Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Winds of Change ❯ Out of the bag! ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Winds of Change

 

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AN: The final sequence has been finally launched. Took me a while, and to say the truth I almost turned this chapter into one disaster. There’s still one little plothole I need to remedy in the story, although, it’s only a minor inconvenience and one has to really look. I’m not even sure it’s worth fixing it.

 

 

The elements have been assembled. That’s what matters! They now need to be thrown together so the reactions can occur! Have fun and hopefully see you next weekend. Though, before you ask... The reactions will take a few chapters yet and there are still a few things which I’m in a limbo about.

 

 

Happy reading! See ya guys later! I’m off to ruffle a few rookie feathers! Ah, I love my job! Yes, yes; you can add the evil laughter!

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Ranma ½ in any way I just like to play around in the sandpit created by Takahashi Sensei. I don’t make any money by writing this so keep your lawyers at bay!

 

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Chapter 11: Out of the bag!

 

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The wind blew across the streets, across the trees, making the lifeless husk what their branches appeared to be dance swaying gently to the rhythm of the air. The air, the world, it felt different. More alive. And while those branches felt dead there was an awakening in the making. The small buds they bore. They were starting to move, to stir. The cracks along their surface. They were signs of things to come. Of the imminent wonder that was spring.

 

 

Gone was the mist of the early morning. The haze, the thick fog, it had been replaced by blue skies and beaming sunshine. The air was getting increasingly warmer. To most people, it was an occasion to be celebrated. A sign of a new season, a sign of joy. For some, the day didn’t begin with the same amount of joy.

 

 

“Saotome, Kobayashi! It is understandable that you had some difficulties getting here, but that doesn’t change the fact! You two were late! Tendo! What did I tell you about hitting your classmate! He's been absent too many times because of your temper! All of you out! Go stand in the hall!”

 

 

That was how school began for Ranma that day. With him standing in the hallways holding buckets of water. Grumbling about the unfairness of the situation. He didn’t plan on being late. Despite these facts had a nasty habit of now changing because of one’s will.

 

 

On his right stood Yuka. Silent. Struggling with the weight of her buckets. Ranma glanced at his bandaged hand, grateful for the girl’s help. Kuno’s blade. It had cut really deep. The way the girl was able to fix him up. The care she took to treat his wound. He couldn’t help but feel grateful. His gaze moved over to her as he adjusted his one-finger hold on her burden. It was a little gesture on his part. His way of repaying her for her kindness. On his other side stood the reason why he had to be careful, and stealthy about what he was doing. Akane.

 

 

The Tendo girl was fuming because of more than one reason. Despite his best effort, she knew well what he was doing, but that was really not it. She had her pride as a martial artist and would have never accepted his help no matter what. His helping Yuka and not her was only a minor problem. Strike one, so to say.

 

 

 

 

Strike two was Ranma staying out for the night. Usually, he made his way home before the morning one way or another. Usually. What made things different this time around was him hiding things from her. The way he avoided her questions. It made it obvious that he was hiding something. And there was strike three. The part that really set Akane off.

 

 

Kuno may have been taken down, but he was far from being unconscious. And he certainly wasn’t quiet during his voyage to the infirmary. He moaned, he swore, and worse, he talked. He talked a lot! Hideous magics, fair maidens getting turned into wicked witches, virtues of honourable fighters, the inevitably of justice. And a wicked sorcerer attempting to steal a maiden's soul by trying to kiss her. That one was the flag! The barn-sized, bright-red flag.

 

 

That was the reason why Akane went nuts and tried to cave Ranma’s head in. She couldn’t believe it. Ranma going after her best friend and trying to do perverted things. Akane was determined to protect Yuka from her fiancé’s perverted ways. However, now, once she was forced to think about it. The way he and Yuka were interacting just now. The fight she had seen. Ranma taking a hit for the girl. The brunette taking care of Ranma’s wounds. It was starting to click.

 

 

The realisation. What it meant. It was making Akane worried. Were the two of them… Was there something between them? Was it just Ranma being his usual perverted himself… or was there something going on.

 

 

She glanced at the boy. He was staring at the ceiling. Apparently thinking about something. No doubt something he had no business thinking. The mere thought of losing Ranma to somebody who wasn’t even in the race to begin with. It unnerved her. She feared the question. She feared to open her mouth, but she had to know.

