(Curtains open with a flourish)
(A silver streak is seen entering at breakneck speed, which is revealed to be Silver)
(A flash of black lightning strikes the floor unexpectedly, causing debris to fly about, but amazingly, nothing burned)
After a minute
(The debris cloud clears to reveal Ran, scowling in displeasure)
Ranryuu: (growls) Make this short Silver, I have other things to do than watch you stall today.
Silver: (Grumbles) Spoilsport.
Ranryuu:I Heard That… (glows black, making the shadows around him look deeper and more sinister)
Silver: (shudders) Anyway, this piece of fanfiction is the only thing belonging to the author. Anything else, like the characters, belong to their respective owners. Happy now?
(Ranryuu has left the stage)
Silver: HEY! Don't leave me alone here too!
Silver: Before I leave, the management would like to thank TJ Rice for being our first and only reviewer. (Bows)
(Silver runs at breakneck speed as he leaves the stage)
(Curtains close)
(Curtains are set on fire by the friction of Silver's speed, and then they fry)
(Ashes fall to the ground, and then disintegrate)
(Janitor enters the stage)
Janitor: (Sighs) My work is never done… (Mutters) I should ask for a pay raise, this shoddy place ain't worth the effort…
(Scene fades out)
Serpent Ascendant: Conflicting Shadows
Chapter 1
The Beginning of a Dark Fate
A Ranma ½ Fanfic
Ryugenzawa
Ranma was running for his life, a cold sensation coursing through his veins. Sweat dripped from every pore, his eyes dart left and right, searching the every shadow for an invisible assailant, his breath quickening with each minute that passed.
Behind him, a shadow with eight heads lunged after him. It roars in lust for his blood, and his soul. Vicious slitted eyes watched with amusement as its prey ran away, confident that it'll catch him in the end, if they don't.
As we pan away from the scene, all around Ranma and the huge shadow are many other shadows, shouting out curses and jeers, giving rude gestures, and flat out disrespecting him, just outside Ranma's line of sight. Unlike the huge shadow, they had bright red eyes, and those who were shouting revealed that they ink-black razor-sharp teeth within a reddish void. Otherwise, they were humanlike beasts with intelligence.
Ranma had tried to fight them, but every time he tried, he couldn't use his ki, and his fists were utterly useless against a bunch of pseudo-shadow phantoms. He could even swear that the big one enjoyed being hit physical attacks, as if it was goading to do something with it. It seemed to know that it would never be hit, or be harmed here
"Look at him, the coward doesn't even put up a fight! He is just weak." Crowed a deep male baritone.
'Oh no, they're starting again…, why can't I make those sicko temes stop this, this is supposed to be my mind!' He despaired.
"Kukukuku, how worthless, he is not even worth being fertilizer, cowards like these should be executed" Laughed another.
"I wonder why they all chase after him, after all he is just a perverted Casanova." Sniffed an annoyed female voice.
"You're Useless, you teme!" roared an enraged male voice, deeper than the first.
"Come here you ungrateful waste of space!!" said a particularly unsavory shadow. He/she/it gave him the finger and slapped his/her/its butt at Ranma.
"Breeding stock!!" rasped another.
"Cash cow and playtoy!" sneered a haughty female voice.
"Sex-changing freak!!!!" Spat the first female voice.
"You're an unworthy, unmanly son" stated a cool female voice.
"Weak Fem-boy!" shouted a shadow with a bull-like voice.
"Killer!" cried a child-like shadow.
"Impudent mortal!" roared an imperial voice in fury.
"Thief!" said a high-pitched, murderous female voice.
"Scoundrel!" shouted a pissed male voice.
"You are our SLAVE!" rasped an aged female voice, oddly sounding like an evil witch.
After that taunt, Ranma started to sweat, knowing what would happen next. He then tried to run faster, but he had to stop after a while, having lost a lot of energy running, not to mention that the emotional pain from hearing those taunts, especially with them using their voices. Of course, it also helps that there was a ravine right in front of where he stopped.
When he stopped, ebony chains shot up and wrapped around the body of the pig-tailed teen, crawling all over his body until it had securely wrapped around his limbs, holding him for what was about to come.
The shadows coalesced around him, morphing their bodies in to a twisted parody of the noble tiger, the regal lion, the lightning-fast cheetah, the vicious leopard, and the murderous jaguar. They have turned his greatest weapon against him, albeit a double-edged one. This, however, is a common occurrence here, this happens every time he went here.
And so, they were upon him like a pack of starved animals, tearing at his flesh, clawing at his insides, and feasting on his organs. This reminded him all to well of the neko-ken, and his b$+&D of a father.
'I wish they would stop reminding me of this, the horror is too much, too much…'
Flashback
In a wildlife preserve somewhere deep in Asia
Genma was finishing the last touches on the tigers he caught in the preserve, which was putting a hole on top of the den where he put five Bengal tigers after he knocked them out using stealth tactics and the usage of the forbidden techniques. He closed the main entrance to the cave to make sure that they could not escape the cave/tiger den.
The pony tailed child gasped and moaned in pain. He was bleeding from many gashes and puncture wounds, either from the cats, the barbed wire, or the shards of bone and metal that had littered the pit. If that wasn't bad enough, he still had bruises from the beating that his Papa gave him after he found out that he still hadn't learned the neko-ken.
"Damn it you ungrateful boy, stop acting like a weak girl and learn the neko-ken already! I will not let you disgrace my reputation as a martial arts master!" He spat.
'Not to mention that you are my ticket to retirement, hopefully this new idea of adding rabid tigers in there would work, as the manual had suggested to use bigger and stronger cats for the trainee to become much more powerful as opposed to using the house cats.' He thought.
"So get back there and learn it, weakling, and become strong, or else!" He roared.
"B-b-b-bb-ut p-pp-aa-a-p-p-ppp-a-a –" –SMACK- was heard as he was hit by a meaty hand.
"No complaints boy! As punishment for this disobedience I will double your endurance training, and I will quadruple it if you complain again, understand?!" The last word was emphasized with a punch to the already bleeding and broken boy.
