=================
Part V
Come Out And Play
=================
"Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate."
- Thomas Jones
It was definite fall weather, Ryouga'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 someone watching him.
"Hey, Ryouga, you done out there? It's time to go, we're gonna be
late."
"Oh, yeah, I'll be done in a moment."
Ryouga 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 Ukyou I was sensing" he muttered.
He put the broom away, looking around one last time, then walked with
Ukyou 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 thought. He proudly sat in 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 Ukyou would
probably be in close proximity and in danger if he didn't aim carefully.
Tsubasa waited patiently, his new creation parked on a city street,
ready to ambush Ryouga if he came by.
***
Sasuke was outside running an errand for his master. Specifically he
was putting a letter addressed 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...
-------
Ryouga walked along with Ukyou, on the way to the usual poker night at
the Tendou residence. As usual, he didn't want to go. And as usual,
Ukyou picked on him until he agreed to go.
"Why do you seem so scared of Ranchan lately, Ryouga?"
"Scared? Who's scared!?!" Ryouga yelled. Then he remembered The
Incident and shivered.
"You are, stupid. C'mon, tell me what happened! I promise not to
tease you."
"Promise?" Ryouga asked, looking warily at Ukyou.
"Promise."
"Well, y'know, I've never kissed a girl yet."
Ukyou put a little distance between herself and him. "Hey, you're not
asking me to..."
"No! 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. But it still didn't make it feel any better."
Ryouga shivered at the memory.
"Oh... um... just a quick peck in the cheek or something, right?"
Ryouga winced. "Tongue."
"Aw! Now that's gross!" Ukyou stopped walking.
"And he groped me. He even grabbed my rear." said Ryouga, shaking with
anger and revulsion.
Ukyou stared at Ryouga, stunned. Then she laughed.
"HEY! Stop laughing! This isn't funny!"
Ukyou just couldn't take this seriously. Ryouga must be mistaken,
right?
Suddenly, Ryouga sensed danger.
"Ukyou," he said, "there's trouble."
A nearby public mailbox rumbled to life and turned to face Ryouga. A
megaphone popped out as well. "Hibiki! Surrender! Now!"
"Tsubasa?" she called out. "I do -not- believe this." Ukyou muttered,
getting her battle-spatula ready.
"Go away, ya pest!" Ryouga yelled.
"Oh, is THAT the way it's gonna be?" Tsubasa yelled. "Fine!"
Suddenly, various interesting items which were probably all weaponry
popped out of the mailbox, all pointing at Ryouga.
"I do _not_ believe this," said a very nervous Ryouga.
"Run!" Ukyou yelled.
And so two figures blazed quickly through the city streets pursued by a
rampaging mailbox.
-------
Mousse, Akane, and Ranma sat in the living room of the Tendou residence,
watching televisiona and talking.
"Hey," Ranma said, "Ukyou's a little late today."
"In a hurry to lose again?" Akane teased.
"Hey, 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 Tendou 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 face-first into the
pavement. He heard a giggle and a cry of "What a haul!" and sprang back
up, twirling something in his hands.
"WHO DID THAT?!"
Happousai stopped in his tracks and turned around, looking at the
figure in shadows curiously. "Yeeeeees?"
"Did you... just run over me now?" he asked in a polite manner.
Happousai 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.
"Sure did, sonny boy! What can I say, I'm in a hurry, now if you'll
excuse me," he said, pausing to sniff an undergarment.
"No... you should be more considerate to people who might kill you,"
replied the stranger.
"And who dares challenge me?" the old troll asked.
"I am Ryo Muhoshin, who the hell are you, troll?"
"Here, youngster. Catch." Happousai flung a bomb at him.
He batted away the bomb with his umbrella. "FOOL!" Ryo yelled, "You
think you can defeat me with simple firecrackers? Idiot!"
"Heh. Looks like I'll have to use a special technique of the Anything
Goes Martial Arts on you."
"I can just kill you quickly. It'll be easier for all concerned."
With the speed of lightning, Happousai 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 Happousai, MASTER Happousai,
of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Don't mess with master
martial artists, m'boy. You could get hurt." And so Happousai bounded
away and into the Tendou home to enjoy the day's catch.
"Okay," the wedgified victim said, straightening out his undergarment,
"after I beat up Hibiki, the freak is DEAD."
"Freak?" Happousai asked, standing in front of Ryo.
"Um..."
"Did you say... freak?"
"Didn't you leave already?"
"I'll leave when I want to. But you..." said the old master, 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.
-----------
"Ryouga! Got any bright ideas?" Ukyou yelled, running as fast as she
could.
"Well, one or two," Ryouga answered, "lemme see how this works out."
