Tsukino Usagi and Tendoo Kasumi sit at desks, fundraiser style, with the
casts of BSSM, Ranma 1/2, and DBZ running around answering phones behind
them.
Usagi: And now, brought to you by the FFTROUAS, the Fund For The Relief Of Underpaid Anime Stars, we return you to "A dissertation on ki, chi, and magic".
Kasumi: Please enjoy it, and remember: all these people have had extensive training in the use of these power sources, and you shouldn't even consider trying to actually use them unless your own training has been somewhat comparable.
******
Kodora stand behind a specially built short podium. She is in the middle of a huge plateau, facing a large audience, composed generally of anime characters. Behind her and off to her right are a set of chairs, in which sit, in order from left to right, Saotome Ranma, Son Goku, Shorun Li, Urd, Happosai, and Inverse Lina.
Kodora: First, we will have demonstration on the generation, use, and general properties of chi. Ranma, Goku, and Happi, please step forward.
The three named characters get up and step forward a ways.
Kodora: To begin, Saotome Ranma will demonstrate and explain basic use of chi. Ranma?
Ranma: Uh, thanks, Kodora-chan. Okay, I guess I oughta explain how ta access yer chi first. To begin with, chi is your willpower, your mental direction, if you will. Th' most basic use of chi is t' do things like breakin' bricks or tiles or whatever. 'S a really simple way ta use it, but it's also pretty effective, an' easy to do. In some ways, it comes instinctively. There are a lotta ways ta learn ta use chi consciously. One of th' more famous is the Touched Soul technique, but I won't go inta that one: it usually has pretty bad effects on whoever learns from it.
Genma, in the audience: There's nothing wrong with that technique! Without it, I wouldn't be the master martial artist I am today!
Ranma throws a ten-yen coin over the edge of the plateau, and the whole assembly watches Genma dive off after it in a display of horrible greed. Even as he disappears from sight, he can be heard.
Genma: Haha! MY ten yen! Thanks a lot, suc- er, son!.... Where'd the ground go?
There is a collective sweatdropping.
Ranma: Right. Th' main thing ta remember about chi is that it constantly flows around yer body, in kind of a non-solid bloodstream of energy. When ya use chi for something, it flows more ta the area yer using it in. The more ya do that, the easier it is ta make the chi flow ta there. Also, th' stronger yer will, the more chi ya have. For usin' it in the body, ya only need to make yer chi flows better to do things like the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, or like Honda Edmund's 'Hundred Hand Slap'. This also works fer healin' yerself. When ya use chi ta affect somethin' outside of yerself, or when you project it from yer body, ya need somethin' ta focus on. The more meaningful the focus is ta you, or the more ya come in contact with it, the more of yer chi ya have access to. For instance...
Ranma takes up a somewhat silly stance, feet apart, bow-legged, chest up, with his arms akimbo.
Ranma (throwing his hands forward in classic chi-throwing form): Moko Takabisha!
A golden ball of chi/air mixture flies out from his hands, and eventually its own lightness overpowers its momentum, causing it to float up and away into the distance, even as the chi holding it begins to dissipate.
Ranma: The Moko Takabisha works on confidence. That's why th' yellow-gold color. Each emotion or focus causes a diff'rent color to the chi. Some have the same colors as each other. Anywho, the actual focus can affect th' way the chi acts. Th' Moko Takabisha has a tendency t' float once it's momentum runs out, 'coz self-confidence is a 'light' emotion. Ryoga's Shishi Hokodan uses depression, which is a 'heavy' emotion, so when it runs outta momentum, it drops like a rock. With focus, you c'n learn ta do things like this- Moko Takabisha!
This time, when the ball of chi/air reaches a few feet away from Ranma, he moves his hand, and it turns right. Another gesture and it flies straight up, and a third causes it to return to his hand before dissipating.
