Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan.
A Not so Simple Wish
by Ebiris (danielmcdonagh@hotmail.com)
Chapter 15
Ranma staggered into his home, barely supporting his weight on a thick branch he had
broken off a tree upon the termination of his impromtu flight over Nerima. "I'm home." he
called out weakly while kicking off his shoes and dropping his schoolbag in the genkan.
"Welcome home, son. How was - oh my!" Nodoka had stepped into the hallway and was
now taking in Ranma's dishevelled appearance with a healthy amount of shock. "I just
bought that uniform yesterday!" the Saotome matriarch wailed as she dashed over and
started dusting her son off, examining the numerous tears and stains on the fabric of Ranma's
school clothes.
"Heh... don' worry... mom... I'm fine..." Ranma slurred out before collapsing in her arms.
This was of course Genma's cue to appear and start bemoaning his fate of having such a
weak son.
"Boy! What happened to put you in this state?" Genma grabbed Ranma away from Nodoka
and started shaking him roughly. "Your weakness is a shame against the Anything Goes
school!"
"What the hell are ya talkin' about old man? It was your stupid master that did this to me!"
Ranma shot back, seeming to regain most of his energy as he broke Genma's hold and glared
fiercely at his father.
"What?!" Genma roared "You angered the Master? Foolish boy, what were you thinking?!"
Ranma snorted dismissively. "That old freak ain't no master of mine!" he said while making
a contemptous gesture. "I'll find a way to beat him, just you wait!"
"Son, you shouldn't be fighting Happosai-sensei, he's only a harmless little old man."
Nodoka fretted while wringing her hands.
Both Saotome males paused to give Nodoka an odd look. "Yes... of course, dear..." Genma
said hesitantly before swinging an arm over his son's shoulder "The boy and I need to talk,
martial arts stuff, you understand?"
"Oh of course!" Nodoka nodded brightly. "I'll just get started on dinner while you impart
your wisdom to our son!" and with that she puttered off to the kitchen.
"Feh, maybe we should tell her about the Neko-ken sometime, huh pop?" Ranma remarked,
disgusted by the amount of trust and faith his mother had in his worthless father.
"Er... let's not and say we did, eh son?" Genma laughed nervously before his glasses glinted
in the light and he adopted a sollemn expression. "Now boy, you need to forget those fool
ideas about taking on the Master. There is but one," here Genma held up his index finger
"technique which can be used against him. Tendou and I have used it to defeat even his most
powerful rages."
Now Ranma was interested. "Wow, must be some technique, what is it?"
"The Crouch of the Wild Tiger. I will only demonstrate this once boy, so pay attention."
Genma barked sternly before kneeling down, seeing he had Ranma's attention he then bowed
forward so his head was touching the ground and started babbling "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm
sorry!"
"I hate you, pop." Ranma muttered in disgust as he left the pathetic kowtowing figure and
went to get cleaned up before dinner, resolutely swearing that he would find a technique or
training method to bring him up to Happosai's level.
***
At the Kuno mansion, a certain Kodachi Kuno was in high spirits as she worked on mixing
certain plant extracts in her greenhouse. The vapours being given off were the main reason
for her giddiness, but there was also the matter of what she had slipped in her brother's
dinner earlier. Though she wasn't sure if he would even notice, since Kodachi was rather
certain that Tatewaki wasn't sexually active. Still, it should keep him from having any
naughty thoughts about her friend.
"Foul twisted wench of a sister!" A commanding voice thundered from the door linking the
greenhouse with the mansion proper.
Kodachi let loose a burst of her blood curdling laughter, demurely covering her mouth as a
lady should. "Whatever brings you to my humble presence, dearest brother mine?" She
asked sarcasticly.
"Spare me thy pretensions of innocence, evil harpy that only yet lives due to the twisted
mockery of Heaven's law that makes you share my of my noble blood!" Kuno roared angrily
while waving his bokken around. "Pray tell what foul concotion has affected the Blue
Thunder's almighty puissance?! For it came to pass that when I admired my images of the
wondrous Akane Tendou and sought to commence meditating upon her beauty that my flesh
was unwilling to respond to the call! Such an affront stinks of your malevolence, sinister
sister of mine!"
