Well, last chapter got two reviews… "You wrote well"
Thank you very much James Birdsong...
"Please hurry up with the next chapter"
…
Did I not just explain this a few chapters ago…? When you review, leave criticism, comment on something I wrote, do something related to the chapter! Don't tell me "update soon" "Update faster" "update now!" etc. That is a pet peeve of mine, it irritates me to no end! In fact, that's why I intentionally waited this long to post the chapter! You understand? Every time someone does that, I am going to withhold chapters!
I'm not begging for reviews, I'm just saying that if you do review, write something else!
At any rate, here. And more of you review this time, damn it. There are a couple hundred people reading. More than two of you have time to write a damn review!
And I'm not begging for reviews here either... I'm demanding them with a childish sense of entitlement...
Chapter 6: Full power
As Noboru finished counting down, Ryoga's foot blasted into his head with all of his might behind it. Every ounce of strength he had was dedicated to stopping this demon once and for all. And for a moment, it looked like he had done it. Noboru's face glazed over, as though taken by unconsciousness. But in an instant, his head shattered, like it was made of glass.
Then his chest shattered, as an energy blast ten times as powerful as the ones before burst through and slammed into Ryoga.
As Noboru's shell crumbled away, an entirely new being stood in its wake. The old Noboru had looked like some kind of monster from a child's fairy tale gone horribly wrong. He'd been a mountain, at least 7 feet tall, with gigantic muscles. He'd had long, unruly hair, with sharp fangs and claws.
This Noboru, however, seemed almost human. He had a build much like most of the NWC's male members: Athletic, yet slender. His hair was still long, but tame. His fangs remained, but they were more like Ryoga's snaggleteeth. Really, the only things demonic about him were two small horns poking out from behind his hair and a cryptic, evil design on his now golden armor.
He opened his mouth, allowing a long, snake-like tongue to unfold. He licked his teeth menacingly as he eyed his opponents. "Well… You had ten seconds to stop me from transforming… So, I'll give myself ten seconds to wipe all of you from the face of the Earth!!!"
Back at the Tendo dojo, Ranma was sitting silently in the family room. He moved not one muscle, hanging his head low as he sat on the couch, thinking to himself. What had gone wrong? His logic was flawless. Fighting had gotten him cursed at Jusenkyo, gained him 3 fiancées and 2 crazy stalkers, caused several people to want him dead, destroyed his wedding, and almost killed the woman he loved. So the obvious solution was to simply become a pacifist.
And yet, doing so had gotten a crazy demon after him, made his arch-rival/best friend hate him, driven the woman he loved into the arms of his arch-rival/best friend, made him hurt her feelings, and alienated him from everyone he cared about.
Was the problem not fighting? Was it just him? Was Ranma just cursed to constantly attract bad luck? In the end, did it really not matter what he did, because he was always going to be plagued by misfortune?
Why then? Why was he so unlucky? Had he made some Kami upset? Was his karma just as bad as Happosai's? What did he have to do to get some peace and quiet?
A voice interrupted his train of thought. "Ranma?" it said.
Turning to the source just reminded him of how guilty he felt. "Oh, Akane…what do you want now?" he grumbled, trying not to let her see him upset.
Akane just had to explain, before he became hostile again. "Ranma, listen to me. It's not what you think!"
"Oh, so Ryoga didn't just kiss you!?!"
"Well, he did, but-"
"But nothin'! I don't wanna hear it!"
"Ranma, you're overreacting!"
"I just saw my friend kissing my fiancée!"
"And how many times have I seen girls climbing all over you!?!"
"That's different!"
"And how is that!?!"
"Because all those times, you just assumed I was doin' something before I had a chance to explain, and all those times I was completely innocent!"
"And you're not doing the same thing right now!?!"
"Just shut up Akane… Go away…"
"I don't have to go away! This is my house! The Tendo dojo!"
"Screw you…"
Having failed to reconcile with Ranma, Akane sat down on the chair at the opposite end of the room: the one usually reserved for her father. Come to think of it, where was her father? Or Ranma's for that matter?
Pushing that thought aside for a moment, she wondered, 'How can I get through to Ranma? He's… such a baka!' She fidgeted with the remote, staring at him, as she tried to figure it out.
"So, are you going to turn on the TV, or are you just going to sit there staring at me like an idiot?" he asked bluntly.
"Ranma, you're an asshole…" she muttered as she flicked on the television.
"Well, that makes me feel better…" he replied.
As the TV came alive, the two teenagers were greeted with the image of Noboru strangling Dr. Tofu in one hand and slamming Ryoga's face into the concrete with another.
"As does that…" Ranma continued…
"Oh my god!" Akane screamed, horrified at the sight. "We have to go save them!"
"What's this 'we' stuff?" Ranma asked.
"Ranma, you can't honestly be saying you're not going to help…" Akane asked, horrified at Ranma's cold-heartedness.
"I've given up fighting, remember? And I'm sorry if I ain't exactly feeling like breaking that for the likes of Ryoga at the moment." Ranma responded nonchalantly.
"I can't believe you!!! Ranma… You're a completely different person!!! I hate you!!!" she shouted, as she ran out of the room.
Yep… No matter what, Ranma Saotome was not going to win.
Back on the battlefield, things were not going so well. Kuno was still unconscious, Noboru had defeated almost all of our heroes, Soun was still crying like a two-year old, and the demon-king showed no signs of slowing down.
Noboru had begun by slamming his fist into Happosai's gut, flooring him instantly.
