============================ PART XI Clash of the umbrella kings! ============================ There are moments in time, vital moments, turning points, if you will. Some call it branches in destiny, others view it as a pair of trousers in time (start at one point, but with two pathways to... well... you get the idea, right?) Today was one of these days. For example, let's call this, the right trouser leg of time... *************************** [November's End] "Ukyou? Where are you?" said Ryouga, as he was wandering hopelessly lost in the main room of the restaurant. "I'm in the backroom!" Ukyou yelled. Ryouga turned to the direction from which her voice came. He checked his compass. {Okay, if I keep on walking in this general direction...} Four minutes later (a rather good time by Hibiki standards) Ryouga made it there. Ukyou was in the storage room, standing on a small stepladder arranging the contents on a high shelf. "Hey there," he sheepishly said. "What?" she replied, flatly. "Well, um, first of all, I'm really sorry if I did anything to make you mad last night. I mean it. If... if you wanna throw me out, I'd understand." Ukyou looked surprised at this. "Throw you out?" she said, turning towards him, "No, that's alright. It's not like you wrecked the store or anything." "So exactly what did I do anyways?" asked Ryouga. "Forget it." Ukyou turned back to the high shelf, humming to herself. Unfortunately, she turned rather quickly and the stepladder was a rather old and shaky one. Ukyou wobbled a bit and then fell off. She closed her eyes when she realized she was going to hit the floor. But she didn't. Ukyou opened her eyes and looked right into Ryouga's. He managed to catch her neatly into his arms. "Hey, you okay?" he asked. "Y-yeah." Ryouga breathed a sigh of relief that his friend wasn't injured. Ukyou's heart slowed down after the inital panic of falling. They stayed that way for a few long seconds. "Ryouga..." "Hm?" "You can put me down now." "Huh?" "Down, Ryouga, down." "Oh... sorry, sorry." Ryouga let go quickly, deep in a state of embarassment. They stood there for a while, soaking in uncomfortable silence (which was beginning to happen much too often for Ryouga's liking). Finally, someone broke the silence. "So what'd you want?" asked Ukyou. "Do you remember that bridge where Ryo first attacked me?" he asked. "Mm-hm. What about it?" "Could you... guide me to it? I've gotta be there in an hour." "Oh? What for?" "Me and Ryo... talked, I guess. He agreed not to attack any of my friends anymore... if... if I showed up today for a duel." Ukyou sighed. "Wouldn't be a normal month without at least one big martial arts duel. Fine. C'mon, let's go." *** They walked slowly to the bridge, each silent and thinking. She was worried about Ryouga, although she'd never admit it. This Ryo guy... he couldn't be that good, could he? And Ryouga was pretty good too, almost as good as Ranchan. Things, she told herself, would be fine. Ryouga's head was swirling. What did he do to Ukyou when he was drunk? Did Akane think he was some kind of pervert now? Exactly how good was Ryo at martial arts? Why on earth did Ranma kiss him? Was Ranma's curse beginning to bend his personality and turn him into a girl, both in mind and body? Would this happen to Ryouga too? This was no good. Too many distractions before the fight, that's what was wrong. They noticed a fair sized crowd up ahead. "Hey, what's with the crowd?" Ryouga asked. "Dunno." "EVERYBODY PLACE YOUR BETS! IT'S THE BATTLE OF THE DECADE! THE CLASH OF THE UMBRELLA KINGS! RYOUGA 'THE ROCK' HIBIKI VS. RYO MUHOSHIN, THE MAN WHO CRUSHED THE MEGA-PERVERT! C'MON UP AND PLACE YOUR BETS!" Ryouga and Ukyou blinked. That was definitely Nabiki on the megaphone. "Ryouga... the Rock?" Ryouga wondered, not sure whether he should be feeling offended or complemented. The crowd saw him and cheered. {What kind of a name is Ryouga the Rock? This was just great, more distractions}. Ukyou was shaking her head sadly. "I don't believe she did this. Shoulda known, though. Shoulda known." Just before they entered the crowd, Ukyou grabbed Ryouga's shoulder. "I'm gonna go get a good view." "Oh." he said. Ryouga turned away, feeling not quite ready for the fight. "Ryouga!" Ukyou yelled. Ryouga stopped and turned around. Ukyou gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Hey, good luck out there, okay? Don't get hurt. I'll bet on ya, okay?" Ryouga was speechless as he strode towards the battlefield. *** Some distance away, Akane had noticed Ryouga and Ukyou's approach. She watched as they walked up, talked, and smiled a bit when Ukyou kissed him. {Well, there's one happy couple} she thought. Then she sadly looked at her fiance. {What's happening with us?