Ranma Aqua-Isekai'd, by Chaos Orchid
Chapter 25: Ranma's Seducer
"I do not believe you, Cologne." And it was now the teen boy the old woman addressed, "By the Rules of Handicap Judgment, I must let you do all of the attacking. I will only defend myself
"-But only until the Jury of the Public gets bored with you. Then, I assure you, I will attack you at the level above your ability! I will inflect so much damage on you you will not wish to challenge anybody of a higher rank without the proper training and practice!"
"Sounds about right. But what happens when I get you off this log? Is it like a ring and when you leave it, you lose?"
"That is the Chance of the Weaker," Cologne told him. "It rewards lesser fighters who can use cunning and maneuvering skills."
"And it's the Shame of the Weaker when you think you can jump to escape my blows!" Scent countered. "Your punishment is to be unrelentingly trained and pained until you welcome defeat by your betters!"
"Hmm." Ranma stooped and rubbed the surface of the log. "Worn smooth. It's not gonna be all that easy to stay on the log." Getting up, he started walking to the end of the log away from Scent, his opponent.
"Ha! Even a novice can read you intention!" Scent sneered.
"Really?" And Ranma smirked. "Thanks for tellin' me." And he pushed off with one foot and slid as far as he could before pushing forward again. Three times he did it. He came to a stop centimeters from her. He looked down at the woman half his size and grinned.
He ducked her staff, fell onto his back and used both feet this time to shove off down the surface polished from decades of use. When he came to a stop, he put his hands behind his head and crossed his legs. "You lose a handicap point of your own. You attacked me."
Scent glared at those spectators who chuckled at her expense until they fell into an uneasy silence.
She turned on him, "You are not allowed to delay the inevitable indefinitely!"
"I'm not? Maybe. But I just have my opponent's word on it. Cologne?"
"I will tell you when you have to attack, Ranma."
Perfect! Ranma could see by the other Elder's reaction that, by him allowing her rival to be able to participate as his "coach", it was further upsetting her composure. In somebody with lesser experience that would affect their tactics and movements, especially those requiring precision. And millimeters and milliseconds could be the difference of winning or losing.
Or she could just lose it emotionally and ki-blast him.
"So," he said, further annoying her by gymnastically lifting up with only his hands like a gymnast, "by The Rules, you have to just stand there and wait for me?"
"No." Scent was now the one centimeters away.
"Ranma, you should attack now," Cologne said.
"If I have to." And he shoved himself straight up off the log.
Only his balances were suddenly thrown off course! His male muscles had pushed her off, but it was her suddenly lighter female weight that that carried the momentum through! She was headed away from the log-She would lose without getting even one hit in!
Scent's staff was taller than she was and Ranma was just able to get her fingers on its knobbed head. In reaction, she yanked her staff away. "How dare you!"
But the milliseconds of disbelief had given the redhead's trained ability to redirect her centers of mass. The mid-air maneuver allowed her stay with the staff! Hanging on, she then also planted her bare feet on the just wide-enough head. She had saved herself from leaving the log. For the moment.
Scent shook her staff to be rid of the pest. "Get off! Get off! How dare you make a fool of me!" Ranma had to do something fast! She could constantly shift between her centers of mass-the elixir field, the silver mooring, the healing core, the outward space, the Akashic point, etc-around for only so long before she got it wrong!
"Challenge! How important is this thing to you?" And it became an invisible battle of who control the mass of the staff. The redhead positioned herself so her main center of gravity was outside of her body and inside the staff! A center that constantly moved as she readjusted it. This meant Scent couldn't hold her chief weapon and symbol of her power upright, but had to follow it as it jerkily continued to dip, threatening to come out of her hands and topple to the ground below. If she let it go, she would only be able to reclaim it before it ignominiously met the ground if she could reuse it as a weapon, and that would mean she was telling her jury, the Women Heroes, that she believed this upstart youngster would not only not(!) fall defeated but was somebody she needed to use her prized weapon against! It made her want to attack the teen!
Instead, Scent channeled her emotionally energized ki and decisively wrested control of her staff from her opponent, displaying her abilities by swinging the staff like a bat!
Being flung off, Ranma aimed for the log and tested her mid-air techniques this time to reach for it.
