Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Balance of Power ❯ Taking Control ( Chapter 2 )

Volume 1

Chapter 3

Taking Control

Ryoga stared at his captors with a hateful glare. He was tied to a chair and seated down in an empty room. He could have easily broken the binds and smashed all the faces of the people in the room. But there was the problem with the four people pointing handguns at his chest.

The door opened and someone walked in. As soon as Ryoga saw his face, he made the connection.

"Toshi Maruyama," Ryoga said quietly. The man seemed shocked for a moment but quickly recovered.

"I congratulate you on finding my name," Toshi smiled. "But, before we get the rest of the pleasantries out of the way, how about telling me who sent you into those fields."

"Go to hell," Ryoga said calmly. He slowly twisted his hands against the bonds that held him in place.

"Well, you can at least tell me your name," Toshi said conversationally.

Ryoga said nothing and continued to stare at Toshi.

Toshi sighed and walked right up to Ryoga, putting his face within centimeters of Ryoga's face.

"We'll have to do this the hard way then," Toshi said dejectedly, as he peered into Ryoga's eyes. Toshi's eyes suddenly took a glazed look.

Ryoga suddenly found he had no control over his body. A searing pain within his head kept him from completely going into shock.

"Now, tell me who sent you!" Toshi bellowed in a loud voice.

It took most of Ryoga's concentration but he was able to spit into Toshi Maruyama's face.

Toshi's eyes flared and the pain in Ryoga's head increased. Ryoga's right arm suddenly raised and he punched himself in the face, hard. He was flung backward in his chair, his head slammed into the concrete floor.

Ryoga was lifted back into a sitting position; his face was already swelling from his own punch.

"I will remind you that if you do keep up this pitiful resistance, I will be forced to kill you," Toshi said, his cheerful voice returned. When Ryoga made no move to reply, Toshi sighed. He turned to the other guards in the room.

"Go round up whatever people you can find inside of Nerima's Tendo Dojo, but take only one or two," Toshi told one of the men. The guard holstered his gun and walked out of the room, with the other guards following behind him.

Ryoga stared at Toshi with a look of utter surprise on his face. Toshi smiled at him.

"Well, I was hoping to get the name of whoever sent you to that field, but hopefully, now that we will have some of your family or friends over here, I will be able to get that name, without having to hurt the others too badly."

"Where did you get the name of the Dojo?" Ryoga asked, with a surprised look still on his face.

"Why your wallet Mr. Hibiki. Inside was the nice details telling me that if I found it, I should return it immediately to Nerima's Tendo Dojo," Toshi sneered. "You do not have very much experience in this line of business now do you Mr. Hibiki?"

Ryoga, feeling the pain disappear from his head, snapped the bonds that held him to the chair and charged at Toshi. He had gone maybe four strides when he lost control of his body and hit the ground. A small amount of pressure was being applied to his neck.

Toshi slammed his foot down on Ryoga's neck and laughed cruelly.

"Now do you see my power?"

Ryoga lay motionless, he couldn't move but he didn't really care. All he was doing was praying that Ranma was with Akari and Akane.

===================

Ranma paced up and down the front hallway in the Tendo household.

"How the hell am I going to break this to Akari?" Ranma asked himself.

At that moment the front door slid open and he heard Akane call out, "Were home!"

Ranma rushed to the front door and was immediately tackled by Akane in a fearsome hug.

"Your home!" Akane cried into Ranma's chest.

Akari smiled at the two, until she noticed something.

"Uh, Ranma? Where's Ryoga?" Akari asked.

"The-There's something I've got to tell you Akari," Ranma said as he approached her.

"W-Where's Ryoga, Ranma?" Akari asked again, her voice becoming shrill.

"Look, just come ins-"

"No!" Akari screamed. "He promised me he'd come back!" Akari yelled, tears streaming down her face. Akari took one look at Ranma's face and ran out of the house.

"Akari wait!" Akane called as she ran after her.

Ranma cursed as the phone rang, he walked over and picked it up.

"Hello."

"Get out of the house Ranma,"

"What, Seiji what are you talking about?"

"Just get out of the house and bring Akane and Akari to the base."

