Intro: Third chapter is finally up!! By the way, what happened to all my reviews?? *sniff, sniff* Maybe this chapter will generate a few more.
Disclaimer: WHAT???? WHADDA YA -MEAN- IT'S NOT MINE???
Warnings: Currently unedited, manga language
Legend:
"Quotes"
'Sub-quotes'
EMPHASIS
-Emphasis-
[Thoughts]
*Sounds*
|Panda signs|
------------{ Chaos 1/2 }------------
------{ Episode 03: It's No Place For Cat-napping, Either }------
After running down a few hallways, Ranma finally spotted an open window, "Oh, look! A shortcut!" With that he spun and jumped backwards out the window, with Kuno following shortly there-after.
The panting student body finally caught up and looked out the window, "Hey! Isn't this the third floor?"
"Good thing there's a pool down there."
Outside, Ranma finally noticed the swimming pool, and a wide grin spread across his face, "Hey, look! A training opportunity!! Whooo!!!"
SMACK / SMACK
Up above, half of the student body winced. The other half stared in disbelief.
"Ooooo... That HAD to hurt!"
"Did he just do... a BELLYFLOP?!?!"
Down below, two bodies floated to the surface of the pool. Both of them lay face-down and unmoving. Finally Ranma's body twitched and he slowly swam over to the edge of the pool. He climbed out, then calmly shook himself off and looked himself over. The entire front side of his arms and his face were red, as were his feet, which were still bare. After finishing his examination, he voiced his judgement, "Ow." Mass face-fault ensued.
Kuno finally twitched into consciousness and he thrashed upright, coughing water. Ranma walked over to the edge of the pool and knelt, holding out a helping hand to the sputtering kendoist. Surprised, Kuno grudgingly allowed himself to be helped out of the pool. After wringing his robes dry, he turned to the red-haired boy and, to many's surprise, bowed formally, "Tatewaki Kuno thanks you, warrior, for your assistance."
To more surprise, Ranma bowed in return, "This humble warrior accepts your thanks, User of Sword. This warrior asks that we continue our battle where we left off?"
Kuno nodded and shook his robes out once more, "Indeed we shall."
"Then this one asks for a weapon of similar dimensions."
Kuno looked surprised as drew another bokken from out of his robes, "Then you also know the way of the sword."
Ranma shook his head, "No, but I'm gonna to try and learn."
Kuno shook his own head in an amused fashion, "Thou art truly a fool... Ranma Saotome." Even so, he tossed the weapon to the red-haired boy, who caught the spinning bokken deftly.
Shifting his grip, he held the weapon one-handed, then raised the tip up and pointed it at Kuno, leaving only his sword shoulder facing the kendoist. A brief pale blue aura flared up around him for a moment, then dissipated as he infused his weapon with his ki, "Shall we begin?" The pony-tailed boy's ki-senses "saw" his opponent's aura flare up, but not into the visible spectrum. If it had, it would have been a dirty green, indicating depression mixed with... happiness?!?!, and pain. [Strange... What HAPPENED to this guy?? Damn, he's messed up.]
Kuno raised his own bokken in readiness, "Ready?" After receiving a nod, he continued, "Hajme!"
At the signal, Kuno moved forward with a surprising amount of speed, moving to knock Ranma's bokken from his hands in the first move. His own bokken connected with Ranma's, but to his surprise, it only moved a little. Recovering quickly, he moved back to prepare another strike, but Ranma moved forward as well, swinging his weapon swiftly but clumsily, and Kuno was forced to parry.
Countering Ranma's blow with his own, he moved into his opponent's defenses with an upward slash, coming up under Ranma's guard and slashing him in the stomach, also ripping his shirt. Ranma's only response was a grunt as the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. Otherwise ignoring the blow, the red-haired boy switched his grip on his weapon while still bent over the crouching kendoist and stabbed downward at his back.
Ducking to the side to avoid the uncoventional tactic, Kuno slashed to the side as he went, but missed as Ranma over-balanced and rolled forward to regain his equilibrium. Still holding his weapon in a reverse grip, he blocked a strike from behind and ducked down and back, under the kendoist's swing.
Righting his grip, he swung his bokken up into Kuno's face, then rolled backward between his opponent's legs. Unfortunately, his weapon caught on the kendoist's robes and his roll turned into a sprawl that was anything BUT graceful. Rolling to the side as Kuno turned and stabbed down at him, he regained his feet and spat out a mouthful of dirt, "Well, THAT was embarrassing." He raised his bokken and pointed it at Kuno again, "Shall we?"
During this small repreive, Kuno took a moment to evaluate his opponent, [He is truly unskilled. Most definitely has no experience with the sword, but still... he's quite fast and has a good grip on his weapon, even one-handed.] Responding to Ranma's invitation, he tightened his grip and raised his own bokken, "On guarde."
Ranma took the initiative this time, jabbing forward with his bokken. Kuno easily blocked and parried, twisting his weapon around his opponent's. Barely moving his body out of the way, Ranma blocked a double-strike through sheer speed and retaliated once more.
His horizontal slash was deflected and parried with an upward swing by Kuno, who followed up with a quick reversal, scoring another hit on his part. Ignoring the hit again, Ranma swung sideways at the crouching kendoist, who ducked even further to avoid it. Straightening, he frowned as a few strands of hair floated down in front of his face, indicating that he hadn't ducked quite far enough. [What IS this man? He has no skill, yet he STILL manages to provide me with a challenge! He's FAST, and his skill grows with every passing moment!]
He was forced to cut off his train of thought when Ranma took advantage of his distraction to attack again. Instincts took over and he deflected the rapidly incoming strikes, forced on the defensive temporarily. Recovering his wits, he blocked once more, then parried, landing a blow to Ranma's front shoulder.
