Howdy folks, and folkettes! Chapter Four time coming up. As
usual, thanks go out to Rumiko Takahashi, for creating the Ranma 1/2
universe, Capcom for the Street Fighter Universe, and also in this
case, White Wolf. I took the Lightning Fists from the Street Fighter:
The Storytelling game source book "The Perfect Warrior"
Comments, critiques, MSTings, and recipes for fat free
brownies (Have to throw that in there SOMEWHERE ) can be sent to
yelloped@attbi.com.
And now, awwwwayyyyyy we go!
"Life on the Flashfire Circuit"
The fights had ended an hour ago, but the party seemed to be
well under way. The guests of honor had been the victorious fighters
of Nakajima Productions, and especially Ranma. Although they were
tired from their long flight, Akane and Ranma decided to stay awake
for as long as possible, to soak in the experience.
Several of the guests were wealthy backers of Nakajima Productions,
and they seemed especially interested in Ranma. After all, many
fighters that they had seen before either didn't have the skill of
Ranma, and they didn't seem to have the natural charisma of this
uncertain teenager from Japan.
During the night, the various fighters of Nakajima Productions
re-introduced themselves, as Ranma tried to make sure he recognized
everyone.
First, there was the small, but fast and seemingly always in
motion Lei Chong Ling, a Kung Fu champion before he turned to the
Street Fighter circuit to learn more about varying martial arts. He
was seemingly very up front with everyone. He had told Ranma that he
had seen the tape of Ranma's first fight, and wondered why Mister
Nakajima had signed a veritable rookie, but after seeing Ranma's fight
against Force, understood and thought he'd be an asset to the team.
Ranma agreed, the two fought somewhat similar styles, they spent a
good couple of minutes talking about the various moves and maneuvers.
Then there was Todd Vanderstreet, who was trying to step away
from his family name, and make his own way as a fighter using a Karate
variant. He seemed a natural charmer. When introduced to Akane, he had
kissed her hand. That immediately set Ranma on edge, but he didn't say
anything. After all, you don't make a good impression by decking your
teammate the first day you know him.
The third fighter was introduced has Venton McCracken, an
American boxer, whose rough looks seemed out of place in such high
society, but Ranma liked the guy. His first question upon meeting
Ranma was, "So, how badly were you scared when you saw that wall you
were facing?", although the smile on his face and the handshake let
Ranma know he was joking. Ranma laughed, and replied, "I think it was
better I didn't know who I was facing. If I had known before hand, I
think I would have run halfway across the ocean by now." The two
laughed.
The fourth fighter, who was still somewhat groggy after his
match his match earlier in the evening. was introduced as Igor Jensen.
The huge Sanbo fighter seemed somewhat relieved that Ranma had pulled
it out for his team. However, when the two shook hands, Igor's hand
ENGULFED Ranma's. It was all Ranma could do to keep from screaming as
Igor shook his hand. Ranma could tell that this was literally a guy
who didn't know his own strength.
Ranma then shook hands with the final fighter, a Wu Shu expert
named Hector Garganza. He winced sympathetically at how slow Hector
moved around in his crutches, Ranma guessed it was his injury that
opened up a spot on the five-man roster.
As the party continued, Mister Nakajima climbed up on top of
the table. He spoke in English, which seemed to be the standard
language of the group. Ranma and Akane had taken some English lessons,
so could follow the gist of it.
"Honored Guests, Thank you for showing up at my party. I have
two special announcements to make. First of all, one of the people in
the crowd was a promoter for a tournament in Brussels. Ladies and
Gentlemen, on the undercard of the World Warrior battle between Fei
Long and Balrog, the team of Nakajma Productions has been offered a
team battle match, against the fighters known as the Lightning Fists!"
The entire crowd went nuts at this, as a fight like this would
mean a lot of recognition, and a lot of money for the team if they
won! Ranma smiled at Akane, who was grinning too. Seems like they had
hit the big time already!
Mr. Nakajima waited until the hubbub had died down from the
last announcement. "Also, we have made a major decision. We have
decided to expand the stable to a 7-fighter team. That way, we get to
keep Hector when he recovers, and when our other new fighter from
Japan, Miss Akane Tendo, is ready, We'll be stronger then ever!"
The crowd applauded, but it was the fighters who seemed the
happiest. Ranma guessed that they had formed tight bonds, and he would
have pushed somebody out when Hector recovered, which wouldn't have
been too good.
The party continued on into the night. Ranma and Akane managed
to avoid the offers of wine, preferring to sip on glasses of spring
water (Ranma tested his to be sure it wouldn't trigger his curse).
However, they had sipped enough wine, to be polite, that they felt a
little giddy. The wine had acted quickly on the both of them. And to
their surprise, they found a supply of energy to keep them going long
after they thought they'd be asleep in their beds.
Finally, as the party tuned down, and it just was Mr.
Nakajima, the various Street Fighters, and Ranma and Akane left, they
all were telling stories of life on the road. Ranma and Akane were
laughing at the stories.
Hector finished up a story of a fight on top of a building
that was being built, and then looked at Ranma and Akane. "You know,
fellow fighters, we have not initiated our new battle hermano
(brother) into our team!" This seemed to be a planned thing for they
immediately grabbed Ranma, who was halfheartedly trying to break free,
and started carrying him.
Ranma was a little nervous, but he relaxed. What could happen,
anyway. Then he freaked out as he saw where they were carrying him.
"OH no!" he cried trying to wiggle his way free, but his new teammates
had too good a grip on him. "Not the pooooooooooooool" As his
teammates threw him through the air, he only had time to think, "I
hope the water isn't cold," before...
S-P-L-A-S-H!
Then silence.
Then the sound of six jaws dropping at once, as well as Akane
covering her eyes.