} she thought. {Is the curse starting to warp your mind? And... do you really care about me? Or is it... just the spice...} Ranma noticed something was wrong. He looked at Akane and noticed that she was looking sad. He put his arm around her. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure Ryouga's gonna come out of this alright. I've hit him hard plenty of times and he still comes back for more." Despite his words, Ranma was worried. His other arm was still sore from the hit he took from Ryo's umbrella. *** Ryo strode confidently to the appointed place of battle. He would have worn his usual suit, but he was starting to run out of suits and he had a feeling that this fight might get ugly. For today's festivities, he decided to go with the classic white t-shirt, black pants, and all-terrain shoes look. He used to not worry about fashion so much, but constant naggings from his more fashionable sibblings had ruined his carefree days. Once again, he was dressed alot like Gosunkugi. He was a litttle stunned to find out that his much-anticipated duel with Hibiki had become a public attraction. "WHAT IS THIS?!?!?!" he yelled, pushing through the crowd and stepping unto the bridge. He was expecting a confrontation of old, two warriors, and perhaps a loved one or two cheering on, to add to the drama. The carnival atmosphere was repulsive to him, especially as a backdrop to a duel. The crowd seemed confused. There were murmers in the crowd. "This is the guy?", "I thought he always wore a suit", "What's with the umbrella?" were some murmers he heard, but the one that was heard the most, and the one that bugged him the most was "Hey, isn't that Gosunkugi?" "I AM NOT GOSUNKUGI!!!!" He yelled. *** Somewhere out there, Gosunkugi sneezed. *** Across the bridge, he saw that his opponent had arrived as well. Ryo examined the battlefield beforehand, as any good tactician would do. It was concrete, four lanes wide, fairly long, and not used much anymore since a new overpass nearby was infinitely more convenient for traffic. No traffic should come through at all during the fight. The bridge was so unused that the city hadn't bothered repairing the damage inflicted from the last battle he had with Ryouga. He reached into his memmories, recalling all the annoyances that Hibiki had caused in his life, and he felt the adrenaline surge soar, giving him strength. Today, Ryouga would NOT win, he was sure of it. *** Up in a tree nearby, Kyoko and Ryoko sat in a tree, observing the crowd. "Well, there they are," sighed Ryoko. "Ryouga hasn't changed much." Kyoko nodded. "And there's Ryo too." "Yeah... there he is." A third person, obviously young, sat lazily on a branch above them and snickered. He adjusted his round-frame glasses and brushed his hair away from his eyes. "What's so funny, Megane?" asked Ryoko irritably. "I can see it in Ryo's eyes, he's going to lose again." "Hm?" wondered Kyoko. "He doesn't look scared t'me, Megs," observed Ryoko. "Overconfidence, gets him every time. You'll see." "Hm..." "Care to make a bet?" queried Megs. "Hm... I think... they'll come out even." "That's long odds, sis." "I've just got this feeling. What's the prize?" "Dinner tonite, loser pays." "Deal." *** "Good day, Hibiki." "Muhoshin." Ryouga shifted into a ready stance. Ryo, however, was still looking around the area as if it was an art museum full of tacky paintings. "Hmm... just a moment," said Ryo. "Huh?" "I'd just like to make one modification to the playing field, if I may?" He grinned and tilted his head. "No tricks, Muhoshin." "No