The red-haired boy hissed in pain, but otherwise ignored the injury, still clutching his bokken tightly in his fist. He brought himself up and stared at Kuno defiantly.
Kuno looked on in amazement, [That was a solid blow! Any normal man would be writhing on the ground in pain!] "Very well, since you leave me no choice, I shall use my most prized technique." He raised his bokken to a ready position and prepared himself, taking a deep breath. Ranma raised his own bokken in a defensive position.
"I strike! Aaatatatatatatatatatatataaaaa!!!" With that, Kuno rushed forward, his weapon blurring as he repeatedly stabbed at the dodging Ranma, who rapidly shifted back and forth, avoiding most of the strikes with ease and blocking the rest with his bokken. Still, Kuno pressed the attack, continuing to force the pony-tailed boy to avoid his strikes or block them.
Eventually, Ranma's previous injury began to tell and his bokken faltered, leaving his defenses wide open. The kendoist took advantage of this, and the red-haired boy's weapon was knocked from his hand with a well placed blow. Small rips began to appear all over Ranma's body as Kuno's bokken continued to blur, hitting many vital points in rapid succession.
Finally stopping to recover, Kuno stood panting in front of a still-standing Ranma, who's face was screwed up in a grimace. Finally, the red-haired boy dropped to one knee, breathing heavily, "Y- You win."
Kuno stopped panting long enough to reply, "You *haa* put up a good fight, *haa* for a beginner."
Ranma nodded, "Speed, mostly... But I think I'll win next time." Standing up straight, he slowly headed for the school-building, the only sign of any injury a slight hesitation in his step.
Kuno watched him in amazement, [What IS this man?! He should have fainted by now!!"]
The on-looking student body watched as the pony-tailed boy made his way into the school-building, then Kuno began to make his way towards the entrance as well. Seconds later a howl emitted from inside the building,
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!" A group sweat-drop ensued.
------{ Later that afternoon, in class }------
Akane sat in her seat, not really paying attention to the teacher. Instead, she was watching Ranma, who was seated by the window and staring attentively at the teacher, one hand propping his head up. [What's -up- with him, anyway? I'll never admit it, but Ranma is a LOT better than he let everybody else see. That first spar in the dojo is proof of -that-. I mean I can beat Kuno, and Ranma can beat me, so what's the problem? Hmmm...... Maybe-] *THUMP*
Her train of thought cut off, she looked in the direction the noise had come from and sweat-dropped. Apparently, Ranma hadn't been staring at the teacher so attentively after all. His head had slipped off of it's supporting palm onto his desk and he was now snoring quietly.
Unfortunately, the sound had ALSO attracted the teacher's attention and an eraser was thrown toward the peacefully sleeping boy. At the last second, his hand snapped up and intercepted the incoming missile. Satisfied at at least getting a response, the teacher pointed at the hallway door, "Saotome-kun! I will NOT have you sleeping in MY class. Do you understand?"
Silence greeted his outburst.
"Saotome-kun!! Do. You. Understand?!"
A light snore answered his question. He face-faulted.
The teacher finally stood up and pointed at Akane, sounding a little stressed out, "Tendo-kun. Would you mind -terribly- much waking our little sleeping beauty UP?!" Akane nodded and moved over to the still-sleeping boy, who had shifted in his seat and was now curled up in the sunlight, somehow managing to look comfortable in an UNcomfortable position.
[He's like a -cat- that way...] "Hey! Ranma, wake up!" No response.
Irritated, she moved closer and shook him a little, "Wake UP, I said!!" He continued to sleep contentedly.
"RANMA!!!" She angrily gave him a shove and sent him sprawling limply onto the floor. He merely shifted to a more comfortable position and continued to sleep soundly.
"Ranma, if you don't get up this INSTANT, I'll- I'll- You'll get a bucket-full of water in your face!!" [Why do I even bother to warn him?!] Scowling, she left the room to get said buckets of water. Returning with a full bucket, she loomed over him, "Last warning, Ranma!!"
Abruptly, he sat up, looking around wildly, "Wha- Where is it?" The student body looked at each other in confusion as Ranma continued to look around. Finally he seemed to lock on to something and moved toward the window, "That way!"
Anger forgotten, Akane tugged on his arm, "What's where, Ranma?"
He turned to looked at her for a second, a serious expression set on his normally faintly amused face, "Dark energy." That said, he turned and leapt out of the window. He hit the ground and bounced high into the air again, leaping out of the school-yard in one bound. In no time at all, he had reached the roof-tops and faded from sight.
Akane looked after him for a second, then wandered back to her seat, confusion written all over her face, "Dark energy??" [He's fast......]
------{ Eyecatch }------
Genma-panda juggles some pieces of fruit, then snatches them out of the air with his mouth. One of his panda claws spear the last piece before he can toss it, and he shakes it off disgustedly.
------{ End Eyecatch }------
------{ Rooftops, Juuban district }------
Ranma bounced to a stop, taking in deep lungfulls of air. Taking only a few seconds to recover his breath, he urgently looked around for the source of the evil energy he'd sensed. After searching for it for a minute and finding nothing, he hopped off of the building and landed lightly next to a passing pedestrian, " 'Scuse me, you seen anthing strange around here lately?"
Taken aback, the man took a couple steps away, and stared at him for a second. Finally he seemed to come to a descision, "Yeah, I did."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You." He chuckled.
Ranma leveled a stare at the man, "Har. Har. Har. I'm bein' serious here. You seen any suspicious happenings recently?"
The man sobered and took a second to think about it, then shook his head, "Nope. Other than that Youma attack a few minutes ago, nothin'."
