Disclaimer: All Characters/settings/trademarks referenced from Dragonball/Z/GT/Super & Ranma 1/2 are the respective properties of their original creators.
A/N: At last, here we are. The much hyped battle of the first round. As Kuno would say, have at thee!
Ranma Ball Z
Act Nine:
Ranma V Tien: Dawn Of Lunchtime
Ranma exited the temple and followed the stone walkway toward the arena and his opponent. As soon as the public spotted him, the stands erupted into applause and cheer. Various groups of people in the crowd lifted huge signs with his name spelled out in both Japanese and standard text to show support. His name was chanted out loud in a cadence of sorts as well. There was also a surprising number of panties tossed from the bleachers by his female fans. Tanya was, of course, among them. All of the admiration he witnessed on his short trek into the center of the ring left him in quite a state of being. Never before had he experienced such a combination of humbleness, embarrassment, and pressure to win. It was almost enough to make his head spin. If not for the adrenaline pumping through his veins, due to the anticipation of facing Tien, he might have actually passed out.
"Ladies and gentlemen..." Announcer said into the mic, his voice dramatically low. "I know this is only the last fight of the first round, but forgive me for being so moved. The fact that this fight is actually about to happen has nearly robbed me of words. What we are about to witness is, without a doubt, the highlight of my career to date. Two great men stand before us. One; the most recent champion of our esteemed contest and a paragon of the martial arts community. The other; a hero personified and perfect example of human bravery." He lowered the mic and took a quiet breath before continuing. "My fellow spectators!" he said, ratcheting the volume back up. "May I present to you, Tienshinhan versus Ranma Saotome!"
The sound of thunder echoed throughout the arena as all of the observers simultaneously shouted out their cheers and gave a standing ovation for the introduction.
"Wow, he's good..." Ranma commented, referencing the announcer, as he stepped up to Tien and greeted him with a friendly clasp of forearms.
"You have no idea," Tien responded, returning the gesture. "I swear he practices in front of a mirror before every tournament cycle," the triclops quipped.
Ranma responded with a low chuckle as they broke contact. "In all seriousness, this is actually kinda overwhelming. I never thought I'd find myself in this situation."
"It's not just you, I promise," Tien replied. "This is literally the biggest I've ever seen it. The budokai was never as much of an attention magnet before you. Honestly, it's hard not to be a bit self-conscious under this amount of scrutiny."
"No kidding? Well, it's nice not to be alone in that feeling at least. Hopefully I don't disappoint them."
"Likewise," Tien said.
The two backpedaled and put some distance between each other so the announcer could position himself in the middle and dramatically wave his arm to signal the start of the match before retreating outside the ring. After the gong sounded, both of them assumed a cautious stance and engaged in what amounted to a staring match. In reality, they were reaching out with their senses to probe the other's aura for signs of predictable movement.
After several seconds of the silent struggle resulted in no clear winner, Tien opted to make the first move.
Ranma shifted his weight in response to his opponent's lunge and prepared to make a move similar to what he witnessed Muten Roshi do in his previous match by hijacking his opponent's momentum for a throw but, when he reached out to grasp the front of Tien's gi for leverage, the triclops turned out to be an intangible afterimage. He was, instead, met with a knee to his gut just as his eyes were adjusting to the man's speed and spotted the real Tien off to his left with his leg fully extended. The air was forced from his chest and his body was lifted off of the ground before being flung backward and toward the ring edge. Thinking quickly, he summoned a nearby puddle into the air as a solid disc of water on his trajectory which he then used as a hard surface for his feet to rebound off of. Thanks to that, he was able to hop back into the arena to save himself from an early ring out.
"That's a move I've never seen before," Tien said, pausing briefly to process.
Ranma brushed off his white tunic (using the gesture to disguise rubbing the sore spot on his abdomen) and grinned back at his opponent. "I think you'll find that I'm full of surprises," he replied before quietly flexing his core muscles and straightening up. "You're stronger than I expected," he admitted. "I guess it's not a good idea to hold back. I was hoping to keep some things hidden until the later rounds but there's no way I can beat you if I do that."
