Goku 1/2

Chapter 5

Disclaimer:  I don't own any of the characters in this fic.  I make no pretense of owning them.  They're somebody else's.  So if you don't like the characters I use, you can go take up with them, not me.


At the end of school, the next day.

Ranma jumped out of Akane's reach.  "Can't catch me!"  He taunted.  Then he got an odd feeling that something was wrong.  He looked up and saw a boy coming down on top of him.

"Ranma, prepare to die!"  The boy snarled, bringing his umbrella down hard. Ranma dodged out of the way at the last second, allowing the umbrella to impact into the ground, creating a large crater.  The boy stood in the middle of the hole and lifted his umbrella to his shoulder.  "Ranma, I'll kill you for what you did to me!"

"Huh?  What did I do to you?  Wait a minute...you look familiar.  That banadanna...of course!  Ryouga Hibiki?  That's you isn't it?"

The boy smiled.  "It is.  Not that you'll live long enough to care about it!"

Ryouga unfolded his umbrella and hurled at Ranma.  It spun around like a top, slicing whatever it hit.  Ranma just leaned over to the side to avoid it.  Then he leaned the other way when circled around and came back.  Ryouga caught it.

"Hey!  What's going on?"

"Oh.  Hi, Goku."  Goku had heard the commotion from the other side of the school and arrived with Penny, who had her slingshot out.  "This guy and me went to school together back in the day, before your time.  But I haven't seen him since..."

"Since you ran out on our fight ten years ago!"  Ryouga snapped.  "Eh?"  This was in response to Goku walking up to him and extending his hand.

"Pleased to meecha!  I'm Goku.  Any friend of Ranma's is a friend of mine."  He said.

Ryouga scowled and slapped Goku's hand away.  "Don't toy with me, Ranma.  I'm going to kill you for running away from our fight!"

Goku unhooked his power pole.  "Kill him?  I pity the fool who tries to kill my brother."

"Brother?  Ranma, you never had a brother!"

"Uh...yes, I did.  You just never met him.  So about the fight..."

"So now you hide behind your younger sibling!  Just what I'd expect from you Ranma.  You’re a cowa..."

"POWER POLE EXTEND!"  Goku shouted.  The stick in his hands flashed a bright red and then began to grow.  Ryouga was too surprised to move out of the way in time.  The end of the pole impacted into his stomach, lifting him off the ground.  Goku was pointing the pole at a raised angle, so Ryouga was flung into Low Earth Orbit as the power pole continued to extend.

"GOKU!"  Ranma shouted.  "What d'you think you're doing?"

"Huh?"

"This is my fight not yours!  Stay out of it!"

"But Ranma..."

"I said this is my fight!  It started a long time ago, and now it's time to finish it.  Except now I can't."

"But I didn't him knock too far away."

"Yeah, maybe so.  But Ryouga has the worst sense of direction in the world!  He'll get lost trying to find his way back here!  I may not see him again for months."

"Well, I didn't know that.  But he said you ran away from his fight, so then it's okay for me to fight him."

"That's not true!  He didn't show up.  I don't run away from nothing.  You should know better.  You can watch my fights, but don't interfere!"

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The Tendo's, later that day.

Curious about the day's events, Nabiki asked about why Ryouga attacked, how good he was, what were the odds on him beating Ranma, and about when would he return.  She denied having any alterive motive for asking, but no one really believed her.  Ranma explained all about the bread feud he had with Ryouga ten years ago, before he went on his training trip to China, and how Ryouga obviously thought he had run out on their fight and now wanted revenge.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I'll just have to wait until he comes back.  Then I'll deal with him as long as Goku stays out of my way."  Ranma said and shot an accusatory glance at Goku.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Ranma, I guess you could use some practice before he shows up to fight you?"  Akane asked, trying to get Ranma to spar with her.

"That's not a bad idea.  Let's go, Goku."

"Hey!  What about me?"

"What about you?"

"Why not spar with me?  I could use the practice."

"I told you Akane.  I don't hit girls."

"What about Goku then?"

"I don't see what's wrong with sparring with you."  The saiyan boy replied.

"Good.  Goku, come on let's spar."  Akane grabbed his arm and dragged him to the dojo.  Ranma went to follow, but Akane stopped him.  Goku continued on into the practice hall, knowing Ranma was going to say something stupid and get pummeled for it.  "You stay away!  You said you didn't want to spar with me, so just leave me alone!"

"What?  What are you talking about?  I was going to spar with Goku.  Besides, Goku's strong; he could hurt a macho chick like you even in a sparring match.  Just because you're tomboy doesn't mean that..."

"RANMA NO BAKA!"  Akane screamed as she decked Ranma, pounding him into the ground.   Then she spun around and stormed into the dojo.

She faced Goku and got into a ready stance.  "Alright, Goku.  Let's fight.  Oh, and fight me for real.  All Ranma ever does is dodge."

"Okay.  If you want me to, Akane."  Goku got into a ready stance.

"Good."  Then she charged.  She barely made it two feet before Goku moved forward and punched her in the ribs.  The blow knocked her back five feet.  "Ow!"  She clutched the injured spot.

Goku immediately grew concerned.  He walked up to Akane's side.  "Akane, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine!"  She yelled.  "Keep fighting!"  She swung wildly at him.  He blocked the blow with one hand and punched her in the face with the other one.  Akane's dodge came nowhere near to avoiding the attack.