"YOUMA attack?! Why didn't you say so in the first place?!"
The man shrugged, "Ah, it's not -that- strange. And the Sailor Senshi already took care of it, anyway."
"Sailor Senshi?? Who're they?"
He looked the red-haired boy over again, "You must be new here in Juuban. The Sailor Senshi are the local Magical Girls. They fight for Love and Justice, and they wear -really- short skirts. Heh, heh. Anyway, they usually take care of the local youma for us."
Ranma nodded as he took in this new information, "I see. Where -was- the last Youma attack?"
The man gazed at him suspiciously, "Why do you want to know?"
Ranma shrugged noncommitantly, "Oh, I just thought maybe they could use a hand, that's all."
The man stared in disbelief for a second, then guffawed loudly, "Wha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Weh heh heh... heh! Oh, that was a good one!"
Ranma adopted an indignant posture, "Hey! I'm bein' serious, here!"
The man looked at him incredulously, "Didn't you hear what I just said?! These are -Magical- Girls!! They use MAGIC to -blast- the youma into itty bitty pieces!"
"Magic?? Nah, I don't need magic, ta blast stuff. See?" He flared his ki to just under the visible spectrum and slammed his fist into the sidewalk. It sank into the concrete up to his elbow, cracking the area around it.
The man turned pale and stumbled backwards a few steps, "Wh- what ARE you?!"
The red-haired boy rolled his eyes, "What are you talking about?? I'm as human as anybody else." [I think.] "I just trained in Martial Arts all my life." [Both of them, pro'ly.] "Now I can use my ki. 'S all there is to it." he shrugged
The man stopped retreating, but didn't relax, "H- h- human??"
"Yeah. Heck, you could pro'ly do that too if you trained for about forty years."
He didn't look convinced, "T-training??"
"Yes! Now which way was the Youma sighted?"
Slowly, the man raised a shaky finger, "That way."
A grin passed over Ranma's face, "Hey, thanks! I owe ya!" He jumped up to the roof of a nearby shop and waved, "See ya!" With that, he turned and leapt over to the next building, disappearing from view.
Ranma hopped over the roof-tops, searching the streets below for signs of battle. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for and leapt down to the sidewalk again, startling another bystander. Ignoring the startled woman, he looked around the scene of the battle.
A patch of pavement smoked and bubbled as it cooled off; apparently, it had been melted recently. The acrid smell of electricity reached his nose and he looked up at a fried transformer, which was still smoking. [Familiar...] A nearby garbage bin had a corner neatly sliced off; closer examination revealed the edge to be glassy smooth. Finally, he noticed the strangest thing of all. A heart-shaped impression in the side of a building, with melting ice crystals surrounding the blast area.
[Elemental attacks? Huh... Why is that phrase familiar??] Disturbed, he sat down in the middle of the alley to meditate. [If a "youma" is a MAGICAL beast-being-thing-whatever, I gotta figure out what kind of energy 'magic' is, so I can sense it better.]
He slowly raised his aura past the visible spectrum, and it coalesced into existence around his body, pale blue once more. For a moment, it peacefully curled and twisted around his body and he reveled in the warm feeling of power that it gave him. After basking in it's energies for a time, he slowly expanded his senses outward.
Reaching the garbage bin first, he used his "ki-senses" to closely examine the clean cut. Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, he stretched his senses out to the sidewalk, where the pavement slowly cooled off. Nothing, unless you count the extreme heat still rising from the blast area. [Strange, I -should- be getting SOMETHING...] He turned his attention to the sparking transformer and was suddenly struck with an over whelming sense of familiarity. [Familiar! But WHY??? I'm not getting anything out of the ordinary... It's just plain old electricity up there.]
Puzzled, he sent his senses to examine it more closely. Suddenly, as if in response to his probing, electricity arced from the transformer, striking Ranma directly on his head. Bright flashes blinded his eyes, a loud humming fillled his ears, and a feeling of ecstacy filled his whole body. [Strange... I never imagined getting struck by lightning would feel this... GOOD!!]
Electricity continued to flow through his body, growing stronger by the second. Eventually the extreme pleasure slowly turned to pain as his body began to overload. Reacting with the crackling electricity, his own aura crackled and writhed, growing in time with the volts continuously being fed into his body. Fear welled up in his mind as his ki grew more and more wild, slipping from his control like the electricity it emulated. [If this keeps up, I'm gonna overload and burn myself out!!! Got... to get it... back under CONTROL!!]
Trying desperately to ignore his growing pain, he concentrated on suppressing his ki again. He wrestled with the elusive energy, and it crackled and writhed like a snake, slipping out of his grasp again and again, much to his growing consternation. [COME -ON-!!! -MOVE-, DAMMIT!!!]
Pain wracked his whole body, lights flashed and faded like a strobelight behind his closed eyelids, the humming in his ears began to fade, and consciousness was rapidly fading, and he was just about to give up. [But... I won't... die.. yet!! Not... this way!!!]
And suddenly, he remembered.
A sense of calm washed over him and he embraced his ki once more. Drawing from his newfound memories, he embraced the electricity, too. He carefully guided it and twined it with his own aura, and the energy began to subside, submitting to his control once more. With growing confidence, he exerted the same will on the electricity that he usually did on his ki, and it submitted also. A small part of his mind wondered why this was happening, but the part that used to be Randy Donahue would have smirked if it could; it knew. No, HE knew. [I'm- I mean, I was- No, Randy was the Elemental Master of Lightning!!!]
