The characters of Ranma 1/2 belong to the great genius of Rumiko
Takahashi. Belldandy, Urd and Skuld are from Oh My Goddess and its
respective creator(s). Please, I'm poor! Don't sue me!
[]: Thoughts
{" "} Telepathic communication
Chapter 16
Confrontation!
The Ranma twins stood at the ready as they assessed their demonic
opponents. Reaching out with their senses, they became alarmed at
what they found.
{"Uh oh! These guys are lot more powerful than Happosai!"} Ranma
Red remarked.
{"Damn! This is going to be a tough one!"} Ranma Blue said.
{"Well, we better fight fast! Akane's eight-hour time limit is almost
up and ours is just about the same!"}
{"Let's do it!"}
Concentrating their ki energies, the Ranma brothers exploded into
action.
"MOKO TAKABISHA! SCATTER!"
"POWER BLASTER!"
The barrage of chi energies hurtled toward the demons. Zuruka and
Arcodos smiled as they each simply made a waving gesture with a
clawed hand. The chi energies dispersed before they came within five
feet of them.
"Not this time." Zuruka said as he and his counterpart began to
advance toward the twins.
"We have been observing you two since the day you were separated.
We know ALL of your paltry skills and techniques!" Arcodos added.
The two Ranmas decided to change tactics as each leapt toward one
of the demons.
Ranma Red tried a roundhouse kick to the demon with crimson
armor. The kick landed solidly on the temple. However, Arcodos' head
didn't move a millimeter as the demon reacted with lightning speed and
grabbed the pigtailed martial artist by the ankle. Even though Ranma
Red and his brother were in their astral forms, in the Realm of
Oblivion, their soul energies had taken on solid characteristics. They
may as well have been fighting in their real bodies.
Ranma Red was hauled up by one leg as Arcodos raised him until
their eyes met. He then smirked at his foe and said, "Was that supposed
to hurt?" He then swung his victim around in a wide arc and slammed
him against a stone formation. Ranma Red winced in pain as he realized
that he could also feel the damage done to his form in this place.
Ranma Blue had also made that discovery as he tried to use his
accelerated Chestnut Fist on Zuruka.
"KATCHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN! ADVANCED!"
Just before his first punch connected, Zuruka's body glowed with a
blue aura. Immediately, Ranma Blue felt his hands flare up with an
intense, stinging pain. He was forced to stop in the middle of his
technique as he backed away and looked down at his hands. He was
alarmed to see them with black splotches. In a few moments, the marks
faded away, but he was still left with sore hands.
"Cute trick." Zuruka commented. "Let me try!" With those words, he
then began slashing at his opponent with the same lightning speed.
Ranma Blue barely managed to get his body in motion, trying
desperately to avoid the demon's razor sharp claws. Unfortunately, he
was unable to avoid the last of the attacks and he felt more burning pain
as Zuruka's talons ripped into his side.
Backing away, he looked down at his side and was shocked to see a
large tear in his left flank. Of course, there was no blood, but the gash
had left him with a nauseated feeling. The injury was jagged and looked
like the edge of a frayed piece of fabric. Concentrating his inner being,
Ranma Blue willed the tear to reform. After a moment, his energy form
was whole again and he continued to fight.
"SPIRIT FIST!"
The huge fist of mystic energy flew toward Arcodos' midsection, but
to Ranma Red's surprise, the Dark World demon made no attempt to
stop it. The blast impacted heavily against him, but after that energy had
depleted itself, he simply shrugged and said, "Oh come on now. You
have to do better than that! I would have thought that Soren taught you
more than simple parlor tricks!"
The servant of Sharoka raised his arm and sent an intense blast of
energy at his opponent. Ranma Red tried his best to evade it, but he was
not completely successful. For some reason, his reflexes had become
slower and his movements were becoming sluggish. He screamed in
pain as part of the blast nailed him in the right shoulder. He managed a
forward roll to avoid further injury as he was thrown to the ground. He
then staggered to his feet and faced off against his antagonist. That was
then that Arcodos slammed a huge fist into Ranma Red's ribcage.
Akane could not believe what she was seeing. The Ranma twins were
losing! She had seen them use the same techniques against Kuno and
Mousse, but they proved to be ineffective against her demon
tormentors. Furthermore, as they continued to battle, they became
slower and sustained more hits as the monsters mercilessly beat them
down. Was this the end?
