Chapter 15: Nightmare’s return Part 3: Ryoga the Wrecking ball or Ryoga the farmer?
It had been a full month since Nabiki had turned herself into the local police requesting protection as well. She even agreed to testify against Genma and her father for things they had done in Japan and in America. For the time being she was staying at the Japanese embassy. Still it was what Nabiki had told Ranma that disturbed him to the core and constantly worried him. “No, no were not. Ryoga and Ukyo are on their way as well but Akane… Akane…” Nabiki just looked right into Nodoka’s eyes. “Akane’s gone insane.” Was it true? Did Akane really lose it?
“Ranma Cloudsdale!” Ranma quickly looked up at Mr. Armor. “Oh, um… sorry Mr. Armor.” Ranma replied regretfully. “Ranma see me after class please.” Mr. Armor said causing him to groan. It was at this the bell rang. “Alright class, remember to answer the questions at the end of chapter 10 and read chapter 11 for next week. Class dismissed!” Everyone left the history class quickly but Ranma sighed as he walked up to his teacher’s desk. “Ranma, what’s wrong? You’ve never been absentminded or distracted in my class before but this is the third time this week that you’ve done this. What’s wrong?” Mr. Armor asked worried. Ranma sighed, “It’s… personal Mr. Armor. I didn’t mean to be distracted.” Mr. Armor just looked at him. “Ranma I can respect that you have a personal issue and your trying to solve it on your own but I think it might be a good idea to talk to someone about.” Ranma sighed again and nodded. “Okay it’s well… issues with my old home.” Mr. Armor just listened as Ranma explained to him of last month’s issue along with what he had learned from one of the people after him or at least was after him. “That’s a lot to worry about Ranma, and I understand your concern for the poor girl but this is something you need to let the police handle not you.” Ranma sighed and nodded. “Good. Now go catch up to your friends, I believe they’re waiting for you.”
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“So I thinking I’d try this new combination tonight and wondered if you guys would like to hear it before I get it recorded.” Vi said happily next to Octavia. “Huh?” Ranma said as he walked his back home. “Honestly Ranma you need to pay attention better.” Vi said turning on him. “Vivian,” Octavia said placing her hand on her loves shoulder, “Ranma’s had a hard month last month and I think he just needs some time to himself. Isn’t that right Ranma?” Ranma looked between the two and sighed. “I don’t know you two maybe I need to take some time away from school or something.” Both looked to Ranma worried. “You serious Ranma? I mean sure that be a good idea but seriously, you’ve been doing that a lot lately. Not that Ranko’s not fun or anything but come on.” Vi said to him. “I know but… I just got a lot on my mind like Octavia said. Maybe I do need some time off.” Ranma replied. “If you say so.” Vi replied a bit down. “Come on Vivian, I know what will cheer you up. A nice chocolate milkshake.” Octavia said looking to her. Vi smiled at this and waved Ranma off as Octavia tugged her away.
“Hey Ranma!” Ranma sighed and turned to see James waving at him as he rode up on his bike. “Oh, hey James.” Ranma replied sighing. “You look like someone just trashed your pony figure collection. What’s wrong?” James said walking next to Ranma. “Nabiki.” Ranma replied. “Oh, her. Look Ranma she’s going to be fine, she’s in the Embassy now and they’ll take good care of her.” James said trying to cheer him up. “It’s not her in particular it’s what she said.” Ranma said turning to James. “Akane’s gone insane, Ukyo and Ryoga are on their way, they’re going to lose the Dojo and home, and it’s all because I left.” James stopped and put his hands on Ranma’s shoulders. “Ranma look, you can’t blame all this on yourself. From what I know Nerima Ward started going downhill after the first of the Kuno kids where born and got steadily worse on its own. It’s not your fault.” Ranma shook his head. “Seriously?” James nodded. “Seriously. I bet even if you weren’t there at all bad things would have still happened to the Tendos. Its. Not. You’re. Fault.” Ranma sighed at this. “Yeah I guess your right but still. Genma and Soun, Nabiki, and now Ryoga, Ukyo, and Akane? I swear the entire NWC is coming after me and this is just the beginning of the storm coming our way.” James nodded at this. “Yeah, but don’t worry Ranma, you got all of us here to help you through this.” Ranma just scoffed. “Yeah. Anyway I better get ‘Ranko’ before she's late for her date with Summer.” James laughed at this. “Yeah, tell ‘her’ I said good luck.” Ranma laughed. “We don’t need luck.” Both bro fisted before saying, “We just need Magic.” Both waved at each other as they headed to their respected homes never knowing that things were about to take a turn, for the interesting.
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Ryoga sighed as he read his map and pamphlet of the area he was going to explore for Ranma. The pamphlet was only a single sheet of paper with printing on both sides and came with the map which was also was one sheet of paper that only needed to be folded over once. “Sigh. Hope I find you Ranma. Because if I don’t the others will.” Ryoga said studying the paper. “Who would have guessed that directional curse would have some benefits to it?” Ryoga just shook his head at how sad yet… interesting his life was with the curse. He had gone from Tokyo to England to Hollywood to Scotland to well… everywhere, and thanks to the directional curse he had no other choice but to study nearly every language he could just to know where he was and now he was using this overly used skill to keep himself out of trouble. It also paid to have had Cologne with him as well…
-Yesterday-
“So wait, out of all of us only you and Cologne could speak multiple languages?” Ukyo asked as they walked through the airport they had arrived at. “Yeah, having gotten lost so many times I had little choice not to learn them.” Ryoga responded as he grabbed the entire group’s bags. Luckily they had all packed as Ryoga did, with backpacks that where quite… special. “I’m surprised you kept it secret for so long Ryoga. You could have used it to impress Akane back then but thanks to our talks on the plane ride here I’m glad you’re starting to see the light.” Cologne responded grabbing her own yet much smaller backpack. “Yeah well… thanks for that. Sigh, who would have guessed I had a thing for martial art farmers.” Ryoga said as they walked. “Great-grandmother is okay to speak Mandarin here?” Shampoo asked in her broken Japanese. “I don’t see why not. We are in America after all and it may even help us find my friend easier.” Cologne responded. “Oh good, not that I don’t like talking like that but really, I’d rather be speaking what I can instead of something I barely can.” Shampoo replied in Mandarin. “So… who are we supposed to be looking for?” Ukyo asked looking around. “An old friend of mine who traveled a lot and was made into a personal ally instead of an ally of the tribe. Her name is Celestial M. Moon along with another contact of mine I called before we left China.” Cologne said smiling.
