcer. Ranma waved to his students as he climbed over the ring again, and stood in the middle of the arena.
"Ladies and gentleman! Now that we've ended this short break, help me welcome the last opponent of the night. Join your hands for Master-in-Training of the Ascending Dragon School: Satoshi Nakajima!"
"Da fuck?"
Satoshi, the Satoshi, walked up to the ring and stood a few feet away from Ranma. Satoshi's smile was as smug as his attitude as he waved to the crowd. He eyed Akane for a second before finally resting his eyes on Ranma. Ranma's fists clenched in anticipation. He had waited long enough to have an opportunity to beat the shit out of him, and now he was going to have his chance.
"Saotome, fancy seeing you here."
"I could same the same to you. I never thought you would voluntarily walk to your grave."
"My grave? Oh! You mean to say you think you have a chance against me?"
Ranma scoffed. "Are you kidding? After beating the shit out of your mom and dad, how hard can you be?"
"You'd be surprised."
Satoshi stared at Akane again, making Ranma feel jealous. Satoshi noticed and chuckled.
"Don't worry, Saotome. She made it perfectly clear she didn't want anything to do with me. However, your ex-fiancée is happy to be by my side."
"Ex-fiancée?" Ranma frowned in confusion until an earlier conversation he had had popped in his mind.
"You're right! I wanted to warn you about the Master of the dojo that will represent the NRD."
"What about him?"
"He…well…the NRD doesn't expect anyone to win this tournament. They have strictly ordered the NRD Dojo Master rep to crush whoever wins the tournament. Knowing you, I know you will win, but I thought you should know they won't make it easy on you."
"I never expected them to. How do you know, anyway?"
"People talk when they eat."
Ranma glared at Satoshi, the later knowing Ranma had figured it out.
"Ukyo? You're engaged to Ukyo? How did that happen?"
"Same as you and Akane; arranged marriage. Highly uncommon these days, uh?"
"And she accepted?"
"She didn't have a choice, just as Akane didn't. Otherwise, she would have not settled with someone like you."
Ranma clenched his jaw. He seemed to be doing that a lot these days.
"Are you done with your ranting party? Akane and I have a certification to win. We'd love it if you would, y'know, fuck off and die?"
Satoshi frowned, not at all amused by Ranma's insults. Their banter was interrupted by the call of the referee, making sure they were ready to fight. When both men nodded, the announcer proclaimed the beginning of the fight.
Ranma wasted no time and held Satoshi by his neck, pressing as hard as he could. Satoshi tried to kick and scratch Ranma, but Ranma did not flinch. Satoshi's struggle made Ranma's grip tightened. He then called on the fire technique, and turned Satoshi into a human torch.
As Satoshi screamed, Ranma called upon the electricity technique and shocked his muscles. He then converted him into a cube of ice and dropped him on the ground. The crowd went silent at witnessing such aggression from Ranma, but he did no care. "Anything goes, they said."
Ranma watched the cube remain there, unmoving, until it began shattering. Ranma was shocked to see Satoshi emerge from the cube by using the fire technique and melting the ice. He then stood up, a grin on his face.
"Did you really think those nature techniques would work on me? I've been using them longer than you even knew about them."
"What?"
Satoshi, now upright, called on a cube of ice in his right hand, and a small wave of water in his other hand. He lifted his hands so that they were above his head, and merged the two techniques, causing the water to be cold as it fell on his head.
Ranma watched in awe as Satoshi's body changed. His fingernails grew until they turned into claws. His canine teeth enlarged into fangs, and his gi tore on his back to give way to wings.
"What the hell?"
Ranma was speechless as he saw the transformation completed. Satoshi stood there, a grin on his face. He had turned himself into something Ranma thought he would never see again.
"How do you like my curse? I picked it up in a place called Jusenkyo, 8 years ago. Ukyo tells me you're familiar with it?"
"You…you're a Phoenix?"
Satoshi laughed. "Of course not, you fool! I just fell into one of their springs. Based on the other curses available, I'd say I got a good deal, uh?"
Ranma shook his head, recovering from his initial shock. This was what Ukyo had been trying to warn him about. This was the reason why Satoshi was the last contender, instead of his dad. He recalled the story Akane had told him about her fight. If Satoshi had been training with his Phoenix curse for that long, he knew the fight would not be an easy one.
