Send C&C to: oddball22@hotmail.com Find my stories at: www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000 Ranma 1/2: New Challenges Trials Chapter 14 Taking a deep breath, Ukyo emptied the contents of the urn over the pond. It strange, she decided, that her father would choose this place. Her uncle said the two of them had spent some time here as kids, and it was the place she had turned to for solace after Ranma had left with her dowry. But in a strange way, she supposed it was fitting then for her father to want his ashes spread here. The funeral had been short, again the way her father had specified in his will that he wanted it. But it had helped Ukyo come full circle with her mixed-up feelings towards him. On the one hand, she still hated him for the way he dealt with her. On the other, she loved him, because he was her father and in his own way, was trying to get her taken care of by engaging her to Ranma. But now she felt she could move on with her life. Thanks to Yoshiro's connections, she was now legally registered as a girl. Her father had registered her as a boy when she was left behind by Genma and Ranma because he couldn't deal with a disgraced daughter. And since he was now gone, there would be no loss of honor for the engagment to be declared null. she thought with a slight smirk, Her honor now satisfied, Ukyo packed the empty urn with her belongings and headed for what she now considered her home: Nerima. It really wasn't fair, and it definitely wasn't pretty. "Yaaagghh!" came the girl's scream. *Thump!* went her body as it hit the ground once again. "This isn't fair!!!" she cried, sitting up. "You can always give up," Akari suggested. Sakura glared at her and glanced at Ryoga. It had been her dream to marry a strong, handsome martial artist, and now that dream was slipping away every time she was hit by that giant freak pig. None of her attacks seemed to be doing any sort of damage, but of course they were designed to work on humans. "I hate pigs!" she screamed. She didn't notice Ryoga wince badly. She dried her eyes and settled her eyes on her beloved. "Ryoga- chan, wouldn't you rather have me over this pig-girl?" She gave him her best sad-lost-big-puppy-dog-eyes, complete with quivering-lower-lip. Ryoga, having the same problem as Ranma when confronted with a female's ultra kawaii attack, withered miserably. "I-I... t-that is... I l-lo.. um.. a-heh.. I mean... I-I can't... because... I..." Akari sighed at her fiance's lack of ability to form a coherent sentence. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), a distraction saved Ryoga from completing his babbling thoughts. *Splash!* "Woof!" "What's that boy? Ryoga-san was out there?" "Woof!" "Oh that's right! I had him working that boulder exercise!" "Woof!" "Remind me next time to look before tossing the cleaning water out." "Woof!" "Right, I know I'm blind! I can't look. Heh heh." "Woof!" "Ryoga-san, are you all right?" Sakura blinked when her love disappeared following the splash that lightly soaked him. "Ryoga-chan?" She dashed up to where he was standing, but arrived a few seconds after Akari, who was picking through his clothes. "What happened?" She watched, horrified, as Akari picked up a small, black piglet and held it close to her chest. "Oh, didn't you know?" Akari asked, surprised. "Ryo-chan turns into this cute little piglet when he gets wet!" You could see the synapses frying in her brain, one-by-one, as she tried to reconcile the facts. "A p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pig!?" she screeched. "He... you... what..." Her gaze flicked rapidly between an amused-looking Akari and a frightened Ryoga-buta. As soon as the facts finally snapped into place, Sakura took the only option open to her. She screamed and ran for the hills. "AAAAAAUUUuuuuggggghhhhh!!!!!" Her voice faded into the distance, as did the dust cloud raised in her wake. Ryoga sank back into depression at the fact that his pig form was detested, but that was tempered by the relief he felt that she was gone. Then he noticed how Akari had him nestled in a particular comfy part of her anatomy, similiar to how Akane used to hold him. His reaction, however, was the exact same. He had a nosebleed and passed out. "Now what in tarnation was all that screaming about?" Ryoga's sensei asked. "And where is Ryoga-san? Did he run off again?" Akari turned to the old man, after glancing downward at her passed-out fiance. "Um, he'll back in a bit, sir. He was just getting rid of a pest." "Oh?" The old man sounded surprised. "And just who are you?" The young girl smiled, feeling confident again for the first time since the whole mess began. "My name is Unryuu Akari. I'm Ryoga's iinazuke!" "AKANE!" Ranma yelled. "What are you bastards doing to her!?" As soon as Yuni grabbed ahold of Akane's arm, the latter screamed in pain and collapsed to her knees. Her golden aura dimmed and disappeared, as a light green one flowed from Yuni and overpowered it. "The last of her ki is being drained," Hajime replied calmly. "Only then, can what we seek be obtained. I'm sorry, but it has to be done." *Clang!* *Clang!* CLANG!