Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Umbra Aureola ❯ Chapter 03 - A Fight to Save Who? ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

CHAPTER III: FIGHT TO SAVE WHO!?


It was dawn of the next day. Cologne already up and about stood outside the Neko Haten cleaning the exterior of the store. It was then that a familiar shape appeared on a roof top.

"Sorry about before, but there was little time to discuss matters." As he spoke the cloaked figure dropped down almost lazily before the amazon matriarch. Anito then dropped a small scroll into Cologne's hand. Cologne merely blinked in response to the occurrence.

As if expecting a reply the wizard waited. And then he waited some more. Finally tired of the game Anito spoke again. "Well I suppose I should be going." With that the wizard whirled turning away from the old matriarch crouching for the jump to the nearby rooftop.

"Thwack!" Rung out the sound of a hardened gnarled wooden cane impacting heavily into a young man's skull. Cologne showed once again that her old bones slowed her not in the least. Moving with rapid precision her attack rang out in repetition. "Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack."

Settling balanced on top of her staff Cologne looked down upon the crumbled wizard. "Never let it be said that amazons are not without mercy."

"If anyone tries to make you out as a saint I'll kill them myself." Anito returned sitting back up with a groan. "I take it that I have received upon myself your forgiveness." The wizard said with a grin.

"Oh ho ho ho, you always did have a way with words. I take it that you got what you wanted." Cologne shot back.

Anito grinned even wider. "Would I have returned otherwise? I see that your health holds. One to many run-ins with a boulder I imagine."

"Are you implying that I am going blind with my old age?" Cologne said dangerously.

"No merely that boulders these days have grown sneaky."

Cologne cackled in delight. "You should visit more often I had forgotten what a joy it was to banter with you."

"I might at that, I have a few things to take care of though." Anito said a bit more seriously. "I am, how should I say it, not quite in the clear yet." Anito winked and vanished.

Cologne chuckled slightly. "Quite a trick you have picked up there young student." Her day slightly brighter she pocketed the scroll and returned to her chores.

"Honored Elder was that dark cloaked man from yesterday?" Shampoo asked as she poked her head outside of the restaurant.

"Yes it was Great Grandchild, now would you please continue setting up the restaurant?"

"Yes Honored Elder."


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Ranma and Akane walked into the Tendo Household and stopped in shock of what they saw there. Sipping tea in front of the low table inside the room with the open door overlooking the koi pond was an unusual sight. There sat a young man. The man himself was not remarkable, he was only decently built, decently that is for a normal person, not a boulder shattering martial artist like Ranma. He wore a
pure white silk tunic that glowed with a impossible brightness as if its existence itself resisted stain or tear. His pants an equally potent black not even a speck of lint blemishing the lengths. Beside the man, in easy arms reach, sat a staff. In comparison to his clothes the simple wooden object seemed almost mundane.

It didn't take Ranma more than two seconds to recognize the man as who he was. Anito, the arch-mage his aura left no doubt. Even if the aura felt more benign and more subdued than yesterday. Falling into a combat stance Ranma prepared himself for the worst. Almost as if announcing a challenge the pigtailed warrior asked, "What you doing here?"

Anito didn't even bother to glance in Ranma's direction. "How amusing, are you really planning on fighting me again? After the pitiful showing you put on yesterday I would expect a greater degree of wisdom. Especially for one that knows the likes of Cologne." Anito said with a playful grin.

Ranma was slightly taken back by the wizards reply. At the same time though he boiled with anger. Treating Ranma's combat prowess with such disrespect was a direct insult to his pride. To top it off Ranma couldn't exactly call Anito on it either. Yesterday's fight was a blight upon the pigtailed warriors mind. A fact Ranma would like to rectify as soon as possible.

While Ranma's mind stewed upon Anito's comment Soun jumped in. "Ranma, you have to help us! This man just broke in here!" Soun declared, tears flowing down from his eyes.

For the first time realizing that others were here Ranma glanced around taking stock of the situation. He quickly spotted his father already in panda form playing with a tire in the background. In preemptive defense the panda lifted up a sign that read. "Nothing to see here."

"Don't be silly father, he just asked for a cup of tea." Kasumi said, reprimanding her father lightly.

