DYNASTY - CHAPTER FIVE - PART B
By Sydney Kyle <jantzen77@hotmail.com>
Author's note: First of all, thanks to everyone who wrote in with
their input--you guys really got me out of my writer's block. Keep
'em coming--I need suggestions! If you missed some chapters, feel
free to ask me, and I'll gladly send 'em over to you as soon as I
can.
One last thing, though. Who could possibly come between Ranma and
Akane--relationship-wise--and force one of them to finally come to
terms with his/her feelings? If Death isn't capable of doing that,
then who...?
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* * * DYNASTY * * *
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
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* * * * * *
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CHAPTER FIVE:
Part B
Rematch
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*SPLASH*
Ranma grinned, leaping swiftly to the side.
Perfect.
He lifted his chin and flung the water from his hair and pigtail,
scattering the droplets about him, feeling them trickle down his now-
soaked Chinese shirt--which, curiously, remained flat.
He was almost certain that he saw the clan recoil in amazement.
"Whassa matter?" he drawled mockingly, raising a pair of unmistaka-
bly masculine fists. "No more tricks up your sleeve?"
His adversaries traded looks, as if mentally consulting each other,
then their gazes roamed to the figure in the red and gold armor. As
if in response, the figure slowly raised his hand and splayed open
his fingers. Right there, in the middle of his palm was a shimmering,
floating ball of water.
Ranma watched with growing horror as his comrades mimicked the
trick. Dozens of tiny liquid spheres materialized in their hands.
<Oh, shit.>
* * * * * *
"Wait a minute--he didn't turn into a girl," stammered Akane,
flabbergasted. "He got hit by water--and he didn't turn into a girl."
"But how?" Ukyou piped up, sounding astonished. "Did Ranchan find
a cure to his curse?"
Shampoo flashed a wide, complacent smile. "No, he still have
curse," she replied. "But thanks to Shampoo, he be able to be
splashed with cold water and still not change into girl. You see, he
use waterproof soap Shampoo ordered from Jusenkyo catalog via special
delivery last night!"
A light went off in Akane's head. "So _that_ was the plan?!"
Shampoo shook her head obstinately. "Oh, no. That only half of
Ranma's plan. The other half come later, when time is right."
* * * * * *
*SPLASH*
Ranma stifled a yelp as he leaped out of the way of the onrushing
liquid.
*SPLASH*
He reared back.
*SPLASH*
This was really getting tiring--not to mention annoying.
*SPLASH*
Ranma rolled across the grass, trying to distance himself from the
clan. When he finally set himself on his feet once more, his senses
screamed in alarm as a quantity of water was emptied full on him.
He shook the drops out of his eyes before slugging the culprit,
then backpedaled so that he was considerably out of reach.
*SPLASH*
Ranma cursed as he swiped at his waterlogged forehead. He had to
learn to move faster. Shampoo's mail-order waterproof soap had kept
him in male form so far, but he knew too well that it offered only
temporary protection. Too many splashes would grievously affect its
potency, and soon it would rinse off his skin in bubbles.
*SPLASH*
He tugged at his now thoroughly-drenched clothes. It was becoming
glaringly obvious to him that running from the clan was not an option,
and time was already running out.
*SPLASH*
* * * * * *
"What is it? What's wrong?" shrieked Sayuri, as the assemblage by
the windows groaned in unison.
Hiroshi faced her, his visage grave. "Ranma's going down," he said
quietly. "Those jerks're wearing him down."
"Can't we do anything?" demanded Yuka.
Daisuke shook his head sadly. "I wish there was. But there isn't.
Those people'll kill us--we can't go down there. I'm afraid Ranma's on
his own. He'd want it that way. It's his fight."
* * * * *
"Aargh!!"
Ranma wiped the back of his hand impatiently across his mouth. A
quick inspection told him that his lip, indeed, was bleeding slightly.
Damn. They'd tagged him.
A figure advanced on him with a growl, engaging him in a brief
round of punch-and-kick before Ranma finally sent him sprawling with
a well-placed haymaker.
