Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Gold Digger Fan Fiction ❯ The Path of Life ❯ Any Last Words? ( Chapter 3 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The path of Life Chapter 2 - Any last words? By Matdeception

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Disclaimer: Ranma ½ was created, and is owned by Rumiko Takahaisha. Gold
Digger was created, and is owned by Fred Perry. No financial gain comes
to the author of this story at the creator's expense. This story is
written in complete adoration for the characters and worlds created by
their respective authors.

Authors Notes:.

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The Path of Life Chapter Two - Breaking from the past

"That bastard spawn! Where the hell is he?!" cursed Genma, the bald and
fat martial artist plus father, and torturer, of Saotome Ranma as he
jumped down to the street from the third floor of a hospital window, a
wad of folders and papers could be seen sticking out slight from his
Dogi.

Landing with a slight 'oomph' Genma quickly recovered himself and
scurried away into the night, the shadowy expanses of nighttime Kyoto
swallowing him up and shaking the various security officers and police
men giving chase to the thief.

It's been like this for the last few days, with Genma constantly
searching for his missing hell spawn during the night, and then seeking
refuge during the day from the local vendors well aware of his presence
in the city. It's been a week, Genma lamented stubbornly, since his
'son' had been taken away from the Neko-Ken training.

'All that blasted work wasted! The little shit was so close to snapping
even I could feel it! Stupid Gaijin whore and their husbands! They just
/had/ to ruin my perfect plan to rid myself of that insufferable trash!'
Genma snarled mentally, his anger getting the better of him ever so
slightly. Frustration at his failed plan, and his lack of progress in
locating the evil hell spawn was taking its toll on the normally
levelheaded Patriarch of the Saotome clan.

Despite his frustration, despite the quivering rage he felt towards his
son, despite it all.. Genma couldn't fathom where his son had disappeared
to. He knew that chopper had said 'Kyoto General Hospital'. He knew he
should be in this god-forsaken town. Genma snorted, "If I know all that
crap, then where the hell did he vanish off to?!?!"

Taking a moment, Genma slowed in his escape to take note of his
surroundings. Empty streets engulfed in perpetual darkness, not a soul
in sight anywhere. Genma ducked into a nearby alleyway, accidentally
knocking over a trashcan and flinging its filth in all directions. Genma
ignored this while he retreated deeper into the alley.

Crouching low, Genma leaned his back against the wall while getting his
laborious breathing under control. 'Blasted cops need to just give up on
me.' Taking a moment to listen intently, Genma smiled to himself when he
heard no sounds of pursuit, and then slumped down onto his rump while
quickly pulling the fold of papers from his recent adventure out of his
gi, then he immediately started reviewing the information held within.

'Boring Boring Boring." Genma squinted his eyes and almost laughed at
one medical report held within, 'Oh my god! A tumor at the end of..
THAT?! AHAHAHA' being a moron, he allowed his thoughts to carry into
reality, "HAHAHAHA". At the sound of his own voice finally registering,
Genma immediately shut the hell up, hoping against hope he didn't just
give away his position like some retard. Once again he strained his
senses to listen for any sounds. None was heard, except for the soft
whistle of wind as it passed low and slow throughout the nighttime
streets of Kyoto.

'Cool it Genma old boy, you're losing it.' His fear satiated, Genma went
back to reviewing the numerous medical documents he had recently stolen,
he ignored most of the jargon though, since it was about crap he either
couldn't understand, or just didn't give two damns about. It was towards
the end of his research that he spied a article of particular interest.
Nothing really special per say, just that the Kyoto Chopper had to be
refueled at the Tokyo General Depot before it could return home.

Genma cheered inwardly as he compared the information to his own
knowledge, 'And its dated the same day that little shit got caught! So
he's in Tokyo!' and as fast as his cries of victory came they faded,
replaced by one of desperation and increased frustration. In Genma's
haste he only grabbed half the report on the choppers actions, and
obviously the 'destination' was listed on the other half. Damn that boy!
Even when he's not here he's still causing me no end of trouble!

Sighing to himself, Genma began contemplating a return visit to his most
recent job in an attempt to retrieve the one piece of evidence he needed
most of all, however such was not meant to be. With a cry of "FREEZE
DIRT BAG! This is the police!" and the tell tale signs of having
numerous gun's drawn, cocked, and aimed in his general direction, Genma
cried inwardly at the injustice of it all! He had just been spotted, and
despite the rather low and abysmal amount of light here, he knew they
would pick up his description easily enough from earlier 'incidents'.
Damn the boy; this had to be his entire fault!

