Volcano Girls, by The Talk Of The Town
Chapter 3: Training
Tofu knocked on the door of the dojo, hoping that Akane would come to the door before he ended waking anyone up. Especially not Kasumi. The last thing he needed would be to fog out now, when Akane needed him to help her train. Though, truth be told, he didn't know how he could help her, she seemed to be pretty on top of control of her power.
The door slid open slowly, and Akane's head peeked out. "Tofu-sensei, come in," she said softly, so as not to wake anyone.
*Hmm, she seems rather subdued,* Tofu noted. Aloud, he said, "Thank you, Akane. Are you alright?"
"Hai," came the automatic reply. Akane wasn't paying the good doctor much attention, though, as she was walking back to where she had set up a large slab of lead. "Do you think this would be good for target practice?"
Tofu blinked. "Um, yes, it should suffice....but why would you want to practice accuracy?"
"Well, last night when I got home, I practiced in my room. It turns out that the ability to control my power comes very easily to me. In fact, I even figured out how to fly!" Akane brightened considerably at the mention of that. "Here, let me show you."
All of a sudden, Akane was surrounded by a bright orange glow, very similar to her battle aura, only with a larger radius. She then began to float. Slowly, she rose to the ceiling of the dojo, circled the dojo once, then sunk to the floor.
Amazed, Tofu stuttered, "B-b-but how?"
Akane shrugged. "I don't know how, all I know is I concentrate on floating, and I do it. And I can fire beams of energy, too, all I have to do is concentrate on doing it, and it's done. Watch."
With that, Akane raised her hand, palm out. Then, a lance of orange-yellow energy flared out, and flew to where the lead wall was. It struck the wall and bored a hole halfway through, leaving slagged metal leaking out.
"Akane, I don't mean to be rude, but you seem to be quite proficient already with your powers...why do you need me?" Tofu asked nervously.
"Because I can't tell anyone about this," Akane said sadly. "I mean, you've heard the horrors that the mutants in America go through, the discrimination. I cannot, will not put my family through that. I need someone I can trust, to confide in about this stuff, and I trust you to keep my secret. The way I see it, I can work on my power, perfect it, and use it to help people. I may have to wear a mask, but it'll be worth it." At this, Akane flushed with pride, but also with apprehension.
"Oh, you mean like the X-Men, or Spiderman, or something like that?" Tofu said matter-of- factly.
"H-hai," Akane affirmed uncertainly. "How do you know about those? I only started looking up stuff on them last night, but they certainly seem to be the big fish over in America."
"Akane, do you remember the name of the gentleman I sent over your DNA to for confirmation of your power?"
"Oh....yes, Dr. Henry McCoy. Why?"
"He is a member of the X-Men....his alias is Beast, if I recall."
"Really??" Akane said excitedly. "The X-Men think I'm good enough to work with them??"
"Well, yes....but I thought you didn't want to leave Nerima?" Tofu was taken aback by Akane's sudden enthusiasm.
"I don't. I want to help out here. But it certainly does feel good when someone acknowledges me as having talent and skill. Unlike some people..." Akane's face darkened upon thinking of Ranma's constant berating of her skill.
"Um, Akane, please calm down, you're beginning to glow..." Tofu said, very nervous now. "That's one thing you have to learn...you can't let your temper get the best of you. You have to be in utter control of yourself at all times, because if I understand this correctly, you currently are powerful enough to totally microwave Tokyo, and soon enough you'll have enough power at your fingertips to turn the planet to nothing but a burning cinder. I strongly suggest you learn to ignore Ranma's jibes on you, either that or work it out with him, because now you're VERY dangerous to mess with."
Akane just stared at Tofu in shock. "You mean I'm that powerful....?"
"Yes, Akane. Now I see where I might be needed...."
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Nabiki took a good long soak in the furo, waiting on Akane to come up from her morning workout. It wouldn't do to have Akane watch her practice throwing ice around. She may love her little sister, but this was something she would rather keep to herself.
