Chapter 14: An interlude of sorts...
Disclaimer: I don't Ranma ½, Inuyasha, School Rumble or Full Metal Panic. They are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Kobayashi Jin and Shinji Gatou.
WOW! I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated. I am SOOOO SORRY!!!!!
But, enough rambling. Let's go!
(P.S.: Another jump here: three days. During this time, the interlude between the Athletics Carnival and the Survival Game occurs. If you wanna know what happens, read the manga or watch the anime. I am not typing all of it. For those who have watched the anime, it is Season 2 from now on)
(P.P.S.: If your the type to skip the notes at the end, PLEASE read them!)
Ranma lay in his bed back at the Ucchan, not feeling extremely well. The day hadn't gone so good.
First, when he got back, courtesy of Harima's bike (he was extremely grateful to the man), his insides hadn't fared to well and he was feeling nauseous. However, his mind had demanded sleep and so he paid no mind to it.
The next day, he had finished dumping his lunch into the bin when Akane had managed to concoct something in the kitchen which looked like the result of a nuclear war. When he was force fed the poison, Ryoga, who was out on an errand for Ukyo, managed to pull Akane off Ranma. The poor girl profusely said that she 'babying' Ranma. Not in Ranma's, nor Ryoga's, opinion.
When Akane did leave Ranma alone, Ranma finally had the chance to call Dr. Tofu for a second opinion. He had come earlier and, in addition to Anesaki-sensei's analysis, he added in that ki manipulation was a big no-no for the next week. This meant Ranma couldn't practice the task Herb had left him.
Now Ranma faced the biggest problem in his life: how to break the news to Herb without him flattening half of Yagami on a whim. Ranma decided that the truth was the right way to go. So, Ranma pulled out the whistle and blew.
A moment later, he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he said rather tiredly.
The door opened and Herb stood there, not looking very please. "Ranma, I thought you knew better than that," he said with barely restrained anger.
Ranma was sweating profusely. "Well, you see, it was a school event and I didn't want to lose, so I..."
Herb, thankfully, sighed. "I guess there's no helping it. How have you been with the task?"
"Well, I tried using the hint you left me, but Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken enhanced with tempered ki only tires me out. I don't how it's supposed to help me," said Ranma, thinking.
Herb looked truly surprised. "Did you honestly try to decipher my clue?"
"Huh?" Ranma looked confused.
"I said: 'Might I suggest the Amazon TECHNIQUES be your first stepping stone?' Ranma, I never thought you could be so dimwitted as to miss such a vital clue."
Ranma looked confused, but he eventually caught on. "Ah!"
"So, now you know what I am talking about."
"I need a stepping stone, though, somewhere to start," said Ranma.
"Well, it's not like your opponent's going to give you the chance to use. Perhaps you can devise a way to somehow use it by yourself?" said Herb, standing to leave.
"Well, I can try, but it's gonna be a week before I can even start using ki."
Herb sighed. "Take this. It's a special tea blend which will help with your ki. Drink one cup each day and you'll be able to manipulate ki in two day's time."
Ranma nodded and decided to let Ukyo take the sachet. The tomboy was the only person he knew that could burn water.
"I will expect you again in another week's time. Until then, Ranma," finished Herb.
"See ya, Herb." The door closed.
'Okay, so I have a viewpoint. I can't believe I never thought about the Hiryu Shoten Ha, before,' thought Ranma. He pushed all other thoughts out his mind to spin up new ideas.
Just as he was working on his second technique, one which would require more ki than his reserves could hold, there was a knock at the door. Akane came in with a tray of food.
"Hey, Ukyo thought you might be up for some food." Seeing Ranma flinch and grasp his stomach she growled out, "I didn't make it." He visibly relaxed and accepted the food. When she raised an inquiring eyebrow and nodded her head at the box of tea he lifted one of the parsley leaves from his plate (his mouth was too full of food to answer) and she nodded her head as if to say 'Soka'. In record time, Ranma's plate was empty, and he leaned back with a satisfied sigh. Akane kissed him on the forehead before taking the plate and leaving the room. He drank his cup of tea before slowly drifting off to sleep.
Ranma was a tree, a recently fallen tree. Time seemed to fly by him, days passed like seconds, and he could slowly feel the ebb and flow of time eroding him away. It started with the moss, sucking away his very life. Then came the termites, the infernal termites. They burrowed in him, eating their distinct little roads into his body until he felt like Swiss cheese and was practically screaming with pain.