He suddenly became aware of the painful sensation again. Only this time, he knew what to do. He opened his eyes, focusing past the strobe light effect into the sky, and released the stored energy. A gigantic lightning bolt lit up the sky as he poured forth his pent up energy, spiraling upward for several seconds until he depleted his reserves and collapsed back onto the scorched concrete of the alleyway, breathing heavily.
A tired feeling crept over him as he lay there, grinning like a madman. [I DID IT!!! I mastered- No, RE-mastered the Lightning Element!!! Now I can go back... to trying to... master... the other... Elements... Whooo... What a trip...] Sleep quickly overcame him.
------{ Several hours later }------
Ranma slowly open his eyes to the feeling of pain. No, that wasn't quite right. It was more of an ache this time. For several minutes, he just lay there, grinning as he remembered his remastery of Lightning. His grin slowly faded as he remembered the other Elements, but beyond that, nothing. It seemed as if only a small part of Randy's memory had broken through.
[Lightning: Mastered it, twice. Lessee, the -other- Elements... Fire: Why is THAT familiar, too? I'm sure I haven't mastered that one yet... Water: Hmmmm... Plays havoc with my Element- I mean, Lightning... Earth: Completely negates Lightning... Air: Isn't affected by much of anything... Spirit: Spirit is... !!!] Realization washed over him and he sat bolt upright, ignoring the wave of pain that accompanied the sudden movement, "Spirit is KI!!! I'm halfway to mastering it already!!!" He lay back down, grinning like a madman again.
For several minutes, he lay there on the scorched concrete, putting his nearly exhausted ki supply to work healing his battered body. Abruptly, a slight shuffling sound alerted him to the presence of something -else- in the alley with him. Limply letting his head fall to the side, he looked over to see...
"C-C-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nearby pedestrians registered a bright flash, then a reddish blur exited the alley at speeds fast enough to kick up a dust trail. The blur shot down the street and soon disappeared from sight.
Back in the alley, a blackened and singed white cat coughed twice and fell over, "What did I ever do to deserve THIS??!"
------{ The Tendo Compound, Evening }------
"Where IS that idiot?!?! School's long over and -I- got stuck picking up AFTER the jerk!!"
"Well, you're not the one who had to give the vice-principal a believable excuse."
You -didn't- have to stick up for him, Nabiki!"
"Sure I did. He's my boyfriend, right?"
"... Still you didn't have go -that- far..." *Thump*
"Did you hear something, Saotome-kun?"
Genma-panda growfed and held up a sign, |I think it came from the front door, Tendo-kun.|
Kasumi calmly rose from her seat, "I'll go see what it is, Father."
"Thank you, Kasumi."
Silence reigned for a few seconds, then, "Your move, Saotome-kun."
More silence.
"Oh dear. Ranma-kun! What happened to you??"
"Ranma?!" Concerned, Nabiki headed for the front door. Upon opening it, she gasped at the sight of Kasumi carrying a limp Ranma toward the house, "Kasumi? What happened?"
"I don't know. I just opened the door, and there he was, lying face-up in the yard."
After being carried inside, Ranma was laid on his futon, and a cold washcloth draped over his head. In the brighter light of the room, many bruises all over his body became apparent. Accompanied by the many cuts from his fight with Kuno, he presented a sorry sight.
The whole family gathered around his futon, watching over him worriedly. Akane was the exception; she stood nervously in the doorway, as if she wasn't sure whether to worry over him like the rest, or leave.
After nearly an hour of tense silence, Ranma finally moaned and opened his eyes, "Mmmmm... Did I...?" ,he whispered hoarsely, then coughed a couple times. Kasumi thoughtfully held a glass of water to his lips, and he drank. After finishing with his drink, he sighed heavily, then winced, "I suppose you all want an explanation for this..."
"You bet we want an explanation, Boy! What could possibly have put you in this state?!"
"Yes, Son! Tell us what you were up to."
"Alright, alright. Calm down. Okay, the short version of today goes like this: Get up, go to school, get in a fight with Kuno, win, go to class, get sent to hall, get in another fight with Kuno, use a bokken, lose, head back to class, sense dark energy, head over to Juuban, find site of youma attack, get struck by lightning, re-master the Element of Lightning, get lost, get beaten up by gang of thugs, get lost some more, wander back here, collapse on lawn. Happy?"
"No!" ,came the mostly unanimous reply.
"Tough. I'm going to get some sleep. I'll explain everything in the morning."
Any and all protests were cut off when Kasumi spoke up, "We'd better let Ranma-kun get his rest for now." The family was ushered out of the room, a multitude of questions floating through their thoughts.
Ranma's last thought before he drifts back to sleep is: [DAMN!!! I FORGOT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT KIND OF ENERGY MAGIC IS!!!]
------{ Eyecatch }------
Ranma juggles several small balls, a small black pig, and a white-and-lavender cat, then fries a descending Genma-panda with a bolt of lightning.
------{End Episode 03 }------
Author's Notes: Alrighty, people. Go ahead and ask any questions you might have concerning this new development, and I'll try to get them answered in the next chapter. Either ask when you review, or e-mail me at the address listed below. Keep in mind that anyone who e-mails me may or may not have their questions answered before the next chapter is posted. However, there is a good probability that they will. :D You'll at least get a reply, at any rate.
My Aura Guide:
Happiness - Yellow
Sadness - Blue
Anger - Red
Love - Orange
Envy - Green
Passion - Purple
Fear - ???
Pain - Black
None - White
(Any color turns darker when negative or when mixed with others, and lighter when positive or more pure.) If you have a color for fear, I'm open to suggestions.
Anyways, R 'n R! Constructive Criticism will be welcome, Flames will be Utterly Useless. For those with questions, my e-mail is: ReD2in@hotmail.com
Hello??
Anyone out there??
Anybody??