Kodachi took a moment to parse that speech before she realised what Tatewaki was
effectively saying. She wrinkled her nose before yelling "Brother, that's disgusting!"
***
It was lunchtime the following day and Ranma had staked out the same spot he had shared
lunch with Ranko the day before, and was looking forward to actually trying Kasumi's lunch
this time without it being stolen by his other fiancee.
"Hiya Ranma-kun! Mind if I join you?" a friendly voice intruded on his ruminations on
lunch food.
Ranma looked up to see one of Kasumi's sisters looking down at him, bento box in hand and
a smile on her face. "Sure thing, Nabiki-san. Take a seat." He patted the ground next to him.
"Now, now." Nabiki admonished, waggling a finger at him. "You could become my brother
in law, there's no need to be so formal."
"Okay, Nabiki-chan." Ranma nodded, smiling at her.
Nabiki smirked. "Hardly anyone calls me Nabiki-chan." she observed before proceeding to
kneel down and open her lunchbox before speaking again. "What was all that about this
morning with you fighting Kuno and that other boy picking a fight with you as well?"
Ranma groaned at the memory of his old rival swearing to 'destroy his happiness'. "That guy
was Ryouga Hibiki, I used to go to school with him. He always got all pissed because I was
able to get the last bread in the school cafeteria when he was trying to get it. He always made
some big production out of 'Never forgiving the offense of the curry bread!'" Ranma said,
imitating Ryouga's usual angry tones before continuing in his normal voice. "He challenged
me to a duel about it, but the loudmouth coward never actually showed up. Dunno what's
got him all worked up now, but if he wants a fight I'll be happy to give him one."
"Uh huh... and what about what you did to Kuno?" Nabiki prodded insistently.
Ranma's expression hardened noticeably. "He had it coming."
"Wow, you've just met the guy and you've got him pegged!" Nabiki sniggered before
noticing just how angry Ranma looked. "Geez, what did he do?"
"He tried to get Ranko to sleep with him after saying all those horrible things about her
yesterday." Ranma got out while gritting his teeth, he hated hypocritical bastards like that
Kuno guy.
Nabiki exhaled sharply, blowing up her bangs in the process. "Wow, and here I thought he
was in love with Akane..."
"Feh, he's just a scumbag, I doubt he knows what love is." Ranma snorted derisively.
"Probably not." Nabiki mused. "Speaking of Ranko-san, where is she today?"
"She went off on a trainin' trip, dunno when she'll be back but it should be in a few days.
Heck, I should be goin' on a training trip myself so I can learn some way to beat that old
freak, but mom says I need ta focus on school..." Ranma said, feeling a bit of respect for his
fiancee, since he didn't know that many people his age who were serious enough about
martial arts to skip school in order to practice.
"You mean Happosai?" Nabiki asked, her voice losing it's light tone as she scowled angrily.
"If you're going after him then you've got my full support."
"What'd he do to you?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow at the display of temper.
"Never you mind." Nabiki growled. "Just know that if you ever need any help dealing with
the wretched little pervert you can count on me."
"Um... you're not really a martial artist, so I doubt you could help with this..." Ranma said
hesitantly, not wanting to offend her but still feeling the need to raise the point.
Nabiki deflated a bit. "That's true, but my offer still stands. I really want to hurt that old
letch..."
"Hold! Vile knave, I see thou art keeping the company of the mercenary Nabiki Tendou, no
doubt she helped orchestrate my downfall at the hands of your black sorcery this morn, but
know that the scion of Kuno shall never admit defeat to the likes of you, have at thee fiend!"
Ranma stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Back for more? That's just fine with me..." He
had no objection to pounding this mouthy asshole twice in one day. As he leapt to meet
Kuno's charge, he wondered just how Ranko was doing on her training trip and if she was
having more fun than him.
