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The Legend of the Raging Fist; Chapter 2
Topic Started: Aug 19 2012, 05:38 AM (467 Views)
Dumbledork
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This is the first complete draft of chapter 2. It's still crude and needs some more work, but I apreciate any kind og feedback you can give. Chapter 1 can be found here:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7771406/1/The_Legend_of_the_Raging_Fist

CHAPTER 2


School was over and Ranma and Akane were calmly walking through the streets of Nerima while talking civilly about what happened at school that day. The two teenagers had been second year students at Furinkan High for three months now. Things had calmed down a lot since the start of the school year, mostly because Ranma and his two fiancées had been put in different classrooms during the reshuffling of the classes, much to the relief of most of the students.


Akane and Ukyo were still together in class but without Ranma to antagonize them with his thoughtless remarks and rudeness a tentative friendship had developed between them when they realized that they had more in common than they had initially thought. They were still rivals for Ranma’s heart, of course, but they agreed that fighting about it was childish and so far had only served to drive him away.


It had been the principal’s idea to separate the troublemakers, but then he didn’t have a choice since he had had his back against the wall ever since some angry parents had threatened to sue the school for putting their children into danger every single day. The school board had given the principal an ultimatum; either he came up with a viable solution to the constant madness or he’d lose his job. He might have been a bit eccentric, but he knew full well that without the support of the school board he’d risk being sued personally by the parents.


He went even further and sent his son away to a private school much to everyone’s joy. Tatewaki had refused at first, but since the principal was the head of the family and thus in charge of the finances he had no other choice but to comply if he wanted to continue getting his allowance. That didn’t stop him from sending flowers and poems to Akane every single day, which promptly ended up in the trash, and visit her every weekend. Still, it was a small victory.


These two measures had been surprisingly effective and there hadn’t been any major incidents or acts of violence inside the school for more than a month.


The happiest one with this new arrangement was probably Ranma himself as he could finally relax in class without having to watch his back all the time because of Akane’s or Ukyo’s chronic jealousy and Kuno’s stupidity. Even if they weren’t together in class he was spending lunch hour together with his fiancées and was pleasantly surprised by how calm they had become. Akane still made her anger known whenever Ranma refused her food in favor of Ukyo’s, but at least the two girls didn’t fight each other about it and it was the pigtailed boy who had to suffer the brunt of the sometimes violent tomboy’s displeasure, but since he barely felt the blows he didn’t make much of an issue of it.


Another pleasant surprise was that Ryoga had calmed down a lot ever since he had confessed to Akari. The pig farmer had been really good for him and while he still got regularly lost the young girl had at least managed to make him see that most of his problems were not Ranma’s fault. Sure, they were still sparring occasionally, but there was no real animosity in their fights. He still hadn’t told Akane about his curse but since he had stopped being Akane’s pet Ranma had decided to keep it a secret and not to call him P-chan in her presence.


Mousse was still a pest but without Kuno and Ryoga to help him with his stupid schemes he wasn’t much of a problem and quickly dealt with.


That left Kodachi and Shampoo who were still regularly making nuisances of themselves, much to Ranma’s chagrin, but there was nothing he could do except beating them up, but he refused to do that.


Thankfully, both hadn’t been around for a few days and during that time Ranma and Akane’s relation had slightly improved. They hadn’t had an argument for two whole days. The pigtailed boy was telling his fiancée about Hiroshi’s latest stupid stunt when they were interrupted by a loud and unwelcome female voice coming from behind.


“Airen!”


The black-haired girl bristled immediately and shot the pigtailed teen an angry look.


Ranma looked imploringly at the sky. ‘Why me?’, he sighed. ‘Just as things were getting better between us…’. He just knew that Shampoo would ruin everything he had achieved so far and that he’d had to start again from the beginning.


He had barely finished that thought that he had already felt a weight on his back and a pair of arms enlacing him.


“Airen happy to see Shampoo?” The Amazon asked affectionately while rubbing her cheek against the back of his head.


“RAAANMAAA!” Akane growled. “What do you think you’re doing?”


“A—Akane! It’s not what it looks like!” He waved his hands in denial while trying to get rid of his unwanted passenger.


