Chaos Bender
A Ranma ½ and Avatar: The Last Air Bender Crossover
Written by: Konsaki
"Alright", the distinctly feminine voice whispered out, breaking the uneasy silence, "we're here."
Turning her head about, she saw the flicker of red from the corner of her eye, but ignored it in favor of viewing the three she had been guiding. In the darkness of the night, their colors were muted along with the less prominent features of their persons, but even so, they were easily told apart by the martial artist.
"Sooo…", the taller male drew out, stretching the monosyllabic word for effect, "Where exactly is here?"
From the looks on his companions' faces, Katara and Aang were wondering just as much on that question as Sokka. All three scanned the almost mundane alley in confusion. "I thought you were leading us to King Bumi…", the short Avatar asked, causing the redhead to look at him over Sokka's question.
Scratching the base of her ponytail, Ranma let out a sheepish face that matched the tone of her voice perfectly, "Well… Neither Ryoga or I know where King Bumi is…" Even while saying that, she quickly continued to steamroll over Sokka's coming interrogation, "We know someone who does, though, which is why I brought you here."
Quickly taking advantage of her last sentence, Sokka broke in to ask again, "Fine… Where exactly is here? I mean, we're standing in an alley…" With a dramatic wave behind the redhead he finished, "It even dead ends!"
"If you'd stay calm for a second, you'll find out", another female voice explained in irritation, stepping from behind Sokka. A silent thanks ran through her mind as he only offered a grumble under his breath instead of another outburst as she made her way behind Ranma. With three sets of eyes watching her, the green haired teen pulled five marbles from her pockets and opened an unobvious hatch on a pipe that ran into the ground along the alley. Without dramatic flare, she dropped them into the pipe, which they could faintly hear the small spheres rattling along until it faded out.
After a few silent seconds, in which she replaced the cover and stepped back, the Watertribe warrior crossed his arms over his chest. "Ok… So what's that suppo-whoa!", the words forced out of his mind and mouth as what was the end of the alleyway fell downward with a slight rumble.
"Let's go", the redhead urgently commanded as she briskly walked in and down, showing the sloped walk to the others by example. One by one, the trio following the two elder females broke themselves out of their stunned expressions and followed Ranma and Ryoga. Once they started down the slope, all five easily saw the earthbender who had performed the feat, though only the elder teenagers expected him to be there.
"You two are back early…", the green clad male noted dryly as he slammed the entrance closed, which slightly started Sokka. His wry grin showed his notice, even though Sokka quickly recovered as the man continued, "I see you brought friends…"
"I know, I know", Ranma replied with a dismissing wave of her hand as she walked down the gem lit tunnel. "He's going to be pissed… I could care less." Turning halfway around and pointing towards Aang, she continued, "He needs to see him and I'm taking him there."
The earthbender just shrugged his shoulders with a soft snort of dismissal, "Whatever. It's your butt he's going to chew, not mine."
"Yeah, yeah…", the redhead replied back at seeing the grin on the man's face. "They are still in the same place, right?" Seeing the nonverbal message he was giving, she just shook her head, "Thanks…"
The trip through the tunnel was short and quick, with both teenage martial artists knowing their way around. With them leading, the five youths made good time and it wasn't long before they stepped through the carved entrance to a well lit room. From what they saw after a split second inspection, people where gathered around a scale model of Omashu that sat on a table, alongside what seemed to be a top down view map.
The moment they stepped into the room though, a hush flew over what was a once normal level of conversation. All eyes looked up at the entering group, a few whisperings rising in the relative silence. After a few seconds the silence was truly broken with a deep chuckle from one of the men at the table. "Well, well. If it isn't our little Ms Airbender", he greeted with a grin in his eyes from the reaction he would get. "Looks like you kept her out of trouble, Ryoko."