Akane fell to the ground.  One hand grabbed her face, and the other held her ribs.  She sobbed, trying to hold back tears.

"Akane, I'm sorry.  I didn't think I hit you that hard."  Concern was again written all across his features.  That and confusion.  He'd hit her with a lot less force than he did Ranma or Genma during their sparring matches, but she got hurt more than either of them ever had.

Akane shook her head.  "It's not because of that.  It's because how badly I did.  We only fought for FIVE seconds!  You beat me that easily.  I'm no good.  I should just quit martial arts."

"No!  Don't do that, Akane.  Please.  Remember that Ranma and I have been training our entire lives."

"But so have I!"

"Not all day each day.  You haven't spent the amount of time Ranma and I have on martial arts.  There's no way you should be able to match us.  But you're still a lot better than most people."   Goku paused.  "I see why Ranma doesn't fight you.  You'll get hurt if he does.  He's only trying to protect you.  I don't think I should fight you either."

"No!  Goku, please.  I need to be good at martial arts.  As good as you and Ranma.  Can you teach me?"

"Teach you?  I don't know.  I never taught anyone before.  I guess I could always try."

"Thank you."   Her crying had stopped.  She stood up and bowed to him.  "So what do I do first, sensei?"

"First?   Uhh...well...you have a pretty good attack, but you can't defend yourself.  You didn't even come close to blocking my punches.  If you were faster, you could fight more effectively."

"So how do I get faster?"

Goku got up and went to the dojo's storage locker.  After rummaging through it, he emerged with an old set of padded clothes used for kendo.  "Wear these."  

"Okay."  Akane got up off the floor and shrugged the garments on.  "Are these so I don't get hurt as much?"

"Partly."  He attached various weights to the clothes.  "There.  How's that fell."

"Heavy."  

"Good.  That's what it's supposed to feel like.  Now we fight."

Akane started to flail her arms in distress.  "Wait!  I couldn't beat you before!  How do you expect me to beat you with all this stuff on me?"

"You're training.  This is how Ranma and I got strong."

"Just how strong are you anyway?"

"I dunno.  Never really tried out my strength after I trained with Master Roshi."

"Just who is this Master Roshi guy?"

"He's just the guy that trained us before we came here.  He made use do all our training exercises wearing big turtle shells."

"Turtle shells?  What kind of a nut would use turtle shells for weights?"

"A turtle hermit."

"..."

"Now!  Defend yourself."  Goku attacked Akane again.  This time his punches were only a fraction of their former speed.  Akane probably could have stopped ordinarily, but with the weights on her, the task was impossible.  Of course she didn't get hurt too much by the blows.  The padding combined with Goku pulling the punches her somewhat unharmed, but still able to feel bruises forming where she got hit.  As she started to adjust to the weight, she began to block some of the punches.  When Akane had blocked five in a row, Goku upped their speed and strength, and she had to struggle to stop them again.

After a while, Ranma came into the dojo.  "There you two are.  Goku?  You're not actually training this tomboy are you?"

"And what if he is?"  Akane retorted.

"Well, she asked me to Ranma.  I didn't see any reason why not."

"Because she's a violent, macho chick!  That's why!  You shouldn't encourage her to be like that."

"Oh, shut up!"  Akane shouted and tried to move up to hit him.  However, she was still quite unused to walking with the clothing and ended up falling flat on her face.

Ranma laughed.  "Maybe you should work on learning how to walk before doing any real martial arts, Akane.  And you wonder why I don't spar with you."

"As if you were any better the first time Roshi put the turtle shell on you?"  Goku said.

"Hey!  That's different."

"How's that?"

"...because it is...now get back to your training.  I'll go spar with Pop."

"Okay.  Akane, get up."

"I'm ready!  Ow...Ow...Ow...Ow!"   Akane sighed.  It was going to be a long day.

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Later that night.

Ranma looked into Akane's window while he clung onto the side of the house.  He could never figure out exactly why he did this.  It's not like he was getting off by watching her undress, quite the opposite.  As soon as Akane started to undress, he'd hightail it out of there.  He respected her privacy even if her really didn't respect her.  He never stayed for long either, usually just a minute or two.  

Thoughts passed through his head on why he was doing this.  Hatred?  Curiousty?  Something more?  He pushed those thoughts from his head.  Curiousty was definitely part of it.  He had seen Akane but some sort of herb in her drink before going to bed, and he wanted to know what it was.  He hadn't gotten a good look at it, but he was certain that if he did, he could ask Dr. Tofu what it does.

'There!'  Akane took out a packet of herbs.  She held it up in front of her and sighed.  Goku had obviously trained her hard, as she seemed exhausted not to mention bruised.  Ranma put his head right up against the window, trying to get a closer look at the herbs.  Akane poured some of the packet into the cup of water in front of her.  She put the packet down on the table and brought the cup to her lips.  Ranma focused on the herbs and instantly recognized them.

"Akane!  Stop!"  He shouted, pushing open the window and stepping into her room.  

Akane shock at seeing Ranma quickly turned to rage.  "Just what do you think you're doing?  Sneaking into my room?  Ranma, you pervert!"

Ranam ignored her anger.  "Just listen to me, Akane.  Do you have any idea what you're drinking."

Akane was taken aback by the question.  She hadn't expected a response like that.  "Well...now that you mention it, no.  I've been taking it since as long as I can remember though, but I've never really been told what it does.  Something about my health.  It's important that I take it every night."

