FEEL MY RAGE
Disclaimer: Ranma ˝ and Tattoon Master belong to their own creators, so I hope no one goes after me with any silly lawsuits.
< >: Thoughts
Chapter 2
Don’t Cross Me!
Ranma sighed as he trudged along the bank of the river that ran through Tokyo. Slung over his shoulder was his backpack with all of his worldly possessions. The best martial artist in Nerima and one of the premiere fighters in the world was in very low spirits as he considered all that had happened and what he was going to do. His decision to leave the Tendo home and his father had been abrupt and based on intense frustration and anger, but deep down, he knew that if he had not departed at that moment, things would have gotten ugly. And Kami-sama help him, he wouldn’t have regretted anything if Genma, Soun and Akane had pushed him too far and make him lose control. As far as he was concerned, whatever happened after that, they deserved it after all the Hell they put him through since he arrived in Nerima.
Letting off another tired sigh, he decided to rest for the night and stopped beneath a bridge. As he began to pitch his tent, he started to contemplate his options. Going back to them was out of the question. There was no way he would ever submit himself to being used and abused, never again. After a year and a half of non-stop frustration, disappointments, and lost chances, he had decided that the engagement had not been worth it. Why keep paying into something and getting next to nothing in return? This attitude had been building up for a long while, and the only reason why he hadn’t acted on these feelings was the hope that it would eventually work out.
<Hah! Yeah right! What’s there to work out?> Ranma thought sarcastically. Why would he even consider the possibility of making things right with Akane, who had never shown any trust, faith or positive feedback toward him? Not once, did she ever wait to hear his explanation whenever something went wrong. Not once did she ever say the words, ‘I’m sorry’ whenever she made a wrong assumption about him. Not once did she ever try to understand the kind of pressure and aggravation that he went through every day. Whenever something went wrong, it was always his fault. Whenever some girl looked at him, he was immediately labeled as a pervert. And when that conclusion was reached, out came that mallet.
Why hadn’t he fought back? Who in their right mind would have just stood there and take that kind of abuse? He let off snort and decided that mulling about the past wasn’t going to help him in the future. And right now, he had no direction nor plans other than getting away from the madness at the Tendo Dojo. He decided to just sleep on it as he crawled into his tent and turned in for the night. As he lay down and closed his eyes, he realized that he was on his own now. There was no one who was going to help him, but then again, since when was anyone on his side? Everyone he ever knew only helped him for their own benefit, not because they actually cared about him.
Unknown to him, a certain someone was looking after him. Standing on the bridge just above him, a robed figure looked down at the tent and then up at the night sky. It was going to be a cold night, and the person slumbering within the tent was going to run the risk of catching pneumonia, despite his training to endure hardships. The mysterious person decided to make things more comfortable for the displaced heir to the Anything Goes. Raising one slender hand, the person made a simple waving gesture, and a strange glowing pattern appeared on the back of the hand. Immediately, Ranma’s tent became surrounded by a gentle red glow as the temperature around it rose to a more comfortable degree. When the individual was certain that Ranma was going to sleep comfortably for the night, the person departed.
The diamond was very rough and would require a LOT of polishing, but the final product would be well worth the effort. However the process was going to be a long and hard one.
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The next morning, Ranma awoke refreshed and surprisingly early. He felt a kind of serene calmness that he had never experienced before. All the anger and stress that he had felt the night before was all but forgotten. Well, he still remembered, but he was more focused and determined to make his life more his own and not because of some stupid pledge, broken promise or Amazon Law.
First thing on the agenda was to find a new place to live. And that would require money and lots of it. Unknown to his father and Nabiki, Ranma had been saving his money. Despite the numerous blackmail schemes from the middle Tendo daughter, and the frequent pilfering from his father, (after all Genma never believed in earning things), the pig-tailed martial artist had amassed a considerable amount from his meager allowance and the times he had worked at the Nekohanten and the Ucchan’s. It wouldn’t last him indefinitely, but it was good for a start.
Though property rentals were high in Tokyo, he was quite certain that he could find a reasonably priced apartment, so long as he found a job. Though he could have opted to move out of Tokyo completely, the considerable cost for a train ticket and to set himself up in a new city was beyond his current means. (1) And there was the problem of his rivals, fiancées and other enemies. There were going to look for him, either for revenge for what he had done to Akane, or for the chance to become his fiancée. People like Ryoga and Kuno would be out for his head, while Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi would see this as their chance claim him as their own. The ensuing battles from those people was something that he didn’t need. Then there were idiots like his father and Soun Tendo trying to force that stupid pledge on him, and Nabiki using him as a means to make money.
