========================= RELENTLESS A Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction By Grayson Towler ========================= ----------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER SIX: Hard Lessons ----------------------------------------------------------- Saotome Ranma shuffled through the dark forest back towards the campfire, where Ukyou and Ryouga awaited. The bulky sack he carried across his shoulder shifted and rustled as he adjusted it to a more comfortable position. The young martial artist was deep in thought - the departure of Pantyhose Tarou had put him and his friends in a dangerous position. Even if the weather stayed mild, they couldn't make very good time in this harsh and mountainous terrain. The Reikoku was going to catch up to them, sooner or later. And that meant that somebody had to fight it. All three had beaten the monster once, and none of them were adequately prepared to defeat it a second time. If they were going to stand a chance against it, they needed to train. Ranma was least certain about how to handle his own training. He was quite confident that neither of his companions had much to teach him in the way of martial arts. Ukyou's okonomiyaki-style technique was far too specialized and limited for his interests, and Ryouga's style of fighting drew upon physical strengths which were completely different from Ranma's own. Ranma and Ryouga had pushed each others' limits in the past, honing their skills with their battles, but Ranma doubted he'd be able to learn much by training with the Lost Boy. There was no way in hell he was going to try to emulate Ryouga's bakusai ten-ketsu training - only a total maniac would put himself through that. He was going to have to innovate. He'd have to come up with something new and powerful, something he could throw at the Reikoku that could shift the balance of the fight in his favor. Right now, he had no idea where he'd begin... except for a vague notion based on something crazy his father had told him not too long ago. He could scarcely credit the idea as having any merit, yet he couldn't banish it from his mind either. Maybe, just maybe... Ranma shook his head slightly, shelving the idea for the moment so he could concentrate on the task ahead. Maybe Ukyou and Ryouga couldn't teach him much of anything about martial arts, but he had plenty he could show them. He'd prefer to handle the Reikoku himself - after all, he was the Master of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, it was his problem - but he couldn't let them risk facing the creature unprepared again. Besides, training them was a good way to brush up on his own skills, and might give him some ideas about how he could train himself. At least they were sufficiently advanced that he wouldn't have to sweat the basics. They were ready for the high-level techniques. He had considered starting with his father's Umisen-ken and Yamasen-ken styles (the "noisy thief" and "quiet thief" martial arts styles) - his father had said they were too dangerous to use, but since Ranma was the Master he could make his own judgments. If he knew the brute force-based Yamasen-ken, they might have been good for Ryouga - but he hadn't actually trained in them, and didn't want to waste time trying to figure them out just from having observed them used by another. As for the Umisen-ken, those centered around masking one's presence from the enemy, and he doubted that would actually work to befuddle the unerring supernatural tracking of the Reikoku. No, they needed something more versatile, something that would help them increase their overall martial arts skill and power. He had just the technique in mind. Ranma entered the clearing. Ryouga and Ukyou turned silently to face him as he approached the campfire and sat down, his visage serious and determined. Ranma set the bulky sack and its rustling contents down in front of him, then gave them both a grave look. He opened the bag. "The Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken," he announced. "The Imperial Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire technique." Ryouga eyed the contents of the bag. "Those are acorns," he observed. Ranma glared at him. "I know that, stupid. Just pretend they're chestnuts, okay?" "I'm not eating acorns," Ryouga grumbled. Ranma smacked him on the head irritably. "We ain't here to eat! We're here to train, you dolt!" "What the hell are you talking about?" Ryouga snapped back. "Quit hitting me!" "Hey," Ukyou piped up, "isn't that what you shout whenever you do that thing with all the punches?" Ranma sighed. "Yeah, that's right." "So you're gonna teach us that?" Ukyou asked. "Yes and no," Ranma explained, trying to be patient. "The Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken ain't really a fast-punch trick. It's a training technique which improves your overall speed and coordination. That's what I'm gonna to teach you. The fast-punch attack is just one application of the training." "It's a training technique?" Ukyou looked confused. "Then how come you're always shouting about chestnuts in the middle of a fight? I always thought that was kind of weird." Ranma was thrown off stride. "Uh... I don't know. It just kinda made sense to me, okay?" "So when I learn this," Ukyou continued, "I can say whatever I want in battle? I don't have to yell about chestnuts?" "Or acorns," Ryouga provided. "Shut up! Look," Ranma growled, "that stuff ain't important. Do you wanna learn this technique or not?" Ukyou threw up her hands. "Okay, okay! Don't get all bent outta shape, Ranchan. Show us the training, sugar." Ranma grumbled irritably to himself a bit, then composed himself. "It's better to show you than explain," he stated. "Watch closely." As Ranma grabbed two handfuls of acorns and hurled them into the campfire, he felt a pang of unexpected nervousness. It occurred to him for the first time that he had never actually done this. Cologne had shown him the technique this way, but she'd also sabotaged his efforts to use the training by making him super-sensitive to heat. He'd been forced to create alternative training methods of his own. In all that, he never DID actually get around to doing the trick with the fire. he assured himself. Ranma's hands disappeared into a blur of speed, streaking into the campfire with mind-boggling quickness and accuracy. Each time he lashed out, he snatched an acorn from the searing blaze, moving too fast for the flames to catch him. A few heartbeats later, he held two handfuls of acorns aloft, still steaming from their brief exposure to the open flame. he thought, with a certain degree of relief. Ukyou and Ryouga looked suitably impressed. Ranma favored them with a smug smile, and let the acorns clatter back into the pile. "The trick," he explained, "is to move so fast that you ain't burned, and to get all the chestnuts before they get too..." "Acorns," Ryouga corrected. "Shut up," Ranma snapped. "How long did it take you to learn this?" Ukyou asked. "One night," Ranma answered, radiating self-satisfaction. At some level, he knew perfectly well that wasn't true - he realized that Cologne had been preparing him for the training in her own roundabout fashion while he had been working as a waitress in her cafe - but technically it had only required a very short period of actual training to master the technique once he figured out a proper substitute for the campfire method. The young