Grave's New Life

Chapter 22

Part 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Grave Digger, Ranma, Steamhead or anyone else that may or may not show up do not belong to me, they belong to their talented creators.

Just a reminder here... I wrote the next chapter after this one. So, you got two chapters to read at once.

Work problems have popped up here and there.

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Shaking his head, Ranma smirked, that was the best that Furinkan had to offer? If that was the best around, then he knew he wouldn't have any problems with the rest of this tournament. He turned and started to walk off the stage, already knowing that he won. It wasn't as if someone would hold a grudge for losing that easily.

From his position on the ground, several things went through the fallen Kendoist's fragile mind at that moment. First of all, he knew he couldn't have lost. Being an unbeatable warrior made that impossible by any stretch of the imagination. So it had to be something else. 'How?' He thought to himself, there was no one on the Earth that was good enough to defeat his blade. The only explanation was some dark forces in play. "So, a master of the dark magiks has set foot on these hallowed lands to challenge a noble Samurai like myself." He said softly as he stood up slowly, glaring at the knave who thought he had bested him. The pain that was going through his body at the moment was a bit too much for him to carry out what he wanted to do to the fool knave.

Blinking as his opponent stood up, Ranma could have sworn that he heard something about dark magic, but he wasn't sure. He shook his head as his former opponent limped away from the ring. 'What was that all about?' He wondered to himself as he left the stage to go back to his team.

"So, that was the best?" He heard Grave's voice, causing him to look up slightly where the girl was talking to that tall, lanky kid that had been on the train.

The kid sweat-dropped and shook his head. "Thought he was." Was his only reply, he blushed when the girl next to him smirked and giggled before looking at Ranma.

"Hey, good job." Grave smiled as Ranma walked up to her.

Ranma shrugged and smirked. "Wasn't too hard." Not for him at least, had it been difficult, he would've had to use special techniques. He thought about it and mentally shook his head. Nah, that would've been too much. It wasn't like anyone was even half as good as he was.

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head, smirking. She half expected him to say something like that. He could do with less attitude at times, but at least he was nice. 'At least to me and his mom.' She thought to herself. Unlike some people with the same problem.

"Wanna get some food?" He asked as he had nothing to really do until the next round.

Grave blinked at him saying that. Normally it wasn't something he'd ask her, at least, she didn't think so. She was so stunned that she couldn't even tease him about taking her on a "date", even though they weren't doing anything of the sort. "Um, okay..." She said slowly as they walked away.

"Lucky dog." The other teen muttered as he watched the two walk away. The girl was cute and different. He sure wouldn't have minded it if she would've given him more than just a cursorily glance in his direction.

Just a few feet away, Ranma and Grave were talking about what had happened in that fight, if said beating could be called that. "That guy was the best in this area?" He couldn't believe it. Hell, someone that easy wouldn't even last two seconds in a real fight.

Giggling, Grave shook her head at Ranma's dismissal of that fool. That was almost expected of him. Hell, she would've said the same thing about him, being an incredibly easy idiot to beat. "So, Ranma, think you'll win today?" She could guess he was going to.

"Feh, no problem." He smirked, an arrogant grin on his face. Looking away from the girl he was with for a moment, he glanced at the line to the concessions. "Better than this line." He muttered lowly, causing Grave to giggle slightly.

(---)

He was there, he could see people in the area. This was a rarity for him. Usually by the time he got to a place where there were people, he ended up at the place at least a few hours after everyone had left. He smirked darkly and chuckled to himself, seemed like he was actually getting better, at least slightly, with his directions. Now, all he had to do was find someone who could tell him where he was exactly. Maybe he'd be lucky enough to find where he should have been going before everyone disappeared on him.

Even if he didn't, at least people were speaking Japanese. Last time he was in a group of people, they were speaking Chinese.

(---)

"Want to get out of here?" Ranma asked suddenly, yawning as the two sat down under a tree. He wasn't bored, but he figured that sitting around all day just watching fights wasn't that exciting to her. It wasn't as if he really needed to be here, either.

