Part Two, Chapter Nine: Explosion on Horaisan

Ranma cursed and dove, reaching the water in one smooth leap. Please don’t be dead please don’t be dead… he chanted mentally as he swam through the turbulent water to reach Ryouga, even as it was still being pelted with crumbling fragments of stone.

Herb had dodged the blast with only the mildest of injuries after tossing Ryouga’s limp body negligently aside – directly towards the water, but not out of the range of the spray of stone fragments. She started to move to stop Ranma but held back. She shook her head as a large chunk of rock missed Ranma by inches. It wasn’t worth it. She hadn’t seen the shape of the boulder that had just been demolished, just her adversary climbing up its side. Else she might have been a little more upset.

The only thing that Mint and Lime noticed was that their captive wasn’t their captive anymore, and he had attacked their master. They charged, screaming outrage.

Herb held up a hand to stop them and they skidded to a halt, confused. An errant throwing knife pinged off of a falling rock that fell just in time in front of Ranma’s neck. “Master Herb?” the two lackeys questioned in unison. Herb hushed them, and pointed at Ranma.

The pair watched, confused, as Ranma – now female from the rescue - pulled Ryouga’s limp body out of the water and carried her to the shore, knocking the last few bits of rubble away. She checked for a pulse as she laid Ryouga gently on the ground but it didn’t seem to reassure Ranma at all; if anything she looked more worried as she started a clumsy attempt at CPR. Water bubbled out of the pink-haired girl’s mouth but there was no sign of life. Herb smirked.
“She is dead.” Ranma ignored Herb’s proclamation. “She was weak, and paid the price for her error. Will you leave now that she whom you protected is dead, or will you foolishly attempt to avenge her? If you leave now I will spare your life, I have no quarrel with you.”

“Bastard…” Ranma spat the word out loudly enough for the insult’s target to hear. Herb bristled. She even took a step forward – but didn’t attack.

Ranma leaned down a little more than was necessary to check Ryouga’s pulse again, and whispered in her ear. “Ryouga, if you can hear me – don’t move. I’m gonna challenge Herb.” She didn’t even twitch. Ranma hoped that that was a good sign. She stood, faced her adversary, and took three slow steps in her direction. Mint and Lime moved to protect their master, but Herb pushed them away and they retreated into the forest, close enough to watch but not interfere.

“You challenge me to a duel? Very well. I accept.” Herb grinned.

“I wasn’t planning on lettin’ you decline…” said Ranma, not smiling. This was… too much. Killing crossed the line. Even if she didn’t… she meant to.

The battle began.

***

Ryouga felt as dead as Herb thought she was. Dead, but her ears seemed to be working. She heard Ranma’s voice, felt the warmth of his breath on her ears. He saved me again…

It took a little bit of effort to tell for certain that she was alive, however. She was feeling very definitively waterlogged, and she couldn’t think clearly for the pain. Her body spasmed with involuntary coughs, each one bringing water up with it. She couldn’t taste anything, but she had the vague suspicion that if she could, it would be the ferrous taste of blood. But she couldn’t, and each cough made it easier to breathe even if each breath hurt. She concentrated on nothing but breathing for several minutes.

Ryouga could still feel Herb’s hand around her neck above everything else. It was as if the talons were still digging into soft skin where an Adam’s apple should be – but that was impossible. She could hear Herb’s voice, now, and it was more distant. Ranma was probably trying to keep the fight far away, trying to keep her safe. Ryouga mentally scoffed that idea. Why bother protecting me…

Now feeling somewhat better – or at least not half-drowned anymore - she managed to force herself into a more comfortable position, half-sitting up against a rock. It was during that she realized exactly how battered she was. She had been mostly unconscious for most of what had happened, but it was easy enough to put together vague memories from evidence at hand. Falling in the water had probably saved her a lot of injury. The kettle-stone had been blasted into gravel, but even gravel would have hurt her seriously in her current condition – if the water hadn’t protected her from much of the impact. Of course, her back hadn’t been spared anything, but that pain was local, and minor compared to the agony in her chest from being suffocated and then nearly drowned. That pain was fading, however, with every breath of fresh air. At least all the water had drained out of her lungs.