Anito chuckled a bit. "Well, I did come for a bit more than a mere cup of tea, dear Kasumi."

"What do you want then?" Ranma said dangerously. It didn't feel right just to attack the guy out of the blue. Most especially when he was drinking tea offered from Kasumi.

"A surprisingly good question. I am afraid Mr. Tendo that I will be kidnapping one of your daughters on this fine evening. Don't worry yourself though I assure you it will be a rather proper arrangement. Well, as proper as a kidnapping can be that is." Anito said with a chuckle.

"I'm not letting you take Akane." Ranma growled stepping in front of his fiancee.

"What would I want with short tempered tomboy like her?" Anito replied calmly. The wizard took a sip of tea serenely pointedly ignoring the the enormous aura of death that boiled up around the youngest Tendo. "No thank you, I will have quite enough trouble to deal with as things are. Instead I will be borrowing the eldest daughter. Not only can she prepare most excellent tea, but she exudes an amazingly powerful aura of peace. You can almost feel it draining the stress away." Anito said with a sigh of contentment.

Ranma blinked twice actually relaxing his combat stance. That certainly wasn't what he was expecting. For one the wizard was acting a whole lot nicer than yesterday, well baring the kidnapping Kasumi thing. Then there was the fact that Ranma actually found himself agreeing with the arch-mage's sentiments. For once it seemed someone actually had a sensible reason for kidnapping one of the Tendos.

"Oh dear, I better start packing my things." Kasumi exclaimed. With that the oldest sister headed up to do exactly that.

"You can't take Kasumi!" Akane yelled in anger. Seeing that no one else seemed to be up in arms over events Akane turned to her father. "Father, stop him!"

Soun pondered this turn of events thoughtfully. Finally coming to a decision he said, "Well it is about time she got married and this looks to be a fine young man, circumstances outstanding."

"I can't believe you said that!" Akane glowered at her father her battle aura glowing with dangerous intent. Eyes widening Soun cowered back away from his youngest daughter.

"See? That is exactly the kind of thing I don't need." The arch-mage stated conversationally to Ranma.

"Yeah I know what you mean." Ranma returned wisely his guard relaxing even more.

Seeing that he was being completely ignored Genma started to sneak out of the room before things could ugly, or worse get ugly and involve him. As luck would have it that was the exact moment Nabiki chose to make her entrance. Glancing down upon the black and white bear as she walked by Nabiki raised an eyebrow in almost a warning. Nervously Genma raised a sign in defense. "I am just a cute little panda." Still even with the old man's defensive reply Genma slunk back to his previous position.

As she walked across the room Nabiki casually slipped herself into the conversation. "You know father, if he takes Kasumi we will have to eat Akane's cooking from now on."

The words shattered Soun's composure like a stack of bricks. Falling to his knees the Tendo patriarch grabbed Ranma's hand in desperation. Looking up at the pigtailed martial artist Soun made out through his tears. "Please save my eldest daughter, there is no way we can survive on Akane's cooking!"

"What is wrong with my cooking!" Akane yelled her battle aura towering even higher.

"Nothing, if you don't mind dying of food poisoning." Ranma replied his voice dripping with dark humor.

"Slam!" Lifting up the table Akane bashed Ranma clear out of the room and straight into the koi pond. A moment later Ranma-chan popped back out water pouring off of her body in streamlets. Stomping back into the room Ranma-chan loudly declared in annoyance. "What did you do that for!"

Anito looked at Ranma-chan and blinked. Then he took another sip of his tea. "Well, this was certainly unexpected. If you don't mind I'll be leaving soon with Kasumi." Anito said putting down his finished cup of tea.

"You are not taking Kasumi!" Akane yelled back.

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Ranma! Stop him!"

Ranma-chan grinned finally she had a legitimate excuse to attack the wizard. "My pleasure!" She said cracking her knuckles. Then bursting into movement Ranma-chan launched herself at her opponent.

"Not in the house!" Soun cried out seeing Ranma-chan's attack.

Soun's yell came a moment too late. Moving in a blur Ranma-chan exploded into the air. A lightning fast kick shot out at the wizard. The blow though was in vain. Instead of landing on flesh the attack instead merely pierced Anito's after image as the wizard vanished from his location.

