A Ranma ½ /King of Fighters Fanfic – The Kingpin of Japan
Written by WDCain-Man
Disclaimer: Ranma was created by Rumiko Takahashi while the King of Fighters belongs to SNK Playmore. None of these characters were used with permission.
Greetings people, WDCain-Man here. I must say I'm really happy with how many reviews I received for the last chapter. Now before I go on to the next one, I would like to thank Sepht_9Lives for pointing out the mistakes I made with the Umisenken and Yamasenken. Now I obviously made a lot of mistakes using those techniques but let me explain myself. Obviously the manga showing those techniques haven't made their way over to the USA yet and I don't trust half of what I read in fanfics that authors call 'spoilers'.
I remember once when Sailor Moon was first bought over in 1995, there was a host of web rumors ranging from what the ending of Sailor Moon Stars was to one rumor that said Serena would marry all of the Inner Scouts and only keep Darian around just so he could father Rini. So I just decided to use what little info I had about these two techniques from pictures I saw over the net. When Ranma gets his hands on the Anything Goes scroll in later chapters, I'll use all the different attacks that truely make up the two different styles so just consider last chapter's fight scene to be one big goof (albeit a very cool one). But like I said, I really want to thank Sepht_9Lives for explaining to me how all these techniques work.
Enjoy the story!
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER NOT ONLY CONTAIN SPOILS FOR THE FIRST 'FATAL FURY' ANIME BUT DEALS WITH SOME VERY WARPED IDEAS AND COLD LOGIC. You've been warned so don't flame me if something in this fanfic offends you.
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The Kingpin of Japan
Chapter Two:
Growing Up in Southtown
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The city of South Town, U.S.A.
More specifically though, a tiny school room. It had all the requirements that a normal school would have: Chalkboards, a globe, an encyclopedia. What was strange was that the teacher, an elderly gentleman in a dress suit, was teaching only one kid: Ranma Saotome.
"Well done, Mr. Saotome. You got an 'A' on your Finite Mathematics exam." The old man handed Ranma a test back with a proud giant 'A' written on the front.
Ranma stared at the professor with unenthusiastic eyes. "Were there any questions missed?"
"No…" the elder man said slowly. "No, you didn't Ranma. You scored a perfect 100. If you keep making these grades, you'll be in algebra my next semester."
Ranma nodded. He detested failure. "Thank you, Prof. Vladimir. I see it's 3:00 pm now. It is time for class to be adjourned."
The professor blinked. "Why yes it is, isn't it? Well Ranma, enjoy the weekend. You have no math work due."
"Yes Professor Vladimir. Good day to you." Ten year old Ranma Saotome stood up from his wooden desk and zipped up his backpack before leaving.
The teacher spared a passing glance to his only student as he walked out the door. An eight year old boy should not have to study something as advance as finite mathematics, just a step below algebra. By the time next year rolled by, ten year old Ranma should be taken algebra. There was nothing unusual about a young boy taken advance courses but in all the times Prof. Vladimir taught then was that those children had 'special' qualities that made them brilliant. What was strange was that Ranma wasn't one of these special children.
It was true that Ranma scored incredibly high in all his courses but the child just wasn't special in the same way that the great Motzart was. If anything made Ranma special, it was two things: Determination and perseverance. Two qualities that most kids lack but Ranma still possessed. Prof. Vladimir didn't know anything about Ranma's private life in Geese Tower but if he could venture a guess, the man would say Ranma never did anything for fun. Everything was just… preparation to him. It was obvious that the boy's guardian, Geese Howard, had something special plan for Ranma but what that could be, Vladimir did not know.
The professor sighed as he packed his suitcase to leave. It wasn't his place to challenge Ranma on how he chose to live his life. Ranma never seemed miserable but than… he never seemed happy either.
With a short sigh showing defeat, Prof. Vladimir left through the door and headed towards an exit. He had a life to live. He could not worry about Ranma's own no matter how horrible it may be.
