A Ranma 1/2 fanfic
Based on characters and stories by Rumiko Takahashi.
Insert any other legal jargon I forgot -here-
Yes, it's my first fanfic.  
Insert standard "it's my first..." stuff -here-
Written by Rod M.

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(Beta Version)
(Still Looking for a title)
(How about this?)

                        The More Things Change...


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   Part IV
 The Hunters:  Tsubasa rampages!  Kuno attacks!  Ryo strikes!
=============

You try to run from me
run from me
run from me
I am the adversary
I am the adversary
I am the adversary
I am your foe
I go
where you go

   -Crime and the City Solution

----------

   It was definite fall weather, Ryoga's favorite kind since the traveling is
easier when the weather was mild as it usually was in the fall.  He was 
enjoying the air, sweeping the front of Ucchan's.  Suddenly, he sensed someome
watching him.
   "Hey, Ryoga, you done out there?  It's time to go, we're gonna be late."
   "Oh, yeah, I'll be done in a moment."
   Ryoga looked around at the surrounding neighborhood, searching for something
out there, maybe hiding behind a trash can, maybe in the trees, or hiding
in the shadows.  He thought he saw nothing and walked back in.  "Guess it was 
just Ukyo I was sensing" he muttered.
   Ryoga put the broom away, and then he walked with Ukyo down the street.
   As they walked away, someone stepped out of the shadows, brushing leaves
off of his suit.
   "So, you're here."

-------

   Tsubasa had really outdone himself, he thougth.  He proudly examined his new
creation built out of miscellaneous Mishima Heavy Industries weaponry and
technology:  The Postal 110.  Ceramic armor on the outside, cushoned inside
to sustain shock impact, high voltage tazer, high-powered rapid-fire
tranquilizer gun, and built in mini-bike for getaways, and several other
interesting toys, all packed into a large mailbox.  Tsubasa had given up on the
severe weaponry when he realized that Ukyo would probbably be in close 
proximity and in danger if he didn't aim carefully.
   Tsubasa hopped in, started the motor, and sped off.

-------

   Sasuke was outside running an errand for his master.  Specificaly he was
putting a letter adressed to the pig-tailed girl in the public mailbox.
He came upon one, opened it, and dumped the letter inside.
   "HEY!" The mailbox yelled.
   Sasuke jumped back, startled severely.  He stood a safe distance away as
the mailbox suddenly grew tank treads and drove off towards two unsuspecting
figures a block away...

-------

   Ryoga was walking along with Ukyo, on the way to the usual poker night
at the Tendo residence.  As usual, he didn't want to go.  And as usual, Ukyo
picked on him until he agreed to go.
   "Why do you seem so scared of Ranchan lately, Ryoga?"
   "Scared?  Who's scared!?!"  Ryoga yelled.  Then he remembered The Incident
and shivered.
   "You are, stupid.  C'mon, tell me what happened!  I promise not to tease
you."
   "Promise?" Ryoga asked, looking warily at Ukyo.
   "Promise."
   "Well, y'know, I've never kissed a girl yet."
   "Hey, you hitting on me or something?"
   "Hold on, hold on, I'm getting to the point!  Er.. anyways.. I've never
kissed a girl before, until recently, and... how should I put this... I don't
think this should count as a first kiss."
   "Huh?  Who kissed you?"
   "Ranma."
   "What?!  He wasn't..."
   "He was in she-mode, mercifully."
   "Oh... um... just a quick peck in the cheek or something, right?"
   "Tongue."
   "Oh now that's gross!" Ukyo stopped walking.
   "And he grabbed my butt."
   Ukyo stared at Ryoga, stunned.  Then she started laughing.
   "HEY!  Stop laughing!  This isn't funny!  I'm scarred for life!"
   Suddenly, he sensed danger.
   "Ukyo," he said, "there's trouble."
   Suddenly, a nearby public mailbox rumbled to life and turned to face Ryoga.
A megaphone popped out as well.  "Hibiki!  Surrender!  Now!"
   "I do -not- believe this." Ukyo muttered, getting her battle-spatula ready.
   "Go away, ya pest!"  Ryoga yelled.
   "Oh, is THAT the way it's gonna be?" Tsubasa yelled.  "Fine!"
   Suddenly, various interesting items which were probbably all weaponry popped
out of the mailbox, all pointing at Ryoga.
   "I do _not_ believe this" said a very nervous Ryoga.
   "Run!" Ukyo yelled.
   And so two figures blazed quickly through the city streets pursued by a
rampaging mailbox.

