A Truely Martial Art
"I want my mommy!" A five year old Ranma told the uncaring world.
"Stop your whining!" His loving father suggested, adding emphasis by cuffing his son in the head hard enough to partially stun Ranma, and interrupt his litany of misery. "We had to leave your mother so that I could make you into a martial artist, like your father."
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A six year old Ranma cries out "Don't throw me in the pit again!"
"This is for your own good. In order to be a martial artist, you must be willing to do anything, no matter how unpleasant."
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"I miss Ucchan!"
"A martial artist must always be on the move."
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The shinto priest asks an eight year old Ranma, who is sweeping to pay for his lessons "Why do you want to become a martial artist?"
Ranma has not yet learned how to lie about important things "So I can finally stop training."
"Martial arts is not like classes in school. Martial artists never finish training. They train their whole life."
"But, but. What do you do if someone attacks you and you don't want to fight?"
"Ahh. Has your father ever discussed tactics in fighting?"
"He told me to insult people so they get mad and make mistakes."
The priest chuckles "That's one type of tactic. Tactics are ways to change situations to your advantage. They work with martial arts. Ideally tactics can be used to keep fights from occurring. Sun Tzu once said that the best way to victory is to arrange it so that you have won before the battle begins. He said anyone can fight, but the superior general arranges things so that he has won without ever needing to fight."
"How does he do that?"
"It's not easy. You have to be better at tactics than your opponent. This is very hard when you're so young, but if you start studying now, you could be good enough that you'd only have to fight when and if you wanted to fight."
"How do I start?"
"Well the traditional method is to begin by reading these works and trying to understand them."
Luckily, 'The Art of War' and Musashi's 'The Five Rings' are rather concise works that could be carried by a small child for months before his father discovered them. Other sensei gave him works from both the occidental and oriental worlds for his study, eventually leading to works by more modern fighters, involving the kinds of practical chemistry that has made warfare so much more dangerous and impersonal. However he had to work to keep his bomb making skills secret from his father.
Surprisingly enough, his father encouraged his production of alchohol, as he drank most of it. Genma never did connect the ideas of drinking alchohol, with flamethrowers, molotov cocktails, and fuel-air bombs. And while his father tried to put a stop to his making blackpowder, he never even recognized the production of thermite, or a number of chemical poisons produced during cooking or while making herbal first-aid remedies.
The necessity of performing all his own first aid, led to learning much of the healer's art, without the burden of the Hippocanthic oath. A shiatsu cure for constipation practiced daily on his father guaranteed that he never reached the full bulk traditionally associated with Genma.
Genma contributed more to Ranma's education as an experimental guinneapig than he ever did with anything relating to Ranma's schoolwork.
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This story was first posted, and deleted, and lost, two years ago.
I'm putting it back, mostly so that the chapters mentioned in the reviews match up with the chapters in the story.
This story turned into "Bitter Memories" when I wondered what the effect on the story line would be if Ranma had access to truth serums, and decided upon meeting the Tendos that Genma was untrustworthy enough to warrant using drugs on his father. The idea of "Ranma with knowledge of what's going on" overshadowed "Ranma, with tactics, and education", so I scrapped all of that, and started "Bitter Memories" where Ranma gets an overview of the whole story, but (hopefully) remains Ranma in character.
The other reason for scrapping this story, was that Ranma was way too powerful. Happodaikarin laced with thermite pretty much top any fighter, except the 2 elders, Pantyhose Tarou, Herb, and Saffron. "Kodachi throws her razor hoop, and misses the challenger. The challenger throws flaming death which melts through steel! Luckily flaming death is legal in this tournament!" "'They're so cute! Jean-Paul, Claudette, Michelle!' Boom! Boom! Boom! 'Ouchie.'"
I'll begin posting the revision of "Bitter Memories" as soon as I work out the first training scene. I was considering using a pit of lime jello, but Nabiki would have balked at the price.