Just then, as if summoned by being thought of, Akane waltzed in, draped in nothing but a towel and flushed from her workout. Her face was alighted with joy. *Man, it's wonderful to fly!* she thought happily on her progress. "Nabiki-oneechan! Ohayo! What are you doing up, you're usually not up till about 10 or so?" Akane queried as she noticed her older sister standing up from the furo.
As Akane slid into the hot water, Nabiki pulled a towel around herself and got out. "Oh, just taking a soak to loosen me up a bit before I get a little workout in," she said.
Akane put on a look of slight surprise at this announcement. "Workout? When did you start working out, Nabiki?"
"Well, I've been bored, it's been too quiet around here lately. Need something to do, ne? Besides which, I think I'm putting on a couple of pounds, and without gym to work them off, I need to take care of myself," Nabiki said reasonably.
"Oh," Akane muttered, unconvinced. "Well, have a good workout and all..."
"Sure sis, I will," she smirked, and walked out of the bath.
As soon as she walked out, Nabiki hurried over to her room and retrieved her red gi that she used to use for practice when she was younger, before she lost her taste for martial arts. "Hmm, little snug...time to get some new workout gear," she said to herself, something like irritation in her voice.
When she got down to the dojo, she did a few stretches to work the kinks out, and did a kata to relax herself and get back into practice, and convince everyone that she was actually "working out". She was slow and hesitant with the kata, but she got the hang of it again by the time she finished. *Guess it's like riding a bike, you don't really forget,* she thought.
After she finished and had relaxed her mind enough to concentrate, she stood in the middle of the dojo in a horseback riding stance, a typical stance used in practice to concentrate.. Concentrating on radiating cold air from every inch of her body, she half-closed her eyes and willed the cold force. All of a sudden, she was treated to the moisture in the air condensing, becoming snowflakes, and melting again, only to re-condense. The air swirled about her, a snowstorm enclosed within a sphere of about 3 meters wide, centered on Nabiki. She widened her eyes, impressed with herself for the control she already showed. Then, suddenly, she spotted one of the bricks that Akane liked to break to let off steam. *Hell, she shouldn't mind my borrowing one of her bricks for target practice,* Nabiki thought to herself as she turned to face the brick.
Concentrating once again, she summoned the cold around her hands, then gave a mental command to fire the cold force at the brick. Suddenly, a pale blue-white beam shot from her hands, striking the brick with a bit of force, enough to shift it slightly from where it was positioned.
With a patented Nabiki smirk, she waltzed over to examine the brick. Sure enough, it was completely covered in translucent ice, about a centimeter thick.
"Not bad, considering I just learned I could do this yesterday," Nabiki murmured with pride. With that, she grabbed the brick, careful not to let it drop, and placed it outside, in a corner where no one could find a brick encased in ice in the middle of the summer. Setting the brick down, she said, "Now, how can I use this to increase my profit margin? I could keep all water that strikes Ranma cold, thereby getting more pictures of him as a girl...." She walked back towards the house, scheming of more ways to make money off of her new little gift.
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"Hey Konatsu," Ukyo shouted at her employee/confidant from across the Ucchan's as she hung up the phone, "that was my supplier. He said he'd give me my mini-spats at a huge discount, something like 75% off, for being such a good customer! This is great!"
"That's good, Ukyo-sama," Konatsu said. Then he stopped, blinked, and added, "Why did he give you such a good discount?"
Ukyo looked slightly sheepish. "Well, I ordered 2000 of them...if I paid full price for them, I'd have to mortgage the Ucchan's."
Konatsu boggled. "Why do you need so many?"
"Well, I've been thinking. You know how in Juuban they have the Sailor Senshi, getting rid of demons and all? I think I could do that around here, be like a superheroine."