"You that bored?" She asked him, smiling as she took a bite of the delicacy in her possession. "Mmm..." She closed her eyes and smiled as she took another lick of her ice-cream. It was really amazing that they had tuna-flavor

Watching her eat, Ranma couldn't help but feel something wash over him, and it wasn't water. He couldn't describe what he felt at that moment, but whatever it was, he had to admit, he rather liked it.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The conversation may have continued, but a shadow loomed over the two of them. Looking at the person in question, they were slightly surprised to see that it was that girl from before. "Mind if I sit here?" Akane asked. Seeing them shrug, she did so. These two were different than anyone else here. First was that guy that was apparently related to Uncle Saotome, though she didn't see it herself. Then there was that furry girl. The way she looked made her look quite interesting, that was for sure. Akane sweat-dropped as the two started to eat their ice-cream again. "I saw the way you handled Kuno." She said, looking at Ranma, causing him to stop eating and look at her.

"Yeah?"

Akane nodded. "Not like I couldn't take him easier than you did though." She said, her ego deciding to have a say in the matter at hand. She blinked as the two looked at her, the guy looked almost offended by what she said. "What? It's true. I fight that guy and fifty other guys every day. I don't see you doing that." She didn't see anyone else doing that for that matter.

Grave wondered just where that girl got off saying stuff like that. Sure, she had a point with saying that she beat up on that guy and a bunch others everyday, did she really have to lord it over them like an ego-maniac?

"Really?" Ranma asked, blinking. "Well, it's not too hard. I mean, that guy was pretty easy."

Akane's eye twitched from that comment. "What? Are you saying I'm weak?" She frowned.

Ranma blinked and wondered why she was getting upset with him. "Well, I mean, that guy is. I dunno about you though." He shrugged and wondered why the girl even brought the thing up.

"Forget about it." She said, standing up. "Just don't get over-confident." She said and walked back to the arena, expecting to fight him later. She was obviously expecting to see him in a later round. Not that she would lose, she had no intention of losing today.

Blinking, the pigtailed youth looked at his friend. "What was that about?" He asked. His only response was a shrug of her slender shoulders.

(---)

Kyoji Jumo was a low-rung reporter. He was in his mid-twenties with what looked like bleached-white hair. He wore glasses and wasn't the tallest or most buff person around. But he knew that if he broke a big story, or at least something not boring, he'd be able to go places in the journalistic world. He was an ambitious reporter, but being signed to cover a high school fighting tournament was about as much fun as buying groceries.

Still, he got a few pictures, took a few notes of what was going on. One had to crawl before they could walk, after all. Even if this was annoying. Looking around for something interesting, he blinked upon seeing a girl with pale skin and blonde hair. Normal, it wouldn't have caught his attention, nor would have the tattoo on her face, but way her arms looked white, yet not pale caused him to take a second look. 'What the?' He thought to himself as he noticed something he didn't see before. It was loosely curled around her left leg and twitching slightly every now and again. "What is that?" He asked no one in particular as he made his way over to them, his camera in his possession. Unfortunately for him, the crowd was a bit thick, so getting over to the fre, err, interesting person was going to take some work.

After over ten minutes of fighting his way through the crowd, almost literally in some cases as it seemed like there was a possessed garbage can or something moving around the area. He shrugged it off. He just figured that it was the sheer amount of people that was getting him to think that.

Looking around, he saw his quarry sitting under a tree as a girl with long hair in a Gi was leaving it. He ignored her, she wasn't important. He was closing in on his vic, err, interview subjects. Just before he got there, a youth wearing a brown shirt, a bandanna, cargo pants and had a backpack on his back suddenly charged the two. His instincts were telling him that this was a story. They weren't fighting in the right area, so something had to have been up. Jumo lifted up his camera and turned it on just as the newcomer got close to the two. 'Now this is interesting.' He thought to himself.

(---)

Blinking as he somehow lost the crowd of people, Ryoga looked from side to side and scratched his head. "How'd I get here?" He wondered aloud. Last thing he recalled was getting to the crowd of people, but now he couldn't see any of them. He still heard voices and clamoring, though.

If he had looked behind him, he would've noticed the crowd right behind him talking, mulling about and cheering as things progressed in the fighting area. He shrugged. With his luck no one would've been able to help him at all. A few moments of wandering around with no destination in mind, he happened to see something that he didn't expect to see. His enemy was straight in front of him, sitting down and just eating ice-cream. 'How dare he?' He thought to himself. Here he was, having gone through hell and back just to get back to the city, only to find out his rival was enjoying ice-cream.

