"Son-in-law is having some problems." Cologne stated "But his most powerful attack is still without being shown." "What you talking about, great-grandmother?" Shampoo asked her "Which attack?" "It's time to see if this stranger is as strong as I think he is." Cologne stated as she took a bucket of water and soaked Shampoo with it. Shampoo turned into her cursed form as she got splashed. Cologne took her in her hands. "Shampoo," she explained "stay close to Ranma. Hold on to him no matter what." she then threw Shampoo-neko to the ring. Ranma tried to stand up the best he could although his injuries didn't help much. Terry was also looking hurt but not as bad as him. Things didn't look good for Nerima's local martial artist. Suddenly, something soft landed on top of his head. A four legged pink furry creature. "Meow??" Shampoo-neko said. Ranma's face immediately turned pale. His facial expressions showed deep fear. "C... c.... cccc....cc.......CAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!" he screamed. With a strength that came out of nowhere, Ranma began to run frenetically around what was left of the ring as Shampoo-neko held tightly to his hair while he was screaming. "Get it off!!!!!!! Get it off!!!!!!! Get it off!!!!!!!!" he yelled. Terry was VERY confused. He didn't know what surprised him more. Ranma running around the ring screaming with a cat attached to his head, OR, where on Earth did Ranma get the strength to run like that when he was practically crippled moments ago. He turned to Akane who was the closest person to the ring. She was looking very worried. "Akane??" he asked "What's wrong with him??" "GET IT OOOOOOOFFF!!!!!!!!!!!" Ranma shouted behind him as he kept on running. "Terry, Get out of there, FAST!!" Akane told him. "Why? What's going on here????" he asked again. "If Ranma stays too long with a cat he starts acting like one!" she explained "And when he does, he's unstoppable!! GET OUT OF THERE FAST!!!!!" "What are you talking about?" he began "That doesn't make any..." "MMMEEEOOOOOWWWW!!!" interrupted a rather *human* voice. "Hun???" Terry turned his sight to where the voice came from. Ranma was there, crawling on his feet and hands like a cat. His facial expressions didn't look friendly in the least. He began to stretch ready to jump on his adversary. Terry couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ranma *was* acting like a cat. He took a few steps back not very sure of what would happen next. Without even warning, Ranma launched himself towards his adversary, hands in front using them like claws. Terry tried to avoid the attack but a peace of his shirt was sliced away along with some of his skin. Ranma, inexplicably regained all his strength. He was even faster than before and didn't seem to care less about his wounds. Terry, on the other side, was all ready overexerting himself, he could barely dodge now, this fight hasn't been easy on him. This turn of events clearly put him in a big disadvantage. Ranma had the upper hand now. Ranma began to give chase to Terry. Terry started running around the ring trying to avoid Ranma. [What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?] he questioned himself [I'm too tired to try and fight him openly now! I can barely avoid him!] Ranma began to deliver several vicious scratches which Terry was unable to protect himself from. His shirt was practically torn to pieces, not to mention that the cuts along his body didn't helped in making him feel better. [People turning into animals when they get wet, crazy school principals, a guy that acts like a cat while exposed to them...] Terry stated mentally [Does Nerima has an never-ending supply of weird stuff!?!...... Wait! That's it!] Terry suddenly stopped running and turned facing his pursuer. Ranma stopped chasing him around as he saw him stop. Terry tried to look as calm as possible. Ranma was still standing in a cat-like defense pose in case his adversary decided to start an attack. Terry took off his jacket and put it on the floor. Then he took what was left on his shirt reveling his recently sliced chest due to Ranma's handiwork. "Why is he taking his shirt off?" Mousse asked Ukyou who stood next to him. "I don't know." she declared "But I'm not complaining." Terry then turned his back on Ranma and sat on the floor as he started doing something with the remains of his shirt. Ranma curiously but slowly began to approach Terry trying to see what he was doing. Each time Ranma appeared next to him, Terry turned his back on him so he wouldn't see a thing. This only helped in increasing Ranma's curiosity. The crowd started asking themselves questions. 'What's he doing?' 'I don't know!' 'Do you think he's about to pull out some sort of martial arts ultimate attack?' 