 

 

“So what were you doing last night?” asked Akane. Her words felt unnaturally loud in the quiet of the corridor. “I want an answer from both of you!” she demanded. The other two stiffened at those words. Harshness behind them.

 

 

“Nothing!” replied Ranma almost instantly.

 

 

Yuka nodded with enthusiasm. “Yeah…” she agreed. “Nothing out of the ordinary happened,” she added.

 

 

Akane glanced one after the other. She was doing nothing to hide the suspicion she bore. “Why do I think you’re lying?” she asked. “You are not telling me everything!” she spoke, her voice all too even.

 

 

“But it’s the truth!” countered Ranma. “Yes I was at Yuka’s but nothing had happened.”

 

 

“Liar!” snapped Akane. “I know you’re lying!”

 

 

“Akane! Why would he lie about this?” asked Yuka interrupting what would surely become another fight if she didn’t. Her act was a success. Partially. Instead of Ranma, the Tendo girl went after her. All of Akane’s attention, all of her anger was immediately on the brunette.

 

 

“This pervert! Not trying anything!” yelled, snapped the female martial artist. “Are you for real!? What did he do?”

 

 

Yuka shook her head. “He did nothing of the sort the entire night!”

 

 

“I know he did something!” Akane called out much louder.

 

 

The door of the classroom opened. The teacher peeked out. “You three out there! Pipe down! You’re supposed to think about what you’ve done not start another fight!” he warned in a stern tone. The three students in the hallways quieted down. The door closed with a click. Soon the sounds of normal classroom activity could be heard from within.

 

 

Akane turned to Ranma with a warning glare. “What did you do to Yuka?” she asked accusingly.

 

 

“Nothing! We just talked!” he replied.

 

 

“Yeah, we only talked! Relax Akane!” agreed Yuka.

 

 

The Tendo girl stepped closer to Ranma making him back away and up against Yuka who almost dropped her load now that his help had vanished. “You see this?” Akane hissed raising a bucket burdened hand and pointing a finger at her ear. “This is an effective and sensitive lie detector. I know you two are not telling the whole truth!”

 

 

“But it is the truth!” replied Ranma starting to get irritated. “Okay mostly! We kinda fell asleep somewhere along the line, but that’s it! That’s it! That’s why I was late in the morning!” somehow he still managed to keep his voice down. While he couldn’t care less about what the teacher inside thought about him he would have preferred to get away from the argument without receiving some further punishment.

 

 

For a few moments, it seemed to work as Akane had gone eerily quiet. Too quiet he realised all too late. “What!” yelled Akane alerting every living soul in the school to her distress. “You two slept together!” she called out even louder.

 

 

That single sentence launched shockwaves across the school. The door of the classroom was torn asunder. As was the door of the next classroom and the one beyond. The chaos. It was back again.

 

 

One teacher walked out of her classroom all too calmly. There was a sheet of paper on her desk. Her resignation. The reason pointed out for her decision was one sentence. "This place is insane!"

 

 

"Is it true?" came one question from a girl. “You two have spent the night together and done that?”

 

 

"Saotome, you sly dog!" yelled a boy.

 

 

"So how was it bud? Did it feel good?" asked another male.

 

 

"Wow, Yuka, you're so bold! Doing it with someone already spoken for!" remarked a girl.

 

 

The questions and comments went on and on with no end in sight. Denial, explanation, reasoning made no sense. The onslaught continued. The situation was not made any better as Ranma grabbed Yuka in a subconscious effort to shield her from the accusations. It was fuel to the raging inferno as the gesture was immediately taken out of proportion.

 

 

Amidst the chaos. The yelling Ranma spotted something that made him go white as a sheet. A lone black rose-petal floating in the air. Drifting down towards the ground just outside the window.

 

 

He stared at the innocent-looking thing with trepidation. He knew what it meant. He knew that things would get much, much worse before they had any chance of getting better. He knew that trouble was looking around the corner. There was a faint whistling sound. The sound of something heavy approaching at high speed. He saw Akane yelling at him, though her words were lost to him. The crowd that was around them did not help.