If that was the case, that would mean that in order for Ranma Saotome to be free, then he would have to disappear completely. In other words, Ranma Saotome would have to die.
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Meanwhile, another person was thinking the exact same thing, though in a more literal sense.
“RANMA PREPARE TO DIE!”
Though he was in the middle of nowhere at the time, Ryoga thought it would be best to let out his anger and frustration to the heavens above. After what he had seen what Ranma had done to Akane that day, the Eternal Lost Boy was on a mission to make that bastard pay dearly. Beating him to a bloody pulp would not suffice. No, he was going to make sure Ranma would never hurt Akane again!
In his mind, he could still remember that scene. At the time, he was P-chan, and for once, had not gotten lost on his way to the bathroom. He had just entered the Tendo Home through the back door when he saw…
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Flashback…
“SHUT UP!”
WHAM!
P-chan’s eyes widened in pure shock as he saw Akane reel from Ranma’s blow. His heart wrenched as blood trickled down her cheek, and then the most emotional sight of all was seeing tears in her eyes as Ranma angrily stomped out of the house.
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End of Flashback…
How dare he!? How dare he strike Akane!? That was totally unforgivable! That went against everything a true man stood for! Ranma was not a rival any more! He was not someone to be respected! No, he wasn’t a man at all for hurting her! He was going to pay the ultimate price for marring Akane’s face and making her cry!
This time, Ryoga was REALLY GOING TO KILL HIM!
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Later that day…
Ranma sighed as he left Furinken High for the last time. It was a few hours after classes had ended and he had spent a good amount of that time killing himself off, metaphorically speaking. It had begun when he had decided to call in an old debt…
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Flashback…
Takuya Shibana had been surprised when Ranma suddenly appeared before him, just as he was about to leave for home. The president of Furinken’s computer club was now in the process of destroying a person’s life, more or less.
“Are you sure you want to do this Ranma?”
Ranma growled at him, which caused the computer nerd to tremble a bit. It was quite clear to him that the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes, was not in the mood for any arguments. He turned back to his work and after a few more hours, he nodded as the last of the necessary access codes and data was entered. He turned back to Ranma.
“Okay Ranma, it’s done. Everything you wanted. All the old data has been deleted and the new stuff’s been put in. As far as anyone in the National Registry knows, there never was a record of…”
“Fine.” Ranma growled in response.
The harshness in his tone scared Takuya. “So… we’re done now? The computer club doesn’t owe you for saving us from those bullies last month?”
Genma’s son nodded. “Yeah, we’re quits now.”
“Okay. But I have to ask you. Why would you want me to do…?”
“Why?” He growled again, silencing the computer whiz. “After all the bullshit that I had to take for the last YEAR, you’re asking me why? The better question would be WHY I didn’t do this sooner!” He then decided that it was time to leave and headed toward the door. He stopped one final time, and spoke to Takuya without turning. “Oh yeah. If you’re planning to tell Nabiki or anyone else about this…”
Takyuya immediately started to wave his hands frantically. “Oh, that’s not a problem! I won’t TELL anyone!”
“Good. Besides, THIS should be enough to keep you quiet.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small data disk. He casually tossed it over his shoulder and into the trembling hands of the computer president. He then left without another word.
The frightened nerd looked down at the disk, then his eyes opened wide as he read the label. He quickly inserted the disk into one of the computer’s drives and started to read the files. His face’s expression became extremely bright as he read the data.
True to Ranma’s words, Takuya was NEVER going to tell anyone about what had happened today. He rubbed his hands with glee at Ranma’s parting gift, then started doing some serious hacking.
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End of Flashback…
Ranma sighed as he approached his campsite and prepared to pack up all his belongings. He knew that he couldn’t stay in one place for long and he had to get himself set up somewhere else. There was just no telling when one of his former fiancées or enemies would find him.
“RANMA! YOU ARE SO DEAD!”
<Damn!>
The pigtailed boy sensed the approach of Ryoga and immediately dodged his strike as he came streaking in from above, his bamboo umbrella aimed for his head. There was a massive explosion, which caused the entire campsite to fly apart in all directions.