Ranma had barely recovered his breath when he felt someone hit him
hard on his back. He stumbled forward, unseeing, and was greeted by
another blow to his stomach.
He was weakening. The blows the clan had rained upon him had left
their imprint in bruises and various aches all over his torso. And
they were accurate, too, managing to tag him in spots were it would
ache the most.
If there was anything Ranma was now convinced of regarding the
Dragon clan's attacks, it was that they hurt. They hurt a _lot_.
He now longer had the strength to keep on dodging the water the
clan relentlessly kept on throwing his way, and his stamina was all
but gone.
His tired legs gave in, and he collapsed to his knees, his back to
the brick wall of the building.
Ranma was cornered.
To his chagrin, the clan surrounded him completely, like vultures
clustering around a potential meal. Their leader approached him, his
tawny eyes gleaming with a hidden sneer.
For a second, Ranma thought that he resembled the dragon's head
that had sat on top of their lord's golden staff.
Despite the pain, Ranma was able to level with the youth standing
triumphantly before him, meeting his gaze head-on.
"Impressive show, Ranma Saotome," said Shino, his tone cool and
unaffected. "Lord Takuma was right when he warned us not to
underestimate you. Nonetheless, it is all for naught. You should have
known better than to struggle against the inevitable."
He nodded at his comrades, and they began to close in.
"You are defeated, Ranma Saotome."
To his bewilderment, he saw the battered boy lock his gaze onto
something behind him and twitch his lips into a tiny smile.
"Not quite," he growled.
Shino blinked, stupefied.
His answer came when a bokken, a blade attached to a chain, and a
red Chinese umbrella hurtled seemingly out of nowhere, catching Shino
and several of his followers off-balance.
And with that, Nerima's premiere martial artists leaped into battle.
* * * * * *
A loud murmur of amazement rippled across Furinkan High, starting
from the ones closest to the scene, then diffusing toward the various
floors, until the sound reached the roof.
Ukyou skittered even more closely to the edge, straining to see.
"What is it?" Shampoo queried fearfully. "What they excited about?"
Akane felt a little shiver of alarm as she saw Ukyou's eyes widen.
"Ukyou? What's going on? Is Ranma okay?"
Ukyou expelled a long, deep breath. "You guys..."
They were now all teetering precariously on the brink of the roof.
Down below, they could see Ranma, as well as the multitude that
remained unmoving in front of him. Upon closer inspection, the three
of them realized that several members of the clan were lying flat on
their backs.
"They knocked down," whispered Shampoo. "Did Ranma--?"
She was silenced as a long-haired, bespectacled form appeared next
to Ranma. No, no, no. It couldn't be...
"Mousse?!" Shampoo shrieked.
Ukyou followed her gaze, and her eyes locked immediately onto the
yellow-shirted, bandanna-clad boy that leaped from a nearby rooftop
and landed in the midst of the fray.
"Ryouga?!!" Ukyou cried out.
Akane's jaw dropped as she recognized the third figure, a young
man with dark curly hair and a bokken in his hand. "Wait a minute!
Isn't that--isn't that Kuno?!"
"My dear brother? Then he _is_ here! OHOHOHOHOHOHOOOO!!!"
Shampoo, Akane, and Ukyou froze at that all-too-familiar voice.
* * * * * *
"What the heck took you so long?" grumbled Ranma, his tone
deceptively light and conversational. "Did you guys let Ryouga lead
the way here or somethin'?"
Ryouga was too engrossed in surveying the clan to get pissed off.
"Stuff it, Ranma," he said mildly. "You might as well be grateful that
I decided to come after all and save your ass."
Ranma snorted, falling back into battle stance. "Like I _needed_ to
be saved--" He stopped as a jolt of pain shot up his back and
shoulder.
"The same applies to me, Saotome," warned Mousse. "I only came at
Shampoo's request--_not_ because your welfare matters to me!"
