Ranma 1/2: Siblings
Episode 4

All Ranma 1/2 characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.  Viz owns the US
rights, and I'm using them without permission.  Don't sue me, I have no
money.

***

"Thank you again, Respected Elder," Andrew said, staring over the boat's
gunwale, watching the sun set.  "You didn't have to pay for this trip. 
Ranma says we could have borrowed a boat from Kuno."

"I'm old, son-in-law, not heartless," Cologne told him sharply.  "Besides,
I'd rather give up some trinket than have to listen to that sword-wielding
idiot."

Andrew, Ranma and Cologne stood at the side of a small boat.  Somewhere
near the stern, Shampoo was arguing with Mousse.  Ryoga was lost below,
while Genma attempted to keep Soun's mind occupied with a game of shogi. 
Ukyo was absent, having begged out due to an audit.

"As Shampoo said," she continued.  "I'd know how I'd feel if someone did
this to my family."

Ranma's hands tightened, crushing a bit of the railing.  "You don't know
the half of it."  Andrew nodded darkly.

***

The company stared up at the mountain.  Spiralling around it was a long
path, and at the top stood a tall tower.  "Reminds me of Kirin's place,"
Ranma said.

"I don't care who's place it looks like, I'm going to kick his ass." 
Andrew snarled.  He and Ranma started to run up the path, stopping when
they came upon a small building blocking their way.

"Yep, lots like Kirin's place," Ranma commented.  "I'll take this guy."  He
ran into the open door, Andrew a few steps behind him.  The others,
catching up, heard a high-pitched scream, and Ranma came running out,
bowling over Andrew.  "C-c-c-c-cat!!!!" he stuttered, hiding behind Ryoga.

"What the hell?" Andrew groaned, sitting up.

"My son's afraid of cats!" Genma cried, "Oh, the shame."  

He was knocked on the head by Ranma.  "It's your fault!" he roared.  Andrew
chuckled evilly.  Ranma and the others looked at him in shock.

"Oh, excellent," he said to no onein particular.  "I HATE cats."  Shampoo
paled slightly.  "This is just what I need."  Cracking his knuckles, he
walked into the small building.  The others followed.

Inside, they saw an luxurious room.  The walls were covered in tapestries,
and in one corner there was a huge pile of cushions.  A little man lay on
them, looking at Andrew in amusement.  He yawned delicately, and stood,
stretching.  He wore nothing but a pair of short black pants on his wiry
form.  He moved with a slow grace.  They noticed with a shock that his eyes
were slitted like a cat's.  "Oh dear, another one."  He sighed.  "The
challenge is this: defeat me and the other 6 guardians of Shinzo, and you
may a challenge Lord Shinzo," he said in a monotone, almost mechanically. 
"Oh course, you won't even beat me."

"Big words, little man," Andrew said, flexing his hands.  "Bring it on." 
The other laughed in disdain.

"If you wish."  His eyes flashed, and the others could see his battle aura
glow, and resolve into a large cat-like form.  They felt a feat grip their
hearts, and backed away.

"CAT!"  Andrew growled, and charged at the little man, suprising him.  He
jump-kicked the other in the chest, knocking him back into the cushions. 
The little man rose to his feet and glared at Andrew in anger.

"How dare you touch me!"  His cat aura glowed again.  Andrew roared and
leapt at him, striking him again and again.

Ryoga shivered as Ranma cowered behind him.  "How can he do that?  I'm
fighting with everything I have to stand here, and I'm NOT afraid of cats."

Cologne watched Andrew batter the little man about a bit more.  "He's all
bluster," she said, indicating the little man.  "Notice how he doesn't even
fight back.  He relies on intimidation."  She looked at Shampoo. 
"Great-granddaughter, you may want to avoid changing forms around
Andrew-son-in-law.  This hatred of cats is a side effect of his training."

Shampoo nodded softly.  "Aiyah," she breathed.  "Why all Shampoo's husbands
have cat problems?"

"Maybe it's a subtle hint, Shampoo," Mousse said.  "The gods themseves are
telling you I'm the only one for you!"  He glomped on her, and seconds
later flew through the air into the little man, knocking him out.

"HEY!"  Andrew yelled at the group.  "No butting in!"  He turned and picked
up the little man, and tossed him into the cushions.  "What a loser.  Hey,
Ranma," he called, "you can come out now."  Ranma looked up, had a full
body shudder, and walked up to Andrew.

"Thanks, bro," he said shakily, then got ahold of himself.  "Next one's
mine."

"No way!  I gave you first crack on this one, it's not my fault you
chickened out!"