"Yes papa." Afraid of his father's wrath, he gave in to his demands.
Ranma is now tied up in barbed wire, further aggravating his already horrible-looking wounds. This time, Genma put fish slabs of raw jackal meat and raw wolf meat (1), after the fat man smeared the child in the meats' blood, making him more alluring to the tigers. A feather would have caused the pony tailed kid as much pain as a full-scale beating from Genma when he was drunk, which meant that the drunken moron never pulled his punches against him (2).
The bald tortu- martial artist then threw Ranma into the tiger den, causing him to impact the pointy rock shards littered around the cave. Those made him scream like a man whose nuts had been stabbed, having it lose the skin surrounding it by flaying it, then crushing it under a 100-tonne weight. As you can tell from the descriptions, it sounded like the wail of the truly and utterly damned beyond salvation, but the teme paid it no heed, him currently dreaming about a life of luxury, and forgetting Ranma's plight.
Inside the pit
The starved tigers circled their prey, their hunger-craze halted by only their very nature to observe their prey in order to find out the best way to take it down. Their gold, blue, and green slitted eyes twinkled at having a delicious meal presented to them by the rude furless ape. Their gaping jaws, filled with sharp, unclean teeth, water at the scent of fresh blood from a newly-made kill. After a few moments, the temptation was too much for these noble predators, and they gave to their desire and started to tear at the meat.
'Why o why do I have to learn this papa, why, why, why, WHY?!' he thought, although the last 'why' ended up as a barely audible whisper
'Does papa hate me? Why would he do this to me, his kid? Is it even for my sake anymore? Is it only for himself?' At that last thought, he shed a single tear.
His face then hardened with resolve, or was that denial? 'He would never think of me that way, he is my papa, he would never do that!' with that, he started to endure the horrible, mind-numbing pain.
After a while, he was bleeding a lot worse, making him look anemic, which he may not be that far off. The rest of his body was well on its way in shutting down, the tigers' tongues licking the blood of him while their claws slashed at his skin and their fangs pierced his flesh, leaving puncture holes behind with a load of his precious red liquid seeping away at said holes.
The cats were still hungry, in fact the kid thought that they were even hungrier than before, but that was impossible, right?
Unknown to the boy however, Fatso decided to put a special herb on the meat, making anyone who ingests the herb with poison or an enhancer would get even hungrier. That's why he dipped the meat in an enhancer he stole from those strange cultists who wielded that blackish-blue fire, and then he mixed t with the blood. The scroll that he conveniently stole along with the enhancer said that mixing it with the blood of an animal would enhance its effects .
What he did not know though, is that the herb enhances poison, not make somebody stronger, which was why Happosai never, ever used that herb he stole from the Amazons. The ancient pervert only found that out after he listened in on some of the warrior women discussing about the foolishness of the legendary panty thief because he thought that plant would increase his power when it would only accelerate his aging by a hundred years if drank alone and it is only used by the dragon of old. The legend stated though that even these great beasts were wary of the plant touching blood or poison because either or both of the substances would cause it to become extremely lethal to all living things. It is to our deepest regret that Genma did not know of this; otherwise he would not have used it on his meal ticket, errr… son.
Unfortunately for Ranma, the enhanced poison wasn't going to stop until he died though, so his weak struggles were ultimately useless.
The poor boy now looked like bread nibbled at by rats. Whole chunks of his flesh were missing from his body as the tigers stripped his flesh along with the meat covering his body. He started to reek of blood and death, but in a bad way for himself, as he was extremely lucky, or unlucky in his case, to be still conscious at all and bearing with the pain, barely that is.
'Is papa ever –wince- going to –ite! - Save –iTE! - me?' the boy wondered after a while, his thoughts frequently interrupted by the pain.
The poor protagonist could barely feel anything aside from pain, the yowls and angry growls seemed so far away, but the piercing of their fangs into his already soft and tender flesh, the tearing of their dirt-ridden claws shocking his fragile, young mind into dried up, non-existent tears. His tears have long dried up, in a vain hope that his papa would be proud of him not crying through this abominable training, but mostly because he had used it all up, however that is what he told himself.
'Does –Owwie!- papa sti-ITE!-ll care? Does –MOMMY!- he still –Yeouch!- love me? Or does –OH the PAIN- he ha –ow- te me? He –dry sob- does hate m –the pain- e doesn't he, doesn't he, DOESN'T HE?!Why'd you betray me papa, why!? Why, why, why, why why?! I HATE YOU PAPA, YOU LIAR, YOU LIED TO ME! I thought you loved me…' he seethed and despaired in his own mind.
He suddenly felt something liquid slide down from his face to the insides of his mouth, which tasted very sour, yet with a certain taste to it that he craved. 'Blood, fresh blood.' He realized, but from where? He then realized that he just didn't care about it anymore, the overflowing depression and hatred overwhelmed his senses, he felt like he was in a cold darkness, and the same time on fire, and along with his injuries I hurt, it hurt so much that he wanted the bliss of unconsciousness to take him, or even for death to embrace him to stop the cruel, cruel, pain.
His hatred swelled once more, reaching a crescendo, making something inside of him snap. He felt something start to burn wild in his blood, making the little boy feel powerful and comforted, as well as the most likely feeling of being burned alive and terrified beyond belief. He wanted to reach out this glorious feeling, to relish the power that burned within him, but the pain from the conflicting was too much for him to handle, so he fell unconscious before he could do so. Right before he fell unconscious though, he saw a bluish-black light and a white light fight each other for dominance inside his mind, and as they hit the climax, they flashed.
End flashback
The memory flashed over and over again, wounds appearing on the sides of his body, not an inch of calloused flesh spared from the onslaught of both the phantom memories and the horrid shadows that have turned themselves into something of the feline persuasion. The wounds bled horribly, like all of his wounds were from cut arteries, spurting like a geyser with each strike, the smell, and taste, of blood. It absolutely overwhelmed his slightly enhanced senses. The blood then fell to the ground, where it melded with the shadows, turning the blood a bluish-black ichor-like substance which seeped back into his body, acting like a corrosive acid eating through whatever wasn't damaged.
