The Mightiest Disciple 1/2
(A/N: I'm enjoying all the feedback so far. I'm also glad everyone seems to be enjoying the story so far. Let me just take a moment to respond to some reviews and make a couple of things clear.
alice: I heard the Amaguriken wasn't really a special attack, it's actually the name of the training he went through during that arc, but like you said it was used an attack in the anime and I just prefer it that way.
Jake: I understand what you mean, but let's just say for all intents and purposes that Ranma was both holding back and showing off a little bit. I figured he wouldn't wanna go all out against a bunch of low-level thugs, but still wants to show what he's made of so he slowed down his Amaguriken. BS excuse I know, but it makes sense right?"
Alright, let's go!)
Where the Strongest Gather; The Masters of Ryozanpaku
Ranma, Kenichi, and Miu decided to take a rest at a nearby bench after the battle against the Ragnarok thugs ended. Ranma had previously mentioned that someone in the school's Karate Club had a bone to pick with Kenichi. This was his chance to get some answers.
"So Kenichi," Ranma started. "I heard through the grapevine that you made a big ruckus at the karate club," he said.
Kenichi sighed. "Geeze I'm so famous, guys who've only been at school for one day already know about that," he said with a fake chuckle. "Wait, you're not here to fight me are you!?" Kenichi quickly asked.
"Nah. I don't pick on guys who can't defend themselves," Ranma answered.
"Oh, I see," Kenichi said hanging his head in defeat.
"Although I am curious as to what actually happened between you and the karate club," Ranma said.
"I'll tell ya what," Miu intervened. "Kenichi and I need to leave now, but we can tell you tomorrow at school. Come to the roof during lunch period, and we can talk then," she said.
Ranma smiled. "Sounds good to me. I actually have to hurry home myself," he replied. Ranma went to where he stashed his groceries and picked them up. "See you at school tomorrow!" he called while running off.
"Bye!" Miu yelled waving. Kenichi let out a sigh he probably didn't realize he was holding in. The two then started to make their way back to Ryozanpaku.
"Man, it sure was lucky that Ranma showed up when he did. Otherwise, I think I might've been in real trouble," Kenichi said with a relieved tone.
"You actually stillmight be," Miu commented.
"What makes you say that?" Kenichi asked.
"I'm just saying, I don't think the masters will be too pleased to here that you let someone else steal your fight," she said.
Kenichi froze. 'She's right! What's Sakaki gonna say when he finds out some random dude just showed up and dusted those guys like nothing, while I was getting my ass kicked!?'
[Imagination]
Kenichi was on both knees while a shadowy version of Sakaki towered over him, his eyes glowing. "You weak little loser!" Shadow Sakaki yelled. "What kind of martial artist lets some random annoyance steal his fights from him!?"
Kenichi tried to make a break for it, but Shadow Sakaki seemingly warped in front of Kenichi's path.
"I know what to do. I'll train you so hard so that your fights end so fast nobody'll have the Chance to steal em!"
"Nnnnnooooooooooooo!"
[Reality]
"Daaaaahhh!" Kenichi screamed, snapping out of his fantasy.
'Maybe...I shouldn't have said anything,' Miu thought with a sweat drop on her forehead.
[ ]
Back at Ryozanpaku, Kenichi and Miu were having a sparring match with Sakaki supervising.
"Kenichi! Keep your arms closer to your body! You don't wanna leave yourself open!" Sakaki exclaimed.
Sakaki's yell caused Kenichi to twitch. That gave Miu an opening to land a strike to his face and knock him down.
"Geeze kid, what happened?" Sakaki said. "The fact that your still alive makes me believe you won that fight against those punks who jumped you before, right? You should've at least lasted longer than this?"
Kenichi had a look of dread on his face. 'Dammit! I was hoping he wouldn't say anything about that!' he thought.
"Lemme guess, Miu wound up taking all those guys out?" Sakaki asked.
"Uhhh...well...," Kenichi stammered trying to decide whether he should just go with that or tell the truth. Fortunately, Miu made the choice for him
"Actually, I didn't do anything either. A classmate of ours showed up took care of it," Miu answered.
"A classmate?" asked Hayato who had been watching from the sidelines with Akisame.
"Yeah. We got a new transfer student today, and it turns out he's a really skilled martial artist," Miu informed them. "I wasn't expecting him to show up and help us out back then, but he did."
