Remember everyone this is based on the anime, not the manga so there are bound to be some differences. Also, in case anyone doesn't know what an epee is, it's French for sword and usually refers to a thin blade used in fencing.
Chapter Eleven
As expected Ryoga showed up several days late for the match he insisted on having. And despite all of Akane's objections, Ranma was ready for him.
"He issued the challenge to me Akane. Pracitioners of Anything Goes like us cannot turn down a challenge." He explained days ago.
"Fine, show up and wait, but if Ryoga doesn't show up to his own schedule then he forfeits the challenge and your honor is unaffected." Akane told him.
Ranma admitted to himself she had a point, but he still wasn't convinced. "It ain't that simple Akane."
"It would be if you could accept my advice. Don't you remember what I was saying earlier about you not being a little more discriminate in the challenges you accept?"
Ranma slowly shook his head. "Akane, I was given a challenge. I have to accept it. That's how it works and always will."
"Says who? Your father?" Akane questioned. "Why would you take advice about honor from a man who'd rob the family grave for 2000 yen?"
"He wouldn't do that." Ranma countered.
"In my vision he did."
"In your vision I didn't turn into a horse, so you're not always right." The pigtailed aquatransexual pointed out.
"True, but would you call your father honorable?" Akane asked.
"We're not talking about my old man Akane." Ranma countered.
"Don't change the subject Ranma. When it comes to honor your father has a 'Do as I say not as I do' attitude and you know it. Yet despite that you take what he says seriously even though he himself refuses to follow his own advice. You're old enough to decide for yourself what is and isn't honorable. So if you must fight Ryoga, do it for your reasons, not your father's or Ryoga's. And make sure you know why you have those reasons in the first place. Also, if Ryoga calls you a girl in the fight, don't let it get to you."
Akane had really hoped that Ranma would see reason, but the pigtailed teen just could not grasp the idea of turning down a challenge. As a result, he was ready to face Ryoga come hell or high water.
When Ryoga showed up it surprised them mostly because like most of Ryoga's arrivals, it was unannounced. When he did show up, he somehow walked into the athletic field while it was being used by the soccer club and got the ball to his face, making him fall no his back. The commotion alerted Akane and Ranma to his overdue arrival, and before Akane could get one last word in, Ranma went ahead and addressed his rival.
The two rivals stood in Furinkan's field facing each other with roughly ten yards between them. Ranma looked normal and Ryoga already had his umbrella in hand. Everyone in school, including a few teachers, were very interesting in seeing this, in seeing Ranma, the only person to truly defeat Kuno, fight someone with completely unknown skills. Even Kuno was watching, merely to get a better idea of what to expect of Ranma for later fights.
Shampoo sat beside Akane on some grass, heedless of Kuno also keeping his eye on her. In fact her presence was the only reason he was pestering Akane right then and there. "Airen look serious, but other guy look angry."
"He's always angry. Or moody. Generally anything but happy and he won't let himself be happy until he beats Ranma at something that Ranma can't recover from." Akane told her.
On the other side of Akane were Yuka and Sayuri watching. "Everyone's saying he's fighting a duel." Yuka commented, enjoying a vanilla ice cream cone.
Sayuri nodded. "I heard that too. Is he Akane?"
Akane shrugged. "Probably the best thing to call it. An old rivalry that was never settled and by now is pointless, but apparently these two need to settle it themselves."
"Ladies and gents! Ryoga or Ranma? Place your bets!" Nabiki's voice called out, causing the girls to turn to their lefts to see the mercenary who was shouting out with a megaphone while her business associates were collecting bets for the fight. "Who you gonna bet on? Hurry up and decide!"
Several people were eagerly placing bets, though to Akane's pleasure the higher bets were placed on Ranma. She took that as a sign that people recognized his strength. Nabiki just looked completely in her element to be handed money, telling people to get in line for placing bets.
Ryoga and Ranma were ignoring this, though they did seem to mutually decide to let the crowd get comfortable before they fought. An audience wouldn't really make things worse.
"So you came. You planned your defense well last time by surrounding yourself with girls Ranma." Ryoga stated.
"Uhh... you came to me Ryoga. Not the other way around." Ranma pointed out.
The lost boy ignored that. "It's been a month since the day I returned to Japan. I ended up in Okinawa and it was still summer there. Since then I wandered thru their jungles and the mountains that separated here from there just to get to you. And now that I'm here, I'm not leaving until you are crushed at my hands."
'Now this guy I like.' Kuno thought, sympathizing with the lost boy's words.
"I thought I was going to die for sure." Ryoga continued, then looked at Ranma with steel in his eyes. "But today it will all end."
