Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ashes of the Phoenix ❯ Agony of Defeat ( Chapter 1 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: himura_saotome 
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.24.2001 | Updated On: 08.24.2001 | Pages: 4 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.24.2001 | Updated On: 08.24.2001 | Pages: 4 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 1.3K | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter One: Agony of Defeat
The sun rose, finally cutting through the light
fog shrouding the summit of Jusendou mountain. The fog
reluctantly abandoned its station, revealing three dark
figures standing in the middle of the topmost clearing
in the dense forests. Tensions built as battle auras
flared, barely held in check as two of the figures, one
boy and one girl, faced off against the third, a radiant
figure sheathed in light.
"You WILL return the map to me, human," the lone
figure commanded, aura flaming brightly. This man was
not used to being disobeyed, as he, Saffron, had been
the supreme ruler of Phoenix Mountain for over four
thousand years. To better make his point, Saffron
stretched his glorious, golden wings as wide as they
could go. This action made Saffron appear every bit
the near-god he was.
"Like hell I will," the boy of the pair answered.
"I'm not going to let you destroy my chances of being all
guy again." Just as Saffron was unused to being
disobeyed, this boy was unused to being commanded. Ever
since his father had insisted on dragging him to
Jusenkyo, Ranma Saotome had lost all faith in any
figures of authority.
"Then maybe this will change your mind," Saffron
said, raising his left hand toward Ranma, flames dancing
lightly on regal fingers.
The raven-haired young man tensed, every muscle
in his body ready to dodge the spout of flame that would
come from the hand of the king of Phoenix Mountain. As
expected, flames shot toward him, and Ranma leapt out of
the way easily; too easily. "Oh, no." Realization
dawned on him and he moved as quickly as he could. The
shot toward him had been a distraction and Ranma watched
in horror as the full force of the true attack engulfed
the girl who had come with him.
"NOOOOOOO!!! AKANE!!!" Ranma screamed,
running to the girl's side. Scooping her up in his arms,
Ranma tried desperately to find signs of life. Akane
felt extremely light and fragile in his arms and she
wasn't breathing.
"Give me the map, human, and I'll grant you
access to the spring at the top of this mountain,"
Saffron said, an air of smuggness to his voice, "the
water there is the only thing that will save her now."
Ranma heard these words and looked again upon
the face of the fiancee his father had arranged for him
long before either of the two children had been born.
Ranma studied the short-cut, blue-black hair, the large
eyes, and small mouth of the face that had brought him so
much frustration, so much pain, and yet so much joy.
"I love you," he wispered, almost inaudibly into the
girl's ear. "I've been so afraid that you didn't love me
back, and now it's too late." A lone tear ran down
Ranma's cheeck, carving a path through the dust that had
accumulated during the trip to China. "Don't worry, I'll
save you. And I'll make that bastard pay."
"You had better hurry, human, soon it will be too
late," Saffron said, adding fuel to the fire burning in
Ranma's chest.
Ranma stood, battle aura flaring brightly,
rivalling the light given off by Saffron, who was the
embodiment of heat and light for the bird-people of
Phoenix Mountain. "I'll kill you," Ranma said in a cold
voice.
"So, that's how you want it, human? Then so be
it," Saffron answered, raising both taloned hands in
Ranma's direction.
Ranma blurred as flames shot toward him from
Saffron's outstretched hands. "Katshu Tenshin Amiguriken!"
Crossing the distance between them in mere seconds, Ranma
landed several hundred punches on Saffron's side and back.
Saffron was somewhat surprised when he began
feeling the punches raining down upon him. The human had
moved faster than he could even see. Most of all, Saffron
was angry. Saffron thought to himself.
Launching himself into the air, Saffron called to Kiima,
one of his high-ranking officers. "Stand down, seneschal,
this one is mine."