"Well, now you've got me interested," Tien said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wonder what a guy who can walk on water has hidden up his sleeve?"
"Is that an invitation?" Ranma asked.
"Why not?" Tien responded, with a shrug. "We might as well give the crowd a show before we settle this thing." In his head, he was thinking that his plan to open a dojo could be moved forward a few years since there would be a lot more people eager to learn martial arts from the guy who defeated thee Ranma Saotome at his best on live television.
"Can't argue with that," Ranma replied before clasping his hands together in front of his chest in an obviously practiced gesture.
Tien watched as his opponent's eyes took on a bright blue glow moments before three of the many scattered puddles of water (left over from the brief rainfall during Roshi and Herb's match) briefly lit up with the same hue of glowing energy before dimming back to normal. Ranma then strolled over to the closest puddle and stopped once both of his feet were firmly planted at the center. Tien tensed, reflexively, when the pigtailed young man suddenly fell into the puddle (as if it were a pool) and disappeared. He brought his guard up, shifting into a defensive stance, and opened his third eye for an edge in awareness. The logical assumption was that the three puddles were linked somehow and that Ranma would reemerge from one of them to make a surprise attack. Sure enough, Tien was proven right when the guy leapt out of the one to his left rear with his fist surrounded by a charged orb of ki. Of course, since he had anticipated such a maneuver, Tien was fully prepared and had his forearms crossed into an X-shaped block before his opponent was within striking range.
Ranma grinned, mid-leap, as he saw Tien turn his body and take the bait by committing to defending against a frontal assault. Instead of throwing the charged ki in his hand straight at the triclops, he twisted his body and threw it back into the water portal he had just emerged from before spinning back around to ready a heel kick. Tien's eyes widened in response to the switcharoo and he responded by splitting his two armed defense apart so he could block on both sides.
Tienshinhan's arms came up together – one blocking Ranma's foot and the other deflecting his beam that appeared from a puddle on his other side. He opened his mouth, intent on complimenting Ranma on almost taking him by surprise, but suddenly had his breath stolen when an unexpected impact exploded against his back and threw him forward. He rolled with the momentum across the tile and skidded a short distance on the wet tile after recovering to his feet.
"One goes in, two come out," Ranma said, with a confident grin, after landing on both feet into a crouch. "That's the beauty of the Mado No Mizu. I can split one attack onto different paths without it losing power. So, even if you block, you'll still take one-hundred percent of the damage I can deal out when the other one slips through."
"Clever," Tien replied, dusting himself off and straitening up. "But your full powered attack wasn't that bad. It would take quite a few of those to really hurt me. Anyway, you've just proven that you need close quarters to even break through my defense. I wonder what you'll do now," he added, flaring his ki and levitating off of the tiles. "Can you keep up?" he asked before shooting off and ascending high into the air.
Ranma furrowed his brow and concentrated before using the water-kinesis technique to lift two of the three puddles into the air. He clenched his fists and thrust both hands forward in conjunction with launching the discs of water into the air on a path after Tien. While the triclops was busy dodging the feint, Ranma stepped onto the one he left on the ground and fell into it's warping portal.
As Tien weaved around the homing discs of water, confusing their tracking, he opened up a good enough distance to grant himself time enough to charge up a Dodon Ray on each index finger. When they inevitably got back inside his guard, he was ready and responded by launching two full powered beams into the warp portals. There was no way Ranma could expect to use them to close the distance and not get hurt.
Ranma leapt out of a hidden third portal above his opponent's head and landed both feet atop the triclops' shiny dome before rebounding off, flipping his body, and following up with a point blank Moko Takabisha. His signature beam attack struck home against the upper-mid back of his opponent and was enough to send him flying back toward the ground. Unfortunately, Tien was able to quickly free himself, arrest his momentum, and spin back around with a ready counterattack faster than Ranma expected.
"Kikohou!" Tien shouted, staring at Ranma through the triangle-shaped hole between his hands. The blindingly bright beam rushed toward the young celebrity at a breakneck pace.