The huge shadow, which had yet to join its brethren, remained impassive as the pigtailed bag of flesh was screaming his tortured soul out. When it saw the seeping ichor, it snapped at Ranma, Its fangs a beautiful ivory to contrast the ebony color of its body, its reddish-gold eyes hungry for the bloodied flesh. The other shadows hissed at him, angry that they had disrupted their meal. Most of them abandoned the boy in favor of the intruder, after all, the tasty morsel can't run anymore, he could barely move. The huge shadow just batted them away with a pulse of power, pure, unadulterated power. That swatted the shadows away and made some of them dissolve into nothing. Paying no attention to the peons swatted away and/or destroyed, he lunged again at the pigtailed teen.
Ranma looked at the shadow in unhindered fear, unbridled anger and, a shimmer of hope…? The emotions grew in turmoil as they grew wilder and wilder, spiraling out of control as the shadow beast's fangs sank into his flesh and….
Nerima-ku, Tendo-ke, guestroom, December 24, 1996
Ranma shot up from the bed, pale and sweaty. He, yes he was still a he, no pond-dunking by the overweight lazy butt of a panda, or a dousing by Akane, the very thought made him smile in satisfaction, even if it as a small and tired one, was shaking from the dream which had started since he got dunked in Jusenkyo. It had stopped though when he was a day away from Nerima, but it had started up again after the Orochi incident, much more vivid than before.
'This is the first time though, that the big one actually bit me. It never did that before, but the dream used to never reach that far until today either.' He shivered at the memory of the dream, then frowned in thought, an act that many of acquaintances would have been shocked to find on his face that as not about a martial arts related or fiancé disaster related.
'But why man, why now? Why would the dream just reveal itself in full and get it over already. I mean, is this a prophetical dream or sumthin'? I ain't a seer or anythin' like that, so it couldn't be. It was too unrealistic to be real anyway.' He sighs, 'I really should be focusing on other things, maybe it'd clear my mind, plus I get to improve my techniques and practice the art. Maybe Aka- no Saotome, don't even go there, after all, it's not like she wants to, so better not force her, I dun' wanna force her to join me anyway, the training is supposed to be in secret….' He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and went out of the room.
Tendo-ke, hallway
No light was shining through the windows, making it about 4am to 5am. But then again, during this time of year, the sun doesn't come up until at least 6:30 anyway, so Ranma wasn't worried about another attack from a gigantic being/fleet.
'Hmmm, now to sneak into the park to get some training in before anyone wakes up, after all, it'd be bad if somebody saw what I was practicin', and try ta copy it, like the geezer-perv.' He scowled at the thought.
So he went back into the guestroom and got some clothes, 'Whoops, forgot about that…' and went snuck outside and went to his secret training ground.
Nerima-ku, Forest
After roofhopping for a while using a modified full body version of the Amaguriken called the Tora Sattou (3), he finally came to the clearing in the forest at the edge of the park, which was his private training spot.
The started with a few warm-up stretches, then started to do a few basic katas. After that, he started to them again in the Tora Sattou, becoming little more than a red and black blur to experienced masters, like Cologne, although Happosai could still see a little more substance as his style mostly revolved around speed. To ordinary passerby though, it was as though Ranma literally vanished from their sight.
After a few minutes, he stopped, lightly panting and sweating as his muscles burned from the exercise. He smirked, satisfied with that, and thinking that it was a good thing that he just did basic ones, because he still stumbled on the advance ones while using Tora Sattou, and his endurance was almost not to par with Ryoga's, so he could only use this move for short bursts. He had been improving in that regard though, since he was wearing weights sewn into his clothing by his… mother.
The thought of his mother made him smile, although it was strained and a tired one; he didn't wanna become a pimp or a manwhore, or even a pervert, that reminded him too much of what might happen to him if he took that route. But really, her ideas of manliness crept him out, as they seemed to be warping over time. Maybe it was the panda's influence, or maybe even the uber old perv- no, that thought was way too disturbing, so he shook his head and went to his next training exercise.
He then strapped weights on his arms and put on gloves with ki making it weigh heavier than the ones on his forearms and started with 100 punches per second courtesy of the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, doing it for 5 minutes straight before stopping. Afterwards, he started to concentrate on the soul of ice and focused it to his fist.
"Tsumetai Shikon!(4)" He roared as he punched a dummy filled with steel grains that had been set up, courtesy of Ryoga.
You see, after he went steady with Akari, which Ranma had a hand with, he made friends with Ranma, Akari coaxing the anger out of him, and soothing his heart of the loneliness that made him clutch onto his grudge, and after on, his infatuation with Akane as a lifeline.
As his glowing, pale blue, gloved fist punched the dummy, ice started to spread around the dummy, which became even thicker as he continued punching, faster and faster until he was almost at Amaguriken speed. The frozen fists then started to slow down until he ended it with a shout of "Nibai Tsumetainami!!(5)" Slamming his fists onto the ground, the ice extended from his fists into twin trails of spikes that traveled on the ground to the trees in front of him, which took the brunt of the attack as it got frozen, then shattered into pieces by the spikes. The dummy was now a foot-thick block of ice that contrasted beautifully with the few remaining stars and the light-violet sky.
He fell on his butt, and he lay on his back, panting with a satisfied smirk on his face. After all, who knew that the battle with the Orochi had been so useful, although when he met it, he couldn't help but feel like thinking that the form in which the eight-headed serpent he fought with was nothing but a mockery to the thing's true form. He shook his head of the thought and stood up, staring to warm up for the next exercise.
He then started to do intricate kata after kata, his movements flowing like water as he moved and sparred against his shadow on the ground and on the air, like a chaotic deluge of air violently whipping around the plains of Europe that Ranma had once visited during the training journey.