With nothing to stop the strike it continued on its current path crushing through the floor near the table. Pulling her foot free Ranma-chan didn't slow for a moment. Twisting around the pigtailed girl tossed herself into a quick air born dodge. Ranma-chan was going to be damned if she was going to give the wizard an easy shot like last time. With the arch-mage's quick movements blind dodges would at least give Ranma-chan more of an edge. An edge that she desperately needed.

Anito grinned at Ranma-chan as their eyes met. Now standing near the outdoor koi pond Anito spun his staff in his hands and then fell into a fighting stance. Quirking an eyebrow Anito asked conversationally. "Is there a point to this? I mean really, if there isn't can we just save ourselves the time. Not that I don't like a good fight and all, but I really would rather not today."

Settling in for a fight Ranma-chan felt out her enemy. Not unexpectedly she couldn't get a grip on him. "Hey, this is a matter of pride. I am going to teach you what it means to fight Ranma Saotome."

"Ah, now that I can understand. Pride can a very serious thing, especially when one is seeking to be the best. Yes, to find out who is the best, now that is now something I can fight over." Anito replied with a grin. "Really though, shouldn't this be about the girl, Kasumi I think it was, that I am kidnapping?"

Evaluating her opponent Ranma-chan sprang forward at the grinning arch-mage seeking to catch him off guard. Not unexpected her foot hit only air Like the time before Ranma-chan instantly flew into an aerial dodge while her eyes desperately sought out her enemy.

The dodge was right on time. A glowing white staff swept underneath the pigtailed girl striking at the air where she had stood only a second before. Using the staff to judge her enemy's location Ranma-chan threw a kick where she felt he might be. The counter missed by a surprisingly small amount. Anito though still escaped teleporting a good three meters backward in defense.

"I am impressed you are very skilled. You tactically adjust rapidly to my attacks. Unfortunately for you though I am more than capable of doing the same." Anito said with a grin.

Ranma-chan shrugged off his statement. "Heh, if you think you can keep up bring it on."

"With a statement like that how can I deny. Especially for a cute girl like you." The arch-mage said with a wink.

"Hey I am not a girl!" Ranma-chan yelled. Eyes widening Ranma-chan noticed that the wizard had vanished during the moment of her distraction. Throwing herself to the left Ranma-chan only barely evaded the deadly swing of the wizard's staff. Glancing at her enemy she saw only the after image as the wizard relocated before Ranma-chan could even think of countering.

Recovering her balance Ranma-chan was caught in surprise when Anito suddenly appeared directly in front of her. In a desperate act of defense Ranma-chan shoved back with all her force hopping away from the arch-mage. Ranma-chan's eyes though widened again as that image vanished in turn. In belated realization Ranma-chan realized that the frontal location was nothing more than a feint. In that case...

But it was too late. Before Ranma-chan could even make the connection Anito's staff pounded into her back. The thin wooden weapon hit as though it where a twenty ton sledge hammer. Ranma-chan's body reversed direction instantly as it violently received part of the staff's huge momentum. Any lesser mortal would have been reduced into bloody fragments by that blow alone.

Even in Ranma-chan's case such a blow normally would have been final, but Ranma-chan was if anything a quick learner. Unlike the first time Ranma-chan did not make the fatal mistake of trying to resist the incredible weapon and instead let her body be carried with it. Flowing through the air the pigtailed girl flipped around landing on the outer wall feet first. Absorbing the impact with her feet Ranma-chan leapt free landing gracefully on the ground.

Wincing Ranma-chan drew herself back up to her full height eyeing her opponent carefully. The wizard hadn't been kidding when he said that he could change tactics as well. Using that verbal attack though was a bit dirty. Ranma-chan wasn't in a position to complain though, she had done the same on repeated occasions.

This though left Ranma-chan with a multi-fold problem. As fast as Anito moved landing a blow was almost pure luck. Luck wasn't something Ranma-chan wanted to rely on though, so she was had to force a position where a blow could land. Unfortunately if her opponent was smart tricking him into making a mistake would be difficult, and more importantly she would get only one try at any particular tactic.

