Ryoga

Wind blew softly on Ryoga's face as he saw what exactly his training entailed, he was standing on a tree branch looking at the boulder direct opposite of him, Chingensai waving to him as he held the boulder in place with one hand, seated on a tree branch, looking as though he was an ancient and powerful squirrel leader.

"Master, are you sure I'll even survive this?" Ryoga asked, hesitation in his tone as his hands trembled a little.

"What? Of course! Now remember what I taught you... aim for the breaking point and focus your ki at the center, that oughtta shatter the whole thing!" Happosai replied, reassuring the boy of his safety.

"Actually, it's going to hurt a lot!" Matsu shouted, hands near his mouth as to allow his echo to reach the lost boy. "Just focus!"

"Don't go scaring the lad!" Happosai screamed back, waving an arm in annoyance. "Besides, I didn't say it wouldn't hurt! I just said that he 'CAN' survive it, is all!"

"Let's just do this... there's someone waiting for me," Ryoga announced, tightening the rope around his waist before looking to Chingensai, once their eyes met or as close to as possible, given the mop known as Chingensai's facial hair.

"That's the spirit!" Chingensai shouted as he released the boulder.

"Go get em'!" Happosai exclaimed as he gave Ryoga a shove, to which he at first screamed but managed to compose himself mid-flight and drew his finger back, time moving slowly as his eyes focused on his target, his pupils shrinking to pin needles.

"Ha!" Ryoga cried, thrusting his finger outward, his vision changing, as the world around him turned dark, the boulder now a large shadowy mass hurtling towards him, Ryoga squinted his eyes in that split second, swearing he saw a glimmer of light near the top of the boulder, however, before he was able to strike he saw a transparent image of Ranma's female side. "Hu-" was all Ryoga got before slamming into the rock.

The older men of the group cringed when they saw Ryoga come in contact with his training equipment, the vibrations from such an impact actually feeling like a small earthquake to small masters. Matsu had covered his eyes but had opened his fingers to see in-between his fingers, what he saw was something he would consider a horror movie scene, Ryoga wasn't moving, his body hanging limply as though he had passed on.

"Poor boy..." Happosai sighed, taking off his construction hat, as to allow for a moment of silence.

Matsu stared, letting his mouth drop, a look of pain on his face before closing his eyes and wiping his tears away with his forearm, "Please Ryoga! What about Ranma!? Don't you have to find her!" Matsu shouted to what he presumed to be the corpse of Ryoga.

"Matsu... it's alright, he wanted this..." Chingensai said, leaping down from the branch he had perched himself onto, to place a hand on his saddened comrade. "It's better that he goes out training then-" Chingensai paused, noticing something in the corner of his fuzz covered eyes. "Wait...!?" Chingensai said, shifting his head to face Ryoga.

"Did his hand just...?" Happosai commented, taking a few steps closer to the hanging lost boy, staring attentively for awhile until noticing Ryoga's hand twitch.

Matsu's eyes widened as he gasped, placing a hand over his mouth and then slowly letting it fall as he saw that Ryoga's hand continued to twitch until eventually closing in on itself, forming a fist. "Not like this," Ryoga thought, "I'm not going to hell... not yet!" Ryoga said, his voice starting out somewhat low as his little speech began but slowly growing in tempo as he progressed. The lost boy managed to place his one free hand on the boulder, shortly after he began to push back against it with his palm, adjusting his position.

"What's he...?" Matsu began but was stopped as he saw that Ryoga's finger had actually made it into the boulder, not mastering the technique but defiantly leaving his mark, in the form of a finger hole.

"Argh!" Ryoga screamed, pushing back against the boulder as he pulled his finger back, releasing it from the stone, bits of boulder coming out as Ryoga panted.

"Not bad, kiddo!" Chingensai cheered, waving to him. "We'll make a master out of you, yet!"

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"You can do it, Ryoga! You're stronger than that boulder!" Matsu shouted, clearly pumped by the fact that Ryoga was still kicking as well as showing such levels of tenacity.

Happosai narrowed his eyes, 'The boy couldn't have possibly gotten such strength from the locals around here... top of that, he's really a pig...' Happosai thought.

Ryoga placed his remaining hand on the boulder as well, shoving it away with his arms and legs, causing it to go back to the starting position, Ryoga, unfortunately, doing the same as before and smacking straight into the rock again. The group two elders, plus Matsu cringed but saw that Ryoga simply did as he had before, pulled himself free and going at it again.