“Get off of me, Shampoo!” He shouted at the persistent girl who surprisingly enough let go immediately, having achieved her goal of driving a wedge between the two lovebirds.


“What do you want?” Akane asked angrily. “Why can’t you just leave us alone, you top heavy bimbo?”


“Flat chest violent girl just jealous,” Shampoo teased the fuming shorthaired girl, knowing very well what buttons to push to increase her rival’s anger.


“Stop it!” Ranma jumped between the two girls, trying to get them to calm down. His experience with angry females should have told him that it was a really bad idea to get in the middle of a catfight, but he chose not to listen to his common sense trying to warn him and was rewarded with two simultaneous punches in the face.


“Stay out of this!” The two rivals shouted at their fiancé, respectively husband, before they resumed their face-off.


“Uncute!” Ranma grumbled as he left the incoming fight, rubbing his face to relieve the slight pain he was feeling. While not as painful as Ryoga’s punches the combined strength of two strong girls while in a state of righteous (in their opinion) female fury was not to be underestimated. Well, if they didn’t want his help…


“You still haven’t told us what you want,” Akane tried again after directing her attention back to Shampoo.


“Shampoo have cure for airen,” the purple haired teenager explained. She had barely finished her sentence when Ranma had already teleported in front of her and taken her hands into his own.


“Really?” He asked in a hopeful tone, not noticing the angry aura forming behind him. “Where is it?”


“Ranma!” Akane tried to be the voice of reason. “What are you doing? Don’t tell me you trust her. You’re always letting her manipulate you, and none of her cures have ever worked. Even you can’t be that naïve.”


The martial artist carefully considered his fiancée’s words and had to agree with her. So far the results of his numerous quests for a cure had been less than stellar. “You’re probably right, but who knows, this time it might be a real cure. Let’s just hear her out. You know how important this is to me.”


Akane was less than pleased by his answer. She knew that this was just another ploy to get a date with HER fiancé. “Oh really! Well, I remember very clearly what you said at Jusendo. Didn’t you claim that you had finally stopped caring about the curse and that your girl side would always be a part of you? And yet, you immediately went after the barrel of Naniichuan at our wedding.”


“Well, yeah. But at that time I thought the cursed springs were gone for good.”


Shampoo was following the verbal exchange with obvious interest and glee, waiting for the right moment to intervene. Her plan was working out even better than she’d expected. First she’d drive a wedge between them, and then she would steal her airen’s heart right under the nose of her hated rival. She couldn’t wait to see the violent girl’s reaction when she realized she had lost the battle for Ranma’s heart.


“Well, I don’t care. You can go and look for a cure another time. You promised to go shopping with me today and I don’t want HER to ruin that.”


The pigtailed boy pondered on Akane’s words. She was right. He had made that promise. On the other hand, listening to what Shampoo had to say would only take a few minutes. He was sure that the dark haired girl would understand. They’d still have all the rest of the afternoon to go shopping.


‘Don’t do this to me---to us’, Akane prayed inwardly. ‘Show me that you care’.


“But Akane”, he tried to reason with the girl. “Let’s just listen to what she has to say. We will still have the rest of the afternoon for the shopping trip.”


“So that’s how you honor your promises,” the black haired girl stated in a hurt tone. “Fine then. Just go with the bimbo. See if I care.” She huffed and turned her back to Ranma.


The pigtailed teen tried to reason with her, but before he could say more than a few words Akane cut him off. “I don’t want to hear it. Leave me alone!” She walked away leaving her fiancé behind who was rooted to the spot and only staring at the departing girl.


‘<Perfect>’, Shampoo grinned malevolently at her rival. ‘<Exactly as planned.’>.


This whole scene was completely irrelevant to her real plan, but she couldn’t just leave such a perfect occasion to upset Akane alone. She really hated the girl who tried to steal HER husband.


While the two teens were bickering and not paying attention to her Shampoo quickly pulled a round object the size of a tennis ball out of her cleavage. Before Akane and Ranma could react she said in a loud enough voice for them to hear: “Shampoo wish Ranma love Shampoo.”


