Kodora and Akane walked side by side back to the Tendoo Dojo, bracketed
forwards and backwards by their sisters and the fathers, respectively.
Both of them were relatively cheerful.
This had Nabiki slightly miffed. Normally, if Akane had lost...
She was still waiting for Akane to pull out her mallet.
On the other hand... it was a good thing the two of them were finally getting along. So, she dropped that thought. There was something more important to get to, anyways. She slowed down until she was walking with Akane and Kodora.
Akane looked over at her. "What is it, oneechan?"
"I'd like to talk with Kodora-chan, imootochan. Alone."
Akane frowned slightly. "I don't think that's-"
"Also," Nabiki continued, "Kasumi-oneechan wants to talk to you. Something about how nice you're controlling your temper."
Kodora blinked. When had Akane gotten that fast?
"Ah. Good." Stated Nabiki, watching Akane, who was suddenly walking next to Kasumi. "Now, then, Kodora-imootochan, there are a few things we need to talk about..."
**************************************************************************** *************
Passenger
Chapter 26: The MFP, and the Seigensakudoken.
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Selene Starblade.
Dedicated to Magic: the Gathering, a good game if there ever was one.
Disclaimer: I don't own most of these characters, but the ones I do are MINE. And you can't use them unless I say so, so NYAAAAAH!
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyoo Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese
* * = Ranma/Kodora mental conversation.
**************************************************************************** *************
Kodora looked up at the distinctly taller girl. "Like?"
"Well," Began Nabiki, "First off, I've got you a birth certificate, an adoption certificate, a government-recognised identity, and enrolled in Furinkan High, in the Sophomore class with Akane and Ranma."
Kodora piku-piku'ed. "I thought there were no Sophomore classes in Japanese high schools?"
Nabiki gave her a dry look. "And you never noticed this discrepancy before?"
Kodora shrugged. "Ranma seemed to know what he was doing. At that point, I was just along for the ride, so to speak."
Nabiki sighed, and looked back to a notepad she held in one hand. "Well, just so you know, the Furinkan ward is set up a little oddly, even for Nerima. The schools here are divided between grades like American schools."
The small martial artist nodded. "Okay. Great to hear that. So, what's next?"
Nabiki handed her a small envelope.
Kodora blinked, and began to open it, but Nabiki held out a hand, and she stopped, looking to the older girl.
"That's your allowance, Imooto-chan. Each member of our family gets a specific allowance according to how much they do around the house, or that increases our family funds, directly or inderectly. That includes jobs, things that I can run betting pools on, and such."
Kodora nodded slowly. "Okay.... so there was betting on the match earlier today?"
Nabiki nodded. "Of course. By the way, I myself don't bet on things within the family, and if it involves any of us, I always bet on our family."
Kodora nodded a bit more enthusiastically. "That's very supportive of you."
The taller of the two Tendoos smiled slightly. "Thank you. I like to think so. Speaking of the match..."
"..yes?"
"There are a few things you need to change before the fight tomorrow."
"And they are?"
"Well," began Nabiki, consulting her notes and squinting a little. "You know the rules in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts forbid striking an opponent barehanded?"
Kodora nodded.
"That includes grapples, throws, and even what you did when you rolled over Akane. You can't do things like that in the match tomorrow."
"A... heh...." Kodora piped in, nervously.
"Second off, you'll want to watch what you're doing a little more carefully. Luckily that ball only hit panda-man back there, but if it had gone into the audience in a slightly different spot, someone could have gotten seriously hurt. That wouldn't be good at all."
The petite martial artist nodded. "Yeah. I was planning to work on that sort of thing."
Nabiki nodded back. "Finally, you'll have to watch out with the balls themselves. Some inside information says that Kodachi favors explosive ones."
Kodora blinked, and nearly stopped walking. "What?!?"
"Yeah, I know. Keep in mind, this is the same person who snuck into the house and tried to disable both you and Akane-imootochan."
"Hmmm...."
******
Kodora sat silently in the dojo. Although the silence was only external.
