[Episode 135671] [Episode 135671]Ranma and Akane entered the dojo as Kasumi stepped into the middle of the room. "First match, Saotome Genma versus Saotome Rikku. Only Ken and Akane are permitted to interfere. All other interference will result in immediate disqualification and forfeiture. Are the combatants ready?"
"Sure am." Rikku said breezily. Genma merely grunted.
"Then... BEGIN!" Kasumi called, back flipping out of the combat zone to land in a kneeling crouch.
"My father said you were a lazy self serving glutton." Rikku said, holding her position as Genma began to circle her. "He also said you're a great warrior who created two devastating special techniques that you had to seal away." Genma lunged at the teen who turned and caught his fist. "Show me your might, grandfather." She demanded before pulling the portly martial artist forward as she bent backwards and braced both feet firmly in the middle of his chest and kicked forward, throwing him across the room to slam into the wall.
"Good one, Nee Chan." Ken called, from the sidelines.
"Oh come on little girl. I barely felt that!" Genma mocked.
Rikku just shrugged and stripped off her denim jacket which she tossed to her brother, followed by her sword. As Genma began his second charge Rikku shot forward in a blur and dropped to sweep her opponents legs out from under him even as she spun her body to plant her hands on the floor and kick Genma in the chest.
"Holy smokes!" Akane gaped. "How did she get so fast?"
"Hold these." Ken said, passing the jacket and sword to his aunt, who sagged heavily under the weight. "She wears both of those almost constantly, so she's used to moving swiftly with the weight. Without it, she's lightening." The blue haired boy replied, reclaiming his sisters possessions.
"FIGHT ME!" Rikku bellowed, charging the older martial artist. "I'm not a little china doll you're going to break so stop holding back and fight me."
"I will," Genma countered, blocking and deflecting each of Rikku's strikes. "when you actually become a worthwhile challenge." Rikku started to growl as a thin red aura formed on her skin. "Unless of course you're too stupid to fight? That's it, isn't it? All your brains ended up on your chest, didn't they?"
"He's trying to make her angry." Akane realized.
"And she's letting him." Ranma murmured. "Watch Akane, and see another way to handle your rage."
Rikku screamed in rage as the thin red tendrils exploded into a full fledged aura of unbridled fury. Exploding into a blur of motion she doubled the speed of her attacks, then redoubled yet again a few moments later. Genma blocked and deflected many of the blows but still more made it through his defense before he locked his hand around her wrist and yanked her forward.
"You screwed up, little girl, letting your anger get the better of you." Genma smirked as he threw Rikku at the nearest wall.
His smirk fell away as Rikku's aura molded itself to her skin as she twisted effortlessly to brace both feet on the wall and kick off, rocketing towards her opponent on wings of crimson ki. "No YOU screwed up!" She said slamming her fists into her grandfathers chest, knocking him back several feet. "You thought pissing me off was gonna win this for you? The first tenet of the fire path is control of the inner flame that drives you."
"So you think one lucky hit will win this for you?" Genma snarled getting back to his feet.
"It will if you're not going to take me seriously!" Rikku hissed holding her hands out palms up. "And if you think I'm going to just let you pussy foot around..." Rikku narrowed her eyes as her palms burst into flames. "THINK AGAIN! FIREBALL!"
Genma gaped as the flaming balls of energy slammed into his chest sending him sprawling with twin smoldering holes in his gi. "Why you little-"
"If you don't like it," Rikku growled, charging forward before jumping into a ki charged spin kick. "DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!" She screamed landing a powerful kick to Genma's head.
"I don't understand." Akane said as Rikku and Genma met in a flurry of blocks, strikes, and counter strikes. "She seemed so out of control and now-"
"That was a feint." Nabiki said. "You have let your anger burn within you like a wildfire. I'm not condemning this." The elder Tendo said, raising a hand to still her sister's argument. "It's one way to handle your rage. Rikku concentrates that same rage, and channels it into her fighting, like a white hot cutting torch."
"So... which is better?" Akane asked, watching Genma land a solid punch to Rikku's face. The younger fighter slid back as the beginnings of a shiner started to form.
"Both. And neither." Ken said. "Rikku's method is best because it works best for her. It may not work as well for you. It may not work at all. But if what you're doing now doesn't work, then maybe you should think about changing it."
Meanwhile Rikku and Genma glared at each other as the young red gingerly touched her bruised right eye. "Not bad old man. I may actually have to break a sweat."
"You've... got some skills." Genma grunted wiping a trickle of blood away from the corner of his mouth, then chasing after an elusive tendril under his broken nose.
"Yeah well, I could have ended this a while back, but I was actually having fun." Rikku shifted back into an attacking stance and began to circle her opponent. "However you're starting to bore me. Hope you're ready to fall!" With that Rikku leaped towards her foe, both fists crackling with fire.
Genma gaped for a second before Rikku was upon him, hammering away viciously leaving nasty burn marks with every blow she landed, which was rather considerable, given the speed she was using. The elder Saotome blocked, dodged and evaded as best he could, before sweeping in with a desperate blow to Rikku's midsection that drove the wind from her body, before a round house kick to her head sent the younger girl sprawling. When she shook the stars from her eyes, Genma had vanished.
"GENMA!" She roared in a voice that shook the dojo. "WE AREN'T FINISHED! FOR ALL THE HORRORS YOU VISITED UPON YOUR SON, FOR THE BROKEN TRUST OF A CHILD, FOR ALL THE DREAMS YOU CRUSHED UNDERFOOT, NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOUR RECKONING!"
"Why is she so pissed?" Akane whispered as Rikku's eyes flicked around the seemingly empty dojo.