"I want my mommy!" A five year old Ranma told the uncaring world.
"Stop your whining!" His loving father suggested, adding emphasis by cuffing his son in the head hard enough to partially stun Ranma, and interrupt his litany of misery. "We had to leave your mother so that I could make you into a martial artist, like your father."
--------------------------------
A six year old Ranma cries out "Don't throw me in the pit again!"
"This is for your own good. In order to be a martial artist, you must be willing to do anything, no matter how unpleasant."
--------------------------------
"I miss Ucchan!"
"A martial artist must always be on the move."
--------------------------------
The shinto priest asks an eight year old Ranma, who is sweeping to pay for his lessons "Why do you want to become a martial artist?"
Ranma has not yet learned how to lie about important things "So I can finally stop training."
"Martial arts is not like classes in school. Martial artists never finish training. They train their whole life."
"But, but. What do you do if someone attacks you and you don't want to fight?"
"Ahh. Has your father ever discussed tactics in fighting?"
"He told me to insult people so they get mad and make mistakes."
The priest chuckles "That's one type of tactic. Tactics are ways to change situations to your advantage. They work with martial arts. Ideally tactics can be used to keep fights from occurring. Sun Tzu once said that the best way to victory is to arrange it so that you have won before the battle begins. He said anyone can fight, but the superior general arranges things so that he has won without ever needing to fight."
"How does he do that?"
"It's not easy. You have to be better at tactics than your opponent. This is very hard when you're so young, but if you start studying now, you could be good enough that you'd only have to fight when and if you wanted to fight."
"How do I start?"
"Well the traditional method is to begin by reading these works and trying to understand them."
Luckily, 'The Art of War' and Musashi's 'The Five Rings' are rather concise works that could be carried by a small child for months before his father discovered them. Other sensei gave him works from both the occidental and oriental worlds for his study, eventually leading to works by more modern fighters, involving the kinds of practical chemistry that has made warfare so much more dangerous and impersonal. However he had to work to keep his bomb making skills secret from his father.
Surprisingly enough, his father encouraged his production of alchohol, as he drank most of it. Genma never did connect the ideas of drinking alchohol, with flamethrowers, molotov cocktails, and fuel-air bombs. And while his father tried to put a stop to his making blackpowder, he never even recognized the production of thermite, or a number of chemical poisons produced during cooking or while making herbal first-aid remedies.
The necessity of performing all his own first aid, led to learning much of the healer's art, without the burden of the Hippocanthic oath. A shiatsu cure for constipation practiced daily on his father guaranteed that he never reached the full bulk traditionally associated with Genma.
Genma contributed more to Ranma's education as an experimental guinneapig than he ever did with anything relating to Ranma's schoolwork.
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
This story was first posted, and deleted, and lost, two years ago.
I'm putting it back, mostly so that the chapters mentioned in the reviews match up with the chapters in the story.
This story turned into "Bitter Memories" when I wondered what the effect on the story line would be if Ranma had access to truth serums, and decided upon meeting the Tendos that Genma was untrustworthy enough to warrant using drugs on his father. The idea of "Ranma with knowledge of what's going on" overshadowed "Ranma, with tactics, and education", so I scrapped all of that, and started "Bitter Memories" where Ranma gets an overview of the whole story, but (hopefully) remains Ranma in character.
The other reason for scrapping this story, was that Ranma was way too powerful. Happodaikarin laced with thermite pretty much top any fighter, except the 2 elders, Pantyhose Tarou, Herb, and Saffron. "Kodachi throws her razor hoop, and misses the challenger. The challenger throws flaming death which melts through steel! Luckily flaming death is legal in this tournament!" "'They're so cute! Jean-Paul, Claudette, Michelle!' Boom! Boom! Boom! 'Ouchie.'"
I'll begin posting the revision of "Bitter Memories" as soon as I work out the first training scene. I was considering using a pit of lime jello, but Nabiki would have balked at the price.