This left Ranma-chan in a difficult position. Having to rely on tactics was one thing, but having to rely on tactics one didn't even know would work was quite another. There wasn't much choice though, the wizard's speed and raw attack power was simply to great for another method. Her only hope would be that his endurance wasn't up to par.

While Ranma-chan contemplated her strategy of attack the two circled one another. Anito's grin did not falter as the two slowly moved in tandem like lions awaiting for the opportune moment to pounce upon their prey. "So tell me have you cooked up an effective strategy of attack yet?"

Ranma-chan returned a cocky grin. "You better believe it."

The wizard raised an eyebrow. "Then I await your attack in eager anticipation and hope you don't disappoint. I would hate to end a battle without having to resort to special attacks."

Ranma-chan frowned slightly at the man's words. Pushing such thoughts to the side she moved hopping forward with a shockingly fast round house. The foot whipped through the wizard's image striking only air. Anticipating this result Ranma-chan pulled her leg back in carrying the spin around to increase the rate of her turn. Bouncing up into the air again with a short thrust of her grounded leg the pigtailed cleanly avoided the Anito's counter, the staff whistling within centimeters of her body.

Floating over the attack Ranma-chan shoved off the wizards staff in a display of startlingly skill. Flying toward the wizard Ranma-chan lanced out with a fist. Again it was only air. Pulling her body into a ball Ranma-chan turned once more at maximum speed she could muster. She found her target directly behind her the crackling staff thrusting toward her air born body. Twisting she evaded the attack while at the same time countering with a lightning fast kick.

Anito instantly flickered out existence, the speed of the action causing the mistake she had been waiting for. Rather than taking advantage of positioning the surprised wizard teleported instead directly backward nearly four meters from the pigtailed girl. Finally what she had been waiting for came. Cupping her hands Ranma-chan drew deeply on the confidence of the moment yelling out her attack as the searing life energy burst forward. "Moko Takabisha!"

The moment she drew upon her ki the arch-mage responded. "Mirror of Vasalis!" Anito yelled in return the arch-mage spinning his staff into a shining, blueish, transparent circle between him and Ranma-chan. Even as the wizard finished the ki exploded into the ethereal circle. The moment the constructs touched the ki blast vanished sending a small ripple throughout the strange shield like a rock dropped into a still pond. Spreading swiftly the ripples touched the edge of the blueish circle. The reaction to this was was instantaneous. Like a balloon suddenly popping the construct collapsed violently into a single burning point of brilliant energy. Danger sense screaming Ranma-chan dived to the side narrowly avoiding her own ki blast as it was amplified and returned directly back at her.

Ranma-chan rolled back to her feet instantly, though more than a little shaken. The wizards quirky grin was starting to get on her nerves. Had he somehow anticipated her attack? She had thought she would have taken him completely by surprise with a ki attack. Apparently though she was wrong. In fact if anything it revealed that Anito still had cards up his sleeve. Ranma-chan though only had one, the Hiryu Shoten Ha.

"Whew! Now wasn't that more fun! Really I must say it is special attacks that really make things interesting. They add a degree of versatility and complexity that cannot be found in a normal combat." Anito said conversationally while grinning like mad. "However, it would be unfair of me to not return the favor so forgive me when I do this. Shadow Dance!"

Ranma-chan felt a slight tickle on her awareness as Anito vanished. It was almost as if the wizard's ki was pressing heavily against whatever cloaking technique he was using. Frowning slightly Ranma-chan prepared herself for whatever was coming. She didn't have to wait long, in fact she hardly had time to complete her thought before the arch-mage was upon her.

The wizard reappeared almost instantly directly in front of Ranma-chan. His staff spinning like a hurricane the wizard attacked keeping the weapon tight for maximum speed. Ranma-chan skittered to the side letting the attack pass her by. Then stepping forward she made for her counter, except that the wizard was already gone. Eyes widening Ranma-chan realized exactly what the wizard had been preparing for, a series of lightning fast teleportations.

Diving to the side in a blind dodge Ranma-chan avoided a thrust that rang in like a meteorite. Even knowing the nature of the attack at this point couldn't save her. As the wizard appeared below and to the side Ranma-chan gritted her teeth knowing there was no time to move. Instead to let herself sail with the blow that span up from directly below and knocked her high into the sky.