When the dust cloud cleared, Ranma was in his standard stance, but his expression was not of supreme cockiness. It was one of contempt. He wasn’t regarding the Lost Boy as a rival and sometimes friend. He was now looking at him as one would regard a cockroach that was about to be crushed under his foot. This idiotic maniac was after his blood, and to Ranma’s current state of mind, that meant that restraint was not required nor WANTED. If Ryoga was shouting ‘prepare to die,’ then he’d better expect the same in return.
The bandanna-wearing boy had no idea that he was now facing a potentially explosive and DEADLY situation. All he could see in his anger-driven mind was Ranma’s fist striking dear, sweet, INNOCENT Akane. He was going to pound Ranma into oblivion for his inexcusable crime against her! He was going to make sure that Ranma would NEVER hurt her again!
Ryoga let off a yell as he charged in with his umbrella.
Ranma however, said nothing as he deftly dodge the first strike, then retaliated with a quick strike to his opponent’s Adam’s Apple, causing him to gasp and lose his grip on his weapon. Ryoga then received five hits to the chest, but unlike the previous fights they had, these punches had substantially more force backing them, causing the breath in his lungs to be driven out.
The Lost Boy however, recovered from the attack, then let off a roar or outrage.
“You think that hurt, Ranma? You still hit like a baby!”
He then let loose with a barrage of hard punches, but Ranma simply blocked or dodged each blow with relative ease. His expression did not change, nor did he utter a single word as he countered each attack.
“You’ll pay for what you did to Akane!” Ryoga shouted out as he continued to attack. “I thought you had some honor! I thought you were a man! You’re nothing but a sorry excuse for a human being! Now I’m going to make you sorry you were ever born!”
Ranma continued to remain silent as he swatted aside a dozen more of Ryoga’s punches and kicks as if they were bothersome flies. This only enraged his foe even more, as he was expecting Ranma to respond with either that damned annoying cockiness, or some flimsy excuse for his actions. He wasn’t used to the silent treatment, and that contemptuous expression on his face just made him madder.
“DAMN YOU, SAY SOMETHING!”
The Hibiki boy put all of his unbelievable strength into a hard straight punch that would have smashed through a bank vault door. However, with seemingly no effort at all, Ranma caught the fist with an open palm, then closed his fingers around the fist in an extremely tight grip.
Ryoga’s eyes became as wide as saucers as he tried to pull his fist back. However, his enemy simply increased his gripping power, and the Lost Boy couldn’t believe the amount of strength Ranma was displaying. He then began to notice that Genma’s son was now glowing with what seemed to be a red aura that was tinged with black. This was unlike Ranma’s usual blue aura of confidence. Furthermore, he remained standing firm despite Ryoga’s attempts to yank him forward.
<What’s going on?! Since when was Ranma THIS strong?!>
Hibiki tried desperately tried to pull back his hand, but his opponent wouldn’t let him as he continued to apply pressure to it. The hand bones, tendons and muscles started to register pain as they were compressed even further. Frantically, he attempted to make Ranma let go by throwing a punch with his other hand. However, the attempt failed as Ranma put up his other hand to block the blow. Then it happened.
CRUNCH!
Ryoga let off a scream as his hand was crushed. Despite his phenomenal endurance against impacts and physical blows, his body had not been trained to withstand overpressures. At this moment, Ranma was exerting a crushing force of more than 3000 PSI, (Pounds per Square Inch). And instant later, Ryoga was swung about by his injured hand, slamming him into the concrete embankment, face-first. This was followed by several repetitions of his face being smashed into the same embankment.
More blows with increasing force was delivered to his upper torso, with Ryoga still seeing stars from the face pounding. He was tossed like a rag doll several dozens of yards. He landed painfully on his rear as Ranma slowly, deliberately approached his foe. The directionally-challenged Hibiki shook his head to clear it, then staggered to his feet. He had begun to think that Ranma had been holding back from their previous fights. If that was the case, then he would have to get more serious in punishing him for what he did to Akane. Using his remaining good hand, he began to focus his chi and his feelings of depression. As Ranma got closer, Ryoga let loose with his technique.
“SHI SHI HOKODAN!”
The blast of ki rocketed from his palm to impact heavily on his target. However, much to the Lost Boy’s disbelief and shock, Ranma made no move to dodge nor counter with his own chi technique. The blast dispersed into wisps as he continued to advance.
Ryoga paled as he saw that his technique had no effect on his hated enemy. It hadn’t even slowed him down. He let loose with another blast, thinking that the first one hadn’t been strong enough.
“SHI SHI HOKODAN!”
