A New Challenge

-Chiba Hiro

(I do not own Ranma ½, or any of its content. It all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and other media.)

Chapter 15: Climactic Battle! Ranma vs. Hikari! Part 1

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Ranma stood on the dueling platform facing Hikari. He was prepared to end this battle quickly, and efficiently. But, according to the teachings of the Saotome School: Anything-Goes Martial Arts, you're supposed to wait for your opponent to make the first move, and then follow up with a deadly counterattack.

Ranma was starting to get a little impatient with all the waiting. Hikari had not moved an inch for a good five minutes, and Ranma was getting restless. When is this guy gonna attack? Ranma thought.

He decided to taunt Hikari into attacking. "Hey, Hikari! You lost your nerve, or something? You haven't moved for the last five minutes. I was starting to get bored over here!" Ranma exclaimed.

From behind Hikari's hood, Ranma could see a smirk appear on the areas of Hikari's face that haven't been covered in shadow.

"Impatient, aren't we? Why don't I let our guess make the first move? After all, it's not good for a host to go before the guess." Hikari responded calmly.

"Nice try, but it ain't gonna work!" Ranma shouted back. "That's just what you want me to do, isn't it? As the host, it's better if you show us the ropes, after all, I'm new to this sort of thing, and I want to use you as an example!"

"Very well, then." Hikari replied. Before Ranma could react, Hikari simply faded into the background, making him virtually invisible.

"What the-," Ranma shouted, "where'd you go, coward?"

Before he knew it, he was doubled over in pain, as if something made his stomach hurl over, and the source of it happened to be a punch to the gut.

"How'd you do that?" Ranma asked, and looked up at Hikari.

"Nothing, really." Hikari said.

Ranma got to his feet, but still held his stomach as he did so. He glared at Hikari, and watched for any sign of a parlor trick. How else could anyone just disappear like that? Ranma thought.

Instead of waiting for Hikari to make the initial move this time, he figured he should attack first, then ask questions later. That's exactly what he did, he ran at Hikari with full speed, and threw a fast right hook to the jaw, at least that was what he was aiming for. Before his fist could make contact with Hikari's jaw, he disappeared in the same manner as before, and as if Ranma got the wind knocked out of him, he looked as if he was kicked in the stomach, punched in the back, and chopped on the neck.

Ranma staggered a few steps in front of him, and struggled to regain balance, but the same invisible force attacked him, except this time they came twice as fast. First one, two, four, eight, sixteen, and thirty-two strikes hit him in a space of one minute.

Ranma refused to go down so easily, and he held himself up by the balls of his feet, struggling against fainting. No, he can't go down that fast. Ranma was a Saotome, and his style isn't to get winded, it's to knock the wind out of his opponent, unlike before, he actually saw through Hikari's trick.

"I figured it out! Yeah, the reason why you disappear when you do, I figured it out!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Oh, you catch on quickly, don't you? However, figuring out how I disappear won't protect you from my attacks." Hikari said, and reappeared in front of him, throwing Ranma back a couple paces.

"Anyway, I figured that this place is covered in shadows, and the only light that comes into here will be coming from those holes above us, and if I can only see you when you're directly under the light, you have nowhere to hide, except step back, and strike when I'm unprepared." Ranma explained his theory.

"Yes, I can see you were observant, but you are forgetting to mention one little detail." Hikari said. "You say I just step back out of the light, but that's not all. You forgot to mention how I fade into the shadows. It is like fighting in the dark, my friend. You can't see me, but I can see you perfectly."

"How do you fade so easily? It looks like you really did disappear, but there has to be some kind of trick, plus there's that speed of yours." Ranma said.

"You mean my ability of speed? Yes, I am able to strike you down with equal to or greater than your speed." Hikari said.

Hikari disappeared once again, but this time Ranma was prepared for his trick. Ranma focused on the ki traces Hikari leaves behind, this way it's like seeing him, yet not seeing him. Right. Ranma dodged the rapid succession to his right, and then left. He can see Hikari perfectly. Ranma waited for the right moment, and decided to try his Soul of Ice attack.

