Ranma ducked the heel kick and then jumped back out of range of a straight punch. He immediately reversed his momentum and leapt towards his opponent, knowing that they would not be expecting it given Ranma's shorter reach and smaller size. The man before him was a giant, nearly as large as both Honda and Ulaf put together, yet he had neither of their talent. He was all power and too little skill to ever be more than an annoyance to Ranma.

Using a gentle push against the larger man's outstretched arm, Ranma lashed out with his left foot, slamming it directly into the other's solar plexis. The other man lifted off the ground and back a few inches from the force of the kick, and then hunched over, grasping his ribs and trying to scream in pain while also gasping for breath.

Ranma calmly waited to see if his opponent would continue, and was not surprised when the dark skinned man stood up right and bellowed. Ranma made a point of looking as bored as he could, knowing long before he stepped into the ring that he had won this match. His opponent had only a rudimentary style, most likely from the underground world of shootfighting. He had neither the talent nor the power to be a threat and he could not see the man being asked to join the exclusive ranks of Streetfighters. He had a lot of raw strength, but had no knowledge except what little he'd seen others do that he was able to badly emulate. No flexibility and very low agility, his muscular frame was more of a hindrance in a fight than a help. Sure he looked powerful, and could probably do a lot of the strong man tests well, but in a fight, too much muscle was often more of a hindrance than an aid.

Deciding that he'd wasted enough time, Ranma chose his moment and waited for the inevitable charge. Men such as his opponent, who were used to fighting weaker opponents and bullying others through the intimidation of their sheer size always made the same mistake when facing a smaller, more skilled adversary who could hit as well if not better than they. They allowed the fear that was at the core of their selfs, the fear that was the true nature of all bullies, to push them into some stupid rash act, usually a near suicidal charge.

Unfortunately for this man, Ranma was far beyond the skill of anyone he had ever seen and instead of waiting for him to get within reach, leapt at the larger man, startling him into halting his charge. Using all of his skill to allow his more agile body to turn in the air, Ranma grabbed the man by both shoulders as he passed, upside down and over his head, a mild leap for Ranma, but an impossibility for most of those watching. He used the rotational forces added to his own strength and flipped the man into the air and out of the air. He made certain to use only a fraction of his true strength and watch impassively as the other man flew out of the ring to land in the stands, knocked out from the landing.

Ranma waited patiently until he was declared the winner before bowing to his opponent, the ref, and then the judges. He gave a cocky grin to the crowd, failing as always to note the effect this had on the female audience. A group of teenage girls were already making their way towards him, but he effortlessly leapt over them to land near Akane, who had snuck out to watch his match. Her next match was coming up in a few minutes in one of the other areas of the stadium complex, and they only had time for a short congratulatory kiss before she had to race off. Ranma would have followed, but his next match was at the same time as hers. He had a bye in the first round and was one of the last of the second round matches, but his was the first of the third round matches so he had no time to rest. Looking at the board, he noted his position and quickly made his way, wondering idly who among the crowd was Chibi Mamoru, his next opponent.

Akane winced as her opponent landed a solid blow to her short ribs. Her opponent was quick, accurate, and packed a mean punch. However she wasn't anywhere near as good as Ranma, nor was she even a match for herself. Akane had let the girl land some punches in order to guage her strength, as Ranma had taught her, and she now knew that though the girl could hit much harder than she expected, and had a more solid foundation than her wild stance and sloppy footwork showed, she was neither as skilled nor as powerful as she herself was.

Deciding that she had let the other girl lead long enough, Akane quickly grabbed the girl's incoming fist, smirking more to herself then her opponent at the telegraphed move. The girl might as well as told her what she was going to do, she thought to herself, remember how long it had taken her to learn to avoid falling into any discernible pattern. This girl was good, and in a straight karate point match, might have been a challenge for Akane, but this was a freestyle tournament, and Akane was the heir to the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial arts, and had learned her lessons well.

Using the girl's arm as a lever, she turned in towards her in a classic Judo throw, but once the girl was airborne, snapped back and twisted the other way, reversing the girl's momemtum and nearly dislocating her arm before slamming her face first into the mat. The girl had not been prepared for such a move and her nose gave a frightening crunch upon contact with the thin rubber mats. The blood flowed smoothly down her nose and she twitched slightly, but made no move to rise.

Akane, as she had learned from many sparring sessions with her father, and Ranma's waited until the bell sounded before performing her bows to the opponent, refs, and judges. Glancing at the clock, she noticed that the match had only lasted a couple of minutes. With a sheepish grin, she bowed again to her opponent, who was being helped to her feet by a crowd of girls around their age, who were glowering at her menacingly. Deciding that she had time to catch Ranma's match, she hurried out of the sumo arena's towards the soccer arena where Ranma's match was being held.

Usagi muttered dark threats towards the bluehaired girl who had so casually defeated Makoto. She and the others glared as the girl bowed towards them with a smirk on her face before racing off towards the stairwells leading to the other rings.

Rae always glared angrily at the girl before turning to Amy. "Did you scan her? There's no way she's human. She was too fast and strong. Makoto hit her hard enough to dent steel, yet she looked like it didn't even tickle. And the way she caught Makoto's punch. Not to mention how easily she reversed that throw's momentum in midair? No normal human can stop and reverse a throw that easily!"

Amy sighed as she faced her fiery tempered companion. She was again struck by the thought that Rae was a fine example of her planet's history. "I didn't think to do so, seeing how this is such a diverse crowd. But I will certainly scan her next fight. I agree that she handled Makoto too easily, but I don't nessecarily belive that means she is a youma, Rae. She could just be a better fighter than Makoto."

Rae snorted, privately agreeing that her friend was likely right, but not willing to say it aloud. "Look, you get ready, I'm going to follow her and see what she's up to." Saying that, she took off after the other girl, shoving her way through the crowd like a linebacker through defensive guards.

"Vhaawt hpaaeened?" asked a groggy voice that drew Amy's attention from the emotional priestess to her wounded comrade.

Setsuna sighed as she felt the ripple of familar psychic energy rushing towards the glowing spheres that represented Tendo Akane and Saotome Ranma. She wished for once, that the high strung girl would just relax and not go looking for trouble. A thought occured and she stiffled a giggle, not wishing her subordinates who scuttled around her to hear anything remotely out of character for her current role.

'Rae goes looking for trouble in the same way that Ranma and Akane look to avoid it. Unfortunately for both, Rae usually succeeds and Ranma and Akane never do. I just hope that Akane doesn't treat the girl too harshly. She is only looking out for her friends, even if she has the ulterior motive of being an adrenaline junkie with a slight sado-masochistic need for battle.' Looking around, she spotted her assistant and sent the cowering man to fetch her some Advil and a bottle of Pepto Bismal. She could feel the ulcers forming already. 'Oh well, they'll sort it out. Akane won't harm her beyond the Princess's ability to heal her, and Ranma should have no problems taking them all on even if they go senshi form. They need the lesson in humility, lately they've grown too complacent on letting Usagi's powers growing and theirs have been declining. They need to all stay sharp, not allow their own strength to fade. There are evils ahead that will require all of them at peak forms. They will need help from others with power both beyond and near their own. The senshi are not the only guardians of this world and they need to learn to accept and request help for when they need it. And it wouldn't hurt Ranma to again be shown that woman are not weaker than men simply because they are woman. He might be able to hold his own, but I doubt even at his full strength that he could defeat all 9 senshi, and their allies.'