Disclaimer:

Ranma and associated locations, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I have not intention of pursuing legal rights to them. This work is purely for the benefit of its readers, and my own authorhood.


The Kami Blade

Chapter 2: Who's Gonna Win

Ranma was caught in a whirlwind that projects him into the body of his predecessors best friend…Tara.

As Ranma realized what had happened he started banging his head against the wall.

"Oh crap! How could I be so stupid! I should have known…considering my horrible luck already."

In the other room, Ronan was reading a scroll describing a particularly difficult technique for concentrating one's thoughts with a power capable of shielding the mind from psychokinetic blows.

"Right on! That way, not even a god will be able to use any mind boggling tactics against me..."

It was then that he heard some strange banging noise coming from the room next to his.

"Hey, where is that weird banging coming from? Tara?"

Ronan slowly opened the door to his friend's room to see her next to the wall and banging her head rather hard against it.

"Hey Tara? What's wrong?"

"Ohh, shit!" Thought Ranma. "I almost forgot about him" And he abruptly stopped banging his head against the wall.

"Umm, hi?" Ranma said a little awkwardly.

"Why were you banging your head against the wall?" Asked Ronan.

"Oh, that…heh, heh." Said Ranma, while scratching the back of his head.

'Come on man get your act together!'

"That was uh, nothing! Forget about it! Yeah…"

"Well then, are you bored or something? It's only seven in the morning, and I was reading some stuff in the other room."

'Uh-oh. Is he in the same house as me. All alone…'

"Well, if you feel like doing something, let me know, I'll be in the other room." Said Ronan as he left the room.

"Okay… now what am I gonna do? At least I'm already dressed. She must have been about to go out as I arrived. Cool, she's not the "lady" type, I won't have to worry about make-up or fancy dresses and such. That's one worry off my mind."

So Ranma went out of the room to find himself in a rather large hall-like area, "Like the halls in the Tendo house." Thought Ranma. He proceeded to the kitchen/living room. (They were pretty much separated only by half walls without doors leaving the way open between the two.) As he (or she for Tara) entered the room, he saw Ronan reading the scroll on the couch, so he went towards him and sat down intent on clearing up a few matters.

"Hey there. Can I talk for a sec'?"

"Sure Tara, what do you want?"

"Well, uh, is there anyone else in this house?" asked Ranma.

"Huh?" said Ronan. "What do you mean?"

"Well, is there anyone else here except for you and me?"

"Oh. Well, Wren and Jade went out to the market to get some stuff for us all. We were running out of food for dinner mostly."

"Sounds good. Thanks!"

"No problem."

"What's that you're reading?" asked Ranma.

"What, this?" said Ronan, showing the scroll.

"Yeah. What's it say?"

"It's just a description of how to put up a mental block so that nothing can get into my head if you know what I mean."

A memory flooded into Ranma's head at that moment showing Ronan with a huge blade trying to get at her, with two others that looked like they would be Wren and Jade holding him back; All the while, Tara telling Ronan to get a hold of himself.

"Oh, man. That's pretty bad."

"What?"

"I was just thinking of that time when you were trying to attack us all."

"Yeah, well, now that you've said it, I guess you can see why I'm trying to learn this technique."

"Can I have a look at it?" asked Ranma.

"Sure, I'll go get my stuff." said Ronan

"Stuff, where are you going?"

"Today's the competition remember? I'm facing off against the top five martial artists in Japan."

"Oh that's cool." Said Ranma who was starting to read the scroll, amazed at its complexity.

"When you're done checking it out, you could get your jacket, if you want to come watch."

"O.K." said Ranma.

'Now let's see, it says to concentrate all your chi in your mind, not anywhere else, so that your aura is indistinguishable. Not too hard. Then, you think of what you want to do. In the case of blocking mental intrusions, it is wise to gather as much chi as possible, as the strength of the shield relies directly on the amount of spiritual energy gathered. Hey, this is kinda like when Akane summons her mallet. I could do this. Now, if I want to do other stuff, let's see, gather your thoughts and shape them with your chi, in this way, you can create your own weapons or other tools that you might want to use.

"I'm ready, if you want to come, I'm leaving now."

"Ok Ronan, let's go." Said Ranma. Then, "Wait, shouldn't we wait for Wren?"

"That's ok, he has some other stuff to do."

So the two left the hose, Ronan locking the door, and they started off in the direction of the large temple-like structure not too far away. As they set off, Ranma jumped onto the fence like he usually did, and started walking.

"Tara? What are you doing?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just to practice my balance, that way I'll be ready for anything."

"Strange, I never would have expected that of you…Anyways, let's just hurry up and get there."

So they walked in silence to the center and as they arrived, Ranma hopped down from the fence to go into the building. As they entered, a booming voice announced, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the finals of the 50th annual martial arts competition of Japan. Here we have the five finalists, now who will come out victorious, it is a mystery, all our contestants are in perfect shape, and have been training for a long time to get to this level. May the best man win!

"Man, this is crazy." Said Ranma.

"Yes, it is always extremely chaotic in here during the finals, but you've seen nothing yet! Wait 'till the end, and see what happens to the winner. If I win, I'm going to run away as fast as possible to avoid any unwanted attention."

