Ranma ½ -- A Deadly Choice

Chapter 18: I Don’t Believe It! He Chose... HER?

"KODACHI!" shouted Ranma.

The spike above his head halted its descent. "Kodachi Kuno? Is that who you choose?"

Ranma ignored the voice. "Kodachi, wake up!" he shouted.

Across the room, Kodachi stirred in her confinement, the long hairpin that secured the bun atop her head scraping against the table to which she was bound. Her eyes opened. "Ranma darling, is that you?" She struggled against her bonds. "Why am I tied up? And why are we in the dark?"

"Never mind that!" shouted Ranma. "I need your hairpin!"

"What is this?" asked the demon. "What are you planning?"

"My hairpin?" Kodachi ceased her struggles. "But my hair will be a mess!"

Ranma thought quickly. "I like your hair better down!"

"Truly? Then I must divest myself of this atrocity immediately! But alas, I cannot move!"

"Just throw it toward my voice!" shouted Ranma. Kodachi swiftly whipped her head forward, dislodging the hairpin and sending it flying toward Ranma. He caught it in his teeth and quickly jammed the point into the bracket that secured his neck to the table, prying it open.

"I see," said the demon. "This is an escape attempt! You haven’t made your choice at all!" As Ranma lifted his head from the table, he felt the movement behind him as the spike continued to descend through the space where his head had been seconds before. "You cannot escape me!"

Wordlessly, Ranma adjusted his grip on the hairpin and bent forward as best he could, working the point into the bracket at his waist. ‘Please,’ he prayed silently, ‘don’t let the demon kill them!’

"It’s too late for you, Ranma," said the demon as if in answer to his prayer. "You’ve made your choice as far as I’m concerned. Kodachi will live, and the others will die!"

"No!" shouted Ranma as the bracket popped open, freeing his arms. He reached up behind his back and grabbed the spear, tugging at it to break its shaft. He threw the spear horizontally across the room, removing the spikes from the shafts above the heads of his unconscious fiancées. The four spikes lodged themselves harmlessly into the tables, while the shaft Ranma had thrown fell onto the heads of the girls, waking three of them and knocking the already conscious Kodachi out.

"Hey, what’s going on here?" asked Ukkyo.

"Aiya! We chained up!"

"Just hang on!" shouted Ranma, prying apart the final bracket with his bare hands. "I’ll get you out of there!" As the bracket opened, Ranma felt his strength returning.

"Ranma!" shouted all three girls at once.

"Very clever," said the demon. "But you know there’s nothing you can do now. Just because you’ve saved their lives – for now – doesn’t mean that you can save your own."

"I wouldn’t be so sure of that," said Ranma. "Up until now, I’ve gone easy on you."

The demon laughed out loud. "I don’t think so. You don’t seem like the type to hold back."

"Then why don’t we find out?" Ranma let his battle aura flare up. The light from Ranma’s body illuminated the tables, the girls, and the demon, but there were no walls in sight. The "room" faded to darkness in all directions. Even the floor reflected no light.

Ukkyo stared into the brightness. "Ranma honey? What happened to you?"

"You is half girl!" observed Shampoo. "How that happen?"

"It’s not important," said Ranma. "Well, demon, you ready for a real fight?"

"I’m always ready," said the demon, taking Ranma’s aspect. It wasted no time in launching a Mouko Takabisha at Ranma, who rolled aside to avoid the blast.

"Now that’s more like it," said Ranma. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Ranma’s cyclonic attack streaked toward the demon, which easily held up a hand to block it.

"Stupid Ranma!" shouted Shampoo. "No can beat demon that way!"

"I know what I’m doing!" returned Ranma. He leapt aside to avoid another attack from the demon.

"Do you see what he’s doing, Akane?" asked Ukkyo.

"I have no idea," replied Akane.

"Then I think that makes three of us," concluded Ukkyo.

"You’re putting up quite a pathetic fight," taunted the demon. "Do you really think you can defeat me?"

"Only one way to find out," said Ranma. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" He charged at the demon and punched at it repeatedly. At first, his punches met their mark, but the demon quickly resumed its natural form, and Ranma fell right through the cloud. However, his foot failed to exit the far side of the demon’s body. Instead, the demon carried him up into the air, lifting him by his foot.

"Ranma!" shouted Akane worriedly.

"Don’t you understand?" asked the demon. "This isn’t part of your world! This world is of my own creation! Here, I can do anything I please. I can create anything I want." Far below Ranma, a pit of spikes appeared. "Make your choice, Ranma. You can’t escape it."

"The hell I can’t!" Ranma swung his free leg up at the demon. The demon released its grip on his leg, dropping him toward the spikes below.

"Choose one, and I’ll spare your life," said the demon.

"Choose one what?" asked Ukkyo.