"Look you little communist twinkle toe mother fucker, put your god damn
hands behind your head!" Genma did so, knowing the procedure by heart as
he began to contemplate an escape. "Kneel down nice and slow scum bag!"
continued the officer, who sounded kind of smug and arrogant, just like
his disrespectful son! Well, Genma had every intention of showing this
bastard he wasn't going to go down! He was Saotome Genma! A well-known
thief, cheat, liar, and MASTER of the Anything Goes School of martial
arts! He'd be damned if some country butt fuck takes him down!

Kneeling down, Genma complied as ordered. He bent his knees about half
way, and then sprung his plan, literally, leaping up and over a nearby
building and vanishing from sight.

Sounds of bullets ripping through the air assaulted the night, loud
murmurs of rhicoteied bullets echoing over and over among the walls
within the now emptied alley way. The police look dumb founded, shocked
that a man, any man, especially an obese looking man, could jump so high
and so far in a single bound. One officer, confused whether he should
act serious or sarcastic considering the situation, decided sarcasm
would be the best.

"Um Sarge?" Hiroshi, the aforementioned officer asked.

"Yeah?" Goushi, the aforementioned sarge answered.

"Um.. how do we write this report sir? I'm thinking along the lines of
'Master Thief and Escape Artist managed to elude capture through
trickery' or 'Fat ass managed to jump fifteen feet in the air and
escaped stunned Police officers by roof hopping'?

Goushi couldn't miss the condescending and sarcastic tone of his
subordinate. However, he just got a promotion and would be damned if
this little screw up went on his permanent record. "Neither. We never
found him. Never saw him, and we never had this conversation."

Hiroshi nodded dumbly, as such actions by his CO was a common
occurrence. Not that Hiroshi blamed Goushi for being a dishonorable
piece of trash when it came to work, hell if given half a chance he
would do the exact same thing. Must make sure you look good when it
comes to work, cause if you look good your wells on you're way to a
promotion, raise in pay, and hopefully a nice comfy desk job with a
nymphomaniac for a secretary. Ah, the good life if he ever saw one.

That was that, both police officers continued on their patrol, returning
to their meaningless and selfish lives, all the while Genma Saotome ran
for his life, his direction taking him clear out and away from Kyoto.

'Screw it. I'll just go to Tokyo and search all the hospitals. How many
could they possibly have?' Mind made up, Genma sped up ever so slightly
in his race towards a final confrontation with his hell spawn.

***

Tokyo, largest city Genma could ever remember visiting in his life, and
his home for many many years. His return to home was supposed to be, at
the very least, a nice and comfortable return. Home was where he could
walk down the streets and visit old friends, where he could enjoy the
normal hustle and bustle life had to offer. Genma, being an ultimately
petty man, didn't take into consideration the effect his earlier actions
of theft would bring upon him when he returned to his old prowling
ground.

Within hours of his Arrival in Tokyo, Genma was set upon by angry store
keepers, various police units, and every god damn martial arts master he
had ever come across, barring of course Happosai, may that little demon
forever remain in his cage.

Despite his rather rude homecoming, Genma managed to keep a low enough
profile to allow him to continue his search for his tainted wayward son.
It was nearing two months when Genma finally stumbled upon the location
of Ranma's residence.

During his wanderings, Genma had stopped at a café near his next
destination, in hopes of being able to weasel, or steal, some form of
sustenance to feed his fat stomach. It was while he was waiting for the
perfect opportunity to strike, that he overheard a couple of Doctors
talking sadly to each other. Since he had nothing better to do, he
listened in, all the while keeping his mind focused on his target,
namely a double ham sandwich.

Once he heard the name 'Ranma' his attention came fully to the two
doctors. Being discreet in his observations, Genma managed to identify
the Japanese doctor as 'Hiso' and the Gaijin was named 'Diggers'. Their
conversation skimmed a few topics Genma didn't care for, but after
awhile they drifted back to his son, or more appropriately his shameless
flirtations with the opposite sex. Two disgusting Gaijin girls at that!
Curse the boy! Is he trying to drag our family name to hell with him?

Being as quite and stealthy as possible, Genma followed the two back to
the hospital, where he spied Dr. Diggers and his two Gaijin daughters,
whom Genma lovingly referred to as whores, board into a taxi and take
off.

Genma snorted as the vehicle disappeared around a corner, "Stupid
Gaijin's." Turning back to the building, Genma opened his Chi Senses,
concentrating on finding the minute signature he knew to be his son.
Once finding it, Genma stumbled and crashed face first into the
sidewalk. His son's 'minute' chi signature had gained in strength since
Genma had last seen the boy, monstrously so if he read it correctly.