*So, you're saying that when ya moved your hands like that, that was some kinda special technique or somethin'?*
*Yep. You see, Ranma, a couple of times I got into tickle fights. And I'm extremely ticklish. As in, tickle me too much, and I can't even breathe, I laugh so hard. You probably noticed me using that during the tickle fight with Akane.*
*Yeah, actually, I did. Kinda wierd. Ya put alla your focus on movin' your hands fast. No control or nothin'.*
*That's kind of the point, Ranma. See, it works like this. If I go for any power or control, it takes more time, and you can either dodge or block the attack, right? But if I go really fast, so fast even I don't know where I'm going to strike next, I certainly can't give my moves away. Mind, it's not really, really fast, but it's enough to be useful. I call it the MFP, or 'Million Finger Poke'.*
*Okay, and this relates to martial arts how?*
*Well, consider this, Ranma. When you use your chi to enhance a blow or something like that, can you use it to make the blow faster?*
*Yeah. Wait, you mean yer gonna try using chi to speed it up?*
Kodora nodded. *Exactly. I saw something like it in a video game called 'Street Fighter'. One guy, E. Honda, had this 'Hundred Hand Slap' thing where he seemed to grow a couple extra hands 'coz he was slapping so fast. Another one of 'em, Chun Li, could do the same sort of thing, but with kicks.*
*Ah. I get it. So you need me to what, now?*
*I need you to tell me how you focus your chi into your hands and feet for faster blows.*
*Uh... that's kinda hard.*
*Whatcha mean?*
*Well, it's not like I can explain it. Kinda like asking someone how you take a deep breath. You don't really think about it. You just think about breathing, and you do.*
*Oh. One of THOSE things. Thank you!*
*You're welcome.*
Ranma paused mentally. *Wait a minnit. I didn't do anything!*
Kodora chuckled, and stood up. *Yes you did. You told me how to focus the chi. You didn't realize you were, but you did. Kind of like how you were explaining it was done.*
*I'm lost.*
Kodora giggled. *Quite alright Ranma. No need to find your way about that now. Now... to practice it, I'll need a target that moves like a person....*
******
Kodora stepped into the kitchen where Akane and Souun were watching Kasumi do something with the oven. She smelled the air.
"Mmmm.... What's cooking?"
Akane turned her head. "Oneechan is making cookies!"
Kasumi continued her work.
Kodora smiled broader. "Great. I'm going to need a snack. 'Toosan?"
Souun turned to look at Kodora. "Yes, Kodora-chan?"
"I want to try something with martial arts, but I need someone to practice it on, could you help me?"
"Can I help?"
Souun and Kodora blinked, and looked at Akane.
"Are you sure you want to, Oneechan? You already had to have a match with me earlier today..."
Akane nodded and smiled. "I'll be fine. I wanna see what you came up with. And maybe you could teach me that move you used this morning?"
Kodora returned the smile. "If we have time, I'll try. 'Toosan, could you come too?"
Souun nodded and got up. "Of course." Then he took up a silly stance, complete with a bat-hood. "To the Tendoo Dojo, Tendoo-girls!"
******
"Okay." Said Kodora, facing Akane on the mats. Both of them were wearing white gi, Akane with a black belt, Kodora with a white belt. "Just try to block all of my strikes. I'm going to be shooting for speed, okay?"
Akane nodded. "Okay. Let's see what you can do."
Souun, sitting under the I-Ro-Ha sign, watched, trying to figure out what, exactly, his youngest daughter was trying to work on.
Kodora began, lashing out with the first two fingers on either hand, first at about two strikes a second. Akane blocked the strikes easily. She was about to ask why her sister was going so slowly, when Kodora began to increase the speed. Almost immediately, Kodora switched to four strikes per second. Akane was still able to block, but it was close on a few strikes. She noticed that none of the strikes had any real power behind them.
Kodora took a deep breath, and shouted out: MILLION FINGER POKE!
Instantly, her hand speed tripled, but it only lasted as long as the shout. That was enough though, Akane knew Kodora had tagged her at least ten times, probably more. Kodora slowly wound down her speed.
She leaned forward, bracing her hands on her bent knees, breathing a bit heavily.
Akane blinked, and put her hands down from guard position. "Wow. That was pretty fast."