Chingensai looked towards Happosai, noticing him with his head down, clearly in deep thought. "Keep going Ryoga! Remember! Focus your ki to a single point, like the Lion's Roar shot!" Chingensai said, offering Ryoga a friendly reminder as he walked over to Happosai.

"Sumthin' the matter, Happy?" Chingensai asked, hands behind his back as he spoke.

"I dunno know... do you think the boy might've been trained by one of the amazons here?" Happosai asked, arms crossed and eyes shut.

Chingensai reached for his beard and began to stroke it. "Doubt it, you know how they are about the male Amazons."

"Hm... maybe it's nothing..." Happosai commented, not able to recall what was so familiar about Ryoga, however, it was on the tip of his tongue.

"Damn it!" Ryoga exclaimed, pulling his sore and slightly red face off the boulder, pounding the side of his fist against the boulder, blood coming down from the side of his head.

"Matsu... please leave Ryoga alone, he needs ta' focus..." Happosai stated, looking to Matsu, who returned his order with a nod of his head and a wave to Ryoga.

"Good luck!"

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Ranma

The fire Ranma sat himself down in front of was still burning, his hands flying about as he tried to catch all the chestnuts before they fell but could never quite catch them all. "Ah!" Ranma screamed, pulling his hand back and blowing on it. The Saotome child seethed as he placed his hands on a nearby bucket of cold water. He sighed in relief and allowed his hands to bask in the chilly feel of cold water on his hands.

"Least this much won't change me..." Ranma commented, looking to the fire, it's flame burning slower and slower, until slowly dying out. Ranma looked to the pile he had gathered in-between his attempts but saw that there was none to be had. With his forearm sleeve, the Raven haired boy wiped his brow of all the sweat that had formed, thanks to constantly running his hands through flames.

Ranma stared at the ashes of the fire for a bit before sighing and lowering his head, 'Damn... there ain't much to do without Ryoga here...' he thought, realizing how lonely it was without his brother, Ryoga. There weren't many others that could speak Japanese as well as Ranma could, except maybe Shampoo and even then that was really more like broken Japanese, also the fact that she wanted Ranma to be his future wife. Then there was Mousse and... he felt like a total tool to Ranma, perfect Japanese or not, it was clear that Mousse would rather only bask in Shampoo's presence than actually have any real dedication to the arts.

"Guess I oughtta' take a bath or Sumthin'..." Ranma said, standing up and stretching before going over to his family's little hut.

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Ryoga

Some time had gone by now, scattered bits of stone resting on the ground as Ryoga had clearly gone through a few boulder's by now, "Come on... you stupid body!" Ryoga screamed, yet again needing to shove the rock back and start again. "Oomph!' Ryoga groaned, missing his target, yet again.

His attempt, however, was met with failure, his body colliding with his training equipment. The lost boy remained motionless, clearly panting deeply as blood had formed on the side of his face once more. "Why can't I find it... why can't I find anything..." Ryoga muttered, pressing his forward against the boulder, letting his tears fall.

The fang-toothed boy felt his back tremble from the amount of frustration growing in him. "I can't find a home, I can't find any friends... I can't even find Ran-" Ryoga pursed his lips, as to keep himself from finishing his own sentence. There was only so much Ryoga could take, especially from himself.

"Hey! Come back here! Ryoga!"

Ryoga remembered Ranma's voice calling to him, causing him to push the boulder back and at arms length, his head tilted down just enough to cover his eyes. "Ranma's waiting for me..."

The lost boy shoved the large stone back with all his might, giving him and it enough room for him to try once more. A fire burning within the fang-toothed boy as he met the boulder, however instead of smashing into it, he slammed his knees onto it first, his arm providing balance as he repeatedly searched for the breaking point in the boulder.

"Huh? Not exactly what we had in mind... but it's pretty good..." Chingensai commented, seeing how determined their little project was. Once Ryoga finished, Chingensai was about to call out to him before seeing him fall limp yet again, a soft smile on Ryoga's face, which perplexed the aged martial artist, causing him to stroll over and look at Ryoga's handy-work.

The old man stared at it, chuckling to himself before shaking his head. "Good work, boy... if you were conscious enough, I'm sure you'd still want to keep going..." he chuckled as he leaped onto the trees, landing on the branch Ryoga had been using at the start of his training session.

Chingensai was merely a blur for a split second before materializing back into existence with Ryoga's body being held in the fireman position, carrying him for some much-deserved rest.

As they walked, Chingensai had to chuckle once more, remembering what he had seen on the boulder. On the boulder were several holes, several holes that spelled out.

Ranma.