tricks. I... just don't want any interference, and I don't want you wandering off in the middle of battle. Don't think I haven't forgotten about your pathetic sense of direction." "What did you have in mind?" Ryo walked over to where the concrete bridge connected to the land. He poked the pavement with his umbrella and returned to the middle. The concrete exploded a second later, leaving a big gap between the bridge and the land. "Well?" He looked at Ryouga expectantly. Ryouga went to his side and did the same. *** "What on earth are they doing?" Akane asked. "I think," Ranma said, "that they're making sure nobody butts in and nobody runs away." "They both know the bakusai ten-ketsu?" In the distance, thunder roared through the skies. *** They stood at the center of the bridge, Ryouga in an alert stance and serious demeanor, and Ryo holding his umbrella like a fencer's sword and smiling with eyes narrowed. "Is it not a good day to die, Hibiki?" "You won't beat me." "By hook or by crook, I will. FIGHT!" The fighting opened up with a barrage of umbrella swipes by both combatants, as Ryouga swung his umbrella left and right. Ryo dodged easily. He didn't dare try to block since he knew how heavy that thing really was and he was afraid that his own umbrella would break under a direct hit. Ryouga targeted Ryo's gut with a straight thrust but Ryo dodged left and swung across at Ryouga's face. Ryouga tried to dodge, but recieved a cut on the jaw. Ryouga took a few steps back and felt the cut, while Ryo stood back, twirling his umbrella. Ryo's eyes shone of malevolance, and for a moment, he flashed a hyena's grin. *** "Hm," Ranma said, "this could be a good or bad thing." "Good or bad?" Akane asked. "Well, when he gets mad, he fights harder, which is good. But sometimes he also fights like a stupid idiot, which is bad." *** Ryouga was mad. In front of EVERYBODY watching, he'd recieved the first blow. Failed to draw first blood. Ryo stood there, still alert, but with a smug look to his face. "That's it. TAKE THIS!" Ryouga yelled, snapping open his umbrella. He spun it in his hands and then swung forward. Ryo dodged the first swing, which hit the pavement and sent sparks flying. "Yow." Ryo muttered. He'd never seen the umbrella-buzzsaw trick done properly before, until now. Ryouga swung madly at Ryo, sending sparks flying everywhere. Finally, Ryo tripped a bit and Ryouga caught him in the back, slicing through skin quickly. Ryo screamed and twisted away before he got cut any deeper. It wasn't a fatal cut, he knew, but he was bleeding, and it did hurt enough to be a distraction. Ryouga reared back with the umbrella and threw it at Ryo, who ducked and swung the handle-end of his umbrella at Ryouga's feet, where it telescoped and hooked Ryouga's foot. Ryo grinned and yanked hard, pulling Ryouga's foot out from under him. Ryouga fell down hard, hitting his head on the pavement. The umbrella retracted to it's normal length quickly and Ryo swung down hard yelling "GEKIHOU!". The umbrella hook glowed brightly and exploded with light as it slammed into Ryouga's chest. Ryouga gritted his teeth and gave a small yell of pain. The hit had knocked the breath out of him, and he wasn't sure if any ribs were broken or not. Ryo swung back and hammered Ryouga repeatedly while yelling "Hyaku-Gekiou!" striking down with his charged umbrella at amazing speeds. Ryouga managed to turn left and right to dodge some blows, which made deep gashes in the pavement, and had to use his arms to block others, which left his arms feeling incredibly sore. Ryouga's umbrella zoomed back from it's flight, flying straight towards the back of Ryo's head. Ryo suddenly felt an incredibly hard blow slam into the back of his head and stumbled forward with a ringing in his skull. Ryouga kicked his legs out from under him and Ryo fell face first into the pavement. *** "Well, there he goes," said Megs. "Why'd you think it would be a tie anyways?" "They... they're both pretty good, right?" wondered Megane. "Let's see... I hear there's a pretty good okonomiyaki joint nearby, you oughta be able to afford that, ne?" "Hey, Ryo's getting up!" said Kyoko. "Yaay