Ranma looked annoyed by hearing this. "I don't know what to say. But you know what? I've got something to tell you too before we start." Ryoga didn't argue, which he took as a good sign. "If you lose this, you've gotta drop this Ryoga. I mean, you've been chasing me down ever since we were in middle school. I know you wanna win, but don't you want to stop being so vengeful even more?"
"This doesn't end until I win and you are more miserable than I have been." Ryoga stated.
Ranma looked annoyed. "That's exactly the sort of thing a sore loser would say. You want me to be more miserable than you? How miserable have you possibly been?"
"You would never understand." Ryoga said darkyl, ruefully.
"I might understand better than you know." The pigtailed teen said, briefly glancing towards Akane when he said that. "You want to fight over us never getting to fight in middle school? Fine, but I'm only fighting you this once on that. If you must fight me over and over again until you finally win, then at least get new reasons to. If you don't, then you're too childish for me to bother honoring your challenges anymore."
Akane smiled brightly. 'He did listen to what I said. He's just using it in his own way.'
Ryoga removed his pack and pointing his umbrella at Ranma. "You have no right to talk about honor you coward! No more babble. Let's go!"
With that he moved forward and thrust his umbrella like a fencer would their epee. Ranma dodged the first strike and backed up from the second one. Ryoga changed tactics to try a slashing move with his weapon which Ranma ducked under and jumped over interchangeably.
"Did you go to China?" Ranma asked during a jump.
Ryoga jumped up, now trying to use his umbrella like a hammer. "Shut up!" He swung it down but Ranma, being an expert in mid-air maneuvers, spun in the air to dodge and still landed on his feet. As soon as Ryoga landed he tried another direct attack.
"This is scary compared to the sights I've seen Kuno in." Sayuri mentioned.
Akane looked in no way bothered, having of course seen much more. This fight was almost domestic by comparison to the ones to come in time. Shampoo wasn't too bothered either, used to a high degree of risk and competition in fights.
Nabiki kept her eye on the spar while one of her associates went over the collections. "Okay, the take is 11,473 yen. And they all bet on Ranma."
"You sure about this Nabiki? We took so many bets." Another associate asked. "If Ranma wins, we'll be bankrupt."
"I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve." Nabiki reassured. "Leave it to me."
'Does she plan on rigging the outcome?' The two girls thought, looking at Nabiki's confident grin.
Unknown to Akane, five boys from the Furinkan High chemisty club were at the far end of the field, watching the fight with interest.
"If Ranma, Akane Tendo's fiancee, were to fall in this duel..." One of them said before all five briefly spared the aforementioned girl a glance.
"Then perhaps..." Another of them added.
"Akane would be free..."
"To become the chemisty club's..."
Rather than finish, they just quietly laughed among themselves.
Back in the fight, Ryoga was breathing a bit heavily but otherwise looked as fine as before. He now opened the umbrella. "Take this!" He threw the umbrella and it moved like some sort of frisbee-top hybrid which Ranma effortlessly dodged. 'Akane said his umbrella is heavier than it looks, and likely sharper too. Gotta avoid any form of contact with it, even defensive.'
When Ranma's eyes were on the umbrella, Ryoga saw an opportunity. He threw a set of handcuffs that latched onto Ranma's right wrist, but instead of a short chain this set had a long wire, allowing Ryoga to attach the other cuff to his left wrist without being right next to his opponent.
"Now you can't run." Ryoga said.
"More like you can't get lost." Ranma corrected.
Ryoga rushed in to hit Ranma directly, which Ranma blocked. Ryoga followed up with a high kick that Ranma countered with one of his own, both blocking the other. At the same time the spinning umbrella came to a halt by the grassy surroundings of the field, and one nearby student curiously inspected it. Unaware, Ryoga and Ranma kept exchanging blows, neither one the obvious winner so far.
"Wow, that new guy fights as well as Saotome." A male student said.
Shampoo looked at him and shook her head. "No even close."
Akane looked to where she saw the umbrella land and as expected she saw the guy struggle just to lift the handle. 'Good thing I already warned Ranma about how Ryoga fights at this point. He shouldn't have any trouble.'
Ryoga aimed for Ranma's face but only scratched his left cheek with his thumb. This was enough to draw blood. Ranma wiped this wound but looked merely amused. "Alright Ryoga, now I'm serious." Ranma often took fights lightly in the beginning, but once he was hurt or someone outside the fight was in danger, he stopped with that approach.
"Oh, now you're serious? Don't make me laugh." Ryoga countered.
One of the kendo club members approached Kuno, who was still watching in hopes Ranma would lose. "Captain Kuno, that guy Ranma's fighting sure looks strong."
Kuno looked unaffected by the statement. "Perhaps he'd be interested in an alliance. The enemy of your enemy is your friend are they not?"
