Ranma found himself standing the middle of a large field of nothing. The ground was a defined, but it wasn’t a material he could recognize. He stared across the field to see his reflection staring back. There before him stood another Ranma. The other Ranma was staring back at the first with a look of pure unadulterated hate. The first Ranma smiled. “So Good Ranma isn’t dead after all.”
“You can never kill me! This is my body!” Light Ranma cracked his knuckles. He took a look at his opponent. He looked exactly like him, but he had deep, dark rings under his eyes, giving him a look of too much eye shadow. His aura was almost pure darkness, while Ranma’s was almost pure light.
“Technically, it’s my body too. I am you, you know. I’m everything that you could be if you’d just drop all the minor concerns in your life.”
“Like what?”
Shadow Ranma shrugged his shoulders. “Oh minor things like honor, principles, morals. You’ve seen the power we could have. We took on a Super Saiya-Jin Two, and won!”
“You cheated!” Light Ranma clenched his fists.
“All is fair. Anything Goes.” Shadow Ranma smiled another arrogant smile. “We are the same, you and I. We will do anything to win. Just let me have control back over the body, and we will be the greatest martial artist in the universe! We could take it all!” He held his hands up and moved them in an all-expansive gesture.
“I’ll never join you! You’re just the youma that’s possessing my body! I’ll kick you out like the demon you are!”
“You’re wrong, Ranma. I’m not an outside invader. I am you. The black crystal brings forth the evil in a person’s soul. That is how the youma is born. I am your inner-darkness. I am the side that you keep hidden from others, the side that wants to destroy anything and everything. I’m the side that wants to kill all the people that has hurt us. I’m the side that will make us the greatest in the universe!”
Light Ranma wasn’t impressed. “Okay. So if you’re just me, where do the crystals and the transformation come from? I know I couldn’t do that. It had to have come from outside.”
“How do you know? How do you know that you didn’t have the power all along the black crystal just freed it up.”
“Trust me. I’d know if I could pull crystals out of my butt and use them as weapons. You are a foreign invader, and it’s time to deport you.”
Shadow Ranma slapped his hand over his face. “That speech was more cheesy than Sailor Moon’s.”
“Whatever! I’m taking back this body, and you’re going down!” Light Ranma dropped into an offensive stance.
“Like you can defeat me. I know all your moves and all your powers. Nothing is hidden from me. I am you! I’ll simply defeat you here and then proceed with taking the lives of everyone in that desert. I’ll take special pleasure in killing Akane. You do know she was lying when she said she loved us, don’t you?”
Light Ranma gritted his teeth and his aura began to grow around him. “No she wasn’t! You saw the look in her face! She loves me, and I love her!”
“It would almost be interesting to let you take control of the body again just so you could see the truth punctuated by another mallet to the head. Akane doesn’t care about you, and she never has. What has she ever done for you?”
“She cooked for me all the time!”
“That poison?”
“It’s the thought that counts.”
“How do you know she wasn’t poisoning the food on purpose, like Kodachi or Shampoo?”
“Because I watched her cook! She just doesn’t pay that much attention to what ingredients she’s reaching for.”
“How do you know that she doesn’t do that on purpose? Moving on, what else has she done for you?”
Light Ranma thought for a second. “She looked after me on the first day of school. She brought that kettle.”
Shadow Ranma laughed. “Like you really needed that to handle Kuno. You never got to use it anyway. So what? What good has she ever done for you? You’ve stuck your neck out so many times for her, and the only thanks we got was insults and mallets. She’s injured us more than any other person you’ve ever fought!”
“She’s…She…” Light Ranma was at a loss for words. How many times had Akane stuck her neck out for me? I was always the one that had to pull her out of all those jams with Saffron, Shampoo, and everyone else. Waitaminute! That’s it! “She stops Shampoo’s and Ukyou’s schemes to marry me all the time! Like that stupid love string!”