"That is a herb to suppress your Chi.  It makes you weaker, Akane, and unable to fight effectively."

"What?  You don't know what you're taking about.  How would you know anyway?  Dr. Tofu told me what it does, and I don't think you know more than he does."

"Well then he lied to you for some reason.  I know what that herb is because I've taken it before.  It was some training my pop put me through.  It was supposed to be part of a training style that could potentially yield incredible powers, but all the herb did was make me weak because I couldn't use my Chi."

"But...why would everyone lie to me?  It doesn't make sense!"

"Hey, don't look at me.  I'm just telling you that that stuff you're taking every night makes you weaker.  So, stop taking it."

"But Daddy said I had to!"

"Maybe he did, but that doesn't change the fact that...say, why would he want you to take something like that?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out."  Akane stomped downstairs, Ranma close on her heels.  She walked into the room where Genma and Soun were playing shogi as usual.  She flipped over the playing board to make sure he had their attention.  

"Akane!"  Soun shouted before Akane could say anything.  "What's the meaning of this?"

"No, Daddy.  What's the meaning of THIS?"  Akane growled as she held up the packet of herbs.  "What exactly do they do?"

"Those?"  Genma said, peering at the packet through his glasses.  "They look like Chi-suppression her...urk."  Genma was cut off as Soun's fist implanted itself in his mouth.

"They're to make you healthy, Akane.  You know that."  Soun said.

"Really?  Then how come Ranma says..."

"Do not question me, child!  I am your father, and you will do as I say.  Now take your herbs like a good little girl, and you'll grow up to be big and strong like me."

"NO!  You're not telling me everything, Daddy.  And I want to..."

"I SAID don't question me, Akane."  Soun said before going into his Demon head.  "Now go to your room and take your medicine!"

"But..."  Akane trailed off as her father's gigantic head approached her.  "Okay, but this isn't over.  Come on, Ranma."

Akane and Ranma walked back upstairs and into Akane's room.  

"Man, I'm sorry, Akane."  Ranma said.  "I had no idea your father would act like that.  He's hiding something though.  I just know it.  Hey!  What're you doing?  You father said to..."

"I know what he said."  Akane stated flatly as she poured her drink out the window.  "But I'm not taking these herbs anymore until I know exactly what they do.  Your father said they suppressed Chi as well.  I'm sure Dr. Tofu will tell me what I want to know if I confront him.  I'll sort this out tomorrow after school."

"Wow, who knew you were such a rebel?"

"Oh, shut up!  And get out of my room, you pervert!"

"Okay!  Okay!  I'm going!  Geez, you don't have to yell."

Meanwhile, Soun Tendo finished his conversation over the phone.  "Thank you, Dr. Tofu.  I appreaciate your co-operation in this matter.  Goodbye."  He hung up the phone.  'Akane, please don't do this to me.  Not after all this time.'

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A week later at school.

Akanes training had progressed amazingly well.  Her strength was increasing every day, but Ranma wasn't sure if it was because of his brother's training or because she had stopped taking the drugs.  Every night, she still put it in her cup, but then poured it out the window, so her father didn't suspect anything.  Dr. Tofu had told her the same thing her father did, but Akane could tell that he was lying to her although he would never admit it.  She forgave him, however, since she knew her father must have put him up to it.  The mystery continued as to what the herbs actually were.  Ranma insisted they suppressed her Chi, and Akane's expanding strength seemed to confirm this.  Either that, or Goku's training was getting far better results than it possibly should.  Goku himself knew nothing of the drugs as the experimental training Genma had tried had taken place during the three years where Goku was at his grandfather's.  Akane shook her head and focused on what was happening right now.

Ranma stood across from Ryouga.  10 feet separated the martial artists.  A crowd was growing on the sidelines of the field.    

"It's about time you showed up."  Ranma said impassively.  

"No, it's about time you had the guts to show up."  Ryouga countered.

"Hey, you're the one who was more than three days late for our fight ten years ago!  The only person you have to blame for all this is yourself.""

"Shut up!  It's YOUR fault!  And I'll only be satisfied when I attend your funeral!"  He charged forward, swinging his umbrella at Ranma, who calmly remained just out of reach.  A red stick flew into the fray and knocked Ryouga’s umbrella away.

"GOKU!  I told you not to interfere!"  Ranma shouted.

"But he's cheating!  He shouldn't be using a weapon if you're not."

"I don't care about that!  I can beat him no matter what he uses."

"..."  Ryouga said.  (Well, kinda said)

"It's still not fair!"

"Hey..."  

"If you really think it's such a big deal, I'll use your power pole.  Okay?"

"Well...I guess."

"Can I fight him instead?"  Akane asked.

"Ahem!"  Ryouga cleared his throat.

"What?  A slow chick like you would be killed by Ryouga!"

"I've gotten a lot better in the last week since Goku's been training me and I stopped taking those herbs.  You oughta spar with me sometime and find out for yourself."

"Excuse me?"  Ryouga tried to interrupt.

"Yeah, but you're still an uncute tomboy.  Maybe you should try to improve that!"

"If you two are going to argue all day, you should just let me fight him."  Goku said.

"No!  He wants to fight me!"

"Hello?" 

"Awww...Ranma.  You got to fight Kuno.  I didn't interfere in that, and he even challenged ME first."