***
Ranma-chan cheerfully walked through the streets of Shinjuku, reveling in the feeling of
wearing her normal male clothing, the unrestrained bouncing of her breasts with each step
(actually that hurt a little, but she was a martial artist so she could take it), the liberated
feeling of wearing boxers instead of panties (thankfully her period was last week, otherwise
she'd have to wear panties to hold the pad - she refused to use tampons since the idea of
putting something up 'there' was just disgusting to her) and having her hair in a simple and
economical pigtail rather than falling loose down her back, which looked good but was a
hassle to look after.
All in all, she was quite content with her decision to get away from Nerima and the pressures
of being Ranko for just a little while. Of course, she'd have to go back and assume that role
once more if she ever wanted to really regain her true identity, but right now she needed a
break before she snapped.
Spotting a dojo, she decided to go and challenge it, not to claim their sign or anything, just
for fun and to maybe pick up a technique or two if they were any good - obviously there was
no chance of her losing, but maybe they could hold her interest for a little bit.
She was just approaching the entrance when a tall boy dressed in a black vest and fatigues
with a white bandanna on his head exited. The boy struck what he no doubt thought of as a
pose of righteous martial contemplation and began mumbling to himself. "That dojo was no
challenge... I can feel my mastery over the techniques becoming closer... if I can only find
the other school I'll be able to rebuild the dojo..."
Ranma-chan grinned cruelly. Here was an imposter she could get away with beating up, and
she had never liked the guy anyway, especially for playing with her mother's head the way
he had. "Did you just defeat that dojo?" She asked him.
"Huh? Yeah I did." The boy smirked at her, no doubt imagining she was awestruck by his
manly prowess.
"Really? What's your name?" Ranma-chan pressed on.
"Ranma Saotome."
"Really?" Ranma-chan cracked her knuckles in anticipation.
***
"Wow, just from air pressure!" Nabiki commented as the statue she was taking shelter by
was destroyed by Kuno's rapid strike attack despite being several metres away.
Ranma was dodging Kuno's strikes with careless ease, although it looked to Nabiki like he
was purposely putting himself in range of Kuno's attacks without counterattacking. That
struck her as odd, since when Ranma had fought Kuno in the morning he had been much
more offensive and had overwhelmed Kuno within seconds.
"Stand still and let me thrash you, knave!" Kuno roared, increasing the intensity of his
attacks so much that small rips were appearing all over Ranma's school uniform.
"Come on, Kuno! I know you can do better than that!" Ranma taunted as he continued
weaving around the sword strikes and air pressure blasts, only taking superficial damage in
the process.
Nabiki wondered just what Ranma was doing, since even with the speed of Kuno's attack,
even she could tell he was relatively open, so why wasn't Ranma finishing him?
***
Ranma-chan lazily flipped over the single vacum blade her opponent had sent at her. It
seemed Ryu had yet to fully master the Kijin Raishu Dan and was showing visible exertion
just from launching a single one of the deadly projectiles. At this rate I won't even have to
use the Umisenken... she kept that thought to herself though, since revealing her knowledge
of that school probably would result in him pestering her no end for its secrets.
"You dodged my vacum blade? Looks like I'll have to go all out." Ryu Kumon said,
impressed at her agility.
"Feh! Get real, that was your best attack wasn't it?" Ranma-chan shot back, seeing right
through his bluster.
Ryu flinched, but quickly recovered and advanced once more, yelling "Don't move!" before
leaping to attack. Ranma-chan involuntarily stiffened, allowing him to get within her guard
and push past her arms, landing a brutal kick to her sternum while calling out "Mouko
Kaimon Ha!"
Ranma-chan tumbled backwards, and quickly got to her feet to avoid his follow up strike.
"Heh, not bad." she admitted before smirking confidently. "Now face my fierce tiger. Mouko
Takabisha!" she a wide blast of confidence chi, that he had no chance of dodging at this
range, straight at him, easily bowling him over.