“How do you know you wouldn’t have been happy with either one of them? Both of them are exceptional cooks. They both are much cuter than Akane, and way more endowed. Especially Shampoo, you KNOW she would be a lot better in the sack than Akane any day of the week.” Shadow Ranma got a lecherous grin on his face. “Hell, all you’d have to say is ‘now’, and she’d be there. You’re already technically married by Amazon law, so it’s perfectly fine.”
“Yeah, everything would be peachy until she got me back in China! Then I’d be a slave! You saw how they treat their men in that village! Look at how Cologne treats Mousse. She treats him like an old work mule.”
“You don’t HAVE to go back to China…Besides if you did you could finally find a cure for your curse. I’m sure Cologne has been keeping a few things about the curse from you.”
“I’m not marrying Shampoo! I don’t love her!”
“Such a minor concern when you measure all the benefits. Well, if not Shampoo, what about Ukyou? She’s cute. She’s built, and she can make those Okonomiakis just the way you like it. Think about it: You’d never go hungry, and you’d have a beautiful wife.”
“Ha! You think that I don’t know about her fantasies? Most of them involved me cleaning tables at her restaurant and apologizing to her for every little thing! That’s a worse fate than the Amazons! I’d still be a slave there, but at least I’d have a cure. I don’t love Ukyou, and you know it!”
Shadow Ranma grinned a toothy smile. “Just playing devil’s advocate.”
“Yeah, well you’re getting on my nerves. You’re not going to change my mind! I love and am going to marry Akane! I’m stopping you right here and now!”
“Ahhh, if only your fathers could here that last statement. They’d be jigging around, setting up the wedding ceremony and breaking open the sake! You’d make your father so happy. One of his schemes would have actually worked.”
Light Ranma grimaced at that last remark. There was the one barrier he still had to get through: His father. If he admitted everything he had said here aloud then Genma would be right. Genma would have won the battle of wills. His father would have defeated him, and no one defeats Saotome Ranma! He shook his head. That doesn’t matter. What matters now is saving Akane! It’s the only thing that I live for! That stupid tomboy better appreciate this… “That’s enough! I’m taking you down, here and now!” Light Ranma clenched his fist in front of his face. “Bad Ranma, you’re finished!”
“That’s right. I’m Bad Ranma, and you’re Good Ranma. You’re a goodie little two shoes!” Shadow Ranma punched Light Ranma in the face. “Goodie little two shoes!” Another punch.
Light Ranma dodged the last punch and stuck his palm in front of Shadow Ranma’s face and fired a Ki blast at pointblank. Shadow Ranma went flying. “Good…Bad…I’m the one with the Ki blast.”
Shadow Ranma landed and rolled back up into a stance. “You’re not the only one! MOKO TAKABISHA!”
The range was to extreme to be effective. Light Ranma easily evaded it. He charged in and closed the gap between the two of them. “KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!” Shadow Ranma answered with a Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken of his own.
“You’re not going to beat me! I know all of your tricks! I am your reflection, your perfect reflection. There isn’t anything you can do that I can’t.”
He’s got a point, Thought Light Ranma. If I don’t think of something different, then it’s just going to be a stalemate. Well, at least I can keep him fighting here for as long as it takes to save Akane!
Meantime, in the real world, the small sea of glass exploded as the Saiya-Jin freed themselves. Uub was still unconscious and Goten’s leg was almost completely black. Goku saw it. “Goten, can you still fly?”
“Yeah. I can still help you take down Ranma.”
“Don’t even try it. We don’t know what that stuff on your leg is doing to you. Take Uub back to Kami’s lookout and get healed. Pan and I will handle it.”
Goten reluctantly nodded his head, took Uub, and threw him over his shoulder. He took a look around and then took off for the lookout.
Pan pointed to the mountain. “Ranma, Akane, and Sailor Moon are over there!”
Goku nodded. “Right, let’s go!” They flew up and over to the mountain. They flew in and found Sailor Moon still pinned to the wall, and Akane on the ground with Ranma lying across her lap. She just watched his face as it showed all the signs of struggle. Sweat was pouring down his face, and his teeth were clenched tight.
