The Spring Of Drowned Thief

Bare Knuckles


Soun arrived to the rescue of his girls, but found them behind a bunch of Musk warriors being protected from a sickly looking Panda. The area was once again in an uproar with soldiers running every which way trying to avoid the killer Panda. The Shaman was being held up with the help of two of his men as he barked out orders. “You can’t kill something that’s already dead! Capture and restrain him!” This proved to be no easy feat as the Panda was tough enough to take a spear without batting an eye, and strong enough to rip through nets, but other then that it proved to be somewhat slow and sluggish. The panda tried to take a bite out of a close warrior whenever the situation presented itself, but the warriors kept running circles around it, too afraid to make a move in close. After a few moments the Panda became enraged and made a move for some one that seemed slow. The priest it had gone after panicked and threw the closest thing to him, which happened to be a pot of boiling something. Every one watched, as the Panda turned human and cried from the pain. Soun looked in horror to see him old friend Genma hunched over, undead, and crazy. “Soatome!”

Akane looked over at her dad and asked. “Is that thing related to Ranma?”

Soun’s eyes squinted, as he started moving forward. “This is Ranma’s father and my best friend. It pains me to see my old friend being reduced to such a state. On my honor, I shall end this…”

“Umm, dad? Are you sure you can take him? You’re not exactly the worlds greatest fighter…”

“Don’t be ridiculous Akane. I taut you every thing I know, I believe I know what I’m doing.”

Akane bowed her head and shook it as she thought to herself. ‘Maybe, but Ranma taut me more in a week…’

Soun passed the circling warriors and entered the ring. He put a hand on his hip and pointed at Genma like a sailor scout and said, “As your friend, I shall release you from this torment!” then he went into a ready stance.

Genma turned growled and lunged. Precise movements were used with each strike followed by a block. Soun and Genma twisted their bodies as each performed their art. It seemed like Genma wasn’t completely mindless, in his fighting, as he did display the Soatome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. Blows were exchanged on both ends, neither giving an inch to each other. When their arms met they were in a power struggle, over who would give in first. The crowd watched in awe at the power displayed between the two… Well, that’s how Soun and evil Genma saw it any ways… This is when Nabiki shook her head in disappointment and lit a smoke. “This is like a slapping contest between a fat retard and a skinny nerd…”

Kasumi looked over with a smile. “Now, Nabiki, that’s not a nice thing to say.”

Nabiki rolled her eyes. “Whatever sis. Just look. Those two are really trying to slap each other.” Nabiki pointed a thumb over her shoulder in Kuno’s direction. “Even tall, dark, and stupid over there could do a better job…”

“Well, that may be true, I still think… Oh, my! I think something is under that rubble over there.”

Nabiki looked over at the place that once held a temple and watched closely. “I think you’re right sis… I never did see that Kyva guy come out. Maybe he was buried?”

“Oh, my! Shouldn’t we help him?”

“Nah. If there is one thing I learned about people like Ranma lately, is that no matter how much debris you pile on top of them, they are bound to get up on their own accord.”

“I still think we should help…”

As if on cue, Kyva burst out of the stone pile he was under and back in his original Ranma form. His arms were in the air and he looked pissed off. “YOU HAVE UNLEASHED THE FURY!!!” As his words echoed he started walking forward with a death gaze on Genma. Not a single Musk warrior stood in his way as a line opened up for him leading straight for the fat man. Once arriving he pulled Soun by the hair and threw him out of the circle with one arm. He stood in front of the man fearlessly with his teeth grinding. Kyva slowly put up his dukes, and stood on his side. It wasn’t so much a martial arts stance, but more a boxing stance. Kyva was planning on using shear power to pummel the hate out of his system. Genma looked carefully at the person standing in front of him and seemed to remember this person, but he shook his head and growled like a bear. Kyva looked over at a warrior with a cold state of command. “You. Give me your water.”

The warrior shivered and threw Kyva the water skin on his side with out a word. Kyva caught it and looked at the enraged man. “If you’re going to act like an animal, then you may as well be one!” He drenched Genma and the panda was back and looming over Kyva. Genma let out another growl and made the attack on Kyva. It was an uphill battle for him after that…

A swipe came with the panda’s paw however Kyva came in with a snout breaking head butt as he caught the blow and halted it with his hand. Genma staggered back a bit dazed and Kyva continued his slow walk forward. The panda came in fast with a haymaker punch to Kyva’s face, but he just stood there with his head slightly tilted to the side. Kyva removed himself from the fist by ducking down at a leisurely pace and started assaulting the panda’s massive stomach with extreme blows.

