Send C&C to: oddball22@hotmail.com Find my stories at: www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000 Ranma 1/2: New Challenges Trials Chapter 11 "HUSSY!?" Sakura screeched. "Ryoga-sama is mine! I won him fair and square!" She smirked. "Or don't ya remember the challenge?" Akari took a deep breath, controlling her anger the way she had for the past several years. "The challenge has yet to take place, since the correct participants were not involved." The fuku-clad girl's brows furrowed. "Whattya mean, `correct participants'? You were there!" Ryoga watched as Akari smiled as evil a grin as he had ever seen on her. "I mean, all the fights and challenges in my family are fought not by us, but by the sumo pigs we train." She fixed Sakura with a hard glare. "If you want Ryoga, you have to beat Katsunishki." She indicated said sumo porcine. When she finally returned home and told her grandfather what had happened, he had asked her why Katsunishki didn't fight. Akari couldn't think of why, other than she wanted to smash this girl with her own hands. Her grandfather told her that the pigs they raise, are used for far more than just tournaments. They were friends, protectors, and an Unryuu's best weapon. While one man would wield a sword, and Unryuu uses a sumo pig. Sakura went white. "A p-pig!? You want me to fight a disgusting PIG!?" Ryoga winced, badly. "B-but... but..." "Of course, you can always back down," Akari offered snidely. The other girl glanced back and forth from pig, to girl, to Ryoga. As she gazed at the bandanna-clad boy and his bare, glistening, muscular chest, she realized why she had wanted him so much. Her resolve hardened. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get! I'll beat your stupid animal, then Ryoga-sama shall be mine!" Said prize was still nervously watching all this going one, but couldn't do much more then stare. Some basic male instinct told him that getting in between two feuding girls was a Bad Thing. On the other hand, he had never seen Akari so determined, in control, focused, and sure of herself, and it was an incredible thing to see. To Ryoga, in her tight jeans and cotten blouse, she was suddenly very sexy. He had to fight to control his blush, but was unable to hide it all. Neither girl noticed, thanfully, so intent on each other they were. They nodded to each other, then walked out into the middle of the field and prepared to do battle once more. Ranma (still female) was closing in on the ravine when she saw the female fighter descend on Akane. She yelled and pointed upwards vigorously in order to warn her fiancee of the danger, and was relieved when Akane rolled out of the way. Then she was stopped as two more people materialized right in front her, blocking the entrance to the ravine. "What-?" They were a study in contrasts, it seemed. One was an older gentleman wearing a faded tan robe, tied with a simple brown belt, and holding a gnarled walking stick. He had a long gray beared that matched his gray hair. The other appeared young, slightly younger than Ranma, with short, wild, black hair and dressed in faded pants and T-shirt. The older one spoke. "This does not concern you, young lady. Please cease your interference, for you cannot know what is at stake here." "Look, pal," Ranma snarled. "All I know is you're tryin' ta hurt Akane, and that ain't gonna happen as long as I'm here!" She slid into an agressive stance, preparing to bulldoze past these two new people to get to her iinazuke. "Let's just silence this broad now, Hajime," the younger one suggested arrogantly. "It'll make our job a whole lot easier!" "We do not use lethal force unless it's necessary, Takao," Hajime reprimanded his younger charge. Takao huffed and crossed his arms, but did not reply. "Now then, miss, if you insist on going any farther, we will have to stop you." "You can try all you like, but I'm goin' through whether ya like it or not!" Hajime closed his eyes and sighed. "So be it. Teleport." Ranma blinked as the old guy faded and dissappeared. "Hey, chick, think fast!" Takao's crossed arms were thrown forward, and the very air between the two seemed to ripple. Then Ranma was hit by something, hard, that tossed her back a dozen yards. She recovered and kippup'ed back to her feet. She sprinted forward, preparing to strike before her opponent could do another one, but was too late. Takao threw his arms forward. The air rippled like before, but Ranma managed to flip sideways out of it's path. "HAH!" A second distortion impacted the pig-tailed girl, sending her back down to the ground, but she noticed something that time. Ranma thought incredibly. She flipped to her feet, then blurred sideways just in time to avoid a fourth attack. A fifth attack was similiarly avoided as Ranma zig-zagged back and forth at top speed. The terrain around the entrance to the ravine was being torn up badly from where the invisible concussion waves touched the ground. "I got you now!" Ranma proclaimed as she blurred sideways yet again, then leapt into the air, gathering her own confidence. "Moko-" "AUGH!" Takao threw both hands up and to the side, and the air rippled once more, though this was slightly different. Instead of the blast being in a concentrated form, it expanded outward in all directions from the youth, moving faster than Ranma could deal with. The wave hit her before she could finish her own ki-blast, disrupting her