Saotome was certainly not above putting a favorable spin on his own past. "Bah," Ryouga grumbled. "Really?" Ukyou's eyes were wide with admiration. Ranma tried to look humble, and failed miserably. "Now it might take you guys a little longer," he said. "After all, I'm..." "I'll learn it in one night!" Ryouga shouted. "Watch this!" The lost boy scooped up two handfuls of acorns and hurled them into the campfire. With a snarl of anger, he began thrusting his hands into the blaze. He managed to snatch two acorns before he reared back with a howl of pain, clutching his hand. A glowing ember tumbled forth from his palm and onto the ground. "Way too slow," Ranma chided. "And you gotta aim for the acorns, stupid. Grabbin' hot coals ain't gonna do you no good..." "I know that!" Ryouga growled back. "It's just hard to see them!" Ranma shook his head sadly, then plucked the remaining acorns that Ryouga had left behind back out of the flames. The lost boy glowered silently at the display, nursing his singed hand. "Man, I expected better. Okay, Ucchan, give it a shot." "Uh..." Ukyou regarded the campfire uncertainly. It was quite a healthy blaze, she observed nervously - much hotter than she would have used for cooking, for instance. The flames were over a meter high, she couldn't help but notice. "Could we use a smaller fire, maybe?" Ranma scowled. "You don't get to be a powerful martial artist by bein' a sissy. C'mon, Ucchan! I thought you were tough!" The okonomiyaki chef swallowed nervously, then scooped up some acorns. She settled herself in front of the fire, already sweating from the heat. The flames were so bright she could barely look directly at them. She understood how Ryouga had lost track of the acorns in all that. "Here goes nothing," she muttered, and tossed the acorns in. Ranma sighed and rolled his eyes the moment he saw how Ukyou was going after the acorns. She was fast enough to pull them out of the heat one at a time, but she took a moment to orient on each one and make sure of her aim before she reached in. The pauses between each grab gave her hands a moment longer to cool off, but Ranma knew what the result of this approach was going to be. With a screech, she dropped the last acorn she'd pulled from the flames and fell backwards. Steam rose from the small nut as it rolled to a rest on the dirt. "All wrong, all wrong," Ranma admonished. "You don't peck 'em out like a bird, one at a time. That gives 'em time to get hot! Here, let me show you again." Ranma snatched the remaining acorns from the fire. They'd already heated up to the point that he couldn't hold onto them for more than a split second, so he stacked them neatly into a pile as he pulled them free. "See?" he said. "You gotta keep up the pace until you got 'em all." "I... I don't know if..." Ukyou stammered. "What's the matter, can't stand the heat?" Ranma taunted. Students needed a kick in the butt when they weren't trying their hardest. "You guys are s'posed to be martial artists, last time I checked. Can't you even..." "SHUT UP!" Ryouga bellowed, his face practically glowing red with his anger. Nothing irritated him more than Ranma's smugness. "I'll show you who's a martial artist!" The bandanna-clad youth hurled another bunch of acorns into the campfire and faced the blaze with fierce determination. His wrath had been stoked high by Ranma's egotistic superiority, and his battle aura flared to life around him. With a thunderous war cry, he thrust his hands into the flames and began to snatch the acorns out of the fire one by one. He sometimes scooped up some embers and coals along with his grabs, but he paid them no mind. he thought. He would show Ranma! "There!" he shouted triumphantly, holding aloft two handfuls of acorns, mixed in with some glowing cinders. "How'd you like..." Much to Ryouga's astonishment, Ranma responded by throwing a blanket over his body and stomping on him. The harsh metallic clangs told him that Ukyou was contributing a few whacks from her battle spatula as well. He spluttered angrily and fought free of the woolen prison, flailing madly under the rain of blows until he finally emerged from beneath the blanket. "What the hell was THAT for?" he howled indignantly as he struggled to his feet. "Look, you dope!" Ranma said, pointing to the ground around him. Ryouga looked. There was a charred, blackened patch of earth radiating out from where he had been sitting. Several branches and twigs which had been lying around him were smoldering and singed. Ranma raised an eyebrow. "That ain't exactly the point of the training, numbskull." "What happened?" he asked with confusion. "You weren't goin' anywhere close to fast enough to get the acorns, dimwit. You just got your battle aura so hot that you could withstand the flames. You were gonna start a forest fire at that rate, buddy." "You didn't have to beat on me!" he snarled, rubbing his head irritably. "Would you rather we'd doused you with cold water, P-Chan?" Ranma teased. Ryouga spluttered incoherently, still fuming with anger but unable to conceive a proper response. He finally settled on the reflexive one: "Just shut up, Ranma!" Ranma sniffed disapprovingly. "I don't know if you're cut out for this technique, Ryouga. Anything more subtle than wreckin' rocks is outta your league. Maybe you ought to leave the fightin' to me from now on." "Ranma..." Ryouga growled menacingly, clenching his fists. Ranma ignored him. When you were a teacher, you didn't get anywhere by coddling your students. You had to push them harder than they'd ever push themselves. "And you, Ucchan. You gonna give it another shot?" "I..." Ukyou shot a worried glance at the bonfire. The burns on her hands still stung painfully. "I don't know, Ranchan... maybe I..." Ranma rolled his eyes and made a disparaging noise. "Never mind. This was probably a waste of time." Ukyou looked stricken. Some part of Ranma regretted stepping on her feelings that way, but he reminded himself that he had to be hard if he wanted to be their teacher. He steeled his resolve and his expression, leaving no room for sympathy in his visage and voice. "Maybe I overestimated you guys," he announced. "I'm gonna have to think about how to train down to your level." Without waiting for a response, he rose to his feet and made his way over to his bedroll. He paused a moment, considering... then picked his gear up and began to carry it off. "Where are you going?" Ukyou said from behind him. Her voice was tight and strained. He didn't look back at her as he responded. "I'm gonna sleep a little bit apart from you guys," he said. He didn't explain why. He didn't know if his self-training idea had any chance of succeeding at all, but he figured it couldn't hurt to take a few precautions if it did. "Get some rest. We've got another hard day tomorrow." Saotome Ranma left his companions by the campfire, and shuffled off to make his preparations for sleep. - - - - - - Over an hour later, Ryouga was still staring into the flickering remains of the campfire. He spared an occasional rueful glance towards the pile of acorns off to the side, but mostly he just stared and thought. It was hard to cool down from being so mad at Ranma. Did that guy practice at being obnoxious, or was it in the blood? Even if he and Ranma hadn't shared all sorts of painful history, he was pretty sure he'd find the pig-tailed boy just as infuriating. Still, it wasn't an entirely wasted evening. Ryouga