Wow, chapter 4 already... cool.
Well, as soon as this one is done, I'm gonna have to give Lila a rest. She's been complaining and I've got other fics to give some much-needed attention to. So as much as I hate to say it, this one is gonna have to go on limbo for a little while. But hopefully not too long...
But this chapter WILL go into some much needed plot development I HOPE [throws Lila a look that could strip paint].
But before we do too much, let's make a space for the Reviewer Responses:
I STILL can't remember my name: It's too bad u can't remember it. And hey, why didn't you give Lila a hug? I think she may be feeling left out... And don't worry, whether fast or not, this story will reach its destinations... eventually.
Anime DUST: Yeah, I know. The first four chapters were already written, so I updated day after day. And the latest Manga volume I have is 23... I wonder when 24 is coming out? And I'm not worrying about TerraEpon... I've dealt with people like that, and it's actually kinda depressing. Some people actually need to feel like they're making other people hurt to feel better about themselves... (*CoughsuperBOI_Coolcough*) Oh well. And I don't think you'll be waiting TOO long for chapter 4... It's here already... isn't it? It should be? Hehe heh, um, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is... I'm gonna finish this now. I'm feeling hyper right now. @.@
Now on with what I'm here at the computer to do... DANCING!!!! [Does a little jig]
[Readers sweatdrop at Alex Ultra's 'dancing', which looks more like spastic twisting]
Lila: Uh, don't do that.
Alex Ultra: Too... early... can't... think... Oh well, maybe in the four days it will take to write this I'll wake up. ^.^'''
Lila: -_-''
Quick Note: When extra punctuation is placed inside quotes, that means it's said in something other than Japanese. "-English-" "Japanese" "\Chinese\" Understand? I'm going to put this at the beginning from now on, just in case it becomes handy. ^.^
Chapter 4
~~~~~~*** TRAINING DAY ***~~~~~~
Along a nameless street in a nameless part of town there walked a nameless stranger.
People saw her and waved her off as a traveler, her dress was very obviously American. Simple jean shorts with a white t-shirt and a blue backpack.
She didn't seem to feel out of place, but she did feel lost. Her gaze was constantly at the side.
Pulling a scrap of paper from her pocket, she went over the instructions once again.
~~
'Why can't I land a hit!?' I was practicing again; Akane was helping me with my form as Ranma hopped around like I wasn't important. "Hehe, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I can't hit you!"
"Yeah! And neither can she!" Ranma threw a teasing glare at the girl standing to the side, who tried to pretend like she hadn't noticed. (She didn't do either one well.)
I just kept trying to hit Ranma, following him everywhere he went while watching his movements as best I could. I had a feel for the style he was using to dance around me, but that didn't seem like it was his fighting form. He had his hands behind his back and was smiling teasingly the entire time.
After I had had enough of being danced around, it was my turn to dance. I was told to practice my katas, with Akane telling me how to do it right.
I had been told that I had natural skill, but for some reason that didn't seem to make any difference. Though I suppose even the most skilled need instruction, and practice...
"AAHH!!" With that last kick, I managed to land on the ground, in a rather undignified position.
"You're swinging your back too much, it's throwing you off balance."
"Heehee... Yeah, I guess so." As much as I hated it, sometimes my laugh came out as a giggle. Especially when I was smiling stupidly and/or laughing through my teeth.
I adjusted the weighted wristbands (that I had insisted on buying to build my strength) from their previous position (over my thumbs) to a more comfortable position before I got back to my kata.
The odd thing about the Anything Goes style is that very few of the katas are actually named. I had been practicing them for a few days now, but I had only learned the names of three of them. One was named after a place, one after a thing (a cat, one Ranma never practiced for some reason), and one named after Ranma himself (seeing as how he supposedly invented it).
I took to them like a fish to water, but I still couldn't hit Ranma! Akane had commented on how Ranma seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, and anymore, she had as much trouble with him as I was! Although, I suppose his daily fights with Ryoga and Mousse helped him to keep getting stronger. Akane was saying that they hadn't always been ganging up on him, even Kuno seemed to be getting on his case, though that was only because he thought the way to 'The Red Pigtailed Girl' was through him.