'Maybe.' Minutes later, Terry finished whatever he was doing and stood up. Ranma leaped back immediately and took his defensive stance once again, expecting Terry to start an attack. Terry then showed Ranma some sort of toy made out of the remains of his shirt. It had several pieces of clothing hanging out like some sort of broom. Terry then crouched and held the improvised toy above his head waving it around. "Here kitty kitty kitty." he softly said to Ranma "Look what I made for you." "Meow??" Ranma suddenly felt incredibly attracted to the hanging pieces of clothing that Terry held. He slowly began to crawl towards Terry while looking firmly at the toy. When he got close enough, he tried to reach for the waving pieces of clothing with his hand just the same way a cat would. Terry started lifting the toy so Ranma wouldn't catch it. Ranma was now really into the game. He started hopping around the toy trying to catch it but Terry always lifted it on time to avoid that. "I can't believe this..." Akane stated "He's PLAYING with him!!" "Ranchan looks so cute like that!" Ukyou declared. "Very clever." Cologne said. Both of the boys continued playing. Terry began to approach the border of the ring as he continued to guide Ranma along. Ranma was too busy trying to catch the cool toy to even notice this. Once at the edge, Terry held on to a post and waved the toys as far as possible outside the ring. Ranma decided to jump and capture those interesting hanging strings. And he did. Terry released the toy and Ranma finally cough it with his mouth. The down part of all of this was that by jumping to get the toy, the pigtailed boy jumped out of the ring as well. And therefore, he lost the match. Nabiki was still looking at Ranma playing outside the ring with his new toy until Terry interrupted her thinking. "Well?" he asked "did I won?" "Er... yeah... right, I forgot." she said, she then jumped on what was left of the ring and held Terry's arm up "The winner, Terry "Hungry Wolf" Bogard!!" The crowd started cheering as the winner was announced. They sure had their money's worth. It was a great fight, even though it ended up in a very unexpected way, a great fight no less. Terry picked up his jacket and put it on again. It was finally over. He laid down face up on what was left of the ring. He really wanted to rest. Later, at Dr. Tofu's, Terry and Ranma were sitting on a bed as Tofu put bandages on each one of them. Ukyou and Akane were also there. Soun and Genma were standing guard outside the clinic in case Kasumi appeared, both Terry and Ranma were already hurt badly without her having to make things worse. When Ranma finally snapped out of his neko-trance, Akane sure had a lot of fun explaining him how he lost. "I can't believe I lost like that!!" Ranma stated. "Just goes to show you that not all fights are won with fists." Akane told him mockingly. "Ranchan, you were looking so cute while playing with that thing!" Ukyou declared "I wish I had a camera at that time." "If Shampoo wouldn't have shown up..." Ranma began "I might have..." "You might of lost for sure, son-in-law." interrupted Cologne as she stepped into the clinic. "You're the one that made me lose!" Ranma said enraged "Why did you had to throw Shampoo in, you old ghoul?" "You were already too wounded to win." Cologne explained "I merely helped you into waking up your most powerful attack. Although it seems you were out smarted." "But what were you gaining by doing that?" Terry asked her. "I just wanted to see how you managed to handle yourself against something like that." she explained "It's been some time since I last saw a member of the Hakkyokuseiken fight. I was just curious to see how good you were." "You know about the Hakkyokuseiken?" Terry asked surprised. "Yes, I do." she replied "I've seen many generations of Hakkyokuseiken fighters. As a matter of fact, the techniques used by the Hakkyokuseiken and my tribe are very similar, as you might have noticed during the fight." "You mean that the Hiryu Shoten Ha and the Sen Puu Ken are from the same school?" Ranma asked her. "Not quite." Cologne continued "Even though they look similar, both are done differently. The tribe of Jusenkyou and the Hakkyokuseiken had a lot of influence in one another. Why, I can still remember the old days when I last saw a member of the Hakkyokuseiken. That was more than half a century ago. I was beginning to think that clan had disappeared." "Well technically, it has." Terry pointed out "I'm the only person left who knows the Sen Puu Ken. By the way, who was that last member you met so long ago?" "Ahh yes, I can still remind him. He was quite a very handsome man. A great fighter as well. His name was Tong Fu Rue." "Master Tong?!?... a... handsome young man?!?!?" Terry asked in disbelief as he tried to picture Master Tong a whole lot younger and good looking. Suddenly, Shampoo followed by Mousse showed up. Shampoo saw Ranma with bandages as he laid on a bed and did what she always does. Throw herself to him. "Ranma! You okay!" she said "Shampoo so sorry for scaring you!!" "Hey you!!" Ukyou stated not very please of seeing her embracing Ranma "Get off of him you, Chinese bimbo!" "Ranma!!" Akane added not very pleased herself "Just what do you think you're doing??" "Oh no... not now. Please God, not now!!" Ranma begged. "Just what do you think you're doing with my bride, Saotome??" Mousse asked addressing to Terry and then launching an attack to him. "Hey wait a minute!!" Terry protested "I'm not Ranma!!" Telling you what happened next would be insulting your intelligence. And that's why I'm not even going to bother in giving you the details of this little day-to-day fact. Let's just take back the story a couple of hours after this event when Ukyou left for Ucchan's, Shampoo, Cologne