A small part of his mind noted that it was stupid to think that Ranma was enjoying things at his expense, but that was shut up by the clouded anger in his head. Growling, he rushed up at Ranma while pulling his umbrella off. "Ranma! You're going to get it!" He yelled out, causing the person in question to look up and jump out of the way as the lost boy's extremely heavy umbrella descended down and smashed the ground he was sitting on a few moments prior.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Ranma demanded, frowning as he landed softly. He noted, with the corner of his eye, that Grave had gotten out of there quickly. She was safe at least. "You coulda hurt someone!" He yelled at the lost boy. What the hell was this guy thinking?

Looking around, the Lycanthropoid frowned as she realized that with the way things were at that moment and with the fool attacking them, well, more Ranma than her, but she was nearly killed a couple of times by now. Her tail was uncurled from her leg, allowing her more freedom to move around. "Ranma! We need to get out of here!" Left unsaid was that she didn't want to bring unneeded attention to herself. The last thing she wanted was certain people knowing where she was and coming after her. Seeing Ranma look at her, she motioned for him to lead the idiot away from the people.

Nodding, Ranma got up and smirked at Ryoga. "Come on, let's see you keep up, Lost Boy."

Ryoga twitched and charged after the retreating martial artist. "I'll get you!" He called out. So focused on his target, he didn't notice the cheetah-looking girl running next to his target.

(---)

Grinning to himself as he turned his camera off, Jumo couldn't believe his luck. Not only did he get to prove that there were freaks that were living, but he also got to prove that there was too much violence among kids. Oh, he could just smell the promotion.

The short man turned around, only to stare in shock as the crowd was moving his way too fast for him to move. "Oh heck!" He muttered, just before being ran over by fifty people.

'As soon as I'm better, I'm going to request easier assignments.' He thought to himself as he passed out.

(---)

Ryoga growled as he chased his target, shortly after leaving the lot they were in, Ranma had taken to the rooftops. If that coward thought he could avoid him by going up, he had another thing coming. Gripping his umbrella tightly, he vowed he'd shove it down Ranma's throat if he got the chance.

Smirking as he ran across the rooftops, the pigtailed martial artist looked over his shoulder and was mildly surprised to see that Ryoga hadn't gotten lost yet. The guy was so easy to lose at times that it wasn't even funny. "Hey! You haven't gotten lost yet. Not bad." He called back with a grin on his face. It was rather fun to fight for the heck of it, in his opinion. Being told to for no real reason wasn't any fun.

Jumping from one roof to the next, Ryoga growled out low. "I'm not going to get lost when I'm chasing you!" He called out and jumped up and forward as he noticed his rival jump into an abandoned lot across the street.

When he landed, Ranma blinked as Grave floated down and landed right next to him. "Thought you didn't want to use magic." He said, turning around as Ryoga jumped up into the air and descended on where he was at.

"Wanted to keep up with you." Was her reply. Truth-be-told, she wanted to be there for Ranma, at all times, regardless of what would happen.

"Oh." Was all he said as he and Grave jumped away from a rather fierce umbrella swing into the ground, tip-down, causing the ground to explode outwards. "Gee, Ryoga, you tryin' ta kill someone?" He asked as shrapnel flew out from the crater.

"Yeah! You!" Was the response, followed up by an unidentified flying umbrella from the dust cloud right at Ranma's head.

Side-stepping the weapon, Ranma was forced to jump back as Ryoga rushed in and launched a front kick in an attempt to hit Ranma in the ribs and damage his body enough so that he would win the fight easily. He growled as he missed and his leg was caught by that coward, causing him to lose his balance as his leg was pulled on. A kick to the jaw caused him to fall and land on his back. Ranma had let go of his foot, so he flipped back onto his feet and smirked. "You think that'll be enough to stop me?"

Ranma smirked. "If it was, I wouldn't worry about fighting ya." It was too easy to get in Ryoga's head at times it was funny.

Ryoga frowned and charged at Ranma full on, jabbing at his head with a follow-up upper-cut.

Jumping out of the way, Ranma's eye twitched as he felt a sting of pain in his left arm. He could just hear his old man comment on how he was getting slow and sloppy if that attack managed to land. If he had let those blows actually land, he would've been in trouble. He knew that Ryoga was one of the strongest people he had ever met, probably the strongest person in his age group. Still, the moron didn't have his speed or agility. Made these fights a lot easier.

