Ranma 1/2
Rhythmer's Fist;
'Cologne'
::Cologne's theme; '7 to 9 (Original Mix)' by Galaxyman::
"Who would had thought such a weird fighting style could be so wide spread?" Akane mused out loud, as she walked home with Ranma-chan.
"Nutt'n wierd about it," Ranma answered from the fence. She was maintaining a remarkable balance while swaying to some inaudible beat, "Martial arts inn't always 'bout the one that's fastest or strongest, it always comes down to the rhythm. Bruce Lee woulda told ya that, same with Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin."
"Who?" Akane asked, not quite catching the last person's name.
"Call him Miyamoto Musashi if ya want, but it sounds like the name of a hick to me," Ranma said casually. Suddenly, she began to dance heavily on the fence, and then backflip from it...
...just before something crashed through the pickets the redhead was just walking on.
The blur didn't stop, as it suddenly bounded towards its target from the flattened section of the fence, and attacked with a fury. Ranma dodged, guarded, and weaved through the barrage before committing a full gator backwards. Akane looked at Ranma in surprise; just barely able to contain the gasp at the sight of Ranma dueling with the speeding object. She came to notice a few things about his 'Rhythmer's Fist' style, that whenever Ranma was forced to get serious, he... or she would start dancing harder. Ranma was definitely... as he would put it, 'skill'n' at the moment. And her attacker...
"Impressive, Son-in-Law," the short and elderly woman stated from her perch on the staff she had with her, "There is no doubt of the reason you managed to defeat my heir."
"Uh, 'Son-in-law'?" Ranma-chan asked, looking down at herself for a second.
The old woman chuckled, "Of course, I was well aware of your true gender, but I wasn't going to spoil Shampoo's fun."
"Shampoo, you mean Shampoo's your heir?" Akane enquired, confirming her conclusion.
"Ranma! Husband and not-so-Rhythmless-girl hurry home to Shampoo's too, too delic... aiyah...." Shampoo stopped, after spying the new visitor to Nerima.
"Hello Shampoo, I hope you didn't cause your husband too many problems chasing him all the way to Japan."
"How did you know that Ranma was a boy, Great Grandmother?" Shampoo asked in Mandarin, and recieved a knock on the head from her elder.
"Japanese, girl," Cologne chided, "Last I recalled, it was atrocious, and you needed much practice with it. And as for how I knew? If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed it too."
"Shampoo no notice other girl that way," the lavender haired girl replied with a half lidded stare, earning herself another knock on the head.
"Honestly, I let you go off on your own, and you lose all manners towards your elders. And what is with your clothing? Do you want to look like a buffoon attempting to trip over their oversized trousers? And Your an Amazon Warrior! Why do you have a silly cartoon character on your shirt? What is that sparkly garbage on your face and hair? *Gasp*! Is that a pacifier on a string around your neck? You're a disgrace! Stand up straight when I'm talking to you! Why, child, during my day, we presented ourselves with unrivaled pride! How it shames our ancestors to see our current generation in such travesties! Don't roll your eyes when I'm talking to you..."
"Wow, Shampoo's Great-Grandmother is something else!" Akane breathed in slight awe. Ranma could only nod, as they both watched and listened to the old woman berate a chagrinned Lavender haired Amazon.
__________________________
"W-welcome to our home, honored Elder," Soun greeted, "I trust you're enjoying our lovely country?"
"Just as much as I was the last time I was here, HA!" Cologne sipped her tea, and turned to Shampoo, "So, give me the details, my dear..."
"Uh, details?" Shampoo asked, "What Great-Grandmother mean?"
"I mean does he just lay there, or is he a demon where it counts? I ain't getting any younger, you know? I want to see some Great-Great-Grandchildren between my heir and her husband!"
"HUSBAND!" Soun shouted, before turning to Gen... to a panda, "Saotomeeeee."
"Sorry, but I gotta clue ya," Ranma interjected, "She may be cuter than the tomboy here," Ranma shifted himself a bit, "but we ain't hitched." Ranma settled himself comfortably upon the back of Akane, who was herself laying on her side and propping herself up on the elbow that was between the two halves of a dining room table.