He continued to hit on me though, much to my dismay. Just this morning I dumped a trashcan on his head and he still couldn't figure it out that I was saying no. 'I can't wait till we go on that trip and I don't have to worry about him...'
"Oh girls! Dinner's ready!"
Akane looked me in the eye and smiled. "Wanna go get something to eat?"
I didn't even have to answer, just thinking about food made my stomach gurgle in response. "Um, yeah." I smiled stupidly despite myself.
~~ Minutes later ~~
Kasumi looked over at me. "Aren't you going to take those off?"
"What? These?" I pointed to the wristbands, and she nodded. "Nah, no real point in it."
"But won't your arms get tired?"
"Probably, but they'll get used to it, and then I'll get some more." Ranma looked at me funny for a second or so, and then laughed. Though the others only shrugged and went back to dinner.
"Hey! How come I never thought of that?"
Akane looked directly at him, cunning remark already prepared. "Because you don't think!" Ranma only rolled his eyes, and we went back to dinner (A/N: Which some people call Supper for some unknown reason...)
~~ About half an hour later ~~
I had managed to find a place that would take me as an employee for a while. It didn't seem to surprise me too much, but I was glad that they said I could start when I get back.
Strangely enough, it just happened to be a place that specialized in Anime and Manga near the school. Even here they seemed to have it all over the place. Of course, not knowing what world I was in didn't seem to make an impact on how well I knew these different things.
DBZ, InuYasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, all the different Gundams, everything was here. It was the perfect job for me! Except that it didn't really pay a whole lot.
Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, but they can be pickers. I actually had a choice! Even without any ID!
Which I would eventually need anyway. Though Suon had agreed to help me with that one.
"Hmm, haven't seen this one before..." I flipped open the cover to something called 'Juunasa Ryohoshi'. I was still slightly amazed at how easy it was to follow the very blatant use of Japanese. Each character and symbol just seemed to automatically mean something to me.
I put the strange Manga back on the shelf, having familiarized myself with it. It was something about an artist who used paint as a weapon. It didn't seem too good, but I figured I might as well know the gist of it.
I sighed and picked up another one, under the meccha category. This one looked okay, it had a lot of action and lots of people yelling at each other. But it basically looked like another version of most of those Mech mangas out there.
I was just about to pick up another one when Akane walked in the store.
"Hey Akane. What's up?"
"I was wondering what you've been doing in here all day?" She didn't seem annoyed, and I was never really in there all day. Just two hours a day so far.
"So far, I've been looking around. There's so much here, I wanna know at least a little bit about each one." 'Love Hina' It didn't look like my type of anything, but I went into it anyway.
"Soo... you're really thinking of taking this job? Sounds pretty boring if you ask me."
I smiled. "Are you kidding? If I had had any drawing skill I would have filled the better half of a store this size with this stuff! And besides, I can practice my form or meditate when there's nothing better to do..." I shrugged; at this rate I would know nearly the entire stock in a few days. Looking around wouldn't really keep me entertained forever. Besides, I was living one, how could it get any better?
Though I was keeping an eye out. Perhaps it was in here?
But hey, I had two weeks of vacation ahead of me. Though, for some reason, this whole thing felt a bit like a vacation really.
~~
Lila was flipping through another Manga. The strange girl from before watched her with passing interest. She had some power, but it wasn't enough. She knew that this girl was not the one she was looking for.
The other girl, she had a bit more power, but she was still too weak.
'Boy, this could take forever. I hate not being able to use my ki to sense long distance...' With a sigh, she took a manga title off the shelf. 'Fruits Basket? What the heck is wrong with these people? Couldn't they at least come up with a better name?' With another quick sigh, she placed the booklet back on the shelf and walked away.
Looking at the city skyline she sighed again. "-Well, a systematic search it is then...-" Adjusting her backpack, she walked down the street, keeping an eye on the levels of those she passed. 'I wish they had given better instructions... or at least a little information...'
~~
Ranma still wasn't pleased. Ryoga had nearly hit him when Mousse had him all tied up! He was definitely improving, but it didn't seem like it was enough! His obsession with becoming the best was STILL not quenched!
Even if he WAS the best, he would never admit it to himself, because knowing he was the best meant that there was nothing left to train for. And he lived for training, for getting stronger.