Ranma-chan climbed out of the pool, shivering somewhat. She
sighed. She knew this would come out eventually, but this wasn't the
best time for everyone to find out. "I guess there's one story I have
to tell. But first.. can we PLEASE get some hot water?"
Back inside, Ranma gratefully accepted the cup of hot water
and poured it over his head. Back to his normal self, he sighed again.
"Ok. you guys probably think this is pretty weird. It all started..."
and he went on to explain the whole story of training at Jusenkyo, and
the cursed spring that he fell into.
Todd was the first one to react after the story. "If anyone
tried to tell me that was true, I'd think they were ingesting
something that gave them hallucinogenic fits. But I saw it with my own
two eyes."
A thoughtful Nakajima said "Is there a cure for the cursed
spring?" Ranma shook his head. He had spent most of his time since
being cursed, looking for the cure.
"My Pop and I have spent a lot of time looking for a cure. It
can be rather, well, inconvenient" Ranma finished, then yawned. The
Fighters immediately started apologizing, noting they had a long
flight, and Ranma and Akane took their leave.
In their way out, Ian handed Ranma a room key. "You two are in
Room 501. We're going to leave for Brussels on Saturday. So spend the
next few days relaxing, sightseeing, and getting ready. The Lightning
Fists are GOOD."
It wasn't until the two had gotten into the elevator and had
pressed the button for the fifth floor that Akane realized. "We're
sharing a room?" She winced inwardly.
Ranma shook his head wearily. "We forgot to tell Ian that the
engagement thing was by our folks, and that we would want separate
rooms. And right now, all I want is twelve hours of sleep." The two
were in for a rude shock.
There was only one bed. Big enough for two, comfortably, but
there still remained just one bed.
Ranma looked at Akane. "Ok, who gets the floor, and who gets
the bed." Akane considered the options, looked around the small room,
looked at the bed, looked at Ranma, and tossed her bag to the ground.
Akane then made a decision she probably would never had made if she
had been fully awake and alert. "Ranma, we both need the rest. Lets
share it."
Ranma face-faulted. "Are, are you serious, Akane?" Inwardly he
vowed that if he found out that his Pop and Mr. Tendo had set this up,
he was going to hurt them. Thoroughly. Slowly.
Akane sat on the bed. smoothing over the dress she was wearing
over her knees. "Ranma, we've been through a lot. I trusted you when
our parents pushed us into the Street Fighter circuit, and you needed
to train me. You trusted me when I fought, that I knew was tough for
you. We trust each other. Besides, I know nothing will happen, you
don't care for a "sexless tomboy" anyway."
For once, Akane winced, as it was HER turn to make a
thoughtless comment. But it's true, she thought to herself. And any
chance he might have to care for her she destroyed with her reaction.
The small portion of her mind that was still functioning normally was
outraged at her careless admission. What do you care for how he feels
about you? He's a pervert, a hentai! Akane mentally silenced that
voice, then looked up. Ranma was SMILING??? How dare he? He'd better
have a good reason for that, or he'd get smashed with Mallet-Sama so
fast...
Ranma was almost as giddy as Akane at this point. Maybe even
worse, he thought to himself. Not only had he flown for many hours,
but he survived a crazy driver, fought someone who looked more like a
wall then anything, and then had a long night. And once again, he
spoke without thinking.
"I thought that was MY line, Akane." he said, a goofy smile
on his face. "And for me, not caring for a sexless tomboy," he
continued, taking her hand in his and raising it to his hand in a
courtly fashion, much as Todd Vanderstreet had earlier, "You couldn't
be any further from the truth. But right now, I think we both need a
good sleep. We'll talk about it more in the morning."
Ranma turned off the light.. and climbed underneath the
covers, and turned his head so he couldn't see anything but the wall,
as not to embarrass Akane. Plus he had been called a peeping tom
enough, and rather not make that particular charge true. His last
coherent thought was "If Kuno wanted to kill me earlier, he'd want to
kill me twice as badly for sleeping in the same bed as Akane."
Akane blushed, but quickly prepared herself for bed, and
climbed in , and got into the other half of the bed. She listened to
Ranma's breath even out as he slipped into a deep sleep. "Good night,
Ranma-kun" she said, even knowing that he was asleep, and quickly
slipped into a much needed sleep herself.
Ranma was the first to wake, as the sun had sent it's beam
right across his face. He slowly came to consciousness, and shifted
slightly. That's when he realized he wasn't alone in bed. He turned to
see Akane sleeping peacefully on the other part of the bed.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, she's gonna kill me", Ranma thought, panicking
to himself. Only sheer terror closing his throat kept him from
screaming in panic.
Ranma quietly slid out of the bed, praying that Akane would
not wake. Thankfully, while she twitched a couple of times, he was
able to get out of bed safely. Wondering what the heck had happened
last night, Ranma climbed into the shower. Halfway through, his memory
started coming back.
"Ok, I told everybody about my curse, then Ian give me and
Akane the key to our room, and then," Ranma winced, as the last part
of the conversation came back. He hoped that Akane didn't remember the
night. Even though she had suggested it, she'd find a way to make it
his fault. When she had herself convinced that it was his fault, out
would come the Mallet of Doom, and Ranma would be sent into low earth
orbit. And this time, he wouldn't know how to get back.
Quickly thinking to himself, he decided that unless Akane
brought it up, he wouldn't say anything. And the strange thing was,
now that he thought about it, he did care about Akane a lot, but she
probably would laugh if they were both sober, and he tried to tell her
that he really cared about her. Not that he wanted to marry her, or
anything, he assured himself, but she was nice to be around. (well,
most of the time). Too bad there was no chance he could tell her that,
without ruining it.
Akane woke up, and she turned over slightly, and saw the place
where Ranma had been sleeping. The events of the past night came back
to her, and her first reaction was to start thinking of how loudly to
yell at Ranma, and how hard to smash him. But then she fully realized
what happened, and she blushed and let go of her anger.