After each punch the Panda’s eyes grew wider as it felt a new bone break, or some organ burst. If Genma really needed these things at this point he would have been dead with the first blow. The stomach punches ended with an upper cut that raised the panda well off its feet and on its back. Kyva wasted no time as he got on top of him held a hand to his throat and started releasing his fury upon the face of the panda. The Musk cheered as the fight became gruesome and bloody. Pure rage and hate could be seen in Kyva’s eyes as the panda laid limp on the ground, with its eyes closed and face horribly disfigured. It took Akane a few moments to realize that Kyva was a bit angrier then he should have been at this point. In the short time she had known this weirdo, she had heard quite the filthy mouth on him, but he was using it in full force as he broke Ranma’s father down into a mass of broken bones and soft goo.

Mousse started realizing the same thing and signaled for Akane to do something with him. They both moved forward and tried to pull Kyva off the Panda. Once close she could see that Kyva was in a fit of blind rage and he came down again and again with blows to Genma’s face. The jabs were fast, strong, and sent vibrations along the ground. With each hit another foul word came out as well as a trail of spit. His teeth were bare, knuckles bloody, and face scrunched up with rage. She grabbed his arm but was thrown away quickly, as was Mousse. Soun cleared his head and saw what the two were doing and decided to make himself helpful. Tofu ran forward next and Nabiki kicked Kuno into the mix as well. Shampoo followed last as every one tried to pull him off in vain. Kyva started flailing about knocking back any one who tried to pull him off, to go back to destroying Genma. For a few moments the scene was absolute mayhem, sort of like one of those fights you see with a bunch of referees trying to pull one guy off the other, along with the crowd jumping in to get in on a piece of the action.

While Akane, a few musk and the others tried to pull Kyva off of Genma a few were scurrying around trying to find something to tie down them both down with. Once every one pulled him back, Kyva started taking out his rage on whoever was around him. Tofu was tossed to the side instantly as well as Soun. Mousse was knocked to the ground with a sternum smashing punch, but wasn’t alone for long since Shampoo pulled out of the fight to help him. He tossed around a few Musk warriors and then he felt some one pulling on his back. He knocked the person off, and turned around with a neck-breaking blow. Every thing moved in slow motion as he turned around. His fist closed tight and his view blurry. Once around he saw Akane, and her eyes were wide with fear as she watched the blow coming for her. Kyva’s eyes focused slowly and with each passing moment his expression slowly softened, but his fist kept coming forward. Little less then an inch away from Akane’s face, he heard her let out a small shriek but it was too late. The punch was about to connect when a sudden blur shot through the air and stopped every thing for a split second. Time froze, every one still in the middle of their action, a few musk in mid sprint, while others jumping towards either Kyva or Genma, and just as fast as it happened, Kyva let out his own scream sending every thing back into motion as his hand came flying off. To his right was Kuno staring wide-eyed at what he had done. Kyva pulled back and held his arm closely as blood shot out of his wrist. Kyva looked back up at Akane with clear eyes and slowly started falling forward as he blacked out. His head landed on Akane’s shoulder and she held up his weight as he let the blackness take him over. “Sorry, kid…”


Ranma was once again sitting under his tree, but this time with his knees to his chest and face buried with tears. Kyva stepped out from behind the tree and put a hand on Ranma’s shoulder as he looked out into the distance. “Are you ok, kid?”

“…N-not really…”

“I’m sorry. That was mostly my fault, I should have had better control…”

Ranma shook his head. “No… You were already mad, I shouldn’t have fueled the fire like that…”

“I guess we both got carried away. I’m sure your dad will be fine once I wake up.”

“I don’t care about my dad… The bastard abandoned me with out thinking twice. I just wanted him back for Mr. Tendo… We almost killed Akane…”

“But we didn’t. We’ll just have to distance ourselves from her until we can split.”

“…Yeah…”

“Hey, try and look up, ok? There’s no point in crying if you can be doing something productive instead, or are you really feeling bad about your dear old dad?”

“…I hate him… I hate every thing about him…”

Kyva looked down and laughed lightly. “You know? With out my personality in the back of your mind, you’re a really shitty liar.”

“You can tell…?”

“That and our thoughts are connected. We just can’t lie to each other as long as I exist, so we may as well be truthful in ‘here’.”

“What’ll happen once you’re gone?”

Kyva gave it a thought and shrugged his shoulders. “Not sure. Before I was just sleeping at the bottom of a spring waiting for some one to come along, maybe this time I’ll finally pass on and go to the other side.”

“Aren’t you afraid?”

“What kind of stupid question is that kid? Of coarse I’m scared! But I’ve already lived my life; I don’t belong here any more. I should feel lucky just to have this kind of extension on life, something tells me it doesn’t happen all that often.”

“I wonder if I’ll be the same if I survive, or if I’ll go back to the way I was before I was cursed…”

“You can’t even figure that out? You’ll be the same person you are now. All those things that happened to you after you got cursed had nothing to do with the curse itself. You changed through growing up, realization, and life experience. That and you have some seriously rotten luck.”

“Heh, you’re starting to sound like a wise old sage or something.”

“Well I have to.”

“Yeah… You know, I’ve been thinking…”

“About?”