-------

   Mousse, Akane, and Ranma were sitting in the dojo around a small table.
   "Hey," Ranma said, "Ukyo's a little late today."
   "In a hurry to loose again?"  Akane teased.
   "Well, I am getting better at it."
   "Yes, that is true," Mousse added, "he used to lose everything before.
Now he only loses almost everything."
   "Wiseguys," Ranma grumbled.  "Still, it's unusual for her to be late
on poker night."

_______

   The person in black was perched in a tree near the Tendo residence.  He'd
put this off for a while, but now he had nothing better to do so...
   Suddenly, he was knocked off the tree and fell unto his face in the
pavement.  He heard a giggle and a cry of "What a haul!" and quickly stood up.
   "HEY!  YOU!"  He yelled.
   Happosai stopped in his tracks.  "Yeeeeees?"
   "You dare to strike me down?  Get back here so I can kick your ass."
   Happosai looked, amused, at this newcomer.  He was dressed a bit formally,
with the black suit and all.  A bit young too, maybe one of Ranma's classmates
that wanted revenge?  That sort of thing seemed to be happening alot.
   "And who dares challenge me?" the old troll asked.
   "I'm Ryo Muhoshin, who the hell are you?"
   "Here, youngster.  Catch."  Happosai flung a bomb at him.
   He batted away the bomb with his umbrella.  "FOOL!" Ryo yelled, "You 
think you can defeat me with mere fireworks?"
   "Heh.  Looks like I'll have to use a special technique of the Anything
Goes Martial Arts on you."
   "Just try it, old fool."
   With the speed of lightning, Happosai ran behind Ryo, grabbed him by
the seat of his pants, yelled "HAPPO-WEDGIE-SATSU!" and yanked his 
underwear up violently.  With an *ACK* Ryo collapsed to the ground.
   "Nnng... aargh.... kill you.... old man...." 
   "Yes, yes, so everyone says.  The name's Happosai, MASTER Happosai, of
the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.  Don't mess with master martial
artists, m'boy.  You could get hurt."  And so Happosai bounded away and into 
the Tendo home to enjoy the day's catch.
   "Okay," the wedgified victim said, straightening out his undergarment,
"after I beat up Hibiki, the old goat is DEAD."
   "Old goat?" Happosai asked, standing in front of Ryo.
   "Hey, I thought you left."
   "I'll leave when I want to.  But you..." Happosai said, as he used his
pipe to fling Ryo to a wall, "should be more respectful to your elders."
   For Ryo Muhosin, the world went black.

-----------

   "Ryoga!  Got any bright ideas?" Ukyo yelled, running at full steam.
   "Well, one or two," Ryoga answered, "lemme see how this works out."
Ryoga jumped to the air, waaaay up high with that absurd hangtime that's
reserved for martial artists, and out of view of the Postal-1 assault 
disguise.
   "Dammit!  Where'd he go!" Tsubasa yelled.  He shifted the visor of his
postal-mech left, right, and finally up, where he saw a fiery Ryoga falling
down fast.  "Oh boy."
   Ryoga descended like a commet, hands first, with a glowing sphere of
energy glowing inbetween them.  With a yell of "SHISHI HOKOU-DAN!!!"
the ball became a blast as he crashed into the Postal-1 with his ki-blast
leading the charge, kicking up an incredible dustcloud which covered the
impact site up entirely.
   "Ryoga!  Are you alright!  Ryoga!!!" Ukyo yelled, sounding very worried.
   "AAAARGH!" Ryoga yelled, as he was flung out of the cloud at high speeds,
wrapped up by a net, and impacted solidly into a wall.
   "SURRENDER HIBIKI!  THIS IS THE LATEST IN HI-TECH ARMOR, WITH TITANIUM
ALLOYS, CERAMIC-"
   "Ceramic?" Ryoga asked, confused, as he cut the net away using one of his
bandanas as a blade, "like pottery and plates?" 
   "SHUT UP!  CERAMIC PLATING, AND.. AND.. ALL SORTS OF STUFF!  YOU CAN'T 
POSSIBLY HOPE TO WIN!"
   "Ceramic... ceramic... hm..." Ryoga was briefly lost in thought, then
he suddenly charged straight at Tsubasa, whipping out his umbrella and
using it as a shield.
   "Alright then, have it your way," Tsubasa muttered.  He reached down and
pulled several triggers.
   Ryoga ran on, his umbrella withstanding the impact of high-speed net
projectiles, tranquilizer, rubber bullets, and tazer wire, rearing his
arm back with a finger pointed out.  Finally, as he got into striking
distance of Tsubasa's "disguise", he lowered his umbrella to strike.
   "BAKUSAI-TEN-"
   "Gotcha!" Tsubasa yelled, getting a clear shot at Ryoga.
   "KETSU!!!"
   The Postal-1 was destroyed with a spectacular explosion, sending
the blond little transvestite flying across the skies.
   "Damn little freak.  He's gotten serious."
   "Ryoga, you ok?" Ukyo asked.
   "Yeah, let's get going before any other surprises show up." 
   "How'd you know that move was gonna work?  I thought that move only worked
on rocks."
   "Just a hunch."