"He probably won't ever say it while we're both sober, but at
least I know he cares about me." Akane then sighed. Even drunk, she
hadn't told him how much she cared for him as well. But then, knowing
Ranma, he'd just shrug it off. But she did care for him. He had been
getting better with remarks, and his training really did help. Too bad
there was no chance she could tell him that, without ruining it.
The two pretended as if the previous night didn't exist. Ranma
grabbed Ian, and explained their plight, and Ian promised to see if he
could get them separate rooms. Later that day, Ranma and Akane went
sightseeing, taking in the sights of Rome, acting like a couple of
teenagers (which they happened to be). They shared laughs and smiles,
Akane had brought her camera with her, and the two took about half a
roll of shots of the various sights. The two seemed to dodge around
any discussion of the previous night.
Ian was true to his word, getting Ranma a separate room, and
after a fine Italian dinner, even Ranma was full by the time the team
had finished the heap of pasta that they were served. Soon, they went
to their separate rooms and separate beds. And although they would
never admit to it, They dreamt of each other.
The next few days passed by quickly. Ranma and Akane visited
all the usual tourist spots that Rome had to offer. But after two
days, Ranma was restless, and so was Akane. Ranma asked Ian if there
was a grassy field somewhere that Ranma and Akane could spar and
practice on. Ian consulted his ever-present black book, and drove the
two to a suburb of Rome, about an hour and a half away. "I'll be back
in two hours, have a good practice!"
Ranma led Akane through the basics again. It had been several
days since Akane had last practiced, and in that time, she had
backslid slightly. But soon enough, Akane was firing off her kata
smoothly, and the two ran through some of the more advanced drills
Ranma had devised. Once Akane had that down, Ranma decided to run a
new exercise.
"Ok, Akane, I saw a move early in my Nerima fight that I think
you could do. It'd be a great move. No matter how many times you hit a
wrestler, such as our teammate Igor, or that guy Force I fought, the
fact remains, that if they catch you, they are going to seriously hurt
you. But this guy did a backflip, and during the backflip, he
connected with both feet underneath his opponent's chin. By the time
the big guy could regain his senses, the other guy was far enough away
that he would have to track him down all over again. I don't expect
you to pull that off right away, but lets see if we can get you to do
the backflip first." Ranma explained. He hoped this worked, Akane was
a good close in fighter, but if she had closed in against Force, she
would have been smashed. This way she could get herself out of
trouble.
Akane nodded, assumed her guard stance, and leaped backwards.
She had to put her hands down, and even that didn't help, she lost her
balance, and flopped flat on her face. She grimaced, got back to her
feet, and tried again. This time, she didn't even have a chance to put
her hands down, falling nearly flat on her face.
The next forty minutes were sheer torture. Time and time
again, she threw herself backwards, and not a single time was she able
to land the move successfully. Either she would over-rotate and land
flat on her back, or nearly piledrive herself if she couldn't make the
full backflip. Ranma considered ditching the idea, to let her get
acquainted with a few more moves, before trying the backflip kick
again. Finally he said, "Ok Akane, I just want you to hit one. Then
we'll spar for a while, before Ian shows up."
Akane nodded, making a few minor adjustments to her stance,
bending her knees a little deeper, then sprang, and landed the
backflip correctly. Still intent, she leaped twice more, correctly
landing the move each time. She was about to attempt it again when
Ranma put a hand on her shoulder. She started slightly, then grinned
at Ranma. "How was that, "Sensei""? She asked.
Ranma grinned. "Real good. REAL good. Ready to spar?" He had
been surprised before, but her perseverance made him proud. Ranma knew
many martial artists who would be convinced that if they couldn't do a
move the third time they tried it, they'd be convinced that they would
never be able to do it. The two quickly assumed their guard stance,
and started a light sparring session.
As they got more comfortable with each other's defenses, the
sparring sped up. Ranma wasn't giving one hundred percent, but he was
having to work several times harder then he had used to keep up with
Akane. Akane seemed to have a natural knowledge of how to handle
Ranma's kicks and punches, and what moves he'd use in combination with
each other, so she shifted from one block to another without a pause.
Near the end of the session, Ranma decided to surprise Akane.
He faked a front kick, planted his front foot and pushed off, leaping
into the air, corkscrewing his body with a jumping sweep roundhouse
kick. He momentarily felt bad, she hadn't seen this before, but he
wanted to see if she could adjust to new maneuvers. he swept his foot
around, and tried to slow it down, so he wouldn't hit her to hard.
Ranma realized in surprise that not only did he NOT hit Akane
hard, she had ducked underneath him and rolled underneath. Completing
the roll, she popped up to her guard stance, as Ranma whirled around
to prevent Akane from getting a free shot in at his back. As he
turned, she set herself, and leapt.
Akane's feet connected solidly right under Ranma's chin and
sent him flying backwards, eyes wide in surprise. Akane finished the
back flip, and landed neatly on her feet. Ranma lay where he had
fallen, not from pain, from surprise. He had just shown her that basic
move earlier, and she pulled it out of nowhere to surprise him??? As
he levered himself on one elbow, the look on Akane's face was stunned
shock herself. Akane had been as surprised as anybody, but it almost
seemed automatic to throw herself under the kick from Ranma, then the
perfect setup to do the backflip kick. She looked at Ranma. Then
smiled.
"I guess the student takes a point from the teacher, eh
"Sensei"?" Akane asked, trying to avoid grinning like a fool. She had
finally scored a point off of Ranma in a sparring session! Ranma
picked himself up off of the ground, made sure his jaw was still in
place, half from the force of the blow, half from the surprise.
"Yeah, but what's that, 500 for me and one for you? Gonna have
to do that a lot to catch up, there Akane!" Ranma fired back, "And
this time you won't catch me off guard. Using a move I just taught
you. Hmph"
A lot of laughter was heard in the last twenty minutes of the
sparring session.
