Rhythmer's Fist: Trouble and Bass
"'No challenge', you say?" Akane replied with an arched tone that belayedthe current amount of irritation she was experiencing. Even through that, there was a subtle hint of amusement, and the want to prove exactly how far her abilities had now come. Unfortunately, she had been forbidden to do so by her own current master.
"Nada, nilch, zip. Don't get me wrong, you've come a long way, kid, but you still ain't come close to finishing the journy that is on the level with Ranma Saotome," The pigtailed boy commented, casually, as he swayed to tbe beat only he was able to hear.
Akane recognized the beat easily, 'Gouryella'.
Ranma almost stumbled, when he heard Akane mumble the song he was currently thinking of, "Yeah, A DJ Triesto and System F masterpiece. What made you think about that particular song?"
Akane hid her own private smirk, "Listened to it recently. Anyways, Ranma, sounds like you just need to drop a peg or two, before someone yanks you down."
The pigtailed boy hopped onto the wall next to them, oblivious to the edge in the girl's voice, "What can I say? humility is waisted on the humiliated! You find someone who can match style and breakbeat, point them in my direction."
"Ey, camara`! Dis petit arrow be aim'n for ya!"
Ranma dropped backwards from the wall, just in time to miss Ryoga's foot slam through the top of it. Akane blinked, as Ryoga landed, gave her a short bow, and turned to face the newly created hole in the cement barrier.
"Hey, Ryoga, how goes?" Ranma enquired, standing non-plussed on the other side of the hole.
"Eh, Asi asi," Ryoga replied with an easy shrug, "Anyways, I think I'm supposed to humiliate you?" With that, Ryoga slowly began to sway, before sinking into his rhythmic Ginga Dance, the traditional stance of Capoeira.
"Doubt you can do it, but interesting enough to see you try," Ranma replied almost haughtily, before he began skipping around into his own dancing stance. "Would ask what you been up to lately, but you look eager to get this dance on."
"Heh, I can show you, just as well, camara`," Ryoga did several backhand springs into the middle of the street, before beckoning Ranma to follow. The pigtailed boy strolled out to meet his opponent for the face-off.
"So, what you got to show me today, kid?"
With a light smirk, Ryoga suddenly dropped into a negativa`, with his weight supported on his squatted right leg and braced right arm, while his left arm shielded his face, and his left leg extended, causing him to form a slope. Suddenly, Ryoga shifted to his left, never rising off the ground, and fell into an au`; a quick cartwheel across the front of Ranma. "I'm shown' you a boot to the head!"
The pigtailed boy faded back casually from the insole of Ryoga's left foot, as it trailed behind in his cartwheel. Wanting to scoff at Ryoga's attack that left his whole body wide open, Ranma attempted to retaliate with left hook kick to catch Ryoga just as he was coming back up,
Unfortunately, Ranma's foot seemed, to him, to pass through Ryoga, before he got caught by Ryoga's trip. The Vadier de Caos had instead of coming back to standing, fell completely onto his right shoulder during the cartwheel before falling totally onto his right, and then scissored his left leg back towards Ranma's planted ankle.
The pigtailed boy rolled from losing his balance, and blinked in slight surprise, "Hmm, nice. Dunno how you interrupted my flow!"
Ryoga had swung his right leg under his lifted left leg after his rasteria sweep, causing him to windmill. He windmilled onto his back, and then used the momentum to swing his legs into the air, planting his right hand onto the ground so that he was in a one-handed handstand, as his legs were in the side-splits that was angled diagonally with the left leg raised higher than the right, while his left arm guarded his face.
Ranma realized when he was being taunted, and decided to up his tempo. Skipping his right leg forward, Ranma then brought his left shin against his right leg's calf, dropped onto his right knee and right hand, and then spun counter-clockwise towards Ryoga, while launching himself into the air.
The lost boy smirked, as he watched the human centrifugal whirling dynamo of motion approach him from an angle before him, with a totally amused expression that Akane didn't miss.
"RANMA! WATCH OUT!" She warned, not quite sure of what she was warning him about, but the confident expression on Ryoga's face; like he had the battle won way before they even started.
From the whirling deverish, Ranma's left leg lashed out in a falling ax kick, aiming to split Ryoga diagonally in half.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Ranma thought, as once again, it seemed to just 'pass through' Ryoga. The Capoeristylas dropped from his hand stand, onto the back of his head and neck, while folding himself in half with his legs still in the splits.
Ranma recovered, spinning from the momentum of his kick while on the ground, just in time to catch the balls of both of Ryoga's feet into his chin with artillary shell velocity.
Ranma's impact with, and through the cement wall caused a slight quake in the immidiate area. "RANMA!" Akane cried out, shocked at the extremely telling hit that the pigtailed boy had recieved.
Ryoga was now in a handstand with both hands, with his feet up and forward at an angle. With a light chuckle, he cartwheeled back to his feet, and folded his arms while leaning his torso back. "You feeling humbled yet, camara`?"
"Eh... ouch."
"I'll take dat as a 'yes'." Ryoga replied, before his grin got wider, and the turned to leave, but not before he tossed out one more statement. "Corpo de Fechado', you never triumph over me now, Ranma!" With that, he walked away.
"'Corpo de Fechado'?" Akane repeated, wondering what sort of technique it was that allowed Ryoga to easily best Ranma.
"Eh, cutie, you tell me where I put my stuff, i seemed to have misplaced it," Ryoga asked Akane over her shoulder in a sheepish tone.
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"I don't understand!" Ranma whined, as he continued to lay on the mat in the Tendou home with a damp cloth over his forehead, "It was like he really wasn't even there!"