There was a bright flash and the two martial artists immediately looked into the Amazon’s direction, their eyes were drawn to the glowing sphere she was holding in her hands.


Shampoo didn’t wait to find out if her wish had been granted and immediately made another one before Akane or Ranma could react and take the magical gizmo away from her. “Shampoo wish Shampoo and Ranma sent to Joketsuzoku village.” (1)


There was another flash, blinding Akane temporarily, and when she opened her eyes the other two were gone.


“RANMA!” she shouted in fear and frantically looked around, hoping that all of this was just a joke, but she couldn’t see the other teens anywhere. She ran to the spot where Shampoo had been, but there was not a single sign that she’d ever been there.


She remembered Shampoo’s last words and an impressively huge, angry aura formed around her. “That bitch! Wait till I get my hands on her!” Akane wanted answers and she knew where she’d get them. Woe to any anyone getting in her way, for the juggernaut on the way to the Nekohanten will not be stopped.


01234543210


All was calm in the Amazon village of Nyuchiehzu until a person materialized in the center of the marketplace surprising the people who were shopping. Shampoo looked around and grinned when she recognized the place. Home. She had finally done it. She had successfully completed her quest and brought her airen back with her. She couldn’t wait to show him off to her friends who would be so jealous of her for having landed the perfect husband.


She looked around for Ranma but didn’t see him anywhere. “Airen? Where are you?”


Fear was slowly gripping her soul as a frightening thought came to her mind. Could she have made a mistake? She tried to figure out where she might have gone wrong when she heard a familiar voice call her name.


<Xian Pu? Is that you?>


01234543210


Ranma was at a loss as to what to do. One moment ago he had been in Nerima and the next one he’d ended up in an unknown place, inside a short alley. He carefully approached the exit to the alley, his back to the wall to make as small a target as possible, and took a quick peek around the corner. The view was breathtaking. All around him he saw Chinese-style houses of every size, many of them chiseled into the mountainside from bottom to top of the mountain range surrounding the village. He had been to many places on his training journey but had never seen anything like this. He wondered how he had ended up there but then he remembered Shampoo’s wish. Something about sending them to her village, but it was obvious something had gone horribly wrong. This was definitely not the Amazon village he had been to.


He took another peek, this time concentrating on the people instead of the landscape. What he saw didn’t fill him with much confidence. Scantily clad women, wearing nothing more than thongs, bikinis, and, strangely enough, white capes she didn’t understand the purpose of, populated the streets. Most of them were carrying weapons and looked like they knew how to use them. What troubled him most was the complete lack of men. He didn’t see a single one in the large crowd, which led him to the conclusion that even if this wasn’t Shampoo’s village the culture was similar. However, he then remembered that even if Shampoo’s people were a matriarchal society he had still seen some men in the village.


Another thing he immediately noticed was that the place seemed to have some kind of snake theme going on. Not only were the roofs of the houses adorned with snake statues, but most of the women were wearing living snakes coiled around them.


Ranma might not have known where he was but the whole setup set off alarm bells in his head. This was a certified clusterfuck just waiting to happen and he didn’t want to have any part in it for once. He walked backwards, away from the opening to his own personal hell when he stepped on something squishy.


This was answered by an angry yowl and the unfortunate martial artist had just time enough to turn around and see what he had stepped on when the angry, furry jumped on his face and viciously used it as a scratching post.


“C-C-CAT!!!!” Was the predictable reaction as the martial artist scrambled backwards and into the main street where he fell on his bottom. The cat let go after it had vented its anger and Ranma let out a relieved sigh.


The sigh got stuck in his throat, though, when he noticed the many astonished eyes on him. ‘Oh shit!’ He thought before the chase was on.


01234543210


Meanwhile in Nerima Akane was on her way to the Nekohanten. Her anger was palpable and made the bystanders give her a wide berth lest they became the recipients of that anger. She had rarely resented Shampoo as much as she did at that moment. Everything was going so well. They were finally on good terms and then that bitch had to show up and ruin everything. She regretted lashing out against her fiancé. She knew him, and she should have known how he’d react at the mention of a cure. However, once again her temper had got the better of her. She was working hard on controlling her temper; she really did, but somehow the other girls after Ranma’s heart and the other annoyances showing up periodically always managed to rile her up; and Ranma’s pride was not making it any easier.