and Mousse to the Nekohanten and when Terry, Ranma and Akane are walking together. "Terry, you've got to give me a rematch!" Ranma demanded. "Can't you live it down Ranma?" Akane asked him "It's not the end of the world if you lost. Get over it!" "Akane's right, Ranma." Terry began "It's no big deal." "Easy for you to say!" he claimed "You're not the one who lost!!" "I've lost plenty of times in my life." Terry replied "Believe me, sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Besides, I didn't win easily. To tell you the truth I have to admit I was impressed. Kids your age normally shouldn't be that strong. [It should even be illegal!] I think that the only advantage I had over you was experience. And it still didn't made that much difference." "You really think so?" Ranma asked him. "Sure thing." he explained "You could've beaten me with your speed. But fighting is more than just speed and strength. If you might of guessed that I was about to do a Power Geyser instead of a Power Wave, the outcome might have been different." "You might have something there." Ranma noticed "Maybe I didn't lose after all. But I still hope you're whiling to give me a rematch." "That'll have to wait a while." Terry stated "I'd like to fight Ryouga and Mousse too, those between other people. You'll have to wait your turn." After some walking, the three of them reached the Tendou dojo. Terry was about to leave for home but he was suddenly invited for dinner by Mr. Saotome and Mr. Tendou. Both of them insisted a lot using the argument that they wanted to celebrate such wonderful fight. After a lot of begging and after confirming to Terry that Akane wasn't going to cook anything tonight, they finally managed in convincing him. Dinner went okay, unlike last week, Terry really enjoyed Kasumi's cooking and any excuse was good enough to taste her food. Ranma and Terry then claimed both their share of today's ticket selling to Nabiki. What neither of them knew was that Nabiki made a lot more by fixing bets and selling the video of the match. Everyone talked about today's fight. As a matter of fact, it was the center of today's conversation as much inside the dojo as in the rest of Nerima. "There's still one thing I don't get." Akane began addressing to Terry "When you pulled that trick on Ranma while he was acting like a cat, how did you came out with that idea?" "Well," he started "when I asked you what was wrong with him you told me he acted like a cat if exposed to cats too long. That's when I had that idea." "How did you knew it was going to work?" Ranma asked him. "I didn't." he explained "I had no way of telling if it was actually going to work or not. I had to take my chances." "That was quite a risk you took." Akane pointed out "What were you going to do if that didn't work?" "Well... there was always plan B." he answered. "Which consisted in?" Nabiki asked. "I thought about starting to act like a dog so I could scare Ranma off the ring." he said. Everyone started laughing. "That sounds so silly!!" Akane declared. "I know!" Terry told her while laughing "But it might have worked!" Dinner was coming to an end. Genma and Soun took out a bottle of sake and offered Terry to have a drink with the both of them. Terry was always in for a little drink. He still remembered how he usually had a drink or two with Joe. Everyone under age for drinking (Ranma, Akane and Nabiki) had to be dismissed and Kasumi went to the kitchen to wash the dishes. After a couple of drinks, the three "adults" started laughing and telling jokes due to the natural effects alcohol has on humans. "... Sho I told them: There hash to be some sort of mishtake. I can't be your father!" Soun narrated. "No kidding!!" Terry declared. "We then found out all of this was our master's doing!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Genma added no less drunk than his friend "He told those two girls he was Soun Tendou and wanted them to take over the Tendou dojo!" "Does that kinda thing happen a lot in town?" Terry asked them. Right know Terry wasn't as drunk as Genma and Soun. But he was close. Kasumi stepped inside the room to bring them another bottle of sake and take out the one they've already finished. As she left Genma nudged Soun on the side. "By the way Terry," Soun began "You're single aren't you?" "Not by choice." Terry replied "I've really been having a run of bad luck when it comes to women." "We wanted to make you an offer, Terry." Genma continued. "Hun??" "I'll be brief." Soun proclaimed "I want you to marry my daughter Kashum!" "Vuat????" Terry asked "Are yuu serious???" "I've never bin more serious in my life!" Soun stated "So wadaya say? " "Mr. Tendou, you've been drinking too much." he said "Ju don't know what you're sying." "We're not kidding you, ma'boy." Genma explained "The moment we sha you fight we knew you'd fit in perfectly here!" "I'm flattered. But I think I'll have to turn down your offer." Terry stated "Now... don't take this the wrong way. You have three beautiful daughters Mr. Tendou, but I can't consider marriage with the life I have. I'd hardly be at home." "Sho WHAT????" Genma declared "I havn't sheen my wife in years!!" "It's not just that!" he explained "You see... the problem is... I'm cursed." "Sho who isn't????" Genma