“Would that be her?” Ryoga said as he pointed to a smiling woman next to a tall man in a business suit. “Cologne, it’s so good to see you again!” the woman called out to them in Mandarin. “Celestial my dear! How long has it been?” Cologne said wrapping her small arms around the younger but much taller woman. “I’m well though I was surprised when Mr. Chow contacted me and said he needed a representative of the Chinese Amazon Tribe to be present.” The woman said gesturing to the man who bowed to the group who bowed in return. “Yes well let me introduce you to my small group here. Everyone this is my dear ally and friend Celestial M. Moon, she’s also a student of mine in ancient magic so you won’t have to worry yourself around her Shampoo.” Cologne said gaining a shocked look from the group. “Celestial, this is my Great-Grand Daughter Xian Fu, the Martial Arts Chef Ukyo Kunoji, and the strongest martial artist in the world Ryoga Hakubi.” Celestial looked to the group. “I see, so this why you needed me.” Cologne just nodded. “No offense and I’m hoping you can understand me, but why did we need to see you two?” Ukyo asked worried. “Because Miss Kunoji, you and Mr. Hakubi here are on an OP on American soil and wanted by the Japanese Embassy for… reasons I’m not allowed to speak of at this time. Oh sorry.” She soon repeated herself in Japanese. “What!” was the response she gained in Mandarin, Japanese, and English.
“Calm down everyone. This is why I’m here.” Mr. Chow said holding up a hand. “Follow me and we’ll talk.” The group nodded and followed the two Americans out of the airport.
-Now-
Mr. Chow had informed them that Celestial had requested an OP or order of protection against every member of the Nerima Wrecking Crew along with the Kuno Clan whose head, Principal Kuno, was highly wanted by the FBI, on Ranma’s behalf. However thanks to Cologne stating that the two were only there to aid Ranma and not harm him they had been pardoned but put on probation till they could prove they weren’t there to do anything wrong as doing so would result in any of them being sent back to where they had come from. “I just hope I DON’T do anything wrong.” Ryoga said putting the map and pamphlet down for Coltsville. He knew that he and Ranma didn’t have a good reputation of being best of friends, or allies for that matter, but… he just hoped he didn’t find Ranma first because he feared what he would or better yet, could do. Sure he gave up the Shishi Hōkōdan or Lion’s Roar Blast, one of his most dangerous techniques, but as Cologne had explained to him on the plane ride here, you never forget an attack. He had used it too much to have just simply forgotten it fully and there was always that chance that he could accidently use it on instinct. He just hoped… he wouldn’t.
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“But sis!” Apple Bloom wined as both Big Mac and Applejack began removing dead limbs from their trees. “No buts Apple Bloom! You know how hard it is already to try and make Granny’s pies and jam. We got to make a living off these here apples and we just can’t go messing that up just so you can get your Cutie Mark. You and your friends’ just need to listen to us a lot better then you have been.” Applejack said removing yet another dead branch. “But sis we have been!” Apple Bloom complained. “No you haven’t. Look Apple Bloom, look at everything you’ve done so far and…” Apple Bloom sighed and finished for her, “see if that what you’re really good at. If you are it’ll appear.” Applejack nodded to this and hugged her little sister. “You know it, you’ve heard it, and you just need to accept it.” Apple Bloom just closed her eyes and returned the hug. “I miss Granny.” Big Mac sighed and joined the hug as well. “We all do Apple Bloom, we all do.” It was soon they heard the fire bell ring and clang along with the sound of something having been broken. “What is tarnation?” Applejack asked as they all headed to the bell.
“Ugh, why me. All I did was give it a tap, how in the world did the supports break?” someone said as they approached. “Can we help… you?” Applejack asked as she approached and finally spotted a tall young man with black hair in a yellow and black speckled bandana around his head, a yellow jumper, black trousers with yellow leg bands around the ankles and a black sash-like belt. His hair, particularly the front fringe, was quite long, obscuring his bandana at the front. He was also carrying around a black backpack with a red umbrella made of either wood or bamboo tucked into straps on top of the backpack. Applejack just stopped where she was blinked a few times and slowly but surely blushed. “Can we help you stranger?” Mac said snapping Jackie out of her trance. “Huh? On um yes. Um… sorry about the bell. I just gave it a tap and it just fell over.” The young man responded as Mac checked the bells supports. “Jackie, we got a problem.” Mac said pointing at the bell supports. “Huh? Uh what seems to be the trouble Mac?” Jackie said getting the message of keeping secretive. “Termites. Going to need to check the trees to be sure none of them have any in them. Bloom, get to the school and inform one of the teachers to inform Town Hall that we might have a Termite Infestation here.” Bloom nodded and ran off towards town. “You just might have saved our farm mister. What’s your name?” Mac said after removing the bell supports from the ground and taking them to get burned. “Oh, it’s Ryoga sir. Ryoga Hibiki.” The boy named Ryoga responded.