The next two days passed by in a blur for Ranma and Akane.
Both days they spent sparring, joined by Lei Chong Ling, who wanted to
see the Anything Goes Martial Arts style and some of the moves it
used.
Finally, on Friday, the team took a chartered plane first
class from Rome to Brussels, Belgium, where there next fight was to
take place.
Once the team arrived, their demeanor took a change. Before,
they were somewhat happy go lucky, and pleasant. Now they were edgy.
They had a week to prepare themselves for what could be the biggest
fight of their lives, and they had never fought together as a unit.
Todd and Ranma seemed to be always on edge when it came to one
another. Both Todd and Ranma liked to bounce from place to place,
trying to catch their opponents off guard and get a free strike.
However, when you only had five fighters, you could only have one
person bouncing around like that, it put too much of a burden on your
teammates to have to try to fend off a team of five when you only had
three shouldering the brunt of the attacks.
It didn't help that Todd was still acting like a courtly
suitor to Akane every chance he got. Honestly, Ranma thought to
himself, this guy's as bad as Kuno. Fortunately for both Todd's health
and for Ranma's blood pressure, Akane seemed to take it in stride.
Finally, Ranma shrugged mentally, and decided to change his
style, for the good of the team. The team seemed to click after that.
In a practice fight against several local martial artists, the team
took very little time in dispatching their opponents.
The day before the tournament, the two teams met by the arena
they would be using for the fight. Thanks to a hefty bribe, the
stadium was "closed for repairs, and upkeep" for a week, so the Street
Fighters could use it without fear of being raided.
This was Ranma's first opportunity to size up his opponents,
He had ample time, as the promoters played up the conflicts in this
team fight.
Ranma had heard rumours that the leader of the Lightning
Fists, Bonnie Brown, who was not so affectionately known as "Backhand
Bonnie" to the Street Fighting public. She supposedly had run the New
York City streets when she was growing up, and looking at her in
person, Ranma had trouble disagreeing with them. When he had asked
Hector about Brown, he replied, "That Chica is 8 feet worth of bitch
packed into a 5 foot 6 frame."
Standing next to her, was a smiling dark skinned man. His
bushy black beard jutting out, he seemed well at ease with the area.
Ranma took a second look, however, beneath that friendly exterior
located a cold heart that not even magma could warm, when he thought
nobody was looking, the look on Mustafa's face could only be called
patronizing. Ranma reminded himself that this Thai Kickboxer would be
one to watch.
Santo Hidetoshi stood next to his teammates, a tailored
business suit covering his immense bulk. The sumo wrestler seemed
somewhat friendly towards his opponent. This was a person who he
wouldn't mind having on his side, Ranma thought to himself. Now only
if he had a better choice of teammates.
Hercules Harrison stood off to one side, not saying anything,
taking the scene in with black orbs that seemed dull and defeated.
Ranma had heard about him. During a professional wrestling match over
in the USA, he had accidentally broken his opponent's neck. After he
had served a 2-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter, the
legendary "Rock of Gibraltar" had retired from wrestling, and
proceeded to try to drink himself into oblivion. Only the intervention
of the Lightning Fists kept him from succeeding.
The last person seemed a bit old to be fighting, his hair and
beard had gone completely gray, lightening almost to white. But he had
been told that Fixer was the brains behind the team, that while Brown
led the team, he was the heart of it. Ranma nodded to himself. Don't
miss an opportunity to take this one out, he told himself.
Finally, the promoters had stopped talking about the
Balrog/Fei Long "Fists of Fury" match, and Bonnie Brown, sneering at
the Nakajima Productions fighters, took the microphone.
"First of all, the Lightening Fists would like to welcome the
"esteemed" members of Nakajima Productions to Brussels." The way she
said esteemed made it sound like something an incontinent dog leaves
by the side of the road. "Now we'd like to tell them to go home. The
Fists ain't lost a team fight yet, and there's no way we're gonna
start." The sadistic grin on Brown's face seemed to add extra emphasis
to her words.
"You see, they're good, but they are going to get beat
severely. See those two?", pointing to Lei Chong Ling and to Todd
Vanderstreet, "I told Hercules and Santo to smash them like twigs.
Mustafa's promised me that he's going to choke out Jensen. Fixer's got
Venton McCracken all under control, and the kid?", while pointing to
Ranma, "The kid's going to get his ass whooped so hard, that any
grandkids, not that I'm gonna leave him the equipment to have
grandkids anyway, will feel it."
Ranma had had it with this, well, this BITCH's posturing.
Detaching himself from his team, he walked toward Brown, and stood eye
to eye with her. Ranma's eyes had a hint of fire in them, as he said
quietly, "Want to say that again?"
Brown smiled at her teammates, then quickly sunk a knee into
Ranma's groin. As Ranma went down, writhing in pain, the rest of his
team came in to back him up. But someone else already had that
covered.
Akane grabbed Brown by the shoulder, turned her around, and
LEVELED her with a devastating right hand. Not content with just
that, Akane picked up the bleeding Brown and threw her right into her
teammates, who were charging in. As the Lightning Fists collapsed in a
heap, security moved in and made sure the two teams couldn't get at
each other.
Brown got to her feet, and would have charged Akane, if it
wasn't for the hordes of security separating them. "YOU BITCH! JUST
FOR THAT I'M GONNA MAKE SURE I BREAK AT LEAST ONE BONE ON EACH MEMBER
OF YOUR TEAM. NO ONE DECKS BONNIE BROWN AND GETS AWAY WITH IT"
Akane helped a still groaning Ranma to his feet. "Just try
it." She got out in return. The flashbulbs were popping. It wasn't
every day that you got to see two World Warriors going at it, but an
added bonus (at least for those in attendance) was to see a bonafide
grudge match as well.