oniichan!" *** Both combatants wobbled uneasily to opposite corners, getting a bit of a breather. Ryouga was feeling bruises all over. Ryo's head was spinning and his back wasn't feeling any better either. Ryouga pulled off some bandanas and threw them at Ryo, who just evaded them by opening his umbrella and hiding under it. Ryouga then pulled out a streetlamp from the bridge and threw it at Ryo, who smashed it in half with a gekihou. Ryouga snapped his umbrella open and sent it flying towards Ryo, who opened his own and flung it towards Ryouga. Ryouga's umbrella zoomed in hard and fast, in a slightly curving trajectory, gracefully cutting through the air. Ryo dodged out of it's way, and ducked as it zoomed by again to return to it's owner. Ryo's umbrella wobbled through the air in a drunk sort of way. Certainly not gracefully. However, this made it hard to tell where it was going, and Ryouga stutter-stepped left and right trying to determine what way would be the safe way. He finally decided to just duck, which worked fine. The umbrella wobbled (to the astonishment of everyone) back to it's owner. Ryouga stood up and caught his umbrella. Ryo stepped left and right, uncertain of where his would go, and made a lunging grab for it. Both combatants took a brief rest from combat, circling each other warily. Ryouga felt that he had recovered enough and charged madly at Ryo, who didn't feel all that recovered at all. Ryo was soon face-to-face with Ryouga, who lunged forward and tried to grab him. Ryo jumped up (using that specially reserved martial artist high jump thing) behind Ryouga, twisted around in the air, and shot off a ryugeki-ken. Ryouga saw the incoming bolt of energy and jumped over it and in pursuit of Ryo. Ryo landed and shot off another ryugeki-ken at the still-airborne Ryouga, who caught it in the gut, tumbled on his landing, but managed to roll to his feet. "Enough," Ryouga muttered, as he gathered ki. Ryo saw this and tried to counter as he shot off another ryugeki-ken, but was flattened as Ryouga's shishi houkou-dan demolished it and slammed Ryo off his feet and into a streetlamp. "Ite... that hurt," Ryo muttered. "DIE!" He jumped high into the air again, almost above the very center of the bridge. Then he yelled "GOU-RYUGEKI-KEN!" as a storm of dozens of energy bolts rained down into the bridge. The bolts hit everywhere, making craters and holes in the bridge, throwing debris everywhere. Ryouga was caught in the blast, getting hit directly by one, sent flying through the air by the explosion of another that hit right next to him, hammered again by several more while flying through the air. *** "Wow. Always impresses me when he does that." Megane said. "Cool!" bubbled Kyoko. "Well," sighed Ryoko, "guess it won't be a tie. Ryo drains himself too much when he does that... and if Ryouga's endurance holds true to form..." *** "Ryouga!" Ukyou yelled. She stared helplessly as Ryouga was bounced back and forth in the explosions. Ranma gritted his teeth. This wasn't going well. If it got really ugly, he was ready to jump in and interrupt. After all, Ryouga was something vaguely like a friend, and there were no other candidates for Best Man at the wedding (unless Ukyou wanted to cross-dress again.) *** Ryo zoomed down from his flight, umbrella charged and ready for the final blow. To his surprise, he saw Ryouga slowly and unsteadily getting up to his feet. He descended towards Ryouga, umbrella raised high and held like an axe. Ryo screamed "DIEEEE!" and swung down hard, only to have the umbrella caught with one of Ryouga's hands and Ryo's foot caught by Ryouga's other hand. Ryouga pulled the umbrella out of Ryo's hand and then slammed him back and forth by the foot like a rag doll. Ryo flailed desperately for something to grab, screaming "ACK" "OOF" "UGH" and "OW" with each impact on the hard concrete. Finally, he grabbed a chunk of cement, and as he sailed right over Ryouga's head, threw it down hard, causing Ryouga to lose his grip. Ryo landed right behind Ryouga, and grabbed him around the waist. Quickly, Ryo pulled back and hammered Ryouga with a backbreaker, and then flipped