He spared a glance towards the bodies of the fallen and unconscious, the cold rage swelling within his heart only growing more and more with each and every attack he sustained.
A man, one of his attackers he noted bitterly, was making a vain attempt to crawl away from the rest of his fallen attacks. He honestly didn't know which was more pathetic, the fact this scum thought he could beat him, or now that he had handed their asses too them they tried to get away as if nothing had ever happened.
"And where do you think your going, asshole!" Ranma growled out through fanged teeth, one mighty claw grasping the man's shirt and lifting him roughly into the air.
"Ppplease! Don't kill me! I have a family!" the sorry excuse for a man cried out against the paw that held him a foot off the ground as he tried feebly to force the hand open, or at least to gain some purchase so as not to choke in his grip.
"Pfeh." Ranma snorted in disdain, shaking the man like a rag doll until he stopped crying like a ten-year-old girl. "Boy.." he spat, much venom in his snarl, "We all got's family, and if you don't want me deprivin yer family of their father, yer gonna answer my questions. Got it?" receiving no immediate reply, he shook the man roughly again before snarling loud enough to cause a slight ringing in the unfortunate man's ear, "GOT IT?!"
The man nodded feebly, the scent of urine abruptly made itself known, almost overpowering in its stench on his sensitive senses. "GGgGot it!
***
The six months since Ranma's arrival in this land had not been kind, not one bit. He should have realized something like this would happen, but the idiot child he had been held on to the slim hope that some place, some where in this strange fucked up world some one like him could be accepted. Hope died a slow, and painful death.
Oh, to be sure it hadn't started off as bad as it was now. At first he had merely traveled, despite that upset with the family and bandits, he had been in relative high hopes all things considered. The world he had found himself in echo within his heart, a piece of his childhood that seemed would never be touched by the dirty taint of invention and greed.
Growing up in the forests of Japan and China, Ranma had a health respect for nature, and while he didn't outright loath technology, he had always felt on some level that the entire concept was wrong. Still, even if he wanted to do something about the diminishing beauty of Nature on Earth, he doubted he would have made any difference. People were stubborn creatures, perhaps this was their greatest common interest, and no one would ever give up the easy life to rough it like he had to do growing up as a child. Ah well, the point was moot in any case.
The first annoyance he faced was, of course, his freaken curse. Yes, his Jusenkyo curse still existed, damn stubborn gender bending magic. Well, Ranma didn't see it as all bad. Whatever the hell changed him into what he was now had given him some reprieve from the curse. No more was he reliant on cold/hot water to initiate the change (though if he wasn't careful with his self control they would still effect him), after months of travel he had discovered the change was based completely on his will power. If he willed himself a woman, he became a woman, and vice versa.
And the mother fucking gods damn well knew he was a man, especially after all the shit he had gone through.
Still, he had to be conscious to control the change, many times he had awoken during the night after a brief shower or two to find that yes, even as a female, he was a cat person thru and thru. This one gift from the gods, however, seemed to come at a high price.
People, farmers, adventurers, bounty hunters, and even monsters regarded him with fear and no small dose of malice. The fact Dragons would quake in their boots at the mere sight of him had stroked his ego a bit, but it pissed him off nonetheless.
Three months after his arrival to this land, Ranma came upon his first 'Death Squad'.
A Death Squad, Ranma later discovered after kicking the crap out of some female ninja wannabe, was a government (or whatever passed as the bosses in this place) sanctioned brute squad with one purpose in mind, kill their target. Well gee, who do you think that turned out to be?
Fun fun fun.
Still, he would be the first to admit the leaps and bounds his fighting skills had gone through because of the constant life or death struggles. Often times Ranma would look back on his time in Nerima with fondness, realizing he had been such a wimp when it came to the real fights. Heh, he'd take life in Nerima over this hellhole any day, why, he'd even eat Akane's cooking! Why, he might even let Happosai grope his... no.. never mind, he'd rather die.
So here he was, some freak of nature that everyone and their gigantic mothers wanted to kill, currently wondering what the hell he had done to piss off the gods, and praying all this shit would end. He was getting really ticked off.