With a cry Ranma woke up and was immediately gripped by pain. Obviously he had not dreamt that part. It felt like there were little termites eating him up from the inside out, here outside his dream. With all the subtlety of a brick to the face, Ranma realized what was going on. 'Damn you sensei, I'm going to kick your ass AGAIN when this is ove-' his angry rant was cut off another spasm of pain, this time in his arm, as another one of his ki pathways was mercilessly torn apart and reconstructed.
This continued throughout most of the night, with Ranma gritting his teeth to resist crying out. By the time the sun was just showing its face on the horizon, Ranma was drenched in sweat and was taking gasping breaths through his clenched teeth. His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white. The tea decided it would let Ranma go just about the time that Akane was getting up for her morning jog. With a gasp, he collapsed on his bed and passed out.
'Forget your ass: I am going to kill you...'
(A/N: Before you flame, I can explain Ranma's pain. Normally, Ranma has a titanic pain threshold, but this is magically induced pain, so his threshold is only about average)
As Akane ran off to school, she couldn't help but wonder that something was going to happen today.
She wouldn't know what had hit her.
When Ranma woke up later (a good 2 hours), he found that he was refreshed and felt completely better. Then he remembered the sore muscles as he got out of bed and fell onto the ground.
'I am such an idiot…'
So, eventually, he dragged himself back into the bed, but not without the help of a nearby table. When he was settled back into bed, he grabbed the nearest manga and was about to read when the door opened and he found Ryoga there with a breakfast tray of omelet and another cup of tea.
"Itadakimasu." Ranma ate ravenously, finishing in twenty seconds. "Done." He passed the tray back, drank (regrettably) the tea in one gulp and said, "Thanks for the food." Ryoga took the tray and walked out.
'Now, what to do for the rest of the day?' he thought to himself. 'I can't move anywhere and there's nothing else to do in here. Man, I should've taken the tea; at least that would've helped me pass the time. But, it can't be helped. Herb's getting a good kick in the ass when I'm back up.'
'So, I might as well work on my new school…'
For the few hours, a forgotten cup of water just out of Ranma's sight would be warmed and frozen several times.
'I hope Ranma gets better sometime soon,' thought Kagome, walking into the school with her friends beside her.
"Hey, Kagome," said Inuyasha. "You're spacing out again."
Kagome faced him. "Sorry, but I'm just thinking."
"About what?" he said.
She was about to reply, but a very shockingly familiar (and unwanted) call rang out through the air.
"SWEETO! WHATTA HAUL! WHATTA HAUL!"
'Kami-sama, help us all. He had to come when Ranma was down, didn't he?' thought Kagome, watching the old, perverted man run about, carrying his huge green sack of women's unmentionables.
"HAPPOSAI! YOU'RE DEAD!" yelled Ryoga, chasing after him. 'Shimatta, why is it when Ranma's out is when he appears? Now I'm stuck with babysitting the man!'
"HAH! YOU'RE A HUNDRED YEARS EARLY TO HIT ME!" he said, jumping in and out of Ryoga's attacks.
'I hate doing this,' thought Ryoga, and brandished a bra from nowhere.
"SWEETO!"
*WHAM*
"That'll teach you, you old man!"
"Ryoga!" He turned around to find Akane and Ukyo run up to him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"What's happening?" asked Akane.
"Nothing unusual," he replied, holding up the beaten and mangled body of the Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School.
"How the hell did he get here?" asked Ukyo.
"Beats me," said Ryoga, kicking him into Leo. A star flashed where he disappeared. "And, with that nuisance out of the way…" The bell chimed. "…we're late for school," finished Ryoga.
"HARIMA!" yelled Hanai. The cry caught the attention of everyone, except for the person it was aimed it.
"OI! HARIMA!" Said monstrosity of a man finally woke up.
"It's almost time for the Cultural Festival and yet you're still skipping class!"
'Man, he's so annoying!' thought Harima as Hanai started bouncing around like a monkey. However, his musing was interrupted when he heard someone call his name.
"Harima-kun, come here for a second."
He looked around and found his cousin, Osakabe Itoko, standing outside the doorway.
"What is it, Itoko?"
"At school, you are to address me as Osakabe-sensei. This morning, I forgot to tell you that this postcard came."
She handed him the postcard and walked off, leaving the boy to his own devices. She already knew what his reaction was.
'Dankosha Co. Ltd.?'
As Harima made to read the card, he heard some yelling from behind him.
"YOU GET BACK HERE SOUSUKE, YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!"
"But, Miss Chidori, I saw a suspicious individual spying in from the school: I merely disposed of him in the quickest and easiest method possible. He was dressed in a suit!"