"I’m not choosing anyone!" shouted Ranma as he fell. "If I choose one, you’ll kill the others!"

"He’s talking about us!" realized Akane. "It wants him to choose one of us!"

"And others will die?" asked Shampoo. "That not good!"

"But Ranma will die if he doesn’t choose!" replied Akane.

"Ranma honey, just pick someone!" shouted Ukkyo. "I don’t care if it’s not me!"

"Ranma, you going to die!" added Shampoo. "Just choose!"

"Don’t be a dummy," put in Akane. "Just pick one of them!"

"What makes you think he won’t choose you?" asked Ukkyo.

"I’m not going to choose anyone!" repeated Ranma as he neared the spikes. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" As he fell into the pit, Ranma’s fists flew, destroying the spikes to clear his descent. His feet snagged the sides of the pit, and he quickly flipped himself up to safer ground.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Akane. "Just make your choice!"

"It’s not worth killing yourself over," said Ukkyo. "Really. Just choose Akane and get it over with."

"Akane is one you really want," agreed Shampoo with a tear in her eye. "You choose Akane and be happy. It not worth dying for!"

"Don’t tell me it’s not worth dying for!" snapped Ranma. "No one’s going to die today!" He looked up just in time to dive out of the way of the falling boulder.

"Are you crazy?" asked Ukkyo. "It’s not hard, Ranma honey. Just say ‘I choose Akane’ and save yourself! Do you think we want to have to watch you die?"

"Then close your eyes," said Ranma. "I’m leaving this place with all four of you or not at all!"

"That’s fine with me!" shouted the demon, appearing in front of Ranma and throwing a barrage of shuriken at him. Ranma destroyed the throwing stars with his Chestnut Fist and launched a Hiryu Shoten Ha at the demon. "You just don’t get it, do you?" The energy of Ranma’s attack curved in midair and reversed its course, streaking right back toward Ranma. Ranma dodged, but the energy wave changed its direction again and plowed into him, throwing him backwards into the boulder.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted again.

"Do you like that?" asked the demon, launching a ball of darkness at Ranma. The ball exploded against Ranma’s body, shattering the boulder and sending Ranma flying through the shower of small rocks. He landed on his head a short distance away.

"Ranma, get up!" shouted Ukkyo.

Ranma pushed himself to his feet. "It’ll take a lot more than that to stop me!"

"Excellent," said the demon. "I’ve got a lot more than that." The "ground" under Ranma’s feet rumbled, and he quickly flipped to his hands as a huge stone spike rose from the spot where he had been standing, nearly impaling him. He continued to move, dodging more stone spikes as he went.

"Ha! That’s nothing!" he shouted, throwing himself at one of the spikes that had already breached the surface. He grabbed the spike and launched himself at the demon. Naturally, he passed right through, but the next spike that appeared split the demon apart. It reformed in front of the spike, laughing.

"Good show!" the demon cheered. "Now you’re finally proving to be some sport!" It raised a wisp of mist and formed a long whip, which it snapped at Ranma. Ranma tried to catch it, but it went right through his hands and wrapped itself around his chest, pinning his arms at his sides. He was lifted into the air and hurled toward a wall of fire.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha!" Aiming his palms at the wall before him, Ranma drew energy from the fire and sent a cyclone of it spinning toward the flames, opening a small channel through the blaze. He passed through the channel, feeling the heat of the flames, but none of them caught in his clothing. The hole closed right behind him, catching the demon’s tentacle. The flames caught in the demon’s anti-energy, sending tongues of flame up and down the tentacle until the demon’s entire body was on fire. The demon exploded violently, emitting a sound like a balloon popping in reverse. The tentacle released its grip on Ranma, who landed hard as the shockwave of the explosion hit him.

"Is that it?" asked Akane. Ranma heard her voice as if from a great distance. "Is it dead?"

Ranma looked toward Akane’s voice, but the demon filled his field of vision. "No way! You exploded!"

"Did I?" asked the demon.

"Didn’t it?" asked Ukkyo.

"It didn’t," said Shampoo. "Demon still there."

"Then what was that explosion?" asked Ukkyo.

"I remember now!" said Akane. "Hikaru said that when the demon’s anti-energy mixes with energy, the mixture can destroy the universe! What we saw must have been a smaller version of that effect!"

"I think I remember something like that from chemistry class," said Ukkyo.

"You pay attention during chemistry?" asked Akane.

Ukkyo did her best to shrug. "Hey, it’s like cooking with chemicals, right? Anyway, I remember that when matter collides with antimatter, it makes energy. But I’ve never heard of anti-energy. I guess it makes sense that mixing it with energy would create some kind of destructive force."