"So?  You got to fight Murasaki."

"You weren't there for that."

"Your point being?"

"It's my turn now!"

"I started this fight as a kid!  Besides, you interfered last time he was here!"

"I didn't interfere last time.  Does that mean I can fight him?" 

"ARRRGH!  No, Akane, it doesn't!  Now..."

"SHUT THE F*** UP!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Ryouga bellowed.

Everyone was silent.  Well, almost everyone.  Ranma's fist shot out and punched Ryouga in the face.  Ryouga reeled backwards from the blow.

"Jeez, Ryouga.  You shouldn't swear in front of girls.  Even if it's a tomboy like Akane."

"SHUT UP, RANMA!'  He thrust a finger at Akane.  "YOU!  I DON'T FIGHT GIRLS, SO GO AWAY!"  He pointed at Goku.  "YOU!  RANMA'S BROTHER!  GOOKU, OR WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS,  GO AWAY TOO!"  Ryouga shifted his finger to point at Ranma.  "YOU!  RANMA!  YOU DIE!"

Ryouga charged Ranma, delivering a punch that would shatter any wall.  Ranma caught it with one hand, expecting to stop the blow.  His overconfidence would cost him dearly though, as the force of the punch bent his hand backwards, almost snapping it.  Instead, it was just severely sprained.  He cried out in pain.

Ranma jumped away from Ryouga and cradled his injured hand.  'Damn!  This guy's strong.  Stronger than me.  Maybe even stronger than Goku.  And he's not holding anything back either.  I'd better get real serious real fast.'

"Ha!  Ha!  Ha!  You're no match for me, Ranma.  Now DIE!"  Ryouga kicked Ranma in the stomach, doubling him over.  Ryouga's head slammed into Ranma's.  Ranma went flying and collided with a wall.  He fell to the ground, the wall coming down on top of him.  

"Ranma!"  Akane cried.

"Pathetic."  Ryouga scoffed  "This was much too easy.  I was hoping Ranma would've a been a more worthy opponent."

"Y-you...you..."  Goku shouted, gathering his power.  "I'll make you pay!"

Suddenly, a fist shot up from the rubble, throwing the top layer of bricks into the air.  The crowd shielded themselves as best they could from the rain of bricks, and luckily no one was seriously hurt.  When the dust settled, they all saw Ranma standing waist deep in the rubble, glowing a bright red. 

"Alright, Ryouga."  Ranma snarled.  "Now it's my turn!"

He leapt at the lost boy and delivered a series of devastating kicks to his midsection followed by a combination of punches.  Unfortunately, Ranma forgot about his injured hand and punched with it regardless.  The pain it cause when it impacted against Ryouga jolted him out of his rage.  Recovering quickly, Ryouga backhanded Ranma, sending him flying away.  Ranma flipped in midair and landed on his feet.

They stood apart from each other, breathing heavily.  Ranma massaged his hand, trying to ease it's pain.  Ryouga clutched his midsection, the rain of kicks having done some damage. 

"Not bad, Ranma."  Ryouga said, grimacing slightly.  "You've certainly made this fight worthwhile."

"You haven't seen anything yet.  If my hand wasn't hurt, I'd have finished you a long time ago."

"Quit whining!  You sound like a girl!"

"Uh-oh."  Goku commented.

"What?"  Akane asked.  "What's wrong."

"Every time someone says that to Ranma, he gets really angry.  He doesn't hold back anymore, and usually hurts his opponent pretty badly."  Genma could attest to that, and even Goku had his fair share of beatings.  "He was still holding back somewhat even when attacking Ryouga earlier.  Now, he's probably going to go all out."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A GIRL?"  Ranma roared as he leapt at Ryouga, catching him with another kick to the midsection.  Ranma's control over his strength had slipped completely, and he drew upon all the power he had gained over his sixteen years of life.

The excitement of this battle started to get to Goku.  Something in his blood craved combat, and he had been raised to believe that fighting was the solution to all of life's problems.  His tail uncurled from around his waist and began to wave around in the air.  "Ryouga's in for it now."

Akane didn't even take her eyes off the fight to respond.  "What do you mean?"

"Ranma's lost his control.  He won't stop now until Ryouga's down for good."  A brief thought of maybe stopping his brother flashed through Goku's mind, but it was quickly crushed by the blood-lust he was experiencing.

Ranma's kick flung Ryouga out of the yard.  Clutching his side as he flew, he smashed through several walls before coming to a stop.  He barely had time to look up before Ranma came down from above at him with a flying kick.  He rolled to the side.  The attack missed his head by a few centimetres and instead hit the ground, shattering it.  Water poured up from the earth.   The cool sensation shocked Ranma back into regaining control of himself.  

"They hit the water pipes."  Akane commented.  

Ryouga blocked the blast of water with his umbrella.  The torrent quickly subsided, leaving him facing a strange person.  She was dressed exactly like Ranma, but was a girl.  Her hair was bright red instead of black.  She was shorter and extremely well proportioned.

"Whaa?  Who?  Aaahh!"  The last was as the female Ranma ran forward and kicked him.  Although her kicks lacked the power they had five seconds ago, they were still powerful enough to hurt the Lost Boy.  

"R-Ranma?"  Ryouga stuttered, still staring at the girl in front of him.

"WHAT?  What's your problem?"  Then he looked down.  "Oh!  Damn!"

"Y-you-u're a-a g-g-girl?"