"I think I know what you mean," Akane replied, off to the side against a wall. From what she saw, both of Ranma's attacks were right on beat. Ryoga may not have been floored right after they both should have connected, but he still should have been feeling it. "It was almost as if he knew what you were going to do before you could do it to him."
"Heh, Ryoga's got rhythm, but he's not that good," Ranma replied, before the arrogance just drained from his voice, "But he was still good enough to easily throttle me like a bad trainwreck."
"Oh, cheer up, Ranma. I mean that's only one loss!" Akane replied, while her sister Kasumi changed damp cloths on Ranma's forehead.
"Damn it, Akane! But I can't lose!" Ranma retorted, vehemantly, "I'm the heir to the Rhythmer's Fist AND Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! It's just not acceptable for me to not just lose, but lose badly!"
"Ryoga said something about a 'Corpo de Fechado', maybe if we find out what that is, it will give you a clue to how Ryoga got so strong!" Akane mused, causing Ranma to perk up.
"Hey, sounds solid. I bet the old ghoul might know a thing or two about it."
"I'm not so sure," Nabiki retorted, "It sounds Spanish to me..."
"Portuegese, actually," Kasumi interjected.
"And you would be correct, young one. And mind your manners boy!"
Ranma continued to stare at the head of a knarled staff just a centimeter from between his eyes, before Cologne retracted it. "Corpo de Fechado, you say? Why, I hadn't heard of that technique in ages!"
"So you know about it?" Akane asked, unable to hide the hope in her voice. "Ah, hey, Shampoo!"
"Hey, 'Kane, hear Ranma get butt handed to him."
Ranma winced, as Akane chuckled, "You heard right, it wasn't even a contest!"
"Hey!"
"Oh, chill, Ranma, it isn't like you've completely failed in life."
"YOU'VE COMPLETELY FAILED, BOY!" Genma announced from the doorway of the room, standing in indigant sorrow, with his fist clenched and crying tears of bitterness, "Oh! To think my own flesh and blood, bested in but a mere two hits!"
"Shampoo hear it from him," the Amazon raver pointed out, "He wail too, too loud."
"Pop, you are *so* gonna get yours," Ranma growled, before wincing.
"Anyways," Cologne continued, drawing attention back to herself, "The 'Corpo de Fechado', the 'Closed Body' technique, was one so powerful, that the Portuegese King Dom Joao VI greatly feared it. It was said to make the invoker impervious to harm of certain weaponry. To be able to stand in the face of a slaver's gun without fear, agily avoiding bullets at point blank range, even at many times getting hit, but gaining no damage."
"Wow, that technique doesn't sound half-bad," Ranma mused, "How did Ryoga come across it?"
"No doubt one of the great hidden masters helped him to gain it," Cologne replied.
"What do you mean, 'helped him gain it'?" Akane asked, curious as to the phrasing.
"The technique not only involves rigerous training, but magical rituals as well. Someone would have to have conducted those in order for him to fully develop his own Closed Body."
"Wait a minute, you said this 'Closed Body' thing is tailored only to specific weapons," Nabiki interjected, "How does it work on Ranma? He wasn't using any weapons... other than his hands and legs, I mean."
"Very observative, child. The technique has been said not only to work on weapons, but perhaps... other specifics as well."
Akane thought about that, finding one thought niggling in the back of her head. Ryoga definitely considered himself Ranma's greatest rival, though she aimed to claim that title for her own soon, and such a technique...
"He's developed it to specifically work against Ranma..." Akane thought with sudden shock.
Cologne blinked, before thinking about it, herself, "That sounds plausable, but I couldn't say for sure if it would work that way."
"If he's developed it to work against me..." Ranma mused, before an idea struck him, "I GOT IT!"
"Ranma never keep down long in defeat," Shampoo mused with a bit of awe.
"I'll say," Akane added.
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Ryoga slowly, very slowly practiced his movements on the sandy beach of Brazil. The warm sea air, with the bustling city of Rio de Janeiro behind him only added to the euphoria he was feeling; he defeated Ranma, without a doubt, hands down.
"Ranma," Ryoga whispered to himself in his usual easy voice, "Now, it is you who'll be looking up to me for now on... second best! Oh, how I yearn to hear you call my name in acknowledgement to my superiority over you..."
"HEY, BACON-BRAINS"
Ryoga paused in the midst of starting an au, supported only by his left arm, while his elbow was against his kidney, as his right reached over to prepare to meet the ground, "Ranma, what are you doing in Rio de Janeiro?"
The pigtailed boy blinked," We're in Nerima park, moron."
"Ag, no wonder the sea didn't smell right," Ryoga mused, remaining in his strenuous position
Ranma dropped down from the tree he had been in, standing before the upside down Vadier de Caos, "It's time for round two, kid. And don't think I'm gonna fall again!"
"Feh, whateva," Ryoga replied, continuing his cartwheel, and then into his Capoeira exercises.
"Heh, so you dismiss me too quickly," Ranma replied in an almost sinister tone, "But now that I know about your 'Closed Body', I know how to now counter it!"
"Oh?" Ryoga replied, amused, while he folded his arms across his chest, and crossed his legs into lotus position... while standing on his head.
"Watch!" With that, Ranma backwards sommersaulted into the lake.
"Uh, what de heck you do that for?" Ryoga enquired, as Ranma came trudging from the waters.
"I have a sneaking suspicion that your Closed body wasn't developed against my Girl-form," Ranma remarked almost triumphantly, before she began imagining the rhythm for 'Transform' by S. Tomioka, and falling into beat.