"In Rikku's eyes, the worst thing any parent can do is betray the faith of their children." Ranma said in a low murmur. "She's seen too much pain and heartbreak come from that, and only a few cases are worse than my father."
Rikku gasped sharply as she staggered forward, driven to her knees by an unseen attacker. "Only a coward... ONLY A COWARD ATTACKS FROM BEHIND!" Ken shouted, thrusting out his hands filling the dojo with a cool frozen mist. Rikku knelt, shivering in the sudden chill as she watched the swirl and eddies of the mist looking for some sign of her concealed opponent.
A split second later she got her sign as an invisible fist impacted where her ankles had been a heartbeat before she rolled to the side, then spinning forward to propel herself up the still extended arm and off her grandfathers back into the air. "Fire Path, Special Technique... METEOR SHOWER!" The room was still for a moment before dozens of fireballs began to rain down from above.
"EEK!" Akane squealed, cringing back into Kenshiro's chest as a fireball headed towards the family on the sidelines.
"Look." Ken said pointing up as the fireball arced away from the family towards the center of the room. "It's okay. Rikku has a talent for controlling fires."
Akane looked down at the younger boy and blushed. "I didn't know." She stared at him for a long while.
"What is it?" Ken asked.
"You have very beautiful eyes." Akane murmured blushing.
"Hoe?" Ken murmured, realizing the position they were in.
"I didn't know your interest ran towards older women, Ken." Kasumi teased as Ken stammered and the pair separated.
"L-let's just watch the fight." Ken stammered.
That's my boy. Ranma thought with a smile. He can stare down the freaks of the multiverse without batting an eye, but stick him with a cute girl and he goes all to pieces.
On the dojo floor Genma suddenly appeared as a half dozen fireballs slammed into his concealed form as Rikku touched down, a new fireball twisting and glowing in her hands. "WHITE STAR!" She cried flinging the blazing orb forward to impact with her opponent's chest, driving him to the floor in the wake of a powerful explosion, even as she prepared a second.
"What the hell was that?" Akane gaped.
"White Star. It's a high density explosive fireball. Looks like she wants to make sure the old man stays down." Ranma said casually.
"I won't let some little brat destroy everything I worked for." Genma growled pushing himself up to his knees. Glancing around the room, his hateful gaze settled on the sidelines. "You're pretty good, bitch." Genma snarled with a nasty grin, "but lets see you stop this!" He crowed launching a vacuum blade at Kenshiro.
Rikku's eyes widened in horror as she started sprinting for her family before throwing her second White Star to intercept the vacuum blade from behind as Ken swept his hand up raising a barrier of black energy to block the explosion. "Nee Chan, behind you!"
Rikku turned and dove for the floor as a second blade flew through where her torso had been a moment earlier, grazing her arm and shredding her long sleeves. Looking down to assess the damage, the young woman gasped as the stream of blood turned her palm the same shade as her hair.
"Genma you idiot." Ranma hissed. "Ken-"
"I'm on it. Akane, when I say so we're going to have to separate them. You deal with Genma. Kasumi, I'll need you to make the count." Ken said briskly as his sister began to shake. "Momma, I need-" Nabiki handed the young man a thick white towel, slightly damp.
"I don't understand." Akane said.
"You will in a moment." Ken said watching a single drop of Rikku's blood fall to the hardwood floor.
"No..." Rikku stammered as three more drops fell to the floor. "No. No. NO. NO. NO!" She screamed launching herself at Genma, her aura turning her entire body into a flaming berserker as she hammered away at the elder Saotome with a single minded determination.
"My god... What-" Nodoka began.
"Rikku's blood was used to hurt a lot of innocent people and nearly drove her mad in the process." Ken said darkly, watching his sister shrug off Genma's best attempts to counterattack. "She was determined to never have that happen again. Since then, abnormal bleeding, especially from the scars on her arms will trigger this berserker state. The Bloodrage." Ken spat the name like a dreaded curse.
"Is someone... burning?" Akane tried to swallow back her revulsion.
"Rikku's entire body is a mass of fire and heat, now." Nabiki said as Genma squirmed away only to have Rikku pounce on him again. "It's to ensure no one can touch her, and use her blood again."
"My god..." Soun gaped. "This makes the Neko Ken look like a beginners kata."
Ranma shook his head sadly. "This is worse than the Neko Ken, Soun. In this state, she doesn't feel hunger, or fear, or exhaustion, or pain. She has one single goal. The annihilation of the threat to her well being." Ranma looked on helplessly as Rikku bashed Genma's head off the floor several times before locking her flaming hands around his throat.
"Akane! Now!" Ken shouted, charging forward as he made a sweeping motion with one arm, sending Rikku sprawling across the room as he lunged on her, pinning her to the floor with every ounce of his strength. As Akane gagged dragging Genma as far from the warring siblings as she could before bolting outside and Kasumi gave the formal ten count, Nodoka noticed her warring grandchildren-
"Is that steam?" She asked incredulously.
"Yes. Ken can cool his entire body to very low temperatures. The clash of those temperatures is producing the steam you're seeing." Ranma hurried out to the floor and began the delicate work of healing his father.
Meanwhile Ken felt his palms sizzle and burn as he waited for his sister's agony to abate. "Nee Chan..." He hissed, eyes filling with glistening tears. "NEE CHAN, YOU'RE HURTING ME!" He cried.
Like the shattering of crystal, Rikku's clarity returned as she shoved her brother away hard and coiled herself into a ball, sobbing.
"The one thing she swore to herself she'd never do..." Nabiki said sadly into the oddly still room.
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(Posted Wed, 30 Mar 2005 07:55)
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