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!"

"Heh.  I never would have thought that even you would have sunk to cross dressing to get out of a fight.  Well it won't work!"  Ryouga took off several bandannas and began to twirl them around, infusing them with the power of the Iron Cloth technique.  He threw them at Ranma.  She just knocked them out of the air as they approached her.

"Is that all you got, Ryouga?  Akane probably could beat you.  But instead, I'm going to tear you apart!"

"Not if you die first!"  Ryouga removed his belt and snapped it.  It became as rigid as a rod.  He swung it at Ranma, who calmly sidestepped.  The belt cut through the support of a pile of construction materials.  Large pipes were flung into the air as the platform tipped over.  They showered down on everything and everyone nearby.

Ryouga and Ranma simply batted the ones coming at them out of the air.  Goku was about to do the same, when he saw one heading straight for Akane.  She was watching fascinatingly at how Ranma and Ryouga knocked theirs away, leaving her completely oblivious to the danger.  

"Akane! MOVE!"  Goku shouted.  The shout shook her out of her trance.  She started to get away, but was too slow.  Her training hadn't progressed enough for her to dodge something like that.

Seeing that she wasn't going to make it, Goku leapt at her.  He pushed her out of the way just as the pipe came down.  His forward momentum carried his body past where the pipe was falling, and he thought he was in the clear.  However, his tail was trailing behind him.  The pipe fell on it, pinning it to the ground.  Goku tensed up and fell flat on his face.  He couldn't move.  All his strength was sapped away.

Ranma, concentrating only on the fight, kicked Ryouga's hand which was using the belt.  The impact forced the weapon out of his hands and into the air.  Ranma followed up with a volley of punches to Ryouga's stomach.  The Lost Boy was sent flying into a wall.  The wall couldn't take the impact of Ryouga's body being slammed into it, and so fell forward onto him.  

"Goku!"  Akane shouted, getting up and turning around.  "I can take care of myself!  You don't have to..."  She trailed off, seeing that Goku wasn't moving.  "Goku?  Are you alright?  I'm sorry.  I didn't mean for this to happen..."

She was interrupted by a whirling sound.  Ryouga's belt came spinning down.  It landed right between Goku's legs.  Right where his tail was (What'd you think it hit?  Reader no hentai!).  The appendage was cut cleanly in two.  Goku screamed.  His prone body jerked to life.  Long buried thoughts began to resurface.  

'Kill them!  Destroy the one who did this to you!  Make them all pay!  Kill them all!  Obliterate everything in sight!  Exterminate all life!  Embrace the moon!  Protect your tail!  Eradicate anything that gets in your way!  Annihilate the one who did this to you!  Destroy them all!'

Ranma ran to where Goku and Akane were.

"Akane!"  Ranma shouted.  "Why the hell did you do something stupid like that?  You could have been hurt."  Then he saw the bit of Goku's tail caught underneath the pipe.  "His tail?"  
 
"I was only trying to help!"  Akane screamed, spinning to face Ranma.     

Ranma sighed in relief.  "It's only his tail.  Good.  But he still could have been seriously injured!  You're just lucky this time, Akane.  Stay away from our fights or else someone might get seriously hurt!"

"What do you mean, only his tail?  Can't you see how much he's hurting?"  She pointed at Goku, who still hadn't moved.

'DESTROY THE ONE WHO DID THIS!'

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!"  Goku's eyes began to glow red.  The air around him grew thick.  Energy crackled around him.  His teeth bared.  His remains of a tail hung loosely behind him, dripping blood.  His fists were clenched.  A distinct humming sound became audible.  It start very faintly, but began to grow in pitch and volume.

Ranma grabbed Akane's arm.  "Akane!  Get away from Goku now!"  His voice was urgent.

Akane shrugged his arm off.  "What kind of monster are you?  Your brother's badly hurt and you want to run away!?!"

"Akane!  You don't understand!  Get away NOW!"  The humming sound was very loud, almost drowning out Ranma's voice.  A bright glow appeared around Goku.

"NO!  GOKU NEEDS HELP!"

"YOU STUPID TOMBOY!  YOU'LL BE KILLED!"  Ranma scooped Akane up in his arms, and leapt away from his brother.

The humming was nearly deafening now.  Goku raised his hand and pointed it at Ryouga, who had just climbed out of the pile of wall debris.

"YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Everything went white.

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Goku rested on his hand and knees.  The area around him was scorched.  The concrete directly beneath him had cracked due to the extreme temperature.  He was breathing heavily.  His wound had been cauterized by the intense heat.  Goku rose to his feet, his eyes still glowing red.

Everyone else had been knocked over from the shock wave of the blast.  They began to get up to see what happened.

Nothing existed for two kilometres in front of Goku.  There was a deep trench with debris from houses that had been at the edge of the blast. 

"Wha...wha...what...was...t...that?"  Akane stuttered, having no idea what happened.

"That was Goku when he gets really mad.  Now you see, you stupid chick!  If you had stayed there, you would have been fried!"  Ranma ignored her reply and ran over to his brother.  "Hey, Goku.  You all right, man?  Hey!  GOKU! You listening?"  

'DESTROY HIM TOO!  KILL THEM ALL!'

Goku punched Ranma in the stomach, and followed with a kick to his head.  Ranma fell backwards.  Goku pressed his advantage, mercilessly pounding Ranma with his fists.