Athough she could have won in a single blow right at the beginning with her shiatsu
knowledge combined with the speed of the Parlay du Foie Gras. That speed that was
normally useless in a fight since it sacrificed almost all power, but if she used that speed to
just tap a few pressure points she could defeat anyone with a minimum of fuss. But where
was the fun in that? So instead of finishing him before he recovered, Ranma-chan waited for
Kumon to regain his footing before resuming the battle.
***
This isn't working, Ranma thought as he dodged Kuno's blows. Although the kendoist was
striking fast, he was using a rigid pattern which Ranma had already figured out, hence
Ranma wasn't really having to exert himself to dodge.
He had thought he could take advantage of Kuno's speed strike technique to get practice
against a fast opponent, but the kendoist was light years behind Happosai in both speed and
skill. What Ranma needed was to face something both fast and unpredictable if he wanted to
improve his speed to reach Happosai's level, his own subconscious fighting instincts were
working against him with Kuno.
Sighing, he decided to wrap things up, and weaved inside Kuno's guard, knocking him out
with several quick strikes. "That was a waste of time." he commented, sparing a disparaging
glance to his beaten foe.
"Why did you toy with him for so long?" Nabiki asked, stepping over towards him.
"I thought dodging his speed attack would be good practice for Happosai, but he's so
predictable it wasn't any help." Ranma lamented.
"You need to get faster to deal with him, huh?"
"Yep." Ranma nodded. "The little bastard is inhumanly fast, it's like I'm movin' in slow
motion next to him..." he sighed heavily "I need to figure some kind of training exercise
that'll help boost my speed."
"Speed, huh? Why don't you ask Ranko? I've seen her move pretty fast from time to time."
Nabiki offered helpfully.
Ranma shook his head. "Nah, she's good for a girl, but I doubt she'd know anything really
useful."
***
Ranma-chan smirked at the beaten and unconscious form of Ryu Kumon on the steps of the
Tanaka dojo while ignoring the dojo owner who had come out and was yelling about the
huge amount of property damage their fight had caused.
"Ranma Saotome doesn't lose, and you ain't him buddy."
***
A Not so Simple Wish
by Ebiris (danielmcdonagh@hotmail.com)
Chapter 15
Ranma staggered into his home, barely supporting his weight on a thick branch he had
broken off a tree upon the termination of his impromtu flight over Nerima. "I'm home." he
called out weakly while kicking off his shoes and dropping his schoolbag in the genkan.
"Welcome home, son. How was - oh my!" Nodoka had stepped into the hallway and was
now taking in Ranma's dishevelled appearance with a healthy amount of shock. "I just
bought that uniform yesterday!" the Saotome matriarch wailed as she dashed over and
started dusting her son off, examining the numerous tears and stains on the fabric of Ranma's
school clothes.
"Heh... don' worry... mom... I'm fine..." Ranma slurred out before collapsing in her arms.
This was of course Genma's cue to appear and start bemoaning his fate of having such a
weak son.
"Boy! What happened to put you in this state?" Genma grabbed Ranma away from Nodoka
and started shaking him roughly. "Your weakness is a shame against the Anything Goes
school!"
"What the hell are ya talkin' about old man? It was your stupid master that did this to me!"
Ranma shot back, seeming to regain most of his energy as he broke Genma's hold and glared
fiercely at his father.
"What?!" Genma roared "You angered the Master? Foolish boy, what were you thinking?!"
Ranma snorted dismissively. "That old freak ain't no master of mine!" he said while making
a contemptous gesture. "I'll find a way to beat him, just you wait!"
"Son, you shouldn't be fighting Happosai-sensei, he's only a harmless little old man."
Nodoka fretted while wringing her hands.
Both Saotome males paused to give Nodoka an odd look. "Yes... of course, dear..." Genma
said hesitantly before swinging an arm over his son's shoulder "The boy and I need to talk,
martial arts stuff, you understand?"
"Oh of course!" Nodoka nodded brightly. "I'll just get started on dinner while you impart
your wisdom to our son!" and with that she puttered off to the kitchen.