***
Shaking his head to dispel those sudden thoughts, Ranma turned his attention solely on the man whimpering on his arm, "What's yer name?"
"Ke-Keith!" the man answered pathetically.
"Well, Keith. I'm gonna give yah one chance to walk away from this alive." he grunted, dropping the man to the ground, "How much is tha bounty on my head now? Still 10,000 gold pieces?" he asked while kicking backwards, the form of one of the Death Squad's trolls rocketing across the clearing to smash THOURGH a boulder to crash haphazardly to the ground, unmoving.
Keith shook his head, any pretense of lying to the beast driven out of his mind at the sight of THAT feat of strength and brutality, "20,000."
Ranma nodded, his ego once again swelling at the almost ludicrous amount of cash being offered for little ole him. "Any weapon masters involved yet?" he was highly curious about these proclaimed 'Weapon Masters', maybe if he killed enough of them people would leave him the hell alone? Hmm, something to think about.
Keith shook his head, mumbling, "Don't know, no clue. Haven't heard nothin about it."
Ranma nodded again, "Why do you guys hunt me anyway, I've seen plenty of cats wanderin around, be just as easy to kill them y'know. Brings up anudda question too, how come none of them other cat's ever join a death squad?" He had been meaning to kick their ass, then question them about being a were. Hell, never know, maybe he could figure out a way to change or somethin.
Keith, for the first time in along time, was able to cast a blank unbelieving look at the child killin soul eating monster he and his doom Squad had tracked for nearly a week, "Eh... were's don't want to hunt you, because it's said you eat their souls. And.. your the Were-Smilodon, the child devourer."
Ranma blinked. Eat their souls? Consume children? "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" he almost got floored by that answer, "Yyou *snort* think I eat *GUAHAH* souls?" he clutched his sides, finding it difficult to breath, "You *buahaha* think I, hold on a sec *deep breath, GUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH* devour children?"
Keith was rather put off by the laughing monster of the abyss, but he was still too terrified to actually let him know that.
Ranma chortled, his laughter dying down into something more manageable. Wiping a tear from his eye, he asked "Wha.. What's a *snicker* Were-smilodon?"
"Saber-Tooth Weretiger." Keith answered calmly.
"Eh? Is that what I am? What's the big deal?" He asked, curious.
"Eer.." how the hell does one explain to a monster that he is perhaps the most fear creature ever to walk Jade? "Ahh.. I dunno.. I guess.. eh.. you're not suppose to exist?" he supplied lamely.
Ranma hmmed for a second, then shrugged. "One last question. Eva since you goons started comin after me, I've been noticin a steady stream of silver weapons. I'm kinda curious what that's all about. I mean, the weapons are pretty weak, and prolly cost a ton to maintain." he eyed the little man for a moment, before adding, "And I know you got enough steel around here ta build a mecha-godzilla, so what gives?"
Now, Keith wasn't an idiot. Considering the general education one finds when they live on Jade, he'd probably be considered an Einstein among the populace. While he wondered what the hell a mecha-godzilla was, he knew beyond a doubt they were in some serious fucking trouble. "Wait a minute! Are you saying you can handle silver, no problems at all?" he looked frantic, desperately hoping it WASN'T so.
Scratching his head, Ranma shrugged before reaching down to pick up one of the discarded Silver broadswords, "That answer yer question?"
Keith, being questioned by a creature from everyone's nightmare, being presented with irrefutable proof that their target was IMMUNE to the soul scarring effects of SILVER, did the only thing he could think of in this particular situation.
He fainted.
Ranma blinked, idly scratching a troublesome spot behind his head while using the Silver sword to chip out some rotten food that had gotten stuck between his teeth, shrugged to himself as he looted the downed merc's, taking their food, water, money (not that he ever got to spend any of it, but he figured one day he might actually need the worthless stuff) and the Troll's clothing (remarkably clean, and on most occasions perfect for his oversized frame.) before taking off for his home.
Well, the cave he called home. He was just lucky none of these idiots had found him while he was resting there; it was always so hard to get a little privacy now days.
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(Posted Mon, 26 Jan 2004 22:21)
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