Ranma heard Akane scream and he dashed out of the house, dropping the phone. Ranma saw Akane being shoved into a black sedan by a tall Caucasian. The car sped away and Ranma gave chase. He leapt over the eastern wall and landed in the middle of the street and turned to see the car speeding towards him. He jumped backwards but his leg got clipped by the car and Ranma was thrown to the ground, hard.

Ranma hopped to his feet but a flash of pain through his body made him fall back down, he hit the ground again and blacked out.

===================

Seiji, Soun, Kasumi, Nabiki, Genma, and Nodoka sat around Ranma's unconscious form.

"May I ask what your association with my son is?" Nodoka asked Seiji.

"Forgive me," Seiji said, bowing to Nodoka, "My name is Seiji Inafune, I run a restaurant downtown. Ranma came to my attention when he and his friend Ryoga, destroyed an entire shipment of contraband."

"By contraband, you mean drugs right?" Nabiki asked.

"Yes," Seiji answered. "I arranged a meeting with them and I asked them for their assistance. You see, I have been working with a man who has, for the past ten years, been trying to infest Japan with drugs. I know that drugs are nothing new to Asia. Opium has always been a problem, but what he is trying to do is bring every problem that America and Columbia are facing and introduce them over here. The main problem is, America has a highly skilled military and police force, Japan on the other hand, has been using America as a crutch. And now that America has removed its heavy influence, Japan is now faced with dealing with all the problems that face most nations.

"I enlisted Ranma and Ryoga's help, and trained them for a few days and then they were sent on a mission to destroy a month's supply of drugs outside Tokyo. They succeeded but, during there escape Ryoga was caught and now Akane and Akari have been taken as well."

"Why was Akane and Akari kidnapped in the first place?" Soun asked.

Seiji shifted uncomfortably. "There's something I haven't told you about this person that has been increasing the drug trade. His name is Toshi Maruyama; he has been hunted by almost every country in the world. Before he came to Japan, Toshi studied under some kind of tribe in China. They had specialized in some technique that allows people to read another one's thoughts, and if the person has mastered the technique, control a person's movements. I believe that Maruyama must have tortured Ryoga until he got whatever information he needed."

"Do you know where they have been taken?" Genma asked, his arm wrapped around Nodoka.

"Yes, but I will need Ranma's help," Seiji stated.

Ranma began to stir and he emitted a low moan.

"Oh, Ranma your awake," Kasumi said as she removed the clothe from his head. Ranma looked around until he noticed Seiji.

"Seiji! Is Akane-"

"Sorry Ranma," Seiji cut him off, "They got her, and Akari."

"Damn," Ranma swore.

"All is not lost Ranma, I have a good idea where they were taken," Seiji said.

"Then let's go!" Ranma shouted as he leapt to his feet.

"Wait!" Everyone stopped when they realized that Nodoka had said this. "Ranma, you are going to need help with this. Maybe you should go get Shampoo or Mousse."

Ranma did not seem to like the idea of getting Shampoo or Mousse to help him with this, thankfully Kasumi had an idea.

"Oh, why don't you take Dr. Tofu, he reopened his clinic earlier this week," Kasumi smiled.

"Uh, yeah that would work, doc's a great martial artist," Ranma said.

Ranma bid his goodbyes to everyone and got into Seiji's car.

"Who's this Dr. Tofu fellow?" Seiji asked.

"I'll explain on the way there," Ranma responded.

===================

"Hey!" Akane yelled as she was thrown into a room. "You jerk, you could be a little gentler!"

Akari soon followed Akane's path of entry and she collided with Akane.

"Ow," Akari muttered as she climbed back to her feet. "Sorry Akane."

"It's okay," Akane said as she took Akari's offered hand.

"Where the hell are we?" Akari asked.

"I don't know but we should pro-"

"Ryoga!" Akari yelled. She ran over to the body in the corner. Akari turned his body over and gasped.

Ryoga's face was a bloody mess.

"Is he, alive?" Akane asked as she slowly approached.

Akari placed her head to Ryoga's chest and felt the slight rise and fall of his chest. Akari breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at Akane.

"He's breathing," Akari told her. Akane released the breath she had been holding.

"Let's move him to the bed," Akane said.

Akari nodded and moved over by Ryoga's head, Akane moved down by his legs. Gently they moved him to the bed.

"We should probably wash that blood of his face," Akari suggested.

Akane nodded her agreement and tenderly untied one of his bandanna's.

