Martial Arts Mix!
Chapter 20
"She's dueling now?!" Ushio Kazama yelped as she and the karate club were caught up on Sumika gossip.
Tomoe winced. "It's not THAT bad. It's a regulated bout," she explained.
Ushio gave her a thoughtful look. "There's something you're not telling me," she said.
Tomoe sighed. "The woman she's fighting tends to use dirty tricks," she admitted.
Ushio groaned loudly.
Miyako, Tomoe's girlfriend, noted, "Sumika will be FINE. We all know how tough she is."
"Well, when fighting against normal fighters," Ushio countered. "You know the people out there are NOT normal."
(Over around the Tendo dojo, several people sneezed.
"Someone's talking about you?" Kasumi asked.
Ranma just scowled.)
"I'm sure she'll be okay," Tomoe reassured Ushio, "and I have my people keeping a eye on things, too."
Ushio puffed out a sigh. "Your people better be good," she said grimly.
"She's VERY good," Tomoe reassured her.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
This time, Nabiki Tendo sneezed.
The middle daughter of the Tendo clan had taken Tomoe's money, and was now working for her. In addition to her other business, of course. But considering how rich Tomoe was, you could argue she was a priority.
Her minion, Akari, asked, "Are you getting a cold?"
Chiaki noted, "Clearly someone is talking about her."
"That's just a myth," Nabiki said firmly.
It was the day before the match between Sumika and Kodachi. There had already been three attempts to jump Sumika, all of which failed.
"So what do we do...?" Chiaki sighed.
"We could ask the Karate Club to bodyguard her?" Akari suggested.
Nabiki sighed, "They're generally worse than Sumika."
"Ah. Point," Akari admitted. She brightened, "They could be expendable meat shields!"
"Again, no," Nabiki said firmly. "Sumika would end up saving them."
"We could ask Ranma," Chiaki suggested.
Nabiki made a face, "I don't like owing Ran-chan."
Nabiki and Ranma had a complicated relationship. Because he and Genma were staying at the dojo for free, she felt it was okay to use him in money making schemes. But because of that, it messed up the power dynamic when she owed him one.
"WHAT are you all plotting?" Ukyo asked them mildly as she walked up to the group. The tall lady martial artist was dressed in their school uniform, other than the huge battle spatula that she wore on her back.
"Miss Ukyo," both Chiaki and Akari smiled warmly. The martial artist and cook was popular at school, especially with the ladies...
Ukyo continued, "Are you taking bets on how Sumika will do against the ambushers? I want to put some money on Sumika."
Nabiki looked at her blankly a moment. "How would you like a part time job for a day or so?" she asked.
Ukyo looked interested, "I'm listening."
"How would you like to bodyguard Sumika until the match?"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Sumika was just getting up as Ukyo strode over. "Yes?" she asked.
"Hi," Ukyo waved cheerfully as she told her, "It seems I'm going to be your bodyguard for the next day or so."
"WHAT," Sumika blinked.
Ukyo explained, adding, "Nabiki probably expects to make a lot on the betting, so she wants to make sure the fight happens."
"Oy...," Sumika facepalmed.
"So, who's tried to jump you so far?" Ukyo asked professionally.
"Some goons yesterday," Sumika said, "The St. Hebereke's Equestrian Club, Caligraphy Club and various others."
"Wait... equestrian club?" Ukyo blinked.
"They do spears and mounted archery," Sumika sighed. She added dryly, "Have I said lately that this part of Japan is INSANE?"
Ukyo patted her on the shoulder.
"So far, no heavy hitters," Sumika noted, "though I expect that'll change."
"They'll either jump you here at school or on the way home," Ukyo observed. "No one is dumb enough to hit the Tendo dojo."
"Shampoo," Sumika pointed out.
"Okay, point... you know what I mean," Ukyo shrugged.
"Not many people are dumb enough to take on me, Ranma, Genma, Akane, her father and so on...," Sumika agreed.
Suddenly the hallway wall exploded inward.
"Look out!" Ukyo shielded Sumika reflexedly.
"What the fuck." Sumika blinked as eight women in skimpy costumes appeared.
"We are St. Hebereke's COMBAT CHEERLEADERS!"
"WHAT." both Ukyo and Sumika blinked.
Sumika recovered quickly, "We need to get outside. There's innocent bystanders."
"Right," Ukyo and her hurried down the hall away from the team of girls, found a door and headed outside.
Both women took up combat stances as the women emerged, looking at them warily. "Could we NOT do this here?" Sumika suggested.
"Sorry, tall dark and handsome," one cheerleader called back, "We agreed to beat you today."
"Handsome?" one cheerleader asked the other.
"HUSH," the other scolded.
"BOTH are kinda hot, really," a third cheerleader noted.
The leader, Mimi, ignored that. "Surrender, I'll break your leg cleanly, and you can skip the match," she offered.
:Sorry, can't do that," Sumika shrugged.
"Well, had to try," Mimi shrugged. "HUMAN PYRAMID formation! Times two!" she ordered.
"What," Ukyo blinked as two women locked arms. A third jumped on, then a fourth... then the group charged.
"Well, shit," Sumika blinked.
Both were vaguely astonished at how strong the attacking women were. Made sense tho, considering they casually tossed each other around while cheering.
Ukyo was being hammered by eith punches, and Sumika wasn't doing much better. She tried to kick the legs out from under them, but it was like kicking an iron post.
"TWO FOUR SIX EIGHT," the cheerleaders chanted, "Your arm is what we want to break!"
"Oh come ON...," Ukyo groaned.
"We worked hard on that cheer," the one girl defended herself.
"Ukyo," Sumika said, "can you get them off me a few seconds?"
Without a word Ukyo used her combat spatula to take the blows aimed at Sumika. That left her mostly defenseless, as the cheerleaders attacked.
"Hup," Sumika jumped back. She summoned up her chi, cold swirling around her hand. Punching at the ground she yelled, "North Pole Fist!"
"Huh," Mimi blunked, then the ground underthem turned to ice. All of them slipped and fell...
"Owww! My butt!" one yelped.
"TOTALLY not fair!" another yelled.
"If I had known this could happen, I'd have worn cleats," a third complained.
"Nice," Ukyo noted, not having seen Sumika's special attack.
"I don't think they're done yet," Sumika sighed as the cheerleaders re-organized,
To be continued...
Notes: Mounted Archery is actually a historical 'Martial Art.' So, yeah. I like how in the Ranma-verse, ANYTHING can have fighting uses... or Origami, the Cheerleaders and so on.