Jackie smiled at to name but then blinked. The name sounded familiar for some reason yet… why? “Well, thank you Mr. Hibiki. Looks like you could take a bit of a load off. Why don’t you step in for some cider and rest a while?” Mac said kindly. “I would really like to but I’m looking for this place called Coltsville. A friend of mine is there and I really got to talk to him in person.” Ryoga replied. “Well you’re in luck.” Jackie replied soon speaking up. Ryoga looked to her and soon blushed a bit as well. “Bloom was just heading that way; you’re on the very edge of the town.” Ryoga blinked, sighed and smiled shyly. “Um well… thank you. Sorry about the bell Ms.?” Jackie cleared her throat a bit at the tension out of her chest. “Jackie… Jackie Apple.” She soon responded. “I’m Mac Apple by the way and I insist you take a load off. Looks like you’ve been wondering around quite a bit.” Mac said patting Ryoga’s shoulder. “Um well… if you insist.” Ryoga replied nervously.
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Ranko yawned as she tried to stay awake throughout her date with Summer. “R-Ranko, I really think you should go home and get some rest, we can always reschedule for when you’re feeling better.” Summer said worried. “I really want to Summer but every time I go to sleep I wake up from a nightmare where Genma and Soun bust out of jail and try to force me back to Japan and… and they hurt all of you to do so. I… I couldn’t stand myself if that happened.” Ranko replied with a sigh turned yawn. “Ranko you’re going to run yourself into the ground if you don’t sleep. Maybe… maybe you should see the doctor, unless you don’t want to.” Summer said stern then shyly. Ranko smiled at Summer for this and was about to kiss her on the cheek when… “Summer!” Both looked to see Bloom running their way. “Oh Bloom, what’s wrong? Is there a fire at the farm?” Summer asked concerned. “No, I just got to find one of the teachers from school so I can tell them that we might have a termite problem.” Bloom replied breathing hard. “I think Lyra and Bonny are at Rarity’s boutique Bloom.” Ranko said yawning again. “Oh thank you Ranko.” Bloom said taking off. “She’s so cute.” Summer said taking Ranko’s arm. “Yeah she is.” Ranko replied smiling.
“Well if you insist on staying awake, maybe we should get some tea to help you wake up?” Summer gently suggested. “You know,” Ranko said after a long yawn, “I think that be a good idea.” Both giggled at this and began walking towards one of the dinners. Once the arrived the soon spotted Sparkle and Dashie talking at one of the tables both blushing red. “Dashie, Sparkle, what are you two doing here?” Ranko asked as they walked up to them. “Ah!” both screamed and soon looked at them. “Ugh Ranko, Summer, don’t do that!” Sparkle said holding a hand over her heart. “Sorry you two but really what are you two doing here?” Ranko asked. “Well… we were um…” Dashie started to answer nervously. Ranko’s eyes quickly widen as did Summer. “Oh we’re sorry, we’ll leave you two alone now.” Summer said quickly pulling Ranko to a very distant table. “I didn’t know those two would be dating here.” Ranko said now fully awake after the scream. “Me either. Maybe we should head to another dinner?” Summer said gently. “Yeah that would be best. They really deserve each other you know?” Ranko said taking Summer’s hand as they walked causing Summer to blush heavily. “Yeah they do.” Summer said soon taking Ranko’s arm causing Ranko to just smile.
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Ryoga was impressed with the Apple’s cooking skills along with fully running farm and business. It was just Mac, the young girl Bloom, and the very nice looking Jackie working the entire apple farm by themselves. He looked down at his slice of homemade apple pie and well-made apple cider. He had apple pie and apple cider before but nothing like this. The pie’s crust was soft, flaky yet solid enough that it wouldn’t fall apart when cut and served, the apples used inside where nice and soft yet sweet and firm enough no sugar was ever needed. The cider was tart but sweet at the same time and had the taste of freshly picked apples even though the cider came last season’s barrel. It was just… perfect.
“Enjoying the pie Mr. Hibiki?” Mac soon asked bringing Ryoga at of his food based trance of delight. “Oh yeah, it’s amazing. No offence but I’ve had apple pies before but this,” Ryoga took another bite of his pie and just basked in its flavor and texture, “nothing beats this.” Mac chuckled at this. “Glad you like it. You can have another slice if you like.” Ryoga looked at him shocked. “Oh I couldn’t. I mean you’ve been hospitable enough that…” Mac just chuckled again. “To us Apples, there’s no such thing as being too hospitable. Besides it’s quite obvious you like Jackie’s cooking.” Ryoga’s eyes widened at this. “Mac, stop trying to hook me up with somebody!” Jackie said blushing red from the kitchen sink. “I’m just looking out for my kin sis.” Mac replied getting a dish towel to his face. “Well you can dry the dishes then while I keep our guest company.” Jackie said give a crooked smile. Mac just sighed as he went to do his chore while Jackie quickly took the chair next to Ryoga. “Don’t mind my brother none, he’s just doing his job, being a pain.” Ryoga chuckled at that. “I heard brothers do that.” Jackie blushed a bit before giving him a sideways look. “So… who this friend of yours you looking for?”
Ryoga finished his pie and looked at Jackie slowly swallowing his last bite. “Um well he’s…” Ryoga cleared his throat and took a drink of the cider to steel his nerves. “He’s a fellow martial artist like myself. About my height, black hair, likes to wear red and black a lot, sometimes a bit full of himself but still… honorable, to a fault sadly.” Jackie brought a finger up to her chin and thought over everyone in town she knows of that could match that description. “Nope, can’t help you there. What about you Mac?!” Jackie yelled into the kitchen. “Nope, nobody I know. Unless he means one of the Cloudsdales.” Ryoga blinked at this confused. “Cloudsdales?” Jackie gave him a sideways look again blushing. “Yeah, their good friends of ours.” Ryoga soon became curious at this. “What are their names?” Jackie and Mack looked at each other and just shrugged. “Ranma and Ranko Cloudsdale, why?” Jackie said to him. “Oh boy.” Ryoga said blinking.