“Well, wasn’t it was a good thing that I was the one that got pegged with this curse and not my dad? Can you imagine if it was my him instead of me?”

Kyva sighed. “The world would already have collapsed by now… I hate to say this, but him dying was probably the best thing that happened in this case. If I’m reading your memories right, I wouldn’t trust this guy with a wet towel and pancake, for the soul reason that he might eat the wrong one and choke.”

“Yeah, that describes him pretty well right there… Oh, you feel that?”

“Yup, some one is trying to shake us awake. Want to continue this conversation sometime later?”

“We can talk at any given time, you senile, old fart…”

“Oh, yeah!”


“Hey! I think he’s coming too!”

“Yeah… Think he’ll hurt any one?”

“That’s why we tied him down isn’t it?”

Kyva’s eyes shot open as he overheard the Musk talking between each other. “Hey! Who the hell tied me up!?”

A few animal men jumped back as well as Dr. Tofu. “Err… Please settle down. I have to patch up your wounds.”

“My wha-“ Kyva looked down at his arm and gave a quick shriek. “AHH! Who the hell cut off my hand!?”

Once again, Kuno was soundly booted forward, via Nabiki. “Lo, for it was I!”

“Who gave this retard a knife!?”

“If thouest t’was not aiming for the fair Akane Tendo, I may have held back thine finishing strike.”

“Think you’re tough shit, eh!?”

Kyva felt a hand touch his shoulder followed by the soft voice of Kasumi. “Please stop fighting… I don’t want to see any one else get hurt, so please… Stop this…”

Kyva’s heart melted at this plea. “I don’t think there’s a person alive that could say no to you, sweet pea. Fine, I’ll show him his place another time, now untie me, I got some work to do.”

Nabiki stepped forward and kneeled down beside him. “We all took a vote, and we’re keeping you tied up until we figure out what to do with you and Ranma’s father. Besides, you’re useless until you’re healed.”

“You conniving little bitch…”

Soun stomped his foot beside Kyva’s head. “Don’t you dare talk to my little girl like that you scoundrel! You awakened my best friend from his eternal sleep and turned him into a monster. You’ve scared and injured my family half to death and lead us through dangers! What have you got to say for yourself!?”

Kyva turned his head with a fake tear in his eye and a sarcastic grin. “Every one is so mean to me! It’s like I’m unpopular or something.”

“Do you have no shame in what you’ve done!?”

Kyva gave him a bashful look over his shoulder while concealing a mock grin. “Not really, no.”

“Why you…!”

Nodoka held Soun’s sleeve and pulled him back. “Calm down! He’s just trying to make you mad.”

“Well, he’s doing a good job of it! I consider myself a reasonable man, but this person is just too much!”

Nabiki stood up and put a hand against her father’s chest. “Really dad. There’s no point, he’s tied down, so lets go and see what we can do to get out of here.”

An argument started between Soun Tendo and a few other people, and while that went on Kyva noticed a certain some one out the corner of his eye. “Hello?”

“Ranma-Sama… Is that really you? I’ll never forgive my brother for what he did to you my love.”

Kyva let a smile slowly creep up on his face. “Fear not my love, for I am well. Please, come closer, so that I may bask in your sweet comfort.”

“My love!” Kodachi jumped into the air and came down to land on top of Kyva, unknown to her the crazed grin he was holding back.

Moments later:

Kyva walked away from the heated crowd and over to where the evil panda zombie thing stayed tied down and silent. He stopped in front of it and kicked it awake. “You look like shit…”

The panda opened its mouth and gave off a roar, which alerted every one to look that way. Kyva waved a hand in front of his face and wafted the foul air away from him. “…And you smell even worse…”

Soun looked back to see Kodachi tied up in Kyva’s place and then back at him. He released a slow breath and put a hand to his forehead and started massaging with his fingers. “I can’t handle this…”

Tofu walked over to Kyva carefully and adjusted his glasses nervously. “Please sir… You should rest until I close up the wound…”

Kyva looked over at Tofu with a small smile that didn’t really say anything, but he lifted his stump in front of Tofu’s face and in a split second there was a small flash of light and a new hand that seemed to be covered in a disgusting mucus. “That’s quiet alright Doctor. However, this one is going to need nothing short of a body cast once I bring him to his senses.”

Nodoka came closer to him for a question. “A-are you going to save my husband?”

Kyva nodded. “Yup. I was actually trying to do that to begin with, but I can’t quite remember what went wrong… Lets see… I drew the diagrams, said the words, did the dance. I wonder where it all went wrong…?” Kyva turned and pointed back at Akane. “Oh, yeah! It was when I was savagely struck across the face with a gigantic hammer!!!! It’s funny how I could forget something as face shattering as that.”