Ryoga just gave a small knowing smile and wave at the bearded man as she knew what to expect as much as he did. Ranma didn't disappoint, as she exclaimed, "Quit calling me that, Old man!" Ryoga just snickered, but quickly killed it when she heard Aang, Sokka and Katara muttering combinations of 'Airbender' and 'Ryoko' in confused tones.
Before any of the trio could speak up though, the redhead had put her hands on her hips and continued, "How many times do I have to tell you before you stop, Batoo? I'm not an Airbender!" Throwing a finger over to the yellow and orange clad boy while never unlocking with the man's brown eyes, she smirked, "Now he, on the other hand, is, Batoo!"
Seeing the wide eyed looks that flashed on everyone's face, and hearing the sharp intake of air from beside her, Ryoga moved up to her rival and smacked the back of her head. "Nice job there, Saotome", she dryly chastised the redhead, ignoring the glare she received. "Batoo, Commander… this is Aang, Katara and Sokka", she continued, indicating each with a wave of her hand.
Another bearded man, who wore wide brimmed headgear, stepped away from the table to move towards the youths. "Hmm…", he mused to himself as he stroked his beard before his eyes flashed wide for a second in realization, "You're the Avatar, aren't you?" Immediately after asking he nodded his head at his own question, "You were here before talking to King Bumi."
Aang nodded his own head in response, stepping forward a few steps while looking up at the taller male, "Yes, sir. That's why I'm here. I need someone to teach me Earthbending." Then, lowering his eyes a bit, the bald boy spoke with a somber tone, "I didn't expect to find this when I came back though…"
"None of us expected this, Avatar", the man replied while shaking his head. "Well, it's good that you're here though, Avatar. I am Commander Xian Go and lead the resistance against the Fire Nation occupation. With your help, we'll be able to push them out of the city and claim it back!"
"Hold on", a female voice broke in, as Katara moved up to put a hand on Aang's shoulder, "Aang might be the Avatar, but you are a being unrealistic thinking that he can free a city by himself!"
"Katara's right…", Aang spoke in a saddened voice, not because of what his friend had said, but because she was right. He couldn't help these people… and that's what the Avatar was supposed to do… right? "I wish I was more powerful and could help."
Xian Go looked down at the shorter male before him for a bit, but soon closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he seemed in thought for a few moments. "Sorry, Avatar Aang… I just can't leave things as they are", he explained as he lowered his hand and opened his eyes. "During the attack, I asked King Bumi what his plans were for the battle. His answer…" His hands clenched into tight fists as he recalled the moment, "His answer was 'Do nothing'!"
The older man took a few breaths to control himself before he continued, "I watched as my home was overran… my people injured or killed… I won't accept, 'Do nothing'!" His visage took one of determination, then, "That's why I ask for your help, Avatar."
"What you're asking is suicide", Sokka challenged back, his tone heated as he looked at a few of the papers on the table. "Even with Aang and King Bumi, it'd take twice as many people as you have to take back Omashu…" Saying that, the blue clad boy just shook his head, "Even then, it wouldn't be pretty…"
"That's why we've been raiding and sabotaging their plans and factories when we can", the middle aged commander replied. "I'm not suicidal, but I'd gladly give my life if it meant that we would be free!" He reinforced this by clenching his fist before him and setting a grim look on his face. "Fighting the Fire Nation is the only way to fight for freedom and I'll fight to the death!"
Ranma stood to the side, watching with crossed arms, as the heated conversation continued. Ryoga also stood impassively nearby; both knowing what drove the leader of the Resistance. Their brows rose though when they heard the Avatar's response, "What if there was another way?"
"Sounds like you have a plan…", Ryoga started to ask before being cut off. "No", the young Avatar replied in the negative, "well… sort of. What if you left the city? You would gain your freedom and live to fight another day."
"I can't… I won't accept running away", Xian Go growled with a shake of his head.