picked up one of the blackened twigs from the ground beside him and regarded it thoughtfully. The gears in his mind turned over slowly but inexorably. He was distracted by a rustling sound from beyond the dim sphere of illumination. He looked up to see Ukyou approaching him, her blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl. "You couldn't sleep either, sugar?" she muttered. Ryouga grunted. She seemed to take that as a "yes," and sat down beside him in front of the campfire. A long moment of silence passed between them as they listened to the crackle of the remaining flames. "Well," Ukyou said, "that didn't go too well, did it?" "Ranma's a jerk," Ryouga grumbled. "And he's a liar. He didn't learn that technique in one night." "How do you know?" He shrugged. "I just do." "It only took him three days to master that 'Heavenly Dragon Ascension' thing. I was there," she reminded him. "Didya ever consider that he might be telling the truth?" "Feh," Ryouga huffed. He refused to believe it. Ranma was one of the most incorrigible liars he'd ever met. Still, no point in arguing about it with Ukyou - she thought Saotome walked on water. It boggled the mind. "Anyway," she said, "I was thinking. Maybe it'll just take longer for you and me, hmm? Maybe Ranma just had a knack for this, and we have to work harder." Ryouga shrugged. "Maybe. You think we should try again?" Ukyou sighed heavily, massaging the burns on her hands. "Yeah, I do. I... just have to... to give it my all. That's all there is to it." Ryouga scowled. He wasn't the most perceptive of people, but even he could tell what was behind this. She didn't want to look bad in her 'Ranchan's' eyes. She'd go so far as to burn her hands to a crisp to try to impress him. What she saw in that guy was a complete mystery to him, but women never made much sense to Ryouga anyway. Still, he couldn't just sit back and let her hurt herself over that jerk. "All right, look," he told her, "we'll give it another shot. But we'll do it on this fire, okay?" he gestured at the mild flames. "But Ranchan said..." "Forget that!" Ryouga snapped, then moderated his tone. "You said yourself that he probably had a knack for this, right? Well, you and me obviously don't have that kind of innate gift, so we're going to have to work our way up to the real thing. You have to walk before you can run." A relieved smile lit up Ukyou's face. Ryouga blushed a little bit at the grateful look in her eyes - he hoped it was too dark for her to tell. "That sounds good to me, Ryouga! Let's do it!" "Tie your hair back," he advised her. "And let's get a bucket of water to dunk our hands in if we burn ourselves." "Do we need to warm it up for you? You know, so you don't... uh...you know." He shrugged. "I won't change if I just get my hands a little wet." She nodded. "I'll be right back, sugar." Ukyou hurried off, and Ryouga stared thoughtfully at the fire. He checked the kindling to make sure they had enough to keep the fire burning at this level for a while, then gathered the acorns in front of himself. He decided that they should probably start with fewer acorns at a time as well, just so they could get used to the motion. Ranma was right about Ukyou's "hunt and peck" style - he'd have to figure out how to teach her to get over that instinct. Maybe if she took a moment to visualize pulling the acorns out of the flames first, so she knew where they all were and in what order she'd grab them, she could get them all without having to pick her targets first. And he'd have to work on not grabbing big handfuls when he went for an acorn... "I got the water," Ukyou announced. "Good," he said. She settled herself down beside him on her knees, facing the fire. He gave her an encouraging nod - not a smile, but with eyes full of determination. She returned the nod and mustered her concentration. "Okay," he began, picking up a small handful of acorns. "Here's what I want you to try first..." - - - - - - Dr. Tofu looked on with concern as Akane strained to adjust the boulder in its harness. She was clearly struggling with the bulk of the great stone and the awkwardness of the dangling rope contraption which supported it. "Are you sure you don't want a hand, Akane-chan?" he called. "I'm fine!" she grunted back. "I just >whuff< need a few more minutes!" He sighed. It was probably for the best - she needed to do everything she could to build up her strength. Still, he was pretty certain this effort was pointless. She had decided today that it might be easier to find the breaking point if the boulder were at a different angle, so she was struggling with the tedious task of adjusting its position. Dr. Tofu didn't have a complete understanding of the technique, but he was mostly sure that the position of the rock didn't make any difference. Still, he didn't know if he should tell Akane that or not. The Amazons had refined this training technique for centuries, from what he understood. He wasn't confident enough of his own knowledge that he wanted to interfere with their method. Cologne had said: "Look for the breaking point with your mind's eye." If shifting the boulder around in its harness helped Akane focus her mind's eye, then perhaps it would help her towards mastering the technique. He didn't know, so he kept his silence. "Okay!" Akane shouted as she worked her way into her own harness. "I'm ready!" "Very good, Akane-chan!" "I have a good feeling about this!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "I really think I'm gonna do it this time!" "Do your best, Akane-chan!" Tofu called back, forcing a smile. "Growf!" added the panda beside him, as he held up a sign - [Try not to let yourself get smashed to a pulp!] Dr. Tofu sighed. He was glad that Akane was too far away to read that. The youngest Tendou girl turned her attention to the boulder before her, focusing her concentration. Tofu could see her battle aura flaring to life around her - a bright, scintillating blue. She was really concentrating this time. Could it be possible that she was on the verge of a breakthrough? Tofu realized he was holding his breath. Akane jerked the release cord, setting herself and the boulder on a collision course. She let fly with a battle cry which echoed through the trees as she hurtled towards the speeding mass of stone, her finger extended before her like a lance, her battle aura leaving an ephemeral blue trail in her wake. With a sickening thud, she slammed into the rock. Her battle aura failed instantly as she went unconscious. The rock continued along its trajectory, its momentum hardly altered at all by the insignificant impact of the young martial artist. Tofu cringed at the sight. It was always painful to watch. "Okay, Saotome-san," he instructed. "Let's get her down and back to the clinic." Dr. Tofu desperately wished he'd been able to see the bakusai ten-ketsu technique in action, at least once. It might have helped him confirm some of his theories about how it worked, and how he might help Akane with her training. All he really knew was what Cologne had done to teach it to Ryouga. That was fine, but Ryouga had been phenomenally strong even before he was exposed to the training. Tofu was certain that the bakusai ten-ketsu demanded a certain degree of physical strength and stamina before you could expect to execute it, but he didn't know how far away Akane was from reaching that level. Certainly, she had a long way to go. Was there some