Ryoga unfolded his arms, and used his right hand to lift himself off the ground, before falling back to his feet. "Hmm, now dat you mention it, no I didn't," Ryoga replied in a somewhat concerned tone.
Ranma smiled; she was still the best, after all...
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"You can't go on like this, Ranma," Akane replied, carrying the unconcious pigtailed girl in her arms, as she entered her home. "We're back, same results as before."
"Oh my, I hope he's alright," Kasumi exclaimed upon finding her sister standing in the hall with their potential fiance.
"Just battered into submission," Akane stated, as she walked into the family room, and laid Ranma on the mat that she had laid him on the day before. "Can you watch over him, Kasumi? There's someone I need to go talk to."
"Sure, Akane-chan, don't be late for dinner!"
Akane nodded, and once again left the Tendou household. Before too long, she was standing outside the dance studio which doubled as the home of her own master of the Rhythmer's Fist...
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"It's not that funny," Akane replied with a resigned voice. She knew of the slight animosity that Petra had agaist her fiance, but still...
"Oh YES it is!" Petra stated through her guffaws, "The rapaz had it com'n!"
"Well, may be it did," Akane replied, lightening up about it a bit, "But still, it can't go on like this."
"Why not? It provide months of entertainment!" Petra replied in an innocent tone, before she fell back onto the floor in hysterics.
"Come on, just help me out here. I was thinking that you may have an idea on how Ranma could overcome this."
Petra sat up, still seated on the ground, and folded her knees to her chest, "Sorry, moca, no idea."
"Oh," Akane stated in a defeated tone.
"Honestly, I don't even know how it would be possible to initiate it against a particular person... unless they practiced the technique against opponents wearing Ranma masks... HaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!"
Akane sighed, "You're not being any help."
"Sorry, but none can I give you, I'm afraid. You up for some train'n today, estudiante?"
"Na, I think I'm going to go home and think about this for a while," Akane replied, a bit downtroden, and a bit disappointed in her intructor's lack of maturity.
"Moca... I'll let you know if I come up with anything, si?"
Akane turned to Petra with a faint smile, "Si. I'll catch you later, then." With that, Akane left the small apartment above the studio.
The blue-haired woman quickly stood up, the mirth from her face leaving quickly. Akane was right that it wasn't as funny as she was acting. Petra also may not have known how to get the closed body to work against a single person... but she knew how it could be made to work against Ranma, as well as others...
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Throughout the week, Akane watched Ranma train with a vicious zealous that she had never seen in him before. He was becoming obsessed with beating Ryoga, and his attitude was suffering for it. She knew the pigtailed boy had sent the challenge several days ago; Ranma intended to prove, once and for all, which one of them was the better.
"Ranma..." Akane barely whispered, before another voice interrupted the both of them.
"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!?"
Ranma turned to meet his rival, "Ryoga, you're early."
The fanged boy quickly turned to Ranma, surprised to see him, but nothing much else, "Early for what?"
"Our challenge, you moron," Ranma growled, "I didn't expect you to be arriving for three days!"
Ryoga's eyes narrowed, "Challenge? What challenge?"
Ranma slapped his forehead in dismay, "The one I mailed to your house four days ago, dufus!"
"Oh, and when have I been home to receive it, camara?" Ryoga asked in an arched tone, "You know how I... how much travel'n I do."
Ranma's stern expression cracked, "Ah... I guess I didn't think about that."
Ryoga sighed, before turning around to head on his way, "Anyway, jus' admit it, Ranma. You never beat me again."
"How about we prove that in the dojo, right this instant?" Ranma challenged, not willing to take Ryoga's attitude towards him. Akane sincerely began to notice how much of his 'groove' Ranma had lost just by his speech patterns.
Ryoga shrugged, "Lead the way, and les' make this quick, si?"
Before long, the two rivals were standing across one another, as the rest of the household, including Cologne and Shampoo, looked on.
The pigtailed boy found the smirk Ryoga was wearing almost infuriating, and before anyone could even call the match, he launched into attack.
Ryoga didn't even bother to go into his ginga dance, as he patiently waited Ranma to approach. Right as his opponent was upon him, Ranma suddenly broke right in front of the lost boy tossed his head back, and jacknifed into a kick.
Unimpressed, Ryoga dropped away into a negativa onto his right side, tilted so he was braced now on the right side of his head and right hand, and launched out with both of his feet.
Feeling the rhythm, Ranma twisted while upside down, and reversed his jacknife kick into a downwards toe strike while upside down.
Almost with casual defiance, Ryoga kicked his legs from his double thrust kick, straight into the air to evade Ranmas second attack. Ryoga was spinning on one hand in a hand stand, as Ranma landed, and spun into a sweep. Before it could even connect, Ryoga pulled braced hand up, causing Ranma's foot to pass right under him, and dropped into a head spin. As Ranma was recovering from his missed foot sweep, Ryoga dropped onto his left shoulder, then the left side of his back, bringing his right leg around, almost connecting the heel with Ranma's jaw. just barely, the pigtailed boy leaned back, and pushed himself up into a backbend, before flipping back onto his feet. As he did so, Ryoga's right leg slid onto the ground, while he twisted his body with the momentum to bring his left leg up. he finally came back to his feet by pushing off the ground with his hands.
"They're too evenly matched," Akane stated, realizing neither would ever score a clean hit against the other at this rate.
"I'm afraid you are in error," Cologne stated, gaining he audience's attention, "Ranma is only able to avoid Ryoga by his own speed, while Ryoga is avoiding Ranma's attacks as if it were the most natural thing in the world to him."