*Sigh*
Disclaimer: WHAT???? WHADDA YA -MEAN- IT'S NOT MINE???
Warnings: Currently unedited, manga language
Legend:
"Quotes"
'Sub-quotes'
EMPHASIS
-Emphasis-
[Thoughts]
*Sounds*
|Panda signs|
------------{ Chaos 1/2 }------------
------{ Episode 03: It's No Place For Cat-napping, Either }------
After running down a few hallways, Ranma finally spotted an open window, "Oh, look! A shortcut!" With that he spun and jumped backwards out the window, with Kuno following shortly there-after.
The panting student body finally caught up and looked out the window, "Hey! Isn't this the third floor?"
"Good thing there's a pool down there."
Outside, Ranma finally noticed the swimming pool, and a wide grin spread across his face, "Hey, look! A training opportunity!! Whooo!!!"
SMACK / SMACK
Up above, half of the student body winced. The other half stared in disbelief.
"Ooooo... That HAD to hurt!"
"Did he just do... a BELLYFLOP?!?!"
Down below, two bodies floated to the surface of the pool. Both of them lay face-down and unmoving. Finally Ranma's body twitched and he slowly swam over to the edge of the pool. He climbed out, then calmly shook himself off and looked himself over. The entire front side of his arms and his face were red, as were his feet, which were still bare. After finishing his examination, he voiced his judgement, "Ow." Mass face-fault ensued.
Kuno finally twitched into consciousness and he thrashed upright, coughing water. Ranma walked over to the edge of the pool and knelt, holding out a helping hand to the sputtering kendoist. Surprised, Kuno grudgingly allowed himself to be helped out of the pool. After wringing his robes dry, he turned to the red-haired boy and, to many's surprise, bowed formally, "Tatewaki Kuno thanks you, warrior, for your assistance."
To more surprise, Ranma bowed in return, "This humble warrior accepts your thanks, User of Sword. This warrior asks that we continue our battle where we left off?"
Kuno nodded and shook his robes out once more, "Indeed we shall."
"Then this one asks for a weapon of similar dimensions."
Kuno looked surprised as drew another bokken from out of his robes, "Then you also know the way of the sword."
Ranma shook his head, "No, but I'm gonna to try and learn."
Kuno shook his own head in an amused fashion, "Thou art truly a fool... Ranma Saotome." Even so, he tossed the weapon to the red-haired boy, who caught the spinning bokken deftly.
Shifting his grip, he held the weapon one-handed, then raised the tip up and pointed it at Kuno, leaving only his sword shoulder facing the kendoist. A brief pale blue aura flared up around him for a moment, then dissipated as he infused his weapon with his ki, "Shall we begin?" The pony-tailed boy's ki-senses "saw" his opponent's aura flare up, but not into the visible spectrum. If it had, it would have been a dirty green, indicating depression mixed with... happiness?!?!, and pain. [Strange... What HAPPENED to this guy?? Damn, he's messed up.]
Kuno raised his own bokken in readiness, "Ready?" After receiving a nod, he continued, "Hajme!"
At the signal, Kuno moved forward with a surprising amount of speed, moving to knock Ranma's bokken from his hands in the first move. His own bokken connected with Ranma's, but to his surprise, it only moved a little. Recovering quickly, he moved back to prepare another strike, but Ranma moved forward as well, swinging his weapon swiftly but clumsily, and Kuno was forced to parry.
Countering Ranma's blow with his own, he moved into his opponent's defenses with an upward slash, coming up under Ranma's guard and slashing him in the stomach, also ripping his shirt. Ranma's only response was a grunt as the air was forcefully expelled from his lungs. Otherwise ignoring the blow, the red-haired boy switched his grip on his weapon while still bent over the crouching kendoist and stabbed downward at his back.
Ducking to the side to avoid the uncoventional tactic, Kuno slashed to the side as he went, but missed as Ranma over-balanced and rolled forward to regain his equilibrium. Still holding his weapon in a reverse grip, he blocked a strike from behind and ducked down and back, under the kendoist's swing.
Righting his grip, he swung his bokken up into Kuno's face, then rolled backward between his opponent's legs. Unfortunately, his weapon caught on the kendoist's robes and his roll turned into a sprawl that was anything BUT graceful. Rolling to the side as Kuno turned and stabbed down at him, he regained his feet and spat out a mouthful of dirt, "Well, THAT was embarrassing." He raised his bokken and pointed it at Kuno again, "Shall we?"
During this small repreive, Kuno took a moment to evaluate his opponent, [He is truly unskilled. Most definitely has no experience with the sword, but still... he's quite fast and has a good grip on his weapon, even one-handed.] Responding to Ranma's invitation, he tightened his grip and raised his own bokken, "On guarde."
Ranma took the initiative this time, jabbing forward with his bokken. Kuno easily blocked and parried, twisting his weapon around his opponent's. Barely moving his body out of the way, Ranma blocked a double-strike through sheer speed and retaliated once more.
His horizontal slash was deflected and parried with an upward swing by Kuno, who followed up with a quick reversal, scoring another hit on his part. Ignoring the hit again, Ranma swung sideways at the crouching kendoist, who ducked even further to avoid it. Straightening, he frowned as a few strands of hair floated down in front of his face, indicating that he hadn't ducked quite far enough. [What IS this man? He has no skill, yet he STILL manages to provide me with a challenge! He's FAST, and his skill grows with every passing moment!]
He was forced to cut off his train of thought when Ranma took advantage of his distraction to attack again. Instincts took over and he deflected the rapidly incoming strikes, forced on the defensive temporarily. Recovering his wits, he blocked once more, then parried, landing a blow to Ranma's front shoulder.