One foot came down, but did not land-It slipped! She fell on her butt and slid while struggling to not fall off the sides of the log!
"*Ha, ha!* The the ropes will stop you!" Scent cackled.
"You'd think," Ranma said, eyeing where the two rope cables from two of the tree-sized support towers came together to wrap completely around and support the Log of Judgment itself. If she raised her legs, they would be stopped by the cables and their "V" would bang painfully up against the "V" of her crotch!
Instead, she smacked the side of the log to spin herself into going head-forward. Now the "V" would have hit her back if she didn't reach up and grasp as much of the thick cables as her slender hands allowed. The fibers of its braids gave her enough grip to bring her legs acrobatically up and over to the other side of the "V".
What goes up must go down. To her modest momentum she added her ki-energy of Determination-She slammed her feet against chopped end of the 50 km, 6 m log!
And it moved!
Too pleased with the foolish sight she had made of her pest, Scent was surprised and thrown off balance on the log's sooth surface! She then had to contend with the redhead rapidly-violently-dancing in an unpredictable rhythm that vibrated the wood with their shock waves…
She tottered. And then fell.
Ranma swung back onto the log, King of the Mountain. Queen?
That lasted for a moment. Fatigued, her feet bruised, she fell on top of the wide log, straddling it with first her legs and then her arms. Chest and cheek down, she asked. "What's the judgment?"
"Not good for you!" Scent proclaimed. "Since that stunt ranks you at my level, we can now have a no holds barred match where I can(!) attack you. Willingly!"
"But not now," Cologne said. "By the Rules, since Ranma arrived on the Log of Judgment ahead of us, her Judgment Match with her first opponent must be completed first. Do you wish to handicap that boy, Ryōga, too, Scent?" She was counting on her not realizing that he wasn't in sight, because he was, probably, lost.
"Since he is not(!) a…favorite of yours…" she scowled at Ranma before snapping at Cologne, "you(!) handicap him!
"But first…!" She was about to leap back up onto the log, when Cologne brought her up to her own height and the beautiful woman kissed her!
Before witnesses.
"I will not let you give Ranma the Kiss of Death. I take it and declare myself her champion!"
"You only delay it for your favorite!"
Scent was allowed by her chief rival among the Elders to remove herself from her hold. Once done, she said to Cologne and all who could hear them, "Until the next Judgment Day!" The gathered people in the town square parted to let her walk away. Scent did it with all her mustered dignity.
Cologne waited until she was gone before she hopped on top of the log, near to the healing redhead. She commanded the attention of those below. "What is the verdict of the Jury?! Is Ranma of the Anything-Goes School better than her master, Happosai?! The abilities of the student would not be have been honed without his master!"
The amount of discussion that had always been going on increased now, punctuated by pockets of argument. The voices were mostly female and the unfamiliar din unsettled the boy.
Boy!? Ranma sat up on the log and enjoyed the sight and feeling of being himself. His other half hadn't stayed dry for very long, had he? Selfishly he wished the other Ranma wouldn't be able to find hot water for a long time. A very long time.
"My Water Magnetism technique worked," Cologne said as she squatted beside him in her long, green robe. "This should remind doubters that you were originally as male as the pervert Happosai and, yet, you defeated one of our most powerful Women Heroes without laying your hands on her."
"Yeah. I didn't break the Code, did I? Guys don't fight girls." He scratched his head and looked around at the crowd of girl fighters. "Not if they don't have to, I guess."
"There's always Instant Nannichuan," the beautiful woman smiled. "And I apologize for thinking you were like your master before. On the contrary! On the Log of Judgment, you legally lifted the condemnation I have had to live with for 130 years." Then she looked out to the others, shook her head and sighed, "Yet there will be some who disagree with the verdict. There always are."
"What does that mean?"
"Well, they won't do anything that will bring the guards. Probably. Just minor harassment from those who feel the need to test the verdict."
"Harassment?"
"That's a cue is too good to pass up!" cried somebody before she jumped up on Ranma's other side. "First dibs!"
"Kaguya!?"
"If there's anybody who can bring out the pervert in somebody, it's me!" the quite pretty girl grinned.
"You're the one I'm supposed to sleep with!" Ranma protested.
"Exactly!" she winked.
"Aren't you on guard duty?" the frowning Cologne asked.