'Whatever, I'll just wait till night, steal the boy back, then take him
to learn the Bakusai Tenketsu. Weird training method, but hopefully
enough to finally break the boy." How, or when Genma learned of that
secret Amazon technique was unimportant, suffice it to say he didn't
expect his son to survive it, and once his shame had finally died all
would again be right with the world.

Night fell quickly as Genma contemplated what methods he would need to
take to secure the boy's death. When the sun had finally set, Genma
adopted the Umi-Sen-Ken and faded from view.

Quiet in the way of the sneaky thief, Genma moved like an assassin
through the halls, slowly and soundlessly making his way towards his
final destination, namely where his son was hiding.

Sneaking into the room, Genma took a moment to review his surroundings.
His son, at first appearing totally harmless, was just standing in the
center of the room, his back facing Genma. The room itself wasn't
anything special, just a few tatami mats along the floor, and lots and
lots of free space otherwise.

'Never knew hospitals were into keeping Dojo's around.' Genma shrugged
to himself as he prepared to jump his son, beat him to a bloody pulp,
and then carry him off into the night.

That's when 'it' happened. Genma felt.. power. Incredible and unknown
power surged from his son, with eldritch energy slowly appearing and
condensing into focused Ki flames around his short body. Genma could
feel the /heat/ of the flames as it encircled and crackled with maniacal
glee around his son's body.

Ranma spat out, "Father. Its time we end this." His son's tone was cold
and baritone, sounding like death warmed over.

That same tone nearly sent Genma into the now long since unused 'Crouch
of the wild Tiger'. His pride stopped him however, for he would bow to
no man, oompa loompa's with lechery streaks a mile wide were a different
matter, but he would never bow to the insufferable trash before him. The
dishonorable cur would NEVER know the pleasure of seeing Genma cowed
like a ten-year-old girl! Never! He'll kill the boy before that ever
happened!

***

Ranma sneered as his father took an intermediate stance of the Anything
Goes. From his perspective, he could tell Genma was using a Tai
Chi/Kempo variant to his stance, one he used quite often during the
regular beat down sessions he liked to call sparring.

Raising his hands, Ranma clenched his tiny hands into fists, allowing
the 'Neko-Ken' power to focus somewhat within his palms, giving the
appearance of burning white fire. He could feel no heat from it like
Genma could, so Ranma had no clue just how deadly his fists had just
become.

Cold dark eyes met Ranma's deep-gray /dark-blue eyes, Genma watched with
a small amount of interest, loathing, and surprise as the eldritch
flames coalesced into the demon's tiny little hands. Not for the first
time in the last ten seconds, Genma wondered how badly he would get hurt
before he could kill the boy.

Taking a moment to study his opponent, Genma frowned when he didn't
recognize Ranma's stance. Where Genma's legs were spread apart slightly,
to offer more balance, his son's were close together, with one knee
raised up slightly. All Genma could see was a weakness in the boy's
stance, and he intended to exploit it.

Inspection and preparation passed within the span of three seconds, and
as one the two fighters, one a Master of the Anything Goes, the other a
pupil desperate for freedom, lunged at each other with intent to kill.

Genma shot off two rapid punches, his first aimed for Ranma's skull, the
other aimed slightly lower in an attempt to crushed the boy's wind pipe.
The air around Genma's fist let off a loud crack as the friction of his
lightning fast movements clashed with the air.

Ranma smirked as he watched Genma's approach. The reason Ranma hadn't
been able to defeat Genma before was simple. He never had time to heal
and fully incorporate what he had been taught, never mind improve upon.
With Genma's near two-month hiatus Ranma had all the time in the world
to prepare for this moment.

Like a river, Ranma met Genma's attack by flowing to the right slightly,
causing Genma's beginning Combo to miss entirely, in retaliation Ranma
slammed his knee upwards, the Ki focused in his hands suddenly sputtered
out and appeared on his knee. This simple maneuver, were Ranma an Adult,
would have nailed a similar sized man in the gut, however with Ranma's
height his point of intended impact was Genma's groin, which he
succeeded at nicely.

What Ranma didn't take into consideration was the amount of power his
attack would have when Ki, especially this much of it, was applied.
Genma grimaced when he felt the blow, and then adopted a look of shock
as a loud crack split the air and his body flew back with the force of a
rocket, driving itself through the outer wall, across the lobby where
the nurse squawked in shock, through another room were a Doctor was
seducing a patient, through the outer wall and out into the air, were he
plummeted four stories down to the parking lot.