other way to teach this? He didn't know. The Amazons might have had all sorts of different training methods for those who needed to work up to learning the breaking point, but all Akane had to work with was this brutal and punishing regimen. The only problem was that it took so much out of her that she ignored all her other training. She simply didn't have the energy to keep up with her normal routines and exercises. Tofu was worried that she wasn't going to make much headway at this pace, and afraid that she would really damage herself one of these times. At least she was wearing the pads. At least she was facing the rock with authority without panicking. Perhaps it wasn't a totally hopeless cause. Dr. Tofu gently inspected the inert Akane for any wounds which would require immediate attention. Once again, she had managed to survive the impact without serious injury. Maybe that was a sign for optimism, after all. "And maybe she's just lucky, eh, Saotome-san?" he muttered aloud. "Mrrf," the panda commented unhelpfully. - - - - - - Ranma was starting to get worried about how slow they were going. Every delay they faced brought the Reikoku that much closer to them, but he didn't know what else they could do. The days were shorter this late in the year, the weather was always a threat. Even exceptional athletes and martial artists had to respect the elements and the terrain. It was taking too long to get out of the mountains. "One more!" "You sure about that, sugar?" "Let's do it!" Ranma glanced back over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. Ukyou and Ryouga didn't seem to be as worried about their pace. Maybe they were just too thick to understand the danger, he thought sourly. At least they'd found a way to distract themselves, as pointless as it was. They called it training, though Ranma certainly wouldn't dignify it as such. It was more like little games that they thought up on the fly. Today, for instance, they were juggling Ukyou's throwing spatulas. They'd started out doing it individually, but now they'd moved on to tossing the little weapons between them in the air. Ranma had tried to pick up the pace to throw them off (even though he knew they wouldn't go any farther than the base of the next cliff face today, no matter how fast they traveled), but that just seemed to encourage them. Juggling on the run was more of a challenge. Now they followed Ranma at a walking pace, orbiting one another in a sort of brisk dance as they kept the gleaming spatulas flying in the air. "Ouch!" >clatter< "You okay, Ryouga?" "Yeah... just nicked myself. " "You gotta catch 'em by the handle, sugar." "It's trickier than juggling rocks. Let's keep going." Ranma didn't break stride as the two paused to retrieve the dropped weapons from the ground. They'd just have to catch up to him if they wanted to keep fooling around while they traveled. They'd been doing this sort of thing the past few days, and it was really starting to get on Ranma's nerves. They called it agility training, claiming that they were trying to work up to the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken technique. Every night, they would pluck a few acorns out of a dinky little campfire and congratulate themselves on their progress. What a waste of time! This was an elite technique they were talking about, not some sort stupid circus trick. You didn't master stuff like the Amaguriken unless you pushed yourself. The training had to be dangerous and demanding, and you had to expect to feel some pain along the way... certainly more pain than a little cut on the hand from a spatula. He was especially disgusted with Ryouga - this was a guy who'd gone through that insane bakusai ten-ketsu training. He, of all people, should know better. Ranma ran his fingers through his bangs and grumbled irritably to himself. He wasn't sleeping very well these days. His own training hadn't been going as he'd hoped - all he was doing was giving himself nightmares. He'd always considered "dream visualization" training sort of hokey and useless, but maybe if he found some way to focus the subject of the nightmares... He sniffed and glanced back over his shoulder again. They were at it again. A distant buzzing noise caught Ranma's attention. He turned and spied something in the trees. He smiled to himself as he realized what it was. He'd show these clowns a real training technique... "Heads up, guys!" Ryouga and Ukyou turned towards Ranma's voice, catching the spatulas they'd been juggling before they fell. Ranma was cloaked in his sleeping blanket, holding a long branch with a rounded object dangling on the end. "If ya can stun all the bees before they sting you," Ranma announced, swinging the beehive on the end of the branch, "then you've got some speed!" Ukyou screamed in terror as Ranma hurled the beehive towards them. Ryouga was startled by the extremity of her reaction, but didn't have much time to think about it before the angry swarm was upon them. Ukyou immediately took to her heels and ran like the hounds of hell were after her. Ryouga tried a few swipes at the buzzing mass before he realized the futility of the exercise. He drew out his umbrella and tried to hide underneath it. Ukyou continued to scream and run around like she was on fire, a part of the swarm chasing her. Ranma shook his head sadly - she wasn't even trying to hit the bees. Girls were such wimps about bugs and stuff. She blew by him at a full sprint, shrieking uncontrollably, and he decided that was enough. "Watch this, Ucchan!" he announced. Ranma set into the living cloud like a whirlwind, striking out with astonishing speed and precision at the angry bees, ducking and dodging as they swarmed around him. The insects fell from the air like raindrops as he continued his high-speed assault. Seconds later, Ranma pulled back and regarded his handiwork proudly. His pop was a moron most of the time, but he did come up with some great training exercises. "Now," he said, turning back towards Ukyou, "that's the sorta thing you gotta..." An immense spatula pounded him flat with a resounding "clang." "Ranchan you IDIOT!" Ukyou howled. She drew back, trembling and panting, flushed with anger and adrenaline. "How could you DO that to me?" Ranma peeled himself off the ground and rubbed his head. "What the heck was that for?" "I'm allergic to bee stings, you jackass!" Ukyou still remembered the time she was eight years old and she'd been stung. She'd stopped breathing twice - if there hadn't been a doctor close by, she'd surely have died. Her arm had been swollen up like a watermelon for almost a week. The thought of being in the middle of a swarm like that filled her with cold terror. Ranma looked at her like she'd gone nuts. Allergic to bee stings? Who ever heard of something like that? What, did that means she got a runny nose when she got stung? "Ucchan, if you ain't willin' to put yourself on the line for your trainin', you're never gonna be a real martial artist." Ukyou simply gaped in disbelief. She simply couldn't believe he was suggesting that she should... that she should... "RANMA!!" The young Saotome dodged an instant before Ryouga's umbrella hit. The Lost Boy staggered towards the two of them. His face and arms were swollen with angry red welts where the bees had found their mark. He wobbled unsteadily on his feet. "Ryouga..." Ukyou gasped. She rushed towards the bandanna-clad boy and offered her shoulder for