"Which means..." Kasumi started.
"Ranma will probably wear out sooner than Ryoga!" Nabiki continued.
"Since Ranma is having to exert more to avoid Ryoga's attacks!" Akane finished.
"Not bad, not bad, Ranma, but ye gonna not last too long with all that," Ryoga taunted, as he kept his arms folded.
Ranma gave only the faintest of smirks, before he stopped dancing, and went into a Wing Chun stance with his right side forward and arm slightly extended, while his left forearm was braced against his side. Ryoga blinked, curious as to what Ranma was up to.
"What he doing?" Shampoo enquired, "Rhythm suddenly feel..."
"...Simplified..." Akane stated with a bit of surprise.
Ranma lashed out with a front snap kick, before following up with a straight right. Ryoga weaved by the snap kick, and bent into a backbend away from the punch. As he did so, a slight frown formed on his face.
Pushing it, Ranma suddenly slid his left side forward, sinking into a forward horse stance, and initiated a downwards side chop to Ryoga's stomach with his left forearm. Ryoga suddenly twisted in his backbend to his right, now arched forward instead of backwards, with his hands braced against the ground, and his feet planted while he was facing down. From his seemingly vunerable position, Ryoga suddenly lashed out with his right leg towards Ranma's waist. Ranma spun away from the Tail of the Mantis kick, and when Ryoga realised he missed, he used the momentum to pull himself spinning into a handstand. Just as he recovered to face Ranma upside down, he recieved a Muay Thai style kick to his side, sending him upside down and sideways into a wall.
"He's... he's using pure anything goes..." Akane breathed, shocked that Ranma was able to score an extremely telling hit. That's when it hit her, "Ryoga's trained his Closed Body against the Rhythmer's Fist!"
"That's my boy!" Genma stated with pride, "He knew better than to abandon the principles!"
"Lucky shot, camara," Ryoga stated, slightly wincing from his bruised side, "But that won't protect you for long!"
"Maybe," Ranma stated with a bit more confidence than he had shown in a while, "but it made you drop that five hundred yen coin by the wall."
"Where?" Ryoga, Genma, and Nabiki quickly enquired, staring towards the wall. Ryoga suddenly found himself staring out the other side of the dojo wall with a newly developed headache.
"I don't see any five hundred yen coin," Nabiki grumbled, disappointed.
Genma was laughing, as Soun, Akane, Shampoo, and Cologne stared incredulously.
"I don't believe he fell for that..." Akane groaned, grabbing her forehead.
"THAT BE A CHEAP TRICK, RANMA!" Ryoga growled, pulling his head from the hole in the wall.
Ranma leaned back in his stance of non-stance, keeping his smirk and his arms folded, "So, whatcha gonna do about it?"
"I tell you what I do about it, camara, I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" Right that, Ryoga hopped once, before twisting into a backflip with a slight more twist than usual. He kept both of his legs together, as he attempted to drop them sideways onto his nemesis.
Ranma deftly scooted back from the dupo-armada kick and then spun away from Ryoga's Meia luna del compasso crescent kick. The lost boy tracked him, pracing his left hand onto the ground, kicking up into a handstand, aiming his right foot towards the top of Ranma's head.
With a yelp, Ranma barely avoided the variant of the Tail of the Mantis. darting back and then to the side. He was then forced to backwards somersault away, as Ryoga dropped into a gymnists' flare, intending to trip Ranma up with both his swinging legs.
"What just happened? Ranma had Ryoga on the ropes!" Nabiki asked, confused with the sudden change of battle. Akane and Shampoo could only shrug, as Cologne, Genma, and Soun watched intently.
Ryoga spun from his gymnastic`s into a headspin, splaying his legs out into the side splits. Ranma apparently didn't have time to properly defend against the attack, as he barely got his guard up, and tripped backwards.
From his headspin, Ryoga then braced his right hand onto the ground, launching himself back to his feet. As he landed, he only did so on his left foot, while holding his right leg up in the front splits against his chest, aiming for a vicious ax kick onto his floored opponent. Even through the flared pants, Ranma could see Ryoga's muscles tensing to drop the ax, and convey the Vadier de Caos's anger.
"Last words, camara?" Ryoga almost seethed, barely refraining from just burying his heel into Ranma's head right then and there.
Ranma suddenly fell forward, placing his forehead against the floor, and his hands in front of him, "Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!"
Ranma's sudden please and kow-towing brought Ryoga's anger up short, "Huh?"
At that merest moment's distraction, Ranma suddenly rolled forward onto the back of his shoulders, before launching upwards with both feet. At the sudden movement, Ryoga unleashed his leg towards his opponent.
Almost seeming in slow motion, Ranma just barely twisted sideways from the ax kick, as his own legs continued towards Ryoga's jaw. Pure, clean, connection occured, as Ryoga was launched heavily into the air, and through he dojo roof. Ranma spun on one hand with his legs straight up from the kick in a 1990, as Ryoga came crashing back into the training hall, forming another hole.
As the capoeriastylas lay still, Ranma kicked himself back into standing, "I did it, I broke Ryoga's Closed Body technique!"
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Petra stared, as Akane left, her step much more vibrant than it had been for almost a week. The young master of the Rhythmer's Fist felt a slight disappointment at the news the girl brought her, that Marcelo's student had managed to defeat the Closed Body specifically developed against the Rhythmer's Fist.
She sighed, before shrugging it off. She knew full well that neither the boy or his master were invincible. And soon, she would finally prove it.