Konatsu went from boggling to flat out mental shutdown at this pronouncement. All he could manage to vocalize was, "Huh?"
"Oh, bear with me, 'Natsu, cause I'm going to need your help, to train and the like. I've got a pretty good handle on my power, but I can get much better, and you can help me with not just that, but training in general, and also a costume, a name, and all that." Ukyo had a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, Konatsu? I need your help."
This seemed to somewhat shake Konatsu out of his daze. He said softly, "Alright, Ukyo. I'll help you how I can. First things first, if you're serious about this superhero thing, you need a disguise; can't have you being recognized while out fighting crime, ne?"
"That's the spirit! Well, what do you suggest?" Ukyo beamed.
"You're going to want something that you can fight in, and that will help conceal your identity, and goes with your style. Here, I've got an idea, I'll show you over in the back room." With that, Konatsu led Ukyo to the back room, intent on helping his friend/employer become a superhero.
Even if he did think she was crazy for doing it.
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After witnessing Shampoo leap about a hundred feet into the air, Spiderman decided he knew what the beam was, especially given their current location. He vaulted over to where Shampoo had landed. She appeared none the worse for wear. Are you alright, Shampoo? Spidey queried.
"H-hai, Shampoo fine," she said uncertainly. "Why I jump that high? Usually Shampoo can only jump 10 meters."
Spidey boggled. You're telling me you can usually jump 30 feet?? Nobody normal can jump like that.
"I Amazon," she said simply. "Train very hard, since I was little girl. I one of the best martial artists in Nerima," she said with some pride.
I see. Spidey looked slightly skeptical, but left it at that. Now, as for what happened to you, you were hit by a beam from a machine known as a Neogenic Recombiner. It takes characteristics of the first biological entity it hits and transfers them to the second one it hits. I got my powers because a spider got hit by a beam from it and then bit me. It seems that the beam took those same powers and transfered them to you now. Because you're already a good martial artist, and stronger and faster and more agile than a normal person, it made you that much stronger and faster and more agile.
"Wow," Shampoo breathed. "Spiderman saying that Shampoo too-too powerful now!? Aiya, now I be able to beat stupid okonomiyaki girl and violent tomboy girl to win Ranma!" she squealed in excitement.
Whoa, hold your horses there, missy, Spiderman said in a stern tone of voice. This isn't something you can use to take advantage of people. With such power as this, also comes a great responsibility.
"What you talk about, responsibility?" Shampoo looked indignant. "I responsible."
*God, this girl's about as self-righteous as J.J. Lot cuter, though,* thought Spidey. Aloud, he said, Shampoo, I'm going to tell you a story. It's a story of what happened shortly after I got my powers...
After regaling Shampoo with the story of what happened to Uncle Ben, Shampoo looked slightly sad. "That horrible," she said soberly, as if just getting over being drunk.
Let that be a lesson to you, Shampoo, that it doesn't matter that you have power, but it does matter that you use it correctly. Now, what are you going to do? Spidey couldn't help but sound like a lecturing parent.
"Shampoo going to become crimefighter, help protect those who need help," she said quietly.
Spidey looked taken aback; this wasn't what he was expecting. Um, ok Shampoo, if you really think you're up to it, I'll help you get on your feet. There isn't much I can teach you, you just have to remember what I said about responsibility. But, I can help you get a costume, and a name...
At this, Shampoo looked slightly pissed. "What wrong with Shampoo for a name??" she said angrily.
*Absolutely nothing, if you're a bottle of Pantene...* Keeping this thought silent, he said, Shampoo, you don't really think that Spiderman is my real name, do you? You need a secret identity, to keep your enemies away from you when you aren't in costume.
"Oh," Shampoo said, with an apologetic look on her face. "Well, what Spiderman suggest?"
Hmm.... Spidey mused aloud, as he thought of a name and look for Nerima's newest crimefighter.
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Kodachi lay in her bed and slept soundly.