"I'll never understand how he keeps all those bandanna's tied there," Akane said as she ran warm water over the bandanna from a nearby sink.

"Kind of like that hammer you're so fond of whipping out and beating Ranma with," Akari noted as she took the dampened bandanna from Akane.

Akari lightly stroked Ryoga's face. The blood began to run off Ryoga's face and soon the pillow was a deep red color. As soon as his face was clean Akari leaned over and gently kissed Ryoga.

"Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Akari asked, her hand still stroking Ryoga's face.

"Ryoga's a pretty tough guy, I'm sure he'll wake up soon and get us out of here, Akane answered, putting a sympathetic hand on Akari's shoulder.

Ryoga slowly stirred and he tried to sit up but he fell back.

"Ryoga!"

"A…..ka……ri," Ryoga slowly said. His voice was strained and he was in obvious pain.

"What happened Ryoga?" Akane asked.

"Got……turned around…. beat couple guys…. one of them had…. a gun," Ryoga took a deep breath and exhaled, his body seemed to shake with the act of breathing. "Took….me…..back here… they expressed their… dislike for me…. with their….. boots... and….fists."

"Why didn't you fight back?" Akari asked as she ran her hand over Ryoga's cheek.

"Couldn't," Ryoga breathed. "Toshi….Maruyama…. made it so I….. couldn't move."

Ryoga began to slowly get up and Akari grabbed one of his arms and helped him to his feet. Akane ran to his other side as Ryoga tried to take a few shaky steps and together they helped Ryoga to the wall.

"I'll….get us….out of here," Ryoga said as he placed his hand on the wall for support. "You…two stay…back."

"Bukusai Tenketsu!" Ryoga yelled as he struck the wall with his index finger. The wall exploded in a shower of rubble. Ryoga was catapulted backwards and was caught by Akari.

"Can you carry him?" Akane asked.

"Yup," Akari said, shifting Ryoga to her back in the piggyback position.

"Okay, let's go."

===============

Ranma, Seiji, and Dr. Tofu sped down the streets of Tokyo.

"You've certainly been busy Ranma," Tofu said after Ranma finished telling him what had transpired in the past weeks.

"Yeah," Ranma sighed.

"So who's this Maruyama fellow?" Tofu asked Seiji.

"He's a powerful practitioner of telekinesis. He can control your movements and keep you from even blinking with only a second's preparation," Seiji explained.

Tofu whistled. "I've heard of people that could do things like that, but never on such a high level."

"Yes, he is quite powerful," Seiji nodded gravely.

The rest of the drive was ridden in silence. As Seiji pulled into a parking space in front of a ten-story building, Ranma spoke up.

"Everyone get ready, I'm sure there's going to be a welcoming committee."

===============

Akane, Akari, and Ryoga raced down the hallways of the building. They had found out that they were a little too high off the ground for them to attempt a leap to safety. So at this point they were attempting to find a staircase or an elevator.

During their search, Ryoga had been drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Arrrgh! There must be a hundred rooms in this place!" Akane yelled as she slammed another door closed.

"Oh Akari, I'm so sorry to have brought you into this," Ryoga said as Akari's breathing began to grow heavier from carrying Ryoga through the halls.

"It's not your fault Ryoga," Akari said as Akane turned down another hallway.

"I love you Akari, I'm sorry I haven't told you sooner. I want to be with you forever," Ryoga whispered into Akari's ear.

"Ryoga, as much as I love hearing you say something like that, now is not exactly the time to be talking about this. So how about we just concentrate on finding our way out of here?" Akari asked as she shifted Ryoga up higher.

The sudden movement caused a flash of pain to rack through his body, and sent him into unconsciousness. But not before his hand spasmed and clutched Akari's breast.

Akari blushed furiously and tried to rearrange Ryoga's position, but she was unable to without putting Ryoga down.

"Um, Akane?" Akari asked.

"Yeah?" Akane responded without turning around.

"Could you help me with this?" Akari asked. Akane turned around and instantly began laughing.

"How did this happen?" Akane asked as she moved Ryoga's hand.

Akari mumbled something under her breath and walked around the corner. She spotted two guards coming down the hallway and quickly dashed behind the wall.

"Two guards are coming," Akari said quickly.

"Alright, you stay here and I'll go ask them for directions," Akane smiled. She stepped out from behind the wall and waited for the guards to approach her.