Souun nodded. "You just came up with this?"
Kodora shook her head. "Iie. I've been able to do that for years. Though, it is a bit faster now than it used to be."
Akane and Souun blink-blinked.
"So," began Akane, "What did you need us for?"
"Well," Said Kodora, standing straight again, breathing back to normal, "Did you notice anything about what I did?"
Akane blinked. "Um, you didn't aim, and didn't put any strength into it?"
Kodora nodded. "That's two things. But the most important one, you didn't notice. 'Toosan?"
Souun hazarded a guess. "You didn't keep moving while you did it?"
Kodora shook her head. "No, that's not it."
"It used a lot of shoulder motion?"
"That's not it either."
"It's name was in English?"
"Um, no."
Souun stopped a moment, and went back over what had happened. Kodora had taken a deep breath, focused, and struck.
Wait a minute. She didn't spend any time focusing. She'd kept striking even while taking the breath.
"You didn't use any chi?"
Kodora grinned a fangtoothed grin. "Bingo! So, I need one or the other of you to stand in front of me and block everything, so I can have some sort of incentive to speed up, get some help drawing on my chi. I have an idea for a technique, but it'll be actual punches instead of poking like I was doing before."
Akane nodded. "Well, I guess it's Daddy's turn. That was pretty fast, and I don't feel like a beating right now."
Kodora nodded in return. "'Salright. You seem to be better at power, anyways."
Akane, mulling that over, sat by her father, who got up, and walked thoughtfully out onto the mats.
"It's an interesting idea." Stated Souun. "I've heard of a few things like it, but I've never seen them. This should be educational for all three of us."
Kasumi stepped into the dojo, and bowed to the shrine, before turning to face the others.
"Ano... the cookies are ready."
Kodora smiled. "Domo arigatoo, Kasumi-oneechan. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. There's something I want to try first."
Kasumi blinked. "Oh? Can I watch?"
Souun smiled. "Of course, Kasumi-chan. The more the merrier."
As the eldest Tendoo daughter took a seat by her sister, Souun turned to the youngest.
"Any time you're ready, Yoojo."
Kodora nodded, and began punching at Souun, as slowly as she had started for the MFP. The tall man easily blocked or dodged the blows.
"You may want to tighten up your form a little there."
Kodora, still punching, shook her head. "Iie. I need to stay loose, or else I can't even concentrate." She began to speed up, slower than before. After half a minute, she reached the speed she had attained before using the MFP. Carefully, she began to focus on her arms, attempting to imbue more and more of her chi into them. She stopped punching for a moment, then shouted the chosen name for her technique.
"SEIGENSAKUDOKEN!!!" She cried, letting fly with a flurry of punches maybe twice as fast as the MFP. Her arms seemed to blur slightly as she punched, from the speed of her motion. When she finished the flurry, she and her father stared at each other for a moment.
Then both fell on their butts, sitting on the mats. Kodora was breathing heavily, and wished the room would stop spinning. Souun was rubbing his abdomen, where he was getting the feeling of having a bowling ball, oh, say, ten pounds, thrown into him.
He smiled slightly. Kodora definitely showed a lot of promise.
**************************************************************************** *************
Ha ha ha. Let's see what happens when the Speed Limit Fist (Seigensakudoken) meets the Broiled Sweet Chestnut Fist (Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken).
Anyways...
Next ep, the battle of children! Ko vs. Ko, tiger child (kodora) versus a stand of trees (kodachi). So who will win? And how?
And what about the explosive balls?
Not to mention Ryoga and the Amazons! They didn't even show up in this chapter! So, where are they? And when will they show up?
And what about Genma? What does he (try to) think about all this?
And Tatewaki?
What about Isshii-sensei?
And Ranma's classmates?
Will I ever stop asking questions?
Be here next time for the answer, whenever I get around to writing them!
Ja ne!
"Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you, but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true.
Where was I?"
-Wierd Al Yankovic, "Your Horoscope For Today", from
the album "Running With Scissors".
This had Nabiki slightly miffed. Normally, if Akane had lost...
She was still waiting for Akane to pull out her mallet.