Being so high up in the air and not in control of his flight like Tien, Ranma could not move his body fast enough to avoid the power packed energy wave. Instead, he summoned a portal to his side using kinesis and allowed himself to fall through it just before being plowed by the Kikohou. Of course, his narrow dodge had left the portal positioned such that a portion of the beam was able to follow him through and strike him on his way out. His back took a significant blow (vaporizing a chunk of his tunic and burning his skin) as he tucked and rolled back onto the arena floor. He bounced and skidded across the tile before coming to rest in a heap on the ground. With his adrenaline pumping at maximum pace, he managed to clear his head quickly and roll out of the way before catching Tien's heel strike which shattered the pavement where he had been only a second before. With a grunt of effort, he sprung back onto his feet and brought his arms up in time to block Tien's jab. The power behind it was bone-jarring and literally left his arms with a tingle.
Ranma was lifted off of the ground and thrust backward from the force which sent him careening toward the wall of the spectator stands out of bounds. With none of his portals in close enough range to summon for a quick escape, he had no choice but to try something he'd only been able to do once before while in space – which had zero gravity. Thankfully, he'd had the benefit of watching nearly everyone else perform for him and thus made some valuable observations. With a desperately quick flex of his ki spirit, he expelled an invisible kiai behind his back and halted his movement mere centimeters from slamming into the concrete wall. The crowd erupted into cheers at the spectacularly close save and Ranma grinned (while shaking out his tingling forearms) as he hung suspended a few feet above the ground.
Tien gave him a nod of respect before inviting him back into the ring with a hand gesture.
Ranma furrowed his brow with effort and managed to shakily levitate himself back over to the arena tiles before touching down. "That's not as easy as you guys make it look, ya know," he commented.
"Impressive learning curve," Tien said. "But your application definitely needs refinement. With some proper training, it'll be second nature."
"I'll take that into consideration," Ranma replied before ripping off the remnants of his tattered tunic, tossing it aside, and assuming a ready stance. A distinctly female roar of cat calls, whistles and cheers erupted from the crowd in response to him showing some skin. His last couple of years of growth and hard training had resulted in his proportions filling out significantly. Gone was the wiry and lean boy of early high school. In his place was a solidly muscled but extremely cut young man in his prime. "Maybe after this is all over, we can spar for fun and you can give me a few tips."
"I wouldn't mind that," Tien replied, sliding his feet apart and dipping into a stance of his own.
A few silent beats passed before the two lunged at each other with a renewed vigor. Ranma employed the full-body Amaguriken technique to keep up with Tien's speed as they met in a clash of furious fists and feet. Ranma managed to match him blow for blow – at first. However, the nature of Amaguriken was that it was only meant to be used in short bursts at decisive moments when a user's opponent left themselves open. Sustaining it with force of will was tantamount to taking the fast lane to an early burnout. The unavoidable result was that he was overwhelmed by Tien's superior ability in quite a short time. When he finally stalled, Tien had no problem landing a solid hit to his gut with a well-timed shin strike.
Herb, now back in his birth form, clamped his hands down onto the short wooden wall surrounding the competitor's observation deck as he watched Ranma seemingly be doubled over like a rag-doll from Tien's kick before being summarily flung from the arena and back out of bounds. His prone form slammed into the spectator wall and fell onto the grass without resistance. His grip tightened, causing the wood to splinter, as he let out a low growl of disappointment.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Announcer said into the mic. "It pains me to say this but -"
"Stop!" Tien yelled, interrupting him. "It's not him. Look," he said, pointing out the inhumanly twisted form of what was supposed to be Ranma laying on the grass. It was a life-sized stuffed replacement (a literal rag-doll) dressed in Ranma's garb with a comically stupid expression drawn onto it's face area with permanent marker.
"I can't believe it! Tien is right folks! Ranma somehow managed to bait and switch with an inanimate stand in! This is a tournament first! Still, per the rules, if he doesn't show himself by the count of ten, he will be considered out. Judges, you know what to do," Announcer added.
Deep into the Umisenken, Ranma used his cover to move unnoticed and strategically plant his water portals around the arena before the ten count finished. Because they looked nearly as innocuous as standard puddles, which still riddled the tiled floor, they went unnoticed. At the last second, he emerged in the midst of performing a leg sweep on Tien from behind and caught the triclops by complete surprise. The sneak attack resulted in Tien falling backward and into an active portal that had been moved right behind his feet.
