A/N: This is the re-written version of chapter 2. I realized a little while ago that the whole chapter was a grand total of four pages, so I lengthened it a bit, factored Ryoga's umbrella into the fight and introduced an antagonist into the story where there was no "villain role" previously.
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Chapter 2- Man vs. Machine?
It was only due to the last 3 years of the Neriman brand hell he went through that saved him from a pounding by the armored figure. Sidestepping the charge Ranma jumped away to get some distance.
"Hey come on now, I don't even know where I am," protested Ranma, continuing to stay out of reach of the attacker, "I don't even know you!"
Silence was the only response he got. Jumping back a few more feet Ranma watched as the figure extended its right arm. Where a hand and fingers should have been there was an empty tube.
Ranma's fascination quickly died down as the tube released a missile headed straight towards his face.
"Woah!" Dropping to all fours, Ranma let the missile pass above him and quickly jumped away from the ground to avoid a second.
"Alright, I don't know who you are, but if you want a fight you got it!"
The machine-like enemy paused for a second before slowly extending its good hand in a "come on" gesture.
"Gladly!" shouted Ranma before darting forward, Ryoga's umbrella extending in front of him. Right before Ryoga's umbrella would have made contact with the enemy; Ranma darted to the right and attacked the person's left side instead.
Falling for the fake out, Ranma got a clean shot on the enemies' side, knocking it back a few feet. Not letting up on his attack the martial artist charged forward again, hoping to keep up the pressure. This time the machine wasn't fooled though.
Right before his attack, the machine rolled into a small ball and rolled right between Ranma's legs, avoiding his attack completely. Turning around to face his opponent, Ranma didn't notice the flashing red ball that the thing had left behind.
BOOM!
Until it blew up right between his legs. Wincing in pain, Ranma was completely open for the next attack and took the machine's gun-arm right in the stomach. Flying into the air, Ranma unfurled Ryoga's umbrella to ward off another barrage of missiles that followed his assent. Lacing just the right amount of ki into the weapon, Ranma chucked it at his foe, putting the right spin on it so that it would return back to him.
His foe merely took a small step to the right and avoided it completely, much like he had done the first time that technique was used on him. Landing on the ground, Ranma opened his hand and caught the umbrella as it came back to him.
"Nice moves," he said to the machine type thing standing across from him, "But let me show you mine!"
This time the machine met him partway in their melee. Tossing the umbrella on the ground Ranma caught the machines forward punch and did a tai chi toss onto the ground, only to be amazed as the thing seemed to recover in midair and land on its feet.
"What the hell?"
His stall almost cost him as another missile grazed his shoulder. Mentally cursing himself for his hesitation, Ranma rolled back and grabbed the umbrella, expecting some more missiles to come at him.
However, the robot like enemy had retreated and was now charging up a big blue ball of energy from its gun arm.
"Okay, now that looks bad."
Rushing forward Ranma moved at a slight angle so as not to present an easy target. The machine didn't seem overly concerned with it though, rotating to keep him in its field of vision. Just as he was about to close the distance for an assault, the machine abruptly stopped charging and rolled out of the way.
"What the…why'd you stop charging?" asked Ranma. After gathering that much energy, he would have at least expected the thing to release it at him.
In response the thing merely motioned towards its gun, which was now glowing a bright white. A second too late, Ranma realized what that meant.
BOOOM!!
Fortunately, he had the sense of mind to at least partially dodge it, so the blue energy blast didn't hit him head on. On the other hand…
"God damnit that hurt," Said Ranma, picking himself up off the ground. His pants had been singed and his shirt was falling away into ashes. He wasn't sure if the person standing in front of him was human or not, seeing as how his ki scan was only registering bits and traces of energy, but he could swear that the thing was smirking.
"Oh so that's how you want to play then?" asked Ranma, starting to smirk, "Well I have one too. Moko Takabisha!"
The blast hit the thing head on, sending it up in the air. Once again though, Ranma saw the thing seem to use empty space as a platform to recover in midair. Rolling into a ball, the machine started dropping bombs in midair, forcing Ranma to retreat again.
As soon as the machine landed, Ranma shot forward like a bullet, hoping to start an attack before the thing could get its land legs back throwing away the cumbersome umbrella as he did so. He wasn't disappointed either, as the thing barely had time to shoot off a missile before Ranma was engaging it at close range.