On the other hand... it was a good thing the two of them were finally getting along. So, she dropped that thought. There was something more important to get to, anyways. She slowed down until she was walking with Akane and Kodora.
Akane looked over at her. "What is it, oneechan?"
"I'd like to talk with Kodora-chan, imootochan. Alone."
Akane frowned slightly. "I don't think that's-"
"Also," Nabiki continued, "Kasumi-oneechan wants to talk to you. Something about how nice you're controlling your temper."
Kodora blinked. When had Akane gotten that fast?
"Ah. Good." Stated Nabiki, watching Akane, who was suddenly walking next to Kasumi. "Now, then, Kodora-imootochan, there are a few things we need to talk about..."
**************************************************************************** *************
Passenger
Chapter 26: The MFP, and the Seigensakudoken.
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction by Selene Starblade.
Dedicated to Magic: the Gathering, a good game if there ever was one.
Disclaimer: I don't own most of these characters, but the ones I do are MINE. And you can't use them unless I say so, so NYAAAAAH!
Key:
= English
" " = Japanese
[ ] = Jusenkyoo Cursed Signs
{ } = Chinese
* * = Ranma/Kodora mental conversation.
**************************************************************************** *************
Kodora looked up at the distinctly taller girl. "Like?"
"Well," Began Nabiki, "First off, I've got you a birth certificate, an adoption certificate, a government-recognised identity, and enrolled in Furinkan High, in the Sophomore class with Akane and Ranma."
Kodora piku-piku'ed. "I thought there were no Sophomore classes in Japanese high schools?"
Nabiki gave her a dry look. "And you never noticed this discrepancy before?"
Kodora shrugged. "Ranma seemed to know what he was doing. At that point, I was just along for the ride, so to speak."
Nabiki sighed, and looked back to a notepad she held in one hand. "Well, just so you know, the Furinkan ward is set up a little oddly, even for Nerima. The schools here are divided between grades like American schools."
The small martial artist nodded. "Okay. Great to hear that. So, what's next?"
Nabiki handed her a small envelope.
Kodora blinked, and began to open it, but Nabiki held out a hand, and she stopped, looking to the older girl.
"That's your allowance, Imooto-chan. Each member of our family gets a specific allowance according to how much they do around the house, or that increases our family funds, directly or inderectly. That includes jobs, things that I can run betting pools on, and such."
Kodora nodded slowly. "Okay.... so there was betting on the match earlier today?"
Nabiki nodded. "Of course. By the way, I myself don't bet on things within the family, and if it involves any of us, I always bet on our family."
Kodora nodded a bit more enthusiastically. "That's very supportive of you."
The taller of the two Tendoos smiled slightly. "Thank you. I like to think so. Speaking of the match..."
"..yes?"
"There are a few things you need to change before the fight tomorrow."
"And they are?"
"Well," began Nabiki, consulting her notes and squinting a little. "You know the rules in Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts forbid striking an opponent barehanded?"
Kodora nodded.
"That includes grapples, throws, and even what you did when you rolled over Akane. You can't do things like that in the match tomorrow."
"A... heh...." Kodora piped in, nervously.
"Second off, you'll want to watch what you're doing a little more carefully. Luckily that ball only hit panda-man back there, but if it had gone into the audience in a slightly different spot, someone could have gotten seriously hurt. That wouldn't be good at all."
The petite martial artist nodded. "Yeah. I was planning to work on that sort of thing."
Nabiki nodded back. "Finally, you'll have to watch out with the balls themselves. Some inside information says that Kodachi favors explosive ones."
Kodora blinked, and nearly stopped walking. "What?!?"
"Yeah, I know. Keep in mind, this is the same person who snuck into the house and tried to disable both you and Akane-imootochan."
"Hmmm...."
******
Kodora sat silently in the dojo. Although the silence was only external.