"Intriguing," Akisame said stroking his chin.
"I'll say," said Kenichi. "He knocked out all the guys in what looked like one move!" Kenichi said thinking back.
"Disciples who don't win or lose their fights on their own don't get to join in the grown-ups' conversation!" Sakaki said picking Kenichi up by the collar of his gi. "C'mon kid. You and me got work to do."
"No, no, WAIT!" Kenichi cried as Sakaki carried him out of the room.
"Miu, how skilled would you say this new friend of yours is?" Akisame asked.
"I can't be too sure," she said putting a finger to her chin. ",but I'm positive he's at least my level," she estimated.
"Now that's really intriguing," Hayato commented. "I don't believe you told us their name yet," hhe added.
"His name's Ranma Saotome," Miu replied. "Well, I better get dinner started. Catch ya later Grandpa!" Miu said grabbing her apron.
Hayayto and Akisame's eyes began to glow. "So, what do you think Elder?" Akisame asked.
"I think I might know exactly who Kenichi and Miu's new little friend is," he said with a smile.
"As do I." Akisame replied. "Though we may have different sources for our information, I do believe we're refferring to the same person.
"I think our humble abode is about to get a lot more interesting in the forseeable future, Akisame!" Hayato said with a hearty laugh.
[ ]
The next day, at school, Ranma was on the roof waiting for Kenichi and Miu to show up. Though eating his lunch was a welcome distraction, Ranma was starting to get impatient.
"Geeze, I wonder what's takin' them so long?" he thought aloud. "Lunch started like, 10 minutes ago. They should be here by now, right?" Ranma's attention was then drawn to a weird sound he heard coming from near the railing
Putting his food down for a moment, Ranma went to the roof's railing and looked over the edge. Ranma was met with a brief flash of the color white, and a human looking shadow fly over his head.
Momentarily stunned, Ranma turned to meet the blushing face of Miu who had her hands covering her skirt.
"Uhhhhh...hi?" Ranma said uneasily.
"You...didn't see that, right?" Miu asked equally uneasily.
"Um...I...Uh...," Ranma stuttered. 'Great. Now she'll probably think I'm some kinda pervert!' Ranma thought.
'This is why I hate skirts!' Miu mentally screamed.
"Soooo uh...where's Kenichi?" Ranma asked trying to change the subject.
"Oh he should be here any-" Miu started.
She was cut off by Kenichi bursting through the door to the roof, and panting.
"Hey guys, glad I found you," Kenichi said between breaths.
"You okay buddy?" Ranma asked?
"Yeah, just...gimme a second," Kenichi assured him.
"Geeze man, what were you running from?" Ranma asked.
"Nothing specific," Kenichi answered. "Just trying to get up here before those guys from Ragnarok find me again."
"Ragnarok?" said Ranma confused.
"The gang those thugs from yesterday are a part of," Miu answered.
"Oh man," Ranma commented. "You must be some piece of work to get challenged to a karate match AND targeted by a gang," Ranma said with a slightly impressed tone.
"Well, that's one way of putting it," Kenichi said sitting down with his legs crossed.
Ranma and Miu followed Kenichi's example, the former picking his lunch back up and continuing to eat while Kenichi started his 'story'.
Kenichi looked up thinking back to his previous endeavors. "All my life, I've been bullied and pushed around," he started. "I thought if I joined the karate club, I'd be able to get stronger."
Kenichi clenched his fist. "But of course, those guys wouldn't even try to help me. They just made me their punching bag!" he continued bringing his head down.
"I mouthed off to Daimonji and we wound up setting up a match," Kenichi continued clenching his fist tighter. He was visibly starting to shake. "I knew I couldn't win. I could've just ran away, but instead..." Kenichi trailed off.
"But instead...?" Ranma asked.
"I got help from a new friend," Kenichi finished. "And thanks to that friend, I managed to survive, but I ultimately lost the match," he said.
"Don't sell yourself short Kenichi," Miu said. "You only lost cause you used an illegal move. We all know you really won that fight."
"Man, that's a pretty interesting tale," Ranma said.
"Oh that's not all. After Kenichi beat Daimonji, the Karate Club captain wanted to challenge Kenichi," Miu continued.
"And I thouroughly got my ass handed to me," Kenichi reminded her.