"Akane, you do realize these tables are kind of expensive," Soun enquired.
"Don't worry, Daddy, it's coming out of her allowance," Nabiki stated.
"That's right! Ranma is going to marry one of *my* baby girls!" Soun argued, recalling the situation.
"He has an obligation to marry my great-granddaughter," the Amazon Matriarch stated back adimantly, "You will simply have to stand aside."
"This is my family honor!"
"And this is three thousand years of Amazon Law, sonny-boy!"
"Hold up, hold up, before anyone gets hostile, why don't you ask me who I want?"
"Yes, let the boy decide that he wants to marry one of my daughters!" Soun spoke up, proud that the boy was taking up to his obligations.
"You better choose wisely, Son-in-Law..." Cologne challenged, giving him a sharp glare.
Ranma sat up, and suddenly wrapped his arms around Shampoo and Akane. Both Kasumi and Nabiki blinked, wondering how in the hell they came to kneeling just behind Ranma with their hands on his shoulders.
"Don't we make a lovely couple?" Ranma beamed. Akane, Shampoo, Kasumi, and Nabiki looked at each other, before Akane and Shampoo back fisted Ranma in unison with Kasumi and Nabiki's elbow drop onto the top of his head. Ranma swooned, and then collapsed backwards, "J-Just joking!"
__________________________
"You're not actually considering their ultimatum, are you, Ranma?" Nabiki asked, while walking along with Akane and Ranma to eat out, since Kasumi went out to visit friends.
"Na, lettem think they're in control," Ranma replied, nonchilantly, "It's not like you cherries aren't waiting for me!"
"Get bent," Akane mumured.
"What she said," Nabiki added.
"That goes triple for me," a third voice commented, "I'm not as young as I used to be!" Ranma paused, and turned, finding a decaying, decrepid...
::SMACK!!!::
"Who's decrepid, Sonny-boy?" Cologne hissed at Ranma, who was rubbing the knot forming on his head.
"Really, Ranma, you gotta learn not to say everything that comes to that tiny mind of yours," Nabiki smirked.
"Damn, how long you been there?" Ranma asked, backing up from the old woman.
"Just long enough to wonder what you youngsters were doing out at dinner-time. Looking for a meal?"
"You offer'n?" Ranma enquired, still staying cautious.
"I thought I could do with a few taste testers for my new restaurant I'm opening just down that way a little,"Cologne commented, idly, "Interested?"
"Hey, if it'll save us money, I'm all for it!" Nabiki piped up for the other two.
"I'm not so sure about this," Akane commented, looking warily at the old Amazon.
"I'll tell you what, if you're worried about the cost of a free meal..." Cologne pulled out three 'free meal' coupons for the Newly opening Cat Cafe, "Ranma has to earn them..." With that, she bounded off, shouting behind her, "Catch me if you can, Son-in-Law!"
"You guys head on up, and tell 'em I'll have one of each!" Ranma called down to the two Tendou sisters, "I'll be back with those coupons with the quickness!" Ranma gave chase, already confident that they were eating on the house tonight.
"Something's fishy about this," Akane warned, gaining a shrug from her sister.
"Let Ranma deal with it... what did he mean 'one of each'?"
__________________________
"Not bad, Son-in-Law, it's been a while since anyone's given me a good run like this! Why, it reminds me of back in my youth, running through the wilds near the villiage..."
"When was that? Paleolithic Era? It had to be sometime after the Jurassic, mammals weren't even around then!" Ranma smirked at his barb, twisting out of the way of Cologne's staff point, which was aimed for a particular point on his sternum.
"Don't you get sharp with me, Sonny-boy!" the Matriarch mused, while hopping backwards upon the rooftops on her staff, "How about we make this more interesting? ON GUARD!" Cologne launched into the offensive, suddenly, forcing Ranma back a bit.
"Heh, all tempo," Ranma stated, defending against every blow, "Gotta have rhythm before you can dance with me!"