 

 

He knew Akane had every right to be mad at him. He had spent the night in the arms of another girl. He understood his fiancé. He felt her pain. He understood how she must feel, but at that moment he had no time to worry about it. The whistling had become obvious. Ranma saw the cause. The weapon headed for them. Aimed at Akane and Yuka. The huge wooden mallet adorned with spikes, no doubt poisoned. He knew he had to move and quick

 

 

He grabbed hold of Yuka’s waist and Akane by the waist and jumped. The blow impacted on the floor with a tremendous crash launching a criss-cross of spiderweb-like cracks from the epicentre of the impact. If he didn’t move when he did. If he didn’t get the girl out of there. Both of them could have been injured if not worse.

 

 

The crash of the wooden mallet was enormous. The weapon’s spikes bit into the floor deep. Soon, said floor started to give way and crumble. It soon collapsed with a mighty crash opening up an impressive hole to the level below. There were dozens of students down there. All of them staring up and through the gaping maw that appeared above them. Others staring down. Realisation had set in moments later as a high-pitched laugh started to echo across the building.

 

 

It was Kodachi Kuno. The so-called black rose. The so-called undefeated champion of martial arts rhythmic gymnastics. "Oh, silly peasant girl!” she stated. “How can you even think about putting your grubby hands on my Ranma-samma? Did nobody ever teach you to get out of the way of your better?"

 

 

The declaration was enough to have the students run for their lives. They knew how these fights usually were like. They knew what Kodachi usually was like. During all previous arguments, the interior of the school building had been off-limits. An area which was always respected by the combatants. That rule was just about to be broken and nobody planned to stay around and see what that would mean for the average bystander.

 

 

It was obvious that the building was about to become a deathtrap. It was obvious what they had to do for their own safety’s sake. They knew where to go. The bunker-network build the day before. That place had become the epicentre as both teachers and students made a mad dash for safety. They hoped and prayed.

 

 

However, they also chose to be pragmatic. The thick steel doors of the bunkers. If there was something that could keep out the insane martial artists it was those doors. Within seconds the classrooms, offices, and corridors of the school were empty. Not much after that, a clang of thick metal meeting metal could be heard from outside. The entrance of the nuclear-proof shelter had slammed shut. There was a loud his as the air vents came to life and the structure went into lockdown.

 

 

Ranma released both Yuka and Akane as he turned to face the assailant. He looked at the hole. Then he turned to Kodachi. The expression on his face. A death-glare. There were many things he had tolerated. Many things he took without retaliating much. However, with her last move Kodachi crossed a fine line. Martial artists fighting martial artists he was fine with. A few bruises. Maybe the occasional broken bone, he was fine with. But endangering people untrained in the art or trying to really seriously hurt anybody. No! That part was and truly outside what he considered okay. Especially if Akane and Yuka both were targeted.

 

 

"That’s it!" he growled making his displeasure obvious. "No more Mr nice-guy!" he started to walk towards Kodachi. Every step he took radiated hostility. A clear warning that he was fed up with things.

 

 

For the first time in her pampered and somewhat sheltered life, Kodachi had felt it. Doubt! She had never seen this side of her chosen man. This was everything but what she had been told and taught by her slightly… seriously crazy mother. The mother was currently a permanent resident of a high-security special care facility. "This ends now Kuno!" continued Ranma. "I've had it with both of you! You AND your brother!" he warned.

 

 

The girl took a step back. Her hand moved to her back. No doubt to retrieve a tool from god knows where she had kept those things. Ranma was well aware that it should be an impossibility. Those skimpy leotards the girl wore so often. There should be no space. He kept on approaching confident that he can take her on. He was faster, stronger, more skilled. He knew he can take her down.

 

 

"Get out of my face and never return!" he growled as he kept on pressing forward. The girl kept backing away. Intimidated by his much larger frame.

 

 

Then as suddenly as Kodachi’s confidence had fled, it returned. A smirk appeared on her lips. Doubt was gone from her thoughts almost instantly replaced by assurance, unfaltering confidence. "Ah, I understand now!" she spoke evenly. As if she had solved some puzzle. "That foul witch has shown herself to you! That is the only reason you refuse me! Or was it both of them?" she asked accusingly turning to Akane and Yuka with a smirk.

 

 

"We have done nothing of the like!" yelled the brunette sick and tired of being accused of sleeping around. "We just fell asleep, that's all you moron!" her words echoed across the empty hallways.