concentration and sending her crashing back down into the dirt. She rolled out of the way of the follow-up attack and sprung to her feet, albeit slower than she would've liked. She immediatedly crossed her arms in front of her face and braced herself. The distortion wave slammed into her, but she pooled all of her strength into her defense and came through with minor damage. Still, she knew she couldn't keep this up for much longer. He was firing off those things way too fast, and there was no way she could close with him. And since he was standing in the entrance of the ravine, there was no way Ranma could get by him. Tatewaki instinctively grabbed the two women and yanked them to the ground as the window exploded, taking much of the attached wall with it. As the dust settled, he checked himself for injuries, then his mother and sister. His mother informed him that she was fine, aside from being a bit weak at the moment from the mind transfer. Kodachi, however, was out cold. "Lady!" came a deep male voice from outside. "I know thou art within. If you wilt surrender to me, I promise to make thy end quick and painless. If you resist, understand I cannot guarentee the safety of thy kin." Lady Kuno reached out with her aura, and grew deathly white when she recognized the man standing outside. "No..." she whispered. "Okasan?" her son questioned. "What-?" She waved him silent and called. "How can you be here? This land is forbidden to one such as you!" "We have our ways, Lady," he replied. "Now what is thy answer? Wilt thou surrender and spare needless harm?" "Never!" Tatewaki Kuno stood, causing his mother to gasp. "Thou shall have to stand against my blade lest I permit this injustice!" The bigger man outside seemed amused. "And what, pray tell, is thy name and motivation in this affair, which concerns you not?" "'Tachi, don't do this!" his mother pleaded. "You cannot beat him!" Tatewaki ignored her while drawing his katana. "I am yon fair lady's offspring! The Blue Thunder of Furinken High, rising star in the Kendo world, Kuno Tatewaki, age 18!" Thunder rumbled ominously in the distance. "A mere lad of eighteen years wishes to challenge me?" He chuckled. "Very well, I admire your spirit, boy. I am called Drakon, third of the Rogues, trusted general of my master, the exiled Shogun." He drew his larger no-dachi blade out of it's sheath, easily wielding it with one hand. "If you wish to match my steel, then so be it." "Have at you!" Tatewaki hopped through the hole in the wall and landed on the grass outside, katana blurring into motion. The multiple rapid thrusting actions generating small, but powerful wind strikes by sheer air pressure alone. Drakon weathered the assualt, his dark green and black plate mail absorbing the blows. "Hyah!" He whipped his own weapon in an overhead arc, bringing it down with such force that a wave of displaced air shot back towards Kuno. The kenoist quickly flung his sword upwards in a reverse arc, creating a similar wave to cancel out the incoming one. Then he paused, while the two adversaries took stock of each other. "I see thy skill most promising for one so young," Drakon commented, while running a hand through his black-green hair. "'Tis a pity that thy life shall not permit further study." "And I am pleased thou art no mere opponent, but a challenge worthy of the Blue Thunder," Kuno replied. "I wouldst almost regret thy death, that I must bring." Drakon nodded, while Kuno brought up his katana with both hands to shoulder level, pointing it at the bigger man. A second later found him charging forward to meet his steel against his opponent's. The clang and clash of blades echoed throughout the yard, as the younger, faster Kuno matched the slower, stronger, Drakon in deadly match of skill, where one slip-up could be fatal. Lady Kuno watched all this from her kneeling position in the mostly destroyed room, Kodachi's head in her lap. She was chaneling her energies into healing the young girl from the terrible ordeal she had been through. Hopefully, Kodachi would come around soon and the Kuno matriarch could surrender peacefully to Drakon before her son was killed. "Okasama...?" the gymnast mumbled dreamily. "Shhh, rest a bit longer, daughter," her mother soothed. "You're almost there." The two swordsmen flew apart from a close, rapid series of thrusts and parries, then Kuno imediately leapt forward again, sword held low. Drakon brought his own no-dachi up in a move designed to cleave his airborne opponent in half. Kuno managed to to deflect the attack so it only cut cloth, then spun and thrust his sword directly at the Drakon's head. The bigger man was almost caught off guard, but ducked his head to the side as the blade went by, cutting his right cheek. In anger, Drakon lanced out with the gauntlet on his right arm, smashing Kuno in the face and knocking the younger boy several meters away. He reached up to touch his cheek, and his fingers came away with blood on them. Drakon stared at the recovering Kuno boy regaining his feet. "No man hath been able to touch me in centuries! Methinks I've gone too easy on you, boy." Tatewaki managed to smile, while wiping the blood trickling from his mouth. "Methinks you may have underestimated the Blue Thunder's skill." "Underestimate this!" Drakon thrust out his right palm, and a light blue beam of light burst forth from it. Lady Kuno looked up from her daughter just in