"Sometimes you have to run to come back stronger than before", Ranma offered up into the conversation. She sent a subtle jab into Ryoga's side as she heard a whisper of, "You know a lot about that", escape her lips. Ryoga just brushed off the strike, the grin never escaping her mouth.
"You know they're right, Commander." Heads and eyes moved to lock onto Batoo, especially his leader. Seeing the glare he was getting, the slightly younger man spoke out again, "We are hurting Fire Nation plans, but we can't keep this up much longer." Shaking his head, he sighed, "They're getting used to our tactics and we're loosing too many to the increased security. This is a fight of attrition and we're on the losing side, now."
As if hearing this for the first time, Xian Go looked into the faces of his other advisors. Each and every one told him the same thing and it made him give a long deep sigh. Seeing the look of defeat and loss in his eyes, Aang tried to help him save face, "You are a great leader, Commander. Your people need your strength to guide them if they are to flee to freedom."
The man who received those words from the Avatar was no fool. He know damn well what the young boy was trying to do and deep down he appreciated it, but unlike his king, he wouldn't give up without a fight. "Alright, I'll entertain your thoughts. How exactly will we leave this city alive? The gate is guarded more to keep us in than keep others out."
With this knowledge, the tattooed youth was set back in his argument. His eyes flicked around to the faces of those who were watching the verbal sparring match. Their gazes were set on him now, making him reach out for any idea that might come to his head, but nothing was there. Finally, his shoulders drooped as he admitted, "I don't know…"
The young airbender expected the older man to come back at him, but when he looked up, he only saw a thoughtful visage on the elder man's face. A quick glance around showed that others were also deep in thought, but it still did nothing to help him drag an idea out of his own mind. Silence reined, until a shout called out, "I've got it!"
In an instant, everyone was looking at the teen in the 'warrior's knot', as he grinned like a mad man. After a few seconds, his sister huffed and demanded, "Well?" His grin would not be denied, and seemed to grow bigger as he opened his mouth, "One word: Pintapox."
No one said a word in the coming seconds, everyone dumbfounded by the teen's statement; either by confusion or because they actually knew what he was talking about. Eyes turned though as a chuckle was heard and then grew into full blown laughter. Ryoga just looked incredulously at the almost doubled over girl beside her. "What's wrong with you, Saotome?!"
Wiping her eyes, Ranma's laughter died down enough for her to reply, "It's… it's just so stupid that it might actually work!" Finally looking up into the face of her rival, she straightened fully while losing the laugh. Still keeping a good smirk on her face, she continued, "Oh, come on! You saw how that patrol reacted!"
"Yeah…", Aang's eyes lit up as he thought about it, "that's a great idea, Sokka! You're a genius!"
"Would someone please explain what the hell 'pintapox is?!"
"Sure thing", Sokka responded to the Commander's exasperated demand with a smiling voice. "When we snuck into the city, we were challenged by a patrol asking why we were out after curfew. I had some marks on my face where a pintapus had been stuck…" The watertribe warrior had to stop for a second to chuckle after the fact, "Well, we played it off like it was a disease… a highly contagious one!"
The smile Sokka wore was a mile wide as he saw looks of dawning comprehension in the people around him. He just waited as he saw the gears grind away in their minds. "So…", Batoo mused, "You think we can get thousands of people out of the city with a fake plague?"
"The girl is right", Xian Go whispered, almost to himself, "the situation is so stupid that it might actually work. It's almost pure genius…", he continued, starting to pace a bit as his tactical mind ran over the details that were given. After more than a few moments of this, he finally stopped and looked at his advisors again. Nodding to them, he turned back to the Avatar and his companions, "Thank you for your idea. I need to discus this further and plan this out. Please, relax and rest. Someone will notify you when we've reached a decision."
--
A minute later, the Avatar and his two companions, plus two teenage girls, were relaxing on futons in another dug out room which was surprisingly comfy. It was big enough to not crowd anyone's personal space without being too big. Even with all the relaxing that was going on, it didn't really surprise anyone when the question came out, "'Ms Airbender?'"