"Ranma! Get out of here! Both of you! Forget about me!"
Ranma Blue was faring no better as he was smashed though a stone
pillar. Zuruka had brushed off his Flaming Chi Wave as if he were
swatting a fly. He tried another tactic.
"ARTIC SPEAR!"
A long and sharp spear of blue-white energy formed in his hand. He
then launched it at his foe. The weapon struck the demon dead center in
the chest and encased him in a block of ice. For a moment, Ranma Blue
thought he had him, but the ice then melted away in a second as Zuruka
simply increased his body temperature.
"Very amusing. Do you have any more?"
Ranma Red simply couldn't believe it. The demon that was named
Arcodos had had just stood motionless and took the full force of TEN
of his Soul Arrows, without feeling the slightest bit of discomfort.
Arcodos grinned at his opponent's shocked expression and said, "Those
arrows can cause psychological trauma to a mortal, but they mean
nothing to a demon that specializes in anguish and pain!"
Ranma Blue was thrown backward as his own Gust Attack was
reversed. After painfully picking himself off the ground, he began to
notice several things that were happening to him. His aura did feel right.
He had also noticed that his speed and timing were off. The injuries that
he had sustained while battling Zuruka were devastating, but he noticed
that his astral form was feeling somehow… different. He looked at
Akane in her crystal prison and noticed that her soul energy seemed a
slightly different hue. It was almost as if she was matching the dismal
colors of the Realm of Oblivion. He looked down at his own form and
saw that it too was becoming paler.
[Oh no! Our time's almost up! We've got to get out of here before
we become permanently part of the Kami Plane! Doesn't matter if we
beat these guys! They're just trying to delay us! That's why they're not
using much power! They don't have to!]
{"Red! We have to get going! Our time's almost up!"}
Ranma Red barely dodged another one of Arcodos' energy bolts as
he responded, {"I'm all for it, but these guys aren't going to just let us
waltz out of here! And we can't leave Akane!"} He then dodged another
withering blast which ricocheted off a stone pillar and blasted off a
small piece of Akane's crystal cell. Ranma Red noticed it and began to
think. [Hey! They're using some different kind of energy against us
than what we saw they used on Akane! Maybe…they can help us free
her!]
Panic began to take hold of the twins as their demon foes increased
in the intensity of their attacks. Soon, the both of them were backed up
against the crystal that contained Akane's soul. Both Dark Worlders
smiled as they raised their arms and powered up for a massive blast.
Looking behind him, Ranma Red saw Akane's fearful expression. It
was then that he came upon a desperate plan. He began powering up his
ki, as the demons were about to unleash their attacks. Ranma Blue
looked at his brother's eyes, then nodded, as he understood what his
sibling was thinking of.
Just as Zuruka and Arcodos released a massive discharge, Ranma
Red grabbed his brother shoulder and teleported the both of them to a
spot behind Akane's crystal prison. The energy slammed into the walls
of the structure and caused them to shatter into fragments. Akane found
herself falling to the floor, but was caught in Ranma Blue's arms as he
and his brother rematerialized.
Before the demons could react to this unexpected development,
Ranma Blue shouted out to his twin.
"NOW!"
Before the startled eyes of the demons, the Ranma twins and Akane
disappeared from view. Both Dark Worlders looked around in
confusion as they tried to detect their presence. It was then that they
realized that they had been tricked. Howling with rage, both demons
vented their frustrations and began wrecking anything and everything in
their immediate vicinity.
The Ultimate Force System…
The twins and their passenger reappeared on one of the terminals
where Skuld had been working on, giving her quite a fright. Belldandy
turned her head when she heard her sister yelp. As soon as she saw who
was perched on the console, she immediately saw that their forms were
about to become one with the Kami Plane. She then sent a blast of
energy at the three, which enveloped them and caused them to vanish
once more.
The Realm of Infinity…
Soren and Taron were fretting over their pupils when three energy
forms appeared beside their respective bodies. Seeing how battered
each one was, Soren wasted no time in merging them to their flesh and
blood vessels. In bright flash of mystic energy, all three were restored
to their physical forms.