"Even a guard gets a lunch break. Which I guess is over." And she brought out a weapon to defend herself-a jar of cold water-and poured it on herself. The handsome Tint then leaned over the ponytailed boy and asked, "A kiss before I leave for duty?"
"No way! I'm a guy!" he cried as he went to his feet, ready to fight.
"That can be changed, too," the transgender smiled, pulling out a packet labeled [Instant Nannichuan].
Getting a reaction from Ranma…he put it away. "Tonight, maybe. But…Guard duty calls, Honey. Bye!" And he jumped off of the log.
He was immediately surrounded on three sides by admiring Women Heroes, some still in male bodies. Many followed him as he left the town square.
It didn't go unnoticed by the ponytailed boy. "Why does he need me!? It looks like he can date Whoever!"
"That is the point," Cologne followed him with her eyes. "You are a challenge to her."
She shook her head and sighed. "Unfortunately, she has done you a favor by, if you'll excuse the colloquialism, calling "First Dibs"."
"A favor by sayin' he gets the first chance to harass me!?"
"Better him than others, the logic goes. Besides her reputation as a romantic figure, both as a female and a male, that none has yet equalled, there is her position as a guard. As long as you, too, are a guard, you will be within their protective circle. (Those that were eavesdropping were reminded of the situation and many walked away, discouraged.) Others will think twice about getting their attention."
"So, that gives him-her(!)-the right to be the main one hittin' on me!?" Disgusted, Ranma jumped to the ground. Cologne followed.
"As I said, the logic goes, better one than many. That is her favor."
The beautiful woman who was half-a-head shorter than him, stopped him by taking him by his upper arms. She looked him in the eye, "You must resist her or his temptations! The judgment of being an Anything-Goes pervert has not been entirely freed from you."
"But I won on the Log of Judgment!" he protested, gesturing to it. "I won the right not(!) to be judged that way!"
"A right all must recognize. But one not all must respect. We call those that witnessed what has happened here the "Jury", but it is a jury that does not vote. Their judgment is by consensus. For now, the great majority will accept the verdict you won. But that will only last until it is made a public question again."
"So, what you're sayin' is Kaguya or Tint is testin' me for everybody else?"
"As an official guard. And your own roommate, no less! And Scent called me a cunning calculator!" She walked because he was.
"I bet she's just doin' it to blackmail me." Ranma had known her for only hours, but he thought he had a good estimate of her character. "Ha! If he does, I'll fight him on the log!"
"Do not underestimate her! Access to weapon-space is by intent, and she can use hers more freely than others because of her wicked sense of humor."
"Then I'll use my…." Man! Did he have much of a sense of humor?! He teased people, but that was mainly for tactical advantage. He could use that to get things out of his weapon-space, couldn't he?
"There is an alternative. You do not have to have her as your roommate. You can move in with me."
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NOTES:
The Centers of Mass/Gravity are (1) The Elixir Field: Below the navel, the Dāntián (Jap. Tanden) is the one for the whole body and is lower in women. It has a direct, ki connection with the centers of the hands, feet and head (the Akashic point). (2) The Silver Mooring: under the solar plexus, it is where the silver cord (usually) moors the astral body to the physical body (3) The Healing Core: the Xīn (Jap. Kokoro) is, optimally, between the lungs, heart and thymus (and thyroid, Gk. Psyche) (4) The Outward Space: the where the Mass Axis leaves the body, coming out of the chest before reentering the body under the chin (5) The Akashic Point: is near where the hard palate of the mouth meets the soft (Etc) Every part of the body and its organs have their own particular mass centers. (In this AU, they do not correspond exactly with the meridians or chakras and function as presented here.)
Ranma has (mostly) won a pardon for Cologne from her having foolishly aided and abetted her crush, Happosai, by demonstrating his Master has done some good. Good that others now hope can benefit the Women Heroes and their allies.
Cologne has taken the Kiss of Death meant for Ranma. But unlike the Ranma that defeated Shampoo, she is not an outsider-far from it. The two Insiders will meet for an ultimate battle on the next Judgment Day where death is a possibility. They are usually seven days apart. But that can change if the Council of Elders proclaims a special holiday so the Jury of the Public can gather in Official Square.
Ranma is not aware, yet, of the Kiss of Death. Nor the Water Magnet Technique.