"Akane!  Oofff!  Get!  Ahh!  His!  Aarrr!  Tail!"  Ranma shouted while being beaten senseless.  He couldn't do anything.  Goku left no openings, and Ranma had devote all his time to blocking attacks anyway.  The speed and ferocity of the incoming blows made him do a very miserable job.  

Akane, not understanding the strange request, but aware that Ranma was pleading for his life, ran forward and latched onto what was left of Goku's tail.  Goku was too distracted with wiping Ranma off the face of the Earth to protect his weak spot.  The saiyan immediately went limp, ending his assault on his brother.  

Ranma pushed Goku off of him and climbed to his hands and knees.  Then he coughed up a large portion of blood onto the ground.  Wiping his mouth, he sat down and looked at his brother.  "That's never happened before."

"Can I let go now?"

"No!  Goku's weak spot is his tail.  When you grabbed it, he became helpless.  If you let go, he'll probably start bashing me again.  Man!  He's never done anything like this before.  Not since..."

"Since what?"

"You don't want to know.  And believe me, you NEVER want to find out firsthand."  Ranma picked up Ryouga's belt and cut off the rest of Goku's tail.  "This worked the last time..."

As soon as the tail was cut off, Goku's anger, pain, and weakness all drained away.  "What?  What...happened?"

"You don't remember?"  Akane asked.

"I remember my tail getting caught underneath the pipe, and then a lot of pain.  My tail!  It's gone again!"  He tried to find his missing appendage.  He could only stare when he saw Akane holding half of it in her hands.

"I'm sorry, Goku.  But you went berserk and tried to kill Ranma.  I had to stop you."

Goku sighed.  "It's okay, Akane.  I've lost it before.  It'll grow back soon enough.  That's really no big deal.  Hey!  What happened there?"  Goku asked, pointing at the trench.

"Oh my God!  Ryouga!"  Ranma said shocked.

"Ryouga?  Hey, where is he anyway?"

Ranma pointed to the start of the trench.  "That's where he was."

"What?  You mean...he was there?"

Ranma gulped and then doubled over, dropping to one knee.

"When did this happen?

"When your tail got cut in half."

"Really?  I'm sure I would remember something like that.  Oh well, that's too bad.  That was a great fight between Ranma and him."

"WHAT?"  Akane shouted, shocked at Goku's response.  "Is that all you can say?"

"What should I say?"

"..."

"I don't understand what you and Ranma are getting so upset about.  What did I do?  Did I blow up our house?  I don't think it's is that direction, is it?"

"You...you...don't get it, do you, Goku?"

"Get what?"

"You killed him, you moron!  He's dead because of you!"

"And?"

"AND?  What do you mean AND!?!"

"Well, I still don't understand."

"You KILLED him, Goku!  Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Um...not really.  All it means is that he isn't around anymore which is a real shame because..."

"Because?"  Akane nodded her head eagerly.  Goku did seem to have some morals after all.

"...He was a really good fighter.  I wouldn't have minded fighting him a couple of times, or even watching him fight Ranma.  That was the best fight I've seen in my life.  I just wish Ranma would've let me fight him though.  That would've been really cool."

Akane jaw dropped.  "That's not the point!  Don't you know it's wrong to kill?"

"No.  My grandfather always taught me that killing was okay if it was necessary.  That's how I got our dinner.  I went into the forest and killed a bear or a fish to bring back and cook.  This isn't any different from that, except I'm not gonna eat Ryouga."

"It's completely different!  He's a human being!  And that means nothing to you, does it?"

"Well, no.  Should it?"  

"Yes!"  Akane was growing very frustrated.  She just couldn't get through to Goku and tell him what he did was wrong.

"Forget it, Akane."  Ranma gasped, while clutching her ribs.  "You know how bright Goku ain't.  He won't understand.  He's been brought up differently than you and me, and you're not gonna be able to convince to stop doing what his grandfather told him.  Believe me, we've tried.  But not on this issue."

"Ranma, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine.  I just need a minute or two."  She said between gritted teeth.

Akane leaned over her and lifted up her shirt.  "You're not fine!  Your ribs look hurt.  Cracked, maybe broken.  At the very least, bruised badly.  I'm taking you to Dr. Tofu's."  Akane bent down and began to put Ranma on her shoulders."

"Akane, there's no need for that."  Goku said.

"What?"  Akane snapped.  "I suppose, you're just going to leave your brother here to suffer.  God, just how inhuman are you, Goku?"

"What are talking about?  Of course, we need to get Ranma help, but there's a much better way to do it.  NIMBUS!"  The yellow cloud answered Goku's call shortly, as it came screeching to a halt next to him.  Goku loaded Ranma on it and hopped on.  Then he reached his hand towards Akane.  "Come on, let's go."

A few minutes ago, Akane trusted Goku completely.  He'd shown her nothing but kindess and a good heart.  But now, she viewed him as a heartless butcher.  He didn't seem to care in the slightest that he had just snuffed out a human's life.  She didn't know if she could ever trust someone like that.  Then again, Ranma needed her help.  

"Okay."  Akane finally said, getting on the nimbus.  "But this isn't over, Goku."

"What isn't over?"

"AARRRGH!"  Akane screamed in frustration.  "Never mind.  Just get to Dr. Tofu's."

"Okay.  NIMBUS, let's go!"  The cloud shot off in the direction of Dr. Tofu Onno's clinic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Tendo's.