while still holding Ryouga and gave him another backbreaker. Ryo let go and stumbled unsteadily away to regain his senses. To Ryo's horror, Ryouga slowly got up again as well. *** "Jeez, neither of these guys is falling," said an impressed Ranma. "Well," said Akane, "they both know the breaking point technique. I guess they both have super endurance." "But Ryo looks like... like... Gosunkugi! When somebody's built like that, ya don't really think they're... well... super tough." *** "Damn," Ryoko muttered. "Well, that settles it." "What's wrong?" asked Kyoko. "She's gonna lose, that's what," Megane said. "Ryouga has ALWAYS had the superior endurance. I'm surprised Ryo is still standing, but you can tell by looking at them that Ryo's losing steam. *** Ryo went for his umbrella as fast as he could but Ryouga suddenly caught up with him and, using one of his bandanas, snared Ryo's left wrist. "Let's see how you do without the umbrella," Ryouga sneered. Ryo zoomed in and hammered Ryouga's head with an elbow, followed by a knee to the gut, all with lightning speed. It was at moments like these that Ryo was extremely gratefull that he studied a little Muy Thai kickboxing. Ryouga reeled back a bit, but didn't let go of the bandana that tied up Ryo's left wrist. He looked right into Ryo's eye, smiling. "Those hits," he said, "felt like a baby's kick!" Ryouga gave Ryo a viscious headbutt that flung his skull back. Ryo wobbled a bit and then surprised everyone by headbutting Ryouga right back. "Headbutt me, will you?" Ryo sneered. Both of them reared back with their skulls and hammered each other again and again and... *** "Ryouga's gonna win." Ranma said, smiling. "That idiot's head can smash through buildings. This'll be over in a snap." *** *WHAM* "Give up yet?" Ryo sneered, looking at the seven Ryougas in front of him. *WHAM* "YOU'LL be the one giving up," Ryouga confidently said to the two Ryos that were looking angrily at him. *WHAM* "Oh no, for once, it's gonna be me beating you, Hibiki." *WHAM* "Not on your best day!" *WHAM* "That's my line!" *WHAM* "WIMP!" *WHAM* "IDIOT!" *WHAM* "PANSY!" *WHAM* "DIRECTIONALLY IMPAIRED DENTAL DISASTER!" *WHAM* "Oh, make fun of my teeth, will you?" *WHAM* *** "What does he think he's doing?" Ryoko said. "Apparently, they've suffered some brain damage and now both of them think that they are goats. That would explain the double-headbutt action going on right now," said Megane. "Not only that, but do you _really_ think that Ryo's head is harder than Ryouga's? I think somebody's gonna fall. And soon." *** *WHAM* After quickly observing the fourteen Ryougas in front of him, Ryo decided that enough was enough and as he reared his head back, he slugged Ryouga in the nose with a quick punch. Ryouga's head reeled back back, while lashing out with a spinning roundhouse kick at the same time which sent Ryo reeling back. Ryouga held his nose, in obvious pain. Amazingly, nothing was broken. "That does it," Ryouga muttered, "You're dead!" He charged at the wobbling Ryo and started throwing punch after punch at him. *** Ukyou, Akane and Ranma were watching the fight intensely when Ukyou suddenly noticed something. She looked up, frowned, and ran over to Ranma and Akane. "Ranma. We've got to stop the fight." Ukyou said with a grim demeanor. "What? You don't interrupt a man-to-man fight." Ranma wondered why Ukyou was so anxious about. "Besides, he's obviously winning." Ukyou merely sighed and rolled her eyes up, then looked at Ranma, then looked up again, as if pointing at something while trying to be subtle. Finally, he figured it out. Ranma looked up. Then he frowned. "Uh-oh.." *** The battlefield looked like a warzone. Holes, craters, and rubble lined the bridge everywhere. If the battle continued any longer, everyone suspected that the bridge would collapse. Ryo staggered back as Ryouga landed punch after unbelieveably hard punch on him. Ryo tried to get focused, and his vision showed twenty Ryougas, and all were looking very pissed off. Through the haze of pain Ryo realized he'd have to go for his desperation tactic, which might not work and would definitely cause Ryo much pain if it did work. Meanwhile, Ryouga was fighting on, fueled by his anger, landing elbows, uppercuts, roundhouses, and all sorts of blows on Ryo. {He's still standing?