Ranma drew Hikari into the circle, Ranma fell backwards, and shot his ki reversal attack.

"Hiryuu Shoten Ha!" Ranma shouted, and he felt Hikari get trapped in the vortex. Hikari fell out of the vortex, and landed with a heavy thud. His cloak was ripped in many places, but his hood was still in place. Ryoga the pig, and Mousse the duck cheered in their little animalistic way.

"Now, let's see what you look like." Ranma said, and pushed the hood off of Hikari's head. Ranma stared in shock, what was left in Hikari's place was a head made out of paper. The head of paper blew away, leaving the tattered cloak behind.

"Now, do you really think I could be caught so easily? Haven't you ever heard of the substitution technique?" Hikari said from behind Ranma.

Ranma looked at Hikari as if he was seeing a ghost. "But, that's impossible! How can you still be alive after that?" Ranma shouted.

"I am the great Hikari, and I am a master of escape. I simply switched places with my shikigami in the nick of time."

"When was that?" Ranma asked.

"In the instant I vanished, I switched with my shikigami." Hikari explained.

That was the last straw; he would get Hikari next time! Ranma ran at Hikari, and prepared to launch another attack. Before Ranma could get even close to Hikari, Hikari grabbed a bucket from inside his cloak, and splashed the contents onto Ranma, transforming him into his other form again.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Ranma shouted.

"That, too, is apart of the battle. Do whatever means necessary to pull your opponent's weakness out. In this case, I activated your curse." Hikari said, and dodged Ranma's punch.

"How dare you! I'll get you for this, personally!" Ranma shouted her brains out.

"How about I cut to the chase? I'll reveal to you my special techniques, if I reveal all four in this match, then I can keep custody of your friends, and if I don't, then you win their freedom. How about it?" Hikari proposed.

"Yeah right! That's just another excuse to show off! Well, I ain't accepting the offer!" Ranma shouted.

"Are you sure about that? Behold! The first attack! First Technique of the Hikari-Style! Four Points Paralysis!" Hikari shouted, and disappeared again. Hikari reappeared in front of Ranma, and struck in four places. First he struck the shoulders, then the bottom of the spine, and finally the midsection.

Before Ranma could defend herself, her knees buckled under her, and she fell face first onto the ground, immobile. Ranma managed to lift her head up, and glare intensely at Hikari.

"What'd you do to me?" she asked. "My arms and legs feel like iron, but they're almost fifty times heavier!"

"Oh, that was called 'four points paralysis'. You see, it requires a certain amount of speed and precision. I must strike the points in your shoulders to completely immobilize your arms, but if I left your legs out, I might have to face a kick boxer, then I struck the point in your spine that connects to your pelvis, and your legs will go out." Hikari explained.

"Then, why'd you touch my chest, pervert?" Ranma asked.

"I never meant to, but that was to completely immobilize the points below the chest." Hikari said.

"Why can I still move my neck?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, I wanted you to witness some things before you are completely immobilized. I could have switched the 'four' in 'Four Points Paralysis' with 'five', that way you will not be able to move at all, but I don't want to."

"What are you planning?" Ranma asked.

"I was thinking of making this battle more interesting." Hikari said, smirking.

"Interesting, how?" Ranma asked.

"By boiling your friends alive, then we'll see how they like getting burned, and cooked! I'm hungry for some pig and duck right now! All I need now is a panda! Then, it'll be all complete!" Hikari exclaimed, and laughed maniacally. Instantly, Ryoga and Mousse squealed and quacked as they were tied up, and hung by a rope over a cauldron of boiling hot water. Even if they transformed back into humans, they'd die the instant their bodies hit the water.

"You're twisted!" Ranma shouted.

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A/N: Sorry I haven't been updating for a week and a half, it's just that school's been really tough for us high school people, and midterms granted me no time to write back to you! Now it's almost thanksgiving for all us Americans, so I have the whole week off of school! Thank goodness! Please rate, comment, and review! I'll update soon, and the last chapter to this story will be twice as good as this one! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!