Ranma: You c'n do this because yer chi is your willpower. Focus on it movin' in a particular direction, an' you c'n make it do all sortsa tricks. Th' Moko Takabisha is one a' th' simpler things ta do with chi. With enough chi, and the right concentration, you c'n make it do almost anything- form cubes, weapons, or strange shapes, flow like water, lift things up an' move 'em around, cut stuff- just about anything. Once you reach yer limit, however... that's it. You c'n really wear yourself out using chi. As fer focuses, those make it a helluva lot easier ta call on yer chi. Without a focus, using sheer willpower, you can do it, but it'll wear ya out really quick, and ya won't have as much to work with. It's kinda like putting water in yer wine or beer or alcoholic liquid of choice. It makes more of it, and you can drink more before ya get drunk, but it just doesn't pack th' same punch. It also uses a lot more stuff to put together.
Kodora: Great. Thanks Ranma. Don't sit down yet, though. Just step back a little, so Goku-san can do his thing.
Ranma nods and steps back, and Goku steps up.
Goku: What do I talk about, Kodora-chan?
Kodora: You talk about how you use chi, and also about ki. Like in your Genki Dama, or Spirit Bomb.
Goku nods enthusiastically.
Goku: Well, Ranma pretty much explained chi for the most part. Although we on the Z-fighters, and the Saiyans, use chi a little differently. For instance, we usually don't use an emotion as a focus. Unless we've got a LOT of that emotion, and we're talking buttloads. Such as with the Saibamen, when Kuillin pulled off that really heavy multidirectional chi attack. Sure, it's harder at first with pure chi, but if you go without the shortcut long enough, you can really boost your production. Also, he left out about hiding and sensing chi. It's pretty simple, really. There are four ways to deal with hiding chi. The first is pretty straightforward: with enough experience, you can restrict or open up the chi flows in your own body. This changes how much chi you seem to have by affecting the way it flows. The second is also pretty straightforward, but almost noone uses it. If you develop your chi flows right, you can spread them over the area near you, reducing their power by increasing the area. This way, instead of opening your chi flows back up, when you need chi, you pull the flows back in towards yourself. This has a wierd side effect on Scouters, since while you're powering up, it reads like a lot of smaller powers combining into a bigger one. By the by, powering up too fast can overload a scouter easily. For instance...
Goku suddenly boosts up to Super Saiyajin Level Two, and a series of explosions are heard in the back right of the audience.
Guldo: My eyes! My eyes! Someone get tweezers before these plastic chips dig holes!
Tienshinhan (at the other end of the audience): I swear, for an elite fighting force, those guys sure are doofs.
Goku powers back down.
Goku: That brings us to the third method: transforming up. This is mostly used by Saiyajin, although some other races can do it. Since the basic form can't handle the chi flows you develop, it physically changes, adapting to the greater chi flow. The disadvantage to this is that the transformation actually uses up some of your chi itself when it happens, so you actually need to bring each form to a level of chi beyond what it can safely hold before you can transform up a stage and remain that way for any length of time. Also, when you use enough chi to bring your chi flows below the amount that makes you need that form, your body automatically reverts. Changing enough times will make that easier, and make the change take up less chi, as your body becomes used to the change. In some ways, it's like doing an exercise, such as an arm curl. The more times you lift the weight, the easier it gets. Also like an arm curl, at first it seems that remaining in the 'powered up' form doesn't use any chi, but the longer you remain in that form, the larger the drain grows, exponentially. That's why, even when a Saiyajin spends time powered up to make the transformation easier, they will often power back down at night, giving their chi a bit of a rest. This also enhances your chi flows as well, just like doing chi exercises. So far, only a few races have demonstrated the ability to transform like this, but that doesn't mean that other races that haven't yet, like humans, cannot do it.
Vegeta (standing up): How dare you imply that pitiful humans can match our power, Kakarot! Saiyajin are millenia beyond those wimps!
Bulma (also standing up, but facing Vegita): That's enough! One more word out of you!
Vegeta grumbles, and sits down again, followed by Bulma, who shoots Goku an apologetic look.