She finally arrived at her destination and without announcing herself entered the restaurant and headed straight towards the kitchen, past the astonished patrons who didn’t dare to stop the angry girl. She resolutely entered the kitchen where she found her target talking to someone on the phone in Chinese.


The old woman didn’t seem surprised at all to see her and this made Akane look at her with suspicion.


<She’s arrived; just as expected. I’ll call back once she told me what she knows. Maybe we can get to the bottom of this>.


“Ah, Miss Tendo,” Cologne greeted the teenager jovially as she put the receiver back on the hook, not giving anything away. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?”


“Where are Ranma and Shampoo?” She didn’t bother with the usual niceties but was immediately in the elder’s face. “I know you’re behind all this. Tell me where they are!”


Before the young girl could really talk herself into a rage the elder quickly went behind her back and poked a certain spot along her spinal cord and one on her neck. The effects were instantaneous and Akane sagged into a conveniently placed chair, her legs not supporting her body any longer and her vocal cords refusing to function correctly, rendering her basically mute.


“That’s better,” the elder nodded. “You should really learn to respect your elders, girl. Now, if you promise to behave I’ll release you from the pressure point. I’m sure we can talk about everything civilly, like adults. Nod if you agree.”


Akane shot the Amazon a venomous look, but then she nodded, reluctantly.


“That’s better,” Cologne nodded approvingly as she manipulated some more pressure points on the youngest Tendo’s back.


“You know what happened!” Akane accused the old woman once more, this time in a calmer tone.


“That I do,” she confirmed the young martial artist’s suspicions, “but not in detail. I was just about to learn more when you interrupted my phone call. I’ll share the little information I have if you’re willing to do the same as I believe that is the only way rescue son-in-law from whatever trouble he’s probably in once again. Tell me exactly what happened between Shampoo and the two of you without leaving out any detail, however unimportant you deem it to be and I’ll do the same. But know this. Shampoo acted on her own without consulting me beforehand. Don’t jump to conclusions without having all the facts available, Miss Tendo, and your life will be much easier. Now then, please begin.”


Akane complied and told the whole story from her point of view, trying to be as precise as possible.


“I see. What a poorly worded wish,” the elder shook her head. “What was that foolish girl thinking? This won’t make things any easier.”


“What do you mean?” the short haired girl asked.


“The person I was on the phone with is a friend from the village with news about my granddaughter. According to her Shampoo appeared out of thin air in the center of the village, alone. Shampoo told my friend that she had bought the strange artifact in a shop yesterday, but she didn’t bother to read the instructions since she doesn’t know the language they are written in. Nothing but trouble, that girl brings me. If only she let her brain rule her actions instead of her libido…”


She stilled for a few moments before shaking her head. “Well, anyway. There’s nothing we can do about that in the moment. The only thing that might help us right now is to get our hands on the instruction manual to the orb. According to my friend it should be in her bedroom. Wait here and I’ll get it.”


The old woman left the teenager alone to her thoughts. ‘Please, be alright, Ranma’, Akane prayed.


01234543210


Unfortunately, Akane’s prayer didn’t reach the dimension Ranma had been sent to as the boy anything but alright. Quite the contrary as the group of scantily clad women in pursuing him attested to. A he sped through the main street of the village and past a large amount of surprised women he cursed every deity in existence plus one purple haired Amazon for once again getting him in trouble. The group of chasers grew by the minute as more and more women joined the hunt for the intruder and when he reached the exit of the village the band had grown to at least 30 individuals.


Thankfully he was much faster than them and it didn’t take him long to leave them behind until he made a fatal mistake. He turned his head to check for his pursuers and missed the large tree branch appearing in front of him. One heavy impact later and he was seeing stars. Slightly dazed, he slipped down the slope and splashed into the stream below.