Just as Ranma had expected, the machines melee skills were not on par with its ranged skills. While it was a decent hand to hand fighter, it was easy to tell Ranma had the upper hand. Grabbing the gun arm, Ranma pointed it away from his body and unloaded a single handed chestnut fist into the things upper body, finishing up the combo with an uppercut that sent the machine flying off the stage…
…or so he thought. Once again, to Ranma's expectations, the thing performed a midair recovery jump, but it was too far away to get back on to the stage. Then, once again to Ranma's amazement, the thing brought its knees to its chest and started glowing white, and then suddenly the thing launched into a second midair jump, spinning rapidly, gaining just enough distance to get back onto the stage.
"Well that was pretty damn convenient," said Ranma, starting to get a little annoyed. How many techniques did this thing have? He didn't have time to think though, the thing was charging up another one of those blue energy blasts.
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Marth wiped the sweat off his forehead and pressed the towel to his face. He had just finished his three stock match with Mewtwo, ending up in a humiliating loss for him with a 0-2 finish. While it was better than the time when Mewtwo had skunked him, it was still embarrassing.
Taking his limiters off, Marth shouldered his towel and walked out towards the lobby. As he walked out of the lobby he glanced over to the match viewing TV screen where several people were watching the final match of the evening take place. He was just about to leave the lobby when Roy called over to him.
"Hey Marth, you might want to watch this, some new kid is taking on Samus!"
"New kid? Do we have an ID on him yet?"
"Nope. Master Hand hasn't announced anything either so we're all wondering who he is."
Curious, Marth walked over to the TV screen just in time to see a black haired boy do a wild midair twist to dodge Samus' missiles, returning fire with his on energy blast, which Samus also dodged.
"What are the match rules?"
"One stock no time limit since it's a new fighter. He's holding his own pretty well considering he doesn't even have a double jump. Samus hasn't even knocked him off the stage yet," responded Link who was sitting on the couch, "I wonder if Master Hand planned this."
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Master Hand smirked to himself as he hacked into the Ygdrassil database to retrieve Ranma's folder. It felt good to defy the gods, especially since they were constantly complaining about his disregard for the laws of the universe.
"Screw em," he said to himself as his fingers flew over the keyboard. How else was he supposed to run a fighting arena for the best if he didn't have the best? Bringing up Ranma's file, Master Hand started to read.
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Ranma grumbled to himself as the thing retreated and started firing missiles again. Apparently the thing had gotten enough of his melee skills and was trying to play it safe. He couldn't afford to wear himself down by repeatedly throwing ki blasts at it and it could just retreat again if he tried to engage in melee. To top it all off, the whole arena was flat so there were no obstacles to hide behind either.
BAM!
And judging by the sheer amount of missiles the thing had already fired, it wasn't going to run out anytime soon. He needed a new strategy.
Then, as the thing was charging up another energy blast an idea hit him. Focusing as hard as he could, Ranma charged up his own energy blast, but before he released it, he forced the energy back inside of him. The feeling made him feel like his veins were on fire.
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Samus paused for a second as her opponent fell to his knees in pain. A blue like energy pulsated out from his body briefly before it died down to a faint glow. Slowly, the boy stood up to full height, as if the effort took everything he had. Finally the boy got into a fighting stance and opened his eyes, now glowing a brilliant golden color.
Samus didn't waste any time in firing another barrage of missiles, some tracking and some power. The golden eyed kid waited until they were almost upon him before dodging at a speed that belied his previous pace.
She didn't even had time to fire another missile before he was right next to her, his glowing hand reaching for her. In desperation, she pointed her gun right into the boy's chest as he did the same to her.
"LION'S ROAR!"
She didn't need to say anything for her blast, it spoke for itself.
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Marth shielded his eyes as a white light suddenly illuminated the screen, blinding everyone in the lobby.
"Who won?" asked Link, watching the fading screen intently.
No one spoke for a few seconds, and then the loud announcer voice shouted, "GAME!"
Finally the screen cleared and Marth saw Ranma, hanging on to the edge at 98 damage. Samus was nowhere to be seen.
"Someone get to the locker room, that kids gonna need help standing up after that shot," said Roy suddenly, snapping everyone out of their stupor.