The general feeling was, this should be interesting.
usual, thanks go out to Rumiko Takahashi, for creating the Ranma 1/2
universe, Capcom for the Street Fighter Universe, and also in this
case, White Wolf. I took the Lightning Fists from the Street Fighter:
The Storytelling game source book "The Perfect Warrior"
Comments, critiques, MSTings, and recipes for fat free
brownies (Have to throw that in there SOMEWHERE ) can be sent to
yelloped@attbi.com.
And now, awwwwayyyyyy we go!
"Life on the Flashfire Circuit"
The fights had ended an hour ago, but the party seemed to be
well under way. The guests of honor had been the victorious fighters
of Nakajima Productions, and especially Ranma. Although they were
tired from their long flight, Akane and Ranma decided to stay awake
for as long as possible, to soak in the experience.
Several of the guests were wealthy backers of Nakajima Productions,
and they seemed especially interested in Ranma. After all, many
fighters that they had seen before either didn't have the skill of
Ranma, and they didn't seem to have the natural charisma of this
uncertain teenager from Japan.
During the night, the various fighters of Nakajima Productions
re-introduced themselves, as Ranma tried to make sure he recognized
everyone.
First, there was the small, but fast and seemingly always in
motion Lei Chong Ling, a Kung Fu champion before he turned to the
Street Fighter circuit to learn more about varying martial arts. He
was seemingly very up front with everyone. He had told Ranma that he
had seen the tape of Ranma's first fight, and wondered why Mister
Nakajima had signed a veritable rookie, but after seeing Ranma's fight
against Force, understood and thought he'd be an asset to the team.
Ranma agreed, the two fought somewhat similar styles, they spent a
good couple of minutes talking about the various moves and maneuvers.
Then there was Todd Vanderstreet, who was trying to step away
from his family name, and make his own way as a fighter using a Karate
variant. He seemed a natural charmer. When introduced to Akane, he had
kissed her hand. That immediately set Ranma on edge, but he didn't say
anything. After all, you don't make a good impression by decking your
teammate the first day you know him.
The third fighter was introduced has Venton McCracken, an
American boxer, whose rough looks seemed out of place in such high
society, but Ranma liked the guy. His first question upon meeting
Ranma was, "So, how badly were you scared when you saw that wall you
were facing?", although the smile on his face and the handshake let
Ranma know he was joking. Ranma laughed, and replied, "I think it was
better I didn't know who I was facing. If I had known before hand, I
think I would have run halfway across the ocean by now." The two
laughed.
The fourth fighter, who was still somewhat groggy after his
match his match earlier in the evening. was introduced as Igor Jensen.
The huge Sanbo fighter seemed somewhat relieved that Ranma had pulled
it out for his team. However, when the two shook hands, Igor's hand
ENGULFED Ranma's. It was all Ranma could do to keep from screaming as
Igor shook his hand. Ranma could tell that this was literally a guy
who didn't know his own strength.
Ranma then shook hands with the final fighter, a Wu Shu expert
named Hector Garganza. He winced sympathetically at how slow Hector
moved around in his crutches, Ranma guessed it was his injury that
opened up a spot on the five-man roster.
As the party continued, Mister Nakajima climbed up on top of
the table. He spoke in English, which seemed to be the standard
language of the group. Ranma and Akane had taken some English lessons,
so could follow the gist of it.
"Honored Guests, Thank you for showing up at my party. I have
two special announcements to make. First of all, one of the people in
the crowd was a promoter for a tournament in Brussels. Ladies and
Gentlemen, on the undercard of the World Warrior battle between Fei
Long and Balrog, the team of Nakajma Productions has been offered a
team battle match, against the fighters known as the Lightning Fists!"
The entire crowd went nuts at this, as a fight like this would
mean a lot of recognition, and a lot of money for the team if they
won! Ranma smiled at Akane, who was grinning too. Seems like they had
hit the big time already!
Mr. Nakajima waited until the hubbub had died down from the
last announcement. "Also, we have made a major decision. We have
decided to expand the stable to a 7-fighter team. That way, we get to
keep Hector when he recovers, and when our other new fighter from
Japan, Miss Akane Tendo, is ready, We'll be stronger then ever!"
The crowd applauded, but it was the fighters who seemed the
happiest. Ranma guessed that they had formed tight bonds, and he would
have pushed somebody out when Hector recovered, which wouldn't have
been too good.
The party continued on into the night. Ranma and Akane managed
to avoid the offers of wine, preferring to sip on glasses of spring
water (Ranma tested his to be sure it wouldn't trigger his curse).
However, they had sipped enough wine, to be polite, that they felt a
little giddy. The wine had acted quickly on the both of them. And to
their surprise, they found a supply of energy to keep them going long
after they thought they'd be asleep in their beds.
Finally, as the party tuned down, and it just was Mr.
Nakajima, the various Street Fighters, and Ranma and Akane left, they
all were telling stories of life on the road. Ranma and Akane were
laughing at the stories.
Hector finished up a story of a fight on top of a building
that was being built, and then looked at Ranma and Akane. "You know,
fellow fighters, we have not initiated our new battle hermano
(brother) into our team!" This seemed to be a planned thing for they
immediately grabbed Ranma, who was halfheartedly trying to break free,
and started carrying him.
Ranma was a little nervous, but he relaxed. What could happen,
anyway. Then he freaked out as he saw where they were carrying him.
"OH no!" he cried trying to wiggle his way free, but his new teammates
had too good a grip on him. "Not the pooooooooooooool" As his
teammates threw him through the air, he only had time to think, "I
hope the water isn't cold," before...
S-P-L-A-S-H!
Then silence.
Then the sound of six jaws dropping at once, as well as Akane
covering her eyes.
Ranma-chan climbed out of the pool, shivering somewhat. She
sighed. She knew this would come out eventually, but this wasn't the
best time for everyone to find out. "I guess there's one story I have
to tell. But first.. can we PLEASE get some hot water?"