Tien's head spun as he entered a realm of shimmering blue liquid that completely usurped his equilibrium. The only thing he could equate it to was what he imagined being thrown into a washing machine on the spin cycle would be like. When he finally was thrust back out into the real world, his first breath of fresh air was interrupted by a face-plant against the grass outside of the arena.
"Tien is out!" Announcer shouted into the mic, his voice cracking with a mix of excitement and disbelief. "In a stunning reversal, our former Champion has been removed from the ring! Ranma Saotome moves on to the next round!"
The cheers from the audience were ground shaking as they rose into a nearly unanimous standing ovation. The signs were lifted back up, bras were tossed (since all the panties had been used already) and more than one pair of breasts were flashed for support. Ranma suspected a good portion of the spectators were inebriated beyond the legal limit because they seemed to be having way too good of a time. They might as well have been watching a pop concert or Nascar instead of a martial arts competition.
When Ranma returned to the locker room, he was greeted by Shampoo (sans Mighty Mask hood) and immediately glomped. Before he could protest, his lips were blocked by her mouth as she gave him a warm welcome. "You did well, Airen," she said after breaking contact. "That man was stronger and you still took him out."
"Thanks. It wasn't easy, though. His strength makes even Saffron seem tame in comparison. If this weren't a competition with rules and boundaries to exploit, I'm fairly certain that he would've steamrolled me. Hopefully the organizers give us enough time to rest before the next round starts." In truth, Ranma could barely lift his arms at the moment. He was in need of food and a good stretch for his sore muscles.
"Don't worry," Shampoo said as she withdrew a paper brochure from within her baggy costume. "I took a copy of the spectator program and it says there's an intermission between each segment. Why don't we go get some lunch?"
"You don't have to tell me twice," he replied, with a grin. "Lead the way."
After Ranma donned a new shirt, the pair of lovers make their way out of the building where they ran into Bulma and friends (Tien obviously among them). The triclops gave him a quick nod of respect which Ranma immediately reciprocated.
"Oh, hey there," Goku said, greeting Ranma with a wave. "Who's your friend?"
"It's Mighty Mask. Can't you tell from the outfit?" Bulma interjected. "I didn't know you two knew each other."
"Wait, were you a girl all along?" Goku asked, confused. "I could've sworn you were much bigger before."
Shampoo had actually stolen the outfit from the real masked fighter prior to the start of the tournament and left his unconscious body stowed away in a portable bathroom. Nobody had to know that, though. "It's a special technique. I can change my form at will," she replied with a shrug.
"We, uh... used to train under the same master," Ranma replied, still wanting to keep the true nature of their connection a secret for now.
"Oh, kinda like me and Krillin," Goku said. "That's cool."
"Anyway," Bulma continued, veering away from Goku's aside so she could make her point, "I thought it'd be fun if you joined all of us for lunch. Mighty Mask is welcome too, of course."
"Oh, well... I think we-" Ranma was about to say that they had already made plans but Shampoo cut him off.
"That sounds good," Shampoo said with smile.
"Great!" Bulma replied before beckoning them to follow.
As a group, they made their way over to the concessions area where rows of vendors were set up under small tents and just beginning to serve the people trickling out of the stands. The lines were, thankfully, still short and there weren't enough spectators out and about yet to really start bombarding them with requests for selfies and autographs. Because of the lack of crowding, they were able to easily browse the options. That also meant, unfortunately, that the vendors could easily spot them.
When a familiar face came out of nowhere, and took them by surprise, Ranma knew this day was only bound to get more awkward. A cluster of shuriken (with what appeared to be exploding tags tied to them) struck the ground immediately in their path and Ranma, expecting a confrontation, leaped out front to meet the lithe ninja cross-dresser before he could escalate. Instead of his usual ninja garb, however, he was clad in a cute blouse, skirt and apron combo. "Get back everyone!" he said, before yanking the throwing knives up and quickly tossing them as far into the air as he could. "Konatsu! Are you insane? If those things went off you'd be hurting more than just me."