declared again "That'll mean you'll fit in even better!" "I didn't meant THAT kinda curse!" he continued "My curse isn't like the ones from Jusenkyou..." he began to speak with a certain depressive tone of voice as he remembered Lily and Sulia "You see, each time I fall in love with a girl... she dies. That's what happened to my last two girlfriends, and I really wouldn't like that to happen again." Both Soun and Genma looked at Terry as their happy mood began to fade away and began to be replaced with sadness. That kind of story could really bring down a happy face. Soun suddenly began to panic (which is quite normal in Soun, only this time he had the effects of alcohol backing him up). He instantaneously stood up with is hands over his head. "Kasumi......... dead?????" he said "NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" he began to run around the room frenetically with no determined direction as tears flowed out of his eyes "Kasumi!!!!!! Kasumi!!!!! Kasumi!!!!!!! Kasumi!!!!" With so many tears in his eyes, Soun wasn't able to see which way he was heading. That is until he hit a wall and fell on his back unconscious. Genma and Terry just stared at the lying, inert form of Soun. "What's wrong with him??" Terry asked "I would've thought he'd take the news better than that." "Heh heh! Tendou-kun is a little bit too emotional." Genma stated "Looks like he can't handle his drinks as well as us. Am I right, boy????" Genma immediately collapsed on the dinning table after making that statement. He began to snore loudly leaving Terry with no one else to talk to but himself. Ranma and the Tendou sisters stepped inside the room moments after hearing Soun hit the floor. "Goodness!!" Kasumi implied "What happened to them??" "I think they just had a little too much sake." Terry responded "I think I should be on my way too." he began to stand up clumsily, everything was moving "Heh heh, looks like I had a little too much myself." "I think maybe you should stay here for the night, Terry." Akane told him "You' re in no condition to go home by yourself like that. You might even get arrested." "Nnnaaaaaaahh! I'm uuuuukay!" Terry declared as he twiddled from side to side "Don't wanna trouble you!" he then fell on his butt. "It's no trouble at all." Kasumi insisted "I think it would be for the best." "Here, let me help you up." Ranma stated as he held him by the side "Man you really are heavy. Akane gimme a hand here." "Right." Ranma and Akane took Terry from each side and headed to the guest room while Nabiki and Kasumi took care of Soun and Genma. Terry was, at the moment, very cheerful. You normally knew him for being the serious type, until now. He put his arms around Akane and Ranma's shoulder and squeezed them tightly. "I wreally like you guys, you know that???" he said affectionately "It's wreally shweet of you for helping me out." "Yeah, whatever, Terry." Ranma declared "There's no way we're gonna let you go home like this. You could get hurt, and you still owe me a rematch." "You really should learn accept your losses, Ranma." Terry told him half conscious "It eases the pain if you can deal with losing something... or someone. Makes life easier to endure also." he then began to fall asleep. Both Ranma and Akane didn't say a word after what Terry told them, not knowing if what they herd was something the sake caused or something their friend really meant. Once they reached the guest room, Terry was laid over a mattress and tucked in. Akane turned out the lights and was about to close the door when she suddenly herd Terry talking in his sleep. "Sulia..." he wept "Why did you have to die..." Akane sadly heard him out and hesitated in closing the door until Ranma, who was outside the room, saw her in some sort of trance and snapped her out of it. "Akane?" he asked "What's wrong?" "Er... nothing, nothing at all." she explained "I just... I just thought I herd Terry cry." "Guys don't cry." Ranma stated. "Humph! You're one to talk." Akane pointed out. "What does THAT mean?" he asked. "I've seen you cry. You big baby." she responded. "Yeah, right! And when was that?" "The time I beat you twenty times in a row in arm wrestling after I ate the Super Soba." she told him defiantly "You were crying like a wittle baby." "I... I wasn't crying!" Ranma explain defensively "I had something stuck in my eye." "Sure you did." "I was NOT crying!!!" "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Ranma." Next day, we see Soun, Genma and Terry sitting at the dinner table while holding their heads in pain, having to deal with a big hangover. Each one held a cup of coffee in one hand while massaging their forehead with the other. Suddenly... "RANMA NO BAKA!!!!!" shouted a very familiar voice upstairs. The three adults put their hands on top of their heads as they did pitiful face expressions. Series of other noises followed. Furniture braking, windows crashing, maybe even the one of a particular pigtailed boy being punched into orbit... through the roof, as usual (which obviously didn't make Terry, Soun and Genma feel any better). "The pain!!!!" Genma complained "The pain!!!!" "Please God!!!!" Soun begged "Have mercy on us!!!" End of chapter 4. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- See you in chapter 5...