Ranma stood still momentarily, mere seconds as his mind got over the
shock, and then raced out in the direction he punted his father to. The
nurse fainted when she saw Ranma run by, the Ki flames leaving scorched
foot prints in the waxy floor. Passing through the room, Ranma didn't
even blink at the sight of a doctor and patient looking up from under
the covers in fear, nope he didn't blink at all. Instead Ranma followed
his father out the building, jumping through the ruined walls to the
outside.

While falling, Ranma took notice of Genma, who had crashed down on top
of an expensive looking blood red Corvette. The man was dazed, and in
quite a lot of pain, this was easy to see as Genma was currently
screaming and holding his private parts, with blood staining his Gi.

Seeing Genma wasn't even paying attention, Ranma's mind discarded its
fast paced plan to use his Ki and form a type of parachute, and focused
more on increasing his speed in preperation for a deadly attack. Forcing
some of his Ki up, Ranma increased his rate of speed via inertia, while
focusing a good portion of his remaining Ki into the edge of his foot.
He did this for a simple reason. Thanks to Gina's brief tutelage, Ranma
came to grasp a brief understanding of physics, and more importantly the
pounds per square inch equations. He realized that if he could
effectively hit some one using the knife of his foot, the damage one
would take from a normal kick would be focused into the a more defined
area, causing greater damage to that area since there was less space for
the kinetic energy to escape.

Genma smirked as he watched his son dive out the hole, the boy wasn't
good enough to survive a fall of that height with out taking
considerable damage. So he played possum, waiting for his son to crash
down like an idiot and hurt himself, so that he could finally finish him
off.

However, the man simply didn't understand all the changes his son had
gone through during his two-month search, and he nearly swallowed his
own tongue when he saw Ranma increase his rate of descent. However, the
flickering white Ki flames now coalescing around his foot jump-started
his brain, and he tried to roll off as fast as he could.

Genma was semi-successful in his attempt, instead of taking a direct hit
that would have surely ended his pathetic life, Genma suffered a
glancing blow to the shoulder, which still had enough force to fling him
ten feet and crash gracelessly into another vehicle. His weight,
compiled by the force of the blow forced the door to dent greatly, but
not break. Genma slammed to the ground, and forced himself to stand up
while ignoring the searing pain across his back, nuts, and shoulder. He
looked to see how the attack affected his son and nearly gawked at what
he discovered.

Ranma cursed as Genma rolled out of the way, but his annoyance was
mildly appeased by his glancing contact. Due to his increased speed,
Ranma's foot continued on and smashed right through the hood, and the
engine of the Corvette. The sudden impact, and the presence of Ranma's
Ki flames, caused the gas within the engine to ignite and blow both
Ranma, and the rest of its frame up into the air.

"FUCK!" Ranma screamed, thanking Brittany for such a wonderful word.
Nothing can easily describe any given situation, especially when its not
going your way, than the word Fuck. Heh, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! That
explosion hurt! Not nearly as bad as it would have if Ranma didn't have
his battle Aura flaring, but Ranma knew come tomorrow his foot was going
to be extremely fuckin sore.

Ignoring the burning wreckage for the most part, Ranma landed gracefully
to the ground, favoring his uninjured foot. His hard-set eyes scanning
quickly for his father's corpse. Too bad Ranma wasn't that lucky.

While Ranma was recovering from the unexpected explosion, Genma had
worked furiously to unlock the destructive powers of the Yama-Sen-Ken,
or Mountain Fist. When Genma met Ranma's scanning gaze, he cracked a
devilish grin while drawing in Chi from the air.

Kijin Rashu Dan, or Demon God Assault Bomb, was a rather ingenious
technique. By utilizing a trained martial arts ability to harness Chi,
or energy of nature if you will, a master can pull the Chi from the air
in such a way as to practically suck all the air out of a given space.
By utilizing the Chi drawn from nature in this way, one could quickly
fill the void left over into 'Blades' of empty space. With this
technique, one could throw pure nothingness at their opponents. The
result is extremely devastating. Anything that gets within the path of
these blades are literally sliced to nothingness, the edge of the blades
break down objects on a cellular level, destroying everything in its
path. Needless to say, getting hit with one of these isn't the best of
ideas.

Ranma watched, captivated as his still unrefined Ki senses witnessed
Genma in his technique. He watched was Genma drew in the Chi from his
surroundings, watched as he quickly formed the blades of Chi, and
watched as he threw them, with a shout of "KIJIN RASHU DAN!"

The name alone gave Ranma enough motivation to try his damndest to evade
the attack. Which, after witnessing its handy work, he would be glad
for. The projectile left Genma's hand almost to fast for Ranma to
detect, and by twisting to the left slightly Ranma managed to evade most
of the attack. The outer most fringe of the Chi blade nicked his arm,
giving Ranma his first true wound for this fight.