She spent a few minutes resting, watching what she could see of the fight from her vantage point. She sighed, coughed painfully, made a mental note not to do that again, and looked down. Well, you can’t say anything ‘bout his determination, but this can’t be good… I have to do something. Besides, they’re coming this way again…

Gingerly she shook her head to dry out her hair, sending sparkling drops flying in a wide radius. She coughed purposefully, testing her throat, and while it hurt slightly, it wasn’t nearly so bad any more. She started to push herself up into a standing position, but an unexpected pain in her hand sent her back to the ground.

It didn’t take long to figure out why, but it did take a moment of effort to unclench her fist. All though fled her mind when she finally did. She stared at the object it contained blankly for a moment. It stared back, sitting innocently in her hand atop a vivid red mark. She looked up, blankly, at the fight between Ranma and Herb. Then she looked back down. So I did find it…

It was the broken-off handle of a very small teakettle.

***

”Amaguriken!”

Herb grinned as she dodged or deflected each and every punch that Ranma threw and countered with a single strike of her own to Ranma’s head. It missed, of course, but in the moment when the two were unmoving after Ranma jumped away, it was painfully obvious as to who was winning the fight, especially when Ranma had to struggle for purchase on slippery stone with an injured leg - and Herb stood her ground, unshaken.

Several trees had been blasted down as a result of more Mouko Takabishas than Ranma could ever remember using in a single fight before, and a spiral smudge in the dirt bore witness to Ranma’s attempt at a Hiryu Shoten Ha. Ranma simply couldn’t think of a way to get her angry; her chi was so cold this fight that the special attack hadn’t had a chance. Herb, on the other hand, was having great luck making Ranma almost – almost – wish that she hadn’t taken on this fight.

Herb ended the brief pause with a quick slice of her arm through the air. “Hito Ryu-zan Ha!”

Ranma nearly fell backwards trying to dodge the barrage of knife-like chi bullets, but one glanced her shoulder and tore through fabric and flesh, slicing off her left sleeve and leaving a long shallow gash that welled blood in a way that couldn’t be healthy. She winced.

Nothing was working. Ranma’s mind whirled, but nothing was working. For once in her life, Ranma Saotome was out of ideas. But she charged again anyway, trying to keep in melee. Range was far too much of a deathtrap.

A flurry of punches, a failed leg sweep – Ranma leapt over it and tried a spinning kick for Herb’s head. It connected, but with armor brought up to block rather than skull, and slid off harmlessly. It went on like this for a while, neither side able to gain clear advantage, but finally Ranma connected a punch to Herb’s right shoulder, just under the armor. Herb’s counter was simple, just as improvised, but deadly effective – a glowing green knife of energy sprung from the first two fingers of her left hand.

Ranma was backflipping away when she was knocked out of the air by Herb’s slash. Caught surprised, it took everything she could muster just to land on her feet. Even so, she stumbled.

Ranma knew she was lucky. In a way. Herb had hit her back, and the knife – which Herb dismissed, since Ranma didn’t attack again – could have easily cut into her spine and injured her more seriously, permanently – possibly fatally. As it was, Herb had sliced the muscles below her right shoulder, and she could feel the energy draining out of that arm. Combined with her other injury, both her arms were now nearly useless…

Ranma was used to the feeling of failure – in a way. There was always something she was able to do to make a comeback. But there would be no rematch. This *was* the rematch, and Ranma had nothing. It was actual defeat, and that was something entirely new…

***

Ryouga watched Ranma stumble back from Herb. He’s alright. Good sign. As if anything would help now. Taking another look at the object she held in her hand, she took a deep breath and shakily pulled herself to her feet.

“Hey, Herb!”

The shout tried to choke in her throat but she managed to get it out, and even if it was weak Herb’s ears were sharp and she heard. Her eyes widened. “You’re dead!” she called back, turning and raising her unhurt left arm for the finishing move, but Ryouga held up what her hand was holding, and Herb froze. Black electricity died in her fingertips.

