Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 is owned by people other than me. I own nothing and
claim no rights to the show.
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C&C though, we will take it with a smile.**
"RAGE"
by
Ashes2ashes: slayer0@Zoomnet.net
AsheRhyder: ashrhyder@yahoo.com
Chapter Four:
Ranma, Ukyou, and Akane dragged Ryouga down the street leaving a long
scratch mark down the sidewalk. They had all underestimated how heavy he
really was. It was like the guy was made of bricks or something.
"Ugh, he so heavy," Akane said between clinched teeth. Ranma looked at her
in the corner of his eye and smirked.
"You'd think a big Gorilla girl like--"
CLANG!
"Ran-chan don't patronize her! We need her to help carry him!" Ukyou
strapped her spatula back onto her back.
Ranma rubbed the knot that was already forming on the top of his head. He
was about to say something in retort when the Nekohanten standing before him
saved him from his big mouth.
He walked up to the door leaving the man sized pile of chains outside on
the sidewalk.
"Hey old ghoul ya in there?!"
The shop looked dark from the outside. Rustling sounds were heard from the
inside of shop. After several moments, Colonge opened the door.
"Have you finally decided to come to your senses and marry Shampoo, Son in
Law?"
Ranma rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Um . . . no. We have a
problem." He stuck out his thumb and indicated the human ball of chains
behind him and Ukyou and Akane trying to keep it upright so Ryouga didn't
suffocate.
"Oh." Cologne looked slighlty amused as she opened the door and motioned
for them to come in. After a difficult task of getting Ryouga to fit
through the door, and some idle threats about scuffed floors, the group sat
around a table inside the restaurant. Ryouga was propped up against a wall
sleeping peacefully.
"So what is the problem Son in Law?"
"Err." Ranma pointed to the bundle of chains. "Ryouga is."
"I can see that . . ."
"Oh heh heh . . . guess you can . . . Well, he attacked me."
Cologne raised an eyebrow. "So?"
"No!" Ranma waved his hands in front of face. "You don't understand it was
really vicious like."
"So?"
"Argh!"
Akane slapped Ranma in the back of the head, knocking him out of the chair.
"Honestly Ranma, I shouldn't have trusted you to explain everything." Akane
then went on to explain their meeting at school, and their visit to doctor
Tofu's. Ranma lay on the floor trying to regain bodily movement. Cologne
listened to the entire story silently, only interrupting to ask the
occasional question.
"This is bad." Cologne sighed. Everyone else gulped collectively. When
Cologne said things were bad you knew all Hell was going to break loose.
Ranma then decided that dramatically, this would be the best time to return
to the waking world and stood up.
"So what's wrong with him?"
"Well it happened roughly fifty years ago . . ."
"Aw man!"
Cologne blinked. "What?"
"Is this one of those ancient Chinese legends or curses or somethin'? Cause
if it is, you just _KNOW_ its going to be trouble."
Cologne hit him on the head with her staff.
"Don't interrupt your elders. Now, as I was saying; Ryouga suffers from
what is called the Berserker's Rage. No one knows when, or even how,
exactly, the Berserker's Rage came to be. All that is known is that once a
man or woman has used the Rage, they give up part of their humanity to
become one with the ferocity of nature."
Several moments of silence followed as the group digested this information.
Finally Ukyou broke the silence.
"OK that tells us why he was acting like a boar on speed but what about the
claws? Or the healing ability?"
"I'm not sure." Cologne sighed. She hated not knowing things. But . . .
it did seem familiar. Different . . . yet still familiar.
"Wait!" Ranma broke in to the conversation. "The claws only came after he
was hit with water. Could it be a Junsenkyo curse?"
Cologne sucked in her breath. Damn it! It couldn't be . . . hadn't she
told them to dry up that spring?! Someone was going to pay dearly. "That
fool . . ." Cologne muttered under her breath.
She turned to and started to walk to the back room. "I'll be right back. I
have someone to consult."
She hopped on her staff to the back room and picked up the phone. She
dialed with tenshin amaguriken speed, too bad the phone wasn't as fast, and
then waited for it to pick up.
"Hello! Junsenkyo hot-line!"
Cologne nearly facefaulted.
"Plum? Is that you?"
"Your call will be charged 200 yen per minute! Choose 1 for a listing of
our springs, Choose 2 for a free brochure!"
'That child . . . and I had thought she was kidding when she said she was
going to revolutionize Junsenkyo. If I didn't know any better I would think
someone had cloned Nabiki.'
" . . . Choose 3 for a live operator." Colonge puched 3 on the keypad.
"Hello! This is Junsenkyo hotline! How may I help you?"
"Plum, I know it's you."
"Eh . . . heh . . . hello honored matriarch." Gulping sounds could be
heard over the phone. "So uh . . . how may I help you?"
"Yes, I want to know why _THAT_ spring is still in existence." She could
almost picture Plum going pale.
"What do you mean?"
"Don't try to lie child. Your at least three thousand years too early to be
able to fool me. Did a young man come by not long ago looking for the
spring of drowned man?"