"And _I_," proclaimed Kuno, readying his bokken, "come forth not
because of the vile coward that thou art, but because of the
insistence of my pig-tailed goddess." He brandished his weapon for
emphasis. "For I, yes _I_, Tatewaki Kuno, am the only one she doth
trust! Ah, yes, my pig-tailed goddess...she loves me well..."
Ranma suppressed a snigger. Maybe his girl form _did_ have a few
benefits. Then he grimaced a little as a jolt of pain seared through
his left side--courtesy of the Dragon Clan, no doubt.
"Looking a little winded there, Ranma," muttered Ryouga, a smirk
tugging at his lips. "Why don't you rest and let us handle this?"
Ranma shot him a chaffed look. Damn. Ryouga knew.
He grunted, forcing himself to switch off his pain sensors as he
tested his right side. "Over my dead body, man."
Ryouga returned Ranma's look with a condescending one of his own.
"Well, Ranma, if that's how you feel--" He nodded at the clan.
"--then maybe you're gonna get your wish."
Ranma, Mousse, and Kuno glanced to where Ryouga was pointing.
To their horror, the clan seemed to be preparing for some sort of
retaliation. They were moving purposefully, methodically, realigning
their ranks to accommodate the addition of three new adversaries.
They spilled forward, advancing toward them, watching them with
circumspect eyes. The one in the gold and red armor hovered at the
corner, silently coordinating his comrades' placements, his tanned
features set in grim resolve.
Ranma, Ryouga, Mousse, and Kuno automatically eased into battle
stances, their backs to each other, as the clan swarmed malevolently
around them.
"Looks that they still want more, eh?" Ranma murmured.
"They do, do they?" Mousse snapped his chain rigid-straight. "I
must say that I wouldn't have it any other way. After all, I suddenly
feel the need to thrash them soundly!"
The air was practically crackling with tension.
"Well, guys," Ryouga muttered, "what do you say we give them the
traditional Nerima welcome?"
"You don't have to ask me twice," Ranma replied behind him. "You
guys used the soap, right?"
"Affirmative," confirmed Mousse.
"Then let us proceed with the smiting!" declared Kuno.
They all grinned.
And the fight was on.
* * * * * *
"What _you_ doing here?" demanded Shampoo, less than pleased.
Kodachi fluttered her lashes. "Why, because of my Ranma-darling,
of course! I heard everything, and I couldn't bear to be apart from
him when he was being hurt in battle!" She placed a well-manicured
hand across her forehead and shut her eyes. "I simply _must_ go down
there and help him!"
"Don't even bother," snapped Akane. "That jerk doesn't even want us
_in_ this fight. As far as he's concerned, Ryouga and the others're
doing a good enough job of helping him!"
Kodachi sniffed haughtily. "What kind of a future wife is one who
neglects her duties to the man she loves?"
"What are you--no!" Akane fought the urge to punt her to the sky.
"What I'm saying is that he doesn't _need_ to be helped right now--
he's got all the help he needs!"
"For now," mumbled Ukyou, still eyeing the fracas down below.
* * * * * *
"Atatatatatatatatatatatatata---!!!"
The sight of Tatewaki Kuno racing past hordes of his foes, calling
out his battle cry, wildly thrashing his bokken--and failing to score
even a single hit--was enough to make Ranma cringe in exasperation.
Ranma hopped to the back for a second, trying to stifle the pain in
his ribs. He hated to leave a battle for any reason, even when he was
injured, but the pain was making it hard for him to execute any moves.
He was sure that it would subside soon, but in the meantime he had an
obligation to the others. He lifted his head to watch over them.
Amazingly, Kuno remained conscious. He continued to whack away at
his foes in a berserk frenzy, but they were too fast for him,
managing to dance out of his reach even before he raised his bokken.
It was absolutely maddening, thought Ranma. The only reason they
hadn't put Kuno in Slumberland yet was because they were actually
playing around with him, not even bothering to block his swings but
instead taking pleasure in evading them. Still, that was good as long
as Kuno entertained them.
Their assault on Mousse, though, was no game. Fortunately, like
Ranma, Mousse had witnessed their art of fighting when they'd
kidnapped him, and now he was utilizing that to read and dodge his
attackers' blows. His arsenal of hidden projectiles, ranging from ax
blades to toilets, were not enough to snag more than a few members,
but they _were_ enough to keep the clan on their toes.
Ryouga, on the other hand, was the one who was inflicting the most
damage. He was taking out by hordes by executing his breaking point
technique repeatedly to rock them off their feet in waves. Within
intervals he would tear off handfuls of bandannas from his head and
hurl them at multiple enemies, or use his umbrella like a buzzsaw to
deter them before they got too close.
Ranma assessed his rival with a critical eye. He'd never really
noticed how good Ryouga was, perhaps because he was so easily
defeated whenever they got into a scuffle. It was usually a case of
Ranma putting him down with his superior speed before Ryouga's
superior endurance made any difference. But now Ranma was beginning
to realize just how formidable an opponent Ryouga was. Even now, as
the clan rained blows over and over on his pressure points, Ryouga
never showed any sign of faltering.
Ranma gritted his teeth. That was it. Rest was over. He launched
himself once more into the heart of the action.
After about five minutes of combat, the clan instituted once more
their water assault, which failed to procure the desired results.
Ranma was once more up to full speed as he evaded their splashes,
while Ryouga used his umbrella to deflect the water away from him,
Ranma, and Mousse. Kuno got the worst of it, of course, since the
three of them used him like a defensive shield, but although he
continued to sputter and curse them, they knew full well that he
wasn't going to turn into anything anyway.
The four of them were sopping wet as they assumed their initial
position, clustered in an outward-facing circle.
"Is it just me," panted Mousse, "or do the rest of you think it's
a good time to start applying some strategy here?"
"I...must say...that I concur...wholeheartedly," wheezed Kuno.
"Yeah, Ranma. We're not going to be able to keep this up forever,
you know," growled Ryouga, wringing some excess water from his hair.
"Yeah, I'm thinkin', I'm thinkin'! Gimme a break, willya?"
* * * * * *
"That all Ranma's plan."
"WHAT?!?" shrieked Akane incredulously. "HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT
TO DO AFTER THAT?"
Shampoo winced. "Akane shout very much."
Akane wrung her arms in frustration. "I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!! YOU
MEAN ALL WE GOTTA DO UP HERE IS HOPE AND PRAY THAT THOSE GUYS FIND A
WAY TO DEFEAT THE CLAN???!"
"Well, yes."
"OH, HONESTLY!!! NOT IF THEY'RE GONNA GET KILLED FIRST!!!"
Ukyou studied the four ant-like forms down below her, her brain
working with lightning-fast speed. "No," she said, and she pursed
her lips in determination. "No, they won't."
Kodachi's narrowed purple eyes flickered over her, burning with
feigned indifference. "What do you plan to do?"
Ukyou smirked.
* * * * * *
The clan continued to prowl around them like ravenous wolves. Their
hands belayed the telltale sparkles of water between their fingers.
The gears in Ranma's head were racing frantically. If he was right,
one more touch of water on his skin would reduce him into a female.
Already he could feel the itch of bubbles on his skin.
Shino materialized suddenly in front of them. There was no longer
any mask of cordiality on his visage.
"Game's over, upperworlders." The words dropped from his mouth in
cold, concise tones.
"Ranma," Mousse hissed. "Ranma, we need a _plan_..."
Ranma didn't reply.
Shino gestured at his comrades and said one single word: "NOW."
They never got the chance to obey.
A bonbori, a gymnastic whip-ribbon, and a round of spatula
shurikens ripped out of nowhere, catching Shino and company by
surprise for the second time in the fight.
Ranma, Ryouga, Kuno, and Mousse glanced up in horror as four very
familiar figures dropped down from the roof.
And with that, Nerima's premiere female martial artists leapt
into battle.
=end of Chapter Five=
Next: The final conflict...?
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