"'No challenge', you say?" Akane replied with an arched tone that belayedthe current amount of irritation she was experiencing. Even through that, there was a subtle hint of amusement, and the want to prove exactly how far her abilities had now come. Unfortunately, she had been forbidden to do so by her own current master.
"Nada, nilch, zip. Don't get me wrong, you've come a long way, kid, but you still ain't come close to finishing the journy that is on the level with Ranma Saotome," The pigtailed boy commented, casually, as he swayed to tbe beat only he was able to hear.
Akane recognized the beat easily, 'Gouryella'.
Ranma almost stumbled, when he heard Akane mumble the song he was currently thinking of, "Yeah, A DJ Triesto and System F masterpiece. What made you think about that particular song?"
Akane hid her own private smirk, "Listened to it recently. Anyways, Ranma, sounds like you just need to drop a peg or two, before someone yanks you down."
The pigtailed boy hopped onto the wall next to them, oblivious to the edge in the girl's voice, "What can I say? humility is waisted on the humiliated! You find someone who can match style and breakbeat, point them in my direction."
"Ey, camara`! Dis petit arrow be aim'n for ya!"
Ranma dropped backwards from the wall, just in time to miss Ryoga's foot slam through the top of it. Akane blinked, as Ryoga landed, gave her a short bow, and turned to face the newly created hole in the cement barrier.
"Hey, Ryoga, how goes?" Ranma enquired, standing non-plussed on the other side of the hole.
"Eh, Asi asi," Ryoga replied with an easy shrug, "Anyways, I think I'm supposed to humiliate you?" With that, Ryoga slowly began to sway, before sinking into his rhythmic Ginga Dance, the traditional stance of Capoeira.
"Doubt you can do it, but interesting enough to see you try," Ranma replied almost haughtily, before he began skipping around into his own dancing stance. "Would ask what you been up to lately, but you look eager to get this dance on."
"Heh, I can show you, just as well, camara`," Ryoga did several backhand springs into the middle of the street, before beckoning Ranma to follow. The pigtailed boy strolled out to meet his opponent for the face-off.
"So, what you got to show me today, kid?"
With a light smirk, Ryoga suddenly dropped into a negativa`, with his weight supported on his squatted right leg and braced right arm, while his left arm shielded his face, and his left leg extended, causing him to form a slope. Suddenly, Ryoga shifted to his left, never rising off the ground, and fell into an au`; a quick cartwheel across the front of Ranma. "I'm shown' you a boot to the head!"
The pigtailed boy faded back casually from the insole of Ryoga's left foot, as it trailed behind in his cartwheel. Wanting to scoff at Ryoga's attack that left his whole body wide open, Ranma attempted to retaliate with left hook kick to catch Ryoga just as he was coming back up,
Unfortunately, Ranma's foot seemed, to him, to pass through Ryoga, before he got caught by Ryoga's trip. The Vadier de Caos had instead of coming back to standing, fell completely onto his right shoulder during the cartwheel before falling totally onto his right, and then scissored his left leg back towards Ranma's planted ankle.
The pigtailed boy rolled from losing his balance, and blinked in slight surprise, "Hmm, nice. Dunno how you interrupted my flow!"
Ryoga had swung his right leg under his lifted left leg after his rasteria sweep, causing him to windmill. He windmilled onto his back, and then used the momentum to swing his legs into the air, planting his right hand onto the ground so that he was in a one-handed handstand, as his legs were in the side-splits that was angled diagonally with the left leg raised higher than the right, while his left arm guarded his face.
Ranma realized when he was being taunted, and decided to up his tempo. Skipping his right leg forward, Ranma then brought his left shin against his right leg's calf, dropped onto his right knee and right hand, and then spun counter-clockwise towards Ryoga, while launching himself into the air.
The lost boy smirked, as he watched the human centrifugal whirling dynamo of motion approach him from an angle before him, with a totally amused expression that Akane didn't miss.
"RANMA! WATCH OUT!" She warned, not quite sure of what she was warning him about, but the confident expression on Ryoga's face; like he had the battle won way before they even started.
From the whirling deverish, Ranma's left leg lashed out in a falling ax kick, aiming to split Ryoga diagonally in half.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Ranma thought, as once again, it seemed to just 'pass through' Ryoga. The Capoeristylas dropped from his hand stand, onto the back of his head and neck, while folding himself in half with his legs still in the splits.
Ranma recovered, spinning from the momentum of his kick while on the ground, just in time to catch the balls of both of Ryoga's feet into his chin with artillary shell velocity.
Ranma's impact with, and through the cement wall caused a slight quake in the immidiate area. "RANMA!" Akane cried out, shocked at the extremely telling hit that the pigtailed boy had recieved.
Ryoga was now in a handstand with both hands, with his feet up and forward at an angle. With a light chuckle, he cartwheeled back to his feet, and folded his arms while leaning his torso back. "You feeling humbled yet, camara`?"
"Eh... ouch."
"I'll take dat as a 'yes'." Ryoga replied, before his grin got wider, and the turned to leave, but not before he tossed out one more statement. "Corpo de Fechado', you never triumph over me now, Ranma!" With that, he walked away.
"'Corpo de Fechado'?" Akane repeated, wondering what sort of technique it was that allowed Ryoga to easily best Ranma.
"Eh, cutie, you tell me where I put my stuff, i seemed to have misplaced it," Ryoga asked Akane over her shoulder in a sheepish tone.
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"I don't understand!" Ranma whined, as he continued to lay on the mat in the Tendou home with a damp cloth over his forehead, "It was like he really wasn't even there!"
