Ranma tries to figure out whats going on and why he's just not fighting at his best.

If there really was no one emotion that could describe the feelings going through Ranma's head, though there was indeed a small list that could come close. Panic, shock, horror, hopelessness, and confusion were all on the list.

Here he was, the strongest martial artists of his generation stuck in some odd cave with no way out fighting a demon from some Christian hell. Now, useally he would be able to deal with that, but not today. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

As a martial artist, he was more in tune with his environment than most and this environment... well everything just felt off. Not only that but his body, his skills, his everything was not responding the way it should. He was not moving as fast as he was accustomed, not striking as strongly, he was not as tough, not as agile. Even the Amaguriken was off! While the technique allowed him to focus and strike faster than he could without it, it was far far slower than his norm.

He paled as he looked at the monster, the demon that was just smirking at him with a mouth full of fangs, his mind racing a mile a minute. If he'd been a less cocksure, more sardonic person he could have laughed, be he wasn't. He was instead trying to figure out how the hell this happened! Why was he going so slow? Why was this thing kicking his ass, and how could he beat it?

Saotome School Secret Technique Revised: Stay out of reach and figure out what the fuck was going on?

Taking a deep breath, he tried to focus his chi, to bring up his battle aura. It didn't work.

He frowned. Like all martial artists, he'd been trained since his earliest memories to draw upon ki, to use the power of life to boost his physical attributes well beyond the theoretical limits of the human body.

He gulped. That was it, wasn't it? The world just... felt different no less alive, just different. Usually you could feel the ki around you. It was just there like a warm blanket. It ran through you, about you, and held the universe together, flowing like a great river. Here is was far less... concentrated. You could still feel it, still touch it, still tap into it... but it was no where near as easy.

The monster laughed breaking his train of thought and began to step forward with a vicious grin on its face.

"Damn you," was all Ranma could say.

What was this thing? How did he come to be here in this accursed place, one that seemed to exists simple to strip him of the only thing that had ever made him special. He was the best martial artist of his generation, but here that meant jack and shit. Here he was just another fucking weakling. One who was about to be killed by this goddamned monster!

As the hatred, anger, and self loathing began to fill his spirit, a heavy feeling overtook Ranma, He sneered.

Oh yeah.

Slowly, he began to think of everything that had now seemingly been a waste. Ten years of his life lost, all the pain, all the ****, all the torment for naught! He was just a useless no body, good for nothing. Good at nothing. Right now, he'd have problems beating Akane!

He. Was. Pathetic.

"SHI SHI HOKODAN!"

The ball of heavy Ki tore through the air like a glowing green cannonball, catching the demon seemingly by surprise. Now, while it was nothing compared to the complete Shi Shi Hokodan he'd seen Ryouga use on occasion, this blast was still rather respectable and had he been in a more upbeat state of mind, Ranma would probably have classified it was one of his more impressive Ki projections to date.

Anyways, the blast struck the scythe welding demon in the chest with the power of a speeding truck and exploded with a resounding thunderclap. The monster was sent through the air like a rag doll and smashed into the wall with **** enough to turn a human body into red paint, before bouncing off and smashing into the shattered remnants of what used to be some kind of large cage in a shower of debris.

Ranma collapsed to his knees, his sourly reduced reserves drained. He could only hope that the monster had been killed by that blast, because he wouldn't be able to do anything for the next good while.

Unfortunately though, as the old saying goes, hope in one hand, shit in the other, and see which gets filled first...

"You've got to be kidding me..." Ranma sighed in disbelief as the demon growled darkly and stood to his feet, shaking off the powdered stone and twisted metal that he'd landed in.

"That actually hurt," the monster remarked in a surprisingly urbane sounding British accent.

With a sigh, Ranma fought his fatigue and stood up, settling into an unsteady but effective stance.

The monster snorted and rolled his glowing yellow eyes before smirking again.

"Oh please," it remarked, "While I respect your tenacity, you are in no condition to continue this battle, and as strange as it may seem, I need you alive..."