"But I still have a chance. I killed their Lord. I can defeat a fake Phoenix."
Ranma took a step back as Satoshi used his wings to fly. Once he was in the air, he began sending attacks down at Ranma. Ranma ran around the ring, jumping and rolling around to avoid being hit. He had no idea what other tricks Satoshi had up his sleeve, so he would avoid any attack he could.
Ranma would respond to his attacks in between by throwing ki attacks of his own towards Satoshi. He was aiming towards his wings, to force him to come down. When his attempts proved unsuccessful, he decided to change strategies.
"If the winged freak doesn't come to me, I will go to the winged freak."
Ranma concentrated his energy, particularly the wind technique, until he began levitating in the air. Satoshi narrowed his eyes at him, unhappy of the control Ranma had on the nature techniques.
"You haven't been wasting time learning the techniques, have you?"
Ranma shook his head. "In between studying, teaching, and hanging around with Akane, I have a few minutes to spare during the day."
Satoshi growled, angry at the mention of Akane. He was engaged to Ukyo, and he would definitely marry her as he had been appointed to do, but he did not love her. He wanted Akane, and when he found out that Ranma was engaged to her, he made it his personal vendetta to break them apart.
"If I can't be with her, neither will you."
Satoshi looked at Akane and saw she was gone. His quick distraction allowed Ranma to jump at him and turned him around to tear the wings off his back. Satoshi cried in pain as he fell to the ground. Ranma, still being in the air, invoked a Shi Shi Hokodan and showered Satoshi with it, putting all the energy he could on it. Once the explosion disappeared, Ranma saw Satoshi shaking on the ground. He moved to his side and sat on all fours. As he did so, his wings began re-growing until they were back to normal.
"Dammit."
"No wonder Akane was not surprised at Shigeru's attack. She'd already seen it," Satoshi said in between coughs.
He finally stood up and walked out of the crater Ranma had made with his attack. Ranma saw Satoshi regain his bearings and he began flying towards him again. Ranma and Satoshi began a series of kicks and punches, trying to find an opening in the other's defenses. Ranma found one and hit Satoshi, forcing him to fall down again. As he did, Satoshi extended his arm and from his hand, a sharp piece of metal appeared, piercing Ranma's shoulder before retracting the metal piece back to Satoshi's hand.
Ranma lost concentration of the wind technique and fell to the battle arena, holding his shoulder with his hand. "What the hell did he just do to me?"
Satoshi got up again and walked to Ranma, pressing him down on the floor with his foot on his chest.
"Did you really think there are only a handful of nature techniques? Mother Nature is so very generous; giving us all the elements we need, and want. Did you think metals could not be called upon?"
Ranma felt Satoshi stand completely over him, and using one of his feet, he began pressing on his wound. Ranma screamed in pain as he felt the heel of Satoshi's boot pinch on his already injured shoulder blade.
Ranma used his free hand to hold onto Satoshi's leg, tightening his grip when Satoshi tried to set himself free. Ranma held him in place as he invoked water and fire, and showered Satoshi with the hot liquid, turning him back into his human form. Satoshi tried to call on the cold water again, but Ranma kicked him away from it and quickly pinned him down.
"Go ahead, beat me! Do you think that means you've really won? Akane will soon realize that you're a good for nothing, and she will leave you for a real man."
"Shut up!"
Satoshi did not struggle to set himself free, but continued his verbal assault on Ranma.
"Does the truth hurt? How long do you think it will take before college life shows her there are other men out there? How long until she decides to leave you for one of them?"
"She won't! She won't leave me! Stop talking or I'll slit your throat!"
Satoshi laughed. "Why don't you? You have the chance," he said as he opened his arms and arched his throat, exposing it to Ranma. Ranma struggled with his desire to kill the guy and the reality of not having a valid reason to do so. When Satoshi saw Ranma was not going to further injure him, he screamed a chant.
"Itai Danketsu Sa Seru."
Ranma's eyes opened wide, knowing he had heard that technique before. He pushed himself up from Satoshi as Ranma kicked the fallen man, hard. Ranma felt someone kicked him as well and he took a few steps back. He looked around, expecting to see Satoshi up and about, but he remained on the ground.