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"Finally," Ranma tossed his book bag on his couch. He detested school. Even if the classes were needed for his future… kingship. If Ranma had his way, he would only be taught by Geese Howard but realistically that was not possible. Geese was too busy running his city than to spend eight hours a day educating his heir. Those professors did their best to teach him, to catch him up on more current lessons. Much of this was all do to his father.
"Damn you, Genma," Ranma muttered under his breath despite his room being soundproof. If his father kept him in school, Ranma would have skipped many of his earlier lessons and instead learned under Geese Howard. Everyday for six hours, Ranma listened and studied under some of the finest teachers in America's east coast. Useless courses such as art, music, and religion were eliminated. After that, he would normally spend two to three hours doing 'homework'. He could understand the importance of mathematics, history, and English classes but he still pondered the importance of science for running a massive criminal empire.
Ranma decided to put these thoughts out of his head. He had twenty minutes of private time before having to head to his favorite class: Fight school. Ranma took a seat on his five cushion couch and looked around his private suite in Geese Tower. It was not as large as Geese Howard's own but it was more than enough for Ranma. It had a large living room where his large cream colored couch was seated across from his big screen television. Ranma never watched TV much. His DVD collection was quite small; only consisting of such DVDs like 'Advance Wu-Shu', 'Kung-Fu', 'Ninjutsu', ect… Ranma was truly a fan of combat.
While most employees of Geese Industries had pictures of artwork lining their walls, Ranma had accent weapons. Katanas, ninja stars, ect… It was a known fact around Geese Tower that Ranma Saotome was an avid expert in combat.
Ranma headed towards his room in his suite. While his room was quite large, the room was mostly bare. In it was a queen-size bed with silk bedding and white silk pillows. He had a large oak dresser holding his clothes. He possessed a month's worth of dress shirts and slacks along with under garments. These clothes did not interest him. Removing his school uniform of gray slacks, red silk shirt, and gray jacket, Ranma donned his black sleeveless dogi. It was quite form fitting. The fabric held on to Ranma's lean body quite well.
Ranma looked at himself in full-length mirror. He had changed much over the last four years. When Geese Howard took him under his wing, many things changed in Ranma's life. His diet, once only being of rice and water under Genma who would steal anything else, now consisted of fruits, vegetables, and proteins. Ranma found himself drinking more juices and beverages such as Gatorade than plan old water like the past. Being fed proper nutrition now, Ranma had grown much over the past four years than what he would have under that fat excuse of a father.
"Burn in Hell, father." Ranma said coldly as he stared at his scared hands. While Ranma was growing into a handsome young boy, his hands were hideous. When he was disposing of his father's fat carcass years ago, Ranma accidentally tossed an arm in too hard. The acid in the barrel splashed onto his hands, scaring them from the tips of his fingernails to his wrists. Fortunately only the epidermis layer was melted, the muscles were untouched. Ranma could make a fist that would punch through cement without a bit of pain. Running straight to the nurse's office, Ranma was treated. His hands would make a complete recovery, they would just be hideously scared for the rest of his life. Whenever Ranma went to private school or out in public, he had to wear a pair of white gloves so as not to gross people when they shook hands.
"Just another reminder of how much you messed up my life, father." Ranma muttered to himself. Growing up with Geese Howard, Ranma had to developed an I.Q., something his father always failed to install in him.
Ranma took a glance to a bookshelf in his room. He chose a series of books that would be necessary when he ruled all.
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli. Interesting material.
Utopia by Thomas More. Not a bad read at all.
The French Revolution. The beheadings were his favorite.
The American Revolution. His first knowledge of gorilla warfare.
Sun Tzu's: the Art of War. Brilliant stuff.
History of the Ninja. His favorite.
Make your OWN I.Q. Test. It never hurts to test yourself.
The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx. It's useful to know how to please people.
Politics by Aristotle. Useful reading for a future king.
Ranma smiled at his books. He could now read and write perfectly in both Japanese and English. While the boy was doing fairly well in mathematics, his reading abilities were easily on a high schooler's lever. "Not bad for a ten year old if I do say so myself."