Besides, life just didn't seem as fun when he had to worry about who might come around the next corner. He wanted to be able to deal with it, and getting stronger seemed like the only real way to deal with ANYTHING.
~~
Akane had decided that Ranma didn't want to spar tonight. I guess that was okay, because Akane didn't seem like quite so much. It was true that I still wasn't really quite there yet, but I could at least make her use her hands.
I wasn't really trying to do my best; I was more worried about watching how my body reacted. I was trying to improve, not win. Of course, I knew that I couldn't win, not really.
But Akane wasn't letting up on the steam any, she didn't attack much, but I could tell she felt that she could have at any time.
I wasn't nearly fast enough. Oh well. It's still more fun than sitting around brooding all day.
"You keeping an eye on your energy?"
"Uh huh." Intelligible comments were hard when I was meditating while fighting. But at least I wasn't keeping completely silent.
"Why don't you take those wristbands off? It may make it easier."
I knew I didn't want to, but I couldn't really remember why. I just grunted, not really paying enough attention to care otherwise.
One hour became two, two became three, and before we knew it four hours had passed and we were still going at it. Well, Akane was, I was on the floor meditating again, having practically collapsed on the floor from lack of oxygen and a stitch in my side.
I could hear the sounds of battle outside; Ranma had gotten some people to attack him unprovoked. Meaning that he asked them and they agreed.
~~
"Come on Ryoga! I want you to come at me with EVERYTHING!!! You too Mousse!" Ranma's face hit the ground as Genma smacked her on the back of the head. She quickly flipped away and faced the bald man. "I knew you would pops!" She went back to dodging as many of the blows as she could.
Fighting three people all at once while a girl was sure a vigorous exercise, and Ranma was loving every second of it. If only she could get Ryoga and Mousse to get over the girl thing and just attack.
An umbrella hit her in the back between the shoulders, which meant Ryoga was attacking finally. She flipped forward to lessen the impact and used her ankles to grab the thing straight out of the air.
She then threw it at her father, who barely managed to stop it with both hands.
Mousse let out a war cry of "Hand of the wild Ape!" and attempted to hit Ranma with another of his hidden weapons. Ranma could clearly see that it was a wooden backscratcher. Either he was getting faster, or Mousse was getting slower. Maybe both.
He didn't have time to decide considering Genma had managed to throw the umbrella straight for Ranma's head at the same time that Ryoga had thrown a bunch of his headbands. Using one foot, Ranma used the force from the umbrella to shove herself to the side and avoid both attacks at once; at the same time Ryoga's headbands slapped into the umbrella and slowed it enough so that he could catch them.
Mousse didn't send out a war cry, but he did manage to hit Ranma with some of his egg-bombs.
Ranma took less than a half second to get over the fiery pain in her back, when she got a moment; she used some ki and stretched her back until it popped back into place. She then decided to go on the attack, defensive was getting boring.
Mousse threw some more egg bombs, but with quick hands, they became Ranma's weapons. With a quick turn she threw one at the umbrella, which knocked it off course and exposed Ryoga before he was ready to attack.
With a fast knee, Ryoga was doubling over in pain and Ranma turned her attention to Genma.
Coming out of the sky seemed to be his thing; Ranma used her right arm to smack his leg so that he was off balance, and then delivered a mad left uppercut to his exposed back, leaving her father on the ground.
In the same swing that had rendered her father helpless, she threw the remainder of the eggs at Mousse. It was no real task for Mousse to dodge his own eggs, but in the act of doing so, he managed to get on Ranma's right side. Right where the eggs had led him.
Leaping off his left leg she avoided the swinging blade that Mousse had thrown at her and twisted in the air to dodge the various stringed weapons that followed, and even went ahead of her through the air.
Landing nimbly he brought her elbow to the ground, only to swing his feet into the air and leap off said hand and catch Mousse in the back of the head, using her free hand to block the punch coming from the side.
As Mousse fell to the ground Ranma took the fist (of which she still had possession) and throw the body that was connected to it straight through a brick wall. Which happened to be a part of the dojo where the girls were training.