time to see the area where her son was standing, explode in a shower of debris. Ranma threw the fastest ki-blast she had ever thrown in her life. As a result, it wasn't as strong or as focused, but it did succeed in catching her opponent off-guard. Takao's eyes widened for a second before he threw himself to the side, the sphere of ki-charged air clipping his side and spinning him into the ravine wall. He recovered quickly enough, since it wasn't that strong, but became more fearful of his opponent. She was fast, and it was taking too much out of him to continue his attacks for too long. Fortunately, she seemed to be low on strength as well, enough for their plan to work. The red-headed martial artist grinned. "Got ya now!" She sprinted forward at top speed, hoping to catch her adversary, but was dismayed when Takao raised a hand. The familiar sight of the air rippling was her only warning. She leapt up and to the right while allowing her forward momentum to carry her onwards. "HAJIME!" Takao yelled suddenly. "NOW!" Ranma blinked. "What-?" The hairs on the back of her neck stood up suddenly, and she turned her head in slow-motion to see the old man from earlier materialize behind her. With sudden dread, she realized she had completely forgotten all about him. In one smooth move, Hajime brought his staff down on the back of the girl's head, and Ranma's world faded to darkness. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked her. Ukyo looked up at her uncle and nodded slowly. "Yes. It's for the best." She looked back down at the piece of paper that lay on the table between them. Slowly, she reached for the pen laying next to the paper, and grasped it with her right hand. There was one other person with them, a short, nervous man named Hiroshi Kanzaka, her dad's accountant, lawyer, and assistant. "Y- you can't do this!" he protested for the tenth time. "Your father's wishes were for the business to be transferred to his heir!" Ukyo fixed him with a steely glare. "We've been over this! Dad entrusted his business to me and I'm handling it how I see fit. I want the business I create, not one that's been handed to me." She sighed. "Uncle Yoshiro is more than capable of handling Dad's enterprises." "But... but..." Kanzaka glanced helplessly between the two people, but it was clear even to him that his cause was lost. Before she could lose her nerve, and to get it over with, Ukyo quickly bent over and signed the paper, giving legal control over her Dad's restaurant business to Yoshiro. She sighed internally in relief, as if a tremendous burden had been lifted from her soul. "You will always have a place here, Ukyo-chan," her uncle told her. "You don't have to go away." Ukyo looked up into his eyes, but saw only concern and kindess there. "Yes, I have to. After the funeral, I'm going back to my real home. My only happy memories here are of my short time playing with Ran- chan. I've made a new start in Nerima with new friends." Her thoughts turned to Konatsu, the Soyokaze siblings, and even Selah. She then thought of the Saotomes and the Tendos. There was a lot of pain and heartache there, but in the end, they had been better to her than her own father had. Yoshiro smiled at her. "Well, don't hesitate to call me if you need help." The chef who was the last in her family, stood and hugged her uncle. "I won't. And thanks, for everything." "Anytime, Ukyo-chan." Genma and Soun looked up from their shogi board as the explosion sounded in the distance. On the horizon, a large plume of dark smoke floated upwards. "I wonder what's going on, eh Saotome?" Genma pushed his glasses up. "Whatever it is, Tendo, you can be sure it's not bound to be good." Soun nodded. "Indeed." There was a sudden clatter from the Tendo estate's front gate, as if the doors had been thrown open wildly. Then Kasumi's voice could be heard answering the front door, as well as that of nervously chattering man. Genma and Soun glanced questionably at each other. "Father, there is a man here for you!" Kasumi's voice echoed over the pattering of feet running down the hall to where the two men sat. The visitor burst into the room and dropped to his knees beside Soun. "You've got to help us, Tendo-san!" Soun recognized the man as Hidenori Iuchi, from the town council where Soun also held a seat. "Calm down, Iuchi-san," Soun replied. "What seems to be the problem?" "A fight has broken out near the Nerima Psychiatric Medical Ward!" He blurted out. "The Kuno boy and another man are fighting with swords and are causing a lot of destruction! The other one is a huge, strangely dressed man in black-green armor and wielding a No-dachi one- handed!" Soun raised an eyebrow at Genma, who responed with a nod. Wielding a blade that could be up to 8 feet in length one-handed meant the man was incredibly strong, and therefore dangerous. While fights in Nerima were becoming a common thing, the town council had begun applying pressure (read: begging and pleading) to Soun to help reduce the damage. After all, the last major fight involved three girl's who leveled a citizen's house, reducing it to rubble. Of course, that house belonged to one Nodoka Saotome, who's husband and son were martial artists, so she didn't raise a protest. However, several other citizens did. "Looks like we have a job to do, Tendo," Genma said solemnly, standing. Soun rose as well. "Indeed, Saotome." He turned his gaze to Hidenori. "Do not fear, for we shall take care of it." "Oh, thank you!" the councilman replied, doing an eerie impression of a grateful Soun wail as the two men dashed out to the dojo. "Would you like some tea, Iuchi-san?" Hidenori suddenly found a tray with a cup of tea in front of his face. Come to think of it, his mouth did feel rather dry, and everyone knew that Kasumi Tendo made excellent tea. "Um, arigato." He grabbed the cup and downed in in alomst a single gulp. Immediately, he began to feel much more relaxed and calm. "Arigato nasai." Kasumi smiled. "Your very welcome. Pardon me for saying so, but you do look a bit tired. Would you like a room to rest?" Hidenori yawned, suddenly feeling very tired. "Yes." *Thump!