“Can someone get me down from here?!” Moon cried.
“Yeah.” Pan walked over and examined the way she was pinned to the wall. “This is going to hurt…a LOT!” She grabbed the first crystal and pulled out on it hard. Sailor Moon screamed in pain. Pan pulled the other one. It was followed by a similar yell from the blonde.
Moon fell to her knees. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Pan tore some pieces out of her cape and tried to make some bandages for the Moon Princess.
While Pan was helping Moon, Goku walked over to Akane. “What’s going on?”
“He was about to kill me, when he just froze up. He couldn’t control his body, and then he just collapsed.” Tears were starting to fall down her face.
Goku thought for a second, and then put his hand on Ranma’s head and closed his eyes. After a second or two, he finally spoke. “Ranma’s in the middle of a great battle. He’s fighting the evil side of himself. Unless something happens, I don’t know if he can win.”
Akane hugged Ranma to herself and started to cry harder. “There has to be something we can do!”
Goku looked over to Sailor Moon. She was in no shape to perform her Moon Healing, and Dende was too far away to do any good. He really didn’t want to move Ranma anyway. He couldn’t risk people getting hurt if his evil side won. “I’m sorry, but for now, he’s on his own.”
Inside of Ranma’s head, the battle was still raging on. They had moved beyond the Amazon techniques and were well into the Saotome Forbidden Techniques. They started off with a Yamasen-Ken battle, and then simultaneously switched to Umasen-Ken. It was pretty hard to trying to find someone on smell alone. Light Ranma had tried several times to make Shadow Ranma angry, so that his angry Ki would give him away. All he managed to do was give away his position. Shadow Ranma was a surprisingly cool character.
Light Ranma killed his Ki signature completely and snuck away to rest for a minute. He tried to think of something that would give him the advantage, something that would put this youma away for good.
“Good Rannnmmmaaa!” Shadow Ranma taunted. “Come out, come out, wherever you are!!! I know you’re still around here!!! Just die and let me have the body! I’m sure everyone will thank me in the end. Especially Akane! She’d be grateful that I ended her pitiful existence.”
Light Ranma scowled, and before he knew what had happened, he was punched in the stomach. As he rolled back into his stance, he realized that he had fallen into Shadow Ranma’s trap, the same trap that he had been trying to pull on him. Light Ranma caught a kick in the spine and two punches to his kidneys. He shot up into the air. He had to get his emotions back under control if he was going to beat his shadow.
Light Ranma suddenly remembered the time he had fought himself before. Now how did I beat myself before? Oh yeah! Akane told him she hated him! {Author’s Note: Ranma TV series, season 5, episode 24} But this guy hates Akane anyway…No help there.
“HITO RYU-ZAN HA!” Shadow Ranma launched another offensive, sending multiple Ki blades in random directions. Light Ranma flew through the air juking and dodging around all of the blasts. Shadow Ranma keep on pouring them out, now that he had fix on Light Ranma. Light dodged a few more times and then started to take a few hits.
Shadow Ranma changed strategies and launched a barrage of Ki blasts, very similar to Vegita’s machine gun blast. Light Ranma, already cut up from the Ki blades, took several hits and fell from the sky and landed in a heap.
Akane! Light Ranma sent the thought out, hoping that it would be heard.
In the physical world, Akane started when she heard Ranma’s voice in her head. “Ranma?” She looked at Ranma’s face and saw that he was still straining. She looked up to Goku. “I heard Ranma’s voice in my head!”
Goku nodded his head. “He’s calling out to you. That means he’s still in there. Try to see if you can contact him.”
Akane turned Ranma’s face to her own and started yelling at him. “Ranma! Come on Ranma!”
Goku waved his hands in front of his face. “Not like that! In your mind! Yell at him in your mind!”
Akane closed her eyes and tried to cry out to Ranma. She gave up after a few seconds. “I can’t reach him!” She was starting to panic.
Goku sat down in front of her. “You can’t just yell at him. You have to concentrate on him. Think about what he means to you. Think about finding him. Reach out with your mind to try and find him. Most of all: Relax!”