"Feh, maybe we should tell her about the Neko-ken sometime, huh pop?" Ranma remarked,
disgusted by the amount of trust and faith his mother had in his worthless father.
"Er... let's not and say we did, eh son?" Genma laughed nervously before his glasses glinted
in the light and he adopted a sollemn expression. "Now boy, you need to forget those fool
ideas about taking on the Master. There is but one," here Genma held up his index finger
"technique which can be used against him. Tendou and I have used it to defeat even his most
powerful rages."
Now Ranma was interested. "Wow, must be some technique, what is it?"
"The Crouch of the Wild Tiger. I will only demonstrate this once boy, so pay attention."
Genma barked sternly before kneeling down, seeing he had Ranma's attention he then bowed
forward so his head was touching the ground and started babbling "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm
sorry!"
"I hate you, pop." Ranma muttered in disgust as he left the pathetic kowtowing figure and
went to get cleaned up before dinner, resolutely swearing that he would find a technique or
training method to bring him up to Happosai's level.
***
At the Kuno mansion, a certain Kodachi Kuno was in high spirits as she worked on mixing
certain plant extracts in her greenhouse. The vapours being given off were the main reason
for her giddiness, but there was also the matter of what she had slipped in her brother's
dinner earlier. Though she wasn't sure if he would even notice, since Kodachi was rather
certain that Tatewaki wasn't sexually active. Still, it should keep him from having any
naughty thoughts about her friend.
"Foul twisted wench of a sister!" A commanding voice thundered from the door linking the
greenhouse with the mansion proper.
Kodachi let loose a burst of her blood curdling laughter, demurely covering her mouth as a
lady should. "Whatever brings you to my humble presence, dearest brother mine?" She
asked sarcasticly.
"Spare me thy pretensions of innocence, evil harpy that only yet lives due to the twisted
mockery of Heaven's law that makes you share my of my noble blood!" Kuno roared angrily
while waving his bokken around. "Pray tell what foul concotion has affected the Blue
Thunder's almighty puissance?! For it came to pass that when I admired my images of the
wondrous Akane Tendou and sought to commence meditating upon her beauty that my flesh
was unwilling to respond to the call! Such an affront stinks of your malevolence, sinister
sister of mine!"
Kodachi took a moment to parse that speech before she realised what Tatewaki was
effectively saying. She wrinkled her nose before yelling "Brother, that's disgusting!"
***
It was lunchtime the following day and Ranma had staked out the same spot he had shared
lunch with Ranko the day before, and was looking forward to actually trying Kasumi's lunch
this time without it being stolen by his other fiancee.
"Hiya Ranma-kun! Mind if I join you?" a friendly voice intruded on his ruminations on
lunch food.
Ranma looked up to see one of Kasumi's sisters looking down at him, bento box in hand and
a smile on her face. "Sure thing, Nabiki-san. Take a seat." He patted the ground next to him.
"Now, now." Nabiki admonished, waggling a finger at him. "You could become my brother
in law, there's no need to be so formal."
"Okay, Nabiki-chan." Ranma nodded, smiling at her.
Nabiki smirked. "Hardly anyone calls me Nabiki-chan." she observed before proceeding to
kneel down and open her lunchbox before speaking again. "What was all that about this
morning with you fighting Kuno and that other boy picking a fight with you as well?"
Ranma groaned at the memory of his old rival swearing to 'destroy his happiness'. "That guy
was Ryouga Hibiki, I used to go to school with him. He always got all pissed because I was
able to get the last bread in the school cafeteria when he was trying to get it. He always made
some big production out of 'Never forgiving the offense of the curry bread!'" Ranma said,
imitating Ryouga's usual angry tones before continuing in his normal voice. "He challenged
me to a duel about it, but the loudmouth coward never actually showed up. Dunno what's
got him all worked up now, but if he wants a fight I'll be happy to give him one."
"Uh huh... and what about what you did to Kuno?" Nabiki prodded insistently.
Ranma's expression hardened noticeably. "He had it coming."
"Wow, you've just met the guy and you've got him pegged!" Nabiki sniggered before
noticing just how angry Ranma looked. "Geez, what did he do?"