Ranma's eyes caught a clock. Fifteen minutes had passed. Ranma quickly left his suite. The special dogi that Geese trained in was two floors up. It was time for his favorite lessons to begin.
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Ranma made it to the dojo. It was a large training facility, more than large enough to train a hundred men. It seemed oddly right that only Ranma and Geese were allowed to train here.
In the center of the ring was a large bald man, nearly seven feet tall, with huge muscles standing with a cold glare. "On time as always, aren't you Ranma."
"Yes sensai Chang," Ranma nodded. He and the large man stepped closer together. Ranma's jet black dogi was a strong contrast to the bald man's white version. "What is today's lesson?"
"Your lessons are twofold: Better use of kicks and endurance." Master Chang said.
"And how will I be tested in these areas?"
Chang smiled evilly. "By dislocating both your arms. I'll see how well you can kick and learn your pain threshold." Chang gripped Ranma by his shoulder blades and without so much as a thought to Ranma's well fair, popped the bones out of place.
Ranma did not scream, did not yell, did not cry, did not so much as whimper. His arms hang loose in burning agony. Ranma bent his legs in a perfect kicking stance.
Chang smiled. "Are you ready?"
Ranma nodded, not sure if the sharp pain would affect his voice if he spoke.
Chang balled up his fists. It was obvious that Ranma would experience incredible pain. But that's what Geese Howard pain Chang for. Not only was he to toughen Ranma up but increase the boy's fighting skills. "Let's go!"
Chang charged forward as Ranma took a step back to raise his heel.
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Three hours had passed when Ranma trudged out of the dojo. While his shoulders were popped back into place, they still burned like Hell. Ranma was massaging his right arm. Chang punched there several times during the last three hours, damaging the arm severely. Ranma's legs were also sore, the flesh felt ready to slide off his battled bones.
"Ranma! Answer my question," came a strong voice from down a hall. It was Geese Howard, dressed in his white and red hakama. "How does the other guy look?"
Ranma had a dead stare as he painfully jerked his thumb behind him. "You may verify his condition yourself, Mr. Howard."
Geese walked behind Ranma and saw Master Chang lying in a pool of his own blood. The man's tree trunk thick legs were both bent at abnormal angles just as his arms were.
Geese looked at the near dead Master Chang than back at his heir. "You popped your arms back into place by yourself?"
"Yes, sir." Ranma answered both automatically and respectfully.
Geese smiled. "Good. Ranma, I'm going to be in charge of your combat schooling this weekend."
Ranma's chilly disposition instantly brighten. "You'll teach me to use chi?"
"Not yet," Geese replied automatically. Every time he told Ranma that he would personally over see his training, Ranma would always ask that question. "You will learn chi when I say so. So rest well tonight. Tomorrow, I'll hammer your body." Geese walked away.
Ranma smiled. Training with Geese, whither the lessons be combat or crime management, were always Ranma's favorite things to do. Ranma headed towards Geese's private spa, their was always someone there ready to give a bruised soldier a good oil back rub and massage. Curiously though, there were no men working in the spa, only buxom young women.
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A year had passed. Ranma learned. Ranma improved. Ranma grew dangerous.
It was Ranma's fifth year under Geese Howard's schooling. Ranma had just turned 11, and was working as hard as ever. Perhaps too hard. When Ranma's sociology professor told Ranma to prepare a report on any past or present government's methods for controlling the masses, the professor was a little upset.
Geese Howard was going over the paperwork for hosting the next 'King of Fighters' tournament with last year's champion, Billy Kane, when the doors to his office busted open.
"HALT!" Billy shouted as he jumped in front of his boss with his cane ready. "WHO GOES DER!"
The intruders were Ranma and his sociology professor, a short fat elderly woman named Mrs. Lighter. The teacher was furious. She held Ranma's paper in one hand and gripped her wrist in the other. Ranma would have broke the old hag's wrist the second she grabbed him except the last school teacher he crippled made finding a replacement quite difficult. "MR. HOWARD! I MUST PROTEST!"