"Boy, I was mastering Rhythm decades before you were a moan on your mother's wedding night!" Cologne snapped.
"Hey now! You leave my Mom outta this!" Ranma replied, dropping into a foot sweep that caused him to circle his leg completely under him, switching hands to allow it passage.
Cologne dodged by leaping into the air in a spin, and landing some distance away, "Hmm, my Great-Granddaughter picked her spouse well... but you need more respect for your elders!"
"I'll show you the love, as soon as I get those coupons!" Ranma launched into the air, somersaulted forward, and attempted to drive his right heel onto the top of Cologne's head. The Amazon Matriarch dodged to her left slightly, just out of the way of the attack, and attempted to retailiate with a downward swing of her staff to Ranma's head.
The pigtailed martial artist leaned to his right, out of the way of the swing. And as Cologne brought it into a horizontal swing, brought up his right leg to block it with is shin, while bracing his left hand on the ground. Using the momentum from the gaurd, Ranma went into a spinning one-hand stand, and vaulted him a yard backwards onto his feet. He then performed a tight somersault backwards from Cologne's horizontal swing to his right.
Cologne hopped into the air, and attempted another downward strike to Ranma's head. He dropped back onto his hands into a crabwalk position, and twisted his left side up so that he was balancing on his right hand and leg. His left leg blocked against the staff, before switching to balance on his left side; bringing his right hand up while his feet moved in a complex pattern to scoot him back.
Cologne spun the staff around in an intricate pattern, and attempted to bring it down on Ranma again. Once again, he blocked it with his right leg, swinging it around to the left to bring him into a backspin. After one rotation, he planted his left hand onto the roof, lifting him up, and kicked out with the left leg, and then the right leg.
Cologne parried both kicks, while Ranma brought his right leg completely to his front, and let it land on the roof, and then swung his left leg around for a back kick. While Cologne dodged to her left, Ranma spun once like a horizontal helicopter propellar, and came back to his feet.
"Impressive, but overly ostentatious," Cologne commented.
"I'll hand it to ya, you got some skillz yourself," Ranma saluted Cologne, while bobbing to his private beat.
"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet, Son-in-Law!"
"Heh, I think I can handle ya," Ranma retorted, watching the old woman cautiously, but not letting it show on his flippant expression.
"Why, Sonny-boy, I'm old enough to be your Great-Grandmother!" Ranma blinked, almost momentarily falling out of beat, as he found the old woman right in front of him, suddenly. She jabbed her index finger into his chest, "It would be simply scandelous if you were caught soliciting me in such a fashion!"
"Hey! I ain't into fetishes!" Ranma proclaimed, ignoring the tingling sensation in his sternum.
"But you believe yourself equal to me?" Cologne enquired, hopping backwards on her staff.
"Equal enough," Ranma replied with a nonchilant tone.
"Well, how about this? You, as you claim, that I'm all 'Tempo'?" There was a crack in the air, and Ranma's eyebrows raised, as he assumed the old woman did something to break the sound barrier. Her arms suddenly became multiple strobes, before she held them before Ranma, "I dare you to attempt to take hold of my arms!"
"Heh, I was play'n this game with pops when I was in diapers, and I had him up by when I was six!" Ranma's hands were lightning quick themselves, but found them cut through Cologne's arms as if they weren't even there.
"Whoa," Ranma exclaimed, as Cologne's arms seemed to have flickered and wavered for an instant, before settling back into a solid appearance after his hands passed through them.
"That... Son-in-Law, is the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken." With that, the old woman bounded off, leaving three pieces of paper behind that Ranma snatched up; they were the coupons.
"Remember it!" Cologne shouted, heading back to her restaurant.
__________________________
A damp Ranma-chan entered the restaurant finally, livening up an irritated Akane and Nabiki at the sight.
"What took you so long?" Akane asked, trying to keep her irritation apparent, but finding it almost lost in a fit of giggles.
"Long story, as usual," The redhead flashed the coupons, "You order already?"
"Here you go, your ramens, and one of each item on the menu for Ranma," Cologne stated, and then mumbled under her breath, "I should have put a limiter on those coupons..."