Ryoga blinked as he realized he was lying directly beneath a stunned Akane. "Oh, hey! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Are you coming back out here? I'm waiting!" Ryoga looked sternly at his surroundings, seeing Genma looking at him he suddenly found the strength for one last attack.
"Heavy ki, Ground Blasting Technique SETSUBENSAII!!!" With a powerful blast of energy, he brought a veritable volcano of white-hot power shooting straight out of the ground!
Ranma had sensed it coming, and was guarding against it, having situated herself at the very center of the blast. As she weathered the attack, she mused over Ryoga's terrible aim.
At that moment when the attack was at its peak, Genma had come out with another technique. "ENERGY BLADE!!" Having picked up a sword from Mousse's dropped arsenal, he sent a screaming yellow blade of energy straight at his son in the center of the roaring white attack.
Ranma could feel it coming, but there was little she could do except use her ki to try and block it.
"AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Ranma's bloodcurdling scream shot through the night.
~~ Elsewhere ~~
A bright white line flew through the air, clearly visible against the darkened sky.
The strange girl looked at it with growing interest. "Perhaps this is the one?"
Making a quick decision, she ran off in the direction of the light. 'Who knew I would only have to wait?'
~~ Back at the Tendo's ~~
Ranko fell to the ground, landing only half-heartedly on her left foot. She was using her left arm to grasp a bright red gash going down her right side.
With the wall destroyed, I had a full view of what was happening. I had no idea where Ryoga came up with that volcano thing, but it sure looked cool.
With some interest, I watched Ranko's reaction. She looked angry, but had a joyous look in her eye at the same time.
Before I could even see what had happened, she launched herself at Ryoga, who was preparing to throw some more of his headband things (must be a hobby). She caught him in half throw and nearly separated his right arm when she flipped him around and straight into the ground.
As I was wondering if Ryoga was okay, Ranko turned her attention on her father, who was still holding the sword he had swung moments earlier.
He was on the attack, but it looked like he was hoping to use the sword as a defensive weapon.
Ranko stuck one foot behind her and used both hands to stop the sword in mid swing. She then used her right foot to catch him in the side and send him flying into a stone fence twenty meters away.
It was over. Ranko was wincing as she looked over her injuries. 'If only I knew what she was thinking...'
~~ But I know! ~~
Ranma found that it was difficult to get over how painful a flesh wound was. She was beginning to wish she hadn't decided to try to use her injured limbs. But it hadn't been too bad.
Her gi would need replaced, having been fairly well shredded and currently barely covering what needed to be covered. 'Darnit, I need to find some tougher fabric. These things keep gettin shredded on me.'
She tested out her limbs. It wasn't too bad, she had managed to block at least ninety percent of the attack. But even that little bit was enough to leave a long red trace of blood down her entire right side.
With a quick, fleeting panic, she wondered what it would have been like if she hadn't been able to guard! A quick picture of her, in the emergency ward with her side split open, flashed through her mind.
She was just glad she had been able to guard it.
~~
Ranma was later screaming just as loud as when Ranko had gotten hit. But this time it was because Kasumi insisted on putting Iodine on the wound. And there was a LOT of wound there!
But I was so tired, even the ringing in my ears didn't keep me awake, and I'm sure Ranma slept well as well.
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 4 ***~~~~~~
Wow! That was so cool! I honestly hadn't expected that fight scene! Wow! I'm so proud!
Well, I wanna know what you people think! Also, remember that from now on, updates on this story will be quite a bit less frequent. I have school and that tends to drain me pretty well. But I always say that Quality is more important than Quantity!!! ^.^
Lila: Can I go NOW?
Alex Ultra: Yes, we're done for now. I'll get Alex to get you when we're ready to do the next chapter. Okay?
Alex: Yeah! And in the meantime, we can go training some more!
Lila: Um, can I just go home? My head still hasn't stopped ringing from the last time you took me training...
Alex: Fine... maybe I can get Ranma to train with me... [Puts one hand on Lila's shoulder and they both disappear]
Alex Ultra: Okay. Now I need to get all caught up. I have people yellin at me from six different stories! ^.^'' Oh shoot.
Well, that's it for now. Ja ne!