The vehicles parked immediately behind Ranma however, did not have the
benefit of being able to dodged, and were literally torn in half by the
attack. Well, Ranma sure as hell learned to respect THAT attack.

Genma sneered, seeing what he believed to be fear in his son's eyes. Not
that he could really blame him, especially when he was bringing out the
big guns. Heh, this fight was already over as far as Genma was
concerned. The kid put up more of a fight than he would have ever
expected, he was rather proud of that fact.

"KAJIN RASHU DAN!" Ranma shouted off, causing Genma to blink in
astonishment. While shocked, Genma wasn't stupid enough stand still, so
with a mighty impressive leap Genma began running for it. Already a plan
forming in his mind, he just needed to get the boy away from the public,
were it would take longer for police and medical crews to show up.

Ranma grinned at the look of shock that smeared his fathers face. Ranma,
being so immersed in the 'Neko-Ken', and with a so far undamaged mind,
was able to pick up on the exact process for the Demon God Assault Bomb.
He wasn't a fool though, so he only supplied it with enough power to
reach his father instead of it continuing on unabated through god only
knows what.

Watching as his father turned to flee, Ranma sprung into the pursuit.
His mind automatically splitting into two different thought processes,
one being to define, retrofit, and examine his Father's technique, and
the other taking the time to come up with possible scenarios for the end
of this fight. He knew he had to take it as slow as he could, else the
knowledge Genma possessed both of martial arts and chi would be lost
forever. More importantly, Ranma wanted to know the truth.. the truth
about why his father would seek to kill his own sun.

The chase for the answers was on.

***

Hiso gawked at the surrounding damage on the fourth floor. He had been
down stairs speaking with a mother concerning her child's recovery from
surgery when the whole building literally shook. It shook so much some
plaster from the roof broke loose and feel aimlessly to the floor,
letting off a loud 'thwack' as it came in contact with the surface.

Security officers had rushed in all directions, trying to pin point
exactly what the hell was going on. Hiso ignored the explosion that
flared up from outside, and the sounds of mass destruction as cars were
torn asunder from something or another. No, they weren't important to
him, only his patients.

Receiving information that the fourth floor had been attacked, Hiso
quickly ran up the stairs, not willing to risk his life if the elevators
were to break during this emergency. While he was running he began a
mental checklist as to why the fourth floor would be attacked.
Currently, the floor was pretty much empty, as Dr. Diggers friend,
Chisato Hino, was listed as a VIP among the staff, and they felt she
needed more space to die in peace. Ranma was up there, only because at
the moment that was the only floor with enough room to hold his dojo.
There were other patients, one there for over night testing, and another
because of a seizure. Nothing more, though. So what could have possibly
caused this?

Almost breaking the door off its hinges, Hiso lunged into the hallway
and quickly scanned his surroundings. One of the nurses, who from the
looks of things had fainted or been knocked out in the initial blast,
was coming too and trying to stand up. Further review of the
surroundings showed Hiso, and a quick explanation from the nurse, that
some one, a man possibly thirty, thirty-five years of age had attacked
Ranma, and in self-defense the boy had belted the man through the wall.

What concerned Hiso the most was the nurses' description of Ranma when
he charged from the room after the man. While she was explaining, Hiso
walked slowly and carefully along the surprise attackers trajectory.
Ranma was glowing? The burnt footprints on the floor were from Ranma
chasing after the man? He was growling? What could this mean?

Stopping at the final hole, Hiso leaned over and viewed the parking lot.
It was a mess. Some one's car had been literally blown up, and quite a
few others were lying in half for some reason Hiso couldn't identify.
Being a little self-conscious, Hiso examined the parking lot from his
perch in search of his car. He had just bought a brand new blood red
corvette and he just hoped it escaped this attack.

***

Ranma was in heaven! He had never embraced the 'Neko-Ken' so fully
before, and never for this long either. The intoxicating energy of life
was flowing all around him, through his veins, his skin, his hair, the
air, it was everywhere and he felt like a god!

Having chased after Genma for over an hour, Ranma was amazed at the fact
he only felt slightly winded. Nothing he couldn't ignore, of course.
However, the same couldn't be said for Genma, poor sod was drenched in
sweet, that wound to his pelvis just had to hurt. Still, Ranma had to
give it up to his father. That man was determined!

Ranma couldn't help but ponder Genma's course however. Currently, within
another minute or so, the two of them would no longer be in Tokyo. Long
since had they passed into the suburbs, and even now the houses were
thinning out at an incredible speed. What's his plan? What does Genma
hope to accomplish? He'll find out, or his name is Saotome Ranma!

