I do not own TV Tropes , nor Ranma 1/2.
Well, a promise is a promise. I've come to find my Ranma fanfiction (once again) far too poorly-paced and not well-thought-out enough to continue with. It will be given the axe, for the time being; I doubt that anyone's been following it closely enough to want its corpse hanging around FFN.
And so, as a desperate attempt to save face, I'll be continuing Troper Tales in the very same category. In contrast to my other Ranma fics, this one will be taking place in the manga continuity. You'll see why in the next chapter (which I already have typed up).
Let the show begin!
==Chapter 1==
"How come they never go after Kasumi?" Ranma wondered to himself as he watched the tiny dot in the sky weave back and forth, just barely visible. Much higher than he could hope to jump from his current elevation.
He saw that tiny dot become a flash of orange, and leaped. A second later, he heard the fireball slamming into the already-scorched earth, no doubt sending debris everywhere.
"FOOLISH HUMAN!" the dragon's voice thundered from above. "I give you one last chance to quit my territory and never return! Leave me and my bride to our devices!"
The pigtailed martial artist grit his teeth and looked over his surroundings for the hundredth time. Nothing but flat, hard wasteland as far as the eye could see. The few rocks that did dot the landscape wouldn't provide him with anywhere near the elevation he needed.
Another flash. Another fireball.
FWOOOM!
"This really sucks," he muttered to himself. His current circumstances, as they stood, were probably the worst possible ones for a practitioner of the Anything-Goes style.
The flat, lifeless environment, for one offered pretty much nothing he could manipulate to his advantage. And his opponent, it seemed, was a massive coward. Ever since he'd snatched his "bride" up from their little picnic area and flew into the wasteland, he'd done nothing but pelt Ranma with fireballs from hundreds of meters straight up.
Dragons were a hell of a lot smarter than he thought they'd be, he noted to himself. Or maybe it was just this particular dragon. Either way, it would be a good explanation as to why he'd kidnapped Nabiki to be his bride.
He wasn't completely out of options - he knew that he could hurl rocks at the dragon, or blast it with a Moko Takabisha, but both were out of the question. The dragon still had his precious "bride" in his claws, and both of the aforementioned choices ran a rather large risk of hitting her as well.
"... and wouldn't Old Man Tendo be tickled pink to see that happen..." he muttered bitterly as the sweat poured down his face.
He dodged yet another fireball and made a private vow to never vacation in Australia again, no matter how many expenses were paid by the lottery ticket that his stupid dad won.
"What's a dragon doing in Australia, anyway?" he growled to himself. Let alone a dragon that could speak perfect Japanese.
Rrrrrmmmm...
He blinked. The ground was vibrating. A large, distant cloud of dust appeared in the corner of his eye.
A scowl overtook the pigtailed boy's features as the dust cloud came into focus. It was a Jeep. And not just any Jeep. The Jeep that the Tendos (and his dad) had rented for their vacation.
Complete with Tendos (and his dad) inside.
Rrrrm.
SLAM.
"Ranma!"
"Is my little girl safe?"
"Don't tell me that overgrown lizard's giving you trouble!"
He briefly considered just letting the dragon toast them. Couldn't the idiots realize that in cases like these, more was certainly not merrier? Now he had five people to worry about!
To their credit, they'd stopped the vehicle a good distance away from him. There was an opportunity for them to split up and confuse the dragon, forcing him to choose between the biggest threat, and then... then what?
His scowl grew even deeper. His brain just wasn't working right now. Maybe it was all the heat...
"RANMA!"
"What?" he snapped at Akane.
Almost instantly, the youngest Tendo daughter's face became a brick red color. Ranma fought back the urge to roll his eyes, even as he did his best to keep one eye on the tiny dot in the sky at all times. He was probably seconds away from another tongue-lashing, or (if Akane's sense of timing was particularly off today) a beating that would send him flying...
Flying.
Flying.
Flying!
Akane's mouth, he noticed then and there, was moving. And there was probably sound coming out of it, too. Insults and threats and whatnot that he couldn't be bothered to decipher.
But that didn't matter now. Her positioning was perfect. The trajectory couldn't be any better.
And it had to be. He would only have one shot.
He ran. Not exactly a sprint, not exactly a jog. He was ten meters from Akane.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
He cupped his hands around his mouth and dropped the payload.
"SHADDUP, YOU FLAT-CHESTED UGLY-ASS TOMBOY!"
As he had calculated, it took Akane exactly two seconds to hear the message, decipher it, fall into shock, recover, gather her battle aura, clench her teeth, and...
"RANMA, YOU JERK!"
He shifted his body ever so slightly just milliseconds before the impact. There would be no time for fancy maneuvers afterward.
WHAM.
Wind on face.
Howling in ears.
Bring fist up.
Up.
Up.
Up!
KRACK.
The impact of fist against scales was not pleasant. Felt as if his knuckles had been shattered like glass. The pain shot through his entire arm, right down to his shoulder, till he felt as if the entire limb would just pop out and fall off.
The hoarse, gagging sound coming out of what could only be the dragon's mouth made it all worthwhile.
Even as the black began to creep in around him on all sides.
And then he was falling...
Falling...
Falling...
Falling...
Wham.
Till a dull but all-encompassing sort of pain passed through him. From back to arms to legs to head.
He grumbled.
Who had put that wall there? It was still the middle of the night! Right? Wait, was it time for school already? The stupid sun wasn't letting him see anything.
Light danced and shifted before his eyes as he made his body move, evidently against his body's will. The pain seemed to increase tenfold.
The first thing he happened to see was an embarrassed-looking Soun Tendo, standing several centimeters away with his arms held out and nothing in those arms. The second thing he saw was his own father, looking uncharacteristically dignified as he gently let Nabiki down from his own arms.
He then shifted his head slightly and peered beyond the bumbling duo. His eyes (hindered even further by the desert heat) could just barely make out a blurry shadow some ten meters away. A shadow that looked an awful lot like an overgrown lizard who wasn't going to be getting back up anytime soon.
Heh. Not bad for a first day in Oz. Maybe I'll get to fight one of those Drop Bear things tomorrow...
And then he finally obliged the tiny voice in the back of his head and passed out like a good boy.
==End of Chapter 1==
Ah, the Megaton Punch. Punch someone in the face and watch them go flying over the horizon. Beloved weapon of short-tempered teenage girls in everything from Ranma to Pokémon. A fairly straightforward trope, though it certainly is a visual one at heart.
Having Ranma use the sheer force behind one of these to increase the power of his attack is something that I'm honestly surprised Takahashi hasn't thought of herself. Especially consider that, in the manga, many Megaton Punches (and Kicks) are taken literally; the Cat's Tongue Full-Body arc is the first that comes to mind, but I'm sure there are more.
And no, I have no plans for Ranma to fight a Drop Bear. Not for the time being, anyway.