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER
Well, as soon as this one is done, I'm gonna have to give Lila a rest. She's been complaining and I've got other fics to give some much-needed attention to. So as much as I hate to say it, this one is gonna have to go on limbo for a little while. But hopefully not too long...
But this chapter WILL go into some much needed plot development I HOPE [throws Lila a look that could strip paint].
But before we do too much, let's make a space for the Reviewer Responses:
I STILL can't remember my name: It's too bad u can't remember it. And hey, why didn't you give Lila a hug? I think she may be feeling left out... And don't worry, whether fast or not, this story will reach its destinations... eventually.
Anime DUST: Yeah, I know. The first four chapters were already written, so I updated day after day. And the latest Manga volume I have is 23... I wonder when 24 is coming out? And I'm not worrying about TerraEpon... I've dealt with people like that, and it's actually kinda depressing. Some people actually need to feel like they're making other people hurt to feel better about themselves... (*CoughsuperBOI_Coolcough*) Oh well. And I don't think you'll be waiting TOO long for chapter 4... It's here already... isn't it? It should be? Hehe heh, um, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is... I'm gonna finish this now. I'm feeling hyper right now. @.@
Now on with what I'm here at the computer to do... DANCING!!!! [Does a little jig]
[Readers sweatdrop at Alex Ultra's 'dancing', which looks more like spastic twisting]
Lila: Uh, don't do that.
Alex Ultra: Too... early... can't... think... Oh well, maybe in the four days it will take to write this I'll wake up. ^.^'''
Lila: -_-''
Quick Note: When extra punctuation is placed inside quotes, that means it's said in something other than Japanese. "-English-" "Japanese" "\Chinese\" Understand? I'm going to put this at the beginning from now on, just in case it becomes handy. ^.^
Chapter 4
~~~~~~*** TRAINING DAY ***~~~~~~
Along a nameless street in a nameless part of town there walked a nameless stranger.
People saw her and waved her off as a traveler, her dress was very obviously American. Simple jean shorts with a white t-shirt and a blue backpack.
She didn't seem to feel out of place, but she did feel lost. Her gaze was constantly at the side.
Pulling a scrap of paper from her pocket, she went over the instructions once again.
~~
'Why can't I land a hit!?' I was practicing again; Akane was helping me with my form as Ranma hopped around like I wasn't important. "Hehe, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I can't hit you!"
"Yeah! And neither can she!" Ranma threw a teasing glare at the girl standing to the side, who tried to pretend like she hadn't noticed. (She didn't do either one well.)
I just kept trying to hit Ranma, following him everywhere he went while watching his movements as best I could. I had a feel for the style he was using to dance around me, but that didn't seem like it was his fighting form. He had his hands behind his back and was smiling teasingly the entire time.
After I had had enough of being danced around, it was my turn to dance. I was told to practice my katas, with Akane telling me how to do it right.
I had been told that I had natural skill, but for some reason that didn't seem to make any difference. Though I suppose even the most skilled need instruction, and practice...
"AAHH!!" With that last kick, I managed to land on the ground, in a rather undignified position.
"You're swinging your back too much, it's throwing you off balance."
"Heehee... Yeah, I guess so." As much as I hated it, sometimes my laugh came out as a giggle. Especially when I was smiling stupidly and/or laughing through my teeth.
I adjusted the weighted wristbands (that I had insisted on buying to build my strength) from their previous position (over my thumbs) to a more comfortable position before I got back to my kata.
The odd thing about the Anything Goes style is that very few of the katas are actually named. I had been practicing them for a few days now, but I had only learned the names of three of them. One was named after a place, one after a thing (a cat, one Ranma never practiced for some reason), and one named after Ranma himself (seeing as how he supposedly invented it).
I took to them like a fish to water, but I still couldn't hit Ranma! Akane had commented on how Ranma seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, and anymore, she had as much trouble with him as I was! Although, I suppose his daily fights with Ryoga and Mousse helped him to keep getting stronger. Akane was saying that they hadn't always been ganging up on him, even Kuno seemed to be getting on his case, though that was only because he thought the way to 'The Red Pigtailed Girl' was through him.