Akane bowed her head in shame. “I said I was sorry…”

“Well, that’s great, really. I guess I can forgive you for causing a temple to FALL ON TOP OF ME!”
Mousse waved at him. “Actually, that was my bad. Explosives and all… The detonator kind of slipped out of my hand...”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

(Kyva) “What the hell were you doing with- You know what? I don’t care why a blind guy was given explosives and I don’t care who put a sword in the hands of a moron. Hell, I don’t even care where that girl’s ethereal, quasi-physical, hammer came from, but I know one thing for sure and I know its essential. You’re all boobs. Every last one of you are complete and utter tits.” Kyva looked over at Kasumi and said. “Except for you, love. You’re ok… and this doctor guy, he’s cool… and the evil girl with short hair, don’t know why, but I just like her and by all rights I shouldn’t… The pretty lady married to the zombie is nice too, but other then those people, I hate you all… Oh, and that purple haired girl, she hasn’t done anything to piss me off yet, but her boyfriend is a definite idiot… Yeah, that about covers it right there… Dicks…”

Nabiki crossed her arms and gave him a look. “Are you done?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“That’s good. Can you do whatever it was you were going to do?”

“I was getting to that.”

“Ok. We’ll wait for you to do whatever it is you have to do.” Nabiki proceeded to wait as she lit a smoke. She was caught off guard when Kyva yanked the cigarette out of her mouth and gave her an angry look.

“Gimme that! Smoking’s bad for you, ya know?” Nabiki was already annoyed, but when he started smoking HER cigarette after that kind of statement, she couldn’t help but feel really agitated.
Kyva stood in front of the undead zombie and started working his magic. All the breaks and bursts that occurred around the panda’s body started reconnecting and closing up. It shuffled in its restraints a few times, but Kyva just seemed to be healing the body up. There was a bit of a gasp from the crowd when Kyva rammed his hand, quite literally, into its chest and grabbed its heart. There was a roar from its mouth, but not from pain, more annoyance then anything. Every one watched with ooh’s and ahh’s as Kyva’s arm started glowing with a black tint doing what seemed to be pulling something fowl out of Genma’s soul. Kyva’s eyes grew huge as he started looking around frantically. “Shit! Shit! Need a medium or something! Uhhh! God! You think there’d be a rock or something around here!” He kept looking around until he went, “Ah ha!” and pulled the smoke out of his mouth and held it as far away from his face as he could. The dark magic flowed from one arm to the other and, oddly enough, into his cigarette, which started blackening as time passed. Genma started moaning, but it was shortly lived as it turned into full-blown screaming, but this only lasted for a few seconds as the panda’s eyes rolled back and leaned back fast asleep. Kyva pulled his hand out and closed up the wound. He turned to Nabiki and held the smoke out in front of him. “You want it back? I can prove to you, just how bad smoking is.”

She shook her head slowly. “That’s… alright. I got some extras…”

“Actually you don’t.”

Nabiki made a feel for the side pocket on her jeans and shook her head when she felt nothing. “You’re both pretty good at that…”

“Nah. I’m way better.” He then turned over to the group of Tendo’s and filtered out the Musk to address them. “Ok, ass hats, my orders from the big boss were to get you a guide to Prince Herb’s place. The fat panda man is that guide, now don’t be alarmed if he doesn’t answer you when you talk to him, he’s still kind of dead and won’t truly be ‘alive’ until he’s fulfilled the mission I’ve given him. Any questions?”

There was an awkward silence that filled the air and soon only the wind could be heard as Kyva broke sweat. He let out a breath of relief when Shampoo slowly put up her hand. “Yes, you in the back next to the nerd in white.”

“Hey!”

“I wondering, can I go home? I not really involved any more. I got divorce, I close to home, am very happy woman right now.”

“…”

“Please…?”

“No... Besides-“ Kyva pulled a random Musk guy forward whom carried a scared and confused look on his face. “This guy beat you in a fight, right?”

“Umm… What’s going on…?”

Kyva looked down at the Musk warrior and gave him a pat on the shoulders. “Congratulations big guy, you got yourself married to this fine young lady. What’s your name?”

“D-Dillweed… I-I’m married!?”

“Shampoo! Are you ok!? Wake up! It’s me Mousse! Get a hold of yourself!”

Kyva stared down at… Dillweed. “Your name is…”

“Dillweed, sir.”

“Dillweed?”

“Yes, Dillweed. Are you hard of hearing, sir? Should I speak up?”

“No, I’m fine. Hey, uhhh… Mousse was it? Yeah… Normally I’d make it up to you, but this is for the explosives and bringing 12 tons of rubble down on top of me.”

Mousse chewed that one for a second. “Ok, I can understand that. Sort of. Not really…”

“Dillweed will be accompanying his wife on her journey.”

“You bastard…”

“Any more questions?”

Every one shook their heads with fear filled eyes, minus one brave soul. “Can I have my smokes back?”

“No, I’m not supporting your dirty habit.”

“I’m not supporting yours either…”

Kyva rolled his eyes and pulled the pack out. “Fine, but you’re only getting half of them back. Hey, hammer girl.”