} thought Ryouga, surprised at the level of endurance that his adversary was showing. Finally, with a solid punch to the gut, Ryo fell to his knees. Ryouga, fully into his berzerker rage, grabbed him by the neck and held his fist high and ready to smash Ryo's skull in. The crowd was stunned. From everyone's viewpoint it looked like Ryouga was going for the killing blow. Akane and Ukyou were surprised as well. They never thought of Ryouga as a killer. Ryo looked at the twenty-three fists raised up and aimed at his head. He didn't want to die yet. Time for _very_ desperate measures. Ryo suddenly reared back with his left hand. He gritted his teeth in anticipation of how bad this would hurt... and focused all his ki into his hand. *** "I don't believe he's gonna do this." Ryoko said. "Do what?" Kyoko asked. "His gekihou." Megane said. "No umbrella?" wondered Kyoko. "The idiot. His arm's gonna explode into a big bloody mess." Megane added. "Eww." Kyoko said. She covered her eyes. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," mumbled Ryoko. *** Ryo swung forward, yelling "GEKIHOU!". He tried to hit a vital spot on Ryouga like his skull or his chest but was too weak to properly lunge forward and ended up connecting with Ryouga's leg. Bright light exploded and a boom could be heard on impact as the two were flung apart. *** "Ouch, that had to hurt." said Megane. "The idiot did it," Ryoko sighed. "Amazing, his arm is still attached. Kyoko, you can uncover your eyes now. There's no gross stuff." "You sure?" said Kyoko in a tiny voice. *** "We've got to interrupt," Ranma said sternly, looking up at the rainclouds. "Definitely," said Ukyou, as both walked towards the edge of the bridge and prepared to jump over. "What are you two talking about?" Akane said, struggling to keep up. *** Ryouga was gritting his teeth and holding his leg. {Damn! This hurts!} He was angry at himself for letting himself open stupidly like that. He was afraid that his leg was shattered. Ryo was on the floor growling in pain. "Itai! Itai itai itaaaaai! KuSO!!!" He looked to Ryouga (the twenty-two others that he had seen previously had seemed to have left) who looked like he was in great pain and was holding his leg. He looked at his own left hand. It was bruised beyond belief. The pain was unbelievable, worse than he imagined it would be. The damage went down the entire length of his arm and he couldn't move it at all. He wouldn't be using that arm for a long while, if he survived this fight. {Feh, he loses a leg, I lose an arm. Not good enough.} Slowly, Ryo got up. His arm was limp at his side. He slowly staggered over to where his umbrella was dropped and picked it up with his right hand. He noticed some movement in the ranks of the observers and saw that two of Ryouga's allies were getting ready to jump over the gap and interrupt the fight. He quickly stabbed the ground with his umbrella, yelling "BAKUSAITENKETSU!" The bridge got even smaller as half of the remains of the bridge crashed down into the waters. "NO INTERFERENCE!" Ryo glared defiantly and angrily at Ranma and Ukyou. He gave Ryouga a psychotic gaze as he began to twirl the umbrella and its handle began to glow. "This... ends... now." The skies grew darker by the second. The winds became cold and swift. Ranma and Ukyou were yelling at Ryouga desperately but he was too focused on the battle to notice anything else. "You're ... right." Ryouga replied. Ryo didn't have the strength left for another GouRyugeki-Ken, not even for a plain Ryugeki-ken. He'd just have to bludgeon Ryouga to death. He lunged forward swinging the umbrella down hard. Ryouga caught it in one hand, pulled it in, and grabbed Ryo by the throat. "Surrender, Ryo?" Ryouga asked. "Last chance." He was feeling good. about his chances. It looked like Ryo's left arm was a mess and he looked exhausted already. Ryouga had him in a chokehold, and he knew that Ryo's normal punches would be too weak, considering his current state. Ryo tried to shake Ryouga off, moving left and right, without success. Then Ryo hit Ryouga's leg. It didn't get Ryouga to let go, but Ryouga did flinch violently and succeeded in making them both fall into a mini-crater nearby. Ryouga still had Ryo in a death grip and he was feeling weaker by the second. And then it rained. Ryouga, now Ryouga-pig, was stunned. {Why? Why didn't I notice the rainclouds coming? Why me? Why NOW?