"He tried to get Ranko to sleep with him after saying all those horrible things about her
yesterday." Ranma got out while gritting his teeth, he hated hypocritical bastards like that
Kuno guy.
Nabiki exhaled sharply, blowing up her bangs in the process. "Wow, and here I thought he
was in love with Akane..."
"Feh, he's just a scumbag, I doubt he knows what love is." Ranma snorted derisively.
"Probably not." Nabiki mused. "Speaking of Ranko-san, where is she today?"
"She went off on a trainin' trip, dunno when she'll be back but it should be in a few days.
Heck, I should be goin' on a training trip myself so I can learn some way to beat that old
freak, but mom says I need ta focus on school..." Ranma said, feeling a bit of respect for his
fiancee, since he didn't know that many people his age who were serious enough about
martial arts to skip school in order to practice.
"You mean Happosai?" Nabiki asked, her voice losing it's light tone as she scowled angrily.
"If you're going after him then you've got my full support."
"What'd he do to you?" Ranma asked, raising an eyebrow at the display of temper.
"Never you mind." Nabiki growled. "Just know that if you ever need any help dealing with
the wretched little pervert you can count on me."
"Um... you're not really a martial artist, so I doubt you could help with this..." Ranma said
hesitantly, not wanting to offend her but still feeling the need to raise the point.
Nabiki deflated a bit. "That's true, but my offer still stands. I really want to hurt that old
letch..."
"Hold! Vile knave, I see thou art keeping the company of the mercenary Nabiki Tendou, no
doubt she helped orchestrate my downfall at the hands of your black sorcery this morn, but
know that the scion of Kuno shall never admit defeat to the likes of you, have at thee fiend!"
Ranma stood up and cracked his knuckles. "Back for more? That's just fine with me..." He
had no objection to pounding this mouthy asshole twice in one day. As he leapt to meet
Kuno's charge, he wondered just how Ranko was doing on her training trip and if she was
having more fun than him.
***
Ranma-chan cheerfully walked through the streets of Shinjuku, reveling in the feeling of
wearing her normal male clothing, the unrestrained bouncing of her breasts with each step
(actually that hurt a little, but she was a martial artist so she could take it), the liberated
feeling of wearing boxers instead of panties (thankfully her period was last week, otherwise
she'd have to wear panties to hold the pad - she refused to use tampons since the idea of
putting something up 'there' was just disgusting to her) and having her hair in a simple and
economical pigtail rather than falling loose down her back, which looked good but was a
hassle to look after.
All in all, she was quite content with her decision to get away from Nerima and the pressures
of being Ranko for just a little while. Of course, she'd have to go back and assume that role
once more if she ever wanted to really regain her true identity, but right now she needed a
break before she snapped.
Spotting a dojo, she decided to go and challenge it, not to claim their sign or anything, just
for fun and to maybe pick up a technique or two if they were any good - obviously there was
no chance of her losing, but maybe they could hold her interest for a little bit.
She was just approaching the entrance when a tall boy dressed in a black vest and fatigues
with a white bandanna on his head exited. The boy struck what he no doubt thought of as a
pose of righteous martial contemplation and began mumbling to himself. "That dojo was no
challenge... I can feel my mastery over the techniques becoming closer... if I can only find
the other school I'll be able to rebuild the dojo..."
Ranma-chan grinned cruelly. Here was an imposter she could get away with beating up, and
she had never liked the guy anyway, especially for playing with her mother's head the way
he had. "Did you just defeat that dojo?" She asked him.
"Huh? Yeah I did." The boy smirked at her, no doubt imagining she was awestruck by his
manly prowess.
"Really? What's your name?" Ranma-chan pressed on.
"Ranma Saotome."
"Really?" Ranma-chan cracked her knuckles in anticipation.
***
"Wow, just from air pressure!" Nabiki commented as the statue she was taking shelter by
was destroyed by Kuno's rapid strike attack despite being several metres away.
