Ryoga and P-chan

OVERVIEW: Ryoga makes an appearance in almost all Ranma 1/2 episodes. Ryoga's an all-around nice guy who is very gullible, but very powerful. Ryoga's most prominent characteristic is his astounding ability to get lost. I mean, even if you tried to get lost, you wouldn't be as lost as him.

HISTORY: Ryoga first crossed paths with Ranma in junior high. At thier school, bread and snacks were served every day and all the boys would fight for the snacks. However, Ranma being such a good martial artist, would beat all the boys to the snacks. This infuriated Ryoga and he challenged Ranma to a fight. The fight was to be held right behind Ryoga's house in a vacant lot. However, Ryoga took a wrong turn and wound up walking over half the world. Ranma patiently waited for Ryoga at the vacant lot, but left after Ryoga didn't show up for 3 days. On the fourth day, Ryoga arrived at the spot and Ranma wasn't there. Ryoga then decided to follow Ranma to China where Ranma was training in Jusenkyo. While Ranma and Genma were fighting, Ranma accidently knocked Ryoga into Heituenniichuan (Spring of Drowned Pig). Ryoga then followed Ranma back to Japan to challenge him again. This is where he met Akane and fell in love with her. Akane also met P-chan, which is just Ryoga in his pig-form. Akane took the Ryoga-pig as her pet and named him P-chan. Even today P-chan and Akane sleep in the same bed. (Note: for some reason, Akane can't figure out that Ryoga is P-chan even though it has been made obviously clear.) To this day, Ryoga Hibiki swears to get revenge on Ranma for making his life a living Hell.

FIGHTING STYLE: Ryoga uses primarily free-style Karate, which isn't that much different from the Anything Goes Technique. Ryoga is very powerful, has a high pain tolerance (due to his "Breaking Point Attack" *see attacks*), and is very skilled in his technique. The only major weakness that holds him back from beating Ranma is his lack of speed. Another major weakness is his idiocy. A shabby disguise can easily fool Ryoga and he is also very forgetful. Another great weakness is his ability to get lost. In one fight with Ranma in the school (Furinken High) Ranma jumped behind Ryoga and Ryoga thought Ranma ran away. Ryoga followed suit, not knowing that he was running away from Ranma. Probably Ryoga's greatest weakness is his pig-form. In his pig-form all he can do is scratch and bite, and that's it. Now, it may look like Ryoga has more weaknesses than strengths, but one punch from him can send even Ranma flying through walls.

WEAPONS: Ryoga's main weapon is his umbrella, which weighs over a ton, literally! Ryoga is very strong because he fights with the umbrella with only one hand. Another weapon he seldom uses is his belt, which can be used as a sword (one side is razor sharp), or as a blunt weapon to hit people over the head with. Other rarely used weapons are his bandanas, which are also razor sharp and can be used as knife-like projectiles.

ATTACKS: BAKUSAI TENKETSU: Also known as the "Breaking Point" or "Tremor" attack, this attack was taught to him by Cologne (man, she has a lot of attacks!). This attack consists of one seeing an object's breaking point, a place you can touch that will cause the object to shatter. The training for the bakusai tenketsu is very rough. A trainee is suspended in the air by a rope and a large bolder is swung at them. The trainee is to hit the breaking point or be smashed by the rock. Well, we all know Ryoga, and there's no way he could have gotten it on the first try. However, while this is a very painful training, it taught Ryoga to deal with pain. Now, Ryoga can take small punches, kicks, and attacks and not be hurt too much by them. The problem with this attack is that does not work on organic things. Therefore, the bakusai tenkutsu does not kill humans. However, any shards blown around by the shattering of the object can hurt the person you are attacking, and not the attacker.
SHISHI HOKOUDAN: This is also known as the "Depression Blast" that Ryoga learned by a worker in a collapsed underground tunnel. Ryoga takes all of his negative feelings and channels the energy of them into a ball of energy. He then releases it into a big power- blast. This is a great attack for Ryoga since he gets overemotional over small things easily.