The redhead just let out a sigh. "Don't get any ideas. I'm not an airbender", she said in a matter of fact voice. "Before you even ask, they think I am due to a Ki attack I have."
"What do you mean", Aang continued with his questions.
"Well… You saw what Ryoga and I can do with Ki, right", Ranma counter asked, getting three nods in return. "That was emotion powered Ki, concentrated in my hand. Pure ki can be used to perform other techniques. It just happens to be, that one I use causes a tornado."
"But isn't that airbending…", Sokka queried, almost to Aang as much as to Ranma.
Ranma let out another sigh as she rubbed her eyes, "Ok, let me ask you a question, Aang. How do you airbend?" After a few seconds of silence, she removed her hand and saw a look on the young boy's face that made her think she had asked him why he had to breath. "Let me reword that… What do you feel when you airbend? How do you make it happen?"
The look on his face changed with that, more into a deep thought as if wondering how he did it for the first time. Finally, he answered, "I don't know, I guess. I just need it to happen and bend it. I guess you could say, I'm one with the air around me when it happens."
The pony tailed female just nodded, "My technique requires cold and hot air currents, with my ki usually supplying the cold and my opponent the hot. I run a spiral and then execute the technique, the Hiryu Shoten Ha. That's my only 'airbending' technique." Silently, she added, 'Well, that and Kaijin Raishu Dan…'
"So… you're not an airbender…" The sorrow in Aang's voice could be tasted in the air by Ranma. She slowly shook her head, "I'm sorry… I'm not."
Sensing her friend's mood, Katara put an arm around the young airbender's shoulders, a sad look matching his. Pulling him in a little, she tried to comfort him, "I'm sorry, Aang…"
Not looking up from his feet, Aang just shook his head, "It's ok… I just thought… maybe I had found another…" Hearing this, she just held him, concern in her eyes.
It was a few minutes later before Sokka spoke up again with a long drawl, "Sooo… you think they'll go with this plan?"
"I hope so", Katara and Ranma said at the same time. The two blinked at each other before Ranma let out a grin but let it drop as she continued, "We've been helping the Resistance out since the start of this crap." Her eyes grew cloudy as thoughts wandered through her mind before she gave it a shake. "They are on the losing side and I've had to watch… I hope I can leave them on a good note of them leaving this place."
"You can say that again", Ryoga agreed in a low voice. "We've done way too many runs for medical supplies…" Her voice just died off, no one needing to hear any more.
After a time, Ranma spoke up again, "If they do go through with it, it will be the perfect time to find your king and talk to or free him."
Aang just jerked up his head towards the blue eyes, "What? I thought we were going to help them escape? I can't abandon them to a plan I pushed in the first place!"
"Aang", Sokka's voice broke in, "That's probably our best chance…" Hearing that, the Avatar brought his gaze to bear on his friend and found him chin in hand as he continued to speak, "Yeah, with all the chaos the 'plague' will cause, all the guards and patrols are going to be busy." Smashing a fist into an open palm, he exclaimed, "It's the perfect time to contact King Bumi!"
"That's good to hear", a grinning voice that obviously didn't belong to the five broke in.
Turning her gaze in the direction of the voice, Ranma was already growling under her breath. Once her sight confirmed what her ears were telling her, she let out an exasperated yell, "How the hell do you keep doing that, old man!?"
"What are you talking about", Katara asked of the redhead, not at all expecting that outburst. Looking at Aang and Sokka, neither of them did either, but for some odd reason Ryoga looked like nothing had happened out of the ordinary.
With a jerk of her arm, finger pointing like she was accusing the man of something, "Him!" She just growled again as she saw Katara blink in confusion, "Batoo's done this since day one! He just shows up in the middle of us talking like a ghost or something." Jerking her eyes to him again, she demanded again, "How the hell do you do it!?"