He continued to hit on me though, much to my dismay. Just this morning I dumped a trashcan on his head and he still couldn't figure it out that I was saying no. 'I can't wait till we go on that trip and I don't have to worry about him...'
"Oh girls! Dinner's ready!"
Akane looked me in the eye and smiled. "Wanna go get something to eat?"
I didn't even have to answer, just thinking about food made my stomach gurgle in response. "Um, yeah." I smiled stupidly despite myself.
~~ Minutes later ~~
Kasumi looked over at me. "Aren't you going to take those off?"
"What? These?" I pointed to the wristbands, and she nodded. "Nah, no real point in it."
"But won't your arms get tired?"
"Probably, but they'll get used to it, and then I'll get some more." Ranma looked at me funny for a second or so, and then laughed. Though the others only shrugged and went back to dinner.
"Hey! How come I never thought of that?"
Akane looked directly at him, cunning remark already prepared. "Because you don't think!" Ranma only rolled his eyes, and we went back to dinner (A/N: Which some people call Supper for some unknown reason...)
~~ About half an hour later ~~
I had managed to find a place that would take me as an employee for a while. It didn't seem to surprise me too much, but I was glad that they said I could start when I get back.
Strangely enough, it just happened to be a place that specialized in Anime and Manga near the school. Even here they seemed to have it all over the place. Of course, not knowing what world I was in didn't seem to make an impact on how well I knew these different things.
DBZ, InuYasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, all the different Gundams, everything was here. It was the perfect job for me! Except that it didn't really pay a whole lot.
Oh well, beggars can't be choosers, but they can be pickers. I actually had a choice! Even without any ID!
Which I would eventually need anyway. Though Suon had agreed to help me with that one.
"Hmm, haven't seen this one before..." I flipped open the cover to something called 'Juunasa Ryohoshi'. I was still slightly amazed at how easy it was to follow the very blatant use of Japanese. Each character and symbol just seemed to automatically mean something to me.
I put the strange Manga back on the shelf, having familiarized myself with it. It was something about an artist who used paint as a weapon. It didn't seem too good, but I figured I might as well know the gist of it.
I sighed and picked up another one, under the meccha category. This one looked okay, it had a lot of action and lots of people yelling at each other. But it basically looked like another version of most of those Mech mangas out there.
I was just about to pick up another one when Akane walked in the store.
"Hey Akane. What's up?"
"I was wondering what you've been doing in here all day?" She didn't seem annoyed, and I was never really in there all day. Just two hours a day so far.
"So far, I've been looking around. There's so much here, I wanna know at least a little bit about each one." 'Love Hina' It didn't look like my type of anything, but I went into it anyway.
"Soo... you're really thinking of taking this job? Sounds pretty boring if you ask me."
I smiled. "Are you kidding? If I had had any drawing skill I would have filled the better half of a store this size with this stuff! And besides, I can practice my form or meditate when there's nothing better to do..." I shrugged; at this rate I would know nearly the entire stock in a few days. Looking around wouldn't really keep me entertained forever. Besides, I was living one, how could it get any better?
Though I was keeping an eye out. Perhaps it was in here?
But hey, I had two weeks of vacation ahead of me. Though, for some reason, this whole thing felt a bit like a vacation really.
~~
Lila was flipping through another Manga. The strange girl from before watched her with passing interest. She had some power, but it wasn't enough. She knew that this girl was not the one she was looking for.
The other girl, she had a bit more power, but she was still too weak.
'Boy, this could take forever. I hate not being able to use my ki to sense long distance...' With a sigh, she took a manga title off the shelf. 'Fruits Basket? What the heck is wrong with these people? Couldn't they at least come up with a better name?' With another quick sigh, she placed the booklet back on the shelf and walked away.
Looking at the city skyline she sighed again. "-Well, a systematic search it is then...-" Adjusting her backpack, she walked down the street, keeping an eye on the levels of those she passed. 'I wish they had given better instructions... or at least a little information...'
~~
Ranma still wasn't pleased. Ryoga had nearly hit him when Mousse had him all tied up! He was definitely improving, but it didn't seem like it was enough! His obsession with becoming the best was STILL not quenched!
Even if he WAS the best, he would never admit it to himself, because knowing he was the best meant that there was nothing left to train for. And he lived for training, for getting stronger.