The red-haired boy hissed in pain, but otherwise ignored the injury, still clutching his bokken tightly in his fist. He brought himself up and stared at Kuno defiantly.
Kuno looked on in amazement, [That was a solid blow! Any normal man would be writhing on the ground in pain!] "Very well, since you leave me no choice, I shall use my most prized technique." He raised his bokken to a ready position and prepared himself, taking a deep breath. Ranma raised his own bokken in a defensive position.
"I strike! Aaatatatatatatatatatatataaaaa!!!" With that, Kuno rushed forward, his weapon blurring as he repeatedly stabbed at the dodging Ranma, who rapidly shifted back and forth, avoiding most of the strikes with ease and blocking the rest with his bokken. Still, Kuno pressed the attack, continuing to force the pony-tailed boy to avoid his strikes or block them.
Eventually, Ranma's previous injury began to tell and his bokken faltered, leaving his defenses wide open. The kendoist took advantage of this, and the red-haired boy's weapon was knocked from his hand with a well placed blow. Small rips began to appear all over Ranma's body as Kuno's bokken continued to blur, hitting many vital points in rapid succession.
Finally stopping to recover, Kuno stood panting in front of a still-standing Ranma, who's face was screwed up in a grimace. Finally, the red-haired boy dropped to one knee, breathing heavily, "Y- You win."
Kuno stopped panting long enough to reply, "You *haa* put up a good fight, *haa* for a beginner."
Ranma nodded, "Speed, mostly... But I think I'll win next time." Standing up straight, he slowly headed for the school-building, the only sign of any injury a slight hesitation in his step.
Kuno watched him in amazement, [What IS this man?! He should have fainted by now!!"]
The on-looking student body watched as the pony-tailed boy made his way into the school-building, then Kuno began to make his way towards the entrance as well. Seconds later a howl emitted from inside the building,
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!" A group sweat-drop ensued.
------{ Later that afternoon, in class }------
Akane sat in her seat, not really paying attention to the teacher. Instead, she was watching Ranma, who was seated by the window and staring attentively at the teacher, one hand propping his head up. [What's -up- with him, anyway? I'll never admit it, but Ranma is a LOT better than he let everybody else see. That first spar in the dojo is proof of -that-. I mean I can beat Kuno, and Ranma can beat me, so what's the problem? Hmmm...... Maybe-] *THUMP*
Her train of thought cut off, she looked in the direction the noise had come from and sweat-dropped. Apparently, Ranma hadn't been staring at the teacher so attentively after all. His head had slipped off of it's supporting palm onto his desk and he was now snoring quietly.
Unfortunately, the sound had ALSO attracted the teacher's attention and an eraser was thrown toward the peacefully sleeping boy. At the last second, his hand snapped up and intercepted the incoming missile. Satisfied at at least getting a response, the teacher pointed at the hallway door, "Saotome-kun! I will NOT have you sleeping in MY class. Do you understand?"
Silence greeted his outburst.
"Saotome-kun!! Do. You. Understand?!"
A light snore answered his question. He face-faulted.
The teacher finally stood up and pointed at Akane, sounding a little stressed out, "Tendo-kun. Would you mind -terribly- much waking our little sleeping beauty UP?!" Akane nodded and moved over to the still-sleeping boy, who had shifted in his seat and was now curled up in the sunlight, somehow managing to look comfortable in an UNcomfortable position.
[He's like a -cat- that way...] "Hey! Ranma, wake up!" No response.
Irritated, she moved closer and shook him a little, "Wake UP, I said!!" He continued to sleep contentedly.
"RANMA!!!" She angrily gave him a shove and sent him sprawling limply onto the floor. He merely shifted to a more comfortable position and continued to sleep soundly.
"Ranma, if you don't get up this INSTANT, I'll- I'll- You'll get a bucket-full of water in your face!!" [Why do I even bother to warn him?!] Scowling, she left the room to get said buckets of water. Returning with a full bucket, she loomed over him, "Last warning, Ranma!!"
Abruptly, he sat up, looking around wildly, "Wha- Where is it?" The student body looked at each other in confusion as Ranma continued to look around. Finally he seemed to lock on to something and moved toward the window, "That way!"
Anger forgotten, Akane tugged on his arm, "What's where, Ranma?"
He turned to looked at her for a second, a serious expression set on his normally faintly amused face, "Dark energy." That said, he turned and leapt out of the window. He hit the ground and bounced high into the air again, leaping out of the school-yard in one bound. In no time at all, he had reached the roof-tops and faded from sight.
Akane looked after him for a second, then wandered back to her seat, confusion written all over her face, "Dark energy??" [He's fast......]
------{ Eyecatch }------
Genma-panda juggles some pieces of fruit, then snatches them out of the air with his mouth. One of his panda claws spear the last piece before he can toss it, and he shakes it off disgustedly.
------{ End Eyecatch }------
------{ Rooftops, Juuban district }------
Ranma bounced to a stop, taking in deep lungfulls of air. Taking only a few seconds to recover his breath, he urgently looked around for the source of the evil energy he'd sensed. After searching for it for a minute and finding nothing, he hopped off of the building and landed lightly next to a passing pedestrian, " 'Scuse me, you seen anthing strange around here lately?"
Taken aback, the man took a couple steps away, and stared at him for a second. Finally he seemed to come to a descision, "Yeah, I did."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You." He chuckled.
Ranma leveled a stare at the man, "Har. Har. Har. I'm bein' serious here. You seen any suspicious happenings recently?"
The man sobered and took a second to think about it, then shook his head, "Nope. Other than that Youma attack a few minutes ago, nothin'."
"YOUMA attack?! Why didn't you say so in the first place?!"