Goku: It's alright, Bulma. Where was I? Oh, yeah! The fourth way is often demonstrated by people whom the Z-fighters have fought against in the past. Freiza and Cell come to mind right away, Freiza in particular. Freiza's method involves transforming into a weaker state. Sounds odd, ne? Here's how it works: Let's use Freiza as an example. At some point, while Freiza was training or fighting, his chi hit a point where, since he couldn't control his flows like many people learn to to hide their chi or to reduce it's effect on their body and environment, he accidentally caused damage while just walking around and going through everyday life. This was, obviously, horribly inconvenient. So, how could he fix this? He wasn't able to control his chi flows, and hadn't met anybody who could, so that never even occured to him. Instead, he tried to force down his outward expression of his chi, without changing his chi flows. The result was that he used some chi to change his body so that its chi flows were restricted, resulting in a different outward appearance as well. Eventually, he had to return to his original form, and lo and behold! His original form had increased its power just as his new one had! After this happy discovery, he eventually had to develop a second less powerful form, and then a third. Incidentally, it's likely anyone could do this, although it hasn't been done much. To be honest, noone knows if there's a limit to how far someone could 'transform down'. If Freiza were to keep transforming down to an ultimately weak state, and then train that form into a high state of physical and chi fitness, his power in his highest form could be expanded to an incredible level, even for the people in DBZ.
Freiza, in the audience, sneezes, and continues his notes, Cell copying notes over the shoulder of the tiny tyrant.
Goku: As to sensing chi.. this is a little different. You see, the chi flows leak. It's just like how, in your body, heat is always escaping. There is always a little of your chi flowing off of you. Among other things, this chi slowly seeps into the objects in your surroundings, meaning that a particularly old building may have wound up storing chi from hundreds of thousands, even millions, of different people. Also, places where people have lived a long time will gradually absorb this 'shed chi'. A home, or a well-used building, can develop chi flows of its own, based on the daily movement of people about it. The way a chi sense works is that you use your chi to absorb and feel the radiations of chi from other people and animals with chi signatures. Each person's chi has a unique identifier, which fades with distance. After a few miles, the chi sense fades to a general static. Particularly strong chi signatures will retain their individuality, though they may lose a lot of their identifier. This means that you can detect range and power of a chi signature. Scouters work on the same principle, although there are a number of things that make them unreliable. First off, a scouter isn't part of you, meaning you can forget or lose it. Also, being mechanical things, they are prone to breakdown and being destroyed. Furthermore, if someone powers up too fast, the extremely delicate sensors will overload, causing the scouter to blow up from the inside. On the whole, a chi sense is far preferable to a scouter. Humans have an innate, somewhat underdeveloped chi sense, which is reffered to by many names, including "the willies", and "gut instinct".
Kodora clears her throat, and glances at Goku, who catches the look.
Goku: Right. Enough about that, I pretty much covered it all, anyways. On to Ki. Ki is a little more difficult to explain than chi, but at the same time, easier to find. Ki use works similar to that of chi. However, Ki is even more powerful than uninfluenced chi. Ranma?
Ranma: HA!
Ranma projects a small ball of coruscating multicolored chi, which flies up in the air.
Goku: Now a ki-bolt, Ranma?
Ranma focuses, sweating a little, then throws out a shimmering-silver ball of ki, which is the same size as the chi-ball. The ki easily burns through the chi, before continuing on into the sky, where it explodes violently.
Goku: Notice that both of those bolts used the same volume of energy. The ki, however, packs a considerable bit more punch. Why is this? Noone is quite sure. Another interesting thing is that, while only living things have chi, and only things with a mind have any significant amount of it, everything has ki. Rocks, air, metal, suns, moons, anything that is actually made of matter has ki. This means that, if you can draw on the ki of things around you, you can generate massive quantities of it. That is why, if you reach out far enough with a ki attack like the Genki Dama, you can easily produce enough to make really big holes in planets, like happened on Namek. Ki is also a little harder to control than chi, but like with emotion-controlled chi and pure chi, it has more power. Other than that, Ki acts a lot like chi. These few differences, however, can cause major variations on one's ability, using ki or chi.
Kodora: Thank you very much, Goku-san. Happosai, anything to add?