On and on he went with his dance of war, losing himself in the grace of his movements, like waves in the sea. He closed his eyes to fully enjoy the feeling of euphoria that the Art gave him, the feeling of pure satisfaction. The pigtailed boy then starts to slow down and stop, sweat drenching his clothes and his flesh in salty liquid. He is panting heavily, his legs shaky, and more than a little weak. After standing for a bit, he decided to end the training session with some meditation that he'd learned behind his old man's back. That guy kept raving about meditation being for sissies, but the masters he'd visited, like those monks in Tibet, or those weird warriors he trained with, when he got lost in Norway when he was seven years old. It was too bad that he was found by Genma just as he completed the grandmaster's training a full year after he found them. He never used those techniques again, because he swore that he would never show it to an outsider, unless they proved themselves worthy, unlike the chubby panda-man.
At his 19th birthday, when he became an adult in the previous grandmaster and the elders' eyes, he would claim the title of grandmaster from his sensei, wherever he may be, as he already had the ceremony the week before he has kidna- taken by his fat, greedy, fool of a father. Ranma still practiced those move in secret, not even his newly-appointed best friend Ryoga knew about those moves, but the pig-boy has moves that the aqua transsexual didn't know about either, though either refused to admit it out loud. Moves like the Guddommelig Feilslutning(6), the Selvmord Vanvidd (7), the Forrykt Ulv Hyl (8), and the Níðhöggr Vindkast (9).
He sighed, and then scowled as he felt something at the edge of his senses. It felt very dangerous and the feel of it made him itch for a fight. He looked to the untouched part of the trees in this part of the park and saw a blur charging right at him. He jumped out of the way just as the fist was about to hit punch him. The mysterious blur then, in a show of great skill, tucked his or her body into a ball and spun until he was facing the opposite direction and extended his body and flipped backwards to land perfectly on the ground.
The stranger, now revealed in the light of a beginning dawn, was a towering and very imposing figure. He had purple hair down to mid-shoulder, and an angular, slightly bishouhen face. He looked to be in his early to mid thirties, and was around 6'5 and wore custom-made armor, complete with cape, and he excluded pure power. From what he could see of his body not covered by the armor, the purple-haired man was built like a bodybuilder, but his movements have shown that he has the grace of a master martial artist, or of a bloodied warrior.
The wild horse then narrowed his eyes and asked, "Why'd you attack me for?!?"
A few minutes earlier
The figure was deep in contemplation. He still could not forget the loss he suffered at the hands of that boy. He narrowed his eyes at the mere thought of him, he wanted to beat the stuffing out of him as retaliation, but his honor prevented him to. He shook himself of the thoughts of revenge, no matter how satisfying it would be, and focused on his current predicament.
After losing to him, he asked how he had gotten so strong, and the boy said that it was because he enjoyed fighting, and he always fought for fun, whenever possible. This caused the purple haired man to think about how he had lived his life up till now. What he saw made him grimace, after all, he had neglected his art for so long, it was no wonder that he had lost, and lost badly to a boy, no a man who had dedicated his whole life to the art.
So he went back to his home to think about where he would first go in search of powerful warriors, when his servant called his attention to a contract from way back in 1987, made by him and a man named, Saotome Genma. He knew that the man was lying when he said that he would give his own son to him as his heir to his line, and to his art, as he had no wife to bear him any heirs of his own but he just couldn't pass up to get such a talented young heir, so he agreed to sign the contract, after altering it a lot, but Genma didn't care after he saw what was being exchanged for his son, namely eight months of grand meals in his place and $500,000 when Ranma is given to him.
Because of that, he was left with the boy to train, and quite frankly, he was amazed at his progress in only eight months. The pony tailed boy had mastered all of the beginner and intermediate katas, and most of the advanced ones. Why, in one to two months or so, the figure would have started to teach him his personal techniques, but that fat rat had stolen him back during the evening while the purple haired man slept, two days after that unsightly man returned from a whorehouse and read his copy of the contract fully for the first time and realized that the imposing monster of a man would no longer feed him, and would take his son if he had continued to stay. He had tried long and hard to fid the father and son duo, but the sneaky, uncouth man was always one step ahead of him. Sadly, he had to give up his search in order to take care of business back home. He had put it out of his mind, because it kind of hurt to not have the young boy around, and that it was a major blow to his pride that somebody weaker than him would have managed to sneak away from him without him knowing.
Now that his servant had reminded him of the contract, and he had been hearing of rumors of a town in Japan having insanely powerful martial artists roaming the streets, and having brawls with huge property damage caused by tornadoes, firecrackers, pigs, ducks, ki blasts, and lots of other things. That conniving thief Genma did say that he came from Japan, and him being a competent martial artist, although he was weaker than the armored man.
Now here he was in Nerima, home to those insanely strong martial artists, and other strange things. This was his first day here, moving into his hotel room the night before notwithstanding, as even he had to sleep off jet lag. The figure had decided to walk around the park to familiarize himself with the area, after he did a few kata on the rooftop and a subsequent bath afterwards, although he might have been a little too anxious, as he had awaken earlier than normal.
He suddenly snapped his head as felt a powerful aura to what had looked like the edge of the park; as it looked like the start of a forest. He approached the forest, walking around, following the distinct feel, and strangely familiar feel of the aura, until he got to a clearing. His eyes widened in shock, as he saw a boy, probably in his mid to late teens, attempt something that reminded him of some people that he had met a the tournament. After all, it's not everyday that you see somebody use ice in his attacks, and definitely not at that such magnitude. He simply stood there, watching the boy finish his ice attack and start to do his katas. The purple haired figure smiled at such dedication to the art of war, as that dance of primal beauty and ferocity shows to him, an experienced master, his love for it. He continued to watch, entranced by the boy's skill, until he slowed down and stopped, then sat down and meditated.
'Hmmm…, one day in this place and I see my first challenge, and from his rigorous training session, he is very good. Maybe that is why I woke up so early today. I should test him and see if he has a good grasp of his surroundings, to see if he would truly make a good opponent for me.' The huge figure thought.
He then decided to ambush him with a Knee Smasher, to test the waters, as they say. He launched himself at his soon to be opponent, and was pleased to see him dodge his attack. After the boy dodged, he shouted at him in a rough, boyish voice, "Why'd you attack me for?!?"