 

 

Akane was slowly starting to go red with anger. Her getting accused of doing that. Outside of wedlock. The mere thought was enough to set her off. She wanted to slap the Kuno girl up and down the school. However, it was Ranma who showed the most prominent signs of anger. His hands cracked audibly as he balled them up in a fist, ready to send Kodachi flying out into the mountains.

 

 

"Get out!" he commanded in a low voice. "NOW!" he yelled no longer caring that it was a girl he was talking to.

 

 

Kodachi didn’t. She chuckled. Then she laughed. It was one of those laughs. Loud, obnoxious, irritating. The one that was more than enough to send people running,

 

 

Akane and Yuka covered their ears in an attempt to block the hideous sound. Ranma shook with anger. He was unphased by the laughter. He was determined to removed the crazy gymnast from his pool of suitors permanently. He was sick and tired of her attitude. Her demands. Her annoying demeanor. He never even liked the girl to begin with. The attack with the mallet has been simply the last straw on a rather long list. A large one.

 

 

"Ranma-samma!" called out Kodachi, her voice haughty. Confident. "I know how mesmerizing the female body can be to a man, but I assure you. Once you've tasted my beauty you will never want to go back to those harridans. Ever!"

 

 

Ranma’s fist tightened. His visage darkened. He was already visualising how pummelling the crazed Kuno would feel like.

 

 

"Why would you settle for a pair of second-grade peasants when you can have a real jewel like me!" continued the girl completely unaware of the raging inferno that was Ranma. Her words. Her attitude.

 

 

“Those two little harlots, whores, have no chance to match my beauty!” declared Kodachi setting off the other two females.

 

 

However, Ranma’s reaction was on a completely new level. Something shifted. The last safety mechanism snapped as if it was a weak string. He lashed out with his first. Not at the girl, but the wall next to him.

 

 

The punch. It went right through the wall. The destruction caused by him. It echoed across the school. Across the neighbouring area. The local residents were now fleeing in terror. Whatever was going on in the school it was different from the normal craziness. They were not taking any risks. Not after being firsthand witness of years upon years of crazy incidents.

 

 

The wall collapsed opening a new entryway to the classroom. Ranma slowly retracted his fist from the debris, assured that his act was more than sufficient that he had made his case well known. "Last warning!" he stated coldly, evenly. Too evenly. "I just about had it with you and the other weirdos!" he warned. “Go! Get lost and never come back!”

 

 

Kodachi was smirking. By the look of things completely unaffected by his more than obvious rejection. She looked at him like a predator measuring up her prey and smiled. It was not just any smile. The way her lips curved up. It was unnerving. Unnatural. "Well, if you won't see things my way I'll make you!" she replied ominously.

 

 

Suddenly she rushed at Ranma going at full speed. The boy backed away. Step after step, on the lookout for any trap. The girl’s hand was still behind her back. Outside of his view. He knew how Kodachi fought like and he was not taking any chances. He had to know what she was hiding before making his move. The last thing he wanted was to be caught in her spiderwebs.

 

 

He kept on retreating. Waiting for the right moment. He knew that the opportunity would present itself sooner or later. He only had to wait and once he saw it the girl would fall all too easily. He kept on keeping the distance between him and Kodachi a constant. He retreated past Akane and Yuka. He knew there was a junction in the hallway close by. He was determined to use that as his point of attack. To exploit the extended space he had to maneuver and to counter whatever she would throw his way.

 

 

One more leap and he would be ready to retaliate. Just as he was about to reach his desired spot Kodachi brought forth her weapon of choice which she had been hiding till this point. Her arms were rather unusual for a fighter. For her, however, it was rather cliché. A bouquet of black roses.

 

 

Ranma was not surprised at all when Kodachi slashed across the air with the bouquet. The action spread a fine powdery substance into the air. He made sure to keep a fair distance from the lingering mist in the air. He knew how the girl fought and refused to fall victim to her tricks.

 

 

Akane too made sure to keep her distance from the white stuff, and made sure to drag Yuka along. She was not taking any risks. The white powder was no doubt some quick-acting agent that would paralyse anybody who came into contact with it.