Akane looked at Kyva with a bit of a nervous vibration. “Yeah?”

“Come over here, I got something to talk to you in private about.”


Same scene but behind a tree with beads of sweat all over Kyva’s face:

“What do you want?”

Kyva paced a couple of times and at the same time seemed to be trying to chew a bad taste out of his mouth. “…Look… Ummm…”

Akane examined him and had to ask. “What’s wrong?”

“This is really hard for me to say, but I can see that this Ranma guy, is really important to you, and you’re probably really close, and you probably know a lot about him, so… ummm… err… how do I put this…?”

“Is it a personal problem…?”

“No, well yes, I mean, no, yes no. Not really… What I’m trying to say is…”

“Well, if it’s about the rash on your upper thigh, Ranma gets that some times, it just flares up on him, he said that if he just rubs some cream, or butter if he’s really desperate, then it should go away.”

“Really? I’ve been wondering about- NO! That isn’t what this is about! Look, back at the temple, I said a few things…”

Akane bowed her head and gave a quick nervous smile, which faded in an instant. “Oh… Don’t worry, I understand. I know you’re not him, just the body…”

“Look, kid… I didn’t mean to say it like that, it’s just that I had to get you out of there as fast as possible… So…” Kyva’s eye twitched and his teeth started grinding. “…I’m sorry… ok?”

“An apology?”

“Yes.”

“From you?” Akane’s voice dropped off as she gave him a downward nod and raised eyebrows.

“…Yes…”

“Is your ‘boss-’“

“No.”

“So, why are you-“

“Because… As much as it pains me to say it… I do feel bad… I didn’t know what this guy was to you before and I treated you like just another noisy brat… It must pain you to see some one that looks just like him to treat you so badly… I didn’t mean for things to turn out like this, but I got sort of a present for you.”

“A present…?”

“…Yeah… It’s going to be at Prince Herb’s castle, so…”

“Oh… ok… Umm… You aren’t going to steal anything are you?”

“No, I’m not going to steal anything. Herb is my nephew, and I left a few things at the castle that I’m hoping survived all this time.”

“How is he your nephew? I thought you said-“

“He ages a lot slower then most people, because he has the blood of a dragon running through his veins, but if I’m right, he should appear to be your age, maybe a bit older.”

“Does that mean that you have royal blood in you or something?”

“No, I was kicked out a long time ago, by my half-brother, but that’s a story for some other time. Lets go, I got a busy scheduled to keep.”

Kyva turned, but he felt Akane grab his sleeve and say, “Wait!”

“Huh?”

“I want an honest answer before we leave.”

“I won’t promise anything.”

“I… I love him… and I’m sure he loves me the same… I just want to know something…”

“Worried about him?”

“Were you lying when you said, you didn’t know him?”

Kyva rolled that thought around in his head for a few moments and bit his lip. Slowly he nodded his head and gave Akane a look. “I think I did see him… A long time ago. I was at the bottom of the spring, and for the first time in a hundred or so years, I opened my eyes to see a thin boy standing above me. His cloths were torn, his face dirty, his lips bleeding and clearly starving. I guess he needed my help, or something. I felt tears hit the pool before he did, and though I tried to tell him to run, my voice went unheard, but when he pulled himself out, I went with him. I went right back to sleep, and only heard and felt small things to remind me of my existence, but I think I heard his voice…”

“What did he say…?”

“Hell, I can’t remember. It wasn’t important anyways, but if it’s any consolation, I heard your voice too. And every time it went through his mind, I was there in the back, hearing it too, along with feeling the warmth it brought with it. I think you’re his Eden so to speak. You have to realize that I’m nothing more then an accident that could feel what he was feeling from time to time. If that counts as knowing him, then I guess I do in some vague way.”

Akane bowed her head while trying to hold back a few tears. “Th-thanks…”

“Yeah, yeah… Listen once you make it to the castle, you’re going to feel a lot better. Hot baths, warm blankets and all that other crap, so stop crying and get back to your family, you’re not even half way finished your journey.”

“S-sorry… I just… I wanted to hug you for a second, but…”

“Oh, for the love of… Look, I’ll give you three seconds and the its over and you’re out of here, you hear me!? I’m an old man for crying out loud, and I shouldn’t be doing this!”

“Really…?”

“One!” Akane gave him a tight squeeze and ran off to find her dad. When he was finally alone his ear twitched as if hearing something and he put on his angry face. “You get to shut the hell up, right now! And don’t think the name, ‘Boss’ is going to be staying!”


“He didn’t hurt you did he, Akane!?”

“Dad, you’re over reacting again…”

“Yeah lighten up, it’s bad for your heart at this age.” Said, Kyva as he pat Soun on the shoulder.

“Ahh! Were did you come from!?”

“I came from behind you, I thought that would have been obvious. Any ways, lets untie the beast and you guys will be set on your way.”