Ranma leapt away from the large sword that the demon was swinging at him. "Destructive force is good," he said, kicking the sword out of the demon’s grip. It swung around in midair and flew at him again. He leapt over the sword, grabbing it by the handle as it passed under him. He wielded it at the demon, but it turned into a snake in his hand, and he quickly threw it away without thinking. The snake landed, already coiled to strike. Ranma hastily destroyed it with a Mouko Takabisha, only to receive another ball of darkness in his back.

"Pay attention, Ranma!" taunted the demon.

"Keep your head on straight, Ranma honey!" shouted Ukkyo. "I know you can do it!"

"Why do you torture yourself over these girls?" asked the demon.

"I’m not torturing myself," replied Ranma. "You’re the one inflicting the pain."

"All it takes is three little words and the pain will end," the demon assured him. "Just say ‘I choose’ and then a name."

"Three words, eh? How about ‘Go stuff it!’" He spat at the demon.

"You wound me deeply, Ranma," said the demon. "I thought the pressure might help you make the choice that you couldn’t make unassisted."

"You’re talking like you wanted to help me," said Ranma suspiciously.

"I do," said the demon. "I’m not your enemy, you know."

"Really? Well, anyone who’s trying to kill me is enough of an enemy for me!"

"I’ll dispense with the attempts to kill you when you make your choice!"

"No deal!" shouted Ranma.

"Why don’t I make the choice a bit easier for you?" suggested the demon, floating toward the girls. "I’ll just narrow down the possibilities a bit."

"You wouldn’t dare!" shouted Ranma, charging after it at top speed. He launched a Mouko Takabisha at the demon, scattering its anti-energy. By the time the demon could reform, Ranma had reached the tables where the girls were.

"There’s nothing you can do, Ranma!" urged Akane. "Just choose someone already!"

"Not on your life!" said Ranma. He reached toward the girls and grabbed the long spear that rested on their heads. With his back to Shampoo’s table, he held the spear in his right hand.

"Can you use that?" asked Akane.

"Sure I can," replied Ranma. "The Saotome school of Anything-Goes Martial Arts specializes in combat with any weapons at hand." He spun the spear easily in his hand and leveled it at the demon. "Just try and get past me!"

"With pleasure," said the demon, advancing on Ranma.

Ranma stabbed at the demon repeatedly. "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken, spear version!" The spear point poked holes in the demon’s body, shredding it. The demon was forced to back away.

"You can’t keep that up forever," said the demon, throwing a ball of darkness at Ranma. Ranma knocked it away with the spear. "I may not be able to kill you, but you can’t defeat me. Stalemate."

"I don’t think so," said Ranma, holding the spear in both hands. "I think I’ll destroy you now." He raised the spear over his head and brought it down swiftly on his knee, breaking it in half.

"Ranma! What you doing? Is you crazy?"

"You’ve just destroyed your weapon," said the demon.

"You’re both wrong," said Ranma. He rubbed the two spear halves together very quickly until they burst into flames. "When energy mixes with anti-energy, they’re both canceled out. How much energy can you take, demon, until all of your anti-energy is used up? These sticks will burn for a long time."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" asked the demon. "You know what happens when I absorb enough energy to destroy me."

"Yeah, you destroy the universe," said Ranma. "But since this is a universe you created, I think I can destroy it without feeling too guilty."

"What do you think will happen to you and your fiancées when this universe is destroyed?"

"I don’t know," said Ranma. "But I’m going to find out." He brandished the torches threateningly.

"I don’t think so," replied the demon. "The Hydro Slam is a standard flame counter in Ultimate Darkness Martial Arts." The demon sprayed Ranma with a powerful stream of water.

"Oh no!" shouted Akane. "It put the fire out!"

"That’s what I was hoping for," said Ranma. "Shampoo, you know what to do."

"Meow!" The water from the Hydro Slam had drenched not only Ranma and the flaming sticks, but Shampoo as well. In cat form, Shampoo was small enough to slip easily out of her confinement and leap onto Ranma’s head.

"What are you trying to do?" asked the demon. "I don’t share your fear of cats, so you can’t scare me that way."

"He’s not trying to scare the demon!" realized Ukkyo. "He’s going to use the Cat Fist!"

Akane gasped. "Ranma, no! You’re stuck halfway between forms, remember? Without your Jusenkyo curse to snap you out of it, you’ll be a cat forever!"

"I don’t care what happens to me!" spat Ranma through tightly clenched teeth. "Just as long as all of you are safe!"

"Let’s not be hasty," said the demon quickly. "There’s no need for that! I won’t kill the other three! I’ll simply place them where they’ll never see you again!"

"No!" shouted Ranma. "I won’t do it! I won’t choose!"

"Ranma," whispered Akane to herself. "It’s not that we’ll die... You’re willing to become a cat forever just to avoid having to choose between us. I had no idea you felt that strongly about it."

Ranma looked up at Akane, his eyes misted over with tears. "Meoooooooooooow..."