Ranma was dodging Kuno's strikes with careless ease, although it looked to Nabiki like he
was purposely putting himself in range of Kuno's attacks without counterattacking. That
struck her as odd, since when Ranma had fought Kuno in the morning he had been much
more offensive and had overwhelmed Kuno within seconds.
"Stand still and let me thrash you, knave!" Kuno roared, increasing the intensity of his
attacks so much that small rips were appearing all over Ranma's school uniform.
"Come on, Kuno! I know you can do better than that!" Ranma taunted as he continued
weaving around the sword strikes and air pressure blasts, only taking superficial damage in
the process.
Nabiki wondered just what Ranma was doing, since even with the speed of Kuno's attack,
even she could tell he was relatively open, so why wasn't Ranma finishing him?
***
Ranma-chan lazily flipped over the single vacum blade her opponent had sent at her. It
seemed Ryu had yet to fully master the Kijin Raishu Dan and was showing visible exertion
just from launching a single one of the deadly projectiles. At this rate I won't even have to
use the Umisenken... she kept that thought to herself though, since revealing her knowledge
of that school probably would result in him pestering her no end for its secrets.
"You dodged my vacum blade? Looks like I'll have to go all out." Ryu Kumon said,
impressed at her agility.
"Feh! Get real, that was your best attack wasn't it?" Ranma-chan shot back, seeing right
through his bluster.
Ryu flinched, but quickly recovered and advanced once more, yelling "Don't move!" before
leaping to attack. Ranma-chan involuntarily stiffened, allowing him to get within her guard
and push past her arms, landing a brutal kick to her sternum while calling out "Mouko
Kaimon Ha!"
Ranma-chan tumbled backwards, and quickly got to her feet to avoid his follow up strike.
"Heh, not bad." she admitted before smirking confidently. "Now face my fierce tiger. Mouko
Takabisha!" she a wide blast of confidence chi, that he had no chance of dodging at this
range, straight at him, easily bowling him over.
Athough she could have won in a single blow right at the beginning with her shiatsu
knowledge combined with the speed of the Parlay du Foie Gras. That speed that was
normally useless in a fight since it sacrificed almost all power, but if she used that speed to
just tap a few pressure points she could defeat anyone with a minimum of fuss. But where
was the fun in that? So instead of finishing him before he recovered, Ranma-chan waited for
Kumon to regain his footing before resuming the battle.
***
This isn't working, Ranma thought as he dodged Kuno's blows. Although the kendoist was
striking fast, he was using a rigid pattern which Ranma had already figured out, hence
Ranma wasn't really having to exert himself to dodge.
He had thought he could take advantage of Kuno's speed strike technique to get practice
against a fast opponent, but the kendoist was light years behind Happosai in both speed and
skill. What Ranma needed was to face something both fast and unpredictable if he wanted to
improve his speed to reach Happosai's level, his own subconscious fighting instincts were
working against him with Kuno.
Sighing, he decided to wrap things up, and weaved inside Kuno's guard, knocking him out
with several quick strikes. "That was a waste of time." he commented, sparing a disparaging
glance to his beaten foe.
"Why did you toy with him for so long?" Nabiki asked, stepping over towards him.
"I thought dodging his speed attack would be good practice for Happosai, but he's so
predictable it wasn't any help." Ranma lamented.
"You need to get faster to deal with him, huh?"
"Yep." Ranma nodded. "The little bastard is inhumanly fast, it's like I'm movin' in slow
motion next to him..." he sighed heavily "I need to figure some kind of training exercise
that'll help boost my speed."
"Speed, huh? Why don't you ask Ranko? I've seen her move pretty fast from time to time."
Nabiki offered helpfully.
Ranma shook his head. "Nah, she's good for a girl, but I doubt she'd know anything really
useful."
***
Ranma-chan smirked at the beaten and unconscious form of Ryu Kumon on the steps of the
Tanaka dojo while ignoring the dojo owner who had come out and was yelling about the
huge amount of property damage their fight had caused.
"Ranma Saotome doesn't lose, and you ain't him buddy."
***