Back inside, Ranma gratefully accepted the cup of hot water
and poured it over his head. Back to his normal self, he sighed again.
"Ok. you guys probably think this is pretty weird. It all started..."
and he went on to explain the whole story of training at Jusenkyo, and
the cursed spring that he fell into.
Todd was the first one to react after the story. "If anyone
tried to tell me that was true, I'd think they were ingesting
something that gave them hallucinogenic fits. But I saw it with my own
two eyes."
A thoughtful Nakajima said "Is there a cure for the cursed
spring?" Ranma shook his head. He had spent most of his time since
being cursed, looking for the cure.
"My Pop and I have spent a lot of time looking for a cure. It
can be rather, well, inconvenient" Ranma finished, then yawned. The
Fighters immediately started apologizing, noting they had a long
flight, and Ranma and Akane took their leave.
In their way out, Ian handed Ranma a room key. "You two are in
Room 501. We're going to leave for Brussels on Saturday. So spend the
next few days relaxing, sightseeing, and getting ready. The Lightning
Fists are GOOD."
It wasn't until the two had gotten into the elevator and had
pressed the button for the fifth floor that Akane realized. "We're
sharing a room?" She winced inwardly.
Ranma shook his head wearily. "We forgot to tell Ian that the
engagement thing was by our folks, and that we would want separate
rooms. And right now, all I want is twelve hours of sleep." The two
were in for a rude shock.
There was only one bed. Big enough for two, comfortably, but
there still remained just one bed.
Ranma looked at Akane. "Ok, who gets the floor, and who gets
the bed." Akane considered the options, looked around the small room,
looked at the bed, looked at Ranma, and tossed her bag to the ground.
Akane then made a decision she probably would never had made if she
had been fully awake and alert. "Ranma, we both need the rest. Lets
share it."
Ranma face-faulted. "Are, are you serious, Akane?" Inwardly he
vowed that if he found out that his Pop and Mr. Tendo had set this up,
he was going to hurt them. Thoroughly. Slowly.
Akane sat on the bed. smoothing over the dress she was wearing
over her knees. "Ranma, we've been through a lot. I trusted you when
our parents pushed us into the Street Fighter circuit, and you needed
to train me. You trusted me when I fought, that I knew was tough for
you. We trust each other. Besides, I know nothing will happen, you
don't care for a "sexless tomboy" anyway."
For once, Akane winced, as it was HER turn to make a
thoughtless comment. But it's true, she thought to herself. And any
chance he might have to care for her she destroyed with her reaction.
The small portion of her mind that was still functioning normally was
outraged at her careless admission. What do you care for how he feels
about you? He's a pervert, a hentai! Akane mentally silenced that
voice, then looked up. Ranma was SMILING??? How dare he? He'd better
have a good reason for that, or he'd get smashed with Mallet-Sama so
fast...
Ranma was almost as giddy as Akane at this point. Maybe even
worse, he thought to himself. Not only had he flown for many hours,
but he survived a crazy driver, fought someone who looked more like a
wall then anything, and then had a long night. And once again, he
spoke without thinking.
"I thought that was MY line, Akane." he said, a goofy smile
on his face. "And for me, not caring for a sexless tomboy," he
continued, taking her hand in his and raising it to his hand in a
courtly fashion, much as Todd Vanderstreet had earlier, "You couldn't
be any further from the truth. But right now, I think we both need a
good sleep. We'll talk about it more in the morning."
Ranma turned off the light.. and climbed underneath the
covers, and turned his head so he couldn't see anything but the wall,
as not to embarrass Akane. Plus he had been called a peeping tom
enough, and rather not make that particular charge true. His last
coherent thought was "If Kuno wanted to kill me earlier, he'd want to
kill me twice as badly for sleeping in the same bed as Akane."
Akane blushed, but quickly prepared herself for bed, and
climbed in , and got into the other half of the bed. She listened to
Ranma's breath even out as he slipped into a deep sleep. "Good night,
Ranma-kun" she said, even knowing that he was asleep, and quickly
slipped into a much needed sleep herself.
Ranma was the first to wake, as the sun had sent it's beam
right across his face. He slowly came to consciousness, and shifted
slightly. That's when he realized he wasn't alone in bed. He turned to
see Akane sleeping peacefully on the other part of the bed.
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod, she's gonna kill me", Ranma thought, panicking
to himself. Only sheer terror closing his throat kept him from
screaming in panic.
Ranma quietly slid out of the bed, praying that Akane would
not wake. Thankfully, while she twitched a couple of times, he was
able to get out of bed safely. Wondering what the heck had happened
last night, Ranma climbed into the shower. Halfway through, his memory
started coming back.
"Ok, I told everybody about my curse, then Ian give me and
Akane the key to our room, and then," Ranma winced, as the last part
of the conversation came back. He hoped that Akane didn't remember the
night. Even though she had suggested it, she'd find a way to make it
his fault. When she had herself convinced that it was his fault, out
would come the Mallet of Doom, and Ranma would be sent into low earth
orbit. And this time, he wouldn't know how to get back.
Quickly thinking to himself, he decided that unless Akane
brought it up, he wouldn't say anything. And the strange thing was,
now that he thought about it, he did care about Akane a lot, but she
probably would laugh if they were both sober, and he tried to tell her
that he really cared about her. Not that he wanted to marry her, or
anything, he assured himself, but she was nice to be around. (well,
most of the time). Too bad there was no chance he could tell her that,
without ruining it.
Akane woke up, and she turned over slightly, and saw the place
where Ranma had been sleeping. The events of the past night came back
to her, and her first reaction was to start thinking of how loudly to
yell at Ranma, and how hard to smash him. But then she fully realized
what happened, and she blushed and let go of her anger.