"I think I know what you mean," Akane replied, off to the side against a wall. From what she saw, both of Ranma's attacks were right on beat. Ryoga may not have been floored right after they both should have connected, but he still should have been feeling it. "It was almost as if he knew what you were going to do before you could do it to him."
"Heh, Ryoga's got rhythm, but he's not that good," Ranma replied, before the arrogance just drained from his voice, "But he was still good enough to easily throttle me like a bad trainwreck."
"Oh, cheer up, Ranma. I mean that's only one loss!" Akane replied, while her sister Kasumi changed damp cloths on Ranma's forehead.
"Damn it, Akane! But I can't lose!" Ranma retorted, vehemantly, "I'm the heir to the Rhythmer's Fist AND Anything Goes School of Martial Arts! It's just not acceptable for me to not just lose, but lose badly!"
"Ryoga said something about a 'Corpo de Fechado', maybe if we find out what that is, it will give you a clue to how Ryoga got so strong!" Akane mused, causing Ranma to perk up.
"Hey, sounds solid. I bet the old ghoul might know a thing or two about it."
"I'm not so sure," Nabiki retorted, "It sounds Spanish to me..."
"Portuegese, actually," Kasumi interjected.
"And you would be correct, young one. And mind your manners boy!"
Ranma continued to stare at the head of a knarled staff just a centimeter from between his eyes, before Cologne retracted it. "Corpo de Fechado, you say? Why, I hadn't heard of that technique in ages!"
"So you know about it?" Akane asked, unable to hide the hope in her voice. "Ah, hey, Shampoo!"
"Hey, 'Kane, hear Ranma get butt handed to him."
Ranma winced, as Akane chuckled, "You heard right, it wasn't even a contest!"
"Hey!"
"Oh, chill, Ranma, it isn't like you've completely failed in life."
"YOU'VE COMPLETELY FAILED, BOY!" Genma announced from the doorway of the room, standing in indigant sorrow, with his fist clenched and crying tears of bitterness, "Oh! To think my own flesh and blood, bested in but a mere two hits!"
"Shampoo hear it from him," the Amazon raver pointed out, "He wail too, too loud."
"Pop, you are *so* gonna get yours," Ranma growled, before wincing.
"Anyways," Cologne continued, drawing attention back to herself, "The 'Corpo de Fechado', the 'Closed Body' technique, was one so powerful, that the Portuegese King Dom Joao VI greatly feared it. It was said to make the invoker impervious to harm of certain weaponry. To be able to stand in the face of a slaver's gun without fear, agily avoiding bullets at point blank range, even at many times getting hit, but gaining no damage."
"Wow, that technique doesn't sound half-bad," Ranma mused, "How did Ryoga come across it?"
"No doubt one of the great hidden masters helped him to gain it," Cologne replied.
"What do you mean, 'helped him gain it'?" Akane asked, curious as to the phrasing.
"The technique not only involves rigerous training, but magical rituals as well. Someone would have to have conducted those in order for him to fully develop his own Closed Body."
"Wait a minute, you said this 'Closed Body' thing is tailored only to specific weapons," Nabiki interjected, "How does it work on Ranma? He wasn't using any weapons... other than his hands and legs, I mean."
"Very observative, child. The technique has been said not only to work on weapons, but perhaps... other specifics as well."
Akane thought about that, finding one thought niggling in the back of her head. Ryoga definitely considered himself Ranma's greatest rival, though she aimed to claim that title for her own soon, and such a technique...
"He's developed it to specifically work against Ranma..." Akane thought with sudden shock.
Cologne blinked, before thinking about it, herself, "That sounds plausable, but I couldn't say for sure if it would work that way."
"If he's developed it to work against me..." Ranma mused, before an idea struck him, "I GOT IT!"
"Ranma never keep down long in defeat," Shampoo mused with a bit of awe.
"I'll say," Akane added.
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Ryoga slowly, very slowly practiced his movements on the sandy beach of Brazil. The warm sea air, with the bustling city of Rio de Janeiro behind him only added to the euphoria he was feeling; he defeated Ranma, without a doubt, hands down.
"Ranma," Ryoga whispered to himself in his usual easy voice, "Now, it is you who'll be looking up to me for now on... second best! Oh, how I yearn to hear you call my name in acknowledgement to my superiority over you..."
"HEY, BACON-BRAINS"
Ryoga paused in the midst of starting an au, supported only by his left arm, while his elbow was against his kidney, as his right reached over to prepare to meet the ground, "Ranma, what are you doing in Rio de Janeiro?"
The pigtailed boy blinked," We're in Nerima park, moron."
"Ag, no wonder the sea didn't smell right," Ryoga mused, remaining in his strenuous position
Ranma dropped down from the tree he had been in, standing before the upside down Vadier de Caos, "It's time for round two, kid. And don't think I'm gonna fall again!"
"Feh, whateva," Ryoga replied, continuing his cartwheel, and then into his Capoeira exercises.
"Heh, so you dismiss me too quickly," Ranma replied in an almost sinister tone, "But now that I know about your 'Closed Body', I know how to now counter it!"
"Oh?" Ryoga replied, amused, while he folded his arms across his chest, and crossed his legs into lotus position... while standing on his head.
"Watch!" With that, Ranma backwards sommersaulted into the lake.
"Uh, what de heck you do that for?" Ryoga enquired, as Ranma came trudging from the waters.
"I have a sneaking suspicion that your Closed body wasn't developed against my Girl-form," Ranma remarked almost triumphantly, before she began imagining the rhythm for 'Transform' by S. Tomioka, and falling into beat.