Geese looked up from his spreadsheet over how much bribe money to give the police. Mrs. Lighter had a look of both shock and horror while Ranma simply looked annoyed. "What has Ranma done, Mrs. Lighter."
"HE'S WRITTEN AN EVIL ESSAY!" she shouted.
"It is not evil, it is the truth." Ranma growled. He chose to tear his wrist from his teacher. "It is a truth that imbecilic people like you cannot understand."
Billy took a step forward. "Whut's this all about?"
Ranma took a deep breath to calm himself. "The purpose of the essay was to write about how a government can handle the people into following its decrees. I chose and researched a specific time period that handled this subject very well."
"HE GLORIFIED NAZI GERMANY!"
"I wrote a detailed essay on socio-control in Germany during Hitler's rule," counted Ranma. "Grade A material, easy."
"…" said Billy. An eleven year old boy praising Hitler's was pretty scary.
Geese seemed quite intrigued. "Ranma, explain the details of your report."
Ranma nodded and took a step forward to present himself. "Hitler's Germany was the defining model of control. Despite being on the edge of economic ruin, Hitler was able to salvage the country into a world power through simple unethical means and passionate speeches. The purpose of my report was to show that it would be easy to do such things as to recreate the concentration camps and declare war even in tolerate countries such as North America today."
Geese pondered over Ranma's preamble. "Interesting idea." This instantly freaked Billy and the teacher out. "What evidence do you use to support this thesis?"
"I offer a quote from Hermann Goering, Hitler's Reich-Marshall that was said at the Nuremberg Trials." Ranma took his essay from the elder woman's hands. It would be best if he read this part. 'Naturally, the common people don't want war, but after all, it is the leaders of a country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag people along whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.'
Geese smiled. "I see you have researched your material well. This data proves how people can be led into war but what about the camps? How do you suggest a 'civilize' country like America set up its own camps?"
"Simple. Convince the people that they will be better off. If the quality of life improves, the less criticism a government receives. Not many of Germany's non-Jewish citizens complained once there was a steady supply of jobs once Hitler took over. Any country can handle a dictator for a leader as long as he pleases the majority of the people." Ranma stopped when he saw Geese nod in agreement. "It would be simple to start up a new form of concentration camps and have the people approve of your actions. All that is needed is to convince them that they are better off without the group being exterminated. These condemn can be any class of people: Jew, Gentile, Negro, Caucasian, British," Ranma smiled as he saw Billy gasped. "Or even martial artists. It could by any group. People are sheep that obey whatever is told to them. All that matters is that their leader uses the right words to convince them. Hitler was a genius in crowd control. His rule not only saved a country but also brought about some of the most advance medical achievements."
Billy blinked. Ranma was really starting to scare him. "You talkin' about the Nazi doctors that experimented on the mentally and physically challenge?"
Ranma nodded. "Of course. During that time period, the doctors in Germany brought about some of the most medical advancements ever. Just by human experimentation at the Auschwitz death camp, Dr. Josef Mengele made leaps in medical knowledge. If his methods were still employed today and a full hospital was given a thousand worthless people, the AIDS virus could cured in a year. Hitler did much good for his chosen people all at the cost of six million deaths. Just imagine what modern science can achieve with just ten thousand."
Geese started clapping. There was a stun silence as Billy and the teacher stared at their employer.
"Excellent report, Ranma. Any other teacher would be proud of that work." Geese smiled before staring coldly at Mrs. Lighter. "Mrs. Lighter, I *suggest* you be more logical when grading your student's papers. You will give Ranma an 'A' and thank God I don't call the I.N.S. about you. Leave." The woman did so.
Geese looked at his heir with a respectful smile. "Ranma, I'm canceling all your classes for the rest of the week. You're to report to me. I will begin educating you in my business handlings. Take the rest of the day off and rest. Tomorrow, you'll learn more from me than you'll ever learn from that hag."