* "Oh my!" Genma waited outside the dojo while his old friend changed into his armor. He didn't know why, but a sense of apprehension continued to veil his other feelings at the moment. When going into battle normally there had always been a slight feeling of apprehension, but a much larger feeling of excitement always dampened it. But this was different. Inexplicably, he was nervous and anxious, and he couldn't figure out why. What was different about this? It would just be another martial artist fight in Nerima. Surely nothing bad would happen, right? True, most of the battles lately had been more dangerous. Saffron, the mage clans, the Amazons; they had all been very close fights, and things could have ended badly. What made the difference then? Why did they come out alright in the end? The answer came to him almost immediately. Ranma and Akane. It had always been those two, in one way or another, that had turned the tide. Ranma had beaten Saffron, Akane had helped free them from Garon and had brought Krynn to his knees, then Ranma was able to best a powerful Amazon warrior, almost equal in strength to Cologne. And then there was that bit Nabiki had let slip of them defeating sort sort of... demon? "I know that look, Genma," came the worried voice of Nodoka. It didn't sound any different than her normal voice, but Genma knew his wife. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, No-chan," he lied. "Soun and I are just going out to help stop a fight before too much property damage is done." She shook her head. "You're lying to me. Why? I thought you had improved beyond this. You've been doing so much good." Genma's face fell. He knew she could always see through him, so what could he say? "I don't really know. I just feel..." He shrugged, unable to put words to it. She tapped her chin lightly. "Something's different about this battle." She got a sudden chill at his return shrug and inability to return her gaze. Her hand flew to to cover her mouth. "Tell me you're coming back, Genma. Please promise me you're coming back!" His head came to stare at her even as his eyes widened. "Y-you want me back? I-I thought-" "Of course I do," she told him. "I just wanted the old Genma back. The one who's heart was in the right place, even if it didn't turn out right. The one who helped out where he could, including a young girl who was unwanted by her family." She took the two steps that seperated them and placed a hand on his cheek. "I have never stopped loving you, husband. But when I thought you didn't love me anymore, I turned all my attention to our son." Hesitantly, he reached a hand up to cover her own, from where it rested on his cheek. "No-chan, I-I do still love you, and I promise to come back, just like I always do." She smile and nodded. "Good." She retrieved her hand and lost the smile. "Now, where is our son? He and his fiancee have been missing since yesterday. I hope nothing bad has happened to them..." "If there is one thing I'm sure about, Ranma will return with Akane," he said confidently. "I know I have trained him well. I have not yet known anything or anyone that could get the best of him." "Oh, how I wish I had your faith, I-" She was interrupted by another explosion sounding the distance. "I need to go, No-chan. People need my help." Nodoka nodded solemnly. "Then go, husband. And know that I have your promise." She turned then, and walked back to the house. Genma turned as well, to face the dojo behind him. "How long have you been there!?" he demanded to know when he saw Soun, resplendid in his samurai armor, standing in the dojo doorway. "Long enough." He pointed to where smoke was rising in the horizon. "I think we have a job to do." Genma nodded, and the two men took off. From the window, Nodoka watched them go, and tried to suppress her own bad premontion that said she might not see her husband again. But what could she do about it? She glanced at the wrapped bundle in her arm, a strange idea popping into her head. Maybe there was something she could do, after all. ---------------------------------- Author's notes: Say what you will about Genma and Soun, there have been times when they leapt into action instead of avoiding it. They're not always the whiny cowards that many fanfics would lead you to believe. They have even stood up against Happosai before and managed to hold their own. Also, Genma DID make Ranma out to be an excellent martial artist, as well as inventing two powerful schools of techniques that could level several buildings in a manner of seconds or allow him to move and attack undetected(Umisenken and Yamesenken). In the end, very little actual scared them when they were determined to fight.