Happosai: Well, these two got all the basics and some of the more interesting specifics. There are a few details they missed, but those only interest specialists, who use a single type or variation of chi or ki. It is worth noting that certain people, such as the famous Ryu and Ken who fought against Shadaloo, have somehow managed to learn to use ki externally without using chi externally first. How this was managed is beyond even me to explain, and I doubt those two know either.
Kodora nods.
Kodora: You may take a seat now, Ranma, Goku. Happosai, please stay up, while Li, Urd, and Lina join you, to explain about magic.
Happosai, leering at Urd: You can count on it.
Urd: Urd Thunderbolt!
Lina: Flare Arrow!
Li: Thunder!
All three attacks miss as Happi dodges.
Sailor Jupiter, from the audience: Jupiter Thunder Dragon!
This one connects, and Happi is sent flying, spasming from several thousand volts of electricity. He rolls to a stop, smoking, and unconscious.
Kodora: On second thought, take a breather.
******
Kasumi and Usagi are back on screen
Kasumi: We're really disappointed in you all. Only one donation so far. Come on, call in and support underpaid Anime actors!
Usagi, tearing up: Yeah! We need food, too!
Rei, from offscreen: You already ate lunch, and half of mine too! How much do you think you need, odango-atama??
Usagi, now crying and whining: Whaaa! Rei, you're mean!!!
Kasumi sweatdrops.
**************************************************************************** *************
Wow. I think I wore my fingers out on that one.
If you didn't think I should continue this... I don't mean to sound mean, but too bad. I think this needs explanation, since a lot of people fail to agree with me, and indeed, with anyone other than themselves, on a lot of these points. There are so many views of these things, it's easy to lose track of which system which fic is using.
Notable fics that influenced the way I see this stuff include:
A Different Approach
Deification
The Human Saiyajin
and, of course,
Destiny's Child
Sorry, but I forgot the names of the authors. I'm like that- horrible with names. Just horrible. Ah, well. The next chapter of Passenger whenever I manage it. Till then.
Jaa ne!
******
STARE AT COLOGNE
Cologne is a withered old troll with long white hair who hops around on a
stick and manipulates people.
Cologne whaps parser.
Oww.
-Excerpt, "ShampooQuest"
Usagi: And now, brought to you by the FFTROUAS, the Fund For The Relief Of Underpaid Anime Stars, we return you to "A dissertation on ki, chi, and magic".
Kasumi: Please enjoy it, and remember: all these people have had extensive training in the use of these power sources, and you shouldn't even consider trying to actually use them unless your own training has been somewhat comparable.
******
Kodora stand behind a specially built short podium. She is in the middle of a huge plateau, facing a large audience, composed generally of anime characters. Behind her and off to her right are a set of chairs, in which sit, in order from left to right, Saotome Ranma, Son Goku, Shorun Li, Urd, Happosai, and Inverse Lina.
Kodora: First, we will have demonstration on the generation, use, and general properties of chi. Ranma, Goku, and Happi, please step forward.
The three named characters get up and step forward a ways.
Kodora: To begin, Saotome Ranma will demonstrate and explain basic use of chi. Ranma?
Ranma: Uh, thanks, Kodora-chan. Okay, I guess I oughta explain how ta access yer chi first. To begin with, chi is your willpower, your mental direction, if you will. Th' most basic use of chi is t' do things like breakin' bricks or tiles or whatever. 'S a really simple way ta use it, but it's also pretty effective, an' easy to do. In some ways, it comes instinctively. There are a lotta ways ta learn ta use chi consciously. One of th' more famous is the Touched Soul technique, but I won't go inta that one: it usually has pretty bad effects on whoever learns from it.
Genma, in the audience: There's nothing wrong with that technique! Without it, I wouldn't be the master martial artist I am today!
Ranma throws a ten-yen coin over the edge of the plateau, and the whole assembly watches Genma dive off after it in a display of horrible greed. Even as he disappears from sight, he can be heard.
Genma: Haha! MY ten yen! Thanks a lot, suc- er, son!.... Where'd the ground go?
There is a collective sweatdropping.