"He probably won't ever say it while we're both sober, but at
least I know he cares about me." Akane then sighed. Even drunk, she
hadn't told him how much she cared for him as well. But then, knowing
Ranma, he'd just shrug it off. But she did care for him. He had been
getting better with remarks, and his training really did help. Too bad
there was no chance she could tell him that, without ruining it.
The two pretended as if the previous night didn't exist. Ranma
grabbed Ian, and explained their plight, and Ian promised to see if he
could get them separate rooms. Later that day, Ranma and Akane went
sightseeing, taking in the sights of Rome, acting like a couple of
teenagers (which they happened to be). They shared laughs and smiles,
Akane had brought her camera with her, and the two took about half a
roll of shots of the various sights. The two seemed to dodge around
any discussion of the previous night.
Ian was true to his word, getting Ranma a separate room, and
after a fine Italian dinner, even Ranma was full by the time the team
had finished the heap of pasta that they were served. Soon, they went
to their separate rooms and separate beds. And although they would
never admit to it, They dreamt of each other.
The next few days passed by quickly. Ranma and Akane visited
all the usual tourist spots that Rome had to offer. But after two
days, Ranma was restless, and so was Akane. Ranma asked Ian if there
was a grassy field somewhere that Ranma and Akane could spar and
practice on. Ian consulted his ever-present black book, and drove the
two to a suburb of Rome, about an hour and a half away. "I'll be back
in two hours, have a good practice!"
Ranma led Akane through the basics again. It had been several
days since Akane had last practiced, and in that time, she had
backslid slightly. But soon enough, Akane was firing off her kata
smoothly, and the two ran through some of the more advanced drills
Ranma had devised. Once Akane had that down, Ranma decided to run a
new exercise.
"Ok, Akane, I saw a move early in my Nerima fight that I think
you could do. It'd be a great move. No matter how many times you hit a
wrestler, such as our teammate Igor, or that guy Force I fought, the
fact remains, that if they catch you, they are going to seriously hurt
you. But this guy did a backflip, and during the backflip, he
connected with both feet underneath his opponent's chin. By the time
the big guy could regain his senses, the other guy was far enough away
that he would have to track him down all over again. I don't expect
you to pull that off right away, but lets see if we can get you to do
the backflip first." Ranma explained. He hoped this worked, Akane was
a good close in fighter, but if she had closed in against Force, she
would have been smashed. This way she could get herself out of
trouble.
Akane nodded, assumed her guard stance, and leaped backwards.
She had to put her hands down, and even that didn't help, she lost her
balance, and flopped flat on her face. She grimaced, got back to her
feet, and tried again. This time, she didn't even have a chance to put
her hands down, falling nearly flat on her face.
The next forty minutes were sheer torture. Time and time
again, she threw herself backwards, and not a single time was she able
to land the move successfully. Either she would over-rotate and land
flat on her back, or nearly piledrive herself if she couldn't make the
full backflip. Ranma considered ditching the idea, to let her get
acquainted with a few more moves, before trying the backflip kick
again. Finally he said, "Ok Akane, I just want you to hit one. Then
we'll spar for a while, before Ian shows up."
Akane nodded, making a few minor adjustments to her stance,
bending her knees a little deeper, then sprang, and landed the
backflip correctly. Still intent, she leaped twice more, correctly
landing the move each time. She was about to attempt it again when
Ranma put a hand on her shoulder. She started slightly, then grinned
at Ranma. "How was that, "Sensei""? She asked.
Ranma grinned. "Real good. REAL good. Ready to spar?" He had
been surprised before, but her perseverance made him proud. Ranma knew
many martial artists who would be convinced that if they couldn't do a
move the third time they tried it, they'd be convinced that they would
never be able to do it. The two quickly assumed their guard stance,
and started a light sparring session.
As they got more comfortable with each other's defenses, the
sparring sped up. Ranma wasn't giving one hundred percent, but he was
having to work several times harder then he had used to keep up with
Akane. Akane seemed to have a natural knowledge of how to handle
Ranma's kicks and punches, and what moves he'd use in combination with
each other, so she shifted from one block to another without a pause.
Near the end of the session, Ranma decided to surprise Akane.
He faked a front kick, planted his front foot and pushed off, leaping
into the air, corkscrewing his body with a jumping sweep roundhouse
kick. He momentarily felt bad, she hadn't seen this before, but he
wanted to see if she could adjust to new maneuvers. he swept his foot
around, and tried to slow it down, so he wouldn't hit her to hard.
Ranma realized in surprise that not only did he NOT hit Akane
hard, she had ducked underneath him and rolled underneath. Completing
the roll, she popped up to her guard stance, as Ranma whirled around
to prevent Akane from getting a free shot in at his back. As he
turned, she set herself, and leapt.
Akane's feet connected solidly right under Ranma's chin and
sent him flying backwards, eyes wide in surprise. Akane finished the
back flip, and landed neatly on her feet. Ranma lay where he had
fallen, not from pain, from surprise. He had just shown her that basic
move earlier, and she pulled it out of nowhere to surprise him??? As
he levered himself on one elbow, the look on Akane's face was stunned
shock herself. Akane had been as surprised as anybody, but it almost
seemed automatic to throw herself under the kick from Ranma, then the
perfect setup to do the backflip kick. She looked at Ranma. Then
smiled.
"I guess the student takes a point from the teacher, eh
"Sensei"?" Akane asked, trying to avoid grinning like a fool. She had
finally scored a point off of Ranma in a sparring session! Ranma
picked himself up off of the ground, made sure his jaw was still in
place, half from the force of the blow, half from the surprise.
"Yeah, but what's that, 500 for me and one for you? Gonna have
to do that a lot to catch up, there Akane!" Ranma fired back, "And
this time you won't catch me off guard. Using a move I just taught
you. Hmph"
A lot of laughter was heard in the last twenty minutes of the
sparring session.