support. "Oh boy, you're a mess!" "I'm going to count these stings, Saotome Ranma," Ryouga snarled. "And I'll pay you back tenfold for each one!" "Yeah, yeah," Ranma scoffed. That was the sort of thing Ryouga always said. "If you'd been fast enough, you wouldn't have been stung so much." "Shut up! Even you couldn't have avoided so many!" Ranma just smiled and gestured towards the inert bees which littered the ground around him. Most of them had been squashed flat by Ukyou's spatula assault. Ryouga glared unsteadily at the carnage of insects. "You're such a bastard," he snarled. "Come on, P-Chan," Ranma teased. "Don't think I'm gonna slow down just for you. We've still got a lot of ground to cover today." He turned and jogged off into the woods. "You gonna make it?" Ukyou asked gently. She had to look away - the sight of so many bee stings set her shuddering uncontrollably. "Yeah, I'm fine," Ryouga growled. He was stiff and sore, but the pain wasn't unbearable. He'd had worse in his time. He wasn't going to give Ranma the satisfaction of seeing him struggle. "Let's get moving." - - - - - - The guards never even saw what hit them. With a pair of lightning-quick, perfectly accurate strikes, Pantyhose Tarou rendered them both unconscious. He grabbed hold of each of their collars as they went limp, lowering them gently to the floor so their armor wouldn't make much noise. He paused to grin at his handiwork. He'd like to see Hibiki or fem-boy pull THAT off. He didn't have much time to spare, though. He crept soundlessly down the hallway, blending into the shadows. He had a job to do here - speed and stealth were of the essence. If everything kept going smoothly, he'd have his prize and be long gone before anyone in the Musk Dynasty knew he'd been there. He knew he could have tried to force his way in. The elite fighters of this ancient clan had reputations which even he respected, but he doubted they'd be a match for his powerful cursed form. He could have just barreled through their defenses and taken what he wanted. But this way was better - this way was smarter. Tarou would have liked to test his strength against some of the great warriors here, but now was not the time for such indulgences. He had to stay focused on his plan. So long as the Reikoku was out there, it was his top priority. He chuckled to himself as he slipped past another defense post. The guards were oblivious to his presence - he moved amongst them like a ghost. This was a brilliant plan. If he could pull this off, he'd not only defeat the Reikoku, but he would become all but invincible. He just needed to keep his cool, maintain his focus, and stick to his plan. His revenge would come in due time. - - - - - - The first thing Ukyou noticed when she woke up was that the winds had shifted. She leaned up on her elbow, feeling the breeze on her skin to make sure she wasn't mistaken. For two days, they'd been camped out at the base of this mountain, unable to take a shot at the treacherous path across because of the intensity of the winds above them. The villagers nearby had warned them in no uncertain terms that trying to cross the pass while the winds raged was suicide. But for the prey of the Reikoku, staying still was suicide in another guise. If the winds had shifted, then maybe the pass would be clear. Ukyou scrambled out from under the covers, stood up, and... She was nearly floored by the odor which the breeze had carried to her nostrils. There was only one thing in the world that made a smell like that - rotting carp. Ukyou was a little surprised to realize that the foul stench was coming from Ranma's direction. For the past week or so, Ranma had been setting up camp a good distance away from the two of them. He'd warned them both that he was doing some sort of meditative training, and that they shouldn't interrupt him. He refused to elaborate further on the matter, but Ukyou had heard him making all sorts of noises before he went to bed, clanking around with buckets and branches over in his private encampment. She hadn't the foggiest notion of what he could be doing, but why did his sleeping area smell so terrible? "Hey Ranchan!" she shouted. "Wake up!" Ryouga rose blearily from slumber a few paces away. He blinked around drowsily for a few moments, but his eyes bugged out wide the moment he caught wind of the odor. He stared around wildly for the source of the smell. "Ranchan!" Ukyou shouted. "Is something wrong?" Ryouga held his nose and glared in Ranma's direction. "What the hell?" Ukyou caught sight of some movement from Ranma's bed. The pig-tailed martial artist was a heavy sleeper usually, but she knew he hadn't been resting very well since he started this weird training of his. He was always surly and cranky in the mornings now. "Whaddya want?" he called back. "It smells like you slept with a dead fish, Saotome!" Ryouga snapped. Ranma sniffed the air, winced, and waved reassuringly to them. "It aint' a big deal. I'm gonna go clean up before breakfast." "The wind changed, Ranchan!" Ukyou exclaimed. "Great," he grunted back. She had hoped he'd be a little more enthusiastic - he was the one who was always pushing for them to make better time - but it was a little too much to expect this early in the morning. Well, she thought, the only place to bathe was a nearby river that came out of the mountains. If the icy water didn't wake him up, nothing would. Breakfast was all but ready by the time the shivering Ranma-chan returned from the river. She scrambled up as close to the campfire as humanly possible, twisting to try to get as much of her body into the warmth as she could manage. "P... put some more wood on, Ucchan," she begged through chattering teeth. "Just a sec, Ranchan. I don't wanna burn the breakfast." Ryouga regarded the red-headed girl dubiously. "What were you doing? What was with that smell?" "S...shut up," she snapped. Ranma-chan dug into her breakfast like a starving wolf the moment Ukyou set it in front of her. "Really, Ranchan," Ukyou said between bites of her own breakfast. "Why don't you tell us what you're up to?" Ranma-chan grunted and washed down a mouthful with a swig of coffee. "Don't you guys worry about it. I think I almost got the hang of it now." "Of what?" Ryouga asked. "Somethin' that won't do you guys no good, believe me." "It's just..." Ukyou tried to put the right mixture of nonchalance and suggestiveness into her tone, "I was hoping you wouldn't be sleeping so far away from me... us, I mean..." Ranma-chan gave her that blank stare with which she'd become all too familiar. Ukyou sighed. They didn't come much more clueless than her fiancee. "Feh," Ryouga snorted. "The farther the better, as far as I'm concerned." Ranma-chan gave him a black look. "Oh, is that so, P-Chan?" "Don't call me that!" Ranma-chan got a sly, malicious look on her face. "Maybe you just want me away so you can try snugglin' up in another girl's bed at night, eh piggy?" Ukyou just about gagged. Ryouga bolted to his feet, his face flushing red with anger and embarrassment. "Shut up, Ranma!" Ranma-chan pretended not to notice either of their shocked reactions. "Listen, Ucchan, if Ryouga turns into the wonder-pig and tries to put the moves on you, just whack him with the spatula." "How DARE you!" Ryouga snarled. He took a wild swipe at Ranma-chan's head, which she ducked easily. His own momentum sent him stumbling away. "Ranchan..." Ukyou gasped. Ranma-chan adopted a lazy