"Um, do you two know where the elevator is?" Akane asked in her cutest voice.

"Down the hall and to the left," the taller guard answered.

"So it's down there," Akane pointed. As the guards turned around Akane slammed their heads together with as much force she could muster.

The guards collapsed and she pulled their bodies behind the wall.

"Wow, that was pretty cool Akane," Akari said admiringly.

"It was nothing," Akane said as she ran down the hall to the elevator. As soon as she got there she pushed the button quickly.

"Look Akane," Akari motioned with her head to the display where it showed where the elevator was. "It just went down to floor 1."

"So?" Akane asked. "It's probably just letting people off.

"Or more people got on."

Akane looked up at the display. The elevator was on floor 3 and moving upwards.

"You might be right," Akane admitted. "Here's what will do, once the doors open I'll charge in and take care of anyone that's inside."

Akari nodded her acceptance of Akane's plan and moved beside the elevator doors. Akane stood directly in front of the doors, ready to charge. The elevator was moving upwards to their floor.

As soon as the 6 icon flashed, Akane was already charging forward. The doors parted and Akane stopped dead in her tracks.

"R-Ranma?"

Ranma, Seiji, and Dr. Tofu were staring at Akane with dumbstruck expressions.

Ranma grabbed Akane and wrapped her in a fearsome hug. Ranma quickly released her when he realized he had an audience. Akari stepped into the elevator and Ranma glanced at the body she was carrying.

"You guys found Ryoga," Ranma breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, we were actually put into a cell with him," Akari said as she slowly put Ryoga onto the floor of the elevator. "He was pretty beat up but he still managed to destroy one of the cell walls."

Dr. Tofu began examining the unconscious Ryoga.

"Well, you were right when you said he was beat up, looks like he was on the receiving end of some real strong punches and kicks," Tofu said in his doctor voice. "But I don't think anything except a couple of ribs are broken."

"I suggest we remove ourselves from this building and move to a facility better suited for treating Ryoga," Seiji said as he pressed the button on the elevator.

Everyone breathed a little easier as the elevator doors closed, but they soon noticed something.

"Hey, why are we going up?!" Ranma shouted.

"I don't know," Seiji admitted as he opened up the panel and began hitting the emergency stop button. "Something has control over this elevator.

The elevator stopped on the 10th floor. The doors parted and they were met by a very unwelcome sight.

"Hello," Toshi greeted. "Would you all be so kind as to step out of there so I don't have to shoot you."

There was no room for argument as Toshi was flanked by three guards with handguns pointed at the occupants of the elevator.

===============

Toshi led them to a room that was marked as a debriefing room.

"You can just set Ryoga down by the door doctor," Toshi smiled as Tofu instantly complied with what he had said.

Everyone sat down in a chair. Toshi walked around them to stand behind the desk that was positioned in front of all the chairs. He released the hold he had been holding over them.

"Now, you all have caused me a great amount of trouble," Toshi said, his voice very calm. He opened a drawer and bent down to retrieve something.

That was all the time Ranma needed to leap out of his chair and dive across the desk and attempt to hit Toshi in the side of the head with a kick. Ranma was shocked to find that his leg wasn't responding and he was now falling to the ground.

"That was a very foolish thing to do Ranma, Toshi said, removing a pistol from the drawer. He stared intently at Ranma and made him get up and go sit back in his seat.

Toshi walked around them and put them all under his control again.

"You all have really stressed me to my limits," Toshi told them. "And when I'm stressed out, I find it is always a great relief to kill someone."

Toshi moved the gun to the back of Tofu's head. "Now, I won't kill all of you, at least not yet, but I do find that people are a lot more conversational when they have their dead friends sitting beside them." He moved slowly down the line of chairs, pressing the muzzle of the gun against each person's head. He finally stopped between the two girls. "Hmm, I think I'll keep one of you, but I don't know which to choose." He stared straight at Akari and let his hand slowly fall down her face and stop on her chest. "Oh yes, you are probably the best choice," he said, giving her chest an experimental squeeze.

"Shi Shi Hokodan!"

A bright ball of chi energy struck Toshi and hurled him against the wall.

"Don't you ever touch her again you worthless bastard!" Ryoga snarled as he staggered towards Akari. He reached down and picked up the gun.