Present Time
The figure smirked and said, "I want to challenge you, of course."
Ranma suddenly went on full alert. His body shifted into an aggressive stance, knowing that this stranger was to be taken serious, though he could not help but feel that he should know this bear of a man.
He asked, "Who are you, an angry father-in-law, a restaurant owner or a bar owner swindled by the panda, a nutty prince or whatever wanting to kidnap one of my fiancées, or a rival out for blood?"
The figure blinked and one of his eyebrows rose in confusion and disbelief, as he sweat dropped, then thought, 'Angry swindled restaurant owner or bar owner, rival out for blood, nutty prince or whatever out to kidnap one of his fiancées, what the? What crazy life must this boy live to utter such nonsense to a stranger of all things. Not to mention the strange fact that he looked awfully familiar…'
The purple haired man then gave him a deadpan expression and said, "I do not mean to sound rude, but I am just asking for a challenge, not because of revenge or that I have taken a fancy to your-", he looked very serious at this, although the picture was ruined by the sight of his eyebrow twitching, "-fiancées." He honestly could not believe that anybody, much less a boy, could get multiple fiancées of all things.
Ranma, needlessly to say, was shocked to his very core. He had not heard a challenge like that since over two years ago, when Akane challenged him to a friendly sparring match.
'Is he for real, no it can't be, everybody in this god-forsaken town always had a hidden motive.' He scowled at what he believed to be an outright lie.
"All right, who're you trying to fool, fancy pants. Everybody who came to challenge me in this forsaken town always had ulterior motives, so just come out with the truth already, you ain't fooling nobody wi' that crock of sh!!" The pigtailed one spat.
The figure was genuinely surprised this time, and not a little outraged at his this assumption. He was a gentleman and he always, always meant his words.
"What! I would never have such motives, all I want is to challenge you, boy, I swear on my honor as a gentleman and as a warrior that I do not have any ulterior motive in battling you. I only wish to fight for… the joy of battle, as one of my previous opponents have said." He stated imperially.
"Why should I believe you, you could be lying and using honor as an excuse, just like my old man!" The cobalt-eyed boy sneered.
This time, the figure was definitely outraged at this slip of a boy questioning his honor, something he valued more than life itself.
"How dare you! I'll have you know that my honor is the most precious thing to me, even more than the art!!!" He roared in fury at this insolent child.
Ranma was truly moved by his words, and not a little guilty and ashamed at even thinking that of the man. He was justified in blowing up at him, because if he were in the stranger's place, we would have done much worse than shout at the perpetrator.
He bowed his head in shame and apologized. "I' m sorry man, just thought you were like the rest of them, coz' I haven't had a fight just for fun in over two years."
The man truly wanted to wring the boy's neck, but he had apologized, and his honor would not allow him to rip through him, but his honor also demanded satisfaction of the slight he had gained from the boy.
"Very well, my honor is slighted, but an all-out match with you would satisfy it, as that is what I have wanted in the first place." He smiled evilly.
"Well, I do owe you that, as you seem to be a powerful warrior and just might be a challenge, plus this'll be fun." He stated.
The figure just nods and removes his armor, leaving him bare-chested. Ranma's assumption on his body structure was right on the money, as he was definitely built like a body builder.
The wild one was then struck by the fact that he didn't know this guy's name. He then asked, "I kinda forgot to ask but, what's yer name?"
The figure simply smirked and said, "If you beat me, or prove yourself to me, I'll give you my name, this I also swear in my honor."
"Heh, then the same goes to you then." The other said in a moment of inspiration, and took off the weights. The weights then made a three foot crater on the ground.
"Impressive display boy, but not enough to intimidate me in the very least." He boasted.
The pigtailed teen grinned and shouted, "Maybe not, but this will!"he charged at the burly man at a speed just below Tora Sattou and gave out hundreds of punches per second. He man, to the pigtailed boy's surprise, he caught half of the punches and the other half only caused him to wince.
The figure smiled and roared out his attack, "Dangerous Through!" This caused Ranma's body to be forced back from the blow, but before his body could get a foot far the man followed it wit, "Griffon Upper!" causing the pigtailed boy's head to tilt as the massive blow gave him one hell of a sore jaw and made him go up in the air at a diagonal angle.
The purple haired one then tried to follow it up again by jumping up in the air, but Ranma was able to recover during the short time in the air and countered with a new technique he had been thinking about but never got around to testing.
"Yasei Taka Sattou (10)!" He shouted, as he pelted the muscular stranger with bicycle kicks, palm strikes, knife chops, punches, roundhouse kicks, claw strikes, which were strangely lethal, full moon kicks, all ki-enhanced. The stranger was not proficient at aerial fighting as Ranma was, and realized his mistake a little too late, so he was pounded mercilessly in the air. The teen then ended this move with five stomps to the stranger who was seemingly lying on the air. He then used the burly man's body as a springboard and jumped higher and called out a new attack he was working on with Ryoga.
"Ma Shishi Houkou (11)!" He exclaimed as a blast of pure ki shaped like a lion's head roaring slammed into the figure into the ground and making a 50 feet crater.
The purple haired man then slowly stood up, his ribs feeling very tender after the barrage of attacks and the subsequent ki blast that followed it. Then he focused some of his ki to reinforce the tender area and to keep from exposing a weak spot.
He charged Ranma and feigned a punch, and Ranma fell for it, dodging to the side, where he was smashed by an out-in kick, and then back-handed towards the trees. While Ranma was flying towards the trees, the man ran to him and shouted, "Phoenix Through!" giving the still in motion aqua transsexual a beating with punches and kicks covered in ki-flame, then giving him a phoenix-shaped ki-blast, launching him in the opposite direction. Ranma tried to reverse down his momentum, but was only able to slow himself down and turn slightly, which saved him from the full brunt of the other man' next attack, a huge ki wave.
'Whoa, that attack almost nailed me! I didn't hear the name of the blast though, as there was that whistling in my ears again. Damn it I thought Saffron was the cause of that, but guess I was wrong, but then it feels like…, steam of all things. Whatever, I should find a way to beat that guy, I haven't met somebody as strong as he is or nearly so since Bird-boy, and the only guy who can still beat me consecutively is the super perv, which is really sad, since that only happens when he's serious. Well, back onto the topic. At this rate, I would lose as I had used up at least an eighth of my reserves during training, and my muscles are still sore from the workout. I should finish this quickly, but how? I'll rush him again, testing his defenses, then see if he has any weaknesses I could exploit.' This he thought in only a few seconds, the 14 year training trip having thought him to think really fast on his feet, being chased by a lot of people out for vengeance tends to do that to a person.
As soon as he landed, he saw the figure holding a hand to his chest as the man was taking a breather. He focused some ki and chi into his limbs and rushed at him, this time in the Tora Sattou. The figure's eyes widened and he mumbled something that Ranma could not hear over the whistling in his ears and the pounding of his heart. The pigtailed boy only got 5oo hits in before he was caught in a block and he was left dangling in the air. The purple haired man smirked viciously and shouted something that overcame the whistling in the boy's ears.
'Damn, looks like I have no choice but to use that move.' The teen despaired as heavy sweat lined his brow, and fractured bones and bruises littered his body.
"Leg Tomahawk" He roared as he slammed his leg into the pigtailed protagonist and sent him flying to the trees on the opposite park again, but this time Ranma ignored the pain and shouted, "Forrykt Ulv Hyl!"
Ten ki blasts and ten chi blasts in the shape of a wolf howling, their howls sending out destructive waves of ki or chi as the charged at the shocked man.
'Dear god, I've never seen something like that, I'll have to counter with a five High Blitz Balls and five Low Blitz Balls and five fully powered Kaiser Waves (12) and combine them into 5 huge blasts. That will drain my reserves a lot though, and if that doesn't work I will have to use a new version of the Gigantic Cyclone I was working on.' He scowled and whispered, "Der Kaiser der Beschützer fünf Schlußdas Dauerfeuer (13)!"
Five immense beams of ki shot off to meet the wolves, but it only managed to remove the howl blasts and three of the canines. Ranma's jaw dropped as he saw that only three of the wolves were destroyed by the beams and the rest stopped howling due to the originator losing focus. The figure did notice this but he was already drained from shooting off the beams of ki and he only had the reserve for three Unlimited Desires or two Gigantic Cyclones, unmodified. He decided to mix the two of those attacks to stave off the remaining eight wolves.
"Giant Rage of God!" He roared as he spun at speeds near 450 mph, his hands glowing with his life energy in palm strikes, then stopping, but the glowing cyclone still raged around him, the purple haired man feeding his energy to the cyclone.
Ranma's eyes widened at the display of sheer power, knowing that would dissapitate his attack and he just knew that cyclone would explode once it destroyed his attack.
Nekohanten, beginning of dawn
Cologne's eyes snapped open as she felt two extremely powerful energies battling for dominance somewhere in Nerima. She paled, and that made her look more ghastly and banshee-like than usual. The sheer power radiating from both combatants in what could only be an epic battle dwarfed her own, making her shudder in anticipation for the first time since she had last battled Happy. A few moments later though, she grew really worried when she recognized the ki of one of the combatants, her Son-in-law.
'Son-in-law…, such power… looks like my childish great granddaughter and the blind duck wasn't lying about Jusendo after all. I have to get there at once though, he is still in danger.' With those thoughts the old woman dressed in her clothes, gathered her staff and a sword, and hopped out of the restaurant.
Tendo-ke, same time
Happosai, asleep after a late-night panty raid, sat straight up in his futon, his danger sense blaring like alarm klaxons. His diminutive head looked around his room for the disturbance. Finding none, he extended his senses throughout Nerima to find it, his eyes closing in concentration.
His eyes snapped open in shock, as the two power sources were those he recognized. One was his heir, Ranma, and the other, was… him. He quickly jumped out of his futon, opened the window, and started roofhopping to the source of the conflict.
'Be safe, my boy.' He thought worriedly as he moved.
Masaki Shrine Grounds, same time
Katsuhito Masaki, current head of the Masaki Shrine was sweeping the grounds. He suddenly stopped as he felt the huge amount of battle aura from the direction of Tokyo. He frowned as a chill went up his spine, like an ominous warning of things to come.
"I hope it doesn't spill out here…." The shrine keeper said as he looked as the rising sun in contemplation. "Tenchi, it's time for your shrine duties!"
"Yeah, yeah…." Grumbled the eight year old Tenchi as he took a broom and started sweeping.
Time Gates, dimension unknown, same time
Sailor Pluto was jolted awake in her bed at the Time Gates by the huge power sources duking it out somewhere in Japan. She frowned she tried to find the source that disrupted her beauty sleep, and see if it was a threat to the utopian Crystal Tokyo. She was only able to pinpoint the general location, but not the source.
'Nerima, hm…, this is going to be difficult. Stupid chaotic auras and nexuses.' She groused as she prepared to teleport to the city that was filled with chaos for the past two years, bringing along a bottle of painkillers and a first aid kit just in case.
Nerima-ku, Forest at the edge of the park
Ranma smirked, having found a way to immobilize the man and damage him at the same time. He gathered some of his remaining ki and focused it into the soul of ice,then to his fists. His fists, glowing an icy blue, were plunged into the ground as he called out his next attack.
"Nibai Tsumetainami!" The ice traveled in straight line towards his foe at a much faster rate than his wolves. Some of it though, to his shock fused with the wolves as they were about to enter the vortex of power. This made them even more powerful, and they howled in ecstasy of the newfound power, and charged at the cyclone. The first wolf slammed at the barrier, weakening it, and another, and another, and another, until the glow was very pale, and he could see the man concentrating extremely hard, his hands held diagonally with a glowing line extended from each of his palms to the cyclone.
The Nibai Tsumetainami hit him then, shattering his concentration and freezing his legs, causing the man to reflexively divert his energy from fueling the tornado to stop the ice. This caused the next three wolves to hit him instead the ice and the extreme ki burns hitting his senses at the same time, dilating his eyes for a minute, as he tried to make the ice recede.
Ranma, seeing his weak moment and having recovered a little from the other guy's beating, rushed at him with his remaining ki reserves and used another Tora Sattou, all of his attacks hitting home this time.
'Heh, it's a good thing I took my training into my own hands, otherwise I would have lost horribly to this guy, and he's good, real good. Maybe he isn't a bad guy after all.' He thought while pounding the hell out of him.
The purple haired man was lost in a world of pain the beating continued, every inch of his body trapped in a searing agony of fire from the torture being inflicted to him with fists and ice. He was getting desperate, although a small part of his mind was happy that he found somebody like that blond man from the tournament.
'I… have… to… break… free…, to… stop… this…, but... how? May…be if I con… centrate my aura ar…ound my body… and release it as a… controlled… pulse…' He concentrated his aura around his body. Ranma noticed, and tried to knock him out with a Tsumetai Shikon, using the very last of his energies for one last punch, concentrating on the soul of ice once more and channeling it to his fist and hit him.
At the same time, the figure released his aura pulse, making the two forces push against each other. The mysterious monster of a man had beads of sweat travel down his bruised and battered body as he tried to stave off the punch.
Ranma also had beads of sweat traveling down his body and drenching his all but ruined shirt and tank top, as well as his extremely tattered pants. He was trying to punch through the barrier, unintentionally causing their hair at fast speeds as a result of the conflict between hot and cold ki, making a dramatic effect.
After a few moments, the blue glow of the teen's fist faded and he was repelled by the aura pulse. That launched the boy into the trees with serious damage and severe ki depletion. He then stood slowly, and shakily up, ready to fight despite his horrible condition.
Happosai and Cologne arrived in time to see that last clash, heavily breathing as they had rushed to this place in order to see the conflict. Their eyes widened as they saw what Ranma had used against the muscled brute. They couldn't believe that the soul of ice could be used like that at all, Cologne had tried to do the exact same thing, but she had failed as the nature of her ki was not nearly as malleable as it once was when she first tried that technique.
Both of them blinked as they felt somebody stand next to their ancient bodies. They slowly turned, wary that the person beside them might be a follower of that man. When they saw each other, they jumped as far away from each other as possible when they saw that the other was invading their personal space, which was say, fifty feet within each other.
Cologne asked first, "What are you doing here, Happy?"
Happosai replied, "I could ask the same of you, Cologne-chan, after all, he is my heir, so I have every right to be here."
Cologne retorted, "So you finally started to care for your only heir, eh? Will the wonders ever cease?"
Happosai sniffed, "Hmph, I do care for him, it's just that he has to learn independence, otherwise he would just be like my other, weak and useless disciples, so I torture the boy to make him stick it in his thick, stubborn skull."
Cologne conceded and said, "You do have a point, sadly, so I concede this argument, for no- What was that?"
They looked back at the fight and was surprised to see Ranma covered with something out of something they have seen only a couple of people use, magatama, and with that color too, so he can't be from that thrice damned Yagami clan.
While Happosai and Cologne were arguing
Ranma was shocked that the man, no, monster, could still stand after expending so much energy and receiving so much damage, even Saffron or Happosai would have been laid out by the sheer toll of pain and drain. He had nothing left in his huge reservoir of ki, heck, he's lucky to be still standing at all after expending so much. He looked at the other man, who was standing, but breathing very hard, and he was shivering slightly, whether from laughter of from hypothermia, he didn't know. All that was important to him right now was to beat this man.
The figure was feeling the exact same thing, and in fact was readying his last blast, a Kaiser wave to throw at his foe, since he could sense that he had no energy left to expend. The man smiled a tired smile, knowing that he would win this fight, and he was satisfied with the knowledge that he beat someone as strong as that boy.
'Think, think, and think, Ranma! I have to beat him, not because of pride or something like, but because of the fulfillment of beating such a strong foe. This is what martial arts was meant to be, the primal feeling in one's blood as they try to exert dominance over the other. So, it looks like have to look for something, anything to beat him.'
So he looked in himself, deeper that he has ever looked before, perspiration appearing on him as he concentrated, using more brain cells than he uses normally to delve deeper.
The figure finished charging his attack, and roared, "Kaiser Wave!!"
A huge ki wave burst from his hands, destroying all in its path. It was a wave of destruction a its peak, filled with the last vestiges of the man's power.
Ten seconds
Ranma was inside his very core, which was what used to be a great ocean of power, now dwindled to nothing. He was awed that he could drain something so large in such a small amount of time. He walked around, seeing if there was a reserve in here somewhere that he could use.
Nine seconds
He was running out of time! He could sense the herald of his death a few seconds away. He then started to search frantically, breaking into a mental version of a sprint.
'Gotta hurry! I don' wanna die!' He thought frantically.
Eight Seconds
'Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN! I can't find anything in here at all that I could use! What do I do?!?' He started to panic.
Unknown to him, there was a strange blackish-blue glow and a white glow fighting for dominance further in his mind, trying to be the one Ranma could use later on.
Seven Seconds
The white glow started to get more ground, feeding on Ranma's determination to win. Seeing this, the other one decided to mimic it, also feeding on his determination.
Ranma, meanwhile, was still looking for anything that could block the big ki-wave.
Six seconds
The two lights were at a stalemate, since feeding on the same thing would give them the same amount of energy. The blackish-blue glow, seeing this, decided to look for another energy source. It found one in the Neko-ken.
Five Seconds
Ranma was really panicking now; since he could feel that the blast was half-way there. He couldn't move to escape it either, since his will-power was the only thing allowing him to stand, and he could barely stand as it is, let alone move. Realizing this, he started to search with even more effort.
The blackish-blue light detached from the boy's strengthening determination and latched on to the Neko-ken.
Four seconds
He was panicking like a chicken with its head chopped off and the last thing it saw was the butcher, with the grim reaper waving at him from behind. He could practically feel the heat from the very powerful blast as it consumed his flesh.
