"Ranma, sit down for a sec, we've been walking for an hour now and I'm
tired," moans Akane.
	"Heh, for such a masculine girl, you sure don't have alot of stamina,"
taunts Ranma right before a rock was smashed over his head.
	"I don't know Ranma, you don't look so good.  Maybe you need to get some
rest too," smirks Akane as Ranma lays there with a foot long bump on his
head.
	Ranma's quick healing abilities pull through again as he's suddenly up and
about making fun of Akane again.
	"You know, I still didn't exactly heal entirely yet from saving your butt so
many times today.  Were you crazy to think you could stop Happosai by
yourself?"
	"It's not like you were doing so great of a job yourself, were you Ranma?
 Besides, if you didn't notice, I did stall them long enough until the Tuxedo
guy showed up."
	"Oh yeah, that Tuxedo guy was great.  Especially when he tried to kill you
and me with a flower!"
	"It wasn't his fault!  Weren't you even listening!  He was brainwashed
and... OH!  I don't even want to bother explaining it to you."
	"That's fine with me, I don't really feel like listening to you."  Ranma
jumps to his feet.  "Let's go, the sooner we find the others, the better."
	Ranma lifts her up by the arm, and couldn't help but say "have you gained
weight Akane?"
	A rock was split in half by his head before he knew it.  "How does she move
so fast," he wonders.  Then, something catches his eye.
	"Get down Akane!" he warns as he pushes her to the ground.  A purple blade
whizzes over them, and flies back to a gloved hand.  "You again!  What'd you
do with Ukyou!" Ranma shouts.
	"Don't worry about your friend.  She's perfectly safe.  Or at least was.  I
warned you what would happen to her if you showed up.  Now, I'll kill her as
soon as I'm done with you two.  Your bad luck that you happened to wander
where I was.  I was perfectly content to let Happosai take care of the lot of
you, but I guess I'll dispatch of you two myself," Malachite declares.
	"Akane, go try to find the others, I'll take care of this creep and save
Ukyou," Ranma commands as he leaps closer to Malachite.
	"Ranma, no!  You said yourself you weren't healed yet, and this guy is
obviously more than human.  Let's just run and find the others together,"
pleads Akane.
	"I don't exactly think this guy is just gonna watch us run away you idiot.
 Just be a good little tomboy and run," orders Ranma.
	"You know, I'm a martial artist too.  You think I can't fight this guy with
you?  Your better off with me than without me!"
	"Yeah right!  I'll be too busy saving your hide like usual than be able to
concentrate on fighting."
	"Then maybe you shouldn't worry about me so much cause I sure ain't worried
about you!"
	"Someone has to take care of a dummy like you!"
	"Ranma, you take that back!"
	"Dummy, dummy, dummy....," and on and on they go as Ranma and Akane start
arguing bitterly.
	Malachite at first thought this was a strange technique of confusing him.
 If it was, it worked.  However, after about five minutes of this, he
realizes this was for real.  With a heavy sigh, he forms an energy ball to
wipe them both out.  He had so hoped for a challenge too.  "Oh well," he
thought as he released the ball.
	Sensing the heat, Ranma quickly grabs Akane and leaps into the air as the
ball pulverizes the rock under them.  "Try to land on your feet," Ranma warns
as he gently pushes her towards the exit.  He then flies straight for
Malachite.  "Time to get serious!"
	Before Ranma could reach Malachite, Malachite shot a blast at Ranma that
sent him flipping in the air.  Ranma was able to compensate for this and
lands on his feet.
	"Impressive boy, but deal with this," threatens Malachite as he again
launches another ball of destruction.  
	Ranma avoids it, and boasts "you're not the only one able to throw around
energy blasts."  Ranma leaps to the right of Malachite, and quickly chants
"Mouko Takibishya!" as a Chi blast emerges from his hands and slams into
Malachite's side.  
	Unprepared for this, Malachite hits the ground on his other side.  He never
knew humans had the ability to generate energy blasts as well.  This would be
something he had to remember.  He prepared to prop himself up with his arms,
but his right arm was numb.  Malachite's mouth dropped in shock.
	Ranma was waiting for Malachite to get back up.  "Are you just gonna lay
there, or are you gonna fight?" taunts Ranma.
	With his left hand, Malachite quickly throws an energy blade to cut off
Ranma's head.  Ranma easily dodges, but the blade suddenly explodes behind
him in a storm of energy, knocking him down.  Malachite, back on his feet
again, slams his left palm into the ground as energy glowed from his hand.
	"Feel my full wrath, child!" screams Malachite as a crack of energy runs
through the ground to Ranma, where it explodes in a geyser of energy throwing
Ranma into the air and then falling down hard.  Ranma was already crawling
back to his feet, but Malachite was about to launch an energy ball at Ranma
again.
	BONK! reverberated through the room as Akane squashed Malachite's head
underneath her gigantic mallet.  "Come on Ranma, get up and let's finish
him," instructs Akane.  Before anything else happens, Malachite releases a
surge of negaverse energy knocking her to the ground.  As he got up, it was
obvious the shape of Malachite's head wasn't correctly proportioned anymore.
	"Don't you dare touch her!" shouts Ranma as he lands a flying kick in
Malachite's chest, sending him staggering.  Ranma gets in close for hand to
hand, but Malachite suddenly grabs Ranma's head with his right hand and
lifted him into the air.  The arm felt better now, especially compared to the
pain in his head.  He decided to repay Ranma my shattering his head like a
melon.
	"Any last words before I crush your head?" asks Malachite.

	He was getting worried.  He had a hard enough time finding anything on
normal streets.  What in the world was he going to do now that he was stuck
in a maze of caverns?  Thoughts of being stranded here forever rushed through
his mind.  "What if I never hear Akane's sweet voice again?  I... I have to
find my way out of here!" he panics.  	"HOW IN HELL DID I GET HERE!?" bellows
Ryoga.

Author: I didn't want to do it!  Honestly, I really didn't want to create a
new character, but I needed another villain.  I realize Chapter 4 had way too
much action, and seemed more of a slugfest than Chapter 2, but I needed it to
move the story along.  By the way, I'm interested in people's reaction about
what happened (or didn't happen) with Shampoo and Mousse.  Also, I wanted to
show that for all of Kuno's crap, he could be a bit noble.  I chose Amy with
Kuno because I figured she was the only one that would tolerate Kuno.  But I
think they're just friends.  E-mail all comments to schi@uci.edu.  The next
chapter, Ryoga finally shows up in "The Pig We've All Been Waiting For."