Through a red haze, Ranma watched Saffron take to
the air to escape his attacks. Vaguely, he registered the
fact that Saffron yelled something, but rage pushed him
well beyond the point of caring. To Ranma, Saffron seemed
to move in slow motion as the Phoenix King began a dive
bomb that would incinerate anything in his path. Ranma,
moving at inhuman speed, danced out of the way, then
pounced upon Saffron, landing several kicks that would
have laid out even Ryoga before the Lord of the Phoenix
could recover from missing his attack.
------------
As the battle between Ranma and Saffron raged,
Ryoga Hibiki wondered where he was THIS time. He was,
unbeknownst to him, standing underneath a large sign that
read: "Jusendo Mountain" in both Chinese and Japanese.
Ryoga thought wistfully.
Ryoga was ripped from his thoughts by a large
explosion and a great blast of fire coming from the top of
the mountain. This, of course, could only mean one thing
in Ryoga's mind.
With that, Ryoga set off, once again, to make
Ranma pay for his crimes against Akane. Miraculously, he
actually headed in the right direction.
------------
Rage was beginning to give way to desperation.
Ranma was throwing everything he had at Saffron, but the
Phoenix King kept getting up. Ranma sidestepped another
small fireball and snapped his foot at Saffron's head.
The kick was blocked, but Ranma followed up with a flurry
of punches, scoring several hits on Saffron's left side.
One of the punches hit squarely on the joint of Saffron's
glorious wing, and Ranma heard a sickening crack and felt
delicate bones give way under his fist. Pressing his
advantage, Ranma moved around Saffron's back to the King's
right side and broke the other wing as well.
"Do you yield?" Ranma asked, looking into
impossibly old eyes that were stricken with pain.
"Never," Saffron growled, flame gathering around
him like a cloak. As Ranma watched, the bones in
Saffron's wings straightened and knitted themselves
together. "For that," Saffron said through clenched
teeth, "you and your whore will die." Saffron leapt
into the sky, drawing his power.
Ranma felt the imense power flowing around him
and moved. He knew that he'd either be fast enough or
he wouldn't, so he didn't even bother to think.
Saffron simply smiled to himself. His blast had
nearly ripped the top of the mountain off. Suddenly, a
hammerblow hit him square in the back, sending him
tumbling toward the ground. Saffron cursed his human
opponent as he hit the ground and his world went black.
Ranma spared a quick thought as he landed a few
feet behind the still form of his opponent.
A split second later, Ranma was sprinting toward
the spring at the mountain's summit, vaguely noting that
Kiima was just beginning to stir from where she'd been
knocked out by the force of Saffron's blast.
------------
Ryoga reached the clearing just as Ranma
dissappeared into what was left of the forest ringing
the summit of the mountain.
"Damn you, you coward!" he exclaimed, thinking
that Ranma was running to get away from him. Then he
noticed the devastation. Only the mightiest of trees
still stood, the rest bowled over andstill smoldering.
The whole clearing smoked as blackened ash covered the
ground that had formerly consisted of soft grass. A
pretty, winged woman was dragging herself up from a
tangle of fallen trees, rubbing her head and mumbling.
Just at the edge of the scorched part of the landscape,
a winged man lay motionless. Ryoga could tell that, when
the man was cleaned and healthy, he would be regal at the
very least. A few yards away from the man and the
desolation, Ryoga saw a sight that nearly made his heart
stop. Akane lay in the grass, still as death, and for a
few agonizing heartbeats, Ryoga thought that she was dead
as he ran to her side. Then, to his extreme relief, her
chest rose and fell softly, but slowly.
Ranma finally appeared from the direction he'd
gone, carrying a bottle of something. Ryoga intercepted
him and grabbed his shirt with both hands.
"What have you done to Akane?!" Ryoga demanded.
"Aw, geez, Ryoga, I don't have time for- oh,
crap," Ranma said, looking over Ryoga's shoulder. "Here,
take this and give it to Akane," he said, addressing
Ryoga again, "it's the only thing that'll bring her back.
I'll hold him off."