"AND YOU THOUGHT THAT IT WAS APPROPRIATE TO USE A GRENADE TO SCARE HIM OFF?"
As the couple ran past Harima, he found the postcard being swept out of his hands and out the window.
'Matte. That was Dankosha, right? So, doesn't that mean that the card announces if I got the manga award? If so, I NEED IT NOW!'
Harima flew around the corner, down the stairs, past 1-D, out onto the grounds and caught the card before any harm had been done.
'Phew, too close. Now, to see what it-' His rambling was cut off when he saw someone quickly dart away from the school.
Harima followed him, out to the school gate. He saw a car driving off.
'Weird…'
The day was fairly peaceful, if you could call peaceful destroying half the school. Okay, not literally, but a fair amount of property damage had been done.
It all started when the discussion for the Cultural Festival started up. Ryoga couldn't remember much, but it ended with a standoff between Takano Akira and Sagara Sousuke when they pulled out their guns and said something about a survival game. Then, the subsequent bashing began, courtesy of Chidori Kaname.
Then, Shampoo came over and started throwing out pamphlets announcing the opening of the Nekohanten in Yagami. Naturally, since her bra-less clothing attracted half of the schooling population plans were immediately made to go to the new restaurant afterwards.
When Shampoo reached 2-C, the hentai horde of the class immediately nose-bled and fainted on the spot. She left a pamphlet with each of these people, knowing that easy money was to be made from the suc- I mean customers.
However, when she realized that Ranma wasn't there, she immediately demanded to know where he was. And her first suspect: Kitchen Destroyer a.k.a. Violent Girl, a.k.a. Tendo Akane.
"What Violent Girl do to Airen?" she yelled, pointing her finger accusingly at her.
"Hey, he's at home now, seeing as he nearly killed himself at the Athletics Carnival!" she retorted.
"Aiyah, what Airen do now? Kill too-too strong god?"
Seeing as the original 2-C residents didn't know about Ranma's exploits, they ignored the girl. However, Hanai did have other things to talk about.
"Excuse me, but you can't just simply interrupt our class just advertise your shop!" he yelled. He was about to respond, but quickly ducked the bonbori thrown his way. "And you can't use weapons in class!"
The original 2-C residents sweat-dropped. 'Weapons are illegal, doofus.'
"Class rep, you can't get through to her so easily," said Akane. "She's an airheaded bimbo, you see."
"Who Kitchen Destroyer calling bimbo?" Shampoo yelled.
"YOU!"
"HAH!" she thrust her other bonbori forward. Akane simply stepped to the side, feeling overconfident once again.
'Ranma may not have been training me lately, but I'm still more than capable of taking you out, bitch!' thought Akane as she rushed forward.
Kagome was watching with simple boredom, Inuyasha and Sango doing the same. They followed the movements of both parties rather easily, seeing as they had seen Naraku in action against Ranma.
Yakumo was doing her work when the roof above her head shuddered and some dust fell down.
'I wonder what's going on up there?'
Ryoga tried to get in between the two combatants, hoping to avoid a repeat of a typical Nerimean disaster, but to no avail. Akane and Shampoo exchanged blows, knocking over desks and destroying walls whenever they saw fit.
However, by a stroke of luck, Shampoo tripped over a chair and landed on Akane, knocking them both to the ground.
They both blushed.
At least, that was the case until Akane used her position to kick her of and smash her through the roof.
'Well, that's one way to end a fight,' thought Ryoga.
Ranma got up from his bed, feeling completely refreshed after another round of violent and painful spasms. He was drenched in sweat (from both his ki manipulation and the tea), but very pleased, as he had made some progress. He thought he was healed enough so he could take a crack at using some of the attacks out in the open. Forgetting that he wasn't in Nerima, Ranma made plans to quickly go to the park that evening when everyone was asleep. However, his plans would quickly be revised when he heard of his friend's plans.
"Tadaima!" came the cry from below.
"Okaeri!" he yelled. He seemed like he sounded tired because Akane rushed up.
"What have you been doing?" she said rather accusingly.
"Resting. Why?"
"How come you're drenched in sweat?" she continued in the same tone.
"Akane, I haven't been fighting if that's what you're worried about."
"I'm waiting, Ranma."
'Well, at least she hasn't pulled out the mallet yet. But, I better say something before she does,' thought Ranma.
"Herb gave me some tea that would help the healing process. But, it has the rather unfortunate side effect of violent and painful spasms (for lack of a better word)."