"Who hit me?"
"Yourself," Satoshi said as he stood up. "Posing as a Phoenix has its advantages. They're always willing to teach a trick or two."
Ranma was then hit with the realization of what Satoshi had done to him. He had used on him the same technique Akane had used on Saffron to share pain. Now, if he hit Satoshi with all his strength, he would have it sent right back to him. Satoshi would receive the injury, but so would Ranma.
"Fuck. Now what?"
All he could do now was putting all of his energy into one final technique and hope that he would stand long enough to survive the attack.
"So? Are you done, Saotome?"
"You wish."
Ranma jumped to Satoshi and tackled him down. Satoshi flipped them over so that Satoshi was on top, he punched Ranma, taking advantage that he would not feel the pain Ranma was surely feeling. Ranma, on the other hand, tried to avoid whatever hit he could as he concentrated on his final act.
He was finally able to release one of his hands from Satoshi's grip and pressed his hand on the floor as he screamed.
"Bakusaintenketsu Kyokutan'na"
Satoshi smiled, hearing only the first half of the name of the technique. "Do you really think that silly mining technique is going to hurt me?"
Ranma did not respond as the ground beneath them began shaking. Ranma kept Satoshi close to him as the ground in the middle of the arena began crumbling down. It seemed the ground below them was hollow, and Ranma knew exactly what was underneath. The ground gave way to show a natural well-like hole. Ranma flipped Satoshi around so that he was falling down through the narrow hole that was forming in the ground. They free fell in circles several feet until Satoshi began feeling waves of heat around them. He looked down and saw a river of lava awaited them below. He looked up at Ranma who was smiling at him.
"Are you fucking crazy?! You'll get us both killed!"
"Oh well," was Ranma's response.
Satoshi struggled to try to break free from Ranma, but he had a tight grip on him. He knew Ranma was insane, but he never thought he was suicidal. As they continued their circling motion, Ranma called on the soul of ice, and fueled his technique with the heat below them. At the last possible minute, Ranma called on a special Hiryu Shoten Ha, which sent them both flying away from the lava beneath them. Ranma saw as Satoshi's body was beaten to a pulp by the technique, and felt every hit Satoshi received.
He ignored the pain as much as he could as he aimed down and used the ice technique to seal the hole to prevent the lava from oozing out. The crowd saw as a similar technique that had defeated Daichi appeared in front of them, but this time Ranma was caught in the middle of the tornado, receiving the same hits Satoshi was.
Ranma closed his eyes as they both fell to the ground, analyzing his desperate technique. He knew that repeating the spiraling technique he used on Daichi would not have worked on Satoshi, because he would not repeat the motion knowing what was coming. He needed to make Satoshi angry and desperate enough to release his anger, but in order to gather enough energy he needed all the heat he could conjure. He remembered from his recent geography class that a small river of lava coursed under the grounds of these parts, as they were fed by the pits of Mount Fuji, which was close by.
He used the heat from the molten rock to clash with his soul of ice to create a special type of Hiryu Shoten Ha, allowing him to injury Satoshi enough that he knew he would not be able to walk for months. The spiral was formed by their circling fall, creating a horizontal spiral as they fell. The other side of using this special technique was that Ranma could feel the same pain Satoshi could, so he was going to be beat up as well.
Ranma felt the pain suddenly stop. He opened his eyes and felt a weight on his body. He looked down and saw Satoshi's body on his. Thankfully, for Ranma, Satoshi had passed out before Ranma had, making the link between their bodies to be broken, allowing Satoshi to feel the full force of the attack and Ranma to receive only part.
Ranma sat up and rolled Satoshi to his side. He was as unconscious as his father was. Ranma fell on his back again, exhausted from the fight.
"I did it! We did it! Akane, we won!"
Everything after the fight happened too fast.
He saw the paramedics taking Satoshi away from him, and he heard the announcer declaring the School of Anything Goes martial arts as the winner of the ART. He heard the crowd cheering for him, and fireworks being released into the sky. After catching his breath, he was finally able to stand up. He looked around himself, searching for Akane's face in the crowd that had now ran down the stairs to the field. People cheered and clapped, chanting Ranma's name. Members of other schools watched in awe, quickly learning that the tiny School of Anything Goes martial arts was a force to be reckoned with. Some of the opposing trainers and Masters walked up to Ranma to shake hands, telling him how well he had done. From the corner of his eye, Ranma saw Ukyo approach the beat up Satoshi and kissing him on the lips.