 

 

Kodachi smirked as she stood at the centre breathing the poison as if was nothing but fresh, ripe mountain air. Her lips. The triumphant smirk. It unnerved Ranma. The girl was creepy at the best of times. This day, however, she was even worse if possible.

 

 

"She must have worked hard to build up a resistance against that poison." thought the boy. This woman. She was crazy. To willingly poison herself to the point where one would build up a resistance to a toxin. To take it so easily. She had to do it almost daily.

 

 

Something else also occurred to the boy. The way Kodachi attacked him. It was not in a blind rage. The way she moved it had a feel of calculated intent to it. As if she had counted on his movements. On the hallway’s confined nature. Something was not right.

 

 

It was then that he noticed that during his retreat he had completely forgotten about his, Yuka’s and Akane’s relative positions. The two girls were now on the opposite end of the floating cloud of poison. It was then that he started to figure out what was going on. He glanced at the windows. The closest path through which he could get to Akane and Yuka. He was shocked to see a small, suspicious pouch that had been placed on each and every window. If he tried to get out and around the obstruction… The trap was obvious now. Kodachi wanted to isolate him from the other two girls. It was all planned.

 

 

The gymnast had what she wanted her smirk said it all. "Don't worry my Ranma-samma! I'll soon have all of you to myself!" she said while turning from him. "Come peasants!" she said with an eerily even voice. "It's time you learn your place!"

 

 

With her free hand, the crazy girl pulled out a gymnast’s club out of seemingly thin air. She tapped a button on the weapon revealing the numerous hidden spikes as she approached the two girls. She wasn't even trying to hide the long needle-like protrusions. Her eyes were cold and calculating.

 

 

Ranma stared in disbelief. He knew that there were other parts. Other ways to get around the obstruction. If he was really desperate he could just go through the wall. He knew he has more than enough strength to do it. But for now, caution prevailed. If the windows had been rigged there was no telling what she might have done to the walls. She certainly was devious enough to plant one or another kind of surprise just for his sake.

 

 

Besides, Akane was no pushover. And Yuka had shown to have some surprisingly effective fangs of her own. The two of them should be able to take down one slightly... severely delusional rich girl among the two of them.

 

 

"Time to learn you place commoners!" called out Kodachi as she got closer to the two.

 

 

Akane took up a stance, readying herself to fend off the attack. Her eyes kept on darting between the spiked and no doubt poisonous club and the bouquet of roses. She was determined to stay and fight. She was determined to put Kodachi in her place. Behind the martial artist, there was a pop and a click. Akane smiled. Sure, Yuka was not a fighter, but it felt good to have her give support. Even with the strange situation going on between the brunette and Ranma.

 

 

Kodachi reached the edge of her cloud of white powder. Her poisonous defence. The way she moved. Past her line of safety. Still confident, with her guard down. High and mighty like usual. It unnerved Ranma. Akane smirked. Kodachi might have her weapons, but she was far from being any good when it came to being a hand-to-hand fighter.

 

 

“Even now you go against your betters!” declared the gymnast casually. “Fighting a fight you have no place in. Going up against a noblewoman instead of scurrying off to the wretched hovels you call a home.”

 

 

Kodachi’s words riled Akane up like nothing else. She was sick and tired of being talked down to. The constants insults. The holier than thou attitude. Akane too was itching for the fight. Now she had both the opportunity and the reason to lash out. And there it was. Right in front of her the means to deliver her response to the gymnast. A neat opening. One that was begging to be exploited. She smirked and attacked.

 

 

Just as the Tendo girl's fist started to pick up momentum Ranma realised it. The deception. Kodachi was self-centred, obnoxious, and an annoyance to be around. But she was not careless. She was cunning, willing to take the deceptive route. He spotted a small bump on the girl’s stomach. Most people would put it off as nothing but a hint of baby-fat. A minor blemish on an otherwise physically flawless young woman. Kodachi was not like that. She was a perfectionist She would not allow something like that to mar her body.

 

 

The target of Akane’s strike. Her fist. It was headed right for that bump. The opening Akane wanted to exploit. It was left on purpose.

 

 

Before Ranma even had the chance to shout the warning the damage had been done. Akane’s fist had made contact. There was a puff. An explosion of white smoke. Dodging it at that range... It was an impossibility.