} *** Akane wondered what was going on. Ryouga fell into some kind of hole but from where she was standing she couldn't see Ryouga any more. She noticed that Ranma-chan and Ukyou were looking very nervous. "Where's Ryouga?" She asked. "I can't see him." "You can't see him?" Ranma asked. "I can't see either of them. I'm too short and this is a lousy view." *** Ryo was confused. "No..." The pig in front of him looked a bit dazed too. Ryo looked down at the pig and noticed that it looked like a mess. In fact it seemed to have all the injuries that Ryouga had... "Either I've just gone mad, or you've turned into a pig. Either way, Hibiki, you die." Ryo picked up the pig and smashed it against the pavement. He let go and raised his foot to stomp on it. A total wave of helplessness overwhelmed Ryouga. Suddenly, and with a grunt, the piglet let out an incredibly massive blast in the form of a huge pillar of light. It was the Full Shishi Houkoudan, the most powerfull form of ki-blast Ryouga had. It impacted full-force into Ryo who was flung back several feet. Ryo landed on his back, roughly, and almost unconscious. The Shishi Houkou-dan rocketed Ryouga through the pavement making a small pig-sized hole in the floor. The massive ki-wave traveled onward and upward, through the clouds, expanding in size as it flew into the dark skies. *** Out in the crowd, Ranma was stunned. That was one of the bigger Full Shishi houkou-dans Ryouga had ever shot. And in pig-form too. He wondered what would happen to Ryouga if he did it in pig-form because the technique was not developed with farm animals in mind. Meanwhile, Akane was yelling at Ukyou, who was several people in front of her. "Hey, Ukyou, move your spatula, I can't see!" *** The Muhoshin siblings looked on in shock at the massive energy wave that had burst forth from the crater where Ryouga and Ryo had dissapeared from. Their jaws were hanging down. Finally, as a group, they murmered, "Holy shit." Then they saw what was falling from the sky... *** Ryo groggily looked up. "Oh no," he muttered. He crawled, trying to reach the edge of the bridge to escape. He was in no condition to worry about anything else. Ryouga-pig was struggling not to fall into the river, as his blast had shot him almost totally through and under the bridge like a rocket. He was furiously scrambling up, trying to get out of the self-made tunnel he made when he noticed that the sky was getting brighter. And then the Full Shishi Houkou-dan, now big enough to cover the entire bridge, dropped back down from the sky. *** From the view of the crowds, it was a massive explosion, sending concrete and metal flying everywhere. The sound of the Full Shishi Houkou-dan slamming into the bridge was heard from far away. The assembled spectators scrambled for cover. When the dust cleared, the bridge was nothing but rubble floating in the water. Despite the rain and the wind, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou searched desperately for Ryouga in the rubble, but nothing was found except the umbrellas of both combattants and a few bandanas. "He couldn't be..." Ranma said, sifting through the rubble. Akane was stunned into silence. Ukyou looked down the river. "They went downstream. If they were knocked off the bridge, they must've fallen into the river. C'mon!" She ran, ignoring the wind and the rain, down the riverbank with Ranma and Akane not far behind. *** [December 2] She stood by the riverbank, where the now demolished bridge had once connected with the land. She hammered away at something, not stopping until it was firmly planted into the ground. Ukyou looked at her work and sighed. "I..." she began to say, unsure of who she was saying it to or why. A ragged red