"Maybe, but you beat him the second time around," Miu replied.
"Uh guys," Ranma interjected. "This all sounds really interesting, but I've got a couple of questions for you guys," he said. "First, Miu, where did you get good enough at martial arts to teach someone else a technique? Second, Kenichi, what kind of training did you do to prepare for those fights? I can tell that you haven't been at this 'fighting game' for long, and beating two guys who skills far exceed yours? You have to have worked hard to get that kinda strength so quickly," Ranma said.
Miu and Kenichi both looked at Ranma with looks of surprise. "Uhh, why do you wanna know?" Kenichi asked.
Ranma gave a cocky grin. "Well, I guess you could say I'm just curious," Ranma answered. "Whatever special training it is seems interesting judging from the results."
Miu gave her own mischievous grin. "Well, if you really wanna know, we could take you there after school," she said.
"We can!?"
"You can!?"
"Of course, but only if you're really up to it," Miu said.
Ranma gave a confident smirk. "Was that a challenge, Ms. Furinji?" Ranma asked snarkily.
"You could call it that, Mr. Saotome," Miu replied in the same tone.
"In that case, I'm in. Ranma Saotome never backs down from a challenge."
Miu had a pleased looking smile on her face while Kenichi had a look of worry and confusion.
'What the hell's going on? Am I missing something?' Kenichi mentally asked.
"Here," Miu proceeded to hand Ranma a slip of paper. "It's a map. You can drop by after school," she said.
"Sounds good," Ranma replied. "See ya then," he finished as the bell rang.
[ ]
After school, Kenichi and Miu were about to go to their respective clubs. Kenichi however, needed a word with Miu.
"Miu, why exactly did you invite Ranma over to the dojo?" he asked. "I know there are things I'm not meant to understand yet, but I think I should at least know that."
"To be honest, it's because Grandpa wanted me to," she answered.
"Whaaaaaa-!?" Kenichi exclaimed. "The elder asked you to bring Ranma? But why?" he asked.
"I really don't know, but when I mentioned Ranma's name, Grandpa and Akisame both got an excited look in their eyes," she explained. "I think he might know something about Ranma that we don't," she said.
"You think?" Kenichi asked. "But how?"
"I wish I knew Kenichi."
[ ]
A moment later, Kenichi was headed to the greenhouse. 'The elder somehow knows about Ranma...? I still don't get it. We only met Ranma yesterday, and he lived in a different district too,' Ranma thought trying to figure things out.
Kenichi decided to put his thoughts aside when he finally made it to the Gardening Club. What he saw when he entered, shocked him to no end.
The inside of the building was in shambles and nearly every plant had been smashed.
"What the hell happened here!?" Kenichi said aloud.
"Kenichi!" called out a female voice.
Kenichi turned to see Izumi being held menacingly by Daimonji with a few more mooks from the karate club backing him.
"It's about time you showed up Shirahama," Daimonji said. "I was told you come here after school, guess my intel was right."
"Daimonji!? You did this? Why!?" Kenichi asked sternly.
"Cause you and me ain't finished yet," Daimonji answered. "I can't accept you beating me cause of some accident." "Word on the street is you managed to beat captain Tsukuba too. If I take down the guy who beat Tsukuba, they'll know I'm number one! They might even let me join Ragnarok!" he exclaimed.
"I don't care what your goal is, just let Izumi go!" Kenichi demanded.
"Only if you don't run away after I do," Daimonji replied.
"I won't run," Kenichi said back.
"Fine," Daimonji said releasing Izumi from his grip.
"Daimonji, why'd you destroy all the plants like this?!" Kenichi asked.
"Simply put, we just got bored waiting for you to show up," said one of the thugs. The other one proceeded to smash a potted plant that was still intact with a wooden sword.
"Please stop!" Izumi cried out.
"Daimonji!" Kenichi exclaimed.
"Hey, don't feel too bad Shirahama. I've got your favorite right here," Daimonji then pulled out Kenichi's beansprout.
"Put that down!" Kenichi yelled.
"If you say so," Daimonji dropped the pot, then proceeded to stomp on it, much to Kenichi's chagrin. "Hey, that piece of crap was never gonna grow anyway. I just did you a favor," Daimonji spat out.