Ryouga jumped to the air, waaaay up high with that absurd hangtime that's
reserved for martial artists, and out of view of the Postal-110 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 Ryouga
falling down fast. "Oh boy."
Ryouga descended like a comet, 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.
"Ryouga! Are you alright! Ryouga!!!" Ukyou yelled, sounding very
worried.
"AAAARGH!" yelled Ryouga, as he was flung out of the cloud at high
speeds, wrapped up by a net, and impacted solidly into a wall. The
Postal-110 emerged from the dustcloud barely scratched.
"SURRENDER HIBIKI! THIS IS THE LATEST IN HI-TECH ARMOR, WITH TITANIUM
ALLOYS, CERAMIC-"
"Ceramic?" Ryouga 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..." Ryouga was briefly lost in thought, then
he suddenly charged straight at Tsubasa, whipping out his umbrella and
using it as a shield.
"Ryouga! What are you doing!" yelled Ukyou.
"Alright then, have it your way," Tsubasa muttered. He reached down
and pulled several triggers.
Ryouga ran on, his umbrella withstanding the impact of high-speed net
projectiles, tranquilizer darts, 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 Ryouga.
"KETSU!!!"
The Postal-1 was destroyed with a spectacular explosion, sending the
psychotic transvestite flying across the skies.
"Whend did _he_ start using mecha?" wondered Ryouga.
"Ryouga, you ok?" Ukyou 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."
----------
Ataru Moroboshi was walking casually along doing nothing in particular.
He'd managed to get out of the house, and away from his so-called-wife.
It was girl-hunting time.
Suddenly a little blond girl flew right by him and crashed into a stack
of garbage cans.
Ataru noticed long blond hair, and his curiosity was raised. He
noticed a skirt and his curiosity was even greater.
Suddenly, internal warning systems switched on in Ataru's head. His
hands, ready to get a quick feel, retracted to his sides. This was the
same feeling he got like before....
"Hey," he said, "you alright?"
"Yeah." a tiny voice replied.
"You're a guy, aren't you?"
"Yup."
Ataru shook his head. "Man, there's sure alot of transvestites going
around Tokyo these days."
----------
It has been known that Tatewaki Kunou has often attacked Ranma Saotome
on many occasions. What was somewhat unclear was why Kunou'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 Kunou 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 Kunou's foes was WHY Tatewaki Kunou
had such a random attack pattern. Actually, the timing of his attacks
were not so much random as they believed. Kunou usually sets off to
attack his foes whenever one of the following *conditions was met.
1) Kunou had heard some information about his foe which angers him,
thus prompting him to seek out his enemy and serve justice.
2) Kunou 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 Kunou's fighting
spirit.
4) Kunou's father was visiting, giving Kunou the urgent need to
do something that required Kunou to leave the home.
5) Kunou had just spent a long amount of time viewing his picture
collection of "the Pig-Tailed Goddess" or Akane Tendou.
6) Kunou 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, Kunou 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 nemesis,
the evil sorcerer Saotome, undoubtedly to scheme heinous deeds.
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 Tendou
family since he saw her there often.)
This was plenty of motivation.
Somewhere deep in Kunou's mind, gears spun, engines revved, and his
massive ego roared, demanding justice. It was time to turn on the extra
adrenaline, turn off those damn pain sensors, and 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!" Kunou 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."
---------
Ryouga and Ukyou walked into the Tendou dojo, looking a bit worn.
"Sorry we're late, guys" Ukyou said, "but Tsubasa ambushed us today."
Ranma blinked. "Tsubasa? Then... why do you guys look so worn out?"
"He's started using mechs," said Ryouga.
"Oh."
"Again, sorry we're late," apologized Ukyou.
"Don't worry about it. Have a seat. I'm finally on a roll." Ranma
proudly said, pointing to a modest pile of chips.
Ukyou and Ryouga sat down. They both seemed to be a bit tired, as if
they had ran a mile. As usual, Ryouga sat as far away from Ranma as
possible.
"Hey, Ranchan," Ukyou asked, "have you been feeling okay lately?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Nobody hit you on the head or anything like that?"
"No..."
"Oh well, never mind." Ukyou glanced at Ryouga, who looked confused.
She surpressed the urge to snicker, or to tell Ranma what Ryouga thought
he did.
Everybody looked at their dealt cards, some in disgust, some happily,
some keeping a straight face.
"I'm out" Ramna said.
"Me too" Ryouga added.
"RANMA SAOTOME! RYOUGA HIBIKI! PREPARE TO DIE!"
"Huh?"
-------
Many observers of Tatewaki Kunou wonder why on earth Kunou 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.