----------

   It has been known that Tatewaki Kuno often attacked Ranma Saotome previous
to Ranma's engagement to Akane.  What was somewhat unclear was why Kuno's 
attacks were rather lacking in inspiration or foresight and seemed very much
like randomly chosen times of attack for the most part.  The closest Kuno 
had ever come to a strategic attack was when he tried to use Ranma's fear of 
cats against him, which didn't work out that great at all.
   However, what was not understood by Kuno's foes was WHY Tatewaki Kuno had
such a random attack pattern.  Actually, the timing of his attacks were
not so much random as they believed.  Kuno usually sets off to attack his foes
whenever one of the following *conditions was met.

   1) Kuno had heard some information about his foe which angers him, thus 
      prompting him to seek out his enemy and serve justice.
   2) Kuno had just finished watching something inspirational such as "The
      Seven Samurai" or such, and thusly inspired, marches on to glorious
      battle.
   3) Kodachi really gets on his nerves, thus revving up Kuno's fighting 
      spirit.
   4) Kuno's father was visiting, giving Kuno the urgent need to do something 
      that required Kuno to leave the home.
   5) Kuno had just spent a long amount of time viewing his picture
      collection of "the Pig-Tailed Goddess" or Akane Tendo.
   6) Kuno had absolutely nothing better to do (i.e. he's bored.)

*Notice that actual **planning and scheming do not play a factor here.
   
**Actually, the planning and scheming genes were inherited by Kodachi.
Tatewaki just inherited an inflated belief in the importance of self.
   
   On this day, Kuno had just finished watching "Lone Wolf and Cub", flipping
through his "Pig-Tailed Girl" photo album during commercial breaks, had a long
arguement with Kodachi over the destruction of certain photos (he used her
Ranma pictures as target practice and she used his Pig-Tailed Girl photos in
the same manner), was called by his father who announced he'd be visiting for 
dinner, and was informed by Sasuke that Hibiki was once again traveling 
towards the abode of his longtime nemisis, the evil sorcerer Saotome, 
undoubtedly to scheme heinous deeds.  
   And the final insult was when Sasuke had reported that Hibiki had 
destroyed the mailbox in which Sasuke had deposited a letter adressed to the 
Pig-Tailed Girl (he strongly suspected that she lived with the Tendo family
often.)

   This was plenty of motivation.

   Somewhere deep in Kuno's mind, gears spun, engines revved, and his pride
told him it was clobberin' time.  Turn on the extra adrenaline, turn off
those damn pain sensors, activate the battle mode, it was Time To Smite.
   
   "My sister, I shall be back later today!  For now, I go to smite my
enemies!"  Kuno strode out the door with his bokken in hand.
   And then he quickly strode back in.  "By the way, father is coming by to 
visit so you might wish to cook something for him.  I suggest the arsenic
laced fugu."

---------

   Ryoga and Ukyo walked into the Tendo dojo, looking a bit worn.   
   "Sorry we're late, guys" Ukyo said, "but Tsubasa ambushed us today.  He's
getting serious with the weaponry."
   "Don't worry about it.  Have a seat.  I'm finally on a roll."  Ramna
proudly said, pointing to a modest pile of chips.
   Ukyo and Ryoga sat down, both looking at Ranma with awkward stares.
As usual, Ryoga sat as far away from Ranma as possible.
   "Hey, Ranchan," Ukyo asked, "have you been feeling okay lately?"
   "Yeah, why?"
   "Nobody hit you on the head or anything like that?"
   "No..."
   "Oh well, never mind."
   Everybody looked at their dealt cards, some in disgust, some happily,
some keeping a straight face.
   "I'm out" Ramna said.
   "Me too" Ryoga added.
   "RYOGA HIBIKI PREPARE TO DIE!"
   "Huh?" everyone said.

