Ranma 1/2, Fatal Fury fanfic. "Wolf in Nerima" by Julian Soullard (e-mail: jnsoullard@hotmail.com) Warning: All characters from this fanfic are copyright from Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2) and Masami Obari (Fatal Fury), I never claim them to be my own personal creation, so don't sue me! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AND NOW ON WITH... Chapter 8: Moving on with your life. It was around 8:00 PM, inside "Mizuhara's roof and wall repair company" Terry is standing in front of his employer as it looks like he's waiting for something. Mr. Mizuhara, who is sitting on his desk puts down his pen after signing the check. He then gave it to his employee. Terry took his last paycheck and looked at it, raising an eyebrow. "This is far more than I was suppose to get." he pointed out. "Consider it as an advanced Christmas bonus." Mr. Mizuhara explained "You certainly earned it." "Thanks, boss." he said as he put the check inside his pocket. "You don't have to." he stated "Like I said, you earned every yen. You did a great job here. Too bad you have to leave though, I could still use some help." "Well... sorry but it's time for me to move on." "I know. You already told me once." his boss declared "But if you're looking for strong martial artists, why not stay here? If there's something Nerima has, it's martial artists." "I know." Terry admitted "But traveling is part of my life too. I don't usually settle down this long." "Well, if you ever come back, there's always a job here for you." "Maybe in a year or two I'll return." Terry said "If you don't retire then I'll gladly work for you again." "Me? Retire? Are you kidding, Terry?" he joked "Nerima is a gold mine for me. I think I have enough work to last a century." Terry walked out of the shop after saying the final good-byes to his former employer. Tomorrow he would be leaving to wander around the world once again. He surely took his time in Nerima. It's been three months since he first got here. Never before did he stood in one place for so long. But then again, he never found so many skilled fighters in one single place before either. These last three month have certainly been... interesting. That was the only word he could think of. Interesting... yeah that was the most appropriate word. There were good times and bad times. But somehow, all of the trouble he went trough was worth it. He really didn't expect to meet such great fighters in Nerima, such great and *young* fighters. That just showed him that life was still filled with all sort of surprises. Terry smiled to himself after thinking about that last word. Surprise. He could still remember his first impression when he saw Ranma change for the first time from girl to guy with some hot water. Sometimes he wondered if he'd ever get that same mixture of shock and surprise once he left Nerima. People turning into animals with water, a guy with multiple fiancees, another guy who gets lost while walking on a straight line, a perverted martial arts master, a girl who cooks like hell and her sister who is the total opposite. [Now I've really seen it all.] he thought. But still, he had to move on. Even if the rest of the world probably wouldn't be able to match the things he saw in Nerima, there was only one way to find out. Maybe it was time to pay his brother a visit. Terry began to ask himself what was going to be Andy's reaction once he'll tell him about his recent encounter with the Nerima cast. [He'll probably say I hit my head too hard or something.] Right in the middle of Terry's walk: "Terry Bogard, you foul being!!!" Kuno declared as he charged at him with his boken "I will not permit you to hold the fair pig-tailed girl in your dirty clutches!!!!" Almost instinctively, Terry punched Kuno in the jaw not even bothering to turn around and face him properly. Kuno went flying over the next block of houses probably unconscious. Ever since Ranma-chan lied to Mikado about Terry being her boyfriend, Kuno has turned into a real nuisance. Terry had officially gained a rival. Even though he was a rather lame rival, he was beginning to get on his nerves. He even tried to explain to him that there was nothing between him and his pig-tailed girl but Kuno obviously didn't listen. Meanwhile at Ucchan's: "So what do you say, Ucchan?" Ranma asked. "Well... I don't know..." she answered. "Come on!" he insisted "He's your friend too isn't he?" "Of course he is" she declared "But Shampoo is going to be there too isn't she?" "Well sure, she's his friend too, but come on, you can do a little sacrifice." "I don't know..." she said. "I promise you I'll try to keep things cool." Ranma added he then took her hands in his "Pleeeaaase!!!" he began to use his charm attack on her. He knew she'd accept if he put those big puppy dog eyes. "... Well... okay." Ukyou stated