Kenichi had finally had enough and let out an angered yell. "RrraAAAAAAAAAH You BASTARD!"
"Let's go!" Daimonji said rushing at Kenichi. "Once I'm done with you, I'm goin' after that sunova bitch with the pigtail!" he added.
Kenichi dodged the attack easily, and managed to shift behind Daimonji. The large fighter threw a sloppy spin kick to try and attack Kenichi. Kenichi, sidestepped it and came to Daimonji's front again. The large student threw an enraged punch, which Kenichi ducked under. He then countered with a full strength cross right in the big bullie's gut.
Kenichi backed away as Daimonji dropped to the ground, out like a light. The other two karate club members didn't even try to attack Kenichi. As soon as Daimonji fell, the two of them made a break for it.
Panting, Kenichi turned to a starstruck Izumi. "Quick, we need to get these plants back in their pots!" he said. "Oh, r-right!" she said.
[ ]
A short moment later, Miu was at the front gate of the school waiting for Kenichi. "I wonder what's taking him so long," she said aloud.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Kenichi approaching her, but he was covered in dirt.
"Kenichi, what happened?" She asked. "I know you work in a garden, but you shouldn't be this messy," she added.
Kenichi put his hand behind his head.
"Well to make a long story short, some goons from the Karate Club showed up and smashed all the plants, so Izumi and I had some extra work to do," he explained.
"What?! That's terrible!" Miu exclaimed.
"Don't worry about it too much," Kenichi assured her. "I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon," he told her.
"So does that mean...?" Miu started.
Kenichi answered her question with a half-cocky, half-modest grin.
"Way to go Kenichi!" Miu said putting her hands together.
"Naw it was nothing," Kenichi said slightly embarrased.
"Come on. We should probably be at the dojo to greet Ranma if he shows up," Kenichi reminded her.
"Right, let's go!" Miu jogged down the street, with Kenichi trailing a short distance behind.
[ ]
Later that evening, back at the Saotome residence, Ranma was trying to decipher Miu's map. However, he was having difficulties, to say the least.
'Sheesh, I can't make heads or tails of this thing,' Ranma thought. 'And that picture of a cat doesn't make me feel any better,' he added turning his attention to a little side-doodle on the map.
While Ranma was giving the map another once over, his panda father appeared and began hovering over his shoulder.
"What's that boy?" Read Genma's sign.
"It's a map to a friend's house," Ranma explained. "They invited me over, and I thought 'why not?' Problem is, I can't figure this thing out!" he exclaimed in frustration.
"Lemme see that." Genma snatched the map out of Ranma's hands and glanced at it. He was about to give Ranma some directions, but he noticed a certain name.
'Ryozanpaku...?' Genma thought. 'That name sounds so familiar.'
"Pops?" Ranma said.
"Oh right, here," Genma proceeded to draw a more detailed version of Miu's map on the opposite side of his sign.
Ranma copied his father's drawing on the back of the paper.
"Sweet! Thanks pops," With that, Ranma dashed past his father. "Tell Mom I might be late for dinner!" he added.
[ ]
About half an hour later, Ranma came face to face with two of the largest gates he'd ever seen. Said gates were the entrance to about the largest dojo he'd been to(considering he's only been to about 2 at this point, it's not saying much).
"Whoa!" Ranma said. "I actually used to live at a dojo, but this place is huge!" he added.
"I dunno what goes on past these gates, but I guess there's only one way to find out," Ranma said as he started pushing on the doors.
Ranma grunted as he continued trying to open the gates. 'Dammit, these things are tough!' Ranma thought taking a breath.
"Okay, once more!" Ranma strained as he began pushing the doors with all his strength, and they actually started to budge.
A strained grunt later, Ranma was able to force the door open and launched forward. Ranma's 'flight' was short lived as he slammed into a large...'obstruction' and fell to the ground.
Ranma looked up to see a huge old man with blonde hair looking down at him.
"Ohohoho, and who might you be young man?" the Elder asked
"I...I..." Ranma could barely form words as he felt the Elder's intimidating presence. 'This is nuts...Why am I so...tense?' Ranma asked himself. 'Who is this old guy?' he thought.
"I-I-I'm Ranma Saotome," Ranma introduced himself standing up and dusting himself off.
"Well then, to what do we owe this pleasure, young Mr. Saotome?" Hayato asked. "After all, we don't often get visitors."