"It's not my fault!"

"It's always your fault!" Andrew yelled.

"You sound like Akane!" Ranma yelled back, and the two fell silent.  The
looked around and noticed the others were gone.  "Not again," Ranma sighed.
 "Come on, we'd better go save them too."  They ran out after the others.

Soon, they came upon the ruins of another gate.  As they climbed past the
wreckage, Andrew noticed several craters in the ground.  "What happened
here?"

"Ryoga happened,"  Ranma said.  "He's got this move called the Bakusai
Tenketsu."  He pointed at a crater.  "Shatters rocks, and wood.  Doesn't
work on people though."  He grimaced.  "But the explosion from one of the
explosions can really hurt."  He looked at his brother seriously as they
travelled to the next gate.  "Ryoga's strong, really tough, and almost as
fast as me."  He grinned.  "I beat him all the time, you might find him a
challenge."

Andrew snorted.  "Yeah, whatever, LITTLE brother."  They came upon another
gate, and found it empty. Weapons and chains littered the ground, and a
tall, sticklike man lay unconscious on the floor, his body covered with
minor cuts and bruises.  "Let me guess.  Mousse."

Ranma nodded.  "They did this at Kirin's too."  He looked up the path,
"Jeez, we better move."

The two ran ahead after the rest of the group.

***

After passing two more gates, each one showing the remnants of a battle,
they finally caught up to the group.  Mousse, Shampoo, Genma, and Ryoga lay
on the ground unconscious in their cursed forms, soaked.  Andrew growled
and started for Shampoo, but Ranma held him back.  Soun wailed.  Cologne,
predicting Andrew's reaction, was heating some water.

"Where the hell did you guys find water?"  Ranma asked Cologne while he
held Andrew back.  Cologne quickly poured the hot water on the unconscious
cat, turning her into a girl.  Andrew relaxed.

"The artist inside uses water as a weapon, son-in-law.  He stands in the
middle of a spring, and shoots streams of water that strike like hammers. 
You are the only ones who can defeat him."

"Umm, Respected Elder?"  Andrew interrupted,  "Why didn't you fight him?" 
Cologne whacked him on the head.

"Because, son-in-law, I choose not to," she said haughtily.

Ranma looked at Andrew.  "I'll go in."  Andrew nodded.  Ranma ran into the
gate, and soon they could hear a feminine voice yelling battle cries. 
After a few moments, Ranma-chan came hurtling out of the building, soaking
wet.  Andrew kneeled at his sibling's side.

"You OK?"  Andrew asked.  Ranma-chan nodded, and tried to catch her breath.

"He's fast," she gasped.  "I can't get close to him."  Andrew stood and
began to take off his clothes.

"What are you doing, son-in-law?" Cologne asked.

"Ranma needs a diversion.  I'll be it."  He walked over to Ryoga's pack and
rummaged through it, pulling out a canteen.  "Unlike them," he indicated
the cursed teens.  "My other form's useful."  He openned it and poured the
contents on himself, morphing into a silver wolf.  He padded over to
Ranma-chan and licked the other's face.

"Ah, so you are cursed too, son-in-law," Cologne said approvingly.  "And a
fine form it is."

"Hey, stop that!"  Ranma-chan protested, batting Andrew-wolf away. "Come
on, lets go."  Andrew-chan barked once and ran into the gate, Ranma-chan
waited a moment, the followed.

Ranma-chan entered to see the guardian throwing blast after blast of water
at Andrew-wolf, who twisted and leapt out of the way.  Every once in a
while he would get hit by a jet of water.  Ranma-chan took advantage of the
diversion, and charged the guardian.  She jumped in the air, attempting a
kick, but was blasted out of the air by a jet of water.

"How foolish," the guardian mocked.  "To think I would not see through your
little trick."  He blasted Andrew-wolf again, and the wolf lay still. 
"That's one." He then turned his attention to Ranma-chan, and began to
attack her.  It was all Ranma-chan could do to avoid being hit.

The guardian laughed.  "How pathetic.  I expected people who beat the other
five to be a chall-urk."  He was knocked down by a heavy weight on his
back.  He felt the jaws of a wolf at his neck, and lay very still. 
Ranma-chan walked up to him and carefully drove her fist into his face,
knocking him out.  

She looked at the soaked wolf, who sat on the guardian, panting, looking
inordinately pleased with himself.  "Weren't YOU supposed to be MY
diversion?"  Andrew-wolf wagged his tail, and barked.  "Yeah, I suppose. 
Whatever works."  She sighed.  "Let's heat some water so we can all change
back."  Andrew-chan barked again and followed Ranma-chan out to the others.