-------

   Many observers of Tatewaki Kuno wonder why on earth Kuno totally _ruins_
the element of surprise almost every single time whenever he charges at his
foe with the ridiculous battle cry of "[insert name here] PREPARE TO DIE!".  
Many feel that it's the rough equivalent of yelling "here I come, beat me up!"
Why does he constantly ruin his advantage time after time?   

   It's still a mystery.

-------

   Kuno was sailing high in the air, bokken held high overhead, flying
towards Ryoga.  Ryoga whipped out his umbrella, blocked the attack, and flung 
Kuno back out.  Ryoga then ran outside to continue the battle, muttering 
"Yeah, I know, don't damage the dojo."

-------

   Ryo slowly got up and started brushing the dust off his suit.  Much to his
relief, it didn't get damaged in the melee.  The sounds of battle caught his
attention and so he took position in a tree near the Tendo residence and
observed the action.  He was pleased to find that Hibiki was fighting with
someone.
   {Good.  I was hoping to see how he fights nowadays.}
   Ryo dug around in his pockets until he found a small piece of paper and a
pencil.  Then he observed.

--------

   Ryoga went outside, followed by the rest of the Poker Night crew.
   "Feh," Kuno sneered, "Such cowardly tactics from one such as yourself.  
STAND AND FIGHT!"  He charged, swinging with blazing speed.  Ryoga was barely 
blocking the strikes, unable to block them all, using one hand to hold the 
umbrella, the other to tear off a small amount of bandanas from his head.   
He then flung the bandanas at Kuno, who amazingly began knocking them all 
away.  {Wow, he has improved} Ryoga thought to himself, {just not enough.}  
As Kuno was busy swatting away the bandanas, Ryoga leapt in foot-first and 
nailed Kuno on the side of his face.  Kuno stepped back, stunned, and then 
resumed his fighting stance.  "I fight on" Kuno said, showing his grim
determination.

***

   From within his hiding place, Ryo began to write.
   [Still has sledgehammer model depleted uranium umbrella.  Defense weak.  
Amazing trick with bandanas as distraction/attack.]
   Actually, Ryo had no idea what the umbrella was made of.  He only knew that
it was incredibly heavy and extremely painful if you got hit by it.

***

   Kuno charged and this time his battle aura was actually visible.  He swung
down hard and fast at Ryoga's head, which caused Ryoga to raise his umbrella 
in defense.  Suddenly and in the blink of an eye Kuno pulled his sword back
and swung low this time, catching Ryoga off-guard and connected solidly with
a blow to the gut which sent Ryoga stumbling back and open to several more
solid hits by Kuno's bokken.  Any normal person would be on his knees by
now, but this was Ryoga, who could withstand the impact of a full-force
kick in the head in battle situations and not be affected (as Ranma had once 
learned).  Ryoga lept back to get some distance, wiped the sweat off his
forehead, and focused on his enemy once more.
   Off to the sides, Ranma wasn't sure what to make of this.  "Now, either
Kuno hasn't taken me on yet with his full effort, or Ryoga is a bit out of
practice."

***

   [Ryoga's super-endurance now increased?  Took hard hits, wasn't stunned.]

***

   "I hope Ryoga doesn't get hurt."  Ukyo said.
   "Aaaand why's that?" Ranma asked, grinning.
   *whop*  "This isn't the time to joke around."
   {Enough} thought Ryoga.  {One big assault oughta end this}  Ryoga
tore off even more bandanas with one hand, readied the umbrella with his
other hand, and began to glow with a fiery yellow aura.  Kuno's battle
aura was flaring as well, as he assumed a ready position, getting ready to
unleash his fastest flury of strikes.  Ryoga flung his bandanas at Kuno,
creating a swarm of spinning, buzzing cloth, and flung his umbrella which 
spun like a top towards its target.  Kuno was a blur, striking away the
bandanas, but was being cut despite his best efforts.  Then the umbrella
slammed into him, knocking him back and dropping his guard, allowing the
remaining bandanas to pelt at him.  Finally, Ryoga held out his hands
and yelled "SHISHI HOUKOU-DAN!!!" unleasing a blast of energy that hurled
Kuno through the air and solidly outside of the Tendo fence.

***

   [New trick:  Ki-blast attack?  "Shishihowdedodan?"  Overall, minimal
use of umbrella, lots of bandanas.]