***

Genma swore, quickly tossing his gaze back to see Ranma still chasing
him like a bat out of hell. At first Genma wanted to lead him away so
they could fight to the death with out having to worry about needless
goodie two shoe's interrupting. That plan fell through about half way
during the run when Genma realized how far away from his camp he
currently was. Why was he heading to his camp? Because he had some traps
there he might have been able to surprise his demon spawn with.

However, now he just wanted to lose his son. He couldn't fathom how his
son got this powerful! He knew for damn sure it wasn't the 'Neko-Ken'.
That technique was cursed to always turn its students into mindless
bezerkers. No, he knew Ranma was in complete control of his mental
faculties, so this had to be something else. His son was generating so
much-blasted Ki there was just no way he could.. Ki

Genma grinned as a plan formed in his mind, he forced himself to
redouble his efforts and increased his speed. He had an idea now how to
take his son out, and he damn well intended to use it. Still, it was
going to take abit of luck, some maneuvering, but he was damn well going
to kill that boy!

***

"Daddy?" Brittany asked tiredly from her seat on the airplane, already
dosing off slowly due to sheer boredom. Her sister, Gina, had long since
succumbed to her exhaustion, and crumbled into a heap. She had the most
heart lifting and happy smile on her face, such a perfect angel.

Theo smiled down to his tired daughter, marveling at how cute she was
when she tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes. "What is it Brittany?"

"Do you think Ranma's going to keep his promise?" Brit asked innocently,
though Theo could tell there was a small undercurrent of both hope and
fear in the question.

Theo patted Brittany gently on her head, his kind light blue eyes
staring off into space as he thought about the question. He was
exceedingly happy his daughters had returned from their final meeting
with Ranma with much lighter spirits. They were happy, so he was happy.
Despite the hell Ranma unknowingly caused Theo, he was glad the girls
got to know some one who he himself was kind and gentle, who seemed to
just worm his way into your heart and leave you grinning from ear to
ear.

It took Theo abit to admit that to himself, because he just never
realized it had happened in the first place. During the first few days
Theo had observed the boy like a hawk when his daughters were near him,
and he had often marveled at the boy's innocence, kindness, and
seemingly unending caring for those he hardly knew.

Why, he even got Gina to open up and be more carefree. Theo wouldn't
admit it to anyone, other than his dear wife in exile, Julia, but he was
rather concerned Gina would never be able to open up at the rate she was
going. Just because Theo couldn't do anything directly to help his
daughter in that, he still took the time to listen to their plights.

Finally, after a few moments of silence Theo answered the question, "If
Ranma cares for you enough, he will undoubtedly keep whatever promises
the two of you made together. The same, of course, could be said for
you. Will you keep your promise to him?" Theo asked with a hint of
amusement.

To bad, once Theo got to 'promises the two of you made together'
Brittany had fallen asleep, her head leaning tiredly against her
father's arm.

Theo smiled at this, his mind drifting back to the boy who had
unwittingly touched his families' heart. He hoped, that whatever
happened for that boy in the future, he would end up as happy as they
are now. He deserved it, after everything he had been through.

***

Genma damn near collapsed as he broke through the foliage to his camp.
His body was drenched in sweat, his breathing labored, his mind almost
numb from the constant pushing he had to do with his will power to even
make it this far. He wasn't in too good a shape, and he knew his bastard
son was right behind him.

Breaking through the foliage mere seconds after Genma, Ranma smiled as
he knew that the chase had finally ended. He wasted no time in
confronting his father, however he himself wasn't entirely unscathed
from such a prolonged run. His entire body was sore, and his injured
foot was stinging like hell from the constant exertion.

Still, Ranma lowered the amount of Ki he was channeling to be more on
par with his father, but he didn't do this out of fairness like some
would think. He needed to push his father to the edge, not decimate him.
If he killed his father before he could learn everything possible, then
he might become sorely tempted to always rely on this strange new force
with in his body. Ranma, being himself, didn't believe that over
whelming force was the answer to any problem, but skill on the other
hand was. If one had power, tempered with skill, then one could quite
possibly do anything he, or she, sets their mind to. Considering Ranma
doesn't believe anymore in the utter shit his father had sprouted off
earlier in his life, he was willing to consider that maybe females
weren't all weak and pathetic as his father often berated him about.
Hell, Brittany, while not very skilled due to lack of training, was
physically stronger than even he was, unless of course he brought his Ki
into the fight.