*So, you're saying that when ya moved your hands like that, that was some kinda special technique or somethin'?*
*Yep. You see, Ranma, a couple of times I got into tickle fights. And I'm extremely ticklish. As in, tickle me too much, and I can't even breathe, I laugh so hard. You probably noticed me using that during the tickle fight with Akane.*
*Yeah, actually, I did. Kinda wierd. Ya put alla your focus on movin' your hands fast. No control or nothin'.*
*That's kind of the point, Ranma. See, it works like this. If I go for any power or control, it takes more time, and you can either dodge or block the attack, right? But if I go really fast, so fast even I don't know where I'm going to strike next, I certainly can't give my moves away. Mind, it's not really, really fast, but it's enough to be useful. I call it the MFP, or 'Million Finger Poke'.*
*Okay, and this relates to martial arts how?*
*Well, consider this, Ranma. When you use your chi to enhance a blow or something like that, can you use it to make the blow faster?*
*Yeah. Wait, you mean yer gonna try using chi to speed it up?*
Kodora nodded. *Exactly. I saw something like it in a video game called 'Street Fighter'. One guy, E. Honda, had this 'Hundred Hand Slap' thing where he seemed to grow a couple extra hands 'coz he was slapping so fast. Another one of 'em, Chun Li, could do the same sort of thing, but with kicks.*
*Ah. I get it. So you need me to what, now?*
*I need you to tell me how you focus your chi into your hands and feet for faster blows.*
*Uh... that's kinda hard.*
*Whatcha mean?*
*Well, it's not like I can explain it. Kinda like asking someone how you take a deep breath. You don't really think about it. You just think about breathing, and you do.*
*Oh. One of THOSE things. Thank you!*
*You're welcome.*
Ranma paused mentally. *Wait a minnit. I didn't do anything!*
Kodora chuckled, and stood up. *Yes you did. You told me how to focus the chi. You didn't realize you were, but you did. Kind of like how you were explaining it was done.*
*I'm lost.*
Kodora giggled. *Quite alright Ranma. No need to find your way about that now. Now... to practice it, I'll need a target that moves like a person....*
******
Kodora stepped into the kitchen where Akane and Souun were watching Kasumi do something with the oven. She smelled the air.
"Mmmm.... What's cooking?"
Akane turned her head. "Oneechan is making cookies!"
Kasumi continued her work.
Kodora smiled broader. "Great. I'm going to need a snack. 'Toosan?"
Souun turned to look at Kodora. "Yes, Kodora-chan?"
"I want to try something with martial arts, but I need someone to practice it on, could you help me?"
"Can I help?"
Souun and Kodora blinked, and looked at Akane.
"Are you sure you want to, Oneechan? You already had to have a match with me earlier today..."
Akane nodded and smiled. "I'll be fine. I wanna see what you came up with. And maybe you could teach me that move you used this morning?"
Kodora returned the smile. "If we have time, I'll try. 'Toosan, could you come too?"
Souun nodded and got up. "Of course." Then he took up a silly stance, complete with a bat-hood. "To the Tendoo Dojo, Tendoo-girls!"
******
"Okay." Said Kodora, facing Akane on the mats. Both of them were wearing white gi, Akane with a black belt, Kodora with a white belt. "Just try to block all of my strikes. I'm going to be shooting for speed, okay?"
Akane nodded. "Okay. Let's see what you can do."
Souun, sitting under the I-Ro-Ha sign, watched, trying to figure out what, exactly, his youngest daughter was trying to work on.
Kodora began, lashing out with the first two fingers on either hand, first at about two strikes a second. Akane blocked the strikes easily. She was about to ask why her sister was going so slowly, when Kodora began to increase the speed. Almost immediately, Kodora switched to four strikes per second. Akane was still able to block, but it was close on a few strikes. She noticed that none of the strikes had any real power behind them.
Kodora took a deep breath, and shouted out: MILLION FINGER POKE!
Instantly, her hand speed tripled, but it only lasted as long as the shout. That was enough though, Akane knew Kodora had tagged her at least ten times, probably more. Kodora slowly wound down her speed.
She leaned forward, bracing her hands on her bent knees, breathing a bit heavily.
Akane blinked, and put her hands down from guard position. "Wow. That was pretty fast."
Souun nodded. "You just came up with this?"
Kodora shook her head. "Iie. I've been able to do that for years. Though, it is a bit faster now than it used to be."
Akane and Souun blink-blinked.