"Guess Satoshi was not kidding. Ukyo is his fiancée."
While he had no love interest in Ukyo, he was still upset that she had hidden that important part of her life from him. Though, now, her warnings about watching over the Master of the Ascending Dragon school made sense. "Of course she knew I would fight Satoshi. That's why she sent me that invitation. She wanted me to be here."
He made a mental note to talk to Ukyo after the tournament chaos ended. For now, all he wanted to do was find Akane, and celebrate their victory, together. He saw reporters approaching him, and he waved at them, but did not say much. He saw Genma, Nabiki and Soun standing at one of the hall entrances of the stadium. Nabiki was waiving at him to come to them. Genma and Soun's backs were facing him, as they looked towards the entrance of one of the locker rooms under the stands.
Ranma quickened his pace, ignoring the questions from the media and cheering fans behind him. He reached Nabiki and saw a face that he never thought he would see on her: utter fear.
"What's going on?" he asked, fearing the worst.
"Ranma, I'm about to tell you something important, and I need you to remain calm until I'm done. OK?"
Ranma nodded, staring deeply into her eyes.
"Something's wrong with Akane…"
"I know…she's sick, she told me."
Nabiki shook her head. "No, Ranma. Something's happened to her while you were fighting. She passed out inside the locker room."
"What?" Ranma asked as he tried to go around Nabiki to run inside the locker room. Nabiki moved aside and stood in front of him. "Ranma, listen to me. Tofu, Kasumi and your mom are already inside with her. They're helping her. But, we need you to calm down, OK? Let them help her."
Ranma looked over Nabiki's shoulder only to hear the scream of his mom.
"NO! ONO, DO SOMETHING!"
Nabiki, hearing the scream, turned around and joined Soun and Genma as they all stared at the paramedics arriving at the scene. The sound of the sirens and Nodoka's screams made the crowd grow silent. They all parted ways to let the two EMS members run inside the locker room.
"Akane…"
He began pushing his way through the crowd, but Genma, Nabiki and Soun intercepted him, pushing him back.
"No, Ranma. Let them do their work. This is beyond what you or we can do for her."
"But…Akane! Akane, can you hear me?"
Before his eyes, the paramedics came out of the locker room, carrying a gurney with Akane lying on it. He saw Tofu and Kasumi speaking with the other members of the emergency services, and Nodoka standing at the entrance of the lockers, with tears in her eyes as she held onto Akane's hands, begging for forgiveness.
"I'm so sorry, Akane! I'm sorry about what I said to you!"
Ranma continued to struggle to reach Akane, but the energy spent on the fights and his fear at seeing Akane being taken away to the ambulance was wearing on him. He watched as Tofu's and Kasumi's conversation was stopped when the paramedics began screaming at each other.
"She's seizing! Get her on her side!"
Akane began convulsing, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. She then began foaming from her mouth, shaking violently as she did. Ranma heard Nodoka screaming again, asking what was wrong with her. The EMS responded by hurriedly carrying her into the ambulance.
"Ono, only one of us can go with her. It should be you. I'll stay behind and let the others know what happened," Kasumi told her husband.
Tofu nodded as he started his way to the ambulance.
"Where are you taking her?" the doctor asked the driver of the ambulance.
"Nerima Hospital. It's closer than Shinjuku Memorial."
Ono relayed the information to his wife before jumping inside the ambulance that had Akane, and taking off. Nodoka rejoined her husband, and Kasumi made her way to the family as well. Ranma had stopped fighting, his eyes lost as he stared at the back of the ambulance that had taken his fiancée away. He could hear the murmurs of the crowd and see the flashes of cameras as they tried to snatch images of the events unfolding in front of them.
Ranma's anger finally made him break free of their grips, letting it all out. Just then, he felt something hit him in his neck, and the last thing he saw was his mother, pleading him to stop.
A/N: Last chapter and epilogue are all that are left. Stay tuned!