Their fight began anew as Ranma launched a jump kick as his father, who
dodged by rolling forward, who slammed his hands to the ground there by
harnessing the kinetic energy of his forward motion, and whipping his
legs out in a forward flip, the heel of his feet catching Ranma in the
chin as he continued his maneuver.

Ranma flew back a few paces, surprised by such an unorthodox attack.
This didn't stop him, or Genma though. Ranma rushed forward, his eyes
intently watching his father's subtle movements and stance changes as
they went along their ballet.

Punches and kicks were exchange in tandem, yet neither managed to score
a decent hit on the other. Ranma grinned when Genma shot his first
forward, over extending slightly. That's all he needed to way lay some
pain on the old coot.

Slapping his attack to the side, Ranma redirected Genma's forward
assault and prepared to counter with a palm strike to his father's gut.
However, Genma's mistake was actually planned on Genma's part. Genma had
already noticed the sheer strength Ranma put into his moves, and found a
way to turn that against him. When Ranma redirected his forward punch, Genma
through his body into a twirl, and managed to whip around fast enough
to smash Ranma with his elbow to the back of the boys head.

A meaty thwack was heard as Ranma flew forward slightly. He crashed into
the ground, his training already taking over as he rolled with the blow
to minimize the damage. Coming to his feet, Ranma glared at his father.

"Nice move father." He spat out some blood, if looks could kill then
this ten-year-old boy would have already disemboweled his father.

"Pathetic." Genma intoned as a piece of cloth appeared from out of
nowhere into his hand, "Time to show you who's the real boss you little
shit."

Goshin Dai Ryu Sei Fu, or Body Defense Shooting Star Cloth. By wrapping
oneself in cloth, and focusing Chi correctly into a predetermined
construct, one can execute this maneuver. The sheer simplicity of the
move makes it one of the most easily used in the entire Umi-Sen-Ken
school. By focusing your aura to take the exact same form of the Chi
construct within the cloth, one can overlap the two signatures, in
effect canceling them both out. Well, not really cancel them as both are
still there, but are extremely hard to sense as the life force of the
user disappears completely from the weave of nature, which surrounds us
all.

Ranma gasped as he watched Genma focus chi into the cloth, and then
blinked as he watched Genma's aura perfectly match that of the cloth. He
didn't understand at first what his father's intentions were, at least
not until Genma blinked out from existence. His senses flared to full
alert status, checking, probing, and looking for anything that might
give away Genma's presence. He felt nothing, nothing until Genma cracked
him with a round house to the face.

Falling backward due to the force of the blow, Ranma was starting to
become nervous about this whole situation. He even berated himself for a
fool. He should have killed the old man, not toy with him like this!
Still.. Ranma felt confident he could reproduce the attack, given some
time to practice and go over what his photographic memory stored for
him.

Sensing an attack, he rolled to the side quickly and jumped to his feet.
Ranma felt a small amount of pride in this accomplishment, as he knew
for a fact Genma committed himself to the attack. It was painfully
obvious, considering the small dust devil raised when his first
connected with solid earth. Time seemed to go on like this, at least for
Ranma. No more attacks came, yet his danger sense wouldn't let him relax
for a single second. He knew that bastard was out there, waiting for him
to drop his guard, make a mistake. Well to hell with that! He wasn't
going to lose to that bastard! No way in hell!

Kijin Dai Ran Bu, or Demon God Big Mad Dance. Similar in execution as
the Kijin Rashu Dan, the Kijin Dai Ran Bu deals with creating numerous
vacuum blades, only about 1/10th the size of a normal Kijin Rashu Dan.
The benefits of this are several, for like a shotgun, this attack can be
used as a spread shot, almost guaranteeing to hit anything within a
certain area. The down side to this attack, is the time it takes to
build up enough inner energy to perform this version.

Genma sneered at his son through the invisibility technique. He was
rather proud of the little shit, considering how hard a fight he was
given him at the moment. His son's senses were sharper than ever,
because normally not even a danger sense would be able to pick up his
presence. That's how advance the technique was, so it astounded him when
after two minutes his son didn't once drop his guard. Its like he knew
he was there, waiting for that one perfect moment, that one point where
his defenses would drop and he would attack.

Patience, however, is not a virtue Genma shares. After the first minute,
Genma decided to take care of this problem once and for all. Moving away
slowly, soundlessly, Genma stopped about twenty feet away from his son
and began concentrating on his inner self.

A minute later, Ranma's danger sense flared anew as Genma's voice rang
out "KIJIN DAI RAN BU!" Turning quickly, Ranma noticed his father had
lost his invisibility technique, but only had a moment to ponder this
revelation as his instincts had him dodging left and right. Smoothly
dodging wave after wave of those nasty vacuum blades.