"Hold who off? Ranma, where-," Ryoga asked,
turning to see what Ranma was looking at. As he turned,
he saw the man who had been on the ground rising and
gathering flames around himself. Only sparing one more
glance at the bottle Ranma had pressed into his hands,
Ryoga raced to Akane's side, uncorked the bottle, and
poured the contents into her mouth. Ryoga was only
slightly aware of the sounds of battle behind him as he
held his breath, waiting for Akane to awaken.
Ryoga's prayers were soon answered as Akane gasped
and sat bolt upright. Suddenly, a loud battlecry broke
into Ryoga's world of worry. Both Ryoga and Akane turned
to see what was happening. What they saw would shatter
the world as they knew it.
------------
Ranma could feel Saffron's power gathering, and
could tell by the Phoenix King's posture where the blast
would be aimed. It was a decision he'd been willing
to make for quite some time now. With a cry, he
launched himself at Saffron one last time. Ranma's punch
hit Saffron squarely in the jaw, snapping his head back,
but it was too late to stop the blast Saffron had been
preparing.
The last thoughts that went through Ranma's
mind as the fireball engulfed them both were of Akane and
how he was proud to give his life to save hers.
----------------------------------------------------------
Author's note:
Ok, assuming I have any readers left, I hope you
enjoyed this. Sorry it took so long, but I was having
trouble with the fight scene between Ranma and Saffron.
That brings up another point... I know I'm probably
butchering the Jusendo arc as you all know it, but I don't
speak or read Japanese at all, and I had fun making my own
events. I'd really appreciate some comments and criticism
on how I did with this chapter. Again, thanks for reading
my work!
Oh, yeah, the characters used in this story were
created by Rumiko Takahashi and are her property, not
mine, and this is intended in no way to infringe upon the
rights she has. Besides, I'm not making any money off of
this, so there's no point in suing me, right?
-Andy
Author's note revised:
Ok, I fixed some of the bugs and streamlined the
story some. Many thanks to Taliesin, who preread the story
for me and made fun of me until I changed some of this stuff.
Anyway, I plan to expand the rest of the chapters as
well and add some more meat to the story, so keep an eye out
for updates. Thanks for your support and please email me and
let know what you think.
The sun rose, finally cutting through the light
fog shrouding the summit of Jusendou mountain. The fog
reluctantly abandoned its station, revealing three dark
figures standing in the middle of the topmost clearing
in the dense forests. Tensions built as battle auras
flared, barely held in check as two of the figures, one
boy and one girl, faced off against the third, a radiant
figure sheathed in light.
"You WILL return the map to me, human," the lone
figure commanded, aura flaming brightly. This man was
not used to being disobeyed, as he, Saffron, had been
the supreme ruler of Phoenix Mountain for over four
thousand years. To better make his point, Saffron
stretched his glorious, golden wings as wide as they
could go. This action made Saffron appear every bit
the near-god he was.
"Like hell I will," the boy of the pair answered.
"I'm not going to let you destroy my chances of being all
guy again." Just as Saffron was unused to being
disobeyed, this boy was unused to being commanded. Ever
since his father had insisted on dragging him to
Jusenkyo, Ranma Saotome had lost all faith in any
figures of authority.
"Then maybe this will change your mind," Saffron
said, raising his left hand toward Ranma, flames dancing
lightly on regal fingers.
The raven-haired young man tensed, every muscle
in his body ready to dodge the spout of flame that would
come from the hand of the king of Phoenix Mountain. As
expected, flames shot toward him, and Ranma leapt out of
the way easily; too easily. "Oh, no." Realization
dawned on him and he moved as quickly as he could. The
shot toward him had been a distraction and Ranma watched
in horror as the full force of the true attack engulfed
the girl who had come with him.
"NOOOOOOO!!! AKANE!!!" Ranma screamed,
running to the girl's side. Scooping her up in his arms,
Ranma tried desperately to find signs of life. Akane
felt extremely light and fragile in his arms and she
wasn't breathing.