Ryoga jabbed his right arm forward looking an awful lot like he was trying to gouge Ranma's eyes out that time. The pigtailed teen ducked and used the wire for a pendulum effect to get under and behind the lost boy. The inertia allowed him to lock his feet around Ryoga's neck and quickly put all his weight on Ryoga's back, forcing the bandanna'ed boy to fall on his face.
"Okay Ryoga, how do you want this to end?" Ranma taunted.
"Uh oh, Ranma's going to win." Nabiki's first associate said, while the mercenary herself looked angry to see this unprofitable outcome. "What are we going to do Nabiki?"
At the same time the chemistry club was chanting/praying for Ranma to lose as well, just more openly than Nabiki was.
Angry, Ryoga grit his teeth. "With me as the victor!" Using his one free hand, his cuffed hand in no position to do anything thanks to Ranma's move, Ryoga gathered all his strength and did a hand stand then jumped into the air with Ranma still holding on. Ranma let go but went up with Ryoga, and now he was no longer behind Ryoga in his blind spot.
"He did that one-handed?" Hiroshi asked, astonished by the inhuman feat.
"No way!" Sayuri stated, also not believing her eyes.
Ryoga tried a few kicks but only Ranma landed on, right in Ryoga's gut. Ranma landed first, on his hands, and kicked Ryoga in the collarbone before he landed, sending him up and away. The wire went taut and pulled Ranma with him, but he planned for this and used the momentum to try a driving kick to his rival, who blocked with crossed arms. Even so, the attack downed Ryoga and made him land not far from where his umbrella was.
He saw it and before anyone could stop him Ryoga grabbed it. Ranma followed him, mostly because of the connecting wire, and the two ran up a chain link wall that surrounded the school tennis courts like squirrels. As they headed for the other side, the audience rushed to not miss the fight.
Right now, the chemistry club was pleased by this course of action. "Just like we expected." The tallest member said.
"The mines are in place and set now." The shortest member told him, having buried them before the match suspecting Ranma and Ryoga would take it in this direction.
"Hide everyone." The tall member said, and they took cover in the bushes. "Ranma, face the chemistry club's super-dimensional land mines we have been working on for days specifically for you."
Ranma and Ryoga came to a stop right in the area the chemistry club placed their weapons, too focused on each other to notice the subtle bumps in the dirt. Kicks and punches were exchanged, but no mines were triggered by their actions, even though one of them was clearly stepped on.
"Duds? They're duds! Now what do we do?" The chemistry club leader said in grief.
"We've got one last resort." Another member told him, mixing two liquids in beakers. "We mix two chemicals together then place them upwind of Ranma, forcing him to breath in the combined gas product. He's guaranteed to experience fatigue and headaches that will cost him the match." Unfortunately as he said this, the mixture was formed under his nose and he inhaled the aroma of his mixture, making him look drugged. "I feel good right now."
"Don't breathe it in you fool!" The leader said forcefully, punching his club mate in the face to knock him out of his stupor. "We shouldn't fall prey to our own weapons." 'Though the mixture is too risky, so I guess we better try something more reliable.'
Ranma and Ryoga were trying to force the other to give in, when suddenly the chemistry club decided to try the direct approach this time. They jumped out to land a sneak attack on Ranma with wooden mallets.
"Akane will be happy with us!" They shouted. "So rest in peace Ranma!"
Unfortunately for them, their attacks hit the wire and cut thru it, allowing Ranma to separate from Ryoga, and their mallets landed on the still-buried mines, which apparently weren't duds after all and just needed more force to be triggered. They glowed and Ranma and Ryoga immediately left but the chemistry club couldn't and took the force of the blast.
"Over here!" Nabiki called out, seeing the blast and letting her associates know where the fight had moved to. When they got there, they only saw five smoking holes and five charred but still alive bodies. Nabiki just smiled. "Okay ladies that's our cue. They've left the school grounds. Don't lose them."
Ranma and Ryoga were still sparring in the streets of Nerima. Ryoga had been thrown back into a metal pole, hurting his back a little. "You give up yet Ryoga, or do you want more?"
Nabiki showed up before the losst boy could answer. "There they are." Nabiki came right up to a confused Ryoga and whispered in his ear. "Relax, we're on your side. You know about vitamins right?" She held up two white pills. "Take these and your strength will increase tenfold long enough to win this."
"What?" Ryoga asked, skeptical by curious. Nonetheless, he took them. Nabiki even provided water to swallow them with.
"You will be the world's strongest man." Nabiki told him, sounding like a motivational speaker with an agenda. "No one will be able to stop you. Incomparable. Unrivaled. You are great! Gods kneel before you! You're turning into a tiger!"
Ryoga's eyes practically glowed with unbridled power. He held himself much like a bodybuilder showing off would. "The power's flowing into me! I'm burning with it! I can win! I will win!"