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“And so Vi turned the dial up to eleven instead of seven and played a cord. I don’t think Vi’s hair is going to go flat for a few more weeks.” Ranko said causing both her and Summer to giggle at this. “Oh dear, I hope she’s going to be okay.” Summer said smiling. “Oh she’s fine though Octavia had to get her a replacement for her shades. I never knew sound could do that to shades.” Ranko said taking a sip of her tea now actually awake. “Well it was up pretty high.” Summer said gently hiding behind her hair. Ranko smiled at her causing her to Eep a bit and smile back with a blush. Ranko loved how Summer looked like that at times and Summer knew that no matter what Ranko would never harm her and always protect her. “So… what about you Summer?” Ranko asked putting her cup down. “Oh well, the animals I work with are doing much better thanks to the new medicine I got from Cora. She’s an herbalist and really good with herbal remedies.” Summer said happily. “I don’t think I’ve ever met this Cora before. Where does she live?” Ranko asked gently. “Oh she lives in the forest outside the Apple Family’s farm. She’s really nice.” Summer replied smiling.
“I’ll have to meet her one day. Oh and how if your bunny?” Ranko replied then asked looking at her. Summer sighed, “I let him back in the house with a warning to be good for now on but… I’m not sure if he will till I get back home. He did seem to be upset with me.” For all Angle Bunny had done she just didn’t have the heart to just let him go. “You have a big heart Summer and he’ll learn over time. Maybe this long punishment was all he needed to finally learn that what he did was wrong.” Ranko said gently taking and squeezing Summer’s hand. “I hope so. He’s just really… protective of me.” Ranko had to prevent herself from giggling about a guard bunny. “Anyway, I may need to ask Mac to come back over and check my chicken coop, the roof is starting to leak again and I don’t want my poor chickens getting sick.” Summer soon added. “I could ask Ranma to come by and help out. We are close to starting Apple season after all.” Ranko offered. Summer smiled at this. “Oh, that would be wonderful, thank you.” Summer soon leaned over the table and gave Ranko a peck on the cheek causing Ranko to turn bright red.
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Ryoga couldn’t believe what he had heard and… how he had reacted to the news. He had run right out the house with saying a thing to the kind farming family. Ranma AND Ranko? Was Ranma hiding his curse to the whole town for a reason or was he just hiding by playing two different people or just what? And what was this about his name being Cloudsdale? Wasn’t Ranma’s family name Saotome? Was he lying to the entire town? As Ryoga thought on this he didn’t notice someone creeping up on him not knowing that as he thought he became more and more frustrated till… “Bakusai Tenketsu!” “Ah!” Ryoga quickly looked up to see someone get sent flying backwards due to his Bakusai Tenketsu or Breaking Point technique. Quickly Ryoga ran through the dirt filled cloud of debris he had created and quickly caught the flying person but not before hitting into the ground himself. “Ugh… what happened?” the person said in a southern accent. “You got caught by one of my martial arts techniques. Sorry.” Ryoga explained sadly. “We that was some technique Mr. Hibiki.” The person responded. Ryoga quickly looked to his chest to find he had caught Jackie of all people. “Jackie?! What… why did you fallow me? You could have been hurt by that… oh kami, you’re not hurt are you?!” Ryoga said quickly sitting up then soon checking her over. “Oh it’s nothing a nice hot bath won’t handle, but why did you run off like you did? Was it something I said?” Jackie said blushing as Ryoga fussed over her. She didn’t have any cuts of bruises but still the blast itself may have harmed her. “Um well… we need to get you to a hospital. If there isn’t any physical damage the shock wave may have done something to you we can’t see.”
Jackie didn’t understand it but nodded and soon found herself lifted off the ground and quickly carried towards town. She soon looked to Ryoga and saw the determined look on his face as he ran towards the town. She felt his strong yet gentle arms hold her protectively as he ran. The gesture caused her to blush but it felt so safe so… right that she carefully leaned into Ryoga as they ran through the countryside and soon through the town.
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Ranko and Summer slowly walked back towards the cottage that was Summer’s home when… boom! “Ah!” Summer screamed nearly passing out from the sound alone causing Ranko to quickly bring her down to the ground and cover her kneeling form. “You okay?” Ranko asked worried. “Y-yes. What was that?” Summer said nearly crying. “I’m not sure, an explosion of some kind?” Ranko said then asked, knowing that the town did do a bit of crystal mining so maybe the used explosives to get some of the crystals out. “No, explosives are banned from the mining sites here. Maybe something happened at…” Summer soon gasped and looked towards the apple farm at the same time as Ranko did. “Summer get to town and get the medical crew, I’m going to see what I can do!” Ranko said getting ready to run when… “Out of the way!” Both Summer and Ranko turned to see someone carrying Jackie their way. As Jackie and her carrier got closer Ranko soon started to sweat then become scared. “R-Ryoga…” Summer looked to Ranko worried as the man and Jackie got closer. “No time to talk Ran-ko, we need to get Jackie to a hospital, she was close to my Bakusai Tenketsu!” Ryoga yell getting up to them. Summer was about to ask what that was till she saw Ranko snap out of it and run after Ryoga and quickly followed. “Once you get to town hall make a hard right then run one mile and turn hard left!” Ranko yelled at Ryoga. “Got it!” Ryoga called back! Summer didn’t know what was going on but she soon began to worry for her current family.