as she smiled "Only because Terry's my friend." Ranma gave her another tender smile as a way to say thanks. "[Big smile never fails.] I'll see you at the dojo tomorrow morning then." he claimed "Don't forget to..." "I know, I know." she interrupted "I'll be there." "Well I think I'll be going now." Ranma declared as he got up. "Hey, Ranchan." Ukyou brought out "What about Ryouga?" "What about him?" "Well he's Terry's friend also, isn't he? Aren't you going to tell him?" she asked. "Well..." "If I have to stand Shampoo, you should at least do the same with Ryouga." Ukyou pointed out "It would be the least you could do as a supporting fiancee." "Er... yeah, well... that's not the problem." he said "Akane couldn't find him. He must be lost like always." Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan: "Excuse me, would you know the way to the Tendou dojo?" he asked. "Humm..." said the cute teenage girl with long pink hair as she scratched the top of her head in a interrogative way "Nuku Nuku is not very sure." "It's somewhere in the Nerima district." Ryouga added. "Oh!... Now Nuku Nuku remembers!" the girl said triumphant as she snapped her fingers "Nerima is that way!" as she pointed to her left. "Thanks." Ryouga stated as he began to walk [Strange girl. I wonder if she's related to Shampoo. She even speaks like her.] *** The next day, at an early hour, Terry is walking towards the Tendou dojo. He was caring his traveling bag over his shoulder, he just wanted to say good-bye to the Tendous and Saotomes before leaving. He was planning on going to the Nekohanten and Ucchan's afterwards to say his farewell also. Once he reached the door, Terry knocked. Kasumi was heard approaching as she said she would get it. "Why hello, Terry." she said in her usual good mood "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?" "Good morning, Kasumi." he said back "I just came to say good-bye." "Oh you're leaving today, aren't you?" she confirmed "But please, come on in. Akane and Ranma are at the dojo right now." Terry stepped inside, he then went towards the dojo in search of his friends. Strange though, he couldn't hear anyone inside. He was expecting to hear some sort of fighting noise or at least Akane's voice shouting at Ranma, but he didn't even heard that. He made his way towards the entrance and opened the door. "SURPRISE!!!!!!" shouted everyone. "Hun?!?" Practically half of Nerima was at the dojo as the lights went on: Akane, Ranma, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyou, Nabiki, Soun, Genma, Cologne and almost everyone in Furinkan (Nabiki charged each one of the members of the *Terry Bogard fan club* to attend the party. It also helped in paying all the food for the party). Everyone was dressed casually at the exception of Ukyou who was using a dress, it really boosted up her femininity even though she wasn't wearing any makeup. Ranma was the first one to walk towards the confused Terry. He then gave him a friendly pat on the back. "So, what do you say?" he asked. "What's all of this?" "This is your good-bye party!" he explained "Pretty cool, hun?" "Did you organize all of this?" "Sure did!" he stated. "Ahem!" said both Akane and Nabiki. "Well I did get some help from Akane and Nabiki." he added. Akane would've normally slapped Ranma on the back of the head for hugging all of the credit, but she restrained herself to do otherwise, she didn't wanted to turn this party into one of Nerima's typical disaster scenes. She moved next to Terry instead. "So," she began "What do you think?" "Wow... I... I don't know what to say..." he declared "You really didn't have to go through all the trouble." "Of course we should've!" she said back "What are friends for?" "Come on, enjoy the party." Ranma added as he pulled him inside the dojo. Terry put down his traveling bag and joined everyone into the party. Nabiki had taken care of the snacks; she knew a guy who knew a guy whose brother worked in a restaurant and owed him a favor or something like that... Bottom line is that Nabiki got the food at a very good price; Akane had volunteered to prepare the food, but fortunately Nabiki had this backup plan prepared for emergencies such as this one. "I never expected there would be so many people in this party." Terry brought out. "Well you became quite popular in Nerima over these last months." Ranma explained. "I tried to find Ryouga so that he would come too," Akane added "but I couldn't find him, he must be in one of his trips again." "That boy can get lost inside a wet paper bag if you ask me." Nabiki pointed out. At that precise moment: "ATCHOO!" "Bless you." said the green hair girl wearing a yellow with black stripes bikini and with horn on her head "Thanks." Ryouga stated. "Anyway, Nerima is about a few hours on foot south of here." she pointed out. "Oh... okay." Ryouga declared as he went on his way "Thanks a lot." "You're welcome." she said "By the way, love that bandanna of yours." Back to the party, Mousse was busy trying to find Shampoo, much to the annoyance of most of the guests who were glomped by him regularly while being mistaken for the amazon girl. At that same moment, Soun and Genma were trying again to convince Terry of being part of the family engaging him to Kasumi. Fortunately, Akane and Nabiki dragged him out of the conversation and to the other side of the room to dance. Meanwhile, Shampoo and Ukyou were "discussing" who would dance with Ranma first. As time went on, the dancing couples ended up changing and somehow Ranma ended up dancing with Nabiki, Terry with Ukyou and Shampoo with Mousse. "This is the happiest day of my life!" Mousse commented. Shampoo just frowned in disgust while trying to imagine Mousse was someone else. It was then that she noticed how poor her imagination was and decided to put Kasumi dancing in her place instead while she went in search of Ranma. Mousse was too happy drifting off in wonderland that he didn't even noticed that he just exchanged dancing partners. Kasumi joyfully danced along completely oblivious to what just happened. "It's just wonderful to be dancing here with you." Mousse began "I could keep on going for hours... I love you..." "Oh my." "Hun???" "So, what made you use a dress?" Terry asked Ukyou as they danced. "Ranchan convinced me." she responded. "You really look pretty like that." he pointed out "Now if you just wore a little makeup, Akane and Shampoo would really have to start worrying, it wouldn't be a fair fight for them anymore." "Stop it all ready." Ukyou stated amused, she even began to blush a little "If you keep this up all the members of your fan club will hunt me down to kill me, you don't want to put them jealous, do you?" "OUCH!" "Sorry!" Ranma apologized. "Ranma that's the fifth time you step on my foot." Nabiki complained "I would've thought that a martial artist as yourself would be more coordinated than this!" "I said I was sorry, okay!" As time went on, Ranma, Akane, Nabiki, Shampoo, Ukyou and Terry sat down on a table to take a break. A conversation didn't took too long to start. "Looks like I'll be owing you that rematch, Ranma." Terry began. "Hey no problem." Ranma pointed out. "Why Ranma, I never thought you'd take it so well not getting a rematch." Akane commented. "Could it be that he learned humility?" Nabiki added cynically. "Nhaaaaaaaaa!" said everyone present. "Knock it off all ready!" Ranma demanded "The day I get that rematch it's going to be a different story. Next time, I'll win." "That sounds more like the Ranma we know." Ukyou declared, everybody laugh afterwards. "Where will Terry go now?" Shampoo asked. "Well, I don't know." he told her "Maybe I'll go and visit my brother Andy at the Yamada dojo. It's been more than a year since I last saw him. I bet he's still training." "Oh that's right your brother is a martial artist too." Ukyou said "You never told us much about him, what's he like?" "Well," Terry began "sometimes I wish I knew him better. Both of us went in different ways after our father's murder, we didn't saw each other much thereafter. He's a little impulsive by times but very a considered and loving brother." "And what kind of technique does he use?" Ranma asked, that being his favorite topic. "The Yamada dojo is known to teach the ways of the Shiranui ninja style. Andy has been studying that technique for a while now. He's pretty good." "And how exactly is this Shiranui style?" Ranma asked again "I guess you've seen your brother fight, haven't you? What can you tell us about the way he fights?" "Well Andy is faster than me." Terry began "He has got a couple of dangerous punches and kicks, quite a fancy style the one he uses." "And does he look anything like you?" Akane asked. "Well, people say that we look a lot alike." he started "Although he's the good looking one." "HE IS??" asked the four girls in a mixture of shock and surprise. "Anyway, maybe I should ask him to drop by in Nerima one of these days." he went on "I think you'd like to spar with him too Ranma." "Hey, send him by anytime." Nabiki insisted [If he's even better looking than you, I think I'll be able to sell his pictures at a very good price.] "Maybe even Joe and Kim would like to come too." he continued "I'll have to tell them about this." "Bring all your friends, the more the merrier." Ranma declared. "I couldn't agree more." Nabiki added with an evil grin, although her interests weren't the same as Ranma's, she could feel opportunity in the air. "When will Terry come back to Nerima?" Shampoo asked. "I wouldn't know for sure." he responded "Maybe a year or two. Who knows what else I'll be able to find while traveling. I might end up staying several months in one place." "Well don't forget too train constantly." Ranma reminded him "I won't let you win that easily the day you return." " You're the one who shouldn't forget, Ranma." "Well anyway," Ukyou interrupted "be sure to bring your friends and brother along the next time, I'll treat you all some okonomiyaki on the house." "You visit Nekohanten too." Shampoo sated "Shampoo make you special ramen." "Thanks a lot." Terry declared "Oh by the way, I almost forgot to tell you something." "What?" "There's going to be a martial arts tournament this year." he explained "It's called the King of Fighters tournament. There's going to be all sort of fighters from all over the world. Andy, Joe and I will be entering. I was wondering if you'd be interested." "Hey, that sounds pretty cool!" Ranma implied "Is there any age limit or something?" "Not really." Terry went on "You can see contestants from fourteen years old to eighty. The only requirement is being in a three person team. The rules have been changed recently, now it's a team player tournament." "Terry..." Nabiki spoke "You do understand that for a team player tournament the players in that team must understand or either cooperate with each other." "Well yeah." "I'm willing to give you 1000 yens if you can tell me of three possible people in Nerima who can team up for that tournament without killing each other first." she said. Terry began to think for a moment, Nabiki was quite right. If Ranma teamed up with Ryouga it was bound to end up not very well. If Ukyou and Shampoo teamed up, there would be the typical female jealousy routine. If Ranma teamed up with either one of his three fiancees there would certainly be some trouble, and let's not say what would happen with the other possible combinations of teams such as Ryouga with Akane, Akane with Kuno, Ukyou with Kodachi, Mousse with Shampoo, and Ranma with Kuno. Terry then began to remember the last time he tried to build a baseball team for Furinkan. That experience could be compared with Hell on Earth. A three player team might be no less difficult to achieve. "Er... Maybe this wasn't such a good idea..." he claimed. At that precise moment: "Terry Bogard, you treacherous gai-jin!!" shouted Kuno as he stormed into the room "I should have known you were in alliance with Saotome and his evil dark spells!! Release the pig-tailed girl at once or face the wrath of the Blue Thunder of Furinkan high!!" as he charged towards the table where Terry was. "Hohohohohohohohohohoho!!!!!!" laugh Kodachi as she followed her brother "Ranma-sama!! I'm here for you!!" she then threw herself towards Ranma the same way Shampoo usually does, no need to say what were the other fiancees reactions "Hey!! Just who do you think you are by holding on to Ranma that way?" asked Ukyou furious as she took her large spatula out of nowhere. "Crazy gymnastic girl no get groom!" Shampoo stated as she took out her bomboris she brought just in case an occasion such as this one showed up. "What a haul! What a haul!" shouted Happosai as he bounced over the guests heads. "Well... might as well get to it." Terry spoke as he handed over his drink to Nabiki "Here you go Nabiki, hold this for me while I'm back." "Have fun." she said. "Looks like I'll get one last taste of Nerima before leaving." he pointed out, he then went towards where the fight was taking place. In a couple of minutes, things had been taken care of. The Kuno siblings were dismissed not very ceremoniously by a good Hiryu Shoten Ha. Happosai was lured out of the party by Akane and then ambushed by Terry, Ukyou, Shampoo and Ranma. The old lecher was quickly taken care of thereafter. And as for the typical female jealousy over Ranma, the three girls seamed to finally calm down when Kasumi brought over some tea. Considering that this was Nerima, things were quickly wrapped up this time. "Sorry for the party ending up in this way." Akane apologized to Terry. "Hey, don't be sorry." Terry told her "I actually had a good time. After all, who knows when I'll get another chance to live such craziness in my life." "You mean you actually enjoyed it?" she asked. "Sure I did." "Well I guess I'll be going now." Ukyou declared "I'll have to open up the business eventually." she then turned towards Terry "Hope you'll drop by soon." "You can count on it." he said to her as he gave her a hug "Wouldn't miss to eat the best okonomiyaki in the whole world for nothing. Take care." "You too." "Shampoo must go to Nekohanten too to make delivery." Shampoo said "See Terry one of these days, yes?" "Sure thing, Shampoo." he told after giving her a hug "I'll be seeing you." Time went on an all of the other guests left as well; there was only Akane an Ranma who remained. Terry began to pick up his stuff and went towards the couple to say good-bye. "Well, time for me to be on my way too." he commented "I might as well hit the road otherwise I'll never leave." "Be sure to bring your friends and bro the next time." Ranma told him as he gave him a hand shake "I'd like to fight them too." "Consider it done." "We'll really miss you, Terry." Akane said to him "It was really nice having you around." "It was nice being around." the blond gai-jin pointed out "Being with you guys made me feel like a teenager again. Can't say it wasn't fun in spite of all the madness I went trough." "Oh by the way, wait here a minute." Akane stated, she then went inside the house for something "We've got something for you." Akane disappeared inside the house as she went looking for something. That left Ranma and Terry alone at the yard. "Hey, Ranma." Terry began. "What is it?" "What are you planning to do about Akane?" he asked him. "What do you mean by that?" "You know, about all this fiancee thing." Terry explained "What are you going to do about all that?" "Hope that things won't get worse in the future?" Ranma asked. "C'mon, you know what I'm talking about." he insisted "You two actually make a cute couple. Have you ever thought about both of you in the future?" "Wait I know!" Ranma stated with a grin "You want her to feed me with her toxic stew so I'll be too weak to fight you the next time, isn't that it?" "Ranma, I'm being serious here." Terry declared "She's not all bad, why don't you give her a chance and be more nice to her. She's a really nice girl and you can't deny that." "It sounds easier that it seems." "Hey, how hard can it be?" he asked "Next time she says something or comes by with her food try not to sound so rude. I'm sure things will turn out okay in the end." At that precise moment, Akane came out of the house while holding what appeared to be a lunch box. "Here you go, Terry. I made this for you in case you got hungry during your trip." she said. "Why thank you, Akane. That's very thoughtful of you." Terry replied as he put the lunch box in his bag. He then turned towards Ranma and gave him a look that seamed to say "See! That wasn't too difficult, now was it?" to which Ranma answered back with another look that implied "Just wait till you eat the slob!". Terry couldn't avoid giving him another look which clearly gave up his fear and preoccupation, his grimace seamed to say " I know!". Fortunately Akane didn't noticed this sight communication the two of them were having. "Well, time for me to go." Terry stated as he put his traveling bag over his shoulder "I think I've already said good-bye to everyone." "Take care, Terry." Akane told him. "You guys take care of yourselves too." With those final words Terry walked away as he left behind him the Tendou household, he then dropped out of Ranma and Akane's sight as he made a left turn. There was no possible way in telling when would he come back, but Ranma and Akane knew that eventually they'd get to see him again one of these days. It was noon as Terry got on the train. He then took a seat and lowered the peak of his cap, not before taking one last look at Nerima. It was definitively the weirdest town he's ever been in, but he couldn't deny that he spent great times while he stayed there. Hanging around with all his new friends sure pulled him out of his depression, it finally seemed that he was getting over Sulia and Lily. Ranma and the others might not have noticed but all of them helped Terry a lot, it was clear to him now that life had its complications but were meant to be overcome. He couldn't let himself be defeated by the obstacles that destiny put along his way. After all, he met someone who was having even a harder time with fate. That person being Ranma Saotome. Who knows? Maybe one of these days Terry would find someone. *** [Let's see... the next train leaves till four.] Terry thought as he consulted his watch [That's in about an hour or so. Looks like there's not much for me to do but wait.] "Terry??" said a familiar voice behind him. Terry turned around to where he was being called, he saw that the one calling him was none other than Ryouga Hibiki who was wearing his usual gear for traveling such as backpack and umbrella. "Hey, Ryouga!!" Terry exclaimed happily "I haven't seen you in a week." "Are we in Nerima?" asked Ryouga. "Not quite, this is Osaka." Terry pointed out. "It is? What are you doing in Osaka then?" "I could ask you the same question, although I already know the answer." he told him "Let me guess, you're looking for the Tendou dojo to challenge Ranma, am I right?" "Not really." Ryouga confirmed "Just lost, that's all. How about you? Why aren't you in Nerima?" "It was time for me to move on." Terry explained "You know, go to new places, met new people, keep on training..." "I see." "But what about you?" Terry asked "I thought you still had some unfinished business with Ranma. Why aren't you going to Nerima?" "Well... you know..." Ryouga began "Sometimes I just feel like walking aimlessly and getting lost. Just to get away from everything for a while." "You don't say? So where are you planning to go?" "I don't know." he said "It doesn't really matter though. With my sense of direction I'd never actually get to where I want to." Terry couldn't avoid to chuckle a little bit, Ryouga was really a funny guy by times. "Ever been to the Yamada dojo?" Terry asked him. "Not really." "Well that's where I'm heading." he added "Feel like joining me? Since you don't have a particular place to go to." "Well... er... sure no problem." Ryouga spoke. "Great!" Terry declared as he took his traveling bag "I wouldn't mind the company. Let's go then. I think a good walk will do me good." Both of them began to walk along the street towards the setting of the sun. After some time, they were already out of Osaka. The route through the country side was completely desolated for the exception of these two lonely travelers who for the first time in their lives were actually traveling together, so different but yet so similar were the both of them. "So what's in this Yamada dojo?" Ryouga asked. "That's where my brother and his girlfriend are training." Terry answered. "Oh that's right, your brother is a martial artist also, isn't he?" "Like to spare with him?" he asked. "Sure." Ryouga responded "What can you tell me about him?" "You'll find out soon enough." Terry said to him "I think that in your case I should tell you more about his girlfriend." "What about her?" "Mai has quite a unique fashion style." Terry explained "It's rather distracting... I... er... think it's going to take you some time to get use to her." THE END End of chapter 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Author's final notes: I'm FINALLY done!!! I have to admit I was running out of ideas for this fanfic, but looks like I made it till the end . I think I'm all drained out now. And now, time for my usual justifications... What made me write this fanfic? Okay, I came out with the idea because 1) Ranma ½ is one of my favorite anime series and I just had to make a fanfic of it. 2) The Fatal Fury cast and the Ranma ½ cast are equally balanced when it comes to fighting power, therefore it wasn't so far off putting them together. And 3)... well... er... I think that the basic idea started forming inside my brain after watching so many Ranma trailers in my videos that were immediately followed by Fatal Fury trailers. I guess my mind registered that stuff and then entered my occulted fantasies into writing this fic (Wow! Was that Freudian or what? I'll have to tell my shrink about this!). Anyway, the plot is quite simple and personally I don't think It's very elaborated (I'm still proud of my work though!). The story here is just how can Terry Bogard survive all the things that happen in Nerima. I also put lots of action in this fic; after all, you can't have martial artists without martial arts, now can you? Especially in Nerima where a wall breaks or someone gets hit over the head almost every minute. What about the relations between the different characters? Terry Bogard ended up being the main topic in this fanfic as you might've seen. Since there's only Three Fatal Fury videos so far, I wanted to squeeze the juice out of him, most of all because he's one of my favorites video game characters, and second, I wanted him to interact with the Nerima cast. I took a lot of liberty of making Terry think the way he's seen here. Some of you guy/girls might think that I made him act like God all mighty in front of everyone else, and you might be right too. I think I went a little overboard (sorry!). No need to say that my favorite characters from Ranma ½ are Ryouga, Ranma, Ukyou and Nabiki. That's one of the reasons why Terry interacted with them the most (Isn't it great to have the power to make people do what you want them to do?). Okay!!!! I admit it!!! Sorry for making Terry act like the guy who had all the answers!! There! I said it! Happy now! But c'mon, it was time Ranma and the others started looking up at an adult without him being one of those traditional type kinda guy. And besides, the adults in that series suck big time (except for Dr. Tofu ). What? No romance in this fic? Hell NO!!! I didn't want this to be one of those fanfics that end up pairing up everyone. Although I admit I like reading those from time to time. I think that was one of the reasons I chose Terry too. With his disastrous love affair background there was no way he was going to get a girl right now. Well... I think that wraps it up. If you have any doubts, questions, complains, observations, feel free to E-mail me! C'mon, don't be shy. I can take some criticism. See you in the next fanfic... hopefully. Story by Julian Soullard (e-mail: jnsoullard@hotmail.com)