Ranma lay on his bed, his ribs bandaged.  His physical injuries weren't too serious, and he'd only be bandaged up for a few hours thanks to Tofu's miracle healing techniques.  However, that wasn't the reason he was lying still.

He couldn't stop thinking about Ryouga.  The closest thing he had to a best friend before he started his training trip to China.  He remembered all the good times he had with Ryouga even though they fought every lunch for bread.  He remembered his horrible sense of direction and how he had to also take him home.  He remembered his dog, Checkers, and how cute she had been when Ryouga's family first got her.  

Ranma sighed.  Those things were in the past, and they would never happen again.  Ryouga was lost again, and this time there was no chance of him finding back.  Even Ryouga couldn't get lost on his way to the after-life.  Or could he?

Ranma laughed weakly at his own joke, but it didn't last long before depression overcame him once again.  Ryouga.  What had happened?  Where did it all go wrong?  He challenged Ranma to a formal match in an empty lot, just five hundred yards from his house down the road.  Ranma waited for three days for him to show up, but that didn't happen.  The next day he left on his trip to China, where they soon found Goku's pod.  Ryouga apparently arrived on the fourth day.  Then, when he found out that Ranma had left for China, he followed him, but with his lousy sense of direction, he was never able to find him.  Then, he finally found him when he returned to Japan and challenged him, only to be sent to the next dimension by an enraged Goku's energy blast.

Ranma sighed again.  What a weird life.  Ranma laughed weakly again.  If there's anyone's life who was weird, it was his.  He had a father obessed with making him the best martial artist in the world, and who's willing to put him through any knid of training in order to do it, such as the Cat Fist and that Chi-suppression technique that both failed miserably.  He found a brother in the forest, only to to lose him a few years later, only to regain him a few years after that, only to see him kill an old friend who came and try to kill him.  And also, he's been engaged since birth to one of the Tendo daughter's.  Akane.  

Ranma was about to continue his reminising when there was a knock on the door.  "Come in."  He said.

The door opened and Goku walked in.  "Hey, Ranma?  You all right?"

Ranma turned his head to look at his brother.  "I'm fine, Goku.  You should know that is takes more than this to really hurt a Saotome."

"I'm sorry for hitting you.  I didn't mean to. I still don't even remember doing it."

"It's okay.  It's my fault for not doing a better job defending myself.  You took by surprise, but next time I'll show you a thing or two."

Goku shook his head.  "I wasn't talking about that.  It's about Ryouga.  This whole thing is really bugging you, and I don't see why."

Ranma sighed a third time.  "Goku, look.  I know you and me have been brought up different cause you were missing for those three years and you've been travelling all your life instead of just for most of it like me.  I also didn't have a big brother, but anyway, one thing that I don't know how you grew up without learning yet is that human life is precious.  You can't just go around killing people.  It's wrong."

Goku frowned.  "Alright, Ranma.  If you say so, but Ryouga was still trying to kill you."

"It doesn't matter.  Shampoo's trying to kill me, but I'm not about to kill her to get rid of her.  That's just the way things are."

"Okay.  I promise I won't kill anyone else."  

"That's good.  It's just too bad about Ryouga though.  He wasn't really a bad guy once you got to know him.  He was a bit pig-headed at times, but you get used to it."  Ranma began to drift off back to his memories about his childhood with Ryouga.

"Ranma, there's one more thing."

"What..."  Ranma said dazily.

"It's about Akane."

That brought Ranma back to the real world pretty quickly.  "What about her?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you treat her so badly?  I've never seen you act like that towards someone before.  I want to why you're doing it...why you also insult her...why you always make her mad."

"Well...uh...you see...it's like this.  Because if I don't...then...well...maybe we'll start liking each other.  If we like each other, then this engagement thing Pop came up with will probably work, and I don't want to get married.  I don't insult her because I mean it.  She's actually kinda cute, and she ain't that bad at fighting compared to some people I've seen.  With a good training program and getting off those drugs Mr. Tendo was feeding her, I'm sure she'll be a great fighter.  I insult her to keep her away from me.  I know it hurts both of us, but I gotta do it."

"But if you two like each other, why shouldn't this engagement thing work?"

"Because I don't want to get married!  All I want to do is train.  You know how I feel because you feel the same way.  Fiancees and curses just get in the way.  I don't want anything to do with them."

"Just because you don't wanna marry her doesn't mean you have to treat her so badly.  Can't you two just be friends?"

Ranma sighed yet again.  "I guess.  That's what I'd like.  But I know if me and Akane got close enough to be friends, Pop and Mr. Tendo would try and push us together even closer.  I like her, but I don't want to marry her, or anybody, right now."

"You have two years to decide though.  Maybe things will change.  All I'm asking is that you be nice to her.  She doesn't deserve what you do to her.  She's shown herself to be a really nice person during the time I've trained her.  You should help out.  You're a lot better at katas and other techniques than I am."

"That's true.  But I have been practicing for 6 more years than you have.  I'll give it a shot.  Once I'm 18, I won't have to do what Pop says anymore, so I can just tell him to shove this engagment thing up his ass."

Goku grinned.  "I knew you'd be reasonable about this.  Now come on, let's go spar."

Ranma smiled too.  "Sure.  I've still got to pay you back from before."

They opened the door and found Akane standing right outside.  She jumped back from the door.  "I...I wasn't...I mean...I didn't hear anything.  Nope...nothing at all.  I'll be going now."  She turned and started to run down the hall.