stance, keeping her eyes on the enraged Ryouga. She was feeling a bit vicious this morning, and it was fun to tease this big lunk. "Oh sure, P-Chan, now you get all mad. But you can't deny it, can you? You never miss a chance to go crawlin' into Akane's bed, do you?" "That's not true!" Ryouga howled, his voice sounding strangled and tight. His next flurry of blows all missed their mark. "Don't be shy!" Ranma-chan chided. "You're her widdle P-Chan! I think you like it better that way!" "Is... is that true?" Ukyou asked. Ryouga broke off his attack, paralyzed by his intense shame. He stared at her with horrified eyes, his mouth working silently around words he couldn't bring himself to speak. Ukyou had known that P-Chan was Akane's pet, but nobody had ever told her that he slept in the same bed as the Tendou girl. She and Akane weren't exactly the best of friends, but Ukyou tried to imagine how she'd feel if something like that were happening to her. If a guy took advantage of her like that, she'd... she'd... "How come you haven't told her?" she snapped at Ranma-chan. The smug look of triumph disappeared from Ranma-chan's features. She was expecting Ryouga to get the sharp end of Ukyou's tongue (and probably a few good whacks from the battle spatula). She hadn't expected to be on the defensive all of a sudden. "She... I..." Ranma-chan stuttered. Then she crossed her arms and looked defiant. "It ain't like I haven't tried, you know! Akane's just about the thickest girl in the world! Is it my fault the she's too stupid to figure it out?" "She's stupid all right," Ukyou muttered, seething with anger. "She's stupid to EVER trust a pair of jackasses like you!" Ranma-chan was taken aback, but Ryouga was positively crushed. He howled inarticulately, buried his tear-streaked face in his hands, and sprinted off into the thicket of evergreens. "Ryouga!" Ranma-chan called after the sobbing martial artist. She glared back at Ukyou. "Now look what ya did!" "What I did? Don't blame ME for this!" "If he gets lost, it could take forever to find him!" Ranma-chan exclaimed. "We gotta get movin' before the winds change again, damn it!" "All right, all right!" Ukyou threw up her hands in disgust. "Let's split up and find the moron." Without waiting for a response, Ukyou whirled and stalked off into the woods, battle-spatula firmly in her grip. Ranma-chan watched her leave, a perplexed look on her face. Ranma-chan thought irritably. The thought trailed off. Ranma-chan glared at the woods sullenly, angry at both Ukyou and Ryouga. It's not like it was Ukyou's business, anyway. She wished she'd never brought it up in the first place. Still, she didn't have time to stand around and mope about it - they needed to find Ryouga, or they'd all be in a world of trouble. Ranma-chan chose a direction at random and began her search. Ukyou stomped through the forest, grinding her teeth and flexing her grip on her spatula. She couldn't decide which one of those two jerks had her more pissed off. Part of her wanted to take heart from the whole thing - if Ranchan treated Akane that way, he couldn't possibly be serious about her as a fiancee. That's how she wanted to see it, anyway. But she couldn't help but think that if the positions were switched, and if she was the one who was unknowingly inviting a disguised boy into her bed every night instead of Akane, that Ranma wouldn't react any differently. Not for the first time on this whole trip, she wondered what kind of jerk she was engaged to. And as for Ryouga... boy, she was going to give that guy an earful when she found him. She'd thought he was a relatively nice, harmless, dim guy. She'd actually gotten to like him a bit on this trip. Who would have thought he'd turn out to be a pervert of the first order? When she thought of him sneaking into Akane's room, watching her dress, leering at her while she slept... Ukyou perked up as she heard a soft, distant sound. She strained to listen... it sounded like somebody crying. That had to be Ryouga. She hefted her spatula grimly and headed towards the noise. She'd give him something to cry about... He was sitting at the edge of a ravine, leaning against a tree and weeping. Ukyou opened her mouth to shout at him, then closed it again as she watched. He wasn't just crying a little bit. His whole body convulsed with each body-wracking sob. His voice sounded raw and hoarse. She'd never seen a man cry his heart out like that. "Oh Akane..." he gasped between his sobs. "I'm so... I'm sorr..." Ukyou lowered her spatula, her anger seeping away as she watched the Lost Boy weep. It was hard to think about hurting a guy who was torturing himself so thoroughly on his own. She couldn't stay mad at someone who was so clearly in such pain, even if he was a pervert. She wasn't sure how long the crying went on. She wanted to turn and leave him be, feeling embarrassed at intruding upon him in a moment like this, but she couldn't afford to lose track of him. Uncertain of what to do, she simply waited silently behind him and watched as he twisted in a storm of his own anguish. Finally, his sobbing tapered off. He was running out of energy - Ukyou had spent a few nights bawling herself to sleep, and she knew that it took a lot out of you. Even a guy like Ryouga couldn't keep it up forever. "Go ahead," he said. "Hit me." Ukyou nearly jumped out of her skin. How long had he known she was there? "I deserve it," he muttered in a dead tone. "I deserve it all." Ukyou caught her breath, and took a deep sigh. She moved to sit down beside him, facing at an angle away from him. It was too intense a situation to sit facing him, at least right now. "I ain't gonna hit you, sugar," she heard herself say. Part of her still wanted to smack him one, but the urge wasn't strong now. "Why not?" he whispered. She shrugged. "How come you keep doin' it, if you know it's wrong?" "I don't... I don't do it on purpose," he said. "That's not what Ranchan says," she observed. He spat. "What the hell does HE know? He doesn't know what it's like. He probably thinks I get some sort of cheap thrill out of it. That's about the limit of his understanding." "Don't blame Ranma for this," Ukyou admonished. "He's not the one who sneaks into her room, watches her get dressed, and..." "I don't do that!" he protested. His reaction was instantaneous, and he sounded genuinely mortified. "I could never... I wouldn't even THINK of..." "But you do sleep with her, right?" "..." Ukyou let the silence hang between them for a little while before she spoke up again. "You should stop it." "You don't think I've tried?" he moaned. "I've tried and TRIED to leave her behind forever, dozens of times. But every time I always seem to end up going back, and I always end up getting splashed..." "If you wanted to, you could stop." "I've... I've promised myself so many times," he explained in a mournful voice. "I've vowed never to be P-Chan again. But when I get splashed... it's like I lose all my resolve. She calls to me, and I forget all the promises I made as a man. All I can think of is how much I miss her, how warm I feel when she holds me. I love her so much... I can't stay away." "Ryouga..." "It's pathetic," he spat angrily, wiping his face with the back of his hand. "It's a pitiful mockery of human love, but it's all I've got. You can't know what it's like to be so wretched and lonely. You're so cute and friendly, and everybody likes you." Ukyou blinked in surprise