"Understood sir," Ranma nodded as he walked out of the room, leaving a very frightened Billy Kane watching him leave.
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Three weeks later, Ranma was eating dinner at the bar in the Pao-Pao diner that Geese owned. He was dressed in gray slacks and a blue silk formal shirt. During the pass three weeks, Ranma stood by Geese Howard's side and studied everything his teacher had done. Ranma witness events ranging from Geese ordering the deaths of entire families to large donations for charity.
Ranma watched as his teacher judged who should live and who should die as well as manage a large business. On one instance, one of Geese's pyro-specialists named oddly enough, Pyro, bungled a job. A factory owner named Katz had approached Geese with the offer of $50,000 in exchange for Geese burning his failing factory down so Katz could cash in the insurance. Geese excepted the deal. The King of South Town ordered his arsonist to grab the money and burn the factory down on the same night. It was a simple plan that would have worked perfectly but for one thing.
That idiot Pyro left the money in the factory as he burnt it down.
Geese was furious, not at the loss of a measly fifty thousand but because an employee had bungled a job. Katz had paid Geese in full and did not owe Geese an extra fifty thousand. Pyro was the one who made the mistake. For three days, Pyro was kept in a warehouse where he was tortured with knifes, acid burns, the works. Under Geese's orders, Ranma watched the bloody sights and listened to the horrid screams everyday for five hours. Those days were truly boring. Watching a man's flesh being sliced into with a box-cutter grew very tiresome. To make use of the time, Ranma would preform katas in the same room with Pyro's torture going on. It was quite a relief to Ranma once Pyro was killed. Ranma had more important things to work on.
Such as how to get Geese to teach him a chi technique.
Even after five years of training, Geese still refused to teach him any of his chi techniques. Ranma had achieved four different black-belts in Kung-Fu, Karata, Tai-Chi, and Kempo. Ranma's skill in the art was good but not great. He couldn't wait to get his hands on the Hakkyoku-Seiken and Anything Goes scrolls and master the techniques. While he hated his father, Ranma must admit that the fat fool was a great martial artist. Ranma hungered for those techniques under the Umisenken and Yamasenken styles: Kijin Raishu Dan, Moko Kaimon Ha, Doku Tanketsu Sho, the Shooting Star Crouch, Poison Snake Deep Hole Blow, ect...
Ranma was pondering how to learn a chi technique when suddenly he spotted a young blond hair man in a red sportscoat. The man slapped a waitress' rear-end and was reworded with a slap. Something about the man seemed familiar. Ranma chose to ignore his feelings. That man seemed dangerous but in South Town, who wasn't? Ranma decided to eat more of his meal, a plate of spaghetti with meatballs when his ears heard cheering and howling.
Lily McGuire came down a flight of stairs. The young woman was flaunting herself for all the hormonal apes in the restaurant. Ranma always thought the woman was useless. She served as nothing but eye-candy for the lesser crime bosses. Lily was nothing but a pretty bird kept in a shiny gold cage. When they first met, Ranma instantly developed a disliking of the woman. She simply served no purpose in Geese's empire. The only reason Ranma could think that Geese did not just out right kill the girl was that she could be used to distract foolish male targets. Geese said that was her purpose during the Bogard kill a decade ago.
But any woman could act like a decoy. Ranma had the belief that the true reason Geese provided for Lily was that he enjoyed having the woman as his personal slave. Her very survival and wealth came from Geese. If something were to happen to Geese, Lily would be cast aside and forced to live on the streets. In Ranma's mind, if she died than Geese's kingdom would only be better.
Right now, Lily was playing a game where she would spend the night on the town to whoever caught a rose. Billy Kane, excellent pole-fighter and loyal soldier to Geese, tried to persuade Lily to return to her room but she was still playing the role of a spoiled princess. It actually bothered Ranma, who was known as the Bloody Prince, that Lily was called the Queen of South Town.
Suddenly Ranma's head jerked around. A chair was flying towards him. The red jacket man had just started a bar room fight. Ranma sighed as he picked up his plate and hopped over the bar, using it to protect him from incoming furniture. There he continued eating his spaghetti and meatballs.
