Tensai
A Ranma One Half & Slam Dunk Crossover Story
Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, nor do I own Slam Dunk.
This story takes place at the beginning of the Ranma manga and the year before
the slam dunk manga.
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--------------------Chapter 03
Ranma found it difficult to concentrate on schoolwork that afternoon. He was
uncertain if they would be successful in their bid to get Happosai instated as
coach. Yet, the more he thought about the matter, the more certain he grew that
it was a definite possibility. Furinkan high had a less than stellar record in
the sport, it was doubtful at best that any experienced coach would wish to join
their program.
Basketball was one of the most popular sports in Japan for high school students;
a team that made it to the national competition would gain a lot of prestige.
One just had to look at high schools such as Kainan and Shoyo to see the truth
in this.
Happosai was an ideal candidate, his ability to bring the team members to peak
physical condition was even better than the best basketball coach. The technical
aspect of the game could be worked on over the year that was available; there
were no disadvantages for Furinkan in the deal.
Occupied by these thoughts, it was not long before Ranma heard the bell
signalling the end of school for that day. After a short altercation with Akane
and Ryoga, which consisted of the two of them shouting obscenities, and him
blatantly ignoring both of them, que bestial state, Ranma made his way to meet
Happosai and the others. Sure enough, when he arrived outside the gymnasium a
few minutes later, Happosai sat perched before the entrance, waiting for his new
student to arrive.
Ranma came to a stop before the man. "Glad to see you made it Happosai, the
others should all arrive soon."
Sure enough, the rest of the team arrived not long after, and introductions were
made. It was rather funny actually, Ranma did not think that any of them had
ever seen someone as short as Happosai, a few of them even seemed to be
struggling to hold in laughter. Jin clearly couldn't help himself; he just stood
their staring, well for about ten seconds anyway. He was soon flying through the
air courtesy of Happosai, who did not appreciate such behaviour. Though with a
few hiccups, everything for the most part went smoothly, and the group made
their way up to administration.
The vice-principle, Mr. Yawara, was not as opposed to the idea of hiring
Happosai as Ranma had first thought. His reasoning even made sense, the current
gym teachers were always complaining about overwork. There were only two staff
members on Furinkans sporting program, one male and one female. These two had to
cater to the needs of over 30 clubs, a task they found nigh impossible. If the
basketball team had a coach of their own then that would lighten their workload.
Happy with this outcome, the group returned to the gym for their first training
session under their new coach, or so they thought.
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Once the group had congregated in the gym, Happosai got them all to take a
seat; he had something that he needed to explain. "As you may already know,
I have no prior experience with basketball. What I do have however, is over two
hundred and eighty years worth of martial arts experience. Stamina, speed,
strength, agility, all of these are just a few of the things that I can train
you to proficiency in. The other side of the game, things such as tactics, we
will have to acquire through research and experience. Also, as Ranma has already
explained, I am willing to take you on as students of anything goes. It will
take a lot of hard work and dedication, but the results will speak for
themselves. Are there any questions?"
They seemed to dwell on that for a while, taking the time to discuss the
possibilities. Finally, Kenji spoke up. "In regards to experience, there is
an ametuer basketball league that runs here in Tokyo. It costs $100 for a team
to join, and runs over the course of 8 months. Each ward has it's own league,
with the winner and runner up of each ward going on to play in the greater Tokyo
championship. We could register for that, we need to be quick though, the
registration deadline is Friday next week."
The rest of the guys agreed, even though they all knew that it would be extreme.
The tournament was open for teams of all ages, and the skill level was very
high. Most of Japans professional players joined this tournament after they
retired.
Happosai thought on this for a time. "That sounds like a good idea Kenji.
Take some money from the club fund and register our team."
Happosai and Kenji went through the details of the registration then. It seemed
that Kenjis father had a minor sponsorship deal with the organisers of the
mentioned tournament, this was the reason he had known of its existence.