umbrella was implanted into the ground, the torn cloth swaying with the breeze. She held onto it for a moment, frowning, then walked away. *************************** This, the 'right trouser leg of time', is the one that theologists of the pantleg school of chronal theory generally refer to as the 'main' timeline, or leg. The leg that's at the center of things anyways. For example, if the reader wishes to follow the right leg, they'd stop right here and read part twelve. The other leg, however, the 'left leg' of the trousers, is generally used to describe 'alternate realities', where things aren't as they normally are. Of course, the left pant leg is the one that the scientists aren't in, so by logic the left trouser exists only in theory. However, this doesn't stop the scientists from wondering exactly how things might be different in the other leg. Yet another branch of time theory insists that if moments of destiny were branched off like trousers, those trousers would have a bloody lot of legs to fill. Anyways, this is how one of those non-right legs went... *************************** [November's End] The fight didn't start well at all by Ryouga's standards. He was standing there, feeling the cut on his face, and getting mad. Across the way, his adversary had a smirk on his face. He was being made a fool of, in front of everybody! "That's it.. TAKE THIS!" Ryouga snapped his umbrella open and spun it hard. He charged at Muhoshin, swinging fast and furiously, his umbrella whirling like a buzzsaw and sending sparks everywhere. Muhoshin dodged desperately and retreated a few steps. And then saw a chance at an opening. Ryouga swung his makeshift buzzsaw-umbrella towards Muhoshin, but this time he didn't retreat. Muhoshin rolled forward, _past_ the whirling edge of the unbrella, hooked Ryouga's leg with his umbrella handle, pulled, sent Ryouga to his feet, and turned the umbrella in his hands, getting ready to stab into Ryouga's heart. Muhoshin grabbed Ryouga by the throat with one hand, and held his umbrella with the other, ready to put an end to Ryouga's existence. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light that overwhelmed his eyes. Muhoshin reflexively winced and shut his eyes as the flash of light passed, and that proved to be his undoing. Ryouga took advantage of his hesitation and lunged forward with one hand, grabbing Muhoshin's throat. He held the umbrella away with the other. Muhoshin was slowly loosing air, feeling his neck being crushed by Ryouga's hand. He crushed Ryouga's throat with his own hand, and it became a race to see who would loose consciousness first. Muhoshin was loosing and he knew it. Ryouga was turning just a little blue, but he was ten seconds away from unconsciousness. He suspected that the loss of oxygen was causing him to halucinate, because from the corner of his vision he thought he saw several people, and it sounded like they were bickering. That, of course, was impossible. To Ryo's surprise, Ryouga let go of his throat. Unfortunately for him, Ryouga's fist pounded into his body, sending a shockwave of pain through his gut. He let go of Ryou ga's throat and then tried to drive a finger into his eye. Ryouga turned his head and Muhoshin missed, making a small hole in the concrete instead. He pulled his hand back again and punched down hard. This time he felt something snap under his fist. Ryouga yelled in pain, grabbed him by the shirt, and threw him away, _hard_. Ryo twisted in the air, trying to land on his feet, or at least, land so that his back wasn't turned towards Ryouga. Instead, his skull collided with something, something hard, and the effect of Ryouga's solid blow to his gut and the lack of oxygen to his brain caught up with him. Muhoshin's vision was blinded by a flash of azure fire, then he passed out. Ryouga stood up quickly, expecting an attack from where he had tossed Muhoshin away. Instead, he saw a blinding flash of light. Once it faded, he looked around. His opponent was gone. "Where..." he cautiously walked towards where he'd thrown Ryo, but found no trace of his presence. Where did he go? -to be continued in Converging Series-