***

"Well, ladies, are you enjoying your stay?"  Akane looked up from the
bricks she was breaking to see a large man, probably in his thrities,
wearing traditional samurai armor.  She, her sisters, and Nodoka sat in a
rather luxurious apartment.  Nabiki lay back on a couch, drinking tea,
while Kasumi and Nodoka worked on some sewing.  The man looked with an
amused glance at Akane.  "I see you did not lie.  Your Ranma HAS come for
you," he chuckled.  "He and his friends have been most amusing."

"Ranma's here?" Akane demanded.  "Where?"

"Calm yourself, girl, he has yet to defeat all my guardians."  He looked at
a piece of paper in his hand.  "He must be an impressive warrior.  I do
hope he defeats them all, I look forward to killing him myself."

"You won't find my son so easy to kill, Lord Shinzo," said Nodoka coldly. 
The man laughed.

"I do hope so.  Which one is he?  I'll save him for last."  He read the
paper again.  "The grey-haired boy?" He noticed the sparks of recognition,
but no great reaction.  "No? Then he must be the boy with the pig-tail." 
Akane's face brightened, and he nodded with satisfaction.  "He is.  Good." 
He turned to leave.  "Farewell ladies, I will return to inform you when the
funeral is scheduled."

Akane looked worriedly after the man.  "Ranma, you jerk, be careful," she
whispered.

***

The group entered the last gate, and saw a large, empty room.  In the
middle, a lone man stood.  He was the most decidedly average man they had
ever seen.  Even his hair and eye colors were of unremarkable shades, a
sort of grey-brown.  The man looked at them, an amused smile on his face.

"Oh, eight against one.  That's not fair," he said.  Suddenly there were
two of him, then four.  Then eight.  "How about." He doubled again. "We
even." Again.  "The odds?" Soon there was a large crowd of the nondescript
men standing in front of them.

Andrew looked at the crowd of men.  "Ranma, you go on ahead.  Save them. 
We'll handle these guys."  Ranma started to protest, but Andrew grabbed him
and flipped him past the group of men.  Ranma yelled in suprise as he flew
through the exit.  Andrew looked over at Ryoga.  "Hey, pig-boy."  Ryoga
scowled over at him.  "Ranma tells me you're pretty good."  Ryoga looked at
him blankly and nodded slowly.  "Good.  You take the ones on the left, I'll
take the ones on the right.  The rest of you," he turned to he others. 
"Take the center."  With that, he charged into the crowd of men, fists and
feet flying.  A moment later, the others joined him.

***

Ranma ran on to the tower, trying to ignore the sounds of combat behind
him.  *Thanks, bro.*  He burst through the doors, and stopped just inside. 
There, all alone, stood a giant of a man wearing armor.  He wielded a
traditional katana and wakazashi combination.  "You must be Ranma," the
warrior boomed.  "I've heard so much about you."

"Give me Akane, Nabiki, Kasumi, and my mother, and you won't get hurt." 
The warrior laughed.

"Oh, I like you, boy," the man said.  "You stare death itself in the face. 
Consider youself lucky, boy, you will die by the hands of Lord Shinzo
himself."

"Shut up and fight!"  With that, Ranma charged the man.  He leveled a punch
at the Shinzo's head, only to pull his hand back suddenly as a sword swung
at his fist.  He attempted several more attacks, yet each time he had to
abort them at the last moment or lose an appendage.  *God, he's good.* 
"KACHU TENSHIN AMIGURIKEN!"  he roared, and his hands blurred as he threw
scores of punches at the warrior, smiling as felt a couple impacts, and
then wincing as he felt the blades cut into his arms.  He fell back and
looked at his arms, which were covered in shallow cuts.

"Excellent, boy.  I haven't been touched in ages," the warrior laughed, and
his eyes hardened.  "But enough play."  His swords flashed out, and Ranma
cried out in pain as he felt hundreds of shallow cuts appear up and down
his body, his clothing in shreds.  Ranma fell to his knees in shock. 
"DIE!"  He started to swing his katana.

"OOKAMI TAKABISHA!"  The samurai was knocked back by a yellow blast.  Ranma
looked behind him to see Andrew standing behind him, his hands smoking. 
"Just what," he asked, his voice like ice, "did you think you were going to
do to my brother?"  He walked up to Ranma.  "I'll take him, bro, you rest."
 He turned to the warrior, who was shakilly getting to his feet, and
entered a battle stance.