Kuno halted Kyva in his tracks. “Sorcerer! I must object! We cannot release the beast, for it is too dangerous!”

“Oh, no. I was talking about the fat panda man. I’m not going near that lunatic in the leotard. She tried to shove her tongue down my throat. I was tied down and defenseless for Pete’s sake!”

“Oh, well in that case…”

Kyva cut the bindings on Genma and he got up without a sound. Kyva turned to Nodoka and held out a hand. “Your ride, my lady.”

Nodoka blushed. “But I couldn’t… That’s my husband…”

“Ah, doesn’t mean you have to respect him. Come on, he’ll take you anywhere and the only time he’ll protest is when I break the spell.”

Nodoka smiled and started walking towards her husband, now horse/panda. “Well, if you put it that way… What are you putting on his face?”

“This Ma’am, is a feed bag.”

“Is that really necessary?”

“Not really.”

“Then…”

“Because I’m a prick, and I find this kind of stuff funny. Would you prefer if I didn’t?”

“Well, he did raise an unmanly son, and I don’t feel like making him fulfill the agreement…”

“Auntie! How can you say that about him? You haven’t even seen Ranma yet!”

Nodoka passed a cold glance at Akane. “Yes, I have, and let me tell you something dear. I’m having a long talk with both you and that ‘friend’ Ryouga of yours. As it turns out, you failed to mention a few details to me about your… relationship with each other.”

Akane’s eyes went as wide as soup bowls and she stood frozen. She had never been able to remember her own mother scolding her, but if this feeling of utter horror came from an imitation, she started to wonder what the real thing would be like. The thoughts were quickly pushed aside when her father looked at her and asked, “What relationship? You and Ranma are STILL engaged, am I correct?”

“Y… Yeah…”

“Well, then! What is this-UNF! ACK!”

When Soun was sleeping soundly, Kyva released him from the sleeper hold and chucked him roughly across Genma’s back in front of Nodoka. “Nosey bastard should know when to keep his mouth shut. Now all of you get the hell out of here and head northwest. You too, Dillweed. Be sure to hold hands with your new wife the entire time.”

“I-I’m suppose to do that?”

“Yeah, and you get to kiss her.”

“Really?”

“And grab her butt.”

“Really!?”

“And her boobs.”

“REALLY!?”

“No.”

“Huh?”

*BOOT!*

Dillweed flies off into the jungle and vanishes behind the wall of thick green leaves. “What a loser…”

“SHAMPOO! Wake up!”

“Oh, I guess I won her didn’t I? Oh, well…” Kyva started walking off in a direction away from the Tendo’s and others. “See you guys around. It’s been… irritating.” As he walked away a strong mist started streaming from his hands creating a quick smoke screen that followed him around.

The Tendo’s and others being too confused and worn out to do anything else, decided to listen to Kyva and walk. Mousse started following Genma while carrying a comatose Shampoo on his back and a map in his hands. As the Musk watched the people part ways one of the priests leaned over to the Shaman and asked. “Aren’t we going to… I don’t know, catch and kill them instead of letting them roam our land freely?”

The Shaman looked down at his follower with tired eyes. “They came here and brought a sadistic woman that killed many. They fought us all off, dislocated every joint in my body, blew up our temple, remodeled our landscape with more explosives and enslaved our god because that sneaky bastard thought it would be funny. Personally, I want to go to home and conduct the simple act of crying in defeat. Unfortunately I cannot do this because that very home has now been destroyed. Oh, and we have to go pull Dillweed out of a tree before he starts screaming about spiders again. I can honestly say that this is the worst day of my life and I’ll probably want to hang myself within the next few hours, but unfortunately I neither have the equipment needed, nor do I have a place to hang myself, because, once again, every thing has been destroyed. For all I care, it’s Herb’s problem now.”

“Uhh… Well… At least we got our health.”

The Shaman blinked once and didn’t even look at his follower. “If I had the ability to straggle you to death right now, I probably would in the most sadistic manner imaginable.”

“Ah, I see… I’m going over here now…”

“You do that.”


Back to Later that Night with Ryouga and the others:

“Excuse me...”

“I thought I told you three to shut up and hour ago?”

Ryouga clenched his fist and did his best to keep calm. “You did, but you keep mumbling to yourself and it’s getting really annoying.”

“I am?”

“Yeah… Are you talking to him?”

Kyva raised an eyebrow and gave Ryouga a look. “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” Kyva turned around and kept walking forward. Ryouga lost it and lashed out with a burst of rage.

He grabbed Kyva’s shoulder and spun him around quickly. “Hey! You don’t have to-“

Ryouga was cut short when he was struck with a left hook across his chin, and tossed to the ground. Both Ukyo and Hikaru gasped as they took a step back. Kyva lowered Cologne to the ground, faced Ryouga and put up his fists. “You got something to say to me?”

Ryouga sat up and wiped the small amount of blood from his lip. “What’s your problem!?”

“You. That’s what.”