Obviously, she wasn't that interested in additional training.
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Chapter 3: Training
Tofu knocked on the door of the dojo, hoping that Akane would come to the door before he ended waking anyone up. Especially not Kasumi. The last thing he needed would be to fog out now, when Akane needed him to help her train. Though, truth be told, he didn't know how he could help her, she seemed to be pretty on top of control of her power.
The door slid open slowly, and Akane's head peeked out. "Tofu-sensei, come in," she said softly, so as not to wake anyone.
*Hmm, she seems rather subdued,* Tofu noted. Aloud, he said, "Thank you, Akane. Are you alright?"
"Hai," came the automatic reply. Akane wasn't paying the good doctor much attention, though, as she was walking back to where she had set up a large slab of lead. "Do you think this would be good for target practice?"
Tofu blinked. "Um, yes, it should suffice....but why would you want to practice accuracy?"
"Well, last night when I got home, I practiced in my room. It turns out that the ability to control my power comes very easily to me. In fact, I even figured out how to fly!" Akane brightened considerably at the mention of that. "Here, let me show you."
All of a sudden, Akane was surrounded by a bright orange glow, very similar to her battle aura, only with a larger radius. She then began to float. Slowly, she rose to the ceiling of the dojo, circled the dojo once, then sunk to the floor.
Amazed, Tofu stuttered, "B-b-but how?"
Akane shrugged. "I don't know how, all I know is I concentrate on floating, and I do it. And I can fire beams of energy, too, all I have to do is concentrate on doing it, and it's done. Watch."
With that, Akane raised her hand, palm out. Then, a lance of orange-yellow energy flared out, and flew to where the lead wall was. It struck the wall and bored a hole halfway through, leaving slagged metal leaking out.
"Akane, I don't mean to be rude, but you seem to be quite proficient already with your powers...why do you need me?" Tofu asked nervously.
"Because I can't tell anyone about this," Akane said sadly. "I mean, you've heard the horrors that the mutants in America go through, the discrimination. I cannot, will not put my family through that. I need someone I can trust, to confide in about this stuff, and I trust you to keep my secret. The way I see it, I can work on my power, perfect it, and use it to help people. I may have to wear a mask, but it'll be worth it." At this, Akane flushed with pride, but also with apprehension.
"Oh, you mean like the X-Men, or Spiderman, or something like that?" Tofu said matter-of- factly.
"H-hai," Akane affirmed uncertainly. "How do you know about those? I only started looking up stuff on them last night, but they certainly seem to be the big fish over in America."
"Akane, do you remember the name of the gentleman I sent over your DNA to for confirmation of your power?"
"Oh....yes, Dr. Henry McCoy. Why?"
"He is a member of the X-Men....his alias is Beast, if I recall."
"Really??" Akane said excitedly. "The X-Men think I'm good enough to work with them??"
"Well, yes....but I thought you didn't want to leave Nerima?" Tofu was taken aback by Akane's sudden enthusiasm.
"I don't. I want to help out here. But it certainly does feel good when someone acknowledges me as having talent and skill. Unlike some people..." Akane's face darkened upon thinking of Ranma's constant berating of her skill.
"Um, Akane, please calm down, you're beginning to glow..." Tofu said, very nervous now. "That's one thing you have to learn...you can't let your temper get the best of you. You have to be in utter control of yourself at all times, because if I understand this correctly, you currently are powerful enough to totally microwave Tokyo, and soon enough you'll have enough power at your fingertips to turn the planet to nothing but a burning cinder. I strongly suggest you learn to ignore Ranma's jibes on you, either that or work it out with him, because now you're VERY dangerous to mess with."
Akane just stared at Tofu in shock. "You mean I'm that powerful....?"
"Yes, Akane. Now I see where I might be needed...."
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Nabiki took a good long soak in the furo, waiting on Akane to come up from her morning workout. It wouldn't do to have Akane watch her practice throwing ice around. She may love her little sister, but this was something she would rather keep to herself.