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“What were you thinking Ryoga?!” Ranko yelled at Ryoga causing to gain a cold sweat. He had seen Ranko mad before, even angry, but this… this was something far more frightening. Summer was inside the local hospital waiting on Jackie’s condition while Ranko had a good long talk with Ryoga on the roof. “A Bakusai Tenketsu?! For stress relief?! I knew you were dense Ryoga but this?!” Ranko yelled hotly. “Ranko listen it was a…” Ryoga started till Ranko looked him in the eye. “Don’t even start with the excuses Ryoga Hibiki! You have no idea what I’ve been through currently.” Ranko said right at him. “Ranko please if…” Ryoga tried to start again but was once again interrupted by Ranko. “I had two greedy nut case fathers try to not just harm me but kidnap me so I could marry your so called ‘innocent’ Akane against my will and without Nodoka’s consent, my mother returning to my life as my aunt, a nearly identical Kuno wannabe, by the name od Blue, who trashed one of my newest friend’s shop who also sent two thugs after me and my date which is now waiting on the condition of my friend Jackie, then get Nabiki, who’s now in protective custody, placed in my lap with news that Akane is finally losing it and REALLY want to bash me with her new and improved Mallet-sama, and now I get you with a Bakusai Tenketsued friend and family member of my date showing up out of nowhere causing me to REALLY WANT TO RIP YOUR ARMS OFF!” Ranko finished breathing hard. “Ranko!” Ryoga said finally getting a word in. “WHAT?!” Ranko yelled at him.
“I’m not here to harm you I’m here to help you and keep you from your idiot father and Soun so you can have your own life.” Ryoga finally got out. “Huh?” Ranko said finally taking all that in. Ryoga just sighed. “Look, it took me a while but… I don’t think Akane or Akiri are right for me.” Ranko blinked then put her hand on his forehead. “Are you feeling okay Ryoga, because you just said that Akane wasn’t right for you?” Ryoga gently brought Ranko’s hand away from his head. “I’m feeling fine Ran-ko.” Ranko backed away at this. “Looks like we both have a lot of catching up to do. Look, I don’t know what’s going on but you have to believe me when I say that I never ever meant to harm Jackie.” Ryoga said blushing. “She just followed me away from the farm and I honestly thought I was alone when I used the Bakusai Tenketsu. Had I known she was there I would have just yelled or something other than that technique.” Ryoga soon finished. Ranko just shook her head, “Okay Ryoga let’s say I do believe you on the Bakusai Tenketsu, that still doesn’t excuse you for being here nor explains why either.”
Ryoga scratched the back of his head nervously. “Well… I’ll start from the beginning and work up okay but then you have to fill me in on this Ranma and Ranko Cloudsdale thing.” Ranko gulped at this but nodded.
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James sighed as he finally returned to his house. He had a long day at the library and then had a run in with Vi and Octavia then another run it with Pinkie Cake who wanted him to help her out with delivering an order to Lyra and Bonny’s house. Then there was the mailwoman Amelia who needed help reading one of the fine printed packages, the Crusaders wanting to know if they had seen Bloom… it was just a nerve racking day and it was just good to be back home. Taking out his key he was about to open his front door when he noticed that… it was already opened. Carefully setting his phone on speed dial for the local police he carefully walked into his home and looked around. Carefully he walked to the kitchen and grabbed the only item he could grab at the time without causing much noise, a frying pan. Slowly he walked to the living room and was greeted with the greatest shock of his life! “Hello great-grandson, it’s been a long time.” Cologne said smiling at him with Principal Moon and his cousin Shampoo next to her.
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“So let me get this straight.” Ranko said now in the hospital’s cafeteria. “You and Ukyo went to China where you met Cologne and Shampoo and found that they were my allies and became allies with them defecting from the Nerima Wrecking Crew and came here to warn me about the others coming causing Shampoo and Cologne to leave their village to live, well, anywhere, and came here meeting with my principal and gained a probation from the Japanese Embassy so you can find me and protect me but met up with Jackie and her family which leads up to now. Did I miss anything of this part?” Ryoga shook his head no from his cafeteria made sandwich which wasn’t bad for hospital food. “Nope you got it right.” Ranko took a sip from the soda she bought from the cafeteria and allowed it all to sink in before asking the next important question. “Okay, so about you, Akane, and Akiri… what did you mean by they’re not right for you?” Ryoga finished his sandwich and looked towards the ceiling. “It’s just as I said. They’re not right for me.” Ryoga looked back to Ranko who just gave him a look that said to explain it better. Sighing he continued. “You see, while I was with Ukyo I had a lot to think about. You ran away from a lot of responsibilities Ran-ko and well… you never run away from anything unless it was to either plan something out or Genma dragged you off somewhere. Since Genma was looking for you I thought it was the other till things well… things just started to click.”
Ranko just sat and sipped her soda gesturing Ryoga to continue and he sighed. “You remember the wedding right?” Ranko nodded at this. “Well… I thought over what I did that day. Mouse and I had our cures so why did we go after keg? We had no reason to but we did and well… you already know what happened.” Ranko nodded at this remembering Happosai drinking the last known cure for Ranma’s former curse but now… now it was a blessing, a gift, a… hidden twin. It was who she was now. “Anyway it was after you left Genma and Soun gathered up the NWC, including me and Ukyo. We separated somehow, maybe to spread our search for you, I don’t know. Anyway before we got on the plane I started to look at how my life was with Akane and Akiri and… what I found I didn’t like.” Ryoga said leaning back in his chair. “Oh, how so?” Ranko asked her interest peeked. “Well… let’s start off with the easy one, Akiri.” Ryoga said placing his arms behind his head. “Akiri’s a sweet girl, kind too but… something about all of it just, well didn’t sit right with me. So… I started thinking it over, really think it over and found that she only likes me because I beat her sumo pig, not once, not twice but almost every time it showed up. So I asked myself, ‘what if I hadn’t beaten her sumo pig?’ and found the answer was pretty simple. She wouldn’t have even been interested it me, Ryoga. She’d only be interested in P-Chan the little black piglet.” Ryoga replied shivering.