-------
Kunou was sailing high in the air, bokken held high overhead, flying
towards Ryouga, who whipped out his umbrella, blocked the attack, and
flung Kunou back out. Ryouga then ran outside to continue the battle,
muttering "I know, 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 Tendou
residence once more and observed the action. He was pleased to find that
Hibiki was fighting with someone.
Ryo dug around in his pockets until he found a small piece of paper and
a pencil. Then he observed.
***
Ryouga went outside, followed by the rest of the Poker Night crew.
"Feh," Kunou sneered, "Such cowardly tactics from one such as yourself.
STAND AND FIGHT!" He charged, swinging with blazing speed. Ryouga 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 Kunou, who amazingly began
knocking them all away. {Wow, he has improved} Ryouga thought to himself,
{just not enough}. As Kunou was busy swatting away the bandanas, Ryouga
leapt in foot-first and nailed Kunou on the side of his face. Kunou
stepped back, stunned, and then resumed his fighting stance. "I fight on"
Kunou 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 one got hit by it.
***
Kunou charged and this time his battle aura was actually visible. He
swung down hard and fast at Ryouga's head, which caused Ryouga to raise
his umbrella in defense. Suddenly and in the blink of an eye Kunou pulled
his sword back and swung low this time, catching Ryouga off-guard and
connected solidly with a blow to the gut which sent Ryouga stumbling back
and open to several more solid hits by Kunou's bokken. Any normal person
would be on his knees by now, but this was Ryouga, 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). Ryouga 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
Kunou hasn't taken me on yet with his full effort, or Ryouga is a bit out
of practice."
***
Ryo looked puzzled. He scribbled in his notes.
[Ryouga's super-endurance now increased? Took hard hits, wasn't
stunned.]
***
"I hope Ryouga doesn't get hurt." Ukyou said.
"Aaaand why's that?" Ranma asked, grinning.
*whop* "This isn't the time to joke around."
{Enough} thought Ryouga. {One big assault oughta end this} Ryouga tore
off even more bandanas with one hand, readied the umbrella with his other
hand, and began to glow with a fiery yellow aura. Kunou's battle aura was
flaring as well, as he assumed a ready position, getting ready to unleash
his fastest flury of strikes. Ryouga flung his bandanas at Kunou,
creating a swarm of spinning, buzzing cloth, and flung his umbrella which
spun like a top towards its target. Kunou 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, Ryouga held out his hands and
yelled "SHISHI HOUKOU-DAN!!!" unleasing a blast of energy that hurled
Kunou through the air and solidly outside of the Tendou fence.
***
Ryo looked fascinated. He wrote enthusiastically into his notes.
[New trick: Ki-blast attack? "Shishihowdedodan?" Overall, minimal
use of umbrella, lots of bandanas.]
***
Ryouga turned around to the sound of clapping and cheers. "Hey, nice
show!" "Good going, Ryouga!" "Ah, I coulda finished him faster*OOF*"
***
Ryo took a deep breath, looked at the Tendou residence, and made a
decision.
"Maybe later."
He folded his notes, then stuffed them into his jacket. Then he 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.
Ukyou was happy: she hit the jackpot. Ryouga came out even. Mousse did
almost as well as Ukyou. Akane managed to not loose too much at all and
Ranma, as usual, came out of this the big loser. Ryouga 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, Ukyou and Ryouga walked back to
Ucchan's.
"You feeling better now Ryouga?" Ukyou 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: Caffeine 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.
"Damnation, 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 Ryouga and
Ukyou.
"Hm? Who's that? Gosunkugi?"
"Dunno, Ryouga. 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,
"Gosunkugi? Is that you?" Ryouga asked. It _looked_ like Gosunkugi,
but a bit taller and with a bolder attitude in a suit.
This threw Ryo off his stride. He resembled somebody Ryouga knew?
Hm... it could come in handy later, but at the moment that question
nearly ruined the dramatic mood Ryo was in.
"Er... no. I've been looking for the Hibiki residence. Would either
of you know where that may be?"
"Well," said Ryouga, looking embarrased, "actually I don't know,
although I really should. I..." He paused, examining Ryo.
Ryouga noticed the man had an umbrella, which seemed to nag at deep
warning systems in Ryouga's mind, but failed to pull up the appropriate
warning in time. Another thing that should have warned Ryouga was the
apparent lack of rainclouds.
The two inch blade at the end of the umbrella should have been a clear
warning.
"You mean you don't know where your own house is? Shame." said Ryo.
"What the-?" This little statement threw Ryouga off-guard entirely.
Suddenly, Ryo yelled "GEKIHOU!" and swung the umbrella forward. The
curved end glowed white with ki-charged power as it swung forward and it
connected with Ryouga's chest. He was thrown back five feet and
landed on his back. "The masters send their regards."
"Ryouga!" Ukyou 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 Ryouga.