***

   Ryoga turned around to the sound of clapping and cheers.  "Hey, 
nice show!" "Good going, Ryoga!" "Ah, I coulda finished him faster*OOF*"

***

   Ryo took a deep breath, looked at the Tendo residence, and made a
decision.  "Stakeout first.  Definitely stakeout.  Not gonna charge in there 
yet.  Not in the shape I'm in.  Maybe later."  He crumpled his notes and
stuffed them into his jacket pocket.
   He then scaled a nearby tree and waited for Hibiki to leave, pulling out a
mini-tv to kill time.

---------

   The late night festivities finally wound down and everyone went on their
way, some with a little more money and some with a little less.  Ukyo was
happy:  she hit the jackpot.  Ryoga came out even.  Mousse did almost as well
as Ukyo.  Akane managed to not loose too much at all and Ranma, as usual, came
out of this the big looser.  Ryoga didn't care too much, he just wanted to get
very far away from Ranma, especially if he turned into a she.
   And so, with winnings in hand, Ukyo and Ryoga walked back to Ucchan's.
   "You feeling better now Ryoga?" Ukyo asked.
   "Yeah.  Feel good as new.  Guess it was enough rest... or those bottles
of Megavolt Cola."
   "That stuff's not good for your health y'know."
   "It seems like from their motto they don't care.  How did it go?  Hm...
'Megavolt Cola:  Caffene Crazy!'"

   Nearby, Ryo had fallen asleep watching on a badly dubbed American show about
a lab mouse bent towards world domination.  Suddenly, he woke up.
   "Oh shoot, fell asleep!  Where are they!  Where are.... ah, there they are."
He jumped down to the street, readied his umbrella, and went to pursue his
target.

   "Excuse me!  Pardon me!" someone asked, running towards Ryoga and Ukyo.
   "Hm?  Who's that?  Gosunkugi?"
   "Dunno, Ryoga.  Looks kinda like him, doesn't it?"
   The man finally caught up with them, meeting them at a bridge above a
waterway.
   "Hi there.  Excuse me.  Sorry to ask, but I've been wandering around here
for quite a while now..." Ryo knew he should just go for the kill, but he
just loved ambushing his adversaries boldly, "but I've been looking for a
Mr. Ryoga Hibiki.  Got an important message to deliver."
   "Gosunkugi?  Is that you?" Ryoga asked.  It _looked_ like Gosunkugi, but
a bit taller and with a bolder attitude in a suit.
   "Eh?  Nope. Hey, are you Hibiki?"
   "Well, yeah..."  
   Ryoga noticed the man had an umbrella, which seemed to nag at deep
warning systems in Ryoga's mind, but failed to pull up the appropriate
warning in time.  Another thing that should have warned Ryoga was the
apparent lack of rainclouds.  "Yes, I'm Ryoga Hibiki."
   "Izzatafactnow?"  Suddenly, Ryo smiled, yelled "GEKIHOU!" and swung the 
umbrella forward.  The curved end glowed white with ki-charged power as it 
swung forward and it connected with Ryoga's chest.  Ryoga was thrown back 
five feet and landed on his back.  "The master sends his regards."
   "Ryoga!"  Ukyo yelled.  "Alright, mister, I don't know who you are but
you're going down now!"  She whipped out her smasher-spatula and stood
between Ryo and Ryoga.
   Ryo got a perplexed look on his face.  "Er... Unorthodox Weaponry Martial
Arts Kitchen Utensil Division?"
   "What?  No!"
   Ryoga stood once again (his super-endurance saving him once again) and
hefted his own umbrella to an attack position.  Meanwhile, Ukyo swung with
her spatula but it was hooked by the umbrella handle.  Undeterred, she
held onto the spatula handle, jumped up, and kicked him in the face.  She
landed and twisted her spatula free.
   He staggered a few steps back, and then held his umbrella like a rapier.
He thrust forward several times and she blocked with her spatula.  She noticed
that he was really denting the metal.  Suddenly he twirled the umbrella so that
the handle was pointed outwards.  He swung forward but too far for the strike
to reach.  To her surprise, she was hit solidly in the jaw.  She took a step
back and examined her adversary carefully, finally noticing that it looked like
his umbrella seemed a bit longer than it was before but was retracting back
to it's original length.
   Ukyo took hold of several mini-spatulas and aimed for his legs.  He jumped
forward to attack and to jump over the mini-spatulas and was met by a spatula
thrust straight to the gut.  He managed to land on his feet after that, but
he was a bit dazed.
   "Not bad, miss. I'd love to spar more, but I've got a matter of honor 
to settle with Mister Hibiki.  Step aside before I get serious."  As Ryo was 
speaking, he lost track of Ryoga, who was getting into position safely hidden 
from view behind Ukyo.
   "You want me to step aside?  O-kay..."  Ukyo smiled, and totally surprised
Ryo by revealing the charging Ryoga that suddenly came into view.
   "Oh sh-"  was all he could get out before Ryoga's umbrella point slammed
into his gut and slammed him nearly off the bridge.  Noticing that he was
ever-so-close to falling into the water, he panicked and flailed, trying
to regain his balance.  "nononono!  Not water!  I *ack*"
    Ryo was grabbed by his shirt collar by Ryoga, who seemed to take notice
of Ryo's apparent aversion to water, and held him above the waters.  "Now, who 
the hell are you?"
   "Ryoga, old buddy, I'm so dissapointed you don't remember your old
sparring partner."
   "What are you talking about?!"
   "A few years back."
   Ryoga still looked confused.
   "A dojo.  You thought it was in China for some damn reason."
   Ryoga stared at him for a while.  "Ryo?"
   "Well, you're as dense as ever.  I've got a matter of duty and honor to
perform, and it pretty much involves beating YOU up. I've even been following 
your trail for more than a year now."  That wasn't exactly true.  Muhoshin 
was notorious for doing tomorrow what could be done today, and so his master 
finally drove him out to get the assignment over with after goofing off for 
several months.
   "You've been," Ryoga paused, merely for dramatic effect, "following my
trail," another pause, "for a year now, eh?  Say, you wouldn't have happened
to have been through China, eh?"  He shook Ryo a bit.
   "Well, maybe I have..."  Ryo saw an opening.  The fool was too concentrated
on rattling his cage and had left a very vunerable spot very much open.
"TAKE THIS!" he yelled, kicking Ryoga in the crotch.
   Ryoga's face twisted in pain.  He let go of Ryo and stumbled back a bit.
Ryo had forgotten entirely about the swiftly moving waterway below.  "NOOOOOO!"
*splash* was the last Ryoga heard of his adversary, as Ryo fell into the water.
Ryoga and Ukyo quickly went to the edge of the bridge, looking down, but saw 
nothing.
   "Hm... I wonder what his curse was."  Ryoga turned away from the stream.
"Whatever he is now, I hope he can swim."
   "Why do you think he's cursed?"
   "He was looking for revenge, wasn't he?  And he did say he followed me to
China.  He did seem really adverse to water too."
   