“Can’t you show me at least a little god damn respect!? I just want to know about my friend!”

“You want respect kid? Then get up and make me respect you.”

With out a word Ryouga picked himself up and put up his fists as well. Kyva gave him a smile. “You got guts, I’ll give you that kiddo, but do you really think you can beat me? Do you really think you can surpass the Amazon elder and strike me down?”

Ryouga shook his head slowly. “No… But I’ll be damn sure to make you bleed.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

It was short and swift. Ryouga came in fast, but before he could even think to make an attack he had an elbow planted on the side of his face and then a backhand jab to his chin. Ryouga went down fast and placed hands on his face in hope of getting rid of the pain. Kyva crossed his arms and kicked Ryouga in the ribs to turn him over. “Maybe I was wrong about you? All bark and no bite, I guess… Well, maybe it was wrong of me to think you were worth my time. You fight with a bloody umbrella anyways. You must have been sculpted out of pure wuss when they made you. I’ve seen some serious losers in my time but-“

*BIFF!*

“Ow…” Kyva stood motionless for a moment as he let the feeling of Ryouga’s right hook sink in. He pulled his face away from Ryouga’s steady fist and rolled his jaw around a few times. Another moment pass as Kyva reached into his mouth, and with a struggle, pulled out a broken tooth. “That really fucking hurt…”

Ryouga charged at him again, but this time screaming with his fists in the air. “You only get one, kiddo.” Kyva clothes lined Ryouga and proceeded to twist him in a way that looked and probably was painful. Legs in the air and Kyva sitting on his back, Ryouga was rendered motionless. Kyva spat next to Ryouga’s head and said, “Blood. You got my respect kid.”

“Go to hell…”

“I’m working on it. So tell me, if I let you go, will you behave?”

“…”

“Come on. Is it really that bad? So what if I hurt your pride more then anything? At least I’ll show you some sort of acknowledgment.”

“…Were you talking to him?”

“Yup. Now will you be nice from now on?”

“Just get off me…”

“Oh, be nice. Please? We can be buddies. Good old friends, you know what I’m talking about here? Pen pals even!”

Against her own will Ukyo pulled out her weapon and screamed “Get off of him!”

“Not afraid of me anymore girl?” He pulled out a knife and placed it gently on Ryouga’s back. “You should be. What’ll happen if I suddenly started ripping your friend apart right here? Would you do any thing, or would you just watch and shake like the scared little girl you are?”

“Stop it! You’ve won! We won’t fight you anymore! So, just… leave him alone…”

Kyva sunk the tip of his knife into Ryouga’s back bringing out a scream of pain and a small fountain of blood. “MAKE ME, YOU FUCKING BITCH!!!”

Ukyo vibrated for a brief second and let her eyes grow wide as she screamed and lashed out against him. Ryouga felt the knife come out of his back and he knew where it was going. “NO!” Ryouga pushed himself up as hard as he could, but felt resistance in his leg. He decided in a hundredth of a second that he was going to save her no matter what, and with a full powered push he felt his leg pull out of its socket and the back of his head connect with Kyva’s face. For a little while he felt nothing, but as Kyva rolled off of him, he started to scream as the waves of pain shot through him.

Kyva was down on all fours as he shook the dizziness out of his head and looked up just in time to see Ukyo coming down with the wide side of her spatula. A loud clang echoed through his head and he hit the ground like a sac of hammers trying to focus on the world around him. “Da~mn…”

Ukyo rushed over to Ryouga’s side for an examination. He wasn’t screaming any more, but his breathing was short and loud, and his face was covered in a cold sweat. “Ryouga! We have to get out of here!”

Ryouga shook his head frantically. “No! Only make it worse!”

Ukyo looked back behind her. “Hikaru! Help me pick him up!”

The long forgotten Hikaru just sat curled up on the ground staring with wide eyes and shaking his head, ‘no’.

“Hikaru!”

As Ukyo struggled for help, Kyva picked himself up with a hand on his head, and a sour look on his face. His expression eased as he made his way over to Ukyo and in her panic she never noticed him approaching. She tensed up in horror as she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Already knowing whom it was, she still couldn’t help to look behind her. “We’re done kid.”

“Done…?”

Kyva didn’t really elaborate on that statement, but he did kneel down beside Ryouga and put a hand on his leg. “This must hurt like a bitch. The type of guy who’ll fight till the end and win at all costs, huh? Heh. You’ve got quite the set of on ya.”

Ryouga just lay there breathing hard, only catching a few bits on information. The world around him seemed to be both moving too fast and too slow. He was seriously caught off guard when he felt Kyva yank his leg hard and put it back into place. A huge crack was heard and Ryouga let out another scream. The pain finally got to him and he passed out. Kyva passed a glance at both Ukyo and Hikaru and said, “Eww. We’ll just let this settle in and be our way.”