Ryo got a perplexed look on his face. "Say, are you from the Kitchen
Utensils Division?"
"What? No!"
Ryouga stood up slowly (his super-endurance saving him once again) and
hefted his own umbrella to an attack position. Meanwhile, Ukyou 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.
As she landed, Ukyou twisted her spatula free.
Ryo 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 making several serious dents in 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 and was retracting back to it's
original length.
"Telescoping umbrella." said Ryo with a smirk. "You like?"
Ukyou 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, Madam. 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 Ryouga, who was getting into position
safely hidden from view behind Ukyou.
"You want me to step aside? O-kay..." Ukyou smiled, and totally
surprised Ryo by revealing the charging Ryouga that suddenly came into
view.
"DAMNATIO-" was all he could get out before Ryouga'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 Ryouga, who seemed to take
notice of Ryo's apparent aversion to water, and held him above the waters.
"Now, who the hell are you?"
"Don't ruin the suit," said Ryo flatly.
"Shut up and talk." said Ryouga.
The Gosunkugi lookalike smirked. "You really have forgotten, haven't
you. Eh, Ryouga?"
"What are you talking about?!"
"We've met."
Ryouga still looked confused. This wasn't what he was expecting.
"I've been chasing after you for quite a while now," said Ryo in a low
voice, "through Okinawa, across Vietnam, all over China... I must say,
you do travel. Gave me alot of exercise."
"You've been," Ryouga 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. "DIE!" he yelled, kneeing Ryouga in the crotch.
Ryouga's face twisted in pain. He let go of Ryo and stumbled back a
bit. Ryo grinned, satisfied that the move had the desired effect.
Unfortunately, he had forgotten entirely about the swiftly moving waterway
below.
"NOOOOOO!" *splash* was the last Ryouga heard of his adversary, as Ryo
fell into the water. Ryouga and Ukyou quickly went to the edge of the
bridge, looking down, but saw nothing.
"Hm... I wonder what his curse was." Ryouga 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."
-----------
Once more, Ryouga and Ukyou walked down the streets of nighttime
Nerima, casually strolling and enjoying the night air.
"Well," Ukyou said, patting Ryouga 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, Kunou is out
to kill me, Tsubasa is jealous, a mysterious person from my past has come
seeking vengence, and you..."
"Eh?" Ukyou said uneasily, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
"er... turn out to be my best friend." Ryouga nervously tugged at his
shirt collar. Ukyou looked away, her expression hidden from Ryouga's
view.
"Ryouga," Ukyou said, closing her eyes.
"What is it?" Ryouga nervously asked.
Ukyou turned her back to him, her arms hugged around herself. She
turned her head to the left, then to the right, and then turned to face
him.
She looked him in the eyes.
"RYOUGA, WHERE THE HELL ARE WE?!?!"
He looked around, 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 Ryouga's umbrella had impacted and a cut
across his stomach where Ukyou's spatula him him. The Dojo Destroyer was
easy. The idiot from the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony Dojo (HAH! Tea
ceremony indeed) was pathetic. The sad little man who did Martial Arts
Handwriting was absolutely a disgrace to martial artists everywhere. Ryo
had brought them all down, in the name of the Unorthodox Weaponry School
of Martial Arts (or UWSMA, pronounced as ew-smah) and Ryouga was the last
stop on his list. The big test.
Ryo thought back to the days when they were both in training, and all
those 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. As if
he had something more important on his mind! After a while it was feeling
decidedly insulting, but the problem was fixed when Ryouga suddenly
babbled something about revenge and stormed out of the dojo doors forever.
This had left Ryo as the undisputed highest ranking student of the dojo.
If he was like the typical revenge-bent martial artist, he'd have chased
after Ryouga when he ran out of the dojo, but Ryo wasn't. Besides, while
Ryouga was indeed annoying, but he felt he had better things to do, like
reaffirm his position amongst his fellow students and any foolhardy
challengers. Unfortunately, everyone, even his masters, had always
reminded him that Ryouga was certainly better (although those that
reminded him and were NOT his masters were often savagely beaten).
Every single day. And every time he made a mistake in his training.
Some people were never happy.
The constant nagging by the school in general had ended up making Ryo
incredibly agitated at the mention of Ryouga Hibiki.
EDNOTE: see if we can move the below segment somewhere else.
One thing was puzzling him. He _thought_ Ryouga should have been at
his house. Ryo broke into the Hibiki household one night, a while back,
only to find a dustly, unkept, dark, and obviously long-unlived-in
household. He didn't understand that particular mystery at all. He knew
Ryouga's sense of direction was bad, but to not even live at his own
house? And what about the rest of his family? Could the _entire_ family
be as directionally challanged as Ryouga? It seemed to be the case.
- end part 4 -