"W-well, Kenichi and Miu told me about this place. I'm a martial artist a-and I figured it wouldn't be a problem if I trained here," Ranma stammered out.
"Ohohoho," laughed Hayato. "That's no problem at all. In fact, we here at Ryozanpaku encourage training to your limits and beyond!" he exclaimed.
"Really!?" Ranma said excited. "Thanks, uh..." Ranma cut himself off.
"Ah yes, I haven't introduced myself yet," Hayato said with faux embarrasment. "My name is Hayato Furinji, the Elder and head of Ryozanpaku. I'm also Miu's Grandfather," he introduced himself.
'This old guy is Miu's Grandpa?' Ranma thought. 'Guess I can see some resemblence,' Ranma thought.
"I must say I've heard some good things about you Ranma," Hayato said.
"Really? From who?" Ranma asked.
"An old acquaintance of mine. Someone you should know well" Hayato answered. "By the way, how is that old perv Happy doing these days?" he asked.
'Happy?' Ranma thought. "Oh right, Happosai," Ranma remembered. "Frankly, I have no clue what the Old Freak's doin', and I probably don't wanna know, but hell, if I never have to deal with him again, it'll be the best day of my life," Ranma said slightly narrowing his eyes.
"Oh, now is that really the best thing to say about your master?" Hayato asked.
"He is NOT my master, don't lump me with him!" Ranma exclaimed. "That shriveled old pain in the ass causes problems for EVERYONE he comes into contact with...80% of the time, it's me. Also, he's never taught me a damn thing anyway," said Ranma crossing his arms.
Hayato was stroking his beard. "Well if that's true, then perhaps he exxaggerated while talking about you," he said.
"Hmph. That Old Freak is probably the last person I'd ever want to describe me," Ranma replied.
"Well my boy, you're free to look around, train however you'd like. Although, I'd first like to suggest joining Kenichi. You can find him with Akisame out in back,and perhaps introduce yourself to the rest of us here," Hayato said. With that, he started to head inside.
"Wait, who's Akisame?" Ranma asked.
"He's the man who uses jiujitsu," Hayato replied.
'Jiujitsu, huh?' Ranma thought. 'Sounds interesting.' "Well then, let's get going!"
Ranma leapt onto the roof of the dojo hoping to get to the backyard quicker, but instead, he came face to face with a young woman in a pink robe.
"Who are...you?" she asked in a near emotionless voice.
"Gyak!" Ranma stumbled backwards and nearly fell off the roof. Luckily he managed to regain his balance and fix his footing.
"Okay...didn't see that coming," Ranma said to himself.
Ranma's thoughts were interrupted by the woman launching a ball and chain right at him. Ranma swayed away and managed to grab the chain. With a hard yank, he pulled the woman forward, but underestimating his own strength, she wound up colliding with him and knocking them both off of the roof.
Both combatants were tied together by the chain, preventing either of them from standing up.
"Uhhhmm...is it too late to apologize," Ranma asked with a weak chuckle.
"You're...not bad," she replied. "You were able to...grab my chain and...catch me off...guard," she praised him.
"Well I..." Ranma stopped when he noticed a mouse scurry around them. The next moment, a shadow cast itself over the two of them.
"Apaaaaa!" came the high pitched voice of a large dark skinned man.
[ ]
A few minutes later, Ranma was back on his feet thanks to the large dark skinned man untangling the chain.
"Ah so much better," Ranma said. "Thanks for helping us outta that," Ranma said.
"Apa! It was nothing! But Apachai has never seen you here before!" he replied.
"Oh my name's Ranma," he said putting his hand behind his head. "I'm Kenichi and Miu's friend. Speaking of which, you wouldn't happen to know where Kenichi is right now would ya?" Ranma added.
"Apa! Apachai knows. Apachai will take you to Kenichi right now!" Apachai proclaimed. "Shigure, you want to come with us?" Apachai asked.
"No...thank you," Shigure replied walking away.
'She's...not very social is she?' Ranma guessed.
"Now Ranma, you must follow Apachai!" said the jolly giant.
[ ]
The two began their trek through the house. Apachai was giving Ranma an unplanned tour of the dojo as the two passed by nearly every room on the bottom floor. A short time later, the two came to the backyard where he could see Kenichi carrying two heavy looking jars and shuffling through pegs in the ground.