Ukyo just stared at him for a few moments before finally saying something. “…Why…? What was the point of that…? Why did you pick a fight with him…? You know you’re stronger, so-“

“Say hello to my training program.”

“Training!? He can’t do much training now, you jerk!”

“Shut up and listen. I did this to see how you three would act in a high stress situation. None of you kept your heads clear, you all just panicked and did nothing worthwhile. I was endangering your lives, so why did you leave me lying back there? You had a chance to finish me off, but you chose to only do half the job and run away.”

“I’d never kill-“

“And you! Just sitting there shaking and watching. What’s that in your hand!? It’s a book of the occult! There has to be something useful in there.”

“I! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry! Just think next time!”

Ukyo shook her head in disgust. “I don’t get you… You wanted us to kill you, and you get mad when we don’t. Why do you want to die? What’s the point in all of this!?”

“I’ll give you damn good point. You people will have to kill me; it’s part of the deal I made. I’m going to train you people to fight properly because if you think I’m a horrible person, wait till you see what you’re really up against. Some of them are strong, but others are thinkers. They calculate, how and when to get rid of you. They’ll set up traps, they’ll turn you against each other, and they’ll do anything it takes to get their own way. Jack will seem weak, but his mind can bend you to believe anything. You’ll never know Bloody Marry when you see her, and she’ll come up behind you with a smile and a 28 inch blade. The General, is an expert at killing in the most efficient manner possible, and a demolition genius if you will. Oh, and how can I forget Aces and Eights? The most maniacal one of them all. Not strong in any physical sense what so ever, but Aces and Eights can turn the world against you in every way shape and form. You’ll never understand how bad a dirty deed can be until you’re buried up to your neck in the desert, watching a group of men tear your family apart with rusty knives while they’re still alive. You think me roughing you guys up a bit even compares to what’s going to happen later?\"

Ukyo stared at him and soon yelled. “I never asked to be a part of this! What makes you think we’ll do your dirty work!?”

“You idiots signed up the second you ignored my message to not come!”

“You asked us to come!”

“I never asked you to come, ‘he’ asked you to come. I’ve been trying to chase you idiots away while keeping up with the other curses, but it’s too late now. They all know about you and now you’re all targets. The only thing left for me to do, is drop you off at Herb’s place and hope to god that he’ll keep you until I’m done, but since that idea is only considered wishful thinking or otherwise bleak, I may as well start preparing you people for the big fight.”

“Why us though!? We’re just a bunch of high school kids!”

“Because he’s an idiot! He’s put you all in danger because he’s afraid of what’ll happen to him. I’ve been giving him shit since the first moment we could talk, but hell, he won’t listen to me. That kid is stubborn beyond all manner of reason, he just doesn’t understand.”

Things started quieting down as Kyva rubbed his head in thought. “You see… We both want to get through this and… we both don’t want anyone else getting involved in what was originally my fight. Even though we both think that, he still wants you guys along and I have to respect his wishes right? This never should have happened to him, but… it did anyways. It’s a hundred year old grudge that I have with those ass holes, and now that it’s dragged innocents into it, I have to do all I can to make it right. I have to save the people that will get hurt in the process, because if I don’t… What kind of man does that make me? It makes me a monster… How could I die and face my wife and kid with a chip on my shoulder like that? I’m sorry if I’m cruel, but… Well, I guess there’s no excuse for that.”

Ukyo gave a look over his soft expression and had to ask, “What are you saying? Are you trying to protect us?”

“Well, yeah. In a strange way I am. Can you accept that, or am I going to have to keep dragging you guys to safety?”

“Only if you promise an end to these surprise trainings, sugar.”

“Fine. I’ll give you guys fare warning next time. How about you, spooky?”
Hikaru jumped in place nodded quickly. “Oh, eh… sure… what ever she says…”

“Were you even paying attention…?”

“Y-yes!”

Kyva let out a slow breath and picked up Ryouga. “Well, then lets get going. We got a bit of ground to cover and we’ll probably get there before morning. Make yourself useful spooky, and get the old lady.”

“Uhhhhh….”

“Now.”

“R-right!”

Ukyo got Kyva’s attention and she started asking. “Hey. Didn’t you say we were going to take a break?”

Hikaru opened his mouth again. “H-he mentioned two.”

Kyva smiled wickedly with a toothy grin. “And what a lovely break it was. Let’s go.”

Ukyo’s eye twitched as she kept her thoughts to herself. ‘A few seconds ago I though he was an ok guy… What was I thinking? Where’s Akane and her hammer when you need them?’

“About six miles in that direction.” Said Kyva as he pointed with a thoughtful look on his face.

Ukyo crossed her arms and said, “Oh, rea-… AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!”

Kyva looked back at Hikaru. “What’s her problem?”

“I-I don’t know… I just asked where the castle was…”

“Must not like castles...”

Ukyo wiped her brow and took in a deep breath. Kyva ruined this moment however. “And as for your question, Akane is about fourteen miles in that direction.”

“AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!”