Ryoga unfolded his arms, and used his right hand to lift himself off the ground, before falling back to his feet. "Hmm, now dat you mention it, no I didn't," Ryoga replied in a somewhat concerned tone.
Ranma smiled; she was still the best, after all...
_________________
"You can't go on like this, Ranma," Akane replied, carrying the unconcious pigtailed girl in her arms, as she entered her home. "We're back, same results as before."
"Oh my, I hope he's alright," Kasumi exclaimed upon finding her sister standing in the hall with their potential fiance.
"Just battered into submission," Akane stated, as she walked into the family room, and laid Ranma on the mat that she had laid him on the day before. "Can you watch over him, Kasumi? There's someone I need to go talk to."
"Sure, Akane-chan, don't be late for dinner!"
Akane nodded, and once again left the Tendou household. Before too long, she was standing outside the dance studio which doubled as the home of her own master of the Rhythmer's Fist...
_________________
"It's not that funny," Akane replied with a resigned voice. She knew of the slight animosity that Petra had agaist her fiance, but still...
"Oh YES it is!" Petra stated through her guffaws, "The rapaz had it com'n!"
"Well, may be it did," Akane replied, lightening up about it a bit, "But still, it can't go on like this."
"Why not? It provide months of entertainment!" Petra replied in an innocent tone, before she fell back onto the floor in hysterics.
"Come on, just help me out here. I was thinking that you may have an idea on how Ranma could overcome this."
Petra sat up, still seated on the ground, and folded her knees to her chest, "Sorry, moca, no idea."
"Oh," Akane stated in a defeated tone.
"Honestly, I don't even know how it would be possible to initiate it against a particular person... unless they practiced the technique against opponents wearing Ranma masks... HaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!"
Akane sighed, "You're not being any help."
"Sorry, but none can I give you, I'm afraid. You up for some train'n today, estudiante?"
"Na, I think I'm going to go home and think about this for a while," Akane replied, a bit downtroden, and a bit disappointed in her intructor's lack of maturity.
"Moca... I'll let you know if I come up with anything, si?"
Akane turned to Petra with a faint smile, "Si. I'll catch you later, then." With that, Akane left the small apartment above the studio.
The blue-haired woman quickly stood up, the mirth from her face leaving quickly. Akane was right that it wasn't as funny as she was acting. Petra also may not have known how to get the closed body to work against a single person... but she knew how it could be made to work against Ranma, as well as others...
_________________
Throughout the week, Akane watched Ranma train with a vicious zealous that she had never seen in him before. He was becoming obsessed with beating Ryoga, and his attitude was suffering for it. She knew the pigtailed boy had sent the challenge several days ago; Ranma intended to prove, once and for all, which one of them was the better.
"Ranma..." Akane barely whispered, before another voice interrupted the both of them.
"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?!?"
Ranma turned to meet his rival, "Ryoga, you're early."
The fanged boy quickly turned to Ranma, surprised to see him, but nothing much else, "Early for what?"
"Our challenge, you moron," Ranma growled, "I didn't expect you to be arriving for three days!"
Ryoga's eyes narrowed, "Challenge? What challenge?"
Ranma slapped his forehead in dismay, "The one I mailed to your house four days ago, dufus!"
"Oh, and when have I been home to receive it, camara?" Ryoga asked in an arched tone, "You know how I... how much travel'n I do."
Ranma's stern expression cracked, "Ah... I guess I didn't think about that."
Ryoga sighed, before turning around to head on his way, "Anyway, jus' admit it, Ranma. You never beat me again."
"How about we prove that in the dojo, right this instant?" Ranma challenged, not willing to take Ryoga's attitude towards him. Akane sincerely began to notice how much of his 'groove' Ranma had lost just by his speech patterns.
Ryoga shrugged, "Lead the way, and les' make this quick, si?"
Before long, the two rivals were standing across one another, as the rest of the household, including Cologne and Shampoo, looked on.
The pigtailed boy found the smirk Ryoga was wearing almost infuriating, and before anyone could even call the match, he launched into attack.
Ryoga didn't even bother to go into his ginga dance, as he patiently waited Ranma to approach. Right as his opponent was upon him, Ranma suddenly broke right in front of the lost boy tossed his head back, and jacknifed into a kick.
Unimpressed, Ryoga dropped away into a negativa onto his right side, tilted so he was braced now on the right side of his head and right hand, and launched out with both of his feet.
Feeling the rhythm, Ranma twisted while upside down, and reversed his jacknife kick into a downwards toe strike while upside down.
Almost with casual defiance, Ryoga kicked his legs from his double thrust kick, straight into the air to evade Ranmas second attack. Ryoga was spinning on one hand in a hand stand, as Ranma landed, and spun into a sweep. Before it could even connect, Ryoga pulled braced hand up, causing Ranma's foot to pass right under him, and dropped into a head spin. As Ranma was recovering from his missed foot sweep, Ryoga dropped onto his left shoulder, then the left side of his back, bringing his right leg around, almost connecting the heel with Ranma's jaw. just barely, the pigtailed boy leaned back, and pushed himself up into a backbend, before flipping back onto his feet. As he did so, Ryoga's right leg slid onto the ground, while he twisted his body with the momentum to bring his left leg up. he finally came back to his feet by pushing off the ground with his hands.
"They're too evenly matched," Akane stated, realizing neither would ever score a clean hit against the other at this rate.
"I'm afraid you are in error," Cologne stated, gaining he audience's attention, "Ranma is only able to avoid Ryoga by his own speed, while Ryoga is avoiding Ranma's attacks as if it were the most natural thing in the world to him."
"Which means..." Kasumi started.
"Ranma will probably wear out sooner than Ryoga!" Nabiki continued.
"Since Ranma is having to exert more to avoid Ryoga's attacks!" Akane finished.
"Not bad, not bad, Ranma, but ye gonna not last too long with all that," Ryoga taunted, as he kept his arms folded.
Ranma gave only the faintest of smirks, before he stopped dancing, and went into a Wing Chun stance with his right side forward and arm slightly extended, while his left forearm was braced against his side. Ryoga blinked, curious as to what Ranma was up to.
"What he doing?" Shampoo enquired, "Rhythm suddenly feel..."
"...Simplified..." Akane stated with a bit of surprise.
Ranma lashed out with a front snap kick, before following up with a straight right. Ryoga weaved by the snap kick, and bent into a backbend away from the punch. As he did so, a slight frown formed on his face.
Pushing it, Ranma suddenly slid his left side forward, sinking into a forward horse stance, and initiated a downwards side chop to Ryoga's stomach with his left forearm. Ryoga suddenly twisted in his backbend to his right, now arched forward instead of backwards, with his hands braced against the ground, and his feet planted while he was facing down. From his seemingly vunerable position, Ryoga suddenly lashed out with his right leg towards Ranma's waist. Ranma spun away from the Tail of the Mantis kick, and when Ryoga realised he missed, he used the momentum to pull himself spinning into a handstand. Just as he recovered to face Ranma upside down, he recieved a Muay Thai style kick to his side, sending him upside down and sideways into a wall.
"He's... he's using pure anything goes..." Akane breathed, shocked that Ranma was able to score an extremely telling hit. That's when it hit her, "Ryoga's trained his Closed Body against the Rhythmer's Fist!"
"That's my boy!" Genma stated with pride, "He knew better than to abandon the principles!"
"Lucky shot, camara," Ryoga stated, slightly wincing from his bruised side, "But that won't protect you for long!"
"Maybe," Ranma stated with a bit more confidence than he had shown in a while, "but it made you drop that five hundred yen coin by the wall."
"Where?" Ryoga, Genma, and Nabiki quickly enquired, staring towards the wall. Ryoga suddenly found himself staring out the other side of the dojo wall with a newly developed headache.
"I don't see any five hundred yen coin," Nabiki grumbled, disappointed.
Genma was laughing, as Soun, Akane, Shampoo, and Cologne stared incredulously.
"I don't believe he fell for that..." Akane groaned, grabbing her forehead.
"THAT BE A CHEAP TRICK, RANMA!" Ryoga growled, pulling his head from the hole in the wall.
Ranma leaned back in his stance of non-stance, keeping his smirk and his arms folded, "So, whatcha gonna do about it?"
"I tell you what I do about it, camara, I RIP YOUR HEAD OFF!" Right that, Ryoga hopped once, before twisting into a backflip with a slight more twist than usual. He kept both of his legs together, as he attempted to drop them sideways onto his nemesis.
Ranma deftly scooted back from the dupo-armada kick and then spun away from Ryoga's Meia luna del compasso crescent kick. The lost boy tracked him, pracing his left hand onto the ground, kicking up into a handstand, aiming his right foot towards the top of Ranma's head.
With a yelp, Ranma barely avoided the variant of the Tail of the Mantis. darting back and then to the side. He was then forced to backwards somersault away, as Ryoga dropped into a gymnists' flare, intending to trip Ranma up with both his swinging legs.
"What just happened? Ranma had Ryoga on the ropes!" Nabiki asked, confused with the sudden change of battle. Akane and Shampoo could only shrug, as Cologne, Genma, and Soun watched intently.
Ryoga spun from his gymnastic`s into a headspin, splaying his legs out into the side splits. Ranma apparently didn't have time to properly defend against the attack, as he barely got his guard up, and tripped backwards.
From his headspin, Ryoga then braced his right hand onto the ground, launching himself back to his feet. As he landed, he only did so on his left foot, while holding his right leg up in the front splits against his chest, aiming for a vicious ax kick onto his floored opponent. Even through the flared pants, Ranma could see Ryoga's muscles tensing to drop the ax, and convey the Vadier de Caos's anger.
"Last words, camara?" Ryoga almost seethed, barely refraining from just burying his heel into Ranma's head right then and there.
Ranma suddenly fell forward, placing his forehead against the floor, and his hands in front of him, "Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me!"
Ranma's sudden please and kow-towing brought Ryoga's anger up short, "Huh?"
At that merest moment's distraction, Ranma suddenly rolled forward onto the back of his shoulders, before launching upwards with both feet. At the sudden movement, Ryoga unleashed his leg towards his opponent.
Almost seeming in slow motion, Ranma just barely twisted sideways from the ax kick, as his own legs continued towards Ryoga's jaw. Pure, clean, connection occured, as Ryoga was launched heavily into the air, and through he dojo roof. Ranma spun on one hand with his legs straight up from the kick in a 1990, as Ryoga came crashing back into the training hall, forming another hole.
As the capoeriastylas lay still, Ranma kicked himself back into standing, "I did it, I broke Ryoga's Closed Body technique!"
_________________
Petra stared, as Akane left, her step much more vibrant than it had been for almost a week. The young master of the Rhythmer's Fist felt a slight disappointment at the news the girl brought her, that Marcelo's student had managed to defeat the Closed Body specifically developed against the Rhythmer's Fist.
She sighed, before shrugging it off. She knew full well that neither the boy or his master were invincible. And soon, she would finally prove it.