"So," began Akane, "What did you need us for?"
"Well," Said Kodora, standing straight again, breathing back to normal, "Did you notice anything about what I did?"
Akane blinked. "Um, you didn't aim, and didn't put any strength into it?"
Kodora nodded. "That's two things. But the most important one, you didn't notice. 'Toosan?"
Souun hazarded a guess. "You didn't keep moving while you did it?"
Kodora shook her head. "No, that's not it."
"It used a lot of shoulder motion?"
"That's not it either."
"It's name was in English?"
"Um, no."
Souun stopped a moment, and went back over what had happened. Kodora had taken a deep breath, focused, and struck.
Wait a minute. She didn't spend any time focusing. She'd kept striking even while taking the breath.
"You didn't use any chi?"
Kodora grinned a fangtoothed grin. "Bingo! So, I need one or the other of you to stand in front of me and block everything, so I can have some sort of incentive to speed up, get some help drawing on my chi. I have an idea for a technique, but it'll be actual punches instead of poking like I was doing before."
Akane nodded. "Well, I guess it's Daddy's turn. That was pretty fast, and I don't feel like a beating right now."
Kodora nodded in return. "'Salright. You seem to be better at power, anyways."
Akane, mulling that over, sat by her father, who got up, and walked thoughtfully out onto the mats.
"It's an interesting idea." Stated Souun. "I've heard of a few things like it, but I've never seen them. This should be educational for all three of us."
Kasumi stepped into the dojo, and bowed to the shrine, before turning to face the others.
"Ano... the cookies are ready."
Kodora smiled. "Domo arigatoo, Kasumi-oneechan. I'll be there in a couple of minutes. There's something I want to try first."
Kasumi blinked. "Oh? Can I watch?"
Souun smiled. "Of course, Kasumi-chan. The more the merrier."
As the eldest Tendoo daughter took a seat by her sister, Souun turned to the youngest.
"Any time you're ready, Yoojo."
Kodora nodded, and began punching at Souun, as slowly as she had started for the MFP. The tall man easily blocked or dodged the blows.
"You may want to tighten up your form a little there."
Kodora, still punching, shook her head. "Iie. I need to stay loose, or else I can't even concentrate." She began to speed up, slower than before. After half a minute, she reached the speed she had attained before using the MFP. Carefully, she began to focus on her arms, attempting to imbue more and more of her chi into them. She stopped punching for a moment, then shouted the chosen name for her technique.
"SEIGENSAKUDOKEN!!!" She cried, letting fly with a flurry of punches maybe twice as fast as the MFP. Her arms seemed to blur slightly as she punched, from the speed of her motion. When she finished the flurry, she and her father stared at each other for a moment.
Then both fell on their butts, sitting on the mats. Kodora was breathing heavily, and wished the room would stop spinning. Souun was rubbing his abdomen, where he was getting the feeling of having a bowling ball, oh, say, ten pounds, thrown into him.
He smiled slightly. Kodora definitely showed a lot of promise.
**************************************************************************** *************
Ha ha ha. Let's see what happens when the Speed Limit Fist (Seigensakudoken) meets the Broiled Sweet Chestnut Fist (Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken).
Anyways...
Next ep, the battle of children! Ko vs. Ko, tiger child (kodora) versus a stand of trees (kodachi). So who will win? And how?
And what about the explosive balls?
Not to mention Ryoga and the Amazons! They didn't even show up in this chapter! So, where are they? And when will they show up?
And what about Genma? What does he (try to) think about all this?
And Tatewaki?
What about Isshii-sensei?
And Ranma's classmates?
Will I ever stop asking questions?
Be here next time for the answer, whenever I get around to writing them!
Ja ne!
"Now you may find it inconceivable or at the very least a bit unlikely that the relative position of the planets and the stars could have a special deep significance or meaning that exclusively applies to only you, but let me give you my assurance that these forecasts and predictions are all based on solid, scientific, documented evidence, so you would have to be some kind of moron not to realize that every single one of them is absolutely true.
Where was I?"
-Wierd Al Yankovic, "Your Horoscope For Today", from
the album "Running With Scissors".