The only answer she got from him at first was a smirk and a deep chuckle which evolved into a full blown guffaw as he slid down the wall to the floor. Once he had calmed down enough to talk coherently, fully ignoring the deadly glare the redhead was directing at him, Batoo replied, "I have no idea, but the look on your face was priceless!"
Ryoga just shook her head as she grinned at her rival so riled up. "What do you have for us, Batoo… Every time you show up like this, you seem to have to say something we need to hear." Letting out a chuckle, she continued with a wry smile, "I swear, it's like you're like a badly used plot device out of a story or something…"
"Hey, now…", Batoo sent a warning tone over to the green haired martial artist, who just grinned back at him. "It's not my fault that I know you two better than anyone else here", drawing himself up in a humorous way, before deflating with a dismissing wave of a hand, "Which doesn't mean much at all since all I know about you two is how stupidly strong you and your brothers are", he muttered, well under his breath as he relaxed from his comical stance while shaking his head slightly.
Letting out a chuckle, he glanced around the five youths with a grin, "That aside, I do have something to tell you that you'll like…
--
"You know, this has to be one of the best posts to have", a brown eyed man said with a smile as he looked out at the scene from his vantage point. "We hang out all day, enjoying the breeze and the view. The old man doesn't do anything but talk, though he's a little odd…", he finished with a wry grin.
A grumbled curse from behind was quickly followed by an annoyed, "Will you shut up, Ryuu?! I'm trying to catch some 'Z's' over here!"
With a shrug, Ryuu looked back at his partner, who was sitting on a crate in the shade, the wall behind leant into for support. "Hey, it's not my fault you stayed up all night drinking." He just grinned at the hand gesture he received as his companion adjusted his hat to shade his eyes more. Chuckling, he ran a hand through his short raven hair, turning back to the scenery.
Time passed for the man without him even knowing it, so engrossed in his mind and sight. A sound behind him broke Ryuu out of his trance with a start. Looking behind him, he saw his companion laying on the ground next to the crate he once sat upon. "Hey, you ok?"
His brow furrowed after a second, because he received no answer. Moving closer, his brown eyes noticed no movement from the man on the hard stone other than easy breathing. "Alright, Hoshi. I know you're faking it, so get up."
After a moment, there was a quick scramble as Ryuu quickly moved over to his downed companion to check him over. Knowing next to nothing about medicine, he quickly shook the body, trying to wake Hoshi with his efforts. "Hey! Hoshi, this ain't funny! Wake up, man!"
He spent a few more seconds at this but jerked his head around at the sound of warning gongs from the main gates. The sight he saw behind him made him swallow as his eyes widened and his stomach twisted into a knot. The whispered words, "Avatar", barely made it past his lips as he struggled to breath, the sight of red hair bringing visions of screams and tornado's of bodies into his mind. His ears barely registered, "Not quite", as his eyes saw her had move. He never felt the chop to the neck that sent him into darkness.
As she leaned over the fallen body, she felt the rest of her group turning the corner. Ranma gave them a quick glance before returning her gaze back to her task at hand. Her hands flashed out, hitting a couple specific spots on the body, forcing a bit of her ki into it. After a second, she nodded and moved away, hearing the question, "What'd you just do?"
Looking up at the dark haired male who had it died into a warrior's knot, she simply replied, "He'll be paralyzed if he wakes up too soon." Seeing the look she got, the blue eyed fighter waved her hand dismissively, "It'll wear off after a few hours."
"Uh… okay…", Sokka replied, eyeing the girl carefully. "So, now what?"
Turning her gaze about to survey the area, Ranma shook her head slightly. "I'm not sure." Letting out an annoyed grumble, she continued, "They said he should be right here." She waved to the area with an arm, but everyone noticed a lack of anything.