The white glow was weakened as Ranma's determination grew less, and his panic grew. The other one seemingly smiled in victory as the Neko-ken gave him enormous power and he was able to beat the weakened white. The white one then conceded, for now.
Three…
Ranma calmed himself down, noticing that the blast was even nearer than before. When he looked at a new direction, he saw a blackish-blue orb of light that radiated fear and malice. The sheer fear it radiated made him reluctant to touch it though.
Two…
'Screw the evil feeling! I want to live and win damnnit!' With that he touched the orb, he felt liquid fire course through his veins, the ecstasy of power flowing through him, a familiar ecstasy. He embraced it, and all went dark.
One…!
Ranma snapped out of his trance and looked at the blast that was very near him and drew from that orb of power, and felt the fire sing in his veins. He pointed his hands at the humongous wave and called out the first thing in his mind.
"Daija Houka Yofun (14)!" A burst of blackish-blue fire shaped like a huge serpent burst from his palms and overwhelmed the ki wave like it was nothing.
Present Time
The figure was shocked, which happened a lot today, when he saw the boy use magatama of all things, not only that, but his snake overcame his Kaiser Wave like a lightsaber cutting through butter, and was now heading towards him, its flaming eyes glinting menacingly. Knowing that he had lost, he stated his name to the boy and congratulated him.
"You have won boy, feel proud that you have beaten me, the Earl of the House of Strolheim, for I am Wolfgang Krauser von Strolheim." Those were his last words to him before he was hit by the serpent, and fell to the arms of Morpheus while being burned alive by dark fire, but he could swear he heard the boy call him 'Wolf-niisama?!' though.
"You have won boy, feel proud that you have beaten me, the Earl of the House of Strolheim, for I am Wolfgang Krauser von Strolheim." The figure said.
Ranma's eyes widened in shock, his hear seemingly stopped beating, and he turned a deathly pale.
'He's lying! He can't be him! He's just an impostor, that liar gave his word to me to give his real name! He even said that honor was… It is him! I-I-I beat Wolf-n-niisama!?'
"Wolf-niisama?!?" He exclaimed as his jaw fell to the floor.
The two diminutive masters also dropped their jaws in shock, but for different reasons.
'H-h-he can use the magatama of legend! Son-in-law never fails to amaze me with one surprise after another' the old lady thinks to herself as she shook her head ruefully.
'He can use magatama! However, that's not as surprising as the brat knowing that man of all people! He truly is surprising.' Thought the ancient, perverted grandmaster with a low chuckle.
They saw Ranma look at his hands, still burning with magatama, mutter "Cool…", and lose consciousness. They laughed, relieved at the amazing, very narrow defeat of Krauser at Ranma's hands, and what he did afterwards. Then they shook their head and brought them to the Nekohanten.
TBC…
(1)Yes, tigers eat wolf and jackal meat when starved.
(2)Yes, aren't lowered inhibitions grand? (Not)
(3)Tora Sattou: Tiger rush- a technique that speeds up the user at speeds beyond the Amaguriken and uses the whole body.
(4)Tsumetai Shikon: Icy Fang- A punch covered, and powered by an advance version of the Soul of Ice
(5) Nibai Tsumetainami: Double Icy Wave- This starts with slamming his fists covered with a blue glow, signifying him focusing on the Soul of Ice, onto the ground, then extending the aura surrounding it to your opponent, using a medium. It was inspired by looking at waves his father made when jumping into the tub in panda form.
(6)Guddommelig Feilslutning: Divine Fallacy- a technique learned by Ranma from some warriors in the wilds of Norway. It is a forbidden move due to its lethality. It summons two illusions, perfect copies of him but with angelic wing ki constructs, both then pass through the victim at blinding speed, after which, they vanish. Afterwards, the victim explodes from the inside-out, and if any of his parts land on anything other than the technique originator, they dissolve into a fine mist which would spread. This leaves the user extremely drained, and unable to fight for a week.
(7) Selvmord Vanvidd: Suicide Frenzy- a technique also learned by Ranma from some warriors in the wilds of Norway. It is a forbidden move due to its lethality. This move drives the user into a berserk frenzy that will not stop unless killed or subdued. Combined with Ranma's Neko-ken, this would enhance his abilities a thousand fold, in exchange for his sanity. This is, as of now, his most dangerous technique.
(8) Forrykt Ulv Hyl: Wild Wolf Howl- another technique learned by Ranma from some warriors in the wilds of Norway. This was only forbidden because of the ki drain it gives to the user, as well as the needed concentration needed to maintain it, as the attack makes ten wolves, five from ki, and another five from chi, and their howls are also very dangerous to the enemy. Making these constructs takes a lot of skill and precision, so only the best masters could even attempt to perform this move.
(9) Níðhöggr Vindkast: Níðhöggr Burst- a blast in the shape of the legendary dragon that gnaws on Yggdrasill's roots, and the herald of Ragnarok, Níðhöggr. Ranma draws on its spirit and his own feelings of malice and hatred for his father, and channels it into the blast. The power of it depends on how much favor the user has gained from the dragon, which was why Ranma was forbidden to ever use it unless in the most dire circumstance.
(10) Yasei Taka Sattou: Wild Hawk Rush- an aerial combo version of the Tora Sattou, this uses a combination of ki-enhanced attacks and it is ended with a Ma Shishi Houkou.
(11) Ma Shishi Houkou: Pure Lion Roar- a pure, refined version of the Shishi Hokodan, developed by Ranma and Ryoga.
(12)That is a hint so big, if you miss it, then thou art thick.
(13)Der Kaiser der Beschützer fünf Schlußdas Dauerfeuer: Emperor Dragon Five Final Shooting in Long Bursts- This is the figure's (For those who haven't figured it out yet) certain attacks combined to make five huge beams of ki with enough power to destroy a mountain.
(14) Daija Houka Yofun: Serpent Fire Rage- an extremely powerful attack made from Ranma's newly discovered magatama. It is blackish-blue fire in a shape of an inhumanely huge serpent.