The wizard's aura burst free the moment Ranma-chan took to the air. Wincing in anticipation of the pain Ranma-chan watched with admiration as Anito shot his speed to the max pressing his teleportations and attacks into a pace that boggled the mind. It was like watching shadows fight Ranma-chan noted through the heavy haze of pain as she was ricocheted from side to side like a giant human ping-pong ball. So great was the speed that even as she was Ranma-chan could still clearly make out at least half a dozen afterimages.

Ranma-chan slammed into the ground with all the grace of a rock. The final blow pummeled her body with a whole new display of power having used the entirety of the staffs length to maximize the power as she was pounded into the ground. Gasping for breath and blinking away tears of pain Ranma-chan stood shakily on her feet. The pigtailed girl's entire body creaked with pain at the act, pain though was an old friend and training companion to the likes of Ranma-chan.

Anito stood off to the side breathing heavily. He still managed to maintain his grin even as the arch-mage raised his eyebrow. "You can still stand?" There was honest admiration in the wizard's voice. "I must say I am impressed. I didn't think that would even be possible considering the forces involved. Then again I am not exactly in top form either."

Ranma-chan let her body recover as the wizard made small talk. Thinking cold thoughts she prepared herself for her ultimate attack. Ranma-chan didn't want to use it, but she wanted to lose a whole lot less. Ready Ranma-chan put herself in a combat stance. "Enough talk if you got the guts come and get it."

Anito grinned, "I suppose so, I hope you don't mind if I go a bit slow for a bit. I need to recover my breath."

"Oh you are going to go easy on a little girl like me?" Ranma-chan replied batting her eyes. If the wizard wanted to play into the hands of the Hiryu Shoten Ha Ranma-chan was prepared to take full advantage of the fact.

"With a request like that how can I deny." Anito returned with a grin vanishing as the battle began again.

Ranma-chan danced around attacks as the wizard rained them down upon her. Silently thanking the Kami that the arch-mage had slowed the normal furious pace Ranma-chan slowly but skillfully drew her opponent into the spiral throwing just enough attacks to make sure he wouldn't see through her intentions. It was a dangerous game, especially with an enemy that moved like Anito did. It would be so easy for the wizard to attack in a way that left Ranma-chan with no choice but to break the spiral. The fact that he didn't made Ranma-chan feel that perhaps finally the fates were on her side.

"Well it looks like the fight is all over." Nabiki said in a rather bored tone.

"Yeah, Ranma has him right where he wants him." Akane said.

"Well, you are the expert." Nabiki replied with sarcasm.

"What!? I've watched more than enough of Ranma's fights to know what is going to happen!" Akane declared angry at her sisters presumption.

"Really? Tell me then, don't you think Anito bit onto the technique a little too easily especially considering that Cologne said that he knows about it, or perhaps even actually knows the technique itself?"

Akane's eyes widened. "Ranma don't!"

Akane's words rang out to late. Ranma-chan grinned as she pulled Anito into the last steps of the attack. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" She yelled delivering the final uppercut. The winds stirred in response sucking up hot ki like a sponge. While Anito may have cloaked his ki well, that didn't mean he wasn't using it. The area was literally inundated with the high powered energy left over from dozens of teleportations, heavy fighting and even a few special techniques. Finally, while Anito cloaked his ki, it didn't mean it wasn't still raging beneath the surface and for the Hiryu Shoten Ha a skillful dispersion that hid the exact location was the same as a raging bonfire.

Air despite all appearances has weight. A lot of it weights quite a bit. As strong as the Hiryu Shoten Ha was it still took a few breaths of time for the massive amounts of wind to draw itself into a magnificent spiral. This particular one rumbled like a giant as if gears strained with the incredible power that was being turned. As the spiral was fed enormous energy at first it blossomed into a thin tornado starting where Ranma-chan punched and sucking Anito high into the sky. From there it expanded into real a monster covering the entirety of the Tendo backyard and threatening the house with certain destruction.

For a moment Ranma-chan breathed easy her confidence soaring with the unleashing of her most powerful technique. It faltered though when she saw Anito floating there almost lazily in the wind skillfully balancing his hot and cold aura as to maintain the exact height he desired. A skill that Ranma-chan herself had only gained after a great deal of practice. For a terrible moment Ranma-chan realized that she had been had.