Finally, satisfied that the matter was resolved, Happosai turned back to the
rest of them. "Ok, today I would like you guys to go through your normal
routine. This will allow me to see what I have to work with. Ranma, I want you
to go through all of the Saotome school katas that you know. Begin."
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Happosai spent the time to watch each of the five older boys individually.
They were by no means spectacular, not even good really, they all had potential
though. Their height however, was their greatest asset. In a year he would be
able to train the lot to jump high enough to touch the top edge of the
backboard. Their speed would also dramatically improve, though none of them
would be a match for Ranma.
Another area he would concentrate on was awareness. To an extent, Ranma had this
ability already, yet it was very stunted. Genma seemed to have warped it so that
it only worked for direct attacks. The true purpose was to provide an accurate
assessment of all things happening in the surrounding area. It was good that he
had at least a fortnight before the group's first game; it allowed him to begin
their conditioning. It also provided him with the time to watch players that
were already fully trained; this would give him an idea of how to tailor the
skills each player would use.
After the normal two-hour session, Kenji motioned them to stop. "That's it
for today guys."
Happosai noticed that they were finished for the day, so he made his way over to
stand beside Kenji. "I will see the rest of you again tomorrow, make sure
to get a lot of sleep tonight, you'll need it. Tomorrow, the real training
begins."
Turning to Ranma on his way past, Happosai continued, "Ranma, can you stay
behind, I need to talk to you personally"
Ranma replies quickly, "Sure Happosai, that's no problem, there is just one
thing I need to say. Mom would like you to come over for dinner tonight, I think
that she would like to have a talk with you about both the past and your plans
for the future."
His answer was instant, "That's fine Ranma, I would be happy to accept your
mothers generous offer, there is quite a lot of bad blood between us, and it
will give me the opportunity to apologise. Anyway, that aside, there is another
matter I would like to bring to your attention. Earlier, I had you go through
all of your katas, during this, I noticed something fairly strange. Tell me, did
you perform every kata of the anything goes style that Genma taught you"
Confused now, he replied. "Sure, why what's wrong?"
Happosai did not look pleased, "Genma has left out a whole section of the
Saotome school from your training, specifically the countermeasures that I
devised to neutralise all of the attack kata."
Ranma was really pissed, but he wasn't surprised, that sounded exactly like
something that Genma would do. It ensured he had some form of leverage over
Ranma when in a fight, he was glad to be rid of the dishonourable coward. It was
something he had to work on immediately though, Genma was sure to teach Ryoga
every one.
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With this settled, Happosai took an old wooden pipe out of his gi pocket,
something that Ranma had seen the man use on two separate occasions now.
Expecting him to take some tobacco out also, he was surprised when, instead, he
held it out to Ranma. "Here, take a hold of this pipe and tell me, what
would you say this was made from. Wood, metal?"
Ranma took the pipe from the old man, and made sure to examine it carefully. As
far as he could tell, the pipe was constructed out of plain old ordinary wood.
Strangely enough though, the minute his fingers closed around the wood, his
danger sense exploded.
Happosai noted his reaction and took back the pipe, "Impressive, I see that
you noticed that the pipe was anything but ordinary. Both Genma and Soun never
even suspected it was anything other than a pipe. Now, watch carefully"
With these words, the pipe suddenly morphed into a huge sphere of luminescent
white energy. Its diameter was easily three metres.
Three metres!!!!
Ranma found himself abruptly short of breath, the overwhelming power coming from
the sphere was terrifying. He couldn't breathe!!
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Happosai noticed this and was quick to act, the ball of energy was suddenly
reformed into the pipe. "As you have just seen, my pipe is actually a
construct made from ki energy. This ability requires a high level of finesse, a
constant supply of energy must be maintained or it will explode. You can use a
small or large amount, it does not matter, you increase the limit over time. The
purpose is concentration and control. It is through this technique that a
student of anything goes martial arts refines and builds their higher ki
abilities."