“So how does Akane get involved in this enlightenment?” Ranko asked nearly giggling. She had teased Ryoga a lot over his former cursed form that it was now quite funny that Ryoga was still unhappy yet now able to talk about it openly. Thankfully they had gained a far back table that no one would bother them let alone notice them talking. “That’s easy to answer but the rest isn’t.” Ryoga responded. “What do you mean?” Ranko asked. “Well to answer your questions it all came down to just that, P-chan. I mean I thought she’d get after so many years that I’M her pet piglet P-chan. I mean it was pretty obvious right. P-Chan would disappear for a long period of time then out of nowhere I show up then the moment I disappear P-Chan comes back. And every time P-Chan came back P-Chan always had this gift from some far off place for her. Also who else do we know that wears a yellow and black speckled bandana where ever they go? I mean it’s pretty obvious right?” Ryoga said tapping his bandana. “Yeah I guess you’re right. So… why was this so confusing?” Ranko responded then asked. “That isn’t, what is Ran-ko is why I fell for her?” Ryoga answered. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why did you fall for Akane? Was it because she was nice to you?” Ranko responded. “At first yeah, but as I thought about her I kept getting this feeling that… something was wrong. I didn’t know what at the time but it stayed there. I thought on it and thought on it and I just couldn’t get the answer until…” Ryoga sighed. “Until what?” Ranko asked.
“Until Ukyo and I met up with Cologne, Shampoo, and Mouse.” Ryoga responded. “Okay you lost me.” Ranko replied. “I talked to each about my problem and each had their own advice to give me. Mouse told me that I really needed to look at the issue more closely before I did anything. Oh and he finally got contacts, just so you know. He wants to train with you one day; he’s already given up on Shampoo. He’s dating some girl and treated like all the other amazon warriors. Cologne told me that it’s a rare privilege for a man to be treated in such a way. Anyway I did as he said and well I still couldn’t get my answer so I went to Shampoo. She was quite blunt about it.” Ryoga said not looking at Ranko. “Blunt as in?” Ranko asked before replying, “Oh. Oh…” Ryoga nodded. “Yeah, handle it amazon style. Don’t worry, Cologne’s correcting her on this and well I talked to her and… that’s when everything became clear. It was starring me right in the face and I just ignored it.” Ranko leaned forward interested. “What was it?” Ryoga looked right at her. “You.”
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“I thought mom, dad, and I got the message across to you last time, won’t you just give up?” James said pointing to Cologne. “James this is not why we are here.” Principal Moon said in her friend’s defense. “No offence Principal Moon but that’s REALLY hard to believe when my entire family has been trying to stay away from the Chinese Amazons since I was ten and every single time we’ve been tracked, bothered, demanded, and even threatened to return to the amazon village and now my own cousin and great-grandmother, who’s an amazon matriarch, is now in my living room.” James said angrily then turned to Cologne. “What’d you do this time? Use pressure points on my principal just so you can get my family to go back with you? Fat chance and even if you had my cousin with you Great-grandmother you know I could easily take her and you afterwards alone.”
Cologne just sighed. “I do apologize for the others James but we’re not here to request you back to china, like you we’ve given it up as our home.” James raised an eyebrow at this. “Right… and I’m Alexander the Great; besides that’s hard to believe after seven years of constantly moving just so I and my family would finally have a say in how we wanted to live our lives. Mom may have been an amazon warrior and I may have been born in that same village but I am not going to live my life like one. I’m going to live like Dad wanted us to, free and without every day being a game between life or death or having to be treated like dirt just because we’re males!” James said nearly crying. “So you can either leave my house now and return my principal to the way she was or so help me I’ll make you both regret ever coming to American and breaking into my house!” He finally stated taking up a defensive stance. Cologne only response was a smile and a few tears. “Well said James. Well said.”
James raised an eyebrow again before Principal Moon stepped forward with yet another packet. James slowly lowered his stance and soon took the packet opening it away from himself before pulling out a few papers. “Probationary papers? American citizenship pamphlets? What’s going on here?” James finally asked holding the papers out. “You might wish to read the last two James.” Principal Moon said smiling. James carefully filed through the papers till he came to the last two. “I, Cologne, of the Chinese Amazon Tribe here by decree that Lady Celestial M. Moon is here by enlisted as an ally to the Fu clan?” James looked between his Great-grandmother and principal before reading the last paper. “We, Cologne, Shampoo, and Cologne here by agree to become allies to Ranma Saotome, the phoenix slayer?!” Cologne nodded at this. “That’s right James, Ranma is our honored ally and we wish only to help aid him is gaining and even keeping a life of his own control and we’ve also decided that China wasn’t our home anymore. How did you put it Shampoo? ‘Come, we go to Ranma, village not home’, was it?”
James just looked at the three confused. “Okay someone better fill me in before I decided I’ve had enough and call for the police.” Cologne pogoed over and looked James in the eye sadly. “James… when Shampoo and I had gone to Tokyo I knew that we’d return to the village greatly changed but never had I thought in all my years that we’d come to find the outside world more inviting than our own village. Yet there is reason for us being here and that is that of the village. You see James; the village is now under civil war. There are those in the village who feel allied to Ranma for what he had done on Mt. Phoenix, which was defeat Saffron the Phoenix King, however there are also those who wished to use his strength and power as nothing more than a weapon to keep the other tribes in line just as those who came after you family did. I wished to prevent such a war and to also keep Ranma safe.” James just shook his head. “Just because Ranma and I can use much more Ki than normal people doesn’t mean we wish to be weapons and you Great-grandmother allowed the village to seek us out regardless of what we wanted.”