at that. "It's different for me," he went on. "I... I'm so lonely. So lonely all the time. And fate keeps bringing me back to her, as her pet pig. Is that my destiny, to have only that feeble excuse for love? There have been times... that I've been willing to give up being human altogether. To live the rest of my life as her little P-Chan... just so I could be close to her." Ukyou pivoted to stare at him, rendered speechless by the way he'd bared his soul to her. Something he'd said struck her as particularly chilling - he spoke of his resolve fading when he turned into a pig. Ukyou had wondered about Ranma in the past, about how his curse affected his mind. It often seemed to her that his whole personality changed when his body did. He was certainly willing to do all sorts of things that he'd never dream of doing as a boy. He'd even wear dresses and flirt with other guys. She'd even seen him go so far as to pretend to be Ryouga's fiancee. It had never occurred to her to wonder what the curse did to the people who turned into animals. Did it affect their minds as well? It sounded like maybe it did, from what Ryouga said. A little piglet didn't have much room in its head for things like promises and vows. All it knew was that it was small and helpless, and that it wanted somebody to love and protect it. Maybe when Ryouga changed, he became more like a piglet than even he understood. It occurred to her to wonder what happened to Tarou's mind when he became that monster. She shuddered and refused to think about the implications of that. "Hey sugar," she said, "don't beat yourself up too much about it, okay?" Right now, he didn't seem like such a pervert to her anymore. "Believe me, I have some idea of how hard it is to be in love with someone that you can't get close to." He turned to look at her. "You... you understand?" She shrugged. "I still don't think it's right, but I can't blame you too much. I mean, I have to be honest with myself. If I could turn into a puppy or something and snuggle up to Ranchan, could I really stop myself? I really don't know." Ryouga got a glazed look on his face and stared off into the distance. "A... puppy." "Ryouga?" "Why... why couldn't I turn into a puppy?" he said, not really addressing her directly. "That wouldn't be so bad. Everybody likes puppies. Everybody wants to help a lost puppy. Nobody takes a look at a puppy and says: 'Hey! I think I'll have that for dinner!'" Ukyou bit back a giggle. He whirled on her and looked irritated. "You think I'm kidding? Do you know how many times people have tried to cook me as P-Chan? Do you? Neither do I! It's happened so often that I've actually LOST TRACK!" "Oh come on..." "You're a cook! Don't tell me you never looked at P-Chan and thought about making me into a pork okonomiyaki!" "Ryouga, I..." "All cooks do!" he ranted. "Do you know what it's like to turn into a potential breakfast every time it rains? Do you know what it's like to be hung up by your legs in a kitchen and watching a chef prepare a stew for you? NO! Of course you don't! A puppy... God, what I wouldn't GIVE to turn into a puppy! Why do I have to turn into an edible little pig? Why do I have to be so scrumptious?" Ukyou couldn't contain herself anymore. Laughter erupted from her in great waves. She rolled on the ground, clutching her sides as she convulsed with mirth. Ryouga glared at her angrily. "It isn't funny! This is my life we're talking about." She tried to bring herself under control and apologize, but one look at his irate expression sent her back into a fit of giggling and laughing. "S... scrum... scrumptious!" she managed to gasp, then howled with hilarity. Ryouga shook his head and found himself battling a grin of his own. Laughing fits were infectious, and even Ryouga wasn't immune. The whole situation was so absurd that it was, in a way, funny. "Oh shut up," he grumbled, but he couldn't put much force behind it. Ukyou desperately tried to compose herself, but snickers and giggles still escaped her unbidden. She made a show of bowing formally before him. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." Ryouga chuckled. "'Crouch of the Wild Tiger' technique, eh?" She looked up at him and batted her eyes winningly. "I'm really sorry, sugar. Please forgive me!" Ryouga's heart took a few bounces around his ribcage, and he quickly turned away to hide his sudden embarrassment. "D... don't do that. I forgive you. Geez." She clapped him on the shoulder, then ruffled his hair. It was a gesture she did without thinking, but it felt right somehow. She hauled herself to her feet and offered her hand to him. "Come on, Ryouga. Let's head back to camp. We've gotta get through that pass before the winds get bad again." Ryouga nodded wordlessly, then took a hold of her hand. He stared at the back of her head as she led him through the trees, his mind swirling through a muddy stew of emotions and thoughts. he told himself. That much, at least, was beyond dispute. - - - - - - "Nabiki? What's the matter, you look terrible!" Tendou Nabiki turned to face her elder sister. She supposed that she did look terrible. She didn't even really recall making the trip from Ucchan's Okonomiyaki back to the Tendou Dojo - it was all kind of a blur. She was in shock, she realized. There was a time when she wouldn't have dreamed of allowing herself to be seen in public looking rattled or disheveled, but the past weeks had worn her composure down to the barest of threads. "Are you all right, Nabiki?" Kasumi sounded genuinely concerned. Nabiki stared at her with a stricken look. "Konatsu's sick," she announced in a leaden tone. "He... he can't work." "Oh dear, that's too bad," Kasumi said. "Are you hungry? You look so tired." "He's sick," she repeated numbly. "He passed out from exhaustion. I... I worked him into the ground." "Well I'm sure he'll get better with some rest," Kasumi assured her. Nabiki shook her head slowly. It all felt like a terrible dream. "You don't understand. We're... we're on the edge right now. If we miss even a day of business... the restaurant will go under. We can't afford... to close down." Nabiki hardly noticed that her sister had gently herded her into the dining room and sat her down at the table. Her body was on autopilot while her brain turned her unsolvable dilemma over and over. "Would you like some tea and a snack?" Kasumi asked. "We're doomed," Nabiki said with certainty. "Now, now. That's no way to talk. I'm sure you'll think of something," Kasumi insisted. She bustled her way off to the kitchen, humming to herself as she worked to prepare Nabiki's food. Nabiki had never experienced such acute failure in her life. All her confidence had been eroded down to nothing since she'd taken on management of Ucchan's. She, Tendou Nabiki, Nerima's brightest business protege, had driven a well-established and respected restaurant straight into the ground. It hadn't even taken her a month to achieve this ignominious feat. Part of her mind desperately cast about for something or somebody to blame, but there was no denying it. She had made all the mistakes. It was all her doing. And then, there was Konatsu. Guilt was not an emotion with which Nabiki was familiar, but she felt terrible about what she'd done to the young ninja. Konatsu had given her his complete loyalty from the first day on. At first, she'd been amused by and even a little bit contemptuous of the servile cross-dresser, dismissing