"Give me the map, human, and I'll grant you
access to the spring at the top of this mountain,"
Saffron said, an air of smuggness to his voice, "the
water there is the only thing that will save her now."
Ranma heard these words and looked again upon
the face of the fiancee his father had arranged for him
long before either of the two children had been born.
Ranma studied the short-cut, blue-black hair, the large
eyes, and small mouth of the face that had brought him so
much frustration, so much pain, and yet so much joy.
"I love you," he wispered, almost inaudibly into the
girl's ear. "I've been so afraid that you didn't love me
back, and now it's too late." A lone tear ran down
Ranma's cheeck, carving a path through the dust that had
accumulated during the trip to China. "Don't worry, I'll
save you. And I'll make that bastard pay."
"You had better hurry, human, soon it will be too
late," Saffron said, adding fuel to the fire burning in
Ranma's chest.
Ranma stood, battle aura flaring brightly,
rivalling the light given off by Saffron, who was the
embodiment of heat and light for the bird-people of
Phoenix Mountain. "I'll kill you," Ranma said in a cold
voice.
"So, that's how you want it, human? Then so be
it," Saffron answered, raising both taloned hands in
Ranma's direction.
Ranma blurred as flames shot toward him from
Saffron's outstretched hands. "Katshu Tenshin Amiguriken!"
Crossing the distance between them in mere seconds, Ranma
landed several hundred punches on Saffron's side and back.
Saffron was somewhat surprised when he began
feeling the punches raining down upon him. The human had
moved faster than he could even see. Most of all, Saffron
was angry. Saffron thought to himself.
Launching himself into the air, Saffron called to Kiima,
one of his high-ranking officers. "Stand down, seneschal,
this one is mine."
Through a red haze, Ranma watched Saffron take to
the air to escape his attacks. Vaguely, he registered the
fact that Saffron yelled something, but rage pushed him
well beyond the point of caring. To Ranma, Saffron seemed
to move in slow motion as the Phoenix King began a dive
bomb that would incinerate anything in his path. Ranma,
moving at inhuman speed, danced out of the way, then
pounced upon Saffron, landing several kicks that would
have laid out even Ryoga before the Lord of the Phoenix
could recover from missing his attack.
------------
As the battle between Ranma and Saffron raged,
Ryoga Hibiki wondered where he was THIS time. He was,
unbeknownst to him, standing underneath a large sign that
read: "Jusendo Mountain" in both Chinese and Japanese.
Ryoga thought wistfully.
Ryoga was ripped from his thoughts by a large
explosion and a great blast of fire coming from the top of
the mountain. This, of course, could only mean one thing
in Ryoga's mind.
With that, Ryoga set off, once again, to make
Ranma pay for his crimes against Akane. Miraculously, he
actually headed in the right direction.
------------
Rage was beginning to give way to desperation.
Ranma was throwing everything he had at Saffron, but the
Phoenix King kept getting up. Ranma sidestepped another
small fireball and snapped his foot at Saffron's head.
The kick was blocked, but Ranma followed up with a flurry
of punches, scoring several hits on Saffron's left side.
One of the punches hit squarely on the joint of Saffron's
glorious wing, and Ranma heard a sickening crack and felt
delicate bones give way under his fist. Pressing his
advantage, Ranma moved around Saffron's back to the King's
right side and broke the other wing as well.
"Do you yield?" Ranma asked, looking into
impossibly old eyes that were stricken with pain.
"Never," Saffron growled, flame gathering around
him like a cloak. As Ranma watched, the bones in
Saffron's wings straightened and knitted themselves
together. "For that," Saffron said through clenched
teeth, "you and your whore will die." Saffron leapt
into the sky, drawing his power.
Ranma felt the imense power flowing around him
and moved. He knew that he'd either be fast enough or
he wouldn't, so he didn't even bother to think.
Saffron simply smiled to himself. His blast had
nearly ripped the top of the mountain off. Suddenly, a
hammerblow hit him square in the back, sending him
tumbling toward the ground. Saffron cursed his human
opponent as he hit the ground and his world went black.