Akane closed her eyes and tried again. She thought about what she really thought about Ranma. She had already admitted that she loved him. She thought about all the times he had saved her, about all the times he had been there for her, and about the few quiet times they had had together. She focused on Ranma. Focused on his aura. She remembered how his confidence radiated off him. Everyone around could feel it. She had felt it, and it was one of the reasons why she loved him. He had so much confidence in himself that he could inspire confidence in others. She focused on that and felt a tingling in the distance. She focused on it, and her consciousness seemed to instantly teleport there. Suddenly she was there. She saw Ranma trying to pull himself back up. She saw how beaten up he was. She saw the other Ranma across the battlefield. This one was not her Ranma. That one’s aura was too dark. He was the one that she was there to defeat. She reached down to the Ranma before her. Her hands passed right through him, but his head jumped up at the touch.
Akane? Is that you? He thought.
Yes! It’s me! Ranma, you have
to keep fighting! You have to defeat
him!
I’m out of juice. He knows all of my moves and I’ve spent most of my energy.
You can do it, Ranma! Just like you always have. You’ll win like you always do.
But I’m out of Ki!!!
Use mine. In the physical world, Akane started to glow as her power started to flow into the astral Ranma.
Light Ranma felt the infusion. He also noted that it wasn’t the usual anger energy that she had always used before. This energy was much more gentle and pure. His form started to glow as well. He stood up and stared Shadow Ranma in the eyes. Thanks, Akane. I won’t forget this.
Ranma, neither will I. And Ranma…I…I love you.
Light Ranma’s heart skipped a beat. His aura then began grow as the genuine emotion began to flow through him. I love you too, Akane. It’s time to end this battle.
I’ll be right here for you, always.
You better keep that promise. Otherwise you’ll have to explain to our dads why you let your fiancée die.
Just wrap this up so we can go home. I promise not to cook for you.
How many more promises can I get if I keep waiting. Ranma
thought a little quieter.
What was that?
Nothing! Time to roast this turkey! Light Ranma cupped his hands at his right hip. “KA-ME…” He focused the total of his and Akane’s power into his hands and amplified it. “HA-ME…” A ball of pure Ki formed in Light Ranma’s hands.
Shadow Ranma laughed some more. “You really think you have enough energy left to take me down? Look at the insignificant ball of energy.” The ball doubled in size. “What?” The ball doubled again. “Impossible!”
Light Ranma had flown off the ground to keep the huge ball of Ki from hitting the ground. His face was showing the strain of making the ball. Then he threw it forward. “HAAAA!!!” The Ki blast launched at the Shadow Ranma.
The evil Ranma shot straight into the air to avoid it, but the ball just followed him into the air. He dodged to the side; still it followed. He finally shot out forward with a burst of speed to put some distance between him and the blast. He landed and cupped his hands together. “KAMEHAMEHA!” He launched his own Turtle Destruction Blast to meet the other.
The two blasts collided and formed an enormous ball of energy in the middle of the field. The ball started to move back and forth as the two combatants struggled for superiority.
Come on, Ranma! You can do it! Akane’s voice rung out through Light Ranma’s head. Do it for the people of earth!
I’ll go one better. Light Ranma thought back. I’ll do it for what I always fight for. I’ll do it for you! Light Ranma’s blast exploded as he poured his entire life energy into the blast. He reached into the depths of his soul and pulled out the power that had lain dormant there for so long. The potential for power that only full sacrifice with a pure heart could bring out. “HA!!!” He shouted again and the blast traveled down the already flowing stream and struck the collision point.
Shadow Ranma felt the power boost from the other side and realized too late that the game was done. The blast barreled through the collision and struck him. His last thought before joining with oblivion was, Where did he get that power?!?!?!
The blast expired, and the battlefield was clear. Ranma felt Akane leave his mind, and he faded from the field. He opened his eyes to see Akane staring back at him. Her eyes were filled with tears as she hugged him to her. He reached his arms around her and held her tight.