* Hajime turned around, his eyes widening in surprise as Ranma put dent after dent into the steel cube. He turned back around and observed his fellow comrades rejoining him. Kujo actually seemed to be in some pain, but the big man was hiding it well as he picked up Li Chun. Wen Ho was back as well, and he was assisting Daimonji, who was injured pretty badly. Takao seemed pretty shaken, never having been hit by his own attack before. He'd need plenty of rest. The old man turned his attention back to Akane, who was writhing in pain from where she lay on her back. He felt sorry for her, but better to sacrifice one for the good of the many. He watched impassively, as her back finally arched, and a golden light burst out of her chest. It stopped a meter above her and coalesced into a golden ball. "At last!" "AKANE! NO!" *SCREEEEEEEEECH!* Watching Akane suffer was tearing Ranma apart like he'd never known. He'd promised himself time and time again that he wouldn't let anything happen to her, yet here he was, failing her again. she swore. Fear at what was happening to her iinazuke and at her helplessness to do anything, ate away at her, and a startling transformation took place. Ranma didn't think at all, she just acted. Hajime turned back around yet again, and was distressed to see four slash marks diagonally across the steel-titanium reinforced box. Also, was that girl... yowling? Another set of slash marks cut across the other way, making an X mark. Then the wall exploded and the girl inside pounced out. "Leave her alone!" she screamed. Before he knew what was happening, Hajime found himself easily batted aside like a rag doll by the rapidly moving red-head. She then implanted Wen Ho in a wall, flung Takao into the air, and sent Kujo down for the count, all in a matter of seconds. Hajime swore internally. Across the way, Yuni had finished what she was doing, and the golden ball above Akane formed into a multi-faceted crystal shard. The raven-haired martial artist slumped to the ground, gazing at the crystal with barely-recognized eyes. And deep insider her, a memory resurfaced. -------------------------------------------- "'Kasaan! You gonna be alright?" Mrs. Tendo looked down at her 6-year old daughter from her hospital bed. It was at her request that her youngest was here, for it was only little Akane who showed the signs of a warrior's heart. She reached out and stroked Akane's cheek. "I'm going to be fine, Akane-chan. I'm just going to have to go away for awhile." "Where?" Her young eyes showed no fear, only a strong curiosity. "You'll find out later, but for now I need you to do a favor for me," her mother told her. "Will you hold on to something for me?" "Sure, `Kasaan!" Akane responded happily. "I'll be happy to!" Mrs. Tendo rose to a sitting position on the bed, her legs hanging over the side. She held up both her palms. "Well, first of all, put your hands on mine." Akane smiled. A game! "Okay!" She put her small palms against her mother's and gazed upwards into her mother's brown eyes. For some reason, she couldn't turn her face away, feeling strangely compelled to keep looking. A golden light began to emanate from the Tendo matriarch, illuminating the darkened room. The glow expanded to surround young Akane, even as it pulsed between them. A conduit of golden rays flowed from Mrs. Tendo's chest to Akane's, faintly revealing a small crystal shard within. Akane watched it enter her body through her chest, but for some reason she wasn't scared. It was if she knew this had to happen, and this crystal was her friend. The glow faded slowly from the room and from mother and daughter, and Akane found herself growing sleepy. As she laid her head down in her mother's lap and began to doze off, she could almost hear her mother's thoughts. By the time they were found later, Mrs. Tendo had passed away, and little Akane had suppressed all memories of the incident. ------------------------------------------------ "Ka...saan..." Akane muttered, then closed her eyes. It was taking too long. The one in the brown gi (who's style of martial arts was disturbingly familiar) wasn't too much of a problem and the Kuno boy was more annoying then anything else, but together they were managing to hold him off. And then this panda comes out of nowhere to join the fight against him! (Lady Kuno attempted to revive Genma via a conviently placed bucket of cold water) Was there no end to this circus? And all of this was keeping him from his true target! His blade met Kuno's in a clash of steel, but he easily used his superior strength to send the younger boy tumbling back. However, that left him open for a fraction of a second, enough for the panda the ram into him, throwing him off balance with his superior bulk. Soun sprang in next, rapidly striking several vital points along Drakon's face and chest, and ending with a judo throw into another wall, which naturally crumbled to pieces upon impact. That didn't leave very many walls left. Drakon recovered quickly enough, bursting out of the debris to stand before the three advesaries arrayed against him. He was just starting to breath heavily, and still he was no closer to ending this. His let his hand brushed against his pouch once more. "Thy interference merely postpones that which is inevitable," he told them with a grim look on his face. "I desired not this outcome, but my hand hath been forced." Sudden determination dictating his actions, he reached into his pouch and pulled out the darkened orb. `If you are in need, throw this to the ground and break it, and your true powers will return,' Darmando had told him.