He stares intensely at Ranma now, seemingly weighing something that only he
could see. "First, you will need to learn how to project your ki energy
outside of your body. From my examination earlier, I can tell that you
definitely have enough ki to begin the training. Questions?"
Ranma thought on this new information for a moment, "Not really, however I
am excited to finally learn about ki, it was a subject that my father always
avoided for some reason. When do we start?"
Happosais response was immediate, "Now."
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Over the next two hours Happosai coached Ranma in meditation so that he could
completely centre himself, once this state was achieved Ranma could begin to
feel a store of energy with himself, it was a strange sensation, but not
unpleasant. He was instructed to channel as much of the energy as possible to
the top of his right index finger. It was surprisingly difficult. After around
seven attempts, all unsuccessful, he finally achieved a flickering sphere about
the size of a ten yen coin. The problem was it only stayed solid for around ten
seconds.
What followed was an extremely tiring afternoon, the purpose of which was to
extend the time he was able to keep the ball solid. By the end of the second
hour he had achieved a grand total of two minutes. It was extremely tiring, and
by the end of it he had a splitting headache. Nevertheless, he was satisfied, he
could actually channel his ki! A feat he had not truly believed possible only a
few short days ago. This opened up a whole slew of possibilities!
Calming down though, he remembered his mothers request from the night before,
they needed to leave or they would be late. "Thanks for the lesson Happosai,
I learnt a lot. We have to clean up though if we are to make it on time."
Happosai nods at this, "That's alright boy, it was my pleasure, certainly,
you are a far better student than Genma or Soun ever were. Of course, I was a
different person back then."
He made his goodbye here, said that he would return in twenty minutes, time
enough to freshen up and get changed. Ranma went through to the locker room to
do the same. Soon enough the pair found themselves before the gates of the Mito
compound.
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Yohko was delighted, Happosai was around the same size as her, she thought it
was marvellous. She insisted on sitting next to him at the table, with Ranma on
her other side of course. Nodoka didn't like this, but she could never deny her
only daughter.
Yohei seemed thoroughly disinterested in the whole affair, he just ate dinner
and left. Any attempt the others made to make polite conversation he just
ignored, Ranma decided something had to be done.
Oda had heard about Happosai from Nodoka, so he truly did not know what to
expect. Certainly not what he was presented with, the man seemed almost the
complete opposite from what he had previously been told.
Nodoka was pleasantly surprised by the new Happosai, she commented a few times
that he was like a completely different person from the man she met those long
years ago. Happosai made sure to apologise for his behaviour at that time, he
commented that once dinner was over perhaps the two of them could talk in
private for a time.
Once Yohko had been put to bed, Ranma, Nodoka, Oda and Happosai retired to the
lounge room. There were certain issues that had to be addressed. Nodoka had
thought over such a discussion that day, and chief among her questions was the
subject of Happosais past actions, a subject that she had every right to be
concerned about.
What followed was an intense question and answer session with Happosai detailing
exactly why he had acted the way he did. He then went on to explain, as he
already had to Ranma, that his ten-year captivity had effectively purged him of
the behaviour. Oda had a hard time believing this, as personally he did not
believe in the mystical side of the martial arts, a quick demonstration by
Happosai cleared this up however. In the end, Nodoka was satisfied that Happosai
had really changed, and made it known that he would be welcome to her home at
any time. Things went rather well, Oda was a bit shaken from Happosais ki
abilities though.
Once Nodoka and Oda were finished with their enquiries, Ranma invited Happosai
to watch a game on the television with him. They eventually settled on the
lakers-jazz matchup, Ranma did not get to watch much, as the minute the two sat
down Happosai told him to continue with his ki exercise. From what he could see,
Happosai was very absorbed in the game, often talking himself through each play
he saw. Ranma found himself losing focus occasionally to, he couldn't help but
take a peek at the on screen action. Finally, he turned to tell Happosai that he
was leaving the room. This was a mistake. The ki ball blew up.
Ouch!
--------------------To be continued.
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