Ranma Blue's body suddenly started bleeding profusely as a huge
gash appeared on his left flank. Several large bruises and minor
scratches came into view as well as he got up moaning in pain. His
hands became numb as they also became riddled with cuts and bruises.
Ranma Red felt intense pain as his right shoulder as it became
covered with third degree burns. He could feel at least two broken ribs
and his left ankle felt like it had torn several ligaments and tendons.
Akane was the worst off. She had suffered tremendous psychological
trauma when she her soul had been tortured by the Dark World demons.
Now that she had been returned to her living body, all she had experienced
in the Kami Plane came into her mind like a raging tsunami. She started
screaming in agony as she held her head and her body went through a
series of convulsions. Soren guessed what the demons had done to her and
stepped forward. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he began radiating his ki
into her and whispered to her in a gentle tone.
"Sleep."
Instantly, Akane felt all the pain and feelings of suffering fade away
and she found herself drifting into a dreamless, yet peaceful slumber.
As soon as her body became inert and her breathing became steady,
Soren turned around to tend to the injuries of the Ranma twins.
Some time later…
Ranma Red and Ranma Blue sat on their stone tables as they looked
at their mentors. Taron and Soren were giving them a look that was
similar to a parent that was about to scold a disobedient child.
"You took a very big risk. If you had stayed in the Kami Plane for
one nanosecond longer, the three of you would have been lost, and
Earth would have been doomed!" Taron said in a stern voice.
"We couldn't leave Akane to those monsters!" Ranma Red retorted.
"Is one life worth the billions of lives of a whole world?" Soren said.
"You didn't stop us! In fact, you helped us!" Ranma Blue pointed out.
Both immortals sobered at that aspect. They slowly nodded as Taron
said, "Yes. I'm afraid that you were too determined to save your friend.
In any case, it just as well that you went to save her. We know what it's
like to lose someone you care about, knowing that you had the ability to
prevent it. We're not heartless, and in a way, this experience has helped
you in your training."
"What do you mean? I mean, those demons wiped the floor with us!"
Ranma Red nodded in agreement.
"They showed you that no matter how powerful you become, victory
is not always assured. Furthermore, you two learned to think and use
your heads. The old Ranma Saotome would have been too proud to run
from a fight. He would have stayed until he was destroyed or was
trapped in the Kami Plane. You two however, learned that discretion
was the better part of valor. You thought of Akane's safety first, rather
than your own survival. You neither won nor lost the battle, but you
achieved your goal. Akane is now once again among the living."
"Is she going to be okay?" Ranma Red asked.
"Physically, she's in good health." Taron guardedly commented.
"Mentally however, she will suffer severe psychological distress. Your
wounds and her experiences had carried over into your real bodies.
Repairing the physical damage was easy enough, but I'm afraid we can't
do anything about the terrors and bad memories that she will experience
in the future. That is something that she must come to terms with on her
own. For now, we've put her into a dreamless sleep, so that her dream
centers won't start churning out nightmares about her stay in the Realm
of Oblivion."
"So now what?" Ranma Blue asked.
"We're going to give you a day to fully heal and finish with any loose
ends that you still might have. Then… the real training will begin."
Soren said in a firm tone.
To be continued…
Author's Notes
I guess this chapter came out a little shorter than I expected, but I
couldn't think of any other way to leave off and start the next chapter. A
lot of my readers still do not think that I have resolved the honor issue
between the Tendos and the Saotomes. Also, you may recall that the
twins still need to have that long talk with Akane (it's kind of hard to do
that when she's dead, right?) The next chapter will be my attempt to
finalize these issues as well as get into more depth with some of the
other characters. Rumiko Takashi is a great storyteller, but I feel that
she did not really expand on some members of the supporting cast.
If some of you had been expecting Akane to have gone to that big
dojo in the sky, I'm sorry but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Akane
has not been my favorite character, but in my story, she now must face
things that have permanently disrupted her world. Who knows? Maybe
her experience with the grim reapers, (Arcodos and Zuruka) may have
made Akane truly appreciate the gift of life, despite its pitfalls and
shortcomings. Many of the characters are now undergoing changes in
their personalities as they are finally being forced to face up to their
fears and the consequences of their past actions.