"Hmm? What's with the guady pink pendant?" Nabiki asked, "You weren't wearing that earlier."
"Oh, just the cure for 'daughter-in-Law's' peculiar predicerment..." Cologne stated with her ancient smirk.
"Huh?" The redhead exclaimed, while upending a kettle over her head...
__________________________
"Oh my, I think I'm starting to become a little tipsy," Kasumi stated with a bit of concern, "I thought I heard Ranma screaming..."
"Ah, there's a lot of people screaming in here, have another drink!" Kasumi's highschool friend that she had just introduced to the VIP section of 'Ucchan's', "And where did you learn to dance like that, girl?"
__________________________
"Ranma..." Akane breathed, watching the redhead blow on her singed fingers, "You can't keep doing this to yourself!"
"I'm gonna master this technique, even if it kills me!" Ranma-chan growled, attempting to curl her pained fingers.
"That's the spirit! No pain, no gain!" Cologne landed in view, and looked to the fire, "I think they should be about done roasting, now. You should get them before they burn!"
Ranma gritted her teeth at the backhanded remark, but didn't comment, "Nobody asked for your opinion!"
"Anyone want some finely roasted chestnuts?" Cologne shouted, bringing the whole Tendou household outside.
"Hmm, sounds delicious!" Kasumi commented.
"Mark me up for a few," Nabiki added.
"Tendou, sounds like something that'll go good with a bit of warm sake, wouldn't you say?"
"Quite right, Saotome!"
Cologne suddenly was holding a fistful of chestnuts in each hand, gathering a round of applause from most of the gathered. Ranma was the only one that hadn't given the old woman an ovation, as she had been concentrating on seeing how Cologne moved, her rhythm...
With a smirk, Ranma finally interrupted the applause, "I'm gonna go practice in the dojo."
"Hmm, Son-in-Law took that awfully well..." Cologne stated, curiously, before picking her staff up off the ground, "Ah well, I must be going, I left some noodles boiling..."
__________________________
"Ranma?" Akane found the pigtailed girl in the dojo, dancing, "Honestly, it doesn't seem like you're too concerned about getting that cure, after all..." Ranma wasn't paying attention, concentrating on the music as she danced. With a huff, Akane left the dojo, missing Ranma turn up the volume of his diskman, and moving up the intensity of his dancing. Her arm movements started moving in eighth-note beats, then sixteenth-notes, then two-hundred and fifty-sixth notes...
After an hour, Ranma mastered the Amaguriken.
__________________________
Ranma-chan grumbled, as she faced off against the old woman in the ocean water. The Shark-Fist was easily countering her in the water, and she was finding few options left to her.
"Give up, and marry Shampoo, girly! You can't defeat me!"
"Sorry, but I ain't got urge to be tied down yet!" Ranma replied, before getting slammed back by a shark shaped wave.
"Feh, what is it you told me earlier? 'All tempo, not rhythm'?" Cologne chuckled, splashing the water while still on the back of the shark in her laughter.
Ranma had caught what Cologne had stated, and smiled, "You know? Sometimes it ain't all about the tempo and rhythm..." With that, she dove under water...
"Odd..." Cologne mused, before blinking at the sound of a low hum...
__________________________
Everyone on the beach gasped, as a massive explosion launched the ocean water in the area the two combatants were in, into the air. Cologne had not been expecting that, finding herself unable to gain balance in the air, what with a shark almost landing on top of her and all. The old woman was severely impressed, what Ranma had to have done was an application of the chestnut fist through out the whole body at an intense rate... underwater, no less!
Ranma casually walked out of the water with a smirk, "You gotta have a little bass to go with it. Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken revised... The low..." Ranma saluted her defeated opponent, "Bass Boom."
"Well met, Son-in-Law, the prize, as we agreed."
"Aiyah..." Shampoo exclaimed, "Ranma beat Great-Grandmother!" Akane had to admit, perhaps she could benefit from this 'Rhythmer's Fist', after all...