Cologne looked to Shampoo at this who sadly nodded. “So that’s what those one scrolls you through into the river where about Shampoo. I’m sorry I made you train so hard over those. Had I read them I would have put a stop to all that nonsense. Seems someone went over my head for our trackers to seek you James. Again I apologize and seek forgiveness with you and your family.” James just looked to Shampoo. “Explain.” Shampoo nodded and spoke in Mandarin. “I was only thirteen years old when I was tasked to deliver some scrolls to Great-grandmother to sign. I had fallen over and saw that one of the scrolls had accidently opened. I went to pick it up and saw it was about you. I thought it was only a letter from you and read it. Then I opened and read the others. They were all orders requesting that they seek you out so they could use you to rid of the Phoenix people and then keep you as a weapon if any other tribe tried to attack the village. I… I couldn’t let that happen. You were family not a weapon so I… I tossed them into the river. Great-grandmother found out and began training me in advanced techniques.” James nearly gasped at the news.
“I’ll… need time to think this all over. For now please leave.” James responded carefully. “As you wish James. We’ll be at the local hotel if you wish to contact us but for now we’ll see out Ranma and speak with him.” Cologne gently replied bowing to James as the small group left leaving James to slump into one of his chairs and try to recover from everything he had been given today.
---
“Me? How?” Ranko asked confused. “Everything you said to her or about her, how you always acted around her at times, everything Ranko. It was right there in front of me and I just ignored it. Ranko… Akane’s dangerous. Even if I did fall for her if I angered her in any way I’d end up like you did most of the time, hit with her Mallet-sama. She can’t control that anger Ranko, you know that way better than me and… I’m sorry.” Ryoga replied leaning back in his chair. Ranko took the time to let it all sink in before Summer ran over to them smiling. “Mr. Hibiki, Ranko, the doctor said Jackie is fine, only a couple of bruises but they’ll go away in time.” Both gave a deep sigh of relief at the news till Ryoga turned to Ranko. “Ranko. Can you deliver a message for me?” Ranko raised an eyebrow at him. “I’ll try, what is it?” Ryoga sighed and steeled himself. “I’m challenging Ranma to a match, one on one with no martial arts techniques. It’ll be just a normal fight. First one down loses and we’ll have Mr. Mac Apple be the judge if he’s willing.” Ranko blinked at this. “You sure you want to do this Mr. Hibiki?” Summer asked worried. “I’m… certain miss. I owe it to both Ranma and Ranko for all the stuff I put them through.” He then turned back to Ranko. “Let him set up the time and place. Have him contact me at the local hotel. For now, I better go.” It was at this Ryoga got up, bowed, and soon left.
---
“He’s going to do what?!” Jackie said as they began leaving the hospital. “Going to fight my brother Ranma in a one on one fight with no techniques, or at least he wants to. It’s up to Ranma if he wants to do this or not and knowing him like I do… he just might.” Ranko replied sadly. “He can’t!” Jackie said jumping before her. “Okay and why not?” Ranko asked curious. “Because… because I owe him. Not only did he bring me to the hospital he also saved the farm from a termite infestation.” Jackie said turning around so her friends wouldn’t see her blush. “Even so Jackie Ranma and Ryoga have a history, a history revolving Ryoga constantly going after my brother just so he could fight him for something stupid along with something that wasn’t even his fault.” Ranko responded regretfully. Only one thing was her fault, Ryoga’s former curse. Though she more placed that blame on Genma then herself since he did toss Ryoga in her way. “And just what would cause him to go after your brother huh? What could have been so bad according to Ryoga that he had to fight him?” Jackie asked accusingly. “Look Jackie I’m not the one to tell you all of this, and I’m not even sure if Ranma would want to tell you if you asked him just know that… it was really stupid and not his fault.” Ranko replied putting a hand her friend’s shoulder.
Jackie sighed. “Alright, I can tell your telling the truth Ranko but… I got to know and please. Try to stop Ranma from fighting him. Please?” Ranko closed her eye sighing, then nodded. “Thank you Ranko. I mean it.” Jackie said happily. “Yeah well… just hope I can convince him.” Ranko said regretfully.
---
Ranko returned home after saying goodbye to her friend and date and flopped onto her bed. First Genma and Soun and now this? A fight against Ryoga, an honest fight? Would Ranma accept it? “Wait a moment… I’m Ranma! Aren’t I?” Ranko said sitting up quickly. Scared she quickly ran to the kitchen sink, turned on the hot water and… Ranma slumped to the floor. Breathing hard he looked around the room and placed a hand onto his face. “Oh man… what’s going on with us… Us?” Ranma brought his hand away from his face and looked at it. “This… is just getting weird.” Shaking his head he began thinking over… over… “What was I thinking about?” Ranma shook his head trying to remember but… he couldn’t. Turning off the hot water he looked at the faucet for a moment before turning on the cold water and running his hand under it returning to being Ranko and remembered. A challenge from Ryoga and Jackie requesting that Ranma not fight him. But… why could she remember it as Ranma? Shaking her head she turned the hot water back on and… forgot it. “What’s… what’s going on? Oh man, what is going on?!” Ranma said freaking out a bit. “Ranma, are you home?” a familiar voice called out. “Aunt Nodoka!” Ranma said quickly running to the living room. Nodoka looked from the living room coffee table to see Ranma… in Ranko’s clothing? “Ranma why are you still in Ranko’s clothing?” Ranma looked down at himself then quickly shook his head. “Aunt Nodoka I… I think we have a problem.” Ranma said worried.
It took Nodoka some time to calm Ranma down and get him dressed in clothing that both Ranma and Ranko could be in along with making some tea before Ranma could finally talk calmly. “Feeling better?” Nodoka asked gently. “Kind of… I mean I’m still freaked out about this but… Aunt Nodoka I don’t know what’s going on but…” Ranma started till Nodoka raised her hand. “Calm down and start from the beginning.” Ranma sighed. “I’ll try. I… came home and changed over to being Ranko for her date with Summer. Then… ugh I can’t remember.” Ranma said annoyed. “Ranma did you say that you don’t remember anything after changing to Ranko?” Nodoka said over her cup of tea, worried. “Y-yeah. I mean I should but… I… I don’t. I just don’t!” Ranma said placing his head into hands. “Calm down Ranma. Maybe… maybe turning back into Ranko might help you remember better.” Nodoka offered coming over to Ranma with a cold glass of water. “That’s the thing. Moment Ranko took over she remembered the entire date. But I can’t.” Ranma said taking the glass and got read to pour a bit of the water on his head. Nodoka blinked at this. Ranko… took over? She soon looked up to see a very confused Ranko. “Um Aunty… why are you here?” Nodoka blinked at this before gasping.