Ranma: Right. Th' main thing ta remember about chi is that it constantly flows around yer body, in kind of a non-solid bloodstream of energy. When ya use chi for something, it flows more ta the area yer using it in. The more ya do that, the easier it is ta make the chi flow ta there. Also, th' stronger yer will, the more chi ya have. For usin' it in the body, ya only need to make yer chi flows better to do things like the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, or like Honda Edmund's 'Hundred Hand Slap'. This also works fer healin' yerself. When ya use chi ta affect somethin' outside of yerself, or when you project it from yer body, ya need somethin' ta focus on. The more meaningful the focus is ta you, or the more ya come in contact with it, the more of yer chi ya have access to. For instance...
Ranma takes up a somewhat silly stance, feet apart, bow-legged, chest up, with his arms akimbo.
Ranma (throwing his hands forward in classic chi-throwing form): Moko Takabisha!
A golden ball of chi/air mixture flies out from his hands, and eventually its own lightness overpowers its momentum, causing it to float up and away into the distance, even as the chi holding it begins to dissipate.
Ranma: The Moko Takabisha works on confidence. That's why th' yellow-gold color. Each emotion or focus causes a diff'rent color to the chi. Some have the same colors as each other. Anywho, the actual focus can affect th' way the chi acts. Th' Moko Takabisha has a tendency t' float once it's momentum runs out, 'coz self-confidence is a 'light' emotion. Ryoga's Shishi Hokodan uses depression, which is a 'heavy' emotion, so when it runs outta momentum, it drops like a rock. With focus, you c'n learn ta do things like this- Moko Takabisha!
This time, when the ball of chi/air reaches a few feet away from Ranma, he moves his hand, and it turns right. Another gesture and it flies straight up, and a third causes it to return to his hand before dissipating.
Ranma: You c'n do this because yer chi is your willpower. Focus on it movin' in a particular direction, an' you c'n make it do all sortsa tricks. Th' Moko Takabisha is one a' th' simpler things ta do with chi. With enough chi, and the right concentration, you c'n make it do almost anything- form cubes, weapons, or strange shapes, flow like water, lift things up an' move 'em around, cut stuff- just about anything. Once you reach yer limit, however... that's it. You c'n really wear yourself out using chi. As fer focuses, those make it a helluva lot easier ta call on yer chi. Without a focus, using sheer willpower, you can do it, but it'll wear ya out really quick, and ya won't have as much to work with. It's kinda like putting water in yer wine or beer or alcoholic liquid of choice. It makes more of it, and you can drink more before ya get drunk, but it just doesn't pack th' same punch. It also uses a lot more stuff to put together.
Kodora: Great. Thanks Ranma. Don't sit down yet, though. Just step back a little, so Goku-san can do his thing.
Ranma nods and steps back, and Goku steps up.
Goku: What do I talk about, Kodora-chan?
Kodora: You talk about how you use chi, and also about ki. Like in your Genki Dama, or Spirit Bomb.
Goku nods enthusiastically.
Goku: Well, Ranma pretty much explained chi for the most part. Although we on the Z-fighters, and the Saiyans, use chi a little differently. For instance, we usually don't use an emotion as a focus. Unless we've got a LOT of that emotion, and we're talking buttloads. Such as with the Saibamen, when Kuillin pulled off that really heavy multidirectional chi attack. Sure, it's harder at first with pure chi, but if you go without the shortcut long enough, you can really boost your production. Also, he left out about hiding and sensing chi. It's pretty simple, really. There are four ways to deal with hiding chi. The first is pretty straightforward: with enough experience, you can restrict or open up the chi flows in your own body. This changes how much chi you seem to have by affecting the way it flows. The second is also pretty straightforward, but almost noone uses it. If you develop your chi flows right, you can spread them over the area near you, reducing their power by increasing the area. This way, instead of opening your chi flows back up, when you need chi, you pull the flows back in towards yourself. This has a wierd side effect on Scouters, since while you're powering up, it reads like a lot of smaller powers combining into a bigger one. By the by, powering up too fast can overload a scouter easily. For instance...
Goku suddenly boosts up to Super Saiyajin Level Two, and a series of explosions are heard in the back right of the audience.