Next: Akane
Rhythmer's Fist;
'Cologne'
::Cologne's theme; '7 to 9 (Original Mix)' by Galaxyman::
"Who would had thought such a weird fighting style could be so wide spread?" Akane mused out loud, as she walked home with Ranma-chan.
"Nutt'n wierd about it," Ranma answered from the fence. She was maintaining a remarkable balance while swaying to some inaudible beat, "Martial arts inn't always 'bout the one that's fastest or strongest, it always comes down to the rhythm. Bruce Lee woulda told ya that, same with Shinmen Musashi No Kami Fujiwara No Genshin."
"Who?" Akane asked, not quite catching the last person's name.
"Call him Miyamoto Musashi if ya want, but it sounds like the name of a hick to me," Ranma said casually. Suddenly, she began to dance heavily on the fence, and then backflip from it...
...just before something crashed through the pickets the redhead was just walking on.
The blur didn't stop, as it suddenly bounded towards its target from the flattened section of the fence, and attacked with a fury. Ranma dodged, guarded, and weaved through the barrage before committing a full gator backwards. Akane looked at Ranma in surprise; just barely able to contain the gasp at the sight of Ranma dueling with the speeding object. She came to notice a few things about his 'Rhythmer's Fist' style, that whenever Ranma was forced to get serious, he... or she would start dancing harder. Ranma was definitely... as he would put it, 'skill'n' at the moment. And her attacker...
"Impressive, Son-in-Law," the short and elderly woman stated from her perch on the staff she had with her, "There is no doubt of the reason you managed to defeat my heir."
"Uh, 'Son-in-law'?" Ranma-chan asked, looking down at herself for a second.
The old woman chuckled, "Of course, I was well aware of your true gender, but I wasn't going to spoil Shampoo's fun."
"Shampoo, you mean Shampoo's your heir?" Akane enquired, confirming her conclusion.
"Ranma! Husband and not-so-Rhythmless-girl hurry home to Shampoo's too, too delic... aiyah...." Shampoo stopped, after spying the new visitor to Nerima.
"Hello Shampoo, I hope you didn't cause your husband too many problems chasing him all the way to Japan."
"How did you know that Ranma was a boy, Great Grandmother?" Shampoo asked in Mandarin, and recieved a knock on the head from her elder.
"Japanese, girl," Cologne chided, "Last I recalled, it was atrocious, and you needed much practice with it. And as for how I knew? If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed it too."
"Shampoo no notice other girl that way," the lavender haired girl replied with a half lidded stare, earning herself another knock on the head.
"Honestly, I let you go off on your own, and you lose all manners towards your elders. And what is with your clothing? Do you want to look like a buffoon attempting to trip over their oversized trousers? And Your an Amazon Warrior! Why do you have a silly cartoon character on your shirt? What is that sparkly garbage on your face and hair? *Gasp*! Is that a pacifier on a string around your neck? You're a disgrace! Stand up straight when I'm talking to you! Why, child, during my day, we presented ourselves with unrivaled pride! How it shames our ancestors to see our current generation in such travesties! Don't roll your eyes when I'm talking to you..."
"Wow, Shampoo's Great-Grandmother is something else!" Akane breathed in slight awe. Ranma could only nod, as they both watched and listened to the old woman berate a chagrinned Lavender haired Amazon.
__________________________
"W-welcome to our home, honored Elder," Soun greeted, "I trust you're enjoying our lovely country?"
"Just as much as I was the last time I was here, HA!" Cologne sipped her tea, and turned to Shampoo, "So, give me the details, my dear..."
"Uh, details?" Shampoo asked, "What Great-Grandmother mean?"
"I mean does he just lay there, or is he a demon where it counts? I ain't getting any younger, you know? I want to see some Great-Great-Grandchildren between my heir and her husband!"
"HUSBAND!" Soun shouted, before turning to Gen... to a panda, "Saotomeeeee."
"Sorry, but I gotta clue ya," Ranma interjected, "She may be cuter than the tomboy here," Ranma shifted himself a bit, "but we ain't hitched." Ranma settled himself comfortably upon the back of Akane, who was herself laying on her side and propping herself up on the elbow that was between the two halves of a dining room table.