"Uh . . . maybe . . .
"Child . . .
"I'm sorry! Its not my fault! I thought father could handle it this once!
All he had to do was direct the man to the spring!"
"You should know better by now."
"WAAAAAA! I'M SORRRRRRY!" Cologne held the phone away from her ear.
"I ordered that spring to be dried up."
"But honored matriarch! It was the next thing on my list really it was! I
was lucky enough that I had that hot water sprinkler system installed! I
could have like died! Don't you care?"
"Yes, child I care. But why didn't you just cure him why he was there?"
"I tried! But the guy was raving about 'finally being able to defeat kanma'
or something and then POOF! I turn around and he's gone!"
"Do you have any idea how DANGEROUS that spring is? Do you know how many
people have died?" Sniffling could be heard from across the line.
The Amazon matriarch paused for a moment. "Where did you get the money for a
automatic hot water sprinkler?"
"Uh well you see, I had my mom's wedding ring . . . and there was this
un-cursed spring . . ."
Cologne sweat-dropped.
"I want you to send me everything you have on that spring."
"Oh Ok!"
"And we will have to have a talk when I return. And while your at it, drain
it." Cologne hung up the phone and sighed. She wouldn't be surprised if
there were a couple of wedding rings stuffed in with the papers.
Cologne emerged from the back room looking worse for wear. Three sets of
eyes looked up at her anxiously.
"Your friend . . . has been to Junsenkyo."
"That jerk! And he didn't bring me back any man water!" Mass face-faults
ensued.
CLANG!
"Ran-chan there's more important things right now!" Ukyou blinked. "Why
would Ryouga be going to Junsenkyo?"
All eyes turned toward Ranma.
"Ah eh . . . he . . . uh . . . got lost! Yeah! He got lost!" Akane walked
up to Ranma and looked him in the eye.
"There's something your hiding . . ."
"No there's not! But there's more important things right now! We have to
uh . . . help Ryouga! Yeah we gotta do that."
Akane narrowed her eyes. "When have you ever wanted to help Ryouga?"
"Uh . . .
Cologne cleared her throat, saving the boy from further blunders of his
legendary tact.
"As I said, Ryouga has been to Junsenkyo. He's been cursed with the spring
of drowned berserker. They are the most deadly of fighters. They have no
remorse, no pity, and no mercy. Unlike most of the springs, the spring of
drowned berserker just doesn't change your body, it changes your mind as
well, to the point where you're not really human anymore."
Silence hung in the room.
"Is there a cure?" Akane looked up hopefully. Cologne had to know how to
help them!
"None that I know of, other than the most obvious. Although there is one
man that might be able to help . . ."
"Where the hell am I now?"
Everyone minus Cologne, jumped ten feet in the air. Akane moved
unconsciously to stand behind Ranma. "Ryouga your awake!"
Ryouga yawned and shrugged out of his chains.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" was the collective response.
Ryouga looked down at the broken chains at his feet. "Oh I'm sorry. I
didn't mean to break your chains." He looked up to see everyone staring at
him like one does a tiger that just escaped from the zoo. He turned to look
at Ranma who had his sleeves rolled up.
"Ranma what happened to your arms?"
"What happened to my arms?" Ranma seethed. "YOU HAPPENED TO MY ARMS! Don't
you remember?!"
Ryouga blinked in astonishment, then shook his head 'no'. Brushing bits of
chains from his tattered form, he stood quickly, trying to figure out where
he was.
"Why are you all so jumpy?" He rubbed the back of his neck absently.
"Do you know exactly what spring you jumped into, boy?" Cologne interrogated
him.
The lost boy shrugged again, "The Spring of Drowned Really Man." The elder
of the Amazon village face-faulted.
'Trust those idiots back home to put up a sign that fades . . . and to not
do what I tell them to.' She thought.
"Ryouga, that wasn't the Spring of Drowned Really Man." she sighed. "That
was the Spring of Drowned Really Dangerous Man. The Spring of the Drowned
Berserker."
"So?" Although he didn't seem too worried, the bandanna wearing martial
artist had paled considerably.
"So, you have become a threat to your friends. Berserkers are the most
deadly warriors known to man, boy. They don't regret their kill. They live
for it." Cologne withdrew a piece of parchment and a pencil from her
sleeve, and quickly scribbled down a name and a location on it.
"This is the name of the last person known to have suffered from Berserker's
Rage and not completely succumb to it. I want you to keep your eyes out for
this man, Ryouga. He may be the only one who knows how to help you. Until
then, do not leave your friends, and have them keep an ample supply of hot
water on hand. Otherwise . . . you will have a lot of deaths haunting your
mind in the future."
Ryouga's face turned ashen, so he looked to the paper, hoping his bangs
would shadow his pallor enough.
"Logan at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted," he read softly.
"Westchester, USA?!"
The lost boy looked up, faintly depressed. "I can't even find my way home,
and you're asking me to go hunt down a man I've never seen, in a country
more than three times the size of Japan, in an area I've never heard of?!"
"I'm doomed." He sank to the ground, head hanging low.
---