The man shrugged, "Ah, it's not -that- strange. And the Sailor Senshi already took care of it, anyway."
"Sailor Senshi?? Who're they?"
He looked the red-haired boy over again, "You must be new here in Juuban. The Sailor Senshi are the local Magical Girls. They fight for Love and Justice, and they wear -really- short skirts. Heh, heh. Anyway, they usually take care of the local youma for us."
Ranma nodded as he took in this new information, "I see. Where -was- the last Youma attack?"
The man gazed at him suspiciously, "Why do you want to know?"
Ranma shrugged noncommitantly, "Oh, I just thought maybe they could use a hand, that's all."
The man stared in disbelief for a second, then guffawed loudly, "Wha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! Weh heh heh... heh! Oh, that was a good one!"
Ranma adopted an indignant posture, "Hey! I'm bein' serious, here!"
The man looked at him incredulously, "Didn't you hear what I just said?! These are -Magical- Girls!! They use MAGIC to -blast- the youma into itty bitty pieces!"
"Magic?? Nah, I don't need magic, ta blast stuff. See?" He flared his ki to just under the visible spectrum and slammed his fist into the sidewalk. It sank into the concrete up to his elbow, cracking the area around it.
The man turned pale and stumbled backwards a few steps, "Wh- what ARE you?!"
The red-haired boy rolled his eyes, "What are you talking about?? I'm as human as anybody else." [I think.] "I just trained in Martial Arts all my life." [Both of them, pro'ly.] "Now I can use my ki. 'S all there is to it." he shrugged
The man stopped retreating, but didn't relax, "H- h- human??"
"Yeah. Heck, you could pro'ly do that too if you trained for about forty years."
He didn't look convinced, "T-training??"
"Yes! Now which way was the Youma sighted?"
Slowly, the man raised a shaky finger, "That way."
A grin passed over Ranma's face, "Hey, thanks! I owe ya!" He jumped up to the roof of a nearby shop and waved, "See ya!" With that, he turned and leapt over to the next building, disappearing from view.
Ranma hopped over the roof-tops, searching the streets below for signs of battle. Finally, he spotted what he was looking for and leapt down to the sidewalk again, startling another bystander. Ignoring the startled woman, he looked around the scene of the battle.
A patch of pavement smoked and bubbled as it cooled off; apparently, it had been melted recently. The acrid smell of electricity reached his nose and he looked up at a fried transformer, which was still smoking. [Familiar...] A nearby garbage bin had a corner neatly sliced off; closer examination revealed the edge to be glassy smooth. Finally, he noticed the strangest thing of all. A heart-shaped impression in the side of a building, with melting ice crystals surrounding the blast area.
[Elemental attacks? Huh... Why is that phrase familiar??] Disturbed, he sat down in the middle of the alley to meditate. [If a "youma" is a MAGICAL beast-being-thing-whatever, I gotta figure out what kind of energy 'magic' is, so I can sense it better.]
He slowly raised his aura past the visible spectrum, and it coalesced into existence around his body, pale blue once more. For a moment, it peacefully curled and twisted around his body and he reveled in the warm feeling of power that it gave him. After basking in it's energies for a time, he slowly expanded his senses outward.
Reaching the garbage bin first, he used his "ki-senses" to closely examine the clean cut. Sensing nothing out of the ordinary, he stretched his senses out to the sidewalk, where the pavement slowly cooled off. Nothing, unless you count the extreme heat still rising from the blast area. [Strange, I -should- be getting SOMETHING...] He turned his attention to the sparking transformer and was suddenly struck with an over whelming sense of familiarity. [Familiar! But WHY??? I'm not getting anything out of the ordinary... It's just plain old electricity up there.]
Puzzled, he sent his senses to examine it more closely. Suddenly, as if in response to his probing, electricity arced from the transformer, striking Ranma directly on his head. Bright flashes blinded his eyes, a loud humming fillled his ears, and a feeling of ecstacy filled his whole body. [Strange... I never imagined getting struck by lightning would feel this... GOOD!!]
Electricity continued to flow through his body, growing stronger by the second. Eventually the extreme pleasure slowly turned to pain as his body began to overload. Reacting with the crackling electricity, his own aura crackled and writhed, growing in time with the volts continuously being fed into his body. Fear welled up in his mind as his ki grew more and more wild, slipping from his control like the electricity it emulated. [If this keeps up, I'm gonna overload and burn myself out!!! Got... to get it... back under CONTROL!!]
Trying desperately to ignore his growing pain, he concentrated on suppressing his ki again. He wrestled with the elusive energy, and it crackled and writhed like a snake, slipping out of his grasp again and again, much to his growing consternation. [COME -ON-!!! -MOVE-, DAMMIT!!!]
Pain wracked his whole body, lights flashed and faded like a strobelight behind his closed eyelids, the humming in his ears began to fade, and consciousness was rapidly fading, and he was just about to give up. [But... I won't... die.. yet!! Not... this way!!!]
And suddenly, he remembered.
A sense of calm washed over him and he embraced his ki once more. Drawing from his newfound memories, he embraced the electricity, too. He carefully guided it and twined it with his own aura, and the energy began to subside, submitting to his control once more. With growing confidence, he exerted the same will on the electricity that he usually did on his ki, and it submitted also. A small part of his mind wondered why this was happening, but the part that used to be Randy Donahue would have smirked if it could; it knew. No, HE knew. [I'm- I mean, I was- No, Randy was the Elemental Master of Lightning!!!]
He suddenly became aware of the painful sensation again. Only this time, he knew what to do. He opened his eyes, focusing past the strobe light effect into the sky, and released the stored energy. A gigantic lightning bolt lit up the sky as he poured forth his pent up energy, spiraling upward for several seconds until he depleted his reserves and collapsed back onto the scorched concrete of the alleyway, breathing heavily.