Haku Dato Shin Sho, or White Snake Reliable Fist. This attack, when
properly executed, will devastate any opponent. It works by the user
channeling a small amount of his Ki directly into the tips of his fore,
and middle finger. When the attack is initiated, the user will strike
certain nerve points as quickly as they possibly can, the end effect
forcing all their victim's Ki out of their body, leaving them helpless
before the user. Downside to this attack, you have to actually get in
close to use this technique.

After dodging so many Ki blades, Ranma emerged with out a scratch, a
feat he was rather proud of considering the damage the attacks did to
the surrounding area. However, his self congratulations would have to
wait for later, as Genma appeared directly in front of him, his arms
already in motion, his fore and middle fingers pressed together and
glowing a soft ethereal yellow.

Shocked, Ranma could not defend himself in time, he did however watch
his father perform this strange technique, only barely hearing the
whispered, "Haku Dato Shin Sho." Escaping from his father's lips.

Genma connected, his technique going off with out a hitch. He was
slightly surprised when a huge column of ethereal white energy blew out
the back of his son. Ranma, already weakened through out the tiring
ordeal, flew back from the painful blow, his Ki, his ace in the hole
seemingly ripped from his body.

Genma smiled evilly as his son crashed to the ground. This fight was
over, and the victor was of course him, and not his sorry excuse for a
son. "Well boy, looks like this is the end." He chuckled as he slowly
moved towards his son's prone body. Ranma noticed how tired and worn out
his father was, his father looked to be on the very last vestiges of his
strength. Ranma was proud of this fact.

Standing over his son, Genma spoke "Any last request before I finish
you, boy?" After all, Ranma, though a piece of shit and a dishonorable
bastard, had fought a warriors battle with him, so he deserved one final
request. So long of course as it was reasonable.

Coughing up a bit of blood, Ranma asked the one question he wanted
answered before his death. "Why.. father.. why have you been trying to
kill me.. why?"

Genma stared long and hard at his son, that question wasn't something he
could easily answer. A moment of waiting, Genma muttered darkly to
himself "You're mother.." Genma paused for a moment, it appeared to Ranma that this was his answer.
Though this was not the answer, it was all Ranma needed to hear.

When Ranma heard Genma say his mother wanted him dead, he felt a part of
himself wither and die. His own mother wanted him dead? HIS OWN MOTHER
WANTED HIM DEAD! Anger replaced disgust. Ranma also ignored the fact his
father seemed to still be deep in contemplation.

Reaching deep within himself, Ranma searched for something, anything
that could give him the power to end this once and for all! Fueled by
his anger, his hate over how his life had been, Ranma tore deep down
into the recesses of his being. It was at the very pit of his soul, that
he found his answer.

A tear, a rip in his soul. It was there, deep within Ranma's being.
Focusing on this tear, Ranma could literally see Ki pouring out of that
tiny hole into his being. Pondering just what the hell it was, Ranma
reached out with his mind and probed the tear. Images he wished never to
have seen again tore through his minds eye. Cats, bloody freaken cats.
This was the power of the 'Neko-Ken'

Shrugging mentally, Ranma vowed to study just what the hell this tear
was at a later date. Currently he was about to get killed, and he needed
a way to finish this fight. Imagining a hook in his minds eye, Ranma
began tearing at the rip. After what seemed like forever, the tear
increased doubly, the pain of doing this nearly caused Ranma to go into
shock.

His ultimate reason for this, however, was satiated. With the tear
widened, so too was the power returning to him. Returning to reality,
Ranma saw Genma close his mouth as though he had been speaking while Ranma
was focused on his inner self, while his eyes stared intently into his
own.

"And now you know." Genma stated.

"And now you die." Ranma answered back, his aura flaring to life like a
bon fire. Genma tried to back away from it, but the heat, the hate the
boy fueled into the flames erupted with out pause as Genma was engulfed
with out a chance, already to weak to do much of anything but stand.

Standing up, Ranma watched as his father thrashed about on the dirt,
trying in vain to douse the Ki fueled flames from his person. The boy's
eyes were cold, showing no emotion other than grim satisfaction.

Ranma cried out in sheer joy at the sight of his father burning to
death, "FINALLY THE MONSTER IS DEAD!"

Through out the night Ranma kept the flame burning. Long after Genma was
nothing more than ash, Ranma finally collapsed. He had forced and pushed
himself for too long. The only reason he hadn't collapsed long ago was
the sheer hate burning in him for his father, and now it seemed.. his mother.

To be continued..