"Still, you shouldn't be sweating that much," she continued, calming down.
"It just stopped. And they started about an hour ago."
"AN HOUR?"
"Meh. No pain, no gain," Ranma said, lying back down, turning away.
"Well, you better not be doing anything else," she said, getting and walking out. "Oh, that's right. There's an event going on at school, so we won't be here until late tonight."
"Cool," he said. Akane nodded and walked out, helping Ukyo open up the restaurant for the afternoon shift.
When night fell (6pm), Ranma got up, dressed and left the Ucchan, not forgetting to bring two buckets of water. He quickly walked down the street, passing the Nekohanten (which, for some reason, was very popular) and into the local park. There, he started working through practicing his ki manipulation of hot and cold.
'Okay, let's see if I can hold both at the same time,' he thought.
For most of the readers out there who don't know what Ranma is talking about (I've only told two people, excluding my beta), Ranma is basically trying to develop a way to initiate the Hiryu Shoten Ha without his opponent's cooperation. As such, Ranma has developed his first new skill in addition to the Soul of Ice. The name of this skill is the Soul of Flames. As for an explanation, well, think Soul of Ice in reverse.
Now that you all are in the loop, Ranma now wants to see if he can hold both at the same time. He positioned himself so that one bucket was on his left and one was on his right and that he was in the centre, about half a metre from both buckets.
'Okay, first, Soul of Ice!'
The buckets of water were his only visible means of detecting the temperature changes. When both buckets froze, he thought, 'Okay, now for Soul of Flames!'
When he did so, however, he only produced hot water in both buckets, which was not what he wanted. 'Okay, then. Again!' (1)
However, his result was the same. 'Damn it! What the hell? Why can't I do this? There has to be another way!' He quickly discarded trying to use both at the same time, as he knew he couldn't produce the required confliction from his core.
In his anger (and whilst still in Soul of Flames), he punched the tree behind the buckets (thankfully, not hard enough to knock it down). His attention, though, was diverted when he saw smoke coming from the tree and steam coming from the buckets.
'Smoke? Steam? With my fist?'
He knew he was onto something when he saw what his punch had done. 'Okay, again!' He punched the water in one bucket. The result was warm water.
'Shouldn't it be hotter? It had steam coming out last time. What was I doing before that I'm not doing now?'
He punched the tree again. However, no smoke came off the bark.
'What is it?'
He punched it again, with Soul of Flames in full effect. Only wisps came out.
'WHAT AM I NOT DOING?'
He punched it again. However, this time, smoke came out.
'Anger? No, wait! My punch had the energy concentrated in my fist! So, does that mean my Soul of Flames was concentrated in my hand?'
He concentrated again, this time focusing his 'Flames' into his hand. 'Here we go!' He punched the tree. This time, he thought he saw an ember and saw that more steam came from both buckets.
'Hmm, I might be onto something...'
He prepared his 'Ice' in his hand and punched the tree. Whilst no visible changes were noticed (how do you freeze a tree, anyway?), when he turned around, he saw both buckets contained small pieces of ice.
'It worked. Now, can I actually freeze the bucket of water?'
He punched the water. However, before his could even hit the surface, the whole bucket had frozen. This meant he was literally punching through the ice.
When he recovered from the shock of the ice being destroyed (and the bucket too), he turned to the remaining bucket.
'So, does this mean...'
He threw another punch into the second bucket. Upon contact, every droplet of water in the bucket evaporated.
'Okay, so I can use both in my fist. Now, can I use both at the same time?' He focused and held his fists out.
To those who could sense ki, they would've felt a refreshing blast of cool air followed by a hot summer's day. The effect was actually refreshing. It was like feeling an air conditioner in your face in the middle of the desert.
Ranma, though, couldn't see anything visibly, so he turned to the tree and punched it. The effect was immediate. The embers that Ranma could see were instantly extinguished.
'I...I did IT!' "I DID IT! ALRIGHT!" (2)
This being done, Ranma proceeded to take his attack to the next level. He spread his arms out and did exactly what he did before. Then, with a rush of adrenalin, he spiralled off.
Less than a second later, Ranma punched into the air. The result was the whirlwind with a minor side effect. Ranma was lifted into the spiral himself and he was being buffeted by the winds he caused himself.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
'Damn it, we're cornered with no backup coming!' thought Ryoga, hiding behind a desk. Ukyo was next to him.
They both chose the cafe faction, as Ukyo could utilize her talents and Ryoga simply followed her. Akane, though, chose the play faction so she could have a shot at being the lead in the play.