 

 

Kodachi was catapulted back quite a few feet by Akane's strike, but the padding she had under her leotard took care of the worst of the attack. The gymnast landed safely with barely a grunt. Smirking. Akane on the other hand. She was a different story. She was down on the ground twitching as she made attempt after attempt to regain control over her body. Yuka rushed forward driven by fear for her friend. She made it all the way to Akane. She grabbed the paralysed girl, but as she tried to pull her to safety she found her strength fading fast. Moments later she too was on the ground. Her weapon. The small canister of doom clattered on the ground harmlessly. The trap had sprung. The prey was caught. Ranma’s was cut off completely.

 

 

"Putting your hands on a noblewoman!" spoke Kodachi. "So uncivilised! So predictable!" She turned to Ranma. Her gaze changed from cold to loving. "Don't worry my love!" she said with a smile. "I will dispose of these vagabonds. Then you can whisk me off to whatever place you want so I can show you the beauty of a true flower!"

 

 

The boy paled. The Kuno girl. The glint in her eye, he saw it. This girl meant what she had said. In the truest sense of the word. She was not delusional like her brother. She was insane in the truest sense of the world. A nutjob a complete wackadoo. His eyes widened even further when he saw her pull a tanto, a traditional dagger, from her bouquet of flowers. His heart missed a beat. It was a perfect checkmate.

 

 

Everything had been well planned and executed and planned from the start. Kodachi’s taunting. Her attack on Ranma. The traps, the feint. The girl had planned it all out perfectly. Now there was barely anything he could do.

 

 

If he went in to stop her, he would be down in seconds. The fine dust-like poison would make sure of it. He could already feel a minor numbness in his muscles and he was fairly sure it was just because of some stray bits of the stuff that happened to find their way to his lungs. If he ever got a full whiff he was sure he too would be down on the ground.

 

 

Kodachi turned to the two girls on the ground. A wicked smile formed on her lips as she calmly started to walk towards them. “Now you pay for your interference peasants!” she stated coldly. “With your lives!”

 

 

Ranma almost collapsed from shock then and there. Kodachi had truly gone insane. This was not some squabble anymore. This was life and death in the truest sense of the word. “Okay, I’ll go with you just don’t hurt them!” he called out.

 

 

The gymnast turned to him. “Sure you will my love!” she responded smiling. “After I remove these commoners! They are nothing but a hindrance after all. With that, she turned around and kept walking. Slowly deliberately. Savouring the scared faces of the other two girls.

 

 

Ranma found his hands shaking. He couldn’t believe how things could turn so dark this quickly. He had only one card to play in this situation. One that he really didn’t want to. He had to use a kii blast. Those attacks were hellishly dangerous. Tools that could easily cripple people. He knew the danger involved. Kodachi was not Ryoga. If he made use of the technique there was a real chance that the girl would end up seriously hurt or dead. Or even worse he could end up hurting an innocent bystander. Though what else could he do in the situation? It was that or to allow her to kill both Akane and Yuka.

 

 

Ranma readied himself to fire off the attack. He knew that there will be a lot of pain one way or another. He did not have time to conjure up some form of wind to blow the dust away and he had no chance to make his way through the poison cloud.

 

 

The boy gathered up all of his confidence. He did not feel too much of it at that moment, but he would be dammed if he didn’t try to do anything.

 

 

The insane girl stood over her victims and started to lean down. The smirk on her face grew. The edges of her lips. They were almost up to her ears making her look like the true psychopath she was.

 

 

The girls on the ground fought tooth and nail against the effect of the power. Akane managed to get up onto her elbows, but that was all she managed to achieve and it completely wore her out. Yuka shook her head at the sight of the blade. She managed to whisper a weak no as she struggled to move.

 

 

"You go first!" whispered the gymnast. Akane froze as she stared at the blade in the smirking gymnast’s hand.

 

 

A glowing blue ball started to form in Ranma’s hand. He was determined to stop Kodachi one way or another. His attack, however. It didn’t really agree with his sentiment. The colour of the life-force he had assembled. Its colour. It shifted back and forth. First it went red before returning, to its original blue, then to green. Only to turn to an interesting shade of violet. Ranma had no time to mess around. He was afraid to lose his control. His entire form shook more and more. The attack was unstable he had to act. He aimed and released the blast. And it fizzled out into nothing.