Just then, as if summoned by being thought of, Akane waltzed in, draped in nothing but a towel and flushed from her workout. Her face was alighted with joy. *Man, it's wonderful to fly!* she thought happily on her progress. "Nabiki-oneechan! Ohayo! What are you doing up, you're usually not up till about 10 or so?" Akane queried as she noticed her older sister standing up from the furo.
As Akane slid into the hot water, Nabiki pulled a towel around herself and got out. "Oh, just taking a soak to loosen me up a bit before I get a little workout in," she said.
Akane put on a look of slight surprise at this announcement. "Workout? When did you start working out, Nabiki?"
"Well, I've been bored, it's been too quiet around here lately. Need something to do, ne? Besides which, I think I'm putting on a couple of pounds, and without gym to work them off, I need to take care of myself," Nabiki said reasonably.
"Oh," Akane muttered, unconvinced. "Well, have a good workout and all..."
"Sure sis, I will," she smirked, and walked out of the bath.
As soon as she walked out, Nabiki hurried over to her room and retrieved her red gi that she used to use for practice when she was younger, before she lost her taste for martial arts. "Hmm, little snug...time to get some new workout gear," she said to herself, something like irritation in her voice.
When she got down to the dojo, she did a few stretches to work the kinks out, and did a kata to relax herself and get back into practice, and convince everyone that she was actually "working out". She was slow and hesitant with the kata, but she got the hang of it again by the time she finished. *Guess it's like riding a bike, you don't really forget,* she thought.
After she finished and had relaxed her mind enough to concentrate, she stood in the middle of the dojo in a horseback riding stance, a typical stance used in practice to concentrate.. Concentrating on radiating cold air from every inch of her body, she half-closed her eyes and willed the cold force. All of a sudden, she was treated to the moisture in the air condensing, becoming snowflakes, and melting again, only to re-condense. The air swirled about her, a snowstorm enclosed within a sphere of about 3 meters wide, centered on Nabiki. She widened her eyes, impressed with herself for the control she already showed. Then, suddenly, she spotted one of the bricks that Akane liked to break to let off steam. *Hell, she shouldn't mind my borrowing one of her bricks for target practice,* Nabiki thought to herself as she turned to face the brick.
Concentrating once again, she summoned the cold around her hands, then gave a mental command to fire the cold force at the brick. Suddenly, a pale blue-white beam shot from her hands, striking the brick with a bit of force, enough to shift it slightly from where it was positioned.
With a patented Nabiki smirk, she waltzed over to examine the brick. Sure enough, it was completely covered in translucent ice, about a centimeter thick.
"Not bad, considering I just learned I could do this yesterday," Nabiki murmured with pride. With that, she grabbed the brick, careful not to let it drop, and placed it outside, in a corner where no one could find a brick encased in ice in the middle of the summer. Setting the brick down, she said, "Now, how can I use this to increase my profit margin? I could keep all water that strikes Ranma cold, thereby getting more pictures of him as a girl...." She walked back towards the house, scheming of more ways to make money off of her new little gift.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey Konatsu," Ukyo shouted at her employee/confidant from across the Ucchan's as she hung up the phone, "that was my supplier. He said he'd give me my mini-spats at a huge discount, something like 75% off, for being such a good customer! This is great!"
"That's good, Ukyo-sama," Konatsu said. Then he stopped, blinked, and added, "Why did he give you such a good discount?"
Ukyo looked slightly sheepish. "Well, I ordered 2000 of them...if I paid full price for them, I'd have to mortgage the Ucchan's."
Konatsu boggled. "Why do you need so many?"
"Well, I've been thinking. You know how in Juuban they have the Sailor Senshi, getting rid of demons and all? I think I could do that around here, be like a superheroine."
Konatsu went from boggling to flat out mental shutdown at this pronouncement. All he could manage to vocalize was, "Huh?"