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Ranma groaned as he pulled himself back up onto the platform. Per the usual with new techniques, he was almost completely drained of energy. It was a good thing that the final blast he fired sent that machine type thingy into the stratosphere.
Limping over to where he had thrown the umbrella, Ranma picked it up, using it as sort of an unsteady crutch.
"Now what?" he asked to his surroundings. As far as he could tell, there wasn't any way out except for jumping off into the dark abyss and he wasn't in any hurry to go there seeing as how he sent the machine type thing down there.
Greetings Ranma!
Ranma nearly jumped as the voice came out of nowhere, "What the…where are you?"
I am not actually in "that" place right now. You're in a pocket dimension fighting arena.
"Oookay, so how do I get out of here?"
Normally after the match is over you'd automatically be transported out, but since we don't have ki sample from you for our transporter, we're going to have to do it manually. Sorry for the inconvenience.
"So what do I do then?"
Just step on that white circle over there.
"Sounds easy enough."
Don't worry; someone will catch you on the other side.
"Huh? What the heck do you mean by tha…?"
Ranma didn't get an answer as white light enveloped him and his body started to disappear. His awareness of the arena faded, being replaced by a completely new environment and voices started filling in the deafening silence.
"Careful now, he's coming through."
"Don't open it until the light shows green, these transports take time."
Ranma slowly opened his eyes only to find himself staring into darkness, "Hello?" He called out uncertainly.
"He's up! Open it!"
Pssssssht.
There was a sound of hissing steam and the sound of metal moving. Finally, the pod cracked open allowing light to leak in, illuminating a room with a few people in it.
"Are you doing okay?" asked a guy in a green tunic when the pod opened fully.
"I…think so…" Ranma responded uncertainly. Hesitantly he tried taking a step forward, only to stumble straight into the guy with the green tunic who caught him easily. Ryoga's umbrella tumbled unceremoniously out of his hand and on to the ground, making a spider like crack in the floor.
"Someone grab his stuff," the green tunic man ordered, "And someone help me get him to a room." Carefully, the green tunic man put his arm around his shoulder. He felt someone grab his other arm and turned to see none other than the machine he had just fought earlier supporting his other side.
"What the…" said Ranma, about to wrench his arm out of the machines grip. He didn't have the strength to break that machines hold though.
"Something wrong?" asked the man as he noticed Ranma staring at the armored suit.
"Wasn't I just…you know…fighting that thing a second ago?"
"Well yeah, it was a pretty good fight too."
"You mean it's not trying to kill me?"
"Um…no. Why would she?"
"Well I dunno, I just thought…wait a sec…she?!"
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Master Hand sighed and saved the file to his computer. It wasn't the worst he had seen but it was still pretty bad.
A slight buzzing sound in the back of his head alerted him to an unwanted presence even before he appeared. Groaning, Master Hand spun the computer screen around so that the monitor was facing away from him just as Jodah; lead technician of Ygdrassil came through the screen.
"You really think this is funny don't you?" asked Jodah as soon as he fully materialized. He had long black hair and brown eyes, standing a good six feet off the ground, a small circular mirror in his hand. He was cloaked in the common white apparel of the gods but the look on his face right now would have befit a first class demon.
"Actually I think it was quite amusing, it's not every day that you get to see Ranma come up with a new technique like that in the middle of battle."
Jodah slammed his fist on the desk, bringing his face an inch away from Master Hand's black visage, "You don't get it do you? Do you think these other dimensions just fade into the background when they loose important people like Ranma?"
Master Hand didn't respond but Jodah didn't seem to be expecting one, "The answer is they don't. If we're lucky, they get thrown into chaos, becoming dens for the shadows of evil with none to oppose them, causing a serious imbalance in worlds. And guess who has to clean up the mess?"
Master Hand sighed and didn't say anything. He had had several versions of this same conversation with Jodah before and found that he left quicker if he didn't argue with him. It wasn't as if he was going to listen to him anyways.
Snarling at his unresponsiveness, Jodah reached a hand into the mirror, causing it to ripple like water at his touch. When he withdrew his hand, it now firmly clutched a silver colored CD.
"Do you know what this is?" he asked mockingly, catching the light with the CD and playing around with it.
"It's a CD," responded Master Hand simply, "Used to hold data, files, music, and other such things."