"Akane, you do realize these tables are kind of expensive," Soun enquired.
"Don't worry, Daddy, it's coming out of her allowance," Nabiki stated.
"That's right! Ranma is going to marry one of *my* baby girls!" Soun argued, recalling the situation.
"He has an obligation to marry my great-granddaughter," the Amazon Matriarch stated back adimantly, "You will simply have to stand aside."
"This is my family honor!"
"And this is three thousand years of Amazon Law, sonny-boy!"
"Hold up, hold up, before anyone gets hostile, why don't you ask me who I want?"
"Yes, let the boy decide that he wants to marry one of my daughters!" Soun spoke up, proud that the boy was taking up to his obligations.
"You better choose wisely, Son-in-Law..." Cologne challenged, giving him a sharp glare.
Ranma sat up, and suddenly wrapped his arms around Shampoo and Akane. Both Kasumi and Nabiki blinked, wondering how in the hell they came to kneeling just behind Ranma with their hands on his shoulders.
"Don't we make a lovely couple?" Ranma beamed. Akane, Shampoo, Kasumi, and Nabiki looked at each other, before Akane and Shampoo back fisted Ranma in unison with Kasumi and Nabiki's elbow drop onto the top of his head. Ranma swooned, and then collapsed backwards, "J-Just joking!"
__________________________
"You're not actually considering their ultimatum, are you, Ranma?" Nabiki asked, while walking along with Akane and Ranma to eat out, since Kasumi went out to visit friends.
"Na, lettem think they're in control," Ranma replied, nonchilantly, "It's not like you cherries aren't waiting for me!"
"Get bent," Akane mumured.
"What she said," Nabiki added.
"That goes triple for me," a third voice commented, "I'm not as young as I used to be!" Ranma paused, and turned, finding a decaying, decrepid...
::SMACK!!!::
"Who's decrepid, Sonny-boy?" Cologne hissed at Ranma, who was rubbing the knot forming on his head.
"Really, Ranma, you gotta learn not to say everything that comes to that tiny mind of yours," Nabiki smirked.
"Damn, how long you been there?" Ranma asked, backing up from the old woman.
"Just long enough to wonder what you youngsters were doing out at dinner-time. Looking for a meal?"
"You offer'n?" Ranma enquired, still staying cautious.
"I thought I could do with a few taste testers for my new restaurant I'm opening just down that way a little,"Cologne commented, idly, "Interested?"
"Hey, if it'll save us money, I'm all for it!" Nabiki piped up for the other two.
"I'm not so sure about this," Akane commented, looking warily at the old Amazon.
"I'll tell you what, if you're worried about the cost of a free meal..." Cologne pulled out three 'free meal' coupons for the Newly opening Cat Cafe, "Ranma has to earn them..." With that, she bounded off, shouting behind her, "Catch me if you can, Son-in-Law!"
"You guys head on up, and tell 'em I'll have one of each!" Ranma called down to the two Tendou sisters, "I'll be back with those coupons with the quickness!" Ranma gave chase, already confident that they were eating on the house tonight.
"Something's fishy about this," Akane warned, gaining a shrug from her sister.
"Let Ranma deal with it... what did he mean 'one of each'?"
__________________________
"Not bad, Son-in-Law, it's been a while since anyone's given me a good run like this! Why, it reminds me of back in my youth, running through the wilds near the villiage..."
"When was that? Paleolithic Era? It had to be sometime after the Jurassic, mammals weren't even around then!" Ranma smirked at his barb, twisting out of the way of Cologne's staff point, which was aimed for a particular point on his sternum.
"Don't you get sharp with me, Sonny-boy!" the Matriarch mused, while hopping backwards upon the rooftops on her staff, "How about we make this more interesting? ON GUARD!" Cologne launched into the offensive, suddenly, forcing Ranma back a bit.
"Heh, all tempo," Ranma stated, defending against every blow, "Gotta have rhythm before you can dance with me!"