A tired feeling crept over him as he lay there, grinning like a madman. [I DID IT!!! I mastered- No, RE-mastered the Lightning Element!!! Now I can go back... to trying to... master... the other... Elements... Whooo... What a trip...] Sleep quickly overcame him.
------{ Several hours later }------
Ranma slowly open his eyes to the feeling of pain. No, that wasn't quite right. It was more of an ache this time. For several minutes, he just lay there, grinning as he remembered his remastery of Lightning. His grin slowly faded as he remembered the other Elements, but beyond that, nothing. It seemed as if only a small part of Randy's memory had broken through.
[Lightning: Mastered it, twice. Lessee, the -other- Elements... Fire: Why is THAT familiar, too? I'm sure I haven't mastered that one yet... Water: Hmmmm... Plays havoc with my Element- I mean, Lightning... Earth: Completely negates Lightning... Air: Isn't affected by much of anything... Spirit: Spirit is... !!!] Realization washed over him and he sat bolt upright, ignoring the wave of pain that accompanied the sudden movement, "Spirit is KI!!! I'm halfway to mastering it already!!!" He lay back down, grinning like a madman again.
For several minutes, he lay there on the scorched concrete, putting his nearly exhausted ki supply to work healing his battered body. Abruptly, a slight shuffling sound alerted him to the presence of something -else- in the alley with him. Limply letting his head fall to the side, he looked over to see...
"C-C-CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Nearby pedestrians registered a bright flash, then a reddish blur exited the alley at speeds fast enough to kick up a dust trail. The blur shot down the street and soon disappeared from sight.
Back in the alley, a blackened and singed white cat coughed twice and fell over, "What did I ever do to deserve THIS??!"
------{ The Tendo Compound, Evening }------
"Where IS that idiot?!?! School's long over and -I- got stuck picking up AFTER the jerk!!"
"Well, you're not the one who had to give the vice-principal a believable excuse."
You -didn't- have to stick up for him, Nabiki!"
"Sure I did. He's my boyfriend, right?"
"... Still you didn't have go -that- far..." *Thump*
"Did you hear something, Saotome-kun?"
Genma-panda growfed and held up a sign, |I think it came from the front door, Tendo-kun.|
Kasumi calmly rose from her seat, "I'll go see what it is, Father."
"Thank you, Kasumi."
Silence reigned for a few seconds, then, "Your move, Saotome-kun."
More silence.
"Oh dear. Ranma-kun! What happened to you??"
"Ranma?!" Concerned, Nabiki headed for the front door. Upon opening it, she gasped at the sight of Kasumi carrying a limp Ranma toward the house, "Kasumi? What happened?"
"I don't know. I just opened the door, and there he was, lying face-up in the yard."
After being carried inside, Ranma was laid on his futon, and a cold washcloth draped over his head. In the brighter light of the room, many bruises all over his body became apparent. Accompanied by the many cuts from his fight with Kuno, he presented a sorry sight.
The whole family gathered around his futon, watching over him worriedly. Akane was the exception; she stood nervously in the doorway, as if she wasn't sure whether to worry over him like the rest, or leave.
After nearly an hour of tense silence, Ranma finally moaned and opened his eyes, "Mmmmm... Did I...?" ,he whispered hoarsely, then coughed a couple times. Kasumi thoughtfully held a glass of water to his lips, and he drank. After finishing with his drink, he sighed heavily, then winced, "I suppose you all want an explanation for this..."
"You bet we want an explanation, Boy! What could possibly have put you in this state?!"
"Yes, Son! Tell us what you were up to."
"Alright, alright. Calm down. Okay, the short version of today goes like this: Get up, go to school, get in a fight with Kuno, win, go to class, get sent to hall, get in another fight with Kuno, use a bokken, lose, head back to class, sense dark energy, head over to Juuban, find site of youma attack, get struck by lightning, re-master the Element of Lightning, get lost, get beaten up by gang of thugs, get lost some more, wander back here, collapse on lawn. Happy?"
"No!" ,came the mostly unanimous reply.
"Tough. I'm going to get some sleep. I'll explain everything in the morning."
Any and all protests were cut off when Kasumi spoke up, "We'd better let Ranma-kun get his rest for now." The family was ushered out of the room, a multitude of questions floating through their thoughts.
Ranma's last thought before he drifts back to sleep is: [DAMN!!! I FORGOT TO FIGURE OUT WHAT KIND OF ENERGY MAGIC IS!!!]
------{ Eyecatch }------
Ranma juggles several small balls, a small black pig, and a white-and-lavender cat, then fries a descending Genma-panda with a bolt of lightning.
------{End Episode 03 }------
Author's Notes: Alrighty, people. Go ahead and ask any questions you might have concerning this new development, and I'll try to get them answered in the next chapter. Either ask when you review, or e-mail me at the address listed below. Keep in mind that anyone who e-mails me may or may not have their questions answered before the next chapter is posted. However, there is a good probability that they will. :D You'll at least get a reply, at any rate.
My Aura Guide:
Happiness - Yellow
Sadness - Blue
Anger - Red
Love - Orange
Envy - Green
Passion - Purple
Fear - ???
Pain - Black
None - White
(Any color turns darker when negative or when mixed with others, and lighter when positive or more pure.) If you have a color for fear, I'm open to suggestions.
Anyways, R 'n R! Constructive Criticism will be welcome, Flames will be Utterly Useless. For those with questions, my e-mail is: ReD2in@hotmail.com
Hello??
Anyone out there??
Anybody??
*Sigh*