Guldo: My eyes! My eyes! Someone get tweezers before these plastic chips dig holes!
Tienshinhan (at the other end of the audience): I swear, for an elite fighting force, those guys sure are doofs.
Goku powers back down.
Goku: That brings us to the third method: transforming up. This is mostly used by Saiyajin, although some other races can do it. Since the basic form can't handle the chi flows you develop, it physically changes, adapting to the greater chi flow. The disadvantage to this is that the transformation actually uses up some of your chi itself when it happens, so you actually need to bring each form to a level of chi beyond what it can safely hold before you can transform up a stage and remain that way for any length of time. Also, when you use enough chi to bring your chi flows below the amount that makes you need that form, your body automatically reverts. Changing enough times will make that easier, and make the change take up less chi, as your body becomes used to the change. In some ways, it's like doing an exercise, such as an arm curl. The more times you lift the weight, the easier it gets. Also like an arm curl, at first it seems that remaining in the 'powered up' form doesn't use any chi, but the longer you remain in that form, the larger the drain grows, exponentially. That's why, even when a Saiyajin spends time powered up to make the transformation easier, they will often power back down at night, giving their chi a bit of a rest. This also enhances your chi flows as well, just like doing chi exercises. So far, only a few races have demonstrated the ability to transform like this, but that doesn't mean that other races that haven't yet, like humans, cannot do it.
Vegeta (standing up): How dare you imply that pitiful humans can match our power, Kakarot! Saiyajin are millenia beyond those wimps!
Bulma (also standing up, but facing Vegita): That's enough! One more word out of you!
Vegeta grumbles, and sits down again, followed by Bulma, who shoots Goku an apologetic look.
Goku: It's alright, Bulma. Where was I? Oh, yeah! The fourth way is often demonstrated by people whom the Z-fighters have fought against in the past. Freiza and Cell come to mind right away, Freiza in particular. Freiza's method involves transforming into a weaker state. Sounds odd, ne? Here's how it works: Let's use Freiza as an example. At some point, while Freiza was training or fighting, his chi hit a point where, since he couldn't control his flows like many people learn to to hide their chi or to reduce it's effect on their body and environment, he accidentally caused damage while just walking around and going through everyday life. This was, obviously, horribly inconvenient. So, how could he fix this? He wasn't able to control his chi flows, and hadn't met anybody who could, so that never even occured to him. Instead, he tried to force down his outward expression of his chi, without changing his chi flows. The result was that he used some chi to change his body so that its chi flows were restricted, resulting in a different outward appearance as well. Eventually, he had to return to his original form, and lo and behold! His original form had increased its power just as his new one had! After this happy discovery, he eventually had to develop a second less powerful form, and then a third. Incidentally, it's likely anyone could do this, although it hasn't been done much. To be honest, noone knows if there's a limit to how far someone could 'transform down'. If Freiza were to keep transforming down to an ultimately weak state, and then train that form into a high state of physical and chi fitness, his power in his highest form could be expanded to an incredible level, even for the people in DBZ.
Freiza, in the audience, sneezes, and continues his notes, Cell copying notes over the shoulder of the tiny tyrant.
Goku: As to sensing chi.. this is a little different. You see, the chi flows leak. It's just like how, in your body, heat is always escaping. There is always a little of your chi flowing off of you. Among other things, this chi slowly seeps into the objects in your surroundings, meaning that a particularly old building may have wound up storing chi from hundreds of thousands, even millions, of different people. Also, places where people have lived a long time will gradually absorb this 'shed chi'. A home, or a well-used building, can develop chi flows of its own, based on the daily movement of people about it. The way a chi sense works is that you use your chi to absorb and feel the radiations of chi from other people and animals with chi signatures. Each person's chi has a unique identifier, which fades with distance. After a few miles, the chi sense fades to a general static. Particularly strong chi signatures will retain their individuality, though they may lose a lot of their identifier. This means that you can detect range and power of a chi signature. Scouters work on the same principle, although there are a number of things that make them unreliable. First off, a scouter isn't part of you, meaning you can forget or lose it. Also, being mechanical things, they are prone to breakdown and being destroyed. Furthermore, if someone powers up too fast, the extremely delicate sensors will overload, causing the scouter to blow up from the inside. On the whole, a chi sense is far preferable to a scouter. Humans have an innate, somewhat underdeveloped chi sense, which is reffered to by many names, including "the willies", and "gut instinct".