Grave frowned as she looked at the crater. Ryoga hadn't been in his other form when he made this crater. Looking around, she blinked as she saw the umbrella laying on the ground by some garbage cans. "Hmm..." She slipped around the fight, keeping her eye on it as she made her way over to the umbrella. She grabbed it and planned on using it to flatten the meany for attacking her and Ranma. Her eyes widened as she couldn't even budge the thing. "What the?" She asked herself. This thing was heavy! Grave Digger doubted that even Britanny would've been able to move this around as easily as that idiot could. "Ranma! Be careful!" She called out, worried if he took a single hit from this guy.

"What?" Ranma asked, turning his head for a split-second to look at her.

"An opening!" Ryoga cried out, just before kicking out and landing a solid blow on Ranma's ribs, causing him to slide back, coughing. He grinned, this fight was as good as his.

"Ranma!" Grave's eyes widened, before she growled and looked at Ryoga. "You... You'll pay!" She started glowing, her eyes turning red as she gathered Ethereal energy in the palms of her hands. She planned on making him pay, badly, for hurting her friend.

Ryoga stopped his charge and stared stupidly as the girl started glowing brighter and brighter. 'What the?!' He yelled to himself. He could feel, something coming from the girl, it wasn't what he was used to from Ranma, but something far more.

A strong kick to his gut, which knocked him through the air and into the garbage cans, drew his attention away from the girl and to the one who kicked him. "Stupid can!" He yelled out as his head was covered by a metal garbage can. Pushing it off, he growled as banana peels, dried bread and beer cans fell all over him.

Grimacing as he stood up and held his ribs, Ranma shook his head and looked at Grave. "Don't jump in." He said, wincing.

"But, you're hurt!" She said, frowning.

"I'll be fine!" He said as he shook his head to rid himself of the pain. Thankfully his ribs weren't broken. Then he would've really been in trouble.

Ryoga smirked as he stood up and brushed off the debris on his body. The attack had taken him more off-guard than anything else. Course, having a girl start glowing like the Chinese New Year would surprise anyone who didn't know she could do that. "Not too bad." He commented and stood up. That kick had actually knocked the wind out of him. Not that he expected such an attack from the coward.

Shaking his head as he saw Ryoga charge him again, Ranma grinned with more confidence than he was actually feeling at that moment. Jumping up into the air, Ranma mentally smirked as Ryoga jumped up at him, this was his area of mastery.

Ryoga grunted as his kick missed his prey, who had somehow managed to flip around the kick and land both of his feet into his chest. He had enough sense to bring his arms up to block the attack, but it still caused him to hit the ground with a thud and Ranma to go up even higher. Rolling back and onto his feet, he grinned as he pulled off a bandanna. "This'll teach you." He muttered before spinning it a couple of times and throwing it at his nemesis, who had just landed.

"Gwah?!" Ranma said eloquently as he had to side-step to the left and bend backwards so that the make-shift throwing stars from taking his head, among other things, off in one shot. He twisted to the right as Ryoga punched at him. "Gee, you could've hurt someone there." He commented as he deflected another punch and jumped over a sweep-kick. Flipping around, his left foot landed on Ryoga's face, knocking him back a few feet and causing him to rub his nose.

"That hurt you know." He said as he rubbed his nose and rushed back at Ranma, ready to break his enemy every way possible.

Grave sighed as she watched the two exchange punches and kicks at a quick pace, their limbs looking like blurs, even to her eyes, and she had Werecheetah DNA in her. She wondered why that new guy kept jumping up into the air when Ranma did. Didn't he realize he would just get knocked back down? 'Apparently not.' She shook her head as Ryoga got kicked back down to the ground almost as soon as he got up into the air.

(---)

Akane looked around and frowned slightly. Where was that guy? She didn't have to face him anytime soon, but the next round would be starting up soon. Not that she really cared, but it might have been nice to have some competition in this tournament. If the guy didn't show, it just meant that she'd have an easier time with everything today. "Not that I care." She muttered to herself.

"Hey! Akane! Looks like rain." One of her classmates said, pointing to the east.

Akane nodded. "Hope it doesn't rain over here." She commented. The last thing they needed was a rain ruining the day.

(---)

Shaking her head to clear the water that poured over her, Grave wondered what the heck was up with the weather. That rain-cloud seemingly just appeared out of nowhere and only lasted just long enough to soak the area around her. Her eyes widened as something just hit her. "Ranma!" She gasped as she took a look at the fight.