The next two days passed by in a blur for Ranma and Akane.
Both days they spent sparring, joined by Lei Chong Ling, who wanted to
see the Anything Goes Martial Arts style and some of the moves it
used.
Finally, on Friday, the team took a chartered plane first
class from Rome to Brussels, Belgium, where there next fight was to
take place.
Once the team arrived, their demeanor took a change. Before,
they were somewhat happy go lucky, and pleasant. Now they were edgy.
They had a week to prepare themselves for what could be the biggest
fight of their lives, and they had never fought together as a unit.
Todd and Ranma seemed to be always on edge when it came to one
another. Both Todd and Ranma liked to bounce from place to place,
trying to catch their opponents off guard and get a free strike.
However, when you only had five fighters, you could only have one
person bouncing around like that, it put too much of a burden on your
teammates to have to try to fend off a team of five when you only had
three shouldering the brunt of the attacks.
It didn't help that Todd was still acting like a courtly
suitor to Akane every chance he got. Honestly, Ranma thought to
himself, this guy's as bad as Kuno. Fortunately for both Todd's health
and for Ranma's blood pressure, Akane seemed to take it in stride.
Finally, Ranma shrugged mentally, and decided to change his
style, for the good of the team. The team seemed to click after that.
In a practice fight against several local martial artists, the team
took very little time in dispatching their opponents.
The day before the tournament, the two teams met by the arena
they would be using for the fight. Thanks to a hefty bribe, the
stadium was "closed for repairs, and upkeep" for a week, so the Street
Fighters could use it without fear of being raided.
This was Ranma's first opportunity to size up his opponents,
He had ample time, as the promoters played up the conflicts in this
team fight.
Ranma had heard rumours that the leader of the Lightning
Fists, Bonnie Brown, who was not so affectionately known as "Backhand
Bonnie" to the Street Fighting public. She supposedly had run the New
York City streets when she was growing up, and looking at her in
person, Ranma had trouble disagreeing with them. When he had asked
Hector about Brown, he replied, "That Chica is 8 feet worth of bitch
packed into a 5 foot 6 frame."
Standing next to her, was a smiling dark skinned man. His
bushy black beard jutting out, he seemed well at ease with the area.
Ranma took a second look, however, beneath that friendly exterior
located a cold heart that not even magma could warm, when he thought
nobody was looking, the look on Mustafa's face could only be called
patronizing. Ranma reminded himself that this Thai Kickboxer would be
one to watch.
Santo Hidetoshi stood next to his teammates, a tailored
business suit covering his immense bulk. The sumo wrestler seemed
somewhat friendly towards his opponent. This was a person who he
wouldn't mind having on his side, Ranma thought to himself. Now only
if he had a better choice of teammates.
Hercules Harrison stood off to one side, not saying anything,
taking the scene in with black orbs that seemed dull and defeated.
Ranma had heard about him. During a professional wrestling match over
in the USA, he had accidentally broken his opponent's neck. After he
had served a 2-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter, the
legendary "Rock of Gibraltar" had retired from wrestling, and
proceeded to try to drink himself into oblivion. Only the intervention
of the Lightning Fists kept him from succeeding.
The last person seemed a bit old to be fighting, his hair and
beard had gone completely gray, lightening almost to white. But he had
been told that Fixer was the brains behind the team, that while Brown
led the team, he was the heart of it. Ranma nodded to himself. Don't
miss an opportunity to take this one out, he told himself.
Finally, the promoters had stopped talking about the
Balrog/Fei Long "Fists of Fury" match, and Bonnie Brown, sneering at
the Nakajima Productions fighters, took the microphone.
"First of all, the Lightening Fists would like to welcome the
"esteemed" members of Nakajima Productions to Brussels." The way she
said esteemed made it sound like something an incontinent dog leaves
by the side of the road. "Now we'd like to tell them to go home. The
Fists ain't lost a team fight yet, and there's no way we're gonna
start." The sadistic grin on Brown's face seemed to add extra emphasis
to her words.
"You see, they're good, but they are going to get beat
severely. See those two?", pointing to Lei Chong Ling and to Todd
Vanderstreet, "I told Hercules and Santo to smash them like twigs.
Mustafa's promised me that he's going to choke out Jensen. Fixer's got
Venton McCracken all under control, and the kid?", while pointing to
Ranma, "The kid's going to get his ass whooped so hard, that any
grandkids, not that I'm gonna leave him the equipment to have
grandkids anyway, will feel it."
Ranma had had it with this, well, this BITCH's posturing.
Detaching himself from his team, he walked toward Brown, and stood eye
to eye with her. Ranma's eyes had a hint of fire in them, as he said
quietly, "Want to say that again?"
Brown smiled at her teammates, then quickly sunk a knee into
Ranma's groin. As Ranma went down, writhing in pain, the rest of his
team came in to back him up. But someone else already had that
covered.
Akane grabbed Brown by the shoulder, turned her around, and
LEVELED her with a devastating right hand. Not content with just
that, Akane picked up the bleeding Brown and threw her right into her
teammates, who were charging in. As the Lightning Fists collapsed in a
heap, security moved in and made sure the two teams couldn't get at
each other.
Brown got to her feet, and would have charged Akane, if it
wasn't for the hordes of security separating them. "YOU BITCH! JUST
FOR THAT I'M GONNA MAKE SURE I BREAK AT LEAST ONE BONE ON EACH MEMBER
OF YOUR TEAM. NO ONE DECKS BONNIE BROWN AND GETS AWAY WITH IT"
Akane helped a still groaning Ranma to his feet. "Just try
it." She got out in return. The flashbulbs were popping. It wasn't
every day that you got to see two World Warriors going at it, but an
added bonus (at least for those in attendance) was to see a bonafide
grudge match as well.
The general feeling was, this should be interesting.