Besides, life just didn't seem as fun when he had to worry about who might come around the next corner. He wanted to be able to deal with it, and getting stronger seemed like the only real way to deal with ANYTHING.
~~
Akane had decided that Ranma didn't want to spar tonight. I guess that was okay, because Akane didn't seem like quite so much. It was true that I still wasn't really quite there yet, but I could at least make her use her hands.
I wasn't really trying to do my best; I was more worried about watching how my body reacted. I was trying to improve, not win. Of course, I knew that I couldn't win, not really.
But Akane wasn't letting up on the steam any, she didn't attack much, but I could tell she felt that she could have at any time.
I wasn't nearly fast enough. Oh well. It's still more fun than sitting around brooding all day.
"You keeping an eye on your energy?"
"Uh huh." Intelligible comments were hard when I was meditating while fighting. But at least I wasn't keeping completely silent.
"Why don't you take those wristbands off? It may make it easier."
I knew I didn't want to, but I couldn't really remember why. I just grunted, not really paying enough attention to care otherwise.
One hour became two, two became three, and before we knew it four hours had passed and we were still going at it. Well, Akane was, I was on the floor meditating again, having practically collapsed on the floor from lack of oxygen and a stitch in my side.
I could hear the sounds of battle outside; Ranma had gotten some people to attack him unprovoked. Meaning that he asked them and they agreed.
~~
"Come on Ryoga! I want you to come at me with EVERYTHING!!! You too Mousse!" Ranma's face hit the ground as Genma smacked her on the back of the head. She quickly flipped away and faced the bald man. "I knew you would pops!" She went back to dodging as many of the blows as she could.
Fighting three people all at once while a girl was sure a vigorous exercise, and Ranma was loving every second of it. If only she could get Ryoga and Mousse to get over the girl thing and just attack.
An umbrella hit her in the back between the shoulders, which meant Ryoga was attacking finally. She flipped forward to lessen the impact and used her ankles to grab the thing straight out of the air.
She then threw it at her father, who barely managed to stop it with both hands.
Mousse let out a war cry of "Hand of the wild Ape!" and attempted to hit Ranma with another of his hidden weapons. Ranma could clearly see that it was a wooden backscratcher. Either he was getting faster, or Mousse was getting slower. Maybe both.
He didn't have time to decide considering Genma had managed to throw the umbrella straight for Ranma's head at the same time that Ryoga had thrown a bunch of his headbands. Using one foot, Ranma used the force from the umbrella to shove herself to the side and avoid both attacks at once; at the same time Ryoga's headbands slapped into the umbrella and slowed it enough so that he could catch them.
Mousse didn't send out a war cry, but he did manage to hit Ranma with some of his egg-bombs.
Ranma took less than a half second to get over the fiery pain in her back, when she got a moment; she used some ki and stretched her back until it popped back into place. She then decided to go on the attack, defensive was getting boring.
Mousse threw some more egg bombs, but with quick hands, they became Ranma's weapons. With a quick turn she threw one at the umbrella, which knocked it off course and exposed Ryoga before he was ready to attack.
With a fast knee, Ryoga was doubling over in pain and Ranma turned her attention to Genma.
Coming out of the sky seemed to be his thing; Ranma used her right arm to smack his leg so that he was off balance, and then delivered a mad left uppercut to his exposed back, leaving her father on the ground.
In the same swing that had rendered her father helpless, she threw the remainder of the eggs at Mousse. It was no real task for Mousse to dodge his own eggs, but in the act of doing so, he managed to get on Ranma's right side. Right where the eggs had led him.
Leaping off his left leg she avoided the swinging blade that Mousse had thrown at her and twisted in the air to dodge the various stringed weapons that followed, and even went ahead of her through the air.
Landing nimbly he brought her elbow to the ground, only to swing his feet into the air and leap off said hand and catch Mousse in the back of the head, using her free hand to block the punch coming from the side.
As Mousse fell to the ground Ranma took the fist (of which she still had possession) and throw the body that was connected to it straight through a brick wall. Which happened to be a part of the dojo where the girls were training.