Akari stopped crying and rushed to Ryoga's side and wrapped her arms around him. Toshi slowly got to his feet and glared at Ryoga, he was holding his left arm, which was twisted in a very odd angle. Ryoga glared back while removing the clip from the gun.

"I'm very glad your awake Ryoga," Toshi said, he looked over at Akane, "Now, from what I gather your Akane. Ryoga had some very interesting things to say when we injected him with Sodium Pentathal."

Ryoga could only glare at Toshi and Ranma quickly tried to distract Akane but he couldn't move.

"I trust that you already know about Ranma's trip to Jusenkyo, but what I don't think you know is that Ryoga followed him there. Ryoga was peering over a cliff face when Ranma and his father emerged from the bushes behind him. Ryoga leapt over Genma but he was unsuccessful in evading Ranma. Ryoga was knocked off of the cliff and into the spring of drowned black piglet."

Akane eyes widened as Toshi finished talking. She turned to look at Ranma but he was staring at the ground. Next she turned to Ryoga and saw the look of shame on his face.

"No," Akane said quietly. "No!"

She rushed at Ryoga but collapsed before she even took two steps.

"Sorry Akane," Toshi said with no trace of sympathy in his voice. "But how could you have never figured it out. It had to have been the simplest thing in the world. Stupid girl."

"Shut up!" Ranma yelled, lunging at Toshi. Toshi hadn't even identified who had yelled when he was kicked square in the face and sent sprawling to the ground.

Ranma rushed over to Akane and picked her up off the ground and into his arms.

Toshi slowly got to his feet and grabbed the gun from Ryoga, who had yet to be released from Toshi's mind hold. Toshi walked right up to Ranma and pointed the gun at his chest.

"Now you die," Toshi said his voice absent from the calmness it had contained earlier.

Ryoga watched as Ranma moved Akane out of the way and stood facing Toshi. He realized horrifyingly that Ranma didn't think the gun was loaded. Ranma didn't realize that he hadn't removed the chambered round. Ranma wasn't going to move. Ryoga knew he had to get Ranma out of the way.

He broke Toshi's mind hold and ran straight at Ranma. He jumped and hit Ranma square in the shoulder, pushing Ranma out of the way.

Ryoga didn't even hear the gun go off. The bullet struck him in the chest; the force of the bullet spun him around in mid-air. He hit the ground and the pain became very evident. He heard Akari scream as he hit the ground. Her face appeared in front of his and he could see the tears in her eyes. Someone else was next to him and he presumed it was Dr. Tofu. Ryoga raised his hand and ran it across her face and managed to smile before the pain became too intense and he passed out.

Tofu lifted Ryoga off the ground and exited the room, Akari close behind.

Ranma watched Tofu leave. He was struck dumb; he hadn't thought the gun to be loaded. Nor did he think that Ryoga would be the push him out of the way. Ranma turned and looked at Akane; she didn't appear to be very coherent right at the moment. The sound of a clip sliding into a gun brought his attention to the only other occupant of the room.

"Damn fool, I was aiming for you," Toshi said.

Ranma vision became red as he leapt to his feet and charged at Toshi. Toshi didn't even have time to chamber a round when Ranma jumped over him, twisting in the air and landing to face him. Toshi tried to turn around but he was far too slow.

"Die you worthless bastard!" Ranma yelled. There was no confidence in him, but he said it anyway. "Moko Takabisha!"

A giant chi blast struck Toshi in the chest, instead of catapulting him backwards; the blast went right through his chest. He tried to scream but he found he had no breath to scream. He slowly slumped to the ground and remained there.

Ranma began to shake and he would have fallen backwards if it were not for Akane wrapping her arms around him. She whispered that everything was going to be alright as she led him out of the room; but Ranma knew that it wasn't going to be alright, and nothing would ever be the same again. He wouldn't realize until later that he was almost right.

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Author's Notes: For everyone that has already read this story and has decided to read it again has probably noticed that there are a very many things different. That is because I took some time to do a major rewrite of the chapters leading up to the final chapter of Semper Fi.

Sodium Pentathal is a drug that can be used as a sort of truth serum. It has been used by the American Army before, as it allows a person to become completely willful to divulging any type of information the interviewer may want.

I hope everyone has been enjoying this story, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would write a review.