Kodora clears her throat, and glances at Goku, who catches the look.
Goku: Right. Enough about that, I pretty much covered it all, anyways. On to Ki. Ki is a little more difficult to explain than chi, but at the same time, easier to find. Ki use works similar to that of chi. However, Ki is even more powerful than uninfluenced chi. Ranma?
Ranma: HA!
Ranma projects a small ball of coruscating multicolored chi, which flies up in the air.
Goku: Now a ki-bolt, Ranma?
Ranma focuses, sweating a little, then throws out a shimmering-silver ball of ki, which is the same size as the chi-ball. The ki easily burns through the chi, before continuing on into the sky, where it explodes violently.
Goku: Notice that both of those bolts used the same volume of energy. The ki, however, packs a considerable bit more punch. Why is this? Noone is quite sure. Another interesting thing is that, while only living things have chi, and only things with a mind have any significant amount of it, everything has ki. Rocks, air, metal, suns, moons, anything that is actually made of matter has ki. This means that, if you can draw on the ki of things around you, you can generate massive quantities of it. That is why, if you reach out far enough with a ki attack like the Genki Dama, you can easily produce enough to make really big holes in planets, like happened on Namek. Ki is also a little harder to control than chi, but like with emotion-controlled chi and pure chi, it has more power. Other than that, Ki acts a lot like chi. These few differences, however, can cause major variations on one's ability, using ki or chi.
Kodora: Thank you very much, Goku-san. Happosai, anything to add?
Happosai: Well, these two got all the basics and some of the more interesting specifics. There are a few details they missed, but those only interest specialists, who use a single type or variation of chi or ki. It is worth noting that certain people, such as the famous Ryu and Ken who fought against Shadaloo, have somehow managed to learn to use ki externally without using chi externally first. How this was managed is beyond even me to explain, and I doubt those two know either.
Kodora nods.
Kodora: You may take a seat now, Ranma, Goku. Happosai, please stay up, while Li, Urd, and Lina join you, to explain about magic.
Happosai, leering at Urd: You can count on it.
Urd: Urd Thunderbolt!
Lina: Flare Arrow!
Li: Thunder!
All three attacks miss as Happi dodges.
Sailor Jupiter, from the audience: Jupiter Thunder Dragon!
This one connects, and Happi is sent flying, spasming from several thousand volts of electricity. He rolls to a stop, smoking, and unconscious.
Kodora: On second thought, take a breather.
******
Kasumi and Usagi are back on screen
Kasumi: We're really disappointed in you all. Only one donation so far. Come on, call in and support underpaid Anime actors!
Usagi, tearing up: Yeah! We need food, too!
Rei, from offscreen: You already ate lunch, and half of mine too! How much do you think you need, odango-atama??
Usagi, now crying and whining: Whaaa! Rei, you're mean!!!
Kasumi sweatdrops.
**************************************************************************** *************
Wow. I think I wore my fingers out on that one.
If you didn't think I should continue this... I don't mean to sound mean, but too bad. I think this needs explanation, since a lot of people fail to agree with me, and indeed, with anyone other than themselves, on a lot of these points. There are so many views of these things, it's easy to lose track of which system which fic is using.
Notable fics that influenced the way I see this stuff include:
A Different Approach
Deification
The Human Saiyajin
and, of course,
Destiny's Child
Sorry, but I forgot the names of the authors. I'm like that- horrible with names. Just horrible. Ah, well. The next chapter of Passenger whenever I manage it. Till then.
Jaa ne!
******
STARE AT COLOGNE
Cologne is a withered old troll with long white hair who hops around on a
stick and manipulates people.
Cologne whaps parser.
Oww.
-Excerpt, "ShampooQuest"