After a bit of looking around with no reward, everyone jerked their heads when Katara spoke out. "Uh, guys. What's that?" They saw here with her face lifted skyward. Seeing this, the rest did the same, looking towards the heavens. What they saw was what looked to be something suspended in the air via a large crane.
"Of course!" Hearing that, they quickly saw Sokka break off from the group towards the side of the open area. Hearing the mixed questions behind him, he turned around after he stopped next to a box half as tall as him. "Think about it. What's the best place here to keep a master earthbender from earthbending?"
"You're telling us that is King Bumi?!", Aang exclaimed, jerking an arm upward at the hanging object.
"Exactly", the blue clad male replied with a grin on his face as he threw a lever on the box he was by. The sounds of grinding could be heard almost immediately as cables moved and gears turned. A few seconds later, Sokka spoke up smugly, "I present to you, King Bumi."
All eyes were drawn to the quickly lowering object, which all too soon was revealed to be a large metal coffin. A second later, the sound of snorting laughter edged into hearing and grew louder as the grey haired face of an old man also came into view. With a loud clunk, the one man prison jerked to a halt a meter from the ground before the gathered youths.
Breaking from his laughter, the old man looked around with amused eyes and a wide smile on his face. "Why, hello there, everyone! What brings you to Omashu?"
From near the back of the group, Ranma loudly asked, "This crazy sounding old coot is really the king of this place?"
"Ranma!" Katara replied in an admonishing tone, while Ryoga smacked the redhead up side the head.
Bumi just laughed in his snorting way as Aang grinned back and replied, "Yeah, meet Bumi, 'The Mad Genius'. Heya, Bumi! It's me, Aang."
Ranma just nodded slowly as she rubbed the spot where Ryoga had stuck her. In her head though she grumbled, 'How come all old people seem to be crazy…'
"It is great to see you Aang, but I still wonder why you're here", the captured king asked, as his face shifted from its constant grin for a change.
"Well", Aang started, rubbing the back of his neck, "I need to learn earthbending and you're the best one I know, so…"
The grey haired old man let off another one of his laughing snorts before replying, "Sorry, no can do."
Hearing that, most of the group looked dumbfounded, with Ryoga asking, "What? Why?"
With a quick glance at the green haired girl, the king laughed in mirth again, "Well, for one, I've been captured and stuck in this thing."
"Then we'll just un-capture you", Aang said, with determination.
"As touching as this is, I don't think I can allow that", a slightly amused female's voice rolled over the group, drawing their eyes immediately. To their left, they found a single teenager who wore dark maroon garb and a spiky hairpiece. Their eyes were directed towards her confident grin and smug brown eyes.
"And what do you think you can do? There's five of us and only you", Sokka asked with a guarded voice. He felt in his gut that she might have a ace or twenty up her sleeve…
Holding her arms out and shrugging like she wasn't bothered at all, she smugly asked back, "Who says I'm alone?"
Before they could react, a loud clunk was heard from their right and the imprisoned king before them shot upwards with him laughing and yelling down, "Well, so long Aang! See you again soon!"
Aang and Katara jerked their heads upwards with the ascending king, while Ranma kept her eyes on the smug female. Ryoga and Sokka, on the other hand jerked around towards the control panel to see two other girls standing there. The one in pink was smiling and waving, while the one in long dark robes stood with a neutral look on her face that bordered on bored. They also saw her hand on the control box, namely the lever which Sokka had used to lower the king before, only in the opposite position.
A tense standoff, barring the smiling relaxed girl by the control box, ensued for a few seconds before a burst of air jerked everyone's cloths around as Aang jumped up the scaffolding, ascending faster than the king and gaining ground. Seeing this, the maroon colored girl let her smug visage break into one of complete shock, but she mastered it in a split second. Without missing another beat, she called over to her companions, "Ty Lee, Mai, I'll leave them to you."
Ranma ignored the reply one of the two gave, as she narrowed her eyes at what she deemed the leader of the trio. Seeing the girl's first move, the redhