Grave's New Life

Part Seven

I own both Ranma 1/2 and Gold Digger so there! *Hears a weird noise from behind. Turns and sees an army of lawyers armed with Beta-Tech.* Eh heh, okay, I don't own Ranma 1/2 or Gold Digger. Those series belong to Rumiko Takahashi and Fred Perry respectively.

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Ranma sighed as he was practicing outside in the morning, Grave had been over-tired and had stayed back in the tent, not that he really blamed her, since she had that nightmare last night.

Suddenly he stiffened and turned to see who was there. He blinked as he saw a short woman with brown hair done up in a braided ponytail that went halfway down her back, she was wearing a white warrior dress with green trim.

The woman smirked at him. "Well, well, I expected to see a Werecat, not a human."

Ranma shuddered at the word cat and eyed the woman, she didn't seem like much. Smirking the pigtailed martial artist looked at her. "Heh, no Werec-c-c-cats here, just me."

The woman shook her head. "Well, whatever." She then eyed the tent. "And what about that tent? Is someone in there?"

Ranma frowned at the woman. "No, now leave."

"I don't think so boy." Smirking victoriously at him she continued. "By your actions, I can surmise that the one we're looking for is in there."

Frowning, Ranma glared at her. "Just who are you? And what do you want?"

"What do I want? Well, there's supposed to be a short little Werecheetah around here, I don't suppose that you've seen her have you?" The woman's smirk grew to a full-blown grin as she saw the human's eyes widen a bit. "I thought so, she's in that tent huh?" Chucking the woman shook her head. "Oh, and for my name, it's G'Nolga."

"Listen lady, you ain't getting Grave, so just leave."

G'Nolga chuckled. "So, her name's Grave huh? And do you honestly think that a pup like you can stop someone like me?"

Smirking arrogantly, the martial artist nodded. "Hell yeah!"

G'Nolga shook her head. "You've got confidence. I'll give you that, but you'll still lose."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah." With that G'Nolga raced toward the martial artist at a speed that was hard for him to comprehend. Ranma took a defensive stance, only to get smashed in the ribs and back into and through a tree.

Groaning a bit, Ranma rolled to his feet. G'Nolga raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Well, this will be fun, most people wouldn't be able to stand after even one of my hits."

Ranma clutched his chest, that felt just like when that Troll hit him a little while ago, and he could tell that some of his ribs were busted, just from the fact that it felt like he was breathing hot metal into his lungs.

Chuckling, the Dwarven Weaponsmaster ran at Ranma again, this time he was a bit more prepared for her speed, and even though he couldn't really see her, he knew just what to expect. Just as the punch was about to connect to his ribs, Ranma ducked and lashed out with a leg kick that hit G'Nolga in the diaphragm, which knocked her back. However, G'Nolga wasn't even phased by the blow.

"Is that it boy? That's the best you can really do against me?"

Ranma gulped and winced as the pain in his chest got to him again. 'Ugh, damn, she's strong, tough and fast.' Clenching his left fist, Ranma started concentrating Ki into it. 'I just hope this works.'

G'Nolga just walked up to the boy, she had to admit, he had a lot of potential, if he was able to counter her version of the Leep Palm attack. G'Nolga wasn't foolish enough to drop her defenses completely, but she did have them relaxed, the poor kid looked like he was about to pass out from just one hit.

'Alright, try this!' As soon as G'Nolga got close enough, Ranma ran forward a bit and launched a fierce left punch. "STAR LIGHT EXPLOSION!"

G'Nolga blocked the punch, but was surprised that she was pushed back by the force alone. She frowned when she felt her skin burn a bit, it was nothing serious, as she had taken worse before, but she was still surprised that the kid could do that.

Sliding back several feet G'Nolga shook her arm a bit and smirked viciously. "Heh, I was going to go easy on you human, and only hurt you enough to knock you out, now, now I'm just going to hurt you."

G'Nolga then got serious and charged again with a serious expression on her face. Ranma got into a defensive stance and waited for her attack. His eyes widened when he felt her behind him. The next thing Ranma knew was pain as G'Nolga used her full strength and kicked him in the back of the knees, causing him to lurch forward, an elbow to the back of the neck, which damn near broke his spine, as well as several punches and kicks up and down his exposed back and on his damaged ribs.

Ranma fell to his hands and knees and then just flopped forward. G'Nolga was about to hit him one more time, just for meanness sake when a lightning bolt hit her on the back.

She chuckled a bit and turned to see the one she was supposed to get standing there with a look of shock on her face. "What? Surprised that I didn't get hurt by your spell little girl? You should know that a Dwarf like myself is highly resistant to magic." It was the reason that she could go toe-to-toe with Arch-Mages and not have to worry too much.

Grave stepped back in shock, the fact that her magic didn't work, as well as the fact that she recognized just who was in front of her made her really scared. "Y, you're the one who killed that mage aren't you?"

G'Nolga blinked and shrugged. "Oh? You mean that old Werecat mage? Yeah, I killed him, so what?"

Grave took another step backwards and then looked at Ranma. "What do you want?"

"Just you, the human behind me means nothing to me, though he's got some talent." G'Nolga smirked. "I went easy on him, relatively, he'll live, provided he gets to a healer in time."

Grave couldn't stand it and teleported herself right next to Ranma's side. G'Nolga blinked and turned around. She then smirked as a thought came to her. 'I have the perfect tool to make her work for us.' Looking up to a tree she made a waving motion. "Rook! Get down here."

Grave looked up, only to lurch forward into unconsciousness as something hit her on the back of the neck.

"Took you long enough. I'm surprised G'Nolga, you should've been able to handle that human in one punch."

G'Nolga shrugged. "He surprised me is all Rook." She then pointed to the human. "Bring him with us, have your Trolls bring all his stuff with as well."

Rook would've raised an eyebrow, but being an Undead Knight, he couldn't do that. "Just what do you mean?"

G'Nolga chuckled. "It's very simple my Undead ally, we can get that Werecat to work for us by using the boy as a bargaining chip. We just need to use her to keep the Edge Guard off of us."

Rook chuckled. "That does sound like a plan." Making some motions to his Trolls that were with him, he ordered them to pick up everything that may belong to the human and to then head back to base.

********

Tirant nodded as he saw G'Nolga come in with an unconscious Werecheetah over her shoulder. "Hmm, interesting, stand her up for a moment G'Nolga."

G'Nolga rolled her eyes and shifted the Lycanthropoid so that she was standing up.

Tirant smirked. "Hmm, interesting, if I did not have Array, I would find this girl attractive." He then blinked as Rook drug a human on the floor and entered the room. "Something I should know?"

The Dwarven Weaponsmaster shrugged. "It's no big deal really." She could respect that pup actually. After all, he had managed to land a couple of blows on her, not easy to do.

The bald man nodded and turned away, it didn't concern him any. "Well, whatever."

(----)

Grave groaned a bit as she woke up. Blinking her eyes a bit, she looked around and spotted Ranma, hurt badly and bound to a chair in the center of the room. Teleporting over to him, she tried to touch him, but only succeeded in having her hand go through him. Her eyes widened as she looked around. "How the? Who's there?! Where's Ranma?!"

The only door in the room opened and a bald man, wearing brown robes walked into the room. "To answer your questions in order, a simple magical illusion my dear, my name is Tirant, and your friend is tied up to a chair like you saw, however, I did manage to convince G'Nolga to allow me to heal him up for you."

Grave frowned and twitched at hearing that name. "You're working with that bitch?!"

Tirant nodded and Grave, scared, angry, sad and confused, threw a few bolts of lightning, all of which hit Tirant, but none of them did any harm.

Grave's eyes widened. "What the?"

Tirant chuckled. "I conduct lightning my dear, so electricity has no effect on me." He then smirked at her. "And even if you did hurt me, your friend would be dead, you see, some of my associates are watching us right now and if anything should happen to me, well, your friend will be dead faster than your kind can run. Even if you teleport in, you'll not be able to save him."

Grave gulped, they had her right where they wanted her. By threatening to kill her only friend, they could control her, and she and they knew it.

Grave looked down at the ground and sighed. "Fine, what do you want? I'll do anything, just don't hurt him, please?"

Tirant smirked, though he felt a bit bad for doing this to her, but, oh well, things like this happened in the Super Villain business. "Simple my dear, soon my associates and myself may have to deal with the Northern Edge Guard, I believe you know some of them, anyway, they may come snooping around here where they don't belong and I can't have that. So, I need you to hold them off so that our plans can go off without a hitch."

"What plan?"

Tirant smirked. "I'll tell you, only because it never hurts for you to know, and you won't tell anyone, because if you do, your friend is dead. Anyway, if everything goes as planned, G'Nolga will retain her title as Armsmaster and my associates and I will have complete control of Jade, the Retreat, the Undead Realm and Earth."

Grave mentally rolled her eyes, why was it that bad guys always thought that they could take over the world? That was the main reason that they were stopped, because no one would allow them to do so.

(----)

Hanza frowned as she looked at the beaten up and unconscious boy tied to the chair, well, bound by manacles that were enchanted to hold a Dragon's strength. "So, why the hell do we need to keep this loser alive?"

Array, her swashbuckler version, rolled her eyes as she walked past the permanent man-turned-woman. "Because this loser, as you call him, is the key to controlling the one facet that can keep those nosy Edge Guard out of our hair."

"What's the big deal about one dinky Werecat mage?"

Array shrugged. "Possibly the fact that she was able to take on three of the Realm's most powerful magic users for a brief period of time? Or maybe the fact that she's good enough that the Edge Guard is completely useless against her? Remember, she does have magic, and you know what magic does to Werefolk."

Hanza grumbled. "Yeah, yeah." She then smirked. "So this loser was taken out in only a few moments of actual combat?"

"Well, yes, but remember, G'Nolga was using her full strength and speed against him, with the exception of Julia and the other Weaponsmasters, there's not many people that can withstand her prowess when fighting."

"Yeah, well, he's still a loser."

Array shrugged her shoulders. "He lasted longer against G'Nolga than you did against Julia when you first fought, considering that you had help from two others and he didn't, at least during the fight, I'd say that he's better than you."

Hanza grumbled and walked off. Array chuckled and walked up to Ranma, looking at his body, she winced. "I'm sorry kid, when this is over, you and your girlfriend can go free, we won't need to hold you then."

Sighing the pink haired multiple personality disorder, who could make the different personalities come to life decided that she'd get a better healer for the kid, he didn't need to die from any injuries.

(----)

Rook looked at G'Nolga. "So, you've made it darn near impossible for Julia to reenter the Tournament. Why?"

G'Nolga smirked. "She may be the best fighter around, besides me, but that's only in a one-on-one fight, not many, many fights in a row, like what the Tournament is going to be. Besides, with the show that Tirant and I put on, everyone thinks that Julia threw away her honor for only a small bag of gold."

Rook chuckled. "Yes, I see. So, why aren't you at the Tournament?"

G'Nolga rolled her eyes. "Fool, I only have to be there for a short while until the real tournament begins, right now we're just narrowing the competition until we get to the ones who will become the Weaponsmasters for this generation. They then take on the ones from the previous generation and the winner, if one of them prevails, gets to face me, the Armsmaster to see who's the best of all."

Rook nodded. "I see." He then smirked as best he could, considering that he didn't have any lips and wore only a facemask. "By the way, how's your arm?"

G'Nolga frowned. "I can't believe that punk actually managed to crack the bone in my arm with that attack of his." She then smirked. "He's got potential, a lot of it. If he lives for more than four years more, I wonder how far he'll be able to go."

Rook hummed. "Perhaps he'll be able to win the next Tournament of Arms if he can improve enough."

"That's doubtful, it took Julia until she was almost forty to win the tournament."

Rook shrugged. "Oh well." Though he did rub his chin a bit. 'But that style used, it seemed familiar, some of the stances involved, nah, what are the chances that he actually took time to train someone else huh?'

G'Nolga frowned a bit; she didn't feel anything from the Ethereal stream when his hand was glowing. 'So how did that pup do something like that? He wasn't that strong, but somehow he managed to push me back with the force of that, what did he call it again? Ah yes, Star Light Explosion. Just what was that attack?'

G'Nolga shook her head, she'd find out after the Tournament was over and she remained Armsmaster, after all, she had no doubt that Julia would remain out of the Tournament this time.

Preview of the next chapter: "Well, well, I can't really say what's going to happen next. I don't really know, and I'm the person who invented the Peebo! In case you don't know, I'm Brianna Diggers. Anyway, what happens next is top-secret. Only clue I have is the fact that mom had to back to her old teacher to learn some secret move."

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[1] Okay, I didn't feel like putting a number between the bars in the chapter anymore, so I'm doing it differently.

[2] Star Light Explosion - If you've ever seen the Anime "Knights of the Zodiac" and "Fatal Fury" this will make a bit more sense. Anyway, the technique works like this, charge energy into your fist like the Burn Knuckle or the Pegasus Meteor Punch and then launch forward, like the Burn Knuckle, except that when the punch connects, it explodes in a blast of energy, like the Meteor Punch, that amplifies the Ki and Kinetic energy that had been gathered into an incredibly powerful attack.

[3] I just know someone is going to complain about Ranma being a better fighter than that so let me explain a bit, G'Nolga was hitting at full, or darn near close to it, strength and speed. Now, it really doesn't matter who she's facing, that's enough to put a serious hurt on anyone really. Even though Julia can withstand G'Nolga's full strength, speed, endurance, and skill, she's still pretty banged up after their fights are over. What can I say? Ranma lost and rather badly I might add. If you must know, G'Nolga's skilled enough to beat Cologne or Happosai, though it would be very close, and don't forget how fast Ranma lost his first fights with those two old farts.

Even though G'Nolga's skilled enough to beat Happosai or Cologne in a one-on-one fight, those two are older, wilier, sneakier and have a lot of tricks up their sleeves. But, like I said before, it would be very close.

[4] Oh, for those of you wondering why Ranma didn't access his partial controlled Neko-ken, it's simple, not enough time and he was taken out fairly quickly.

[5] One more thing, this is about the time when Cologne showed up in the Manga. That was just a little note to pass on.

[6] I changed it a bit up above. I learned a few things about G'nolga from the comic that I didn't know before. You miss one issue and you lose out on a lot of information. Oh well, at least now I can get the rest of the story correct.