Ranma finished his meal quickly. His meal done, Ranma peaked over the top of the bar to watch the fight. Red Jacket had disposed of everyone of the bar patterns with ease while Lily watched like a valley girl. Ranma could tell that Red Jacket possessed a different mixture of several styles such as English boxing, karate, and…
"Hakkyoku-Seiken?!" Ranma blurted out. Red Jacket heard Ranma say his style and turned to stare at the boy. Ranma stared back emotionlessly. It looked like Red Jacket wanted to ask him some questions except a new foe stood up. The fighter was obviously an expert in Mui Tai. This should be an interesting fight. Mui Tai against Red Jacket and his Hakkyoku-Seiken style.
Ranma had not seen anyone use that style except Geese Howard. According to Howard, the only other man still alive who knew that art was Tung Fu Rue. That old man trained both Geese and…
"…Jeff Bogard…" whispered Ranma so quietly that no one heard him. Jeff had two sons, Andy and Terry. Vegas odds said Red Jacket had to be one of them. Ranma was about to ponder this further when some of Geese's bought police game rushing in guns drawn. Mui Tai and Red Jacket did the smart thing and ran into the dark streets of South Town.
Ranma got up and headed to Geese. He needed to be informed of this knowledge. As Ranma ran up the bridge, he caught Lily looking at the exit where Red Jacket left. Something in her eyes told Ranma that something bad was going to happen.
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Geese Howard was not happy when he learned what happened last night. He learned that the sons of his old rival had arrived in his city. Geese was impressed when Ranma explained to him who the man he called 'Red Jacket' had to be. Billy showing Geese the fighting magazine told him that his foe was indeed Terry Bogard.
Currently, Geese was sitting at his desk going over plans to deal with the Bogard brothers. Ranma was at his side, ready to give him his opinion. Lily was serving him drinks. Then Geese received a call from an agent that was going to upset the King of South Town greatly.
"What?! A secret technique?!" Geese yelled.
Ranma watched with interest as Geese pressed a button and a secret compartment containing Geese's two scrolls opened up. He unrolled the Hakkyoku-Seiken scroll and seethed with anger as he saw an empty spot where the technique should have been written. He was so angry that Geese was about to rip the scroll up when Ranma raised his hand.
"Wait, sir. You should not tear up that scroll." Geese looked at his heir with a cold look. What Ranma said next would decide whether or not Geese would punish the boy for halting his will. "I would appreciate it if you did not rein a great work of the art. It contains lessons that will serve me well."
Geese stared at his heir hard. Billy and Lily fell silent at the idea of Geese killing Ranma. After a moment, Geese smiled and gently placed the scroll back into its compartment with the Anything Goes scroll. Ranma had shown no fear nor disrespect when he stopped Howard. Respect and courage were two traits that were so hard to find in people today. These traits were what made Ranma worthy of being his heir.
"Of course not, Ranma," said Geese. "I would never do anything to affect your studies."
Right than one of Geese's henchmen came into the room to inform Geese that the Bogard brothers and Joe Higashi had entered the King of Fighters tournament. It would be the perfect place for a trap.
Cue evil Geese laughter that he's so well known for.
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The KOF tournament was a grand affair but it didn't last long.
Ranma was intrigued. Only an hour ago, all hell broke loose at the tournament. Joe Higashi took a bullet meant for a Bogard. During the escape attempt, the three fighters made their way out of the stadium with the help of a traitor. Lily had betrayed Geese out of some sort of 'love-at-first-sight' with Terry Bogard. Geese did the natural thing and murdered the useless Lily right in front of Terry. Ranma was shocked to see Lily's death but he did not grieve. Lily committed the cardinal sin of being a crook: Betraying the organization due to her weak emotions.