"Apa! Akisame! Apachai has a new houseguest!" Apachai exclaimed.
[ ]
Akisame turned his attention from Kenichi to the direction of Apachai's voice. 'Well what have we here?' he thought.
"Kenichi, why don't we take five?" Akisame said.
Kenichi instantly dropped the jars he was carrying and began to breathe deeply. 'A new houseguest?' Kenichi thought. "Wait, don't tell me it's-!" he said aloud.
[ ]
Akisame and Kenichi entered the building and came face to face with Apachai and a young boy with a pigtail.
"Ranma!" Kenichi exclaimed. "So you did decide to come here!"
"Oh, you know him Kenichi?" Akisame asked.
"Yeah," Kenichi answered. "He's the new classmate Miu and I mentioned last night."
"So you're Ranma Saotome, I presume?" Akisame said.
Ranma nodded confirming this.
"Well I must say, I've heard many positive things about you from my old acquaintance Tofu," Akisame said.
Ranma's eyebrows perked up. "You know Doc Tofu?" he asked surprised.
Akisame nodded. "Yes. In addition to being a philosophical man of jiujitsu, I also run a bonesetter clinic behind the dojo," he explained.
Ranma grinned. "So that officially makes it 2 'medical martial artists' I've come into contact with," he joked.
"You'd better make that 3," said a new voice.
Ranma turned around to see a short man in green chinese garb and a hat seem to appear out of nowhere.
"Gwah!" Ranma leapt up and clinged to a nearby post after the small old man startled him.
"Kensei, I would appreciate it if you didn't scare our guest away," Akisame said putting a hand to his forehead.
"My apologies Akisame," Kensei started. "But after that boy managed to get near skin-to-skin contact with Shigure, I just couldn't let it go," he finished with a tone of jealousy.
Kensei turned to Ranma, who was still on the post.
"I do hope you'll forgive me my boy." Kensei then tipped his hat and bowed. "My name is Kensei Ma, a practitioner of Chinese-Kempo," he introduced himself.
Ranma slightly narrowed his eyes. 'This guy's Chinese? Please tell me he's not like the old ghoul?' he thought letting go of the post.
[ ]
"Ahem!" Akisame cleared his throat.
"Ranma, if you wouldn't mind, I think I'd like to see a demonstration of your skills," Akisame said stroking his chin.
Ranma smirked. "Sounds good to me," he replied. "How's a sparring match sound to you?" he asked.
"Oho, that sounds pretty interesting," was Akisame's response.
"Indeed."
"Apa!"
Kensei gave a mischievous smirk. "Well, given this is just a demonstration why don't you spar with Miu?" he suggested.
Ranma paused for a second. 'Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Miu,' Ranma thought. "Speaking of which, where is she?" Ranma asked
Just as Ranma asked, Miu entered the backyard, Hayato by her side.
"Ranma! So you did decide to show up!" she greeted.
Ranma was momentarily unable to respond intelligently as he viewed Miu in her training gear. He'd seen women in gis before, but the purple leotard she wore underneath was the real head turner.
"Ranma? Are you okay?" Miu asked.
Snapping back to reality, Ranma waved his hands defensively. "Uh-yeah. I'm fine, nothing's wrong!" Ranma exclaimed standing at attention.
Hayato let out a hearty laugh. "Well, Miu. Your new friend sure is spirited." he commented.
Kenichi eyed the exchange between Ranma and the Furinji's and couldn't help but feel a weird twinge in the back of his neck. 'I dunno why, but all of a sudden, I'm hoping Miu kicks Ranma's ass hard,' he thought with comically narrowed eyebrows.
A short moment later, Ranma and Miu stood facing each other both in a defensive stance. Kenichi and the currently present masters watched on the sidelines, anticipation within all of them.
"I feel compelled to mention, I don't really like fighting with girls," Ranma admitted.
Miu couldn't help but giggle. "Ranma, your starting to sound like Kenichi." she said. "Still, you'd better fight me for real Ranma, or else you might get hurt," Miu warned.
Ranma couldn't help but give a cocky smirk. "Oh you don't have to worry about me, cause Ranma Saotome doesn't lose!" he proclaimed.
"Alright, you may begin!"called Akisame.