Ranma-chan was backing up after that quick shower managed to soak her and Ryoga. Damn, she had nearly forgot how much larger and faster Ryoga was when he got wet.

Ryoga grinned and clenched his fists tightly. Seeing the look in his rival's eyes, well, he knew who was going to win this fight. He charged the smaller redhead, swinging his fists much faster and with more force than before.

The only thing Ranma-chan was grateful for while in her cursed form was the fact that her cursed form was a lot more agile and faster than her male form. Even so, she was barely able to avoid Ryoga's punches and his occasional kicks. Her eyes widened as he managed to get a knee into her gut, sending her flying up and back, completely out of air. 'Dammit.' She thought to herself, she could just hear her old man yelling at her for being sloppy and letting that attack get through.

Her trip through the air was stopped as something grabbed her leg, swung her around in the air a couple of times, before throwing her to the ground hard. She grit her teeth as pain racked her whole body. Damn, that one hurt, she hadn't felt that much pain in awhile. She cracked an eye open to see Ryoga jump up into the air, before coming back down, his fist aiming right at her head. She managed to somersault backwards just before his fist made a crater out of her skull. 'Holy hell.' She thought, panting as she got back to her feet.

Ryoga frowned as he missed and caused a three foot crater. Looking up, he smirked, it was pretty obvious that she was hurting from that knee and toss to the ground. Getting out of the hole he dug, he straightened out. Towering over Ranma-chan, he just smirked, this was going to be easy. His eyes widened as he sensed something from the side. "What the?" Turning his head, his eyes narrowed. "You!" He bellowed and started charging Chi in his large hands, causing them to glow white. "Not this time!" He cried, the energy turning red.

Her eyes were red, her fur was standing on end, her hair floating in the air, even though there was no wind blowing. "You... Tried to hurt my Ranma!" She cried out, not even realizing what she had said. "DIE!" She screamed, thrusting her hands forward, a powerful concentration of Ethereal energy rocketing through the air.

"No, YOU!" Ryoga countered, mimicking her motions and launching his own attack at her.

Ranma-chan shook her head, her eyes widened as the attacks collided in mid-air. "Oh fu..." Her sentence was unfinished as the result of the collision caused a dark, twisting obelisk of an explosion, causing all three to cry out as they were launched from the area.

(---)

Everyone at the tournament had to stop and stare as a huge explosion caused the ground around them to shake and several of them to hit the ground. Some were taking cover under whatever they could, some fearing a bomb had just gone off. Others were panicking and running from the place in a hurry.

"What the hell?" Akane asked as she stared, wide-eyed at the explosion in the distance. Stuff like that wasn't natural.

Thankfully the tremors subsided a couple of seconds later. Everyone at the tournament was still for several minutes, just waiting for another explosion. When none came, everyone gave a sigh of relief. They started murmuring and wondering what that was all about.

Akane shuddered. Damn, she had felt... Something from that explosion. Whatever it was, it wasn't exactly pleasant.

(---)

Ranma-chan groaned and cracked an eye open. 'Damn, that hurt.' She thought to herself. Felt as though her old man tossed her in front of an oncoming train for toughness training. She heard some noise around her and felt a body next to hers. "Huh?" She said softly, trying to get up, blinking into more full awareness as she found a weight on her body. "Who?" She muttered, blinking as she saw a body laying on hers, resting. "Grave?" She asked, sighing as it seemed the girl was just relaxing.

"You're awake?" The lycanthropoid asked softly, not opening her eyes and just relaxing.

"Yeah."

Grave smiled and sat up. "Come on... That blast sent us across town." She winced, dammed back-lash hurt.

The redhead stared. "No way." Seeing Grave nod, she groaned. "Damn. What the hell did you two do?"

"No idea." Grave muttered. "Come on, let's go to your mom's house."

"Good idea..." Ranma-chan muttered as the two got up. "You know... I have no idea where we are."

Sweat-dropping and giggling, the cheetah-looking girl shook her head. "Same here." It looked like they were in a park, at least they could find someone who could give them directions. "We look like hell." She commented after a few moments, taking notice of their tattered clothes.

To be continued...

"Wow, that took awhile."

"Yeah, well, so what?"

"Hey, we're back in the next chapter, Brit."

"I know, Bri."

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Sorry, so, so sorry that took *so* long to get updated.

Well, I'm slightly back into the writing groove.

I threw a few jabs at some pop culture.