"Hold it!"  Ranam shouted.  "You heard everything we said, didn't you?"

Akane stopped in her tracks.  She slowly turned to face him and nodded her head.

"Well, you know how I feel then.  So, what do you say?  Do you you wanna be friends?"  Ranma said, extending his hand.

Akane smiled and blushed slightly.  She reached forward and shook his hand.  "Sure."  

"There."  Goku said.  "That wasn't too hard was it?"  

Ranma and Akane just stood there, smiles on their faces.

"Now...about that sparring match.  How about a three-way?"

Ranma and Akane nodded, still not taking their eyes off each other.

"Well then, let's go.  Come on, move!"  Goku had to get behind the two and start pushing to get them on their way.  Soon they were all in the dojo.  Eventually, they all were in the dojo.

"Okay, Ranma."  Akane said.  "Now don't go easy on me." 

"You got it.  Let's see how much you've really improved."  Ranma said.  He leapt forward and swung several times at Akane, probing her defenses.  She dodged the blows and counterattacked, almost hitting Ranma in the face.  He backflipped away.  "Well, you certainly have gotten a lot better."

"Thanks, but you haven't seen anything yet.  HYAAH!"  She sprung at him in a flying kick, but she was swatted out of the air by Goku.

"Don't forget I'm here.  This IS a three-way match."  He said.  

Akane got up and feinted at Ranma before striking Goku's chest with a well placed kick.  "I know.  But you shouldn't let your guard down, sensei."

Goku retaliated by sending several attacks at Akane before having to defend himself against an onslaught by Ranma.  The match began to get intensive as all three comabatants rapidly struck at each other before dodging another's attack.  Ranma was weak from the beating Goku had given him earlier.  Goku was off balance since he lacked his tail.  This let Akane do better than she ordinarily would have done.  However, she was still no match for them and was really pushing herself to hold her own.

After a few minutes of this, Akane suddenly collapsed.  The Saotome brothers rushed to her side to see what was wrong.  She was shuddering and convulsing.

"Akane!"  Ranma cried.  "Damnit!  She's having a seizure."

"A seizure?  From what?"

"I don't know, but we have to get her to Dr. Tofu's NOW!"

Goku nodded.  "Okay.  NIMBUS!"  He shouted as he and Ranma carried Akane outside.  They hopped on the cloud and sped off to Dr. Tofu's.  Not before long, they were there.

Dr. Tofu looked up from a book on ancient remedies he was reading.  "Oh, hello boys.  Back so soon?  What can I do for you now?"

"It's Akane!"  Ranma said quickly, putting her onto the examining table.  "She's in real trouble."

Dr. Tofu sprang from his chair and was at Akane's side in an instant.  "What happened?"  He said while adjusting his glasses and looking at her.

"Well, we were sparring and then she just froze up and started to convulse like that.  We rushed her here right away."

"Good thing too."  Dr. Tofu pressed on the back of Akane's neck, making her body go limp.  "She was just fighting?  Nothing more?"

"Yes.  It just happened."

"How intensily were you fighting?"

"Not too intensily.  Well, I guess that's for me and Goku.  It was probably pretty intense for her though.  She's just not at the same level as us, so I guess it was pretty hard for her.  But she's been much better at fighting since she stopped taking the herbs...the herbs?"

"She stopped taking them, didn't she?  I feared that was the case.  You can't just stop taking the herbs Akane was taking or this happens."  Dr. Tofu said, gesturing to Akane's unconscious body.  "You have to slowly get off them.  If she wants to stop taking them, she should just slowly reduce the dosage over a long period of time."

"Oh.  I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Ranma.  I should've been honest with her when she asked me what the herbs were a few days ago.  If I was, then this wouldn't have happened."

"Is she going to be all right?"  Goku asked.

"Yes.  Her withdrawl isn't as serious as it might have been.  It was a good thing you were sparring.  If her Chi hadn't been used for that, it would built up until it got released all at once.  An explosion of her unrepressed Chi could have happened, potentially destroying all of Nerima and maybe even some of the surrounding districts.  This was nothing in comparison."

"Oh."  Ranma said quietly.  He had had no idea that Akane not taking the herbs could have such a dire consequence.

Dr. Tofu brought out some of the Chi-repressant herb and stirred it into some recovery tea and poured the mixture gently into Akane's mouth, helping her swallow the liquid.  "There.  That should do it for now.  But she must start taking the herbs again.  I'll have to calculate a dosage schedule for her, but tonight, she should take a regular dose.  Oh, and make sure she gets plenty of exercise.  She needs to keep using her Chi as it becomes unrepressed. Even with decreasing the dosage gradually, it could be dangerous if she was inactive during that time.  Once she's off it completely, she'll have an incredible amount of power, perhaps too much for her to cope with.  Her martial arts should help her with that, and I want you two to assist as well.  If she can't handle all her power, she'll have to start taking the herbs again.  Understand?"

Ranma and Goku both nodded.  

"Good.  You can take her home now.  She should rest today, but after that she should get as much exercise as humanly possible.  I expect you boys to provide that."

The Saotome brothers nodded again.  They placed Akane on Nimbus and brought her home.  Once there, Kasumi helped them put her to bed.  The rest of the day at the Tendo's was spent in silence, no one wishing to discuss the day's events.

End of Chapter