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The next day at a clearing at the Apple Family’s farm Ranma, Nodoka, Ryoga, James, Cologne, Shampoo, Summer, Jackie, Mac, and the rest of the girls all gathered around a marked circle where Ryoga and Ranma would soon fight. “Ryoga please, don’t do this.” Jackie begged Ryoga. “I… I have to Jackie; if I don’t this will just continue. This… feud has to end.” Ryoga said in front of Cologne. “Now Ryoga understand that if Ranma does accept your challenge you are to follow the rules placed before you by the Apple Family and I will ensure a fair fight between you by using a pressure point on your body that will make you just as strong as Ranma, nothing more or less.” Cologne said carefully to Ryoga. “I understand Cologne. Thank you.” Ryoga said from his side of the circle.
“Ranma… you sure you wish to go through with this?” Nodoka asked worried. “Remember what your sister told you.” Ranma sighed and nodded. The night before Nodoka had found that Cologne and Shampoo had arrived in town by delivering an order to their hotel as Pinkie had to go help the Cakes plan a birthday party for a child that was in the hospital. The poor child had taken a nasty fall off his bike and down a rocky hill causing him to luckily only break his arm and fracture his leg, she didn’t know which but was pleased that Pinkie had insisted on giving the poor child a proper birthday. Thankfully Cologne and Shampoo were allies and were close enough to help her ‘child’ and the issue at hand. According to Cologne Ranma and Ranko were becoming two separate personalities and that it wasn’t something to worry about unless it got to the point both began fighting for dominance. It was also the reason she gasped last night, she had thought of this happening when she had reunited with Ranma and Ranko so now… now it was up to them to stay as a family. “You have them?” Ranma soon asked breaking her from her thoughts. “Yes, I made them fresh this morning.” Nodoka said handed a box over.
Ranma took the box opened it then closed it. Nodding he soon stood and walked towards the circle. Ryoga soon did the same with Cologne following close behind. “Alright you two, as this is our land you’ll be playing by our rules. Before we begin let me inform you that Principal Moon and the Mayor have giving full permission and consent to this fight if you both feel it is necessary. Also if you got anything you need to get off your chests now do so.” Mac said looking at the two. “I do.” Ranma said turning to Ryoga. “I want to make up fully for the bread war during our years in the all-boys school. So, here.” Ranma handed over the box Nodoka had given him and allowed Ryoga to open it. Inside were freshly baked bread products that could only have been found in Japan. “How did you?” Ryoga asked. “Aunt Nodoka’s an amazing cook and baked them all this morning. Nothing missing from that list on the lid is there?” Ranma replied giving Ryoga time to read the contents. “No. It’s all here. Your… forgiven.” Ryoga said handing the box over to Cologne. “Good, next I want to apologize for Genma pulling me away from our fight in the past. Understand it wasn’t my choice to leave so… if you really feel we have to go through with this. I won’t stop you.” Ranma said bowing to him.
Ryoga looked between Ranma, Nodoka, and everyone there and finally stopped at Jackie. He didn’t know why but… he liked her and wanted to get to know her a lot better… and he wasn’t going to be able to do that in a hospital bed. “The fight was over you getting the last breads of the day during lunch Ranma. You’ve repaid me for those breads as well as apologized and explained why you didn’t show for the fight over such a thing. I… won’t fight you.” Ryoga finally said after a long moment. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this. “Thanks Ryoga. To be honest I didn’t want to fight you anyway but we both know how stubborn we used to be back in Japan.” Ranma said sighing. “That was japan Ranma. Let’s just leave it as that and start over.” Ryoga said holding his hand out. “Yeah, lets.” Ranma said shaking it.
---
Ryoga sighed as he leaned against one of the apple trees on the farm. “Hey.” Someone said walking up to him. “Hey.” Ryoga replied looking back to see a blushing Jackie. “Look… what you did back there… it was mighty brave of you to swallow your pride like that.” Ryoga turned back to looking up into the tree. “It… wasn’t easy. Ranma and I had been going at it for a long time due to that feud. It… had to end and well… I…” Ryoga soon stopped speaking as he blushed red as Jackie leaned in close and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Why don’t you join me and my kin for some lunch? I’d like to try some of those Japanese breads you got.” Ryoga just blushed and smiled as they walked towards the farm house. “I think you’ll like them. Nodoka said she made most of them using tofu. Don’t know why though.” Ryoga said happily yet confused. “Well… the entire town is vegetarian. Kind of a town tradition or something.” Jackie said trying to cover up the gap Nodoka had presented. “Really?” Ryoga asked surprised. “Yeah…” Jackie said worried. “Good, to be honest… I’m not a meat eater anymore. I’m actually vegetarian.” Ryoga said looking away embarrassed. “Really, well what made you become one?” Jackie asked curious. “A little black piglet.” Ryoga said still looking away. “Huh?” Jackie asked confused. “It was someone’s pet and well let’s just say I have a lot of respect for the animal now.” Ryoga explained. “Well… I’m glad you changed. Come on or Bloom will eat it all.” Jackie said happily. “Oh she better leave us some, I haven’t had melon bread in a long time.” Ryoga said happily. “Melon bread?” Jackie asked interested and slowly taking Ryoga’s hand. “Yeah there’s also curry bread, chow mein bread, croquette bread, seaweed bread…” Ryoga named off happily walking hand in hand.
To be continued.