On that cue, Miu made the first move a launched a straight kick at Ranma. The pigtailedboy swayed to the side to dodge it. He didn't get much time to rest as Miu was able to change the direction of her cick and strike sideways. Ranma casually bent over backwards, avoiding it.
Ranma turned his dodge into a backflip, landing back into his defensive stance. 'Wow, she's pretty fast,' Ranma thought. His thinking was cut short as Miu quickly closed the gap between them and threw a vertical chop at Ranma. Ranma brought up his forearm and blocked it. Miu decided to try and get through Ranma's defenses by using her opposite hand to throw a punch near his open midsection. A futile effort as Ranma was able to use his opposite hand to direct it away, leaving the two in an awkward 'lock' of sorts.
[]
Kenichi and the masters, but mostly Kenichi, watched in great amusement as their guest was matching Miu's blows nearly effortlessly. Not only that, his stances and technique were close to perfect.
"For a match between two disciples, this is pretty good, wouldn't you say?" Kensei asked
"I'll say, Kensei." Akisame answered.
"Apa! The new kid is just as strong as Miu! Can Apachai try fighting him next?" Apachai asked.
"I think that's up to him Apachai. Ohohohoho!" Hayato laughed.
'I can't believe Ranma's able to match Miu like this, nearly blow for blow,' Kenichi thought. 'He hasn't even attacked yet...wait, if his defense is this good, how strong will he be when he decides to fight back!?' Kenichi thought somewhat worried.
[]
The two teens threw their arms upwards, seperating themselves. 'Ranma's really good. He's a lot better than I expected. All of his moves so far have been flawless, and he hasn't thrown a single blow yet' Miu analyzed. 'I can't find a hole in his defense, but maybe I can catch him off guard,' she thought. Miu started to put her next plan into action by cartwheeling and launching herself into the air.
Ranma raised his guard once more, watching as Miu began to descend from her 'flight' into a fierce looking divekick. Ranma looked up, hoping to block the deadly strike. However, he was momentarily stunned by the light of the sun reflecting of of Miu's body, creating a glare that beamed directly into his eyes, causing his guard to drop low. Much to Ranma's dismay, Miu's kick managed to connect with his chest, forcing him backwards.
Ranma stumbled backwards from Miu's kick attempting to regain his footing. 'Damn! She's a lot stronger than she looks!' Ranma noted. 'Then again, with legs like hers, I dunno why I'm surprised,' Ranma thought. 'No wait, I didn't mean it like tha-!' Ranma was taken out of his internal conflict by Miu following up with a flying side kick.
Ranma mentally cursed himself for a number of reasons. The first was getting distracted during a match. The second was allowing Miu to get in that second hit. The third was getting knocked into the pond.
Miu stood firm, preparing for Ranma's possible counter attack. When she didn't sense any movement from the pond, she lowered her guardand grew slightly worried. "Hey Ranma?" she asked. No response. "Ranma? Are you okay?"
This time, Miu received her answer in the form of a red blur launching itself out of the pond, and landing in front of her. This figure wore the same red and black ensemble as Ranma, but was shorter, had red hair in a style identical to Ranma's, and two VERY noticable differences below their neck.
"Believe me Miu," the obviously female figure said. "I'm just getting started!"
(A/N: Okay, I'm gonna admit, I probably should've put the aftermath of the fight with the Ragnarok thugs, as well as Kenichi's rematch with Daimonji in the last chapter...but where I stopped seemed like a good place to...well...STOP! I absolutely COULDN'T leave out Kenichi's second bout with Daimonji, but hopefully it doesn't feel forced at all. Speaking of which, I hope the introducing of Ranma to the masters of Ryozanpaku went well enough too. I do believe Ranma could legitimately be at least a decent match for any of the masters who aren't Hayato or Akisame, but I don't wanna make him seem overpowered or underpowered. Constructive criticism is welcomed(Any trolls or flamers will be punted away by Ranma, Akane, Appachai, and Hayato). See ya next chapter. Next time, hopefully, we can take that little trip back to Nerima)
[Chapter Edited! I decided to change Ranma's opponent to Miu. While writing out a future chapter, I realized it was way too early for Ranma to be challenging the masters, whether I believe he could win or not. Also, Sakaki doesn't appear in this chapter at all, because I couldn't think of a better way to introduce him before the sparring match.]