"Boy, I was mastering Rhythm decades before you were a moan on your mother's wedding night!" Cologne snapped.
"Hey now! You leave my Mom outta this!" Ranma replied, dropping into a foot sweep that caused him to circle his leg completely under him, switching hands to allow it passage.
Cologne dodged by leaping into the air in a spin, and landing some distance away, "Hmm, my Great-Granddaughter picked her spouse well... but you need more respect for your elders!"
"I'll show you the love, as soon as I get those coupons!" Ranma launched into the air, somersaulted forward, and attempted to drive his right heel onto the top of Cologne's head. The Amazon Matriarch dodged to her left slightly, just out of the way of the attack, and attempted to retailiate with a downward swing of her staff to Ranma's head.
The pigtailed martial artist leaned to his right, out of the way of the swing. And as Cologne brought it into a horizontal swing, brought up his right leg to block it with is shin, while bracing his left hand on the ground. Using the momentum from the gaurd, Ranma went into a spinning one-hand stand, and vaulted him a yard backwards onto his feet. He then performed a tight somersault backwards from Cologne's horizontal swing to his right.
Cologne hopped into the air, and attempted another downward strike to Ranma's head. He dropped back onto his hands into a crabwalk position, and twisted his left side up so that he was balancing on his right hand and leg. His left leg blocked against the staff, before switching to balance on his left side; bringing his right hand up while his feet moved in a complex pattern to scoot him back.
Cologne spun the staff around in an intricate pattern, and attempted to bring it down on Ranma again. Once again, he blocked it with his right leg, swinging it around to the left to bring him into a backspin. After one rotation, he planted his left hand onto the roof, lifting him up, and kicked out with the left leg, and then the right leg.
Cologne parried both kicks, while Ranma brought his right leg completely to his front, and let it land on the roof, and then swung his left leg around for a back kick. While Cologne dodged to her left, Ranma spun once like a horizontal helicopter propellar, and came back to his feet.
"Impressive, but overly ostentatious," Cologne commented.
"I'll hand it to ya, you got some skillz yourself," Ranma saluted Cologne, while bobbing to his private beat.
"Oh, you ain't seen nothing yet, Son-in-Law!"
"Heh, I think I can handle ya," Ranma retorted, watching the old woman cautiously, but not letting it show on his flippant expression.
"Why, Sonny-boy, I'm old enough to be your Great-Grandmother!" Ranma blinked, almost momentarily falling out of beat, as he found the old woman right in front of him, suddenly. She jabbed her index finger into his chest, "It would be simply scandelous if you were caught soliciting me in such a fashion!"
"Hey! I ain't into fetishes!" Ranma proclaimed, ignoring the tingling sensation in his sternum.
"But you believe yourself equal to me?" Cologne enquired, hopping backwards on her staff.
"Equal enough," Ranma replied with a nonchilant tone.
"Well, how about this? You, as you claim, that I'm all 'Tempo'?" There was a crack in the air, and Ranma's eyebrows raised, as he assumed the old woman did something to break the sound barrier. Her arms suddenly became multiple strobes, before she held them before Ranma, "I dare you to attempt to take hold of my arms!"
"Heh, I was play'n this game with pops when I was in diapers, and I had him up by when I was six!" Ranma's hands were lightning quick themselves, but found them cut through Cologne's arms as if they weren't even there.
"Whoa," Ranma exclaimed, as Cologne's arms seemed to have flickered and wavered for an instant, before settling back into a solid appearance after his hands passed through them.
"That... Son-in-Law, is the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken." With that, the old woman bounded off, leaving three pieces of paper behind that Ranma snatched up; they were the coupons.
"Remember it!" Cologne shouted, heading back to her restaurant.
__________________________
A damp Ranma-chan entered the restaurant finally, livening up an irritated Akane and Nabiki at the sight.
"What took you so long?" Akane asked, trying to keep her irritation apparent, but finding it almost lost in a fit of giggles.
"Long story, as usual," The redhead flashed the coupons, "You order already?"
"Here you go, your ramens, and one of each item on the menu for Ranma," Cologne stated, and then mumbled under her breath, "I should have put a limiter on those coupons..."
"Hmm? What's with the guady pink pendant?" Nabiki asked, "You weren't wearing that earlier."
"Oh, just the cure for 'daughter-in-Law's' peculiar predicerment..." Cologne stated with her ancient smirk.
"Huh?" The redhead exclaimed, while upending a kettle over her head...
__________________________
"Oh my, I think I'm starting to become a little tipsy," Kasumi stated with a bit of concern, "I thought I heard Ranma screaming..."
"Ah, there's a lot of people screaming in here, have another drink!" Kasumi's highschool friend that she had just introduced to the VIP section of 'Ucchan's', "And where did you learn to dance like that, girl?"
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"Ranma..." Akane breathed, watching the redhead blow on her singed fingers, "You can't keep doing this to yourself!"
"I'm gonna master this technique, even if it kills me!" Ranma-chan growled, attempting to curl her pained fingers.
"That's the spirit! No pain, no gain!" Cologne landed in view, and looked to the fire, "I think they should be about done roasting, now. You should get them before they burn!"
Ranma gritted her teeth at the backhanded remark, but didn't comment, "Nobody asked for your opinion!"
"Anyone want some finely roasted chestnuts?" Cologne shouted, bringing the whole Tendou household outside.
"Hmm, sounds delicious!" Kasumi commented.
"Mark me up for a few," Nabiki added.
"Tendou, sounds like something that'll go good with a bit of warm sake, wouldn't you say?"
"Quite right, Saotome!"
Cologne suddenly was holding a fistful of chestnuts in each hand, gathering a round of applause from most of the gathered. Ranma was the only one that hadn't given the old woman an ovation, as she had been concentrating on seeing how Cologne moved, her rhythm...
With a smirk, Ranma finally interrupted the applause, "I'm gonna go practice in the dojo."
"Hmm, Son-in-Law took that awfully well..." Cologne stated, curiously, before picking her staff up off the ground, "Ah well, I must be going, I left some noodles boiling..."
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"Ranma?" Akane found the pigtailed girl in the dojo, dancing, "Honestly, it doesn't seem like you're too concerned about getting that cure, after all..." Ranma wasn't paying attention, concentrating on the music as she danced. With a huff, Akane left the dojo, missing Ranma turn up the volume of his diskman, and moving up the intensity of his dancing. Her arm movements started moving in eighth-note beats, then sixteenth-notes, then two-hundred and fifty-sixth notes...
After an hour, Ranma mastered the Amaguriken.
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Ranma-chan grumbled, as she faced off against the old woman in the ocean water. The Shark-Fist was easily countering her in the water, and she was finding few options left to her.
"Give up, and marry Shampoo, girly! You can't defeat me!"
"Sorry, but I ain't got urge to be tied down yet!" Ranma replied, before getting slammed back by a shark shaped wave.
"Feh, what is it you told me earlier? 'All tempo, not rhythm'?" Cologne chuckled, splashing the water while still on the back of the shark in her laughter.
Ranma had caught what Cologne had stated, and smiled, "You know? Sometimes it ain't all about the tempo and rhythm..." With that, she dove under water...
"Odd..." Cologne mused, before blinking at the sound of a low hum...
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Everyone on the beach gasped, as a massive explosion launched the ocean water in the area the two combatants were in, into the air. Cologne had not been expecting that, finding herself unable to gain balance in the air, what with a shark almost landing on top of her and all. The old woman was severely impressed, what Ranma had to have done was an application of the chestnut fist through out the whole body at an intense rate... underwater, no less!
Ranma casually walked out of the water with a smirk, "You gotta have a little bass to go with it. Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken revised... The low..." Ranma saluted her defeated opponent, "Bass Boom."
"Well met, Son-in-Law, the prize, as we agreed."
"Aiyah..." Shampoo exclaimed, "Ranma beat Great-Grandmother!" Akane had to admit, perhaps she could benefit from this 'Rhythmer's Fist', after all...
Next: Akane