The fall into the cold water cleared her head again, but unfortunately the accident had also cost her as her pursuers had finally caught up to her. She rubbed her head and when she looked up she saw several very pointy spears leveled at her face while further away several of the Amazons had their snakes (!?) drawn and pointed in her direction. Using snakes as bows was definitely new to her, and she had thought she’d seen everything. She dismissed those unimportant thoughts for the moment and instead racked her brain about how to deal with the bind she was in, desperately trying to come up with an escape plan, but the women obviously knew what they were doing and didn’t leave single gap in her ranks for her to get away. She could have fought them of course, but without neither knowing how many enemies there were, nor what techniques they used it would be foolish to act recklessly.


She was still alive though, which probably meant that they could be reasoned with and that she was in no immediate danger of being killed if she cooperated. At least she hoped her deductions were correct. Thus she decided to play it safe and simply surrender peacefully. This would also give her the time to come up with a good escape plan. She might not know what her enemies were capable of, but the same was true for them, and she was pretty confident she could get away once she had learnt a bit more about them.


“I give up,” the redhead slowly lifted her arms in surrender, hoping that they’d understand Japanese… and the gesture as well.


Her captors nodded and grabbed her wrists before binding them together behind her back with a rope.


Ranma grinned inwardly as this confirmed her theory. They had no idea what she was capable of and if worse came to worst she could simply snap her bindings and make a run for it, this time without making such a rookie mistake.


As they led the redhead back to their village she tried to gather some information. “So, who are you people and what do you want?”


All her perfectly sensible question earned her was a blow to the head with the haft of a spear. “Quiet, prisoner!” The owner of the weapon ordered. “You don’t speak until spoken to. We’re the ones asking questions here.”


“Alright, alright,” she grumpily answered. “No need to get your panties in a bunch, sheesh!”


The Amazon was about to hit the prisoner again for disregarding her order, but since the redhead finally stayed quiet she didn’t do it. Instead she occasionally poked Ranma in the back with the spear whenever she slowed down. This made her realize that she she’d better not antagonize her captors; at least until she had a better grasp of the situation she was in.


The women led her into the village and past the many onlookers who were shamelessly observing her with obvious curiosity. When they reached a large cage they opened the door and pushed her inside.


“You’ll stay here until we’ve decided on your fate.” The same woman who had poked her with the spear explained. “If you try to escape or start to rebel the guards have orders to shoot you down on the spot.”


Having given her warnings she left the prisoner to her thoughts and marched towards the largest building in the village with the other hunters in tow. Once they were gone some of the villagers gathered around the cage and eyed her with curiosity. ‘This must be how the freaks in a freak show feel’, she thought, not liking those stares in the least. ‘Well, I’ll just have to wait and see,’ she shrugged and lay down on the bed, no trying to let all the people around her bother her.


01234543210


Akane was sitting on the chair, patiently waiting for Cologne’s return, but inwardly she was seething. The worst was that she didn’t know who she should be most angry with; Ranma for once again falling for one of Shampoo’s stupid schemes, or the annoying Amazon for never leaving them alone. She didn’t have time to resolve her feelings in that matter as it took barely two minutes for Cologne to come back, with a piece of paper in one hand.


“I found it. It was openly lying on Shampoo’s bed where anyone can easily find it. That girl… I don’t know what to do with her anymore. Anyway, with this I hope we can finally get to the bottom of things.”


Akane got up from the chair and looked at the paper, blinking in surprise when she recognized the language. “It’s in English.”


“Indeed.”


“Let me guess,” Akane interrupted the old woman before she could elaborate. “Shampoo doesn’t know English.”


“You are correct, unfortunately,” she sighed in dismay. “I don’t understand why she would do something like that. She should know better by now. She could have at least asked me for advice.”


“Have you read the instructions yet?” Akane eagerly asked, hoping that the old woman knew where Ranma was.


“I only skimmed it, but it doesn’t look good at all. I’ll read it more thoroughly and translate for you.”


“What is that supposed to mean?” Akane angrily asked. “I can understand English just fine.”


“I don’t care what you THINK you’re capable of. I’m sure you know a little English, but I doubt you’re good enough to completely understand all the intricacies of this text. Magic is not a game and mistranslating even a little bit can have disastrous consequences.”


The youngest Tendo didn’t interrupt the elder again. Once the Amazon had finished she sighed very loudly. “It’s even worse than I thought.”


Akane stared at the elder with incomprehension in her eyes. It couldn’t be that bad. Ranma had survived worse after all.


“Here’s what the text says”:


‘The Orb of Urscrewed (2). A powerful, cursed artifact that can grant almost any wish, but rarely does it in the way its owner intended. Not much is known about its origins, but it is widely believed that it was either created by a God or a very powerful sorcerer several millennia ago. One thing we know for sure, though. Whoever created was most assuredly one hell of a vindictive bastard who probably hated the whole of humanity.


The orb is sentient and very capricious and whimsical and has a mean streak a mile wide if angered. The object is indestructible, so don’t try to destroy it as its retaliation will be swift and unpleasant, death being the best outcome you can hope for. Many have tried to rid the world of this calamity and all have come to regret their boldness for the rest of their short lives.


There are a few very important facts you need to know about the artifact before you use it:


1) Whatever you wish for you have to be aware that the orb will grant the wish in whatever way it wants, depending on its mood. Therefore, always be respectful towards it. Ordering it around or angering it is a sure way to have a wish granted in the worst way possible.


2) You MUST use the orb’s powers at least once a day. The longer you wait the direr the consequences will be. Here’s an example. The first day without making a wish you fall down and break your leg; the next day you crash your car; the following day your pet dies;… and so on.


3) The only ways to get rid of it are either to give it away or to sell it… or to die of course.


4) All wishes are final and the orb will NEVER undo them, if only out of spite.


We hope that this notice has been helpful and wish you luck with your new possession; you’ll definitely need it… and a lot of it’.



Akane was speechless after Cologne had finished reading the notice. “That can’t be,” she shook her head in denial. “We have to do something.”


“Indeed we do,” Cologne answered matter-of-factly. “I have to call the village and warn them about the orb before Shampoo does something stupid again.


“I meant about Ranma,” the dark-haired girl specified.


“What do you want me to do? I have no idea where Shampoo’s wish sent him to and I have no way of finding out. I definitely won’t use the orb for that. The only thing I can do now is try and help my great-granddaughter out of the mess she’s in. She used a powerful magical artifact without supervision and without knowing the consequences while additionally failing her quest of bringing her husband back with her. If she’s lucky she’ll only lose her warrior status for her failures.”


“That’s more important to you than getting Ranma back?” Akane incredulously asked. “It’s Shampoo’s fault Ranma is gone. The least you could do is try and bring him back.”


“Like I said before, I have no idea how,” she coldly answered. “I feel for your loss, but son-in-law has to find his own way home. There’s nothing I can do. And now, please leave, there’s a lot I have to do.”


Akane tried to reason with the elder but to no avail and was promptly escorted out of the restaurant.


Akane stared at the door for a while, tears flowing out of her eyes, before slowly returning home, thinking about how to best explain the situation to the families, both Ranma’s and her own.


01234543210


Ranma was calmly lying on the bed, hands buried under her head and mentally processing the information she got so far, which was rather limited she had to admit. It was obvious that this was a warrior culture. She could work with that. People like these generally respected strength, and if she showed them her skills they might let her go… hopefully. However, this time she would be smarter and ask in advance about all the modalities and laws on duels.


All these things didn’t bother her that much, though. No, what was really on her mind was on the one hand the absence of males and on the other hand the totally alien vegetation. This was definitely not Japan and yet all the inhabitants spoke Japanese. She didn’t know what that meant, but she was sure that these were questions she needed to have answered before she made any kind of deal.


She was roused out of her musings by a commotion going on outside of her prison. She lifted her head and when she saw the crowd part and make way for two women walking side by side she quickly got up and made herself presentable. It was show time.


01234543210


1) Joketsuzoku, the Japanese name of the Chinese Amazons, basically means ‘Village of Woman Heroes’, which is vague enough for the sphere to interpret it any way it wants to.


2) I wanted to use the cursed monkey paw at first, but after a lengthy discussion one message boards about what it can and can’t do, I thought: “screw it!” It doesn’t matter what artifact I use since it’s just a MacGuffin anyway.
Edited by Dumbledork, Aug 19 2012, 05:45 AM.
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