Again the blast of ki hit him directly and again, it failed to do any damage before dispersing. Ryoga started firing blast after blast, with no appreciable effect on his adversary. He began to panic, which did nothing but weaken his ki technique. Since it depended on the strength of his depression, the fear he was feeling was having a detrimental effect, draining its potency. Then again, his fully-powered depression blast would have had little to no effect against Ranma in his current mood anyway.
Then suddenly, Akane’s former fiancé blurred forward, evading the last blast, and slamming another blow to Ryoga’s belly, this time with such impact that it nearly caused his stomach to burst out the back. Then another blow was landed, followed by successively stronger punches and kicks. At that point, the Lost Boy was feeling pain on a scale unimaginable. He was shocked that Ranma possessed such power. Then he was grabbed by the throat by that same crushing grip and hoisted a foot off the ground. He struggled to free himself, but with one hand crushed and a severely injured body, that proved to be impossible. Glaring at his foe, he spat out his surrender.
“All right, all right, damn you! You win this time! I give up… for now!”
It was at that moment, that Ranma finally spoke. His tone was quiet and deadly.
“So what?”
The Lost Boy gaped in confusion at Ranma’s response, then choked a bit as the pressure on his neck increased. Then he was slammed back into the concrete embankment, this time with far greater force than before. At this point, getting back to his feet was a monumental task by itself. Just as got to his knees, Ranma grabbed a handful of Ryoga’s hair and yanked him up. He then began to brutally pound Ryoga’s face into the concrete, again and again and again. After several more hits, the directionally-challenged boy was spun about, then received a savage backfist to the face.
CRACK!
The sound of his nose breaking was an unfamiliar one to Hibiki ,as he was sent flying back fifty feet. After training in the Backusai Tenketsu, he had insane amounts of endurance, but Ranma was dishing out impossibly hard strikes. He went tumbling end of end before rolling to a stop on his stomach. He let off a groan as he tried to sit up. His vision was blurry, and his body ached with every movement. He gulped as he saw Ranma slowly approaching him again.
“W-w-wait!” He gasped. “Didn’t you hear me? I said I give up!”
Ranma snorted in disgust as he replied, “And didn’t you hear me? I said, so what?”
“Huh?”
Akane’s would-be suitor could do nothing as Ranma yanked him up once more by the hair and held him while standing, so that their gazes were locked. He shivered as he saw the deadly glint in his eyes.
Ranma growled as he spoke in a low and dangerous tone. “You say you give up? What does that mean? Does that mean that you’re going to stop attacking me for some stupid reason? Does that mean, that you’ll forget about getting revenge? Does that mean that you’ll never bother me again? Tell me, P-Chan. Does your saying that you give up mean any of that?”
Before he could respond, Ranma slammed a fist into his gut, causing Ryoga to cough up some blood. Ranma then started to hit his adversary repeatedly.
“No, saying you give up, doesn’t mean any of that.” The former Anything Goes heir said.
WHAM!
“To you, saying that you give up, only means that you want to stop today.”
WHOMP!
“Then, you start up again a week or so later.”
WHAM!
“That doesn’t sound like you give up.”
BAM!
“What you should be saying is that you want to stop for now.”
CRACK!
“Oh, and by the way, just because you want to stop, doesn’t mean that I HAVE to stop as well.”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“I mean, why should I?”
CRUNCH!
“That would only give you a chance to come back and attack me again.”
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
“And I don’t want to do this again… EVER!”
SNAP! CRACKLE! POP!
“I guess this my way of saying that I give up too.”
WHAMMO!
“I give up this whole Unite the Schools crap.”
CRASH!
“I give up holding back against assholes like you.”
THUMP!
“I give up trying to explain myself when I know nobody is going to listen.”
BOOM!
“In other words, I give up being Ranma Saotome and everything that he was. So therefore, I give up living his life. And the only way that I can believe you giving up, it if you give up YOUR LIFE! GOODBYE RYOGA!”
By this time, Ryoga was a battered and broken mess and he was barely conscious as he saw Ranma’s fist hurtling toward his head, intent on knocking it off his shoulders. He braced for the end.
“STOP!”
At that moment, Ranma stopped his fist and turned to see… her.
To Be Continued….
Author’s Notes
It’s been a long time since I updated this story and I think I can make it work as well as the original. As for chapter 3, (if I ever get around to it), it will introduce Balla and also an encounter with Soun Tendo as he tries to convince Ranma to return.
(1) Instead of having Ranma move to Hiroshima, as he did in Tattoon Ranma, I decided to let Ranma stay in Tokyo but in a different district.