-----------   

   Ryoga and Ukyo walked down the streets of nighttime Nerima, casually
strolling and enjoying the night air.
   "Well," Ukyo said, patting Ryoga in the back, "three deadly foes in one
day.  You're up to Ranma-esque levels now."
   "Hey... I never thought about that..."
   "About what?"
   "Well, ever since Ranma and Akane got serious, look what's happened to me.  
I got engaged to Shampoo, Kodachi is obsessed with me, Kuno is out to kill me,
Tsubasa is jealous, a person from my past has come seeking vengence, and
you and I..."
   "Eh?"  Ukyo said uneasily, her eyes scanning around her.
   "er... turn out to be best friends."  Ryoga nervously tugged at his shirt
collar.  Ukyo looked away, her expression hidden from Ryoga's view.
   "Ryoga," Ukyo said, closing her eyes.
   "What is it?"
   "Where the hell are we?"
   He suddenly stopped, noticing that they were deep in a forest with city 
lights blinking far away behind them.
   "Huh?  How'd we get here?"

-----------

   Much later...

   In a hotel room, Ryo Muhoshin was taking a relaxing hot bath.  He also
was nursing a nasty bruise where Ryoga's umbrella had impacted and a cut across
his stomach where Ukyo's spatula him him.
   "Damn, that's the same old 'sledgehammer' depleted uranium model umbrella.  
Still packs a mean punch."
   Ryo thought back to the days when they were both in training.  He thought
back to the regular sparring sessions.  He thougth of all the times Hibiki
had _always_ bested him in their sparring matches, and he looked like he
didn't give a damn, as if beating Ryo was a _normal_ thing to do.  After a
while it got pretty damn insulting, but the problem was fixed when Ryoga
suddenly babbled something about revenge and stormed out of the dojo doors
forever.  This had left Ryo as the undisputed best of the students, although
everyone, even his masters, had always reminded him that Ryoga was certainly 
better.
   Some people were never happy.

=============