Geese's henchmen surrounded everyone and it seemed everything would work out all right but than all Hell broke loose. Tung Fu Rue suddenly drove through the front gate on a jeep in a desperate attempt to rescue his students. Geese had the last laugh though. Billy Kane was able to fatally injure Tung before they got away. It was obvious that they would head towards South Town hospital. If not to keep the old man alive for another hour but at least treat Joe's wound.
Ranma volunteered himself to head towards the hospital to personally oversee what was happening with Geese's enemies. It was only logical that they would launch a counter offensive. Best to keep an eye on them now and limit future property damage.
Ranma was currently hiding by a tree in the forest behind the hospital. The Bloody Prince would have gone into the hospital and kept watch there except Terry did noticed him in the Pao-Pao restaurant. By use of cell-phone, Ranma had been in touched with Geese's bought doctors who informed him that Joe was all right but Tung would be dead by morning. As expected, Joe and Andy left the hospital most likely heading for Geese's private island, Geese Isle.
Geese had a private palace built there. It would be the most likely place Geese would head to after dispatching Tung. Ranma would return there to report to Geese. Maybe, just maybe, Geese would finally teach Ranma a chi technique. Most likely though, Geese would put off the chi training for another five years.
Ranma wanted to know a chi technique so bad that he could taste it. But what would it take for that old man to teach him?
Right than Terry and a bandaged up Tung Fu Rue showed up.
Ranma smiled as he listened in to the old man's speech. "Sen-Pu-Ken, the Hurricane Punch? Sounds interesting."
Ranma listened closely, taking in every word that the aged man spoke. "So that's the key: Using the ki of mother earth instead of your own." Ranma bented his legs and let his consciousness expanded. First his feet started tingling. Suddenly his legs were engulfed in blue fire. Ranma took a deep breath to steady himself. The power was growing even stronger.
"Feel the ki of mother earth, Ranma." The boy whispered to himself. "Follow what Tung is saying: Be like a tree with roots in the ground."
Ranma became a tree, emotionless and unmoving. Ranma let everything go, allowing the ki of the earth to flow over him. The only thing allowed in his mind was Master Tung's words and movements. Ranma could feel the energy was at its max and following in perfection synchronization, the two spun around, activating the Hurricane Punch.
Each of the two men struck a different target. Tung used the technique on Terry while Ranma smashed every tree within ten feet into bits. Never before had perfect synchronization been achieved by two people outside of the beautiful Seventh Angel battle from Evangelion.
Ranma came out of the punch on some sort of high. Despite his cold methodical behavior, Ranma still possessed a hunger for the art. Now, he had just taken his first step into a much greater world. And it was not Geese Howard who made this possible but the man who disregard Geese as his heir.
"MASTER! I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU!"
Ranma snapped out of his new found enjoyment to see Terry bowing before the dead body of Tung Fu Rue before running off to fight Geese. All joy ran out from Ranma's face as he started walking towards the dead body of Master Tung.
One look told the story. There was no need to check for a pulse. The man was dead. Gone. Tung was the man who opened a whole new world of the art to Ranma and for that, he would be grateful.
"Don't worry about having your body thrown into an unmarked grave in the city graveyard, Master Tung." Ranma gently touched Tung's cold cheek. "I'll personally see to it that you receive a funeral even if I have to pay for it out of my own pocket. I will buy you a marble tombstone. On it will read 'Tung Fu Rue, A Great Man, A Greater Teacher'. Rest in peace, master."
With that, Ranma turned around to leave. He would not tell Geese Howard about mastering the Hurricane Punch. Geese often told Ranma himself, 'never reveal all your strengths until the right time.' That time would be when Ranma Saotome, the Bloody Prince, ruled.
He could hardly wait.
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End chapter two…
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Cool chapter, huh? I hope I didn't offend anyone with Ranma's little history speech earlier. That part was inspired by an old Star Trek episode where Capt. Kirk and Spock went to an alien world where Nazism reigned supreme. It was a scary episode but what made it cool for me was that there was a part where Spock went into full logic mode and spoke highly about the achievements of Nazi Germany. That quote Ranma used is a real quote that a college professor showed me.
So until next time, read and review, my loyal fans!