Jodah smirked, "Usually true, but in this case no. This CD holds the executioner program. All it would take is a few clicks of a mouse and your little pocket dimension would be nothing but a memory."
Okay now that was new. However, Master Hand still had once ace up his sleeve, "And of course, you being such a diligent hard working god, have Kami Sama's permission to do this of course."
Master Hand smiled to himself as he saw Jodah mentally deflate and replace the CD within the mirror, "Every time you break into a new dimension for your little arena makes my boss a little less merciful to your cause. You would do well to remember that." With that Jodah dived back through the monitor and was gone from the office.
"What a depressing guy, eh?" he said seemingly to himself.
He seemed rather serious this time, Responded a voice in Master Hands head.
"Kami Sama isn't going to order the destruction of a dimension with so many leading characters in it. Not only does it go against everything he stands for but it also would create more problems that it would solve."
True, but if there's one thing I know about Jodah, its that he can't really see the bigger picture beyond what is placed in front of his desk. We might have to consider the fact that he could go rogue at any time...
"Trust me brother, I'm always considering."
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"You mean to tell me that I got the living crap beaten out of me by a girl?" asked Ranma.
Ranma felt a sharp, almost painful, tug on his supported right arm. Turning he stared into the girls green visor which stared back as if to say "You've got a problem with that?"
Wisely, he decided to shut up.
"Man this thing has some nice weight to it," said a voice behind him. Turning he saw a blue haired man with a sheathed sword and a cape picking up his, or rather Ryoga's, umbrella. Experimentally, he swung the umbrella as he would a sword, getting a feel for the weight.
"Too heavy for me to use though," he said shouldering it, "You carry this thing around all the time?"
"Not really, I stole it from a guy I knew right before I came here."
Marth shrugged and started leading the way out of the locker room, Ranma and his two supporters bringing up the rear.
"By the way, who are you guys?" asked Ranma suddenly realizing he had no idea who they were.
"I'm Link from the land of Hyrule," responded the man on his left, "That's Samus; I'm not sure where she's from actually."
"She uh…doesn't talk much does she?"
Link was about to answer when the door in front of him opened up and a burst of applause and cheering suddenly filled the previous vacuum of silence.
While Ranma had had his share of the supernatural and unreal, it still took his mind some time to process the twenty odd humans…or rather creatures…that now stood in front of him. Most of them were human but scattered among them were animals and demi-humans with animal characteristics.
"That was awesome!"
"What the heck was that blue thing? I though Mewtwo was the only one who could…"
"Where did you come from?"
"What's your name?"
"Are you single?"
Ranma jerked his head up at that last comment but the person who said it didn't step forward. People continued pelting him with questions until Marth finally stepped in front of him, "Alright that's enough, you'll have plenty of time to pester him later. He needs rest right now."
The chattering died off and the crowd dispersed, allowing Samus and Link to lead Ranma through the lobby and to the door on the other side.
"Where the heck am I anyways?" asked Ranma as the door opened up into a long hallway.
"You're at the Super Smash Brothers Headquarters, made for the best fighters in the galaxy to participate in friendly fighting competition," responded Link, "And of course to fight in the occasional tournament with incredible prizes."
Ranma merely nodded, the fatigue of his earlier ordeals catching up with him. He was now being half drug by his supporters down several long hallways that he could barely keep track of.
There was silence for a few more minutes before Marth finally stopped at a door with a computer screen on it. Typing in a few numbers, the blue haired swordsman pulled up a new menu with some names on it.
"It looks like he's bunking with you Link, there's a message from Master Hand telling him to get some rest and come see him first thing in the morning."
"Who's Master Hand?" asked Ranma tiredly.
"The arena master," Marth said simply, "Link, throw me your card."
Link reached into his pocket, withdrew a card and tossed it to Marth who inserted it into a slot, "And here's your home for the evening."
The room was built simply but comfortably. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room and a small door, probably leading to a walk in closet, on the side. A single lamp on an ornately carved wooden dresser between the two beds filled the room with light and a single window opened up onto a cloudy sky.
Ranma didn't need much more of an invitation than that and promptly flopped onto the bed and fell asleep.
"Well, that didn't take long," said Link after a brief silence. Quietly Link and Marth left the room. Samus paused at the doorway, looking back at the prone martial artist before giving him a small salute and leaving the room.
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