"Oh, bear with me, 'Natsu, cause I'm going to need your help, to train and the like. I've got a pretty good handle on my power, but I can get much better, and you can help me with not just that, but training in general, and also a costume, a name, and all that." Ukyo had a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, Konatsu? I need your help."
This seemed to somewhat shake Konatsu out of his daze. He said softly, "Alright, Ukyo. I'll help you how I can. First things first, if you're serious about this superhero thing, you need a disguise; can't have you being recognized while out fighting crime, ne?"
"That's the spirit! Well, what do you suggest?" Ukyo beamed.
"You're going to want something that you can fight in, and that will help conceal your identity, and goes with your style. Here, I've got an idea, I'll show you over in the back room." With that, Konatsu led Ukyo to the back room, intent on helping his friend/employer become a superhero.
Even if he did think she was crazy for doing it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After witnessing Shampoo leap about a hundred feet into the air, Spiderman decided he knew what the beam was, especially given their current location. He vaulted over to where Shampoo had landed. She appeared none the worse for wear. Are you alright, Shampoo? Spidey queried.
"H-hai, Shampoo fine," she said uncertainly. "Why I jump that high? Usually Shampoo can only jump 10 meters."
Spidey boggled. You're telling me you can usually jump 30 feet?? Nobody normal can jump like that.
"I Amazon," she said simply. "Train very hard, since I was little girl. I one of the best martial artists in Nerima," she said with some pride.
I see. Spidey looked slightly skeptical, but left it at that. Now, as for what happened to you, you were hit by a beam from a machine known as a Neogenic Recombiner. It takes characteristics of the first biological entity it hits and transfers them to the second one it hits. I got my powers because a spider got hit by a beam from it and then bit me. It seems that the beam took those same powers and transfered them to you now. Because you're already a good martial artist, and stronger and faster and more agile than a normal person, it made you that much stronger and faster and more agile.
"Wow," Shampoo breathed. "Spiderman saying that Shampoo too-too powerful now!? Aiya, now I be able to beat stupid okonomiyaki girl and violent tomboy girl to win Ranma!" she squealed in excitement.
Whoa, hold your horses there, missy, Spiderman said in a stern tone of voice. This isn't something you can use to take advantage of people. With such power as this, also comes a great responsibility.
"What you talk about, responsibility?" Shampoo looked indignant. "I responsible."
*God, this girl's about as self-righteous as J.J. Lot cuter, though,* thought Spidey. Aloud, he said, Shampoo, I'm going to tell you a story. It's a story of what happened shortly after I got my powers...
After regaling Shampoo with the story of what happened to Uncle Ben, Shampoo looked slightly sad. "That horrible," she said soberly, as if just getting over being drunk.
Let that be a lesson to you, Shampoo, that it doesn't matter that you have power, but it does matter that you use it correctly. Now, what are you going to do? Spidey couldn't help but sound like a lecturing parent.
"Shampoo going to become crimefighter, help protect those who need help," she said quietly.
Spidey looked taken aback; this wasn't what he was expecting. Um, ok Shampoo, if you really think you're up to it, I'll help you get on your feet. There isn't much I can teach you, you just have to remember what I said about responsibility. But, I can help you get a costume, and a name...
At this, Shampoo looked slightly pissed. "What wrong with Shampoo for a name??" she said angrily.
*Absolutely nothing, if you're a bottle of Pantene...* Keeping this thought silent, he said, Shampoo, you don't really think that Spiderman is my real name, do you? You need a secret identity, to keep your enemies away from you when you aren't in costume.
"Oh," Shampoo said, with an apologetic look on her face. "Well, what Spiderman suggest?"
Hmm.... Spidey mused aloud, as he thought of a name and look for Nerima's newest crimefighter.
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Kodachi lay in her bed and slept soundly.
Obviously, she wasn't that interested in additional training.
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