As Cologne attempted to help her once-upon-a-time lover, Noboru had fired an energy blast at her, taking her out of the fight.
Ukyo was next, as Noboru had appeared behind her suddenly and elbowed her in the back of the head, knocking her unconscious.
She was soon followed by Shampoo, who had tried to attack the demon king while his back was turned and had been rewarded by being knocked into a collapsing building.
Genma, for once, had not reacted with cowardice. He'd looked the demon right in the eye, dropped into a deep stance, and cried out "FOUL DEMON!!! YOU GIVE ME NO CHOICE!!! SAOTOME SCHOOL OF ANYTHING GOES MARTIAL ARTS FINAL ATTACK!!!"
"Saotome…" Noboru repeated.
"Final attack?" Dr. Tofu finished for him.
"Not this idiocy again…" Ryoga muttered, remembering when Ranma had used this attack on him.
Genma turned his back to the demon and shouted "READY! SET! RUN AWAY!!!"
Okay, so he did react with cowardice…
Ryoga and Dr. Tofu charged the demon, who leapt atop a nearby building to avoid their attacks. They followed him and engaged him in a flurry of martial arts attacks, giving their all to destroying the foe. Noboru, however, was defending their attacks with ease and knocked them from the rooftop to the ground.
Mousse, on the other hand, was running about frantically, desperately trying to find Shampoo. When he did, his heart skipped a beat.
The Amazon girl was trapped under a heap of rubble. Normally, her strength would be more than enough to free herself, but Noboru had beaten her so badly, she was lucky to be alive.
"SHAMPOO!" Mousse shouted upon seeing his beloved.
Thinking nothing of his own safety, Mousse rushed forth to save her. As Noboru stood atop the building, reveling in the carnage, he spied the blind man. "Missed one!" he shouted to himself, laughing as he fired energy blasts towards the one-man rescue team.
Mousse dodged and leapt through the air, every movement pushing his weary body closer and closer to the point of falling apart. Finally, one blast had caught up to him. With no time to dodge, Mousse threw his arm into the air, allowing it to take the brunt of the impact. He was bleeding profusely, and his arm couldn't move, but he had to keep going. Nothing could stand in the way of rescuing Shampoo.
One of the few fighters still standing, Ryoga charged the building Noboru used as a foothold. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!!!" he shouted. The building crumbled beneath the demon, who fell to the ground less than elegantly.
"That was a nice trick, fool! But it won't save you!" he growled as he climbed up from underneath the ruined building. He launched forward, attacking mercilessly.
Meanwhile, Shampoo had given up trying to free herself. It was only making her injuries worse. It seemed that this really would be her end: crushed underneath piles of debris, unable to look upon her Airen's face one last time.
"Shampoo! Don't worry! I'm here!" she heard someone say. The pressure squeezing the life out of her was relieved as Mousse lifted the rubble and unceremoniously chucked it away.
"Mousse… you… rescue Shampoo…" she said weakly, clutching her sides.
"It's okay Shampoo. I'm here. I'm going to protect you with my life," he replied, taking her hands.
"Mousse… Your arm is bleeding…" she stated in shock, seeing his mangled limb.
"It's alright. Noboru blasted me as I was coming over to help you. I'll be fine…" he responded, clutching his bum arm
"Why you save me Mousse?" she asked, tears welling up in her eyes, "Why you risk your life when Shampoo always so mean to you?"
Mousse looked at her, genuinely confused. "Because I love you Shampoo…" he answered, as though she should've realized. He said it like he was saying "A watch tells time" or "Gravity holds you to the Earth" or possibly "Puppies are quite delicious in meatball form", considering that Mousse was Chinese…*
He continued "I've loved you since the first day I saw you. You're so beautiful and precious, that I've always had no choice but to love you…"
"Mousse…"
"Shampoo…"
Their faces drew closer and closer, as they prepared to embrace each other. Before they could finish, however, Noboru dropped out of the sky, digging his knee into Mousse's ribs.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" he screamed in pain.
Chuckling, the demon king said, "Being a good villain is like being a photographer. You have to know just when to go 'snap'!"
"I'm going to help them…"
The words had broken Ranma from his thoughts. As he sat up, Akane walked by him to the front door.
"Akane, what are you thinking!?! You can't help, you're just going to get yourself killed!" he shouted.
"That may be true, but at least I'll have tried! Did you really think that the world would stop turning just because you did Ranma!?! Did you really think that you could just stop, and the nut-jobs would stop coming!?! ALL YOU'RE DOING IS LETTING PEOPLE GET HURT: PEOPLE YOU COULD'VE SAVED! YOU'RE JUST HURTING THE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT YOU!!! I HATE YOU!!!"Before Ranma could reply, Akane walked out the door, slamming it in his face.
And so Ranma was left alone. And for once in his life of paying for other people's mistakes, he knew that he had no one to blame but himself…
*Yay Racial Humor!
I'm very excited about the next chapter. This is the one that I've been waiting for.
Next time, Noboru continues his rampage. Akane rushes to help her friends. Ryoga stands alone against destruction incarnate. Will Akane make it there in time? Will she be able to help? Will Ranma come to his senses in time to save his friends? It's the most exciting, dramatic chapter yet! Battles will be fought! Lives will be changed! And one of our heroes… will… die…
Oh noes! Your mother has told you that fanfiction is stupid and she doesn't want you reading it anymore, because it's keeping you from doing things like getting a real job! … Shoot her… Then review this chapter…