Ryoga blinked as he realized he was lying directly beneath a stunned Akane. "Oh, hey! I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
"Are you coming back out here? I'm waiting!" Ryoga looked sternly at his surroundings, seeing Genma looking at him he suddenly found the strength for one last attack.
"Heavy ki, Ground Blasting Technique SETSUBENSAII!!!" With a powerful blast of energy, he brought a veritable volcano of white-hot power shooting straight out of the ground!
Ranma had sensed it coming, and was guarding against it, having situated herself at the very center of the blast. As she weathered the attack, she mused over Ryoga's terrible aim.
At that moment when the attack was at its peak, Genma had come out with another technique. "ENERGY BLADE!!" Having picked up a sword from Mousse's dropped arsenal, he sent a screaming yellow blade of energy straight at his son in the center of the roaring white attack.
Ranma could feel it coming, but there was little she could do except use her ki to try and block it.
"AAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Ranma's bloodcurdling scream shot through the night.
~~ Elsewhere ~~
A bright white line flew through the air, clearly visible against the darkened sky.
The strange girl looked at it with growing interest. "Perhaps this is the one?"
Making a quick decision, she ran off in the direction of the light. 'Who knew I would only have to wait?'
~~ Back at the Tendo's ~~
Ranko fell to the ground, landing only half-heartedly on her left foot. She was using her left arm to grasp a bright red gash going down her right side.
With the wall destroyed, I had a full view of what was happening. I had no idea where Ryoga came up with that volcano thing, but it sure looked cool.
With some interest, I watched Ranko's reaction. She looked angry, but had a joyous look in her eye at the same time.
Before I could even see what had happened, she launched herself at Ryoga, who was preparing to throw some more of his headband things (must be a hobby). She caught him in half throw and nearly separated his right arm when she flipped him around and straight into the ground.
As I was wondering if Ryoga was okay, Ranko turned her attention on her father, who was still holding the sword he had swung moments earlier.
He was on the attack, but it looked like he was hoping to use the sword as a defensive weapon.
Ranko stuck one foot behind her and used both hands to stop the sword in mid swing. She then used her right foot to catch him in the side and send him flying into a stone fence twenty meters away.
It was over. Ranko was wincing as she looked over her injuries. 'If only I knew what she was thinking...'
~~ But I know! ~~
Ranma found that it was difficult to get over how painful a flesh wound was. She was beginning to wish she hadn't decided to try to use her injured limbs. But it hadn't been too bad.
Her gi would need replaced, having been fairly well shredded and currently barely covering what needed to be covered. 'Darnit, I need to find some tougher fabric. These things keep gettin shredded on me.'
She tested out her limbs. It wasn't too bad, she had managed to block at least ninety percent of the attack. But even that little bit was enough to leave a long red trace of blood down her entire right side.
With a quick, fleeting panic, she wondered what it would have been like if she hadn't been able to guard! A quick picture of her, in the emergency ward with her side split open, flashed through her mind.
She was just glad she had been able to guard it.
~~
Ranma was later screaming just as loud as when Ranko had gotten hit. But this time it was because Kasumi insisted on putting Iodine on the wound. And there was a LOT of wound there!
But I was so tired, even the ringing in my ears didn't keep me awake, and I'm sure Ranma slept well as well.
~~~~~~*** End of Chapter 4 ***~~~~~~
Wow! That was so cool! I honestly hadn't expected that fight scene! Wow! I'm so proud!
Well, I wanna know what you people think! Also, remember that from now on, updates on this story will be quite a bit less frequent. I have school and that tends to drain me pretty well. But I always say that Quality is more important than Quantity!!! ^.^
Lila: Can I go NOW?
Alex Ultra: Yes, we're done for now. I'll get Alex to get you when we're ready to do the next chapter. Okay?
Alex: Yeah! And in the meantime, we can go training some more!
Lila: Um, can I just go home? My head still hasn't stopped ringing from the last time you took me training...
Alex: Fine... maybe I can get Ranma to train with me... [Puts one hand on Lila's shoulder and they both disappear]
Alex Ultra: Okay. Now I need to get all caught up. I have people yellin at me from six different stories! ^.^'' Oh shoot.
Well, that's it for now. Ja ne!
Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds
Alex and Alex Ultra
LATER