Ranma spared a quick thought as he landed a few
feet behind the still form of his opponent.
A split second later, Ranma was sprinting toward
the spring at the mountain's summit, vaguely noting that
Kiima was just beginning to stir from where she'd been
knocked out by the force of Saffron's blast.
------------
Ryoga reached the clearing just as Ranma
dissappeared into what was left of the forest ringing
the summit of the mountain.
"Damn you, you coward!" he exclaimed, thinking
that Ranma was running to get away from him. Then he
noticed the devastation. Only the mightiest of trees
still stood, the rest bowled over andstill smoldering.
The whole clearing smoked as blackened ash covered the
ground that had formerly consisted of soft grass. A
pretty, winged woman was dragging herself up from a
tangle of fallen trees, rubbing her head and mumbling.
Just at the edge of the scorched part of the landscape,
a winged man lay motionless. Ryoga could tell that, when
the man was cleaned and healthy, he would be regal at the
very least. A few yards away from the man and the
desolation, Ryoga saw a sight that nearly made his heart
stop. Akane lay in the grass, still as death, and for a
few agonizing heartbeats, Ryoga thought that she was dead
as he ran to her side. Then, to his extreme relief, her
chest rose and fell softly, but slowly.
Ranma finally appeared from the direction he'd
gone, carrying a bottle of something. Ryoga intercepted
him and grabbed his shirt with both hands.
"What have you done to Akane?!" Ryoga demanded.
"Aw, geez, Ryoga, I don't have time for- oh,
crap," Ranma said, looking over Ryoga's shoulder. "Here,
take this and give it to Akane," he said, addressing
Ryoga again, "it's the only thing that'll bring her back.
I'll hold him off."
"Hold who off? Ranma, where-," Ryoga asked,
turning to see what Ranma was looking at. As he turned,
he saw the man who had been on the ground rising and
gathering flames around himself. Only sparing one more
glance at the bottle Ranma had pressed into his hands,
Ryoga raced to Akane's side, uncorked the bottle, and
poured the contents into her mouth. Ryoga was only
slightly aware of the sounds of battle behind him as he
held his breath, waiting for Akane to awaken.
Ryoga's prayers were soon answered as Akane gasped
and sat bolt upright. Suddenly, a loud battlecry broke
into Ryoga's world of worry. Both Ryoga and Akane turned
to see what was happening. What they saw would shatter
the world as they knew it.
------------
Ranma could feel Saffron's power gathering, and
could tell by the Phoenix King's posture where the blast
would be aimed. It was a decision he'd been willing
to make for quite some time now. With a cry, he
launched himself at Saffron one last time. Ranma's punch
hit Saffron squarely in the jaw, snapping his head back,
but it was too late to stop the blast Saffron had been
preparing.
The last thoughts that went through Ranma's
mind as the fireball engulfed them both were of Akane and
how he was proud to give his life to save hers.
----------------------------------------------------------
Author's note:
Ok, assuming I have any readers left, I hope you
enjoyed this. Sorry it took so long, but I was having
trouble with the fight scene between Ranma and Saffron.
That brings up another point... I know I'm probably
butchering the Jusendo arc as you all know it, but I don't
speak or read Japanese at all, and I had fun making my own
events. I'd really appreciate some comments and criticism
on how I did with this chapter. Again, thanks for reading
my work!
Oh, yeah, the characters used in this story were
created by Rumiko Takahashi and are her property, not
mine, and this is intended in no way to infringe upon the
rights she has. Besides, I'm not making any money off of
this, so there's no point in suing me, right?
-Andy
Author's note revised:
Ok, I fixed some of the bugs and streamlined the
story some. Many thanks to Taliesin, who preread the story
for me and made fun of me until I changed some of this stuff.
Anyway, I plan to expand the rest of the chapters as
well and add some more meat to the story, so keep an eye out
for updates. Thanks for your support and please email me and
let know what you think.