"Whoa, whoa, relax!" the kunoichi replied, bring his hands up in a placating gesture. "They weren't explosive. I had food vouchers tied to them. Ukyo spotted you guys coming up and said I should deliver them to you so she could focus on cooking."
"Wait, Ucchan's here?" Ranma said, clearly caught off guard.
"Duh," Konatsu replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "You think she'd miss a chance like this? Her okonomiyaki will finally get recognized as the best in the world after you endorse it in public."
"Oh... well, I guess I can do that for her. She does deserve it, after all," Ranma replied, scratching his chin in consideration. "Okay, let's go."
When they approached the food stand, both Ranma and Shampoo were shocked to see who was standing out front to help promote it. Nabiki, Akane, Yuka and Sayuri, all dressed as waitresses in matching blouses, skirts and aprons (the same as Konatsu), were out front drumming up business. Nabiki was clearly ordering the other three girls around while they accosted the passersby and got them to gather around Ucchan's. Even more shocking was who was behind the grill helping Ucchan cook. Kasumi was working side by side with Ukyo and seemed to be moving with a fervor rarely seen.
"What in the blazes..." Ranma muttered under his breath as he struggled to wrap his mind around the scenario unfolding before him.
"Just in time," Nabiki said, stepping up to him with a camera in her hand. "Okay, I'm going to need you and Tienshinhan to stand over here, by Ucchan's sign, and do a fighting pose for me."
"Huh?" Ranma said, resisting her as she tugged on his arm. "Nabiki, what the hell is all this?"
The middle Tendo sighed, rolling her eyes, as she made it apparent that he was inconveniencing her by making her explain. "As your personal agent and publicist, it's my job to find and facilitate lucrative business opportunities that will promote the growth and image of your brand. To that end, I've entered into a mutually beneficial partnership with Ukyo. With your star power leading, both her and my sister's combined culinary talents will transform Ucchan's into an international chain with locations all over the two globes. We stand to get filthy rich if this takes off the way I expect it to."
"How come you didn't tell me about any of this earlier?" he asked, looking slightly annoyed.
"Hey, you were the one who said, specifically, that you didn't want to be disturbed during your training," Nabiki replied while jabbing a finger at his chest. "Besides, you would've been overwhelmed by all the little details I had to work out to actually make this happen."
Ranma, as he watched Akane (of all people) work, had to admit that Nabiki made a good point. It must have taken a monumental amount of convincing to get her to dress up and come all the way out here. "Alright, fine. Tien, do you mind?" he asked, turning to his recent opponent and new friend.
The triclops shrugged. "I guess it's fine."
"You guys should make it quick," Krillin interjected. "It's not really a good idea to keep Goku waiting on food. Look at him, he's... dazed."
The spiky haired martial artist at once drew everyone's attention as he was hunched forward and staring (like a zombie) at the sizzling okonomiyaki on Ukyo's grill. There was a visible trail of drool dribbling down his chin as his nostrils involuntarily flared in response to the aromas.
"See something you like, handsome?" Ukyo asked, grinning up at Goku as her hands kept things moving. "Tell me what toppings you want and I'll serve you up. Pick anything you like."
"Anything? Really?" Goku asked, his eyes as wide as a little kid in a toy shop who's parent just told them the whole store was their playground.
As Nabiki was busy setting up the frame for her photo op and directing her two stars to move this way or that, the background of her lens' focus included Goku carrying a precarious stack of okonomiyaki while wearing a goofy grin on his face. When the shutter clicked on her money shot, she inadvertently captured a freeze frame of the young man with his face bulging with food and bits of crust hanging from his mouth.
OoooooO
(Post notes)
What's good, folks? I'm back.
The first round is done and Ranma actually beat Tien. His usual combination of skill, luck and wit paid off again. Things are only gonna get more difficult from here on out, though.
Also, how about them new water magic skills? There's so many possibilities to explore with that and we've only scratched the surface. It kinda makes me wonder what seeing a true master like Cologne can do if she's fighting at full power (wink wink).
And, holy crabby patties! What kind of magic did Nabiki work to get half of the NWC to come out and work together? Find out next time on Ranma Ball Z!
-Shoes