him as nothing more than a natural-born lackey with no will of his own. After time, she'd discovered that it was hard to maintain such an attitude towards a guy who worked his heart out for you every waking hour. But what had she done with that loyalty? She'd used it and abused it. She'd taxed Konatsu to his limit in the restaurant with her ambitious schemes and plans, and then she'd piled even more duties on him. She'd kept Ucchan's open for longer hours, trying to overcome the loss of profit, and he'd shouldered the burden without a word of protest. She'd used the brilliant ninja for her scams and plots, sending him out into the night after work to spy on people and gather dirt on her classmates. When she'd gotten desperate with the take-out service, she'd pushed him even harder to find more blackmail victims for to act as delivery workers. And she'd expected him to be up bright and early the next day, to have the restaurant ready for the breakfast crowd. He'd never complained once. Had she really thought he was spineless? Konatsu had given everything he had to that restaurant, and he'd never once lost his good temper or friendly smile. Even as his health had deteriorated, he'd kept on going with all his might. When he collapsed from exhaustion today, he hadn't been concerned about himself. All that mattered to him was that he thought he'd failed her. Konatsu possessed a kind of courage which Nabiki had never before understood or appreciated. She had been the one who failed him. That, she realized, was even worse than her shame at ruining the business. He'd given her loyalty and devotion that she'd done nothing to deserve, and she'd ground him into the dust for it. Tendou Nabiki had never felt so low. "Here's some tea, Nabiki," Kasumi said as she set the cup down in front of her sister. "And here are some bean buns I made." "Th... thanks." Kasumi settled herself primly down at the table and smiled at her. "That should make you feel better. Have you thought of anything?" "There's... what can I do?" she moaned. "We don't have a cook. We can't run the restaurant without a cook." "Well, then perhaps you could hire one," Kasumi suggested. "Until Konatsu gets better, that is." "We can't afford it," Nabiki said, shaking her head. "Nobody would work for the sort of salary that Konatsu makes." "Perhaps you can find a friend to do it, then?" Kasumi offered. Nabiki wondered if there was anybody at Furinkan who qualified as a friend anymore. Her recent blackmail blitz had not won her any popularity points, and she'd never been the best-liked girl in school to begin with. There'd been a time when she'd have been able to blackmail or con somebody into doing the job, but she didn't have the leverage left to pull it off. "There's... nobody," she whispered bleakly. "Maybe you could get someone, and promise to pay them back later?" Nabiki sighed and hung her head. "Nobody will be stupid enough to do that. Sis, it's hopeless. I have to find someone who can run the shop, cook the meals, and who will do it for free. I have until tomorrow. There's... there's no way." Kasumi patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and smiled. "It sounds difficult, but there's always a way. Maybe we can talk some more after I make dinner, okay?" The eldest Tendou daughter rose from her place and shuffled back into the kitchen. Nabiki stared at the kitchen door, the wheels in her mind turning. Her inner swindler offered up a solution which she hadn't considered. She needed a cook, and she needed someone who'd do it for free. Who else fit the bill... but her big sister? Kasumi could do it, she realized. Kasumi could cook just about anything, and she had a nice friendly manner that customers would love. And Kasumi would cheerfully cut her own hand off if someone in her family asked her to do it. She'd agree in a heartbeat. It would only be for a few days, after all, until Konatsu got better. It was the perfect solution. Except... Except it meant crossing a line that Nabiki had drawn for herself years ago, when she'd first discovered how much fun it was to scam money from the suckers of the world. She'd always told herself that anybody who let themselves get swindled got what they deserved. Her schoolmates, her friends, and even her family were all fair game... everybody except Kasumi. Kasumi was the perfect sucker - it would be child's play to con her into doing just about anything you wanted. She was sweet-tempered, trusting, and gullible. And she'd always been the only person who Nabiki would never consider drawing into one of her scams. Kasumi was like Nabiki's sacred ground - the last piece of her own innocence, a bit of her own soul that had never been for sale. a voice within her whispered. But she knew that was all rationalization. Tendou Nabiki knew a fast one when she heard it, even when it came from inside herself. She had a choice now. Either she could let the restaurant fail completely, or she could take advantage of the one person in the world she'd sworn she'd never touch. Nabiki rose slowly from the table. Her legs felt like they were a thousand miles away, but they carried her all the same towards the kitchen door. She watched her beloved sister bustling about the kitchen, preparing another gourmet-quality dinner with her usual understated brilliance. Nabiki's mouth felt dry as a desert in midsummer. "Hey sis?" she rasped. Kasumi paused and turned to face her, a bright and open smile on her face. "Yes, Nabiki?" "I... I need your help with something." - - - - - - end of chapter six ----------------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR'S NOTES ----------------------------------------------------------- UMIKEN-SEN and YAMASEN-KEN: These are styles created by Saotome Genma, of all people. The Yamasen-ken, or "Mountain 1000 Fist," is the "noisy robber" style, based on some really powerful brute force attacks. It was used by a fighter called Kumon Ryu, who wanted to learn the Umisen-ken ("Ocean 1000 Fist") counterpart to restore his family dojo. He ended up Fighting Ranma, who was using the stealth-based Umisen-ken to counteract him. It was an entertaining story arc, and Kumon Ryu was a good one-shot character, but I have to say that this is one of the stories where I didn't really get it. For some reason, everyone thought these techniques needed to be sealed away and never used again. The only explanation for this was that they were really meant to be used for thievery instead of martial arts... but so what? No need to waste a bunch of perfectly good techniques. Oh well. I wrote a bit about the nature of the Jusenkyou curse in this chapter and how it affects the minds of its victims. I'm aware that this is a topic that gets debated now and then with a certain fervor, and I'm not out to start another argument. COMING SOON: Will all the training pay off when the Reikoku catches up to Ranma and his friends? Can Akane's rise above her hardships? Can her father actually help? What will Nabiki's decision be? And what is Pantyhose Tarou up to, anyway? REVISION NOTES: A few important continuity fixes about the Umisen-ken and Yamasen-ken styles. COPYRIGHT STUFF: All the Ranma characters belong to Takahashi Rumiko, and are licensed in America by Viz Communications. GRT - November 1998 MODIFIED - April 2005 thunderstruck_comic@comcast.net All existing chapters of this story may be found at: http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless