A Saiyan Tail
Part 7
The Clash of the two curses.
Ranma frowned as she followed the guide with her father towards a small
village, the little man smiled as he turned to face the pair. "This is
Joketsuko, the village of Amazons, the women here are very strong, " The
guide had been very happy when he found out both of the men could speak
his language, the tour had been extended several days because of it. He
had taken them by Mount Phoenix, and the Musk village as well, as close
as the peoples would allow at any rate. He smiled warmly as the tour had
gone rather well since that time, and now he was taking them into the
least hostile of the martial arts villages in the area.
"Will we be allowed in?" asked Goku hopefully.
"Oh yes, the Amazons are relatively friendly," assured the guide.
Ranma felt his stomach growl as he walked with his father into the
village, "I sure hope we can buy some food here, I'm starving," he looked
at his father and noticed he had an agreeable look on his face.
"They are having a festival at the moment, we get to see a tournament,"
said the dumpy Chinese man.
"Cool," Ranma smiled slightly and his father perked up a bit as well.
They entered the village and a large crowd surrounded a suspended log
that held a battle between a young girl and a much larger woman, the girl
was winning rather easily. "Man, none of the stores are open," Goku also
looked downtrodden.
"I was hoping we could buy some food here," he frowned and sat next to a
table that was labeled 'first prize', it was covered in food, but both
Saotomes knew better than to eat it.
Ranma looked at the food and frowned, "Hey, is there any way I can get
in on this tournament? I bet I could win all this food easy!"
One of the nearby women smiled slightly at the girl and walked over to
the pair. "Your daughter wants to compete here?"
Goku looked at her blankly and smiled, "If you'd let her, we don't want
to cause a problem."
The Amazon snorted and looked Ranma up and down quickly, "That shrimpy
little thing? She can train all she wants, she won't beat our fighters,"
she made a motion towards some of the older women who sat near to the
fight and one of them gave her an approving nod. "She can compete if she
wishes, but I warn you our village is strong."
"I hope so, I don't want to win too easy," Ranma smiled as she walked
over to the area by the log to await her turn to fight.
The young girl who had been fighting finished up the larger Amazon and
smiled as she emerged victorious, until she turned and saw someone new
standing in the opponents circle waiting her turn. A deep scowl formed in
her face as she watched the young girl stretch and then jump onto the log
with her. "Who are you?"
"Ranma Saotome," replied the newcomer as she got into a ready stance.
"I don't recognize that name, you aren't from around here are you?"
Shampoo's smile returned.
"Nope, just passin through," replied Ranma cheerfully.
"I am called Shampoo, you will not beat me," the girl smiled confidently
and bowed. Ranma returned the courtesy cautiously, and they got into
their respective stances; an Amazon on the sidelines waved a small flag
signaling the start of the event, Ranma vanished from in front of the
young girl and appeared behind her in a flying side kick that knocked her
off the log. The Amazons in attendance gave a collective gasp as Shampoo
found herself face down in the mud. The girl pushed her face out of the
ground and stared at it in shock, "What? I lost?!"
Suddenly something completely new snapped them out of their amazement,
even Shampoo forgot about Ranma for a moment.
A huge dark purple light slammed into the ground creating a visible
shock wave that cleared fifteen feet in every direction knocking a few
women back as it landed near the edge of the arena. The light dissipated
and an angry looking figure stood in the center of the impact crater with
a snarl on his face. He was covered in burns on over half of his body and
a dark snarl formed on his face as he glanced around. "Saotome Ranma wa
doko ha?" he spat turning towards the nearest group of people. A group of
uncomprehending stares met him and he turned in disgust scanning the
village for anyone who might understand him.
Ranma was the first to speak up, "What do you want?"
The man faced her and Ranma frowned, he didn't look very hostile at the
moment, more like confused. "Where is Ranma Saotome? Do you know him, has
he come through here?"
"I'm Ranma Saotome," replied the girl simply.
"That's a strange coincidence, the person I'm looking for is a boy,"
Ranma frowned slightly as she looked down at herself.
"I'm a boy, I got cursed about a week ago, so I look different," She
looked the boy up and down, he looked very familiar.
"What? Stop acting crazy, if you don't know then just say so," the boy
frowned at her and started to turn away; at that moment something clicked
in Ranma's head.
"R-Ryoga? Ryoga Hibiki? Wha-what are you doing here?" she smiled
brightly as she recognized the boy.
He stopped cold and turned around very slowly, "How do you know my
name?"
"It's me! Ranma!" the girl seemed happy to see him for some strange
reason, and the Amazons where starting to recover from their shock and
moved around the boy, slowly closing in on him.
Ryoga noticed her father move closer to them from the back of the crowd
and a comprehending look slowly crossed his face. "R-Ranma?"
"Yea, I kind of got cursed," the girl laughed and scratched the back of
her head sheepishly.
A slow smile crossed Ryoga's lips as he realized it really was him,
gradually it turned into a full blown howl of laughter, he seemed to be
ignoring the angry stares from the Amazons around him. "So I find you at
last, Ranma." said the boy with an angry scowl taking over finally. Ranma
just looked on in confusion as the purple aura flared around Ryoga.
"Don't you remember coward? You gave me this scar!" growled the boy as he
indicated his scar.
Ranma just stared at him really hard, she almost appeared to be
straining.
"Just answer me this, why did you run away from our fight?" said the boy
as he stood in a ready stance.
"Hey, calm down will ya? I waited three days for you to show up!" Ranma
was starting to look upset.
"You think I came here to visit you Saotome?! You destroyed my life!
After you blew up the school I followed you to the ends of the earth to
avenge my honor!" growled the boy. "During my trip I finally found the
power to defeat you!"
Ranma stood and her gaze became serious suddenly. "So you want to finish
our fight?"
"Heh, you got it." sneered Ryoga.
Ryoga blasted forward surrounded by the dark energy and punched at
Ranma, to his surprise the girl flipped over his head and slammed a kick
into his back.
"What? He avoided me?!" Ryoga rolled over as he hit the ground and
blasted two small energy balls at Ranma, she twisted in the air and they
passed around her harmlessly.
"Impossible! No one can move that fast!" Ryoga swore under his breath as
he used the energy to propel himself forward at his opponent like a
bullet. Ranma sidestepped and the boy slammed into a home, causing it to
explode into a shower of debris.
Ranma frowned, she knew that she was in trouble, her new body had limits
that her old one didn't have and she knew it, she was almost pushing it
to the maximum limit now and Ryoga didn't seem to be tiring any time
soon. Her father waited patiently at the sidelines watching with a
serious look on his face; she knew that she could count on him if it came
down to a death match, but as it was he would only watch the one on one
battle.
"Your fast, I'll give you that," Ryoga stood from the wreckage unscathed
and smiled at his opponent as he stepped forward with his aura growing
even brighter than before.
This time he jumped towards her and landed in a spinning back kick, Ranma
barely blocked it in time and her arm exploded in pain, the boy punched
at her with several swift blows that she managed to dodge in time.
Finally he stopped for a moment and Ranma went on the offensive, she
slammed her fist into his gut causing him to bend forward and grunt in
pain. His foot came around the back of his head and caught her neck as
she put her knee into his chin causing both of them to stagger back away
from each other. Growling deep in his throat Ryoga blasted forward
surrounded by the aura and Ranma jumped directly into the burning trail
meeting Ryoga head on, they flashed in and out of vision at various
places in the air almost to fast for the eye to follow and traded blows.
The pair stopped for a moment and glared at each other near the center
of the village, most of the people where over by the tournament so many
of the homes where empty, only a few scattered males and a few guards
remained within the village. Ranma stood huffing across the street from
Ryoga, her clothing was torn and charred from the battle, hanging from
her neck was a strangely familiar necklace, the four starred Dragon Ball
hung from a thin leather strap from a large tear in her shirt. Ryoga was
not in much better shape, he snarled at the girl and launched himself
forward again re-engaging Ranma.
The Amazons watched in awe at the battle over their village as the two
martial artists fought their acrobatic and catastrophic melee over their
homes, two or three walls and a few scattered carts exploded within the
village from time to time until finally the pair stopped towards the edge
of the village. They faced each other off panting heavily, Ranma was
clearly in worse condition that the boy and she wavered for a moment
before regaining her balance and putting her fist back up. Ryoga was not
in good shape either by any means; he let his foot slide back to keep
himself from falling over and glared at the girl with a seething anger.
"She's good, I don't think I can take her if I keep this up. I won't be
in any shape to leave this village anyway, these people don't look to
happy with me right now at any rate," his snarl turned into a tight but
controlled frown as he spread his feet apart and pulled his fists up to
his chest. For a moment he seemed to glow with a fierce intensity unlike
any Ranma had seen outside of his father. "Let's see you dodge this one
Saotome!"
Ranma frowned as she realized what he was doing; she glanced over her
shoulder and saw a large group of spectators just behind her watching in
awe. "Damn, I've got no choice!" she didn't know if she had enough
control to pull it off, but now she had to try.
"Son!" cried Goku as Ranma began to power up rapidly; Ryoga also began
to glow ever brighter. The elder Saotome was about to step forward when
he noticed something unusual with in his son's aura, very cautiously he
moved directly behind the boy just in case. "Come on, you can do it son!"
"I'll destroy you Saotome! For everything you did to me you die! Even if
I have to destroy this village with you!" cried the boy angrily as is
dark aura began to focus on a single point in his hands.
Ranma just glared hard at him and stood between the villagers and Ryoga
stiffly. "I can't move, even if he's just bluffing! If he shoots that
these people will die!" He steeled himself and concentrated.
Ryoga shifted his feet and closed his eyes from the sheer strain of the
power welling up in him.
Ranma made a decision, "Saotome School of Anything goes Martial arts
Desperation Move!"
"Ranma?!" said Goku in shock. "He's not ready for that yet!"
Ranma focused as hard as she could on a single point in her hands, she
had them cupped at her side while she stood in a crouched stance. "KAME-"
"Ryoga opened his eyes and moved his arms inward as he prepared to
strike. "Shi shi-"
"Hame-"
"Houkou-"
"HAAAA!"
"DAAANN!"
The two blasts collided one blue and the other dark purple. The
resulting explosion sent villagers flying back and the few remaining
standing struggled against the wind.
"Impossible! How can he hold back all this power?!" thought Ryoga as he
grit his teeth and pushed the energy wave harder.
Ranma returned the force as her body screamed in pain, she was straining
past any limits of pain she thought she had. "Impossible!!! FINE! All my
remaining power! FULL SHI SHI HOUKOU DAN!" roared Ryoga as the blast
became three times larger.
Ranma's beam strained and fell back almost completely under the force,
but it held out just in front of her and she closed his eyes from the
heat and light created from the point where the two beams connected. She
shifted her legs slowly for better purchase and forced the beam back
about a half-foot, she was no longer trying to overpower him; all her
energy was focused on just holding the powerful beam barely at bay.
Ryoga just stared helpless and drained as his beam finally failed. Ranma
looked up in shock, "He's out of power! No! I can't stop in time!" Her
blast was not cut off in time and the full force that had been holding
back his energy beam slammed into the lost boy blowing him through
several houses. Ranma fell to her knees in shock.
"That was great son!" cried Goku. "Now we can go home!"
"Maybe, but I'm not all the way there yet pop." said Ranma wearily as he
staggered to his feet. He looked off at the felled trees and debris from
where Ryoga had once stood. "I'm still not completely in control-"
The Amazons stood around the pair and gave them a wide berth as they
walked towards the edge of the village. The guide had fled at the
beginning of the battle and would probably meet them outside of the
village. Ranma stopped as she was approached by her first opponent, "I'm
really sorry about this," she told the girl in Chinese.
Shampoo looked at her and frowned for a moment as they stopped in front
of her looking embarrassed. "I must give her the kiss of death, and I
know I can not defeat her," a cold fear crept into the girls heart and
she looked the Japanese girl up and down. "There is only one alternative
to fighting her, I can't just throw my life away."
Ranma froze as the girl rushed and embraced her passionately in a kiss,
"You I love!" said the girl in Japanese after sticking her tongue halfway
down Ranma's throat.
"Wha?" Ranma stammered and backed away from the girl in shock, she shook
for a moment before flying into the sky followed closely by her father.
Goku met her just above the Joketsuko and he noticed the look that was on
her face.
"Son, what's wrong?" he thought the girl had upset him in some way,
which wasn't surprising.
"I-I can't feel him!" Ranma got the look in her eyes as she shook
violently, tears streamed down her face as the shock started to sink in.
"Pop, I think I killed that guy!" The girl shot down like a bullet
towards the place where the path of destruction that had been her
Kamehameha ended. She gasped when she noticed a red stained crack on the
stone on the inside wall of a hot spring about fifty miles away from
Joketsuko; the wall was charred and cracked from the impact of the energy
wave, but appeared to have stopped it. "No! Ranma screamed as she dove
into the water and searched desperately for a body in the faint hope that
the boy could be revived. Finally he surfaced and saw his father standing
at the edge of the pools with a look of concern.
"Ranma, I don't see anything, if he was dead we'd have found a body or
something, he wouldn't just dissolve or float off, the spring is too
small." A relieved look crossed Ranma's face as he emerged from the water
and sat down next to her father.
"I guess, you're right pop, I just have a funny feeling about this,"
Ranma glanced into the pool and turned away.
"It'll be all right son, you did what you could. Besides, we still have
to get our bags from that village, come on." A light rain started to fall
as the pair floated up into the sky and returned to Joketsuko.
Goku smiled slightly from behind his son, "He seems to be in control of
his energy right now, he didn't go off just then. That could be a good
sign, perhaps we could return to Japan again now?"
Two weeks passed and Ranma looked out at the sea that separated China
from the island nation of Japan, behind them was the wilderness of Asia;
a thick jungle that had taken them many weeks to cross on foot; in front
of them was a beautiful sunset over the ocean. "Ready squirt?" asked
Goku cheerfully.
"Sure Pop, I'm gonna miss this place kinda, even that crazy girl
Shampoo," he smiled slightly as he rose into the air with his travel pack
on his back.
"Yea, well maybe we'll come back one day," Goku followed suit and looked
back at the mainland as he flew towards home.
In the shadows of the jungle Shampoo emerged onto the beach and smiled
slightly as the pair started the journey home, "Perhaps I should return
home as well? I'll need some preparations before I can follow my wife to
her home country," she took one last look at her beloved as she floated
towards her home across, the sky vanishing into the sun.
TBC...
An interesting twist on the Shampoo angle no? Things get back to normal
as the story shifts back to Nerima again as Ranma finishes her tale, but
much has been left untold! What happened to Ryoga? How did he get his
strange powers? And why will he be even more dangerous when he returns to
Japan?
Next time: The Hunter returns.