"Ha, ha, yeah."

"Well, I must go into the preparation room. Try to find yourself a good seat."

"See ya later Ronan."

As Ronan departed, Ranma went to find a seat where he could get a pretty good view of the competition.

'Well, let's see just how good this guy is.'

"And now for our first contestants, Shogun Kuno, and Garesu Feruton."

"Interesting, let's see how long they can endure."

The two men bowed to each other and then adopted their individual battle stance. This was an armed competition so each took out their blades and waited for the other to make the first move. After a few moments, Gareth struck Kuno in the side but was parried by a left-sided block. Now the battle was started. Ranma watched the two fight for a long while, and neither men were giving ground so he decided to have a little fun.

'Let's see if that scroll really works.'

So Ranma concentrated and decided to see if he could drop a little banner from the ceiling saying "Get on with it" He gathered his force and sent it out. Moments later, a large cloth fell from the ceiling and covered Kuno. Gareth was not a dishonourable man so he waited for Kuno to break free of the sheet, all the while scanning the area for any more potential disturbances.

'Did it work?' thought Ranma

But a little higher over the competitiors, a man had carelessly forgotten to attach a banner properly and so it fell onto the fighters and caused an uproar, as Kuno was waving around trying to get rid of the thing, and Gareth just stood there. It certainly looked a lot different from the audience's point of view.

"How many times must I tell you, make sure your stupid jobs are done properly, if it weren't for your clumsiness, the battle would be over by now."

"But boss, look on the good side, the crowd is enjoying themselves."

"Baka! Forget it. Just watch out next time."

Meanwhile, Kuno had finally extirpated himself from the hindrance, and the battle resumed. It was finished quickly because Kuno was determined to get himself out of an embarrassing situation.

Later on, the tournament was drawing to a close and the two fighters left were Ronan and Kuno. The winner would get a large sum of prize winnings and the title of national champion for a year. This battle meant a lot. So, as Ronan entered the side opposite Kuno, the crowd got very silent. These two needed their concentration for the duration of the fight. The announcer stood up and declared the fight started.

"To you general, take the first move."

"No. You may go first, young one."

So Ronan launched himself at Kuno with a downward slash, parried by Kuno's blade, but before his opponent could get a hit in, he jumped away.

"Indeed, I must not underestimate your skill, you seem to have some after all."

"That is all?.

And with that, Kuno attacked. A spike to the abdomen, and Ronan swirled, letting his blade rotate with him, hitting Kuno in the chest with the flat of his blade. "Oumph" exclaimed Kuno. Then the general turned around and hit Ronan's sword arm, making him drop it, but Ronan was swift and he dodged the blow, yet without being able to perform a counter-strike for Kuno was already back at it hacking away with his blade with strength enough to send a man flying. Fortunately, Ronan had practiced against this sort of thing and he knew to position himself just so, that the blade impacted upon his own with only an eighth of its original force. Meanwhile, Kuno was wondering why, Ronan seemed to parry al his strikes without so much as a grunt of exertion. All this time, Ranma watched attentively, seeking flaws in both contestants' defence, but he spotted little that he would have been able to exploit in terms of weaknesses. Indeed these two were skilled fighters. Now, Kuno, seeing that his current offensive was ineffective, changed his tactics. He lured Ronan into a false dodge and swatted at his blade hard to knock it to the ground, he almost succeeded, but Ronan tripped and was therefore able to avoid the blow. This having caught Kuno completely unawares, Ronan used his blade to hit hard against the back of Kuno's neck causing him to fall down, face-first onto the ground. As Kuno tried to get up, Ronan held his blade to his throat, saying, "Do you yield?" and as an answer, Kuno used his legs to sweep Ronan off his feet, and went to retrieve his blade. Ranma, seeing this said:

"Aww man, you left yourself wide open. That's what happens when we think it's over too fast."

Ronan quickly got up and faced his opponent. "That was a good trick you played on me, now let's see you handle this." Ronan slashed the air three times. The force of the air hit Kuno squarely in the stomach and sent him flying against the wall. Then Ronan jumped and brought his blade down in a way that Kuno could only roll away from the blow, and away from his weapon. Seeing this, Kuno took his blade and quickly took his blade and threw it with all his might at Ronan, who, not expecting such swift retribution, dodged in mid-air and fell to the ground with a resounding THUD. Kuno got up and retrieved his blade thinking it was over but, Ronan got up and flipped his way to his opponent's sword and, grabbing it, threw both it and his own at Kuno's shoulders . The blades caught onto his garb and pulled him through the air to hit hard the side of the ring and plant themselves in to the wall. In this manner, Kuno was pinned to the wall, out of the ring, and Ronan had won.

"I have won." Said Ronan and then he collapsed.

"We have a winner! Congratulations, Ronan, you have won the 50th annual martial arts competition. You will be awarded with your prize that you may come and claim when you are most fit to do so. Heh Heh."

A bunch of people got ready to storm the winner when suddenly, a figure landed next to him, and said:

"I now fulfill his wish."

With that, the figure took a hold of Ronan and Jumped out the stadium through the roof.