“The kettle’s broken! It’ll never work now!” Ryouga pointed at the rock. It was entirely demolished; the last few remaining pieces had fallen during the battle. There was no sign of the Kaisufuu – other than the piece Ryouga held. “The kettle was in the rock, and he blasted it to pieces! We’re *both* stuck like this, forever!”

“Hito Ryu-zan Ha!” But Ryouga had collapsed to the ground, and the knives flew over her head, reducing a few trees tens of meters behind her to shreds.

Ryouga looked up, wondering what would happen now, hoping impossibly for something to happen. And something did. Herb was glowing, displaying a true battle aura for the first time. It was a ferocious one, composed of pure anger and hatred, deep red – and hot.

Hot enough to make Ranma’s course of action painfully clear.

She was relieved, of course, that Ryouga was alive. The kettle was broken, so now Ranma would never be able to use it to cure her own curse, and Ryouga was stuck… the sympathy she felt for Ryouga resonated somewhere.

Ranma didn’t understand, and she didn’t dwell on it. She couldn’t.

Moving with all the speed she could muster Ranma was attacking Herb once again, less then a second spent in any sort of contemplation of the situation. She punched Herb, just a straight punch with little technique behind it, and there wasn’t much strength there either – but it was something to start the sequence of events that somehow had to happen.

It didn’t have any obvious effect. Herb had been facing away but was hardly caught by surprise. She whirled, striking Ranma’s fist with the tip of her shoulder armor in the process. Ranma barely noticed the pain as she threw another punch, missed, and retreated… in a curving path instead of a straight line. Herb, blinded with anger, took the bait.

Ranma could feel strength draining out of her as she led Herb in the spiral. Every third blow or so that Herb countered with connected, and every muscle ached, but she kept going. Soon Herb wasn’t countering anymore but rather attacking; all Ranma had to do was back up, keep to the spiral…

Finally Ranma stood on the second-to-last step of a perfect spiral, aura-heated air swirling around her invigoratingly. She took a deep breath and the last step.

“Hiryu…” A hit to the stomach almost winded her in the middle of the phrase. “Shoten… Ha!” She punched hard, up into the air, her disheveled hair flying like a fire on the top of her head.

But Herb, master of chi, was once again not caught unawares. The attack had already failed once on her, and once was enough. Her aura turned blue and freezing a split second before Ranma’s punch. And, indeed, a tornado appeared – flinging Ranma high into the air but leaving Herb, in its center, safe on the ground.

She stepped out of the whirlwind and turned to Ryouga. “Still alive? Well, I don’t know how, but you won’t be for much longer… now that that little mosquito is out of the way…”

Ryouga shook her head, looked at the kettle handle she still held, and chuckled, but the laugh ended in a hacking cough. “I’m dead, am I… and Ranma’s dead already… and I’m a girl forever… but so are you…”

Herb took a step closer. “You’re wrong on the last, little girl… shame, killing someone so weak as you almost isn’t-”

Ryouga held up one finger to her lips. Herb cut off in mid-sentence, involuntarily. She bristled, and her angry red aura appeared again. It seemed to be automatic. She opened her mouth to continue, but was quieted again by something even more unexpected.

Ryouga reversed the direction of her finger and pressed it hard into the ground. “Wrong.” Ryouga said the word in a rasping whisper. “My weakness… doesn’t matter.”

“What?”

Ryouga squeezed her eyes closed and pressed her finger into the ground, ignoring when it started to bleed, ignoring everything. It didn’t take long. “Bakusai Tenketsu… revised.”

For a moment nothing happened. Then there was the smallest of shakes in the ground like a distant earthquake but rather than settling quickly it grew, until pebbles bounced on the ground and larger rocks cracked. A deep rumbling sound from the bowels of the mountain worked its way up into the realm of human hearing and a spider’s web of tiny cracks appeared in the supposedly solid rock, spewing beams of black light and torrents of darkened water that shot up into the sky, dimming the daylight. The drops didn’t fall back to the surface quite yet, however…

Herb backed off, trying to find someplace stable, trying to figure out what was going on. The only thing her senses told her made no sense…

“Heavy chi-?”

There was no more time to think. Horaisan exploded in a cloud of darkness.

***

End Part 2

~Mordain

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