"Ranma, no!" sobbed Akane.

"Ranma honey!" cried Ukkyo.

"Meow!" meowed Shampoo, leaping to a safe distance.

"MEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" Ranma leapt at the demon with claws bared, tearing it to pieces. He tore these pieces into smaller pieces, and then again, until the pieces were too small to be seen. Finally, they vanished altogether. The tables vanished as well, and Akane, Ukkyo, and Kodachi collapsed to the now visible floor. Akane was on her feet in a flash, throwing her arms around Ranma.

"Oh, Ranma!" Akane buried her face in Ranma’s shoulder and cried.

"He beat it," said Ukkyo. "But at what cost?"

Ranma rubbed Akane’s hair. "Don’t cry, Akane. It makes you look weak."

Akane nearly jumped. "Ranma! But how?"

"I wasn’t using the Cat Fist," he explained. "I’ve still got a little control over my fear of cats."

"But you tore the demon apart!" said Ukkyo.

"I wasn’t the one who defeated the demon," said Ranma. "Akane did."

"Huh?" the girls asked simultaneously.

"Akane was the one who summoned the demon in the first place," explained Ranma.

"I did not!" shouted Akane.

"You may not have realized it at the time," said Ranma. "It’s because of that book, ‘How to Be More Assertive.’ Mousse saw a copy of it in your room a couple of days ago."

"It’s not mine!" protested Akane. "Ryoga left it there by accident!"

"But did you read it?"

"Just a couple of pages," admitted Akane. "I was curious."

"Hikaru Gosunkugi says that a couple of pages is all it takes," said Ranma. "Especially a couple of pages from the chapter on demon summoning."

"Demon summoning?" asked Ukkyo. "Sounds like a dangerous book."

"The book has a lot of demon power in it," explained Ranma. "All it takes is for someone with a strong desire to read it, and the demon is released. In Akane’s case, the desire was for me to stop playing the field and settle down with a girlfriend. That’s why the demon kidnapped all of us. But when she gave up that desire, the demon’s purpose was negated."

"So it just fell apart," said Akane. "I think I understand now. But why didn’t you tell me before?"

"Because you had to change your mind voluntarily. If I’d told you, you would have said you didn’t want me to choose, but you couldn’t possibly mean it."

"Then all that fighting was just to convince Akane that you didn’t want to choose between us," observed Ukkyo. "Even knowing that you couldn’t defeat the demon, you still fought it."

Akane gave him a hug. "I’m sorry. It’s all my fault."

"That’s enough of that," said Ukkyo, pushing the two apart with her spatula. "You’re awfully close to Akane, Ranma honey. What happened to not making the choice, huh?"

"I’ll make the choice someday," said Ranma. "When I’m ready. But what’s wrong with leaving things the way they are, for now? Life is too short not to have fun!"

Ukkyo chuckled. "I guess things are more interesting with a little competition."

"Yeah, I suppose so," said Akane, wiping a tear from her eye. "I may not like his ways with women, but I don’t want to try to change them any more." She helped Ranma to his feet. "I know you’ll settle down someday, but until then, I guess I don’t mind if you have a little fun."

"Ranma, you beat demon!" shouted Shampoo, throwing her arms around Ranma.

Akane pounded Ranma on the head. "I said a LITTLE fun!"

Ukkyo shrugged. "I guess some things never change..."

"How did you turn back, anyway?" asked Akane.

"Look around, stupid," said Shampoo. "We back in own world now." Akane examined her surroundings. Indeed, they were in a warehouse of some sort, full of crates. "We not far from Cat Café."

"Akane..." groaned Ranma. "Could you take your foot off of my back so I can get up?"

"Oh! Ranma!" shouted Shampoo, pushing Akane down and pulling Ranma to his feet. "Is you okay?"

"Hey!" shouted Akane. "I’m perfectly capable of moving my own foot!"

"Then why you hurt Ranma? Is because you jealous?"

"Who would be jealous over a pervert like him! If you want him, you can have him!"

"Girls, this isn’t the time to fight!" said Ukkyo.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" cackled Kodachi.

"You stay out of this!" shouted Akane.

"Silence, wretch! Now that I am free, Ranma darling will be all mine!"

"Ranma honey’s mine! Hands off!"

"Ranma belong to Shampoo!"

"I don’t care who he belongs to! He’s MY fiancé!"

"Just a second ago, you didn’t want him!"

"I don’t! But that doesn’t mean you three can jump all over him!"

"If you no want Ranma, no complain! This fight for who is Ranma bride!"

"Ranma sweetums! Where did you go?"

Ukkyo looked around. "Hey, that’s right! Where IS Ranma honey?"

Ranma slipped out a door unnoticed, closed it behind him, and leaned heavily against it. "Yep, life definitely wouldn’t be the same without them!"