Anito grinned down as though reading the pigtailed girls thoughts. Raising his staff above his head the wizard span it in the opposite direction of the spiral. "A lovely execution, now I will let you witness a pair of techniques never before seen! Special technique Total Inversion!"

The tornado paused like an engine choking up on a bad air fuel mixture. Its hesitation lasted but a moment before it suddenly reversed itself completely. A rush of air slammed into the ground as the spiraling winds turned upon themselves sucking all objects down instead of up. Pressed against the ground by the awesome torrent of her own creation Ranma-chan grouped for an understanding of what had just happened.

With the tornado's very nature reversed Anito rebalanced his aura and then sang out yet the final piece of the two part technique. "Hiryu Shoten Ha Counter Attack. Fire Dragon's Apocalyptic Descent!"

A spiral of fire shot out into the whirling tornado. Flowing like water the intense energy was drawn into the swiftly turning air. With its new inverted nature the tornado did the exact opposite of what would normally happen. Instead of going up the hot energy instead flowed down. Filled with the burning fire what was once a twister of air became instead a glowing spiral of flaming death as the boiling, plasmatic winds were dragged down at an alarming rate. The incredible conflagration slammed into the ground, and the pinned Ranma-chan, with a magnificent display of power. The area literally exploded into flames as the tornado itself was torn apart by the shear apocalyptic energy unleashed.

Anito appeared on the ground none the worse to wear. A bit of fatigue though escaped the arch-mage's composure. Glancing down upon the twitching blackened Ranma-chan he asked innocently. "Are you done now?" When no response came the wizard simply shrugged. "Sadly I have other things to day so I won't be able to wait for your answer. It was fun."

Teleporting backward Anito appeared next to Kasumi. The eldest girl let out a little yelp of surprise. Looking down on Kasumi Anito asked. "All ready to go?"

"Of course Mr. Anito." Kasumi returned politely recovering her composure so fast it was almost as if she never lost it.

"Well then, off with us!" With that they were gone.

"Hey you can't take my sister!" Akane yelled out after the pair. Her words though were far to late to have any meaning.

Nabiki let out a sigh. Kasumi didn't seem worried so Nabiki hoped that she would be fine. Instead the girl turned to more important matters. That was counting up how many days she would be eating out before having to turn to instant ramen.

The twitching Ranma-chan looked out at her angered fiancee. "Umm what about me." She croaked out.

"Ranma how could you let him take my sister!" Akane angrily muttered.

"Why didn't you try to stop him uncute tomboy?" Ranma-chan shot back. The pigtailed girl already was in enough pain without being accused of performing at less than her best.

"Crunch!" Akane shoved her fiancee's face hard into the ground sending Ranma-chan into blissful unconsciousness. For once Ranma-chan actually considered that a good thing.

Soun was still to stunned to really comprehend what had happened. Instead he stared at his house with rising horror. Tears streaming down his face the patriarch tried to contemplate what the repair bill for this mess would look like. Wailing out his pain upon deaf ears Soun said, "Ranma how could you!"


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Just outside of the Tendo Dojo Anito walked next to Kasumi.

"Couldn't you have taken us directly there." Kasumi asked innocently seeing as that they had only teleported past the outer wall.

Anito shuddered, "The Shadow Step, that is the name of my teleportation technique, isn't strictly a teleportation spell. More accurately it is a spatial displacement technique. While the shadow step can move me instantly form one location to another, energy wise it is like ki equivalent of sprinting. That is to say that the fatigue of using it is exponentially proportional to the distance traveled. Plus of course the initial ki cost. Thus while traveling a few meters is nothing, covering a couple kilometers is another story..."

"Oh, that is too bad."

"Don't worry it is not far. I am staying with an old compatriot of mine. In fact we should be coming up on it quite soon." They walked for a bit longer without talking. "Ah, here we are." Anito opened the door and a man stepped out.

"K-Kasumi! Fancy meeting you here!" The man said his glasses fogging up.

"Oh how nice, you are staying with Dr. Tofu." Kasumi said sweetly.

"Well it seems you two have already met." Anito said as he watched the scene play out with a slight edge of dread.