He grabbed the pole behind him to test this out. Bear-hugging it, he lifted it like out of the ground as Nabiki and her crew got away. "Now Ranma, fight me fair and square."
"How is it fair and square if you've just taken something given to you by outside help?" Ranma asked.
Ryoga could not possibly care less. "Enough questions!" He declared as he held the pole like a lance and charged forward. He hit the wall behind Ranma punching a hole thru it. When Ranma was stunned he tried again and missed again, creating another hole.
Tired of dealing with this, Ranma got away from the range of the pole.
"Running away again Ranma?" Ryoga bitterly asked, refusing to see Ranma's tactics as anything other than what a mouse might do in his place. "You won't escape!" He yelled as he ran after him, the crowd from Furinkan now on his trail.
Ranma soon came to a stop. "Wasn't trying to escape you Ryoga. I just wanted to fight here instead."
Confused, Ryoga looked around and saw they were no longer in the streets but in a public park. One that just so happened to have a fountain in it. Seeing the water made him freeze for a moment.
"After you failed to show up on time you followed me Ryoga. You followed me all the way to China. To Jusenkyo. And now you change when you get wet." Ranma stated. "The crowd's catching up Ryoga. Want to risk them seeing you change? And if I get wet, you will too. You willing to take that risk?"
Ryoga's resolve faltered and he no longer felt so strong. "I can still win this!" He repositioned himself so that Ranma was between him and the water and swung his pole at Ranma, this time the broken end grazing him enough to cut open his shirt.
"Great, these silk shirts are a pain to mend." Ranma moaned.
"Quit whining like a girl." Ryoga ordered.
Ranma couldn't help but feel angry at that, since it was exactly what Genma said to him whenever he resisted more training or activity. But before he gave in to his anger, he remembered Akane's words. 'Also, if Ryoga calls you a girl in the fight, don't let it get to you.' With that, he restrained himself enough to surprise even him.
"What do you know about girls? When was the last time you even spoke to one without asking them where you were?" Ranma taunted.
"That's your fault!" Ryoga said before lunging at Ranma, who jumped forward and kicked Ryoga's pole cracking it and making the lost boy stop for a moment.
"How is that my fault?" Ranma yelled as the crowd from Furinkan found them and resumed watching this fight.
"Because you ran out on our fight and I had to chase you down to get the win I deserve! I haven't had time to find a girlfriend because of you!" Ryoga said, attacking with the pole like he was trying to decapitate Ranma with it.
Ranma looked mad and punched the pole in the crack, shattering it into pieces that Ryoga could not use. "That's your fault Ryoga! I didn't make you follow after me! You could have stayed home and moved on, but instead you had to be a little bitch about it and go after me for something you were late for! Your lack of a romantic life is your fault, not mine!"
"Shut up!" Ryoga yelled, refusing to see reason on this. To him Ranma was guilty and that's that, absolute end of story.
"No you shut up!" Akane shouted, having heard that last bit of their dialogue. "Ranma's completely right. You made the choice to challenge Ranma to a spar knowing full well you've never beaten him before. You made the choice to not prioritize being there on time knowing full well you might get lost otherwise. You made the choice to follow after him even after he left the country. And you made the choice to do nothing else in your life until you finished. Get it? You are to blame for your own problems!"
"You did all that?" Yuka asked. "For crying out loud get a life!" Several other students nodded when they thought over it. Up until now, some wondered if maybe Ranma had offended Ryoga and that's why the lost boy was so determined to win. But hearing he just wanted to displace blame off himself onto Ranma made them realize Ryoga was just vain.
Angered, Ryoga just stared Ranma down. "It doesn't matter what you or anyone else says. I'm going to win and that's all that matters." He then removed four bandannas from his head one by one, all without leaving his head bare. He spun them around in his hand for a bit, then jumped up and threw them like shuriken. Wires woven into the fabric grew taut from the direct momentum and became like razors in the spin.
Everyone had to run and try to hide since the bandannas flew around uncontrollably and bounced off whatever they didn't cut. Some students got tears in their clothes or skin and some got some hair cut off too, but no injury was life threatening fortunately. Nonetheless they all ran from the area except for a few.
Reacting on sheer instinct, Ranma grabbed Akane and lifted her out of the danger zone, jumping into one of the surrounding trees. Ryoga jumped upwards but without warning Shampoo jumped out of the neighboring tree and caught him by surprise, knocking him off course and forcing him down into the fountain with her.
Seeing this, Ranma got out of the tree with Akane still clinging to him. "Let's see what he becomes."
The two approached the fountain to see what the lost boy would become now that he was wet. First came Shampoo with fox features, who stepped out of the water and shook off. Then what could only be Ryoga emerged.
'That's definitely not P-chan.' Akane thought.