However, their attention was diverted as they looked out the window and saw the familiar tornado rising from the ground.
'That's...Hiryu Shoten Ha! But, who's Ranma fighting?' thought Ryoga. Then he looked closer and saw Ranma himself was in the tornado. 'Ranma's attack turned against him?'
*BANG* *BANG*
Two people slumped to the ground as their lack of attention cost them.
When Ranma finally recovered from his attack, he knew instantly what he did wrong.
'Okay, better cancel out the Soul of Flames before I punch. I'm not the target.' (3)
And so, Ranma continued through the night, making new attacks for his arsenal.
Okay, for some parts of this chapter, you didn't expect. But, the last chunk of pages should've been expected.
Righto, onto the idea based behind this new school of attacks. But first, the notes:
(1): This idea wouldn't have worked as the places where the hot and cold auras originated from were directly in contact, thus the Soul of Ice being cancelled.
(2): This idea did work because the places where the aura originated from were NOT in contact. They had some clearance, albeit not a large space. However, the space was big enough to allow the conflicting auras to exist.
(3): The reason why Ranma has to cancel out his Soul of Flames is because the 'cold' aura from the Soul of Ice will be used in the attack. Hence, what's left is the Soul of Flames. And, since there is a hugely noticeable difference between hot and cold, if he attempted the manoeuvre without cancelling his Soul of Flames, he and his opponent will be sucked into the tornado. Thus, if he cancels out Soul of Flames, he will be safe, whereas his opponent will be rendered useless.
As to where I found the idea, I read about a similar school of martial arts in a Ranma story called 'Reikoku'. Translated directly as 'Relentless', Reikoku is a monster which is summoned after Happosai interrupts a girl's only ceremony. As to how, that can be left to your own imagination.
The summoner said that the Reikoku was made to go after anyone who bore the title of 'Grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.' After throwing a fight, Happosai transfers the title to Ranma.
The only way to defeat Reikoku is to fight it three times. However, after each time, the monster recovers, adapting to your skills, and is incomparably powerful. Even before defeating it the first time, it puts up quite a fight, landing a decent amount of hits on Ranma before he could actually defeat it. Obviously, I'm just sugar coating it.
After finding out what it was, Ranma goes to China with Ryoga and Ukyo, both of whom have also defeated Reikoku once. Together, they train to defeat it and Ranma develops his school of martial arts based on Hiryu Shoten Ha.
The author of Reikoku developed some of the attacks used here, most notably, One Man Rising Dragon. However, with the exception of those two and Soul of Ice, the rest belong to me (Soul of Ice belonging to Rumiko Takahashi).
If you want to read Reikoku, find it in the one-shot section of . However, I assure you, it is nothing like a one-shot. It is basically the story compressed into one document.
I've named the school, but suggestions are allowed. Also, any ideas for attacks are welcome, though I have, along with my beta, compiled a database of attacks. There are 8 attacks all up: 5 normal, 1 final and two forbidden attacks. That's right: 2 forbidden attacks. I also have 6 redundant attacks which I will be showing you guys. By redundant, I mean that they were part of the original school, but were cut, for various reasons.
I will not be covering the Survival arc because it is a huge arc (it took two episodes to cover one night, for goodness sakes!). However, I will be substituting it with a scene that should, hopefully, be much more pleasant to you.
And, I'm starting another 'Name the attack' competition. Details are as follows:
This chapter featured one of the first attacks I ever thought up of. It's the one where the Ranma accidently used Hiryu Shoten Ha on himself.
This is the first attack in the competition. Please, suggestions are absolutely necessary: I've thought up of a name, but it's too complicated to translate to Japanese (I prefer Japanese names): 'One Man Rising Dragon.'
The second attack is, well, the exact reverse of the first, where instead of cancelling Soul of Flames, he cancels Soul of Ice and he punches downwards. The original name was 'One Man Descending Dragon', but, again, it's too complicated.
So, in summary, here's what's open for suggestions:
Name of the School (I won't be telling you what it is, just to gauge your reactions)
Name of 'One Man Rising Dragon'
Name of 'One Man Descending Dragon'
If anyone suggests why I'm not cutting the attacks, my reasoning is that 'One Man Rising Dragon' was initially created to overcome the barrier of using Hiryu Shoten Ha with two people. And, One Man Descending Dragon is its sister, so I am not dropping it.
Also, this same school will also be used in SOSN, so there's a bit of memorabilia for you, people!
Well, that's all the rambling from me done. Work your minds, people!