"Such an affront I shall not accept," the warrior growled.  "My marriage to
a Tendo was fated in the stars, and no child shall defeat me."  He took a
few steps forward.  "Prepare yourself," he said, entering into a battle
stance.

"Less talk, more fighting," Andrew said, and charged the other.  "KONTON
IRICHEN SEME!"  Like Ranma had before him, he weaved through Shinzo's
defences until the warrior discovered his rythym, and soon had to pull out,
his arms stitched with shallow cuts.  "Damn it," he panted.  "You're good."
 He concentrated, and began to gather chi in his hands again.  "Let's see
you defend against this!  OOKAMI TAKABISHA!"  Another yellow blast flew at
Shinzo.  He looked in shock as the samurai crossed his swords, catching the
blast on them, then flung it back at him, knocking him back several meters.

Ranma ran to him, helping his brother up.  "Andrew, you OK?"  He looked at
his scorched and bleeding brother, and his own tattered form.  Andrew
groaned and nodded.  "Listen, remember what happened in our duel?"  Andrew
looked blank for a moment, and then nodded slowly.  "Lets see if he can
take that."

The two brothers faced the samurai, who looked back haughtily.  "Ready to
die, boys?" he asked, anger in his voice.  "I promised your fiancee and
mother I'd tell them when the funeral was.  Since you both have soiled me
with your touch, you both shall die."  Ranma and Andrew exchanged a glance.
 

Ranma took a deep breath.  "HIRYU SHOTEN..." he began.

"OOKAMI..."  Andrew started.

"...HA!!!" Ranma roared.

"GUFUU!!!" Andrew finished.  As Ranma's fist flew into the air, so to did
Andrew's foot.  The resulting twin blasts crashed into the warrior, dazing
him, but not knocking him out.

Shinzo shook his head.  "For that..." he trailed off as he saw the two
whirlwinds the attacks had formed merge into one, and crash into him,
flinging him into the high ceiling of the room.  He cried out in pain as he
slammed into the ground, and lay there unconscious as the bottom of a
smoking crater.

"We..did..it," Ranma panted.  Andrew fell to his knees, and then forward
onto his face.  "Andrew!"  He stumbled over to his brother rolled him over.
 "Bro, wake up!" he cried, shaking him.  Andrew groaned and opened his
eyes.

"Oh man, do I have a headache," he said, and slowly sat up.  "We win?"

"Yep," Ranma said, and helped his brother to his feet.  "Lets go find Akane
and the others."  The two stumbled forward, each one holding the other up.

"We're right here, son."

Ranma and Andrew looked up and saw Nodoka standing off to one side, the
Tendo daughters flanking her.  "Were..you here the whole time?"  Andrew
asked.

"Just the end, Andrew," Nabiki told him.  "You two work well as a team." 
Kasumi came forward and helped Andrew stand, while Akane helped Ranma.

"Akane..." Ranma whispered.  "You dummy, how many times do I have to save
you?" he asked.

"Raaannmmaaa..." she began, then fell off as she noticed his wounds. 
"Ranma!  You're hurt!"

Ranma and Andrew exchanged a glance.  As one, they spoke.  "Ah, it's
nothing," they said, and began to laugh weakly.  After a moment, Andrew
gasped and fell unconscious.  Kasumi laid him on the ground and began
tearing up her skirt to use as bandages.

"Use these." Ryoga said, pulling bandanas off of his head and handing them
to her.  Behind him, the other members of the rescue party came through the
door.  They were all battered from their combat with the last guardian. 
Nabiki held her father off of Kasumi while he wailed, so she could treat
Andrew.  Shampoo, Mousse and Cologne stood away a ways, watching the
proceedings.

"Ryoga!" Akane cried. "You're here too?"

Ryoga snorted as he pulled off bandanas to use as bandages, handing them to
Nodoka.  "Like I would trust Ranma to do this by himself."

"Without us you wouldn't have found it, P-chan," Ranma said weakly as his
mother trated him.  His upper body was covered with black and yellow cloth.
 "Besides, who needs ya.  Andrew's a better fighter than you any day of the
week."

Genma pulled himself up proudly.  "Of course, he's a Saotome."


Notes:

Andrew's Attacks: Yes, they're alot like Ranma's, they're supposed to be.
Konton Irichen Seme = chaos series attack
-it's a bunch of very fast attacks where the attacker telegraphs one move
but strikes with another

Ookami Takabisha = Wolf Domineering
-Moko Takabisha with a wolf motif

Ookami Gufuu = Wolf Tornado
-Hiryu Shoten Ha