Pan saw the couple there and just enjoyed the moment of triumph. Her work was finally over the major roadblock that had been blocking it the whole time. They had both admitted their feelings and were finally a real couple. Pan picked Sailor Moon up. “Well Princess, let’s get you back to Juuban.”
Moon was still crying from the pain in her shoulders, but she still managed a nod of acknowledgement. Akane helped Ranma to his feet. They leaned on each other to walk out of the cave. Goku followed closely after.
Just as they reached the mouth of the cave, they heard a familiar voice. “Good to see you guys made it out okay.” The looked up to see Dende standing on the ridge. “I ran into Goten and Uub and took care of their wounds. They’re back at the lookout resting.”
“Dende! You have to heal Sailor Moon!” Pan held out Moon for emphasis.
“Of course.” Dende put his hands over Moon and the waves of healing energy washed over the Sailor Senshi. The holes in her shoulders closed and the bones grew back into place.
“Thank you.” Moon passed out in relief from her pain.
Dende smiled. “Don’t mention it, Princess.” He looked up to Pan. “Take her back to Juuban and leave her at the Hikawa Shrine. The priestess there will know what to do with her.”
“Thank you, Kami-Sama.” Pan bowed and flew off back toward Juuban.
“As for you, Goku. I think these two need a ride home. Just drop them off in front of Goten’s dojo and report back to the lookout.
“Yes, sir, Kami-Sama, sir!” Goku put his hand to his head in a dopey excuse for a military salute.
Dende smiled. “Get out of here. I’ll see you back at the lookout.”
Goku walked up in front of Ranma and Akane. He held out his left arm. “Grab on, and we’ll be back in Juuban in no time.” The couple nodded their heads and put their hands on Goku’s arms. Goku put two fingers to the middle of his head, and suddenly they found themselves in front of Goten’s Dojo.
“I’ve got to learn how to do that!” Ranma exclaimed.
Goku smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ll figure it out if I do it in front of you a couple more times. You strike me as a fast learner.”
Ranma smiled with pride. “When it comes to martial arts, there’s no one faster.”
“Okay, Ranma, let’s get inside before you’re head gets too big to fit through the doorway.” Akane took his hand and led him toward the door.
Ranma waved. “See you later, Goku.”
Goku waved back. “Try to get some sleep tonight. Don’t stay up too late.” Goku had a sly grin on his face.
“What?!” Ranma and Akane said simultaneously.
“Nevermind.” Goku flashed them another sly grin and teleported away.
Ranma yawned and stretched. “It has been a pretty long day. Let’s hit the sack.”
Ranma’s yawn was infectious; Akane yawned as well. “Let’s…but before either one of us can stick their foot in their mouth…”
Ranma looked at her. “What?”
Akane grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled his head down to her level and kissed him full on the lips.
“All right! Break it up! This is a public place you know.” Akane turned to see a smiling Goten standing behind her. Goten laughed and walked by them into the dojo. “It’s nice to see you two getting along now, but you’re still sleeping in separate rooms. Understand?” He didn’t wait for a response before he nodded his head went in.
Akane stood arms akimbo. “Honestly. Like we’d do something like that. Right, Ranma?” Pause. “Ranma?”
Ranma just stood there slightly bent over; stuck in the position where Akane had kissed him. Akane smiled as she saw that she had a new trump card to play on him, but this one would probably not hurt him as much. She walked up and slapped him softly on the cheeks. “Come on, Ranma. Let’s go inside.” He still didn’t move. She decided to just grab his hand and drag him into the dojo. Surprisingly he followed, even if he was in a daze.
Elsewhere, Shiver was NOT happy. She had made the perfect warrior to destroy the Saiya-Jin and the Senshi, but somehow he had broken her spell. HER SPELL! There should be NO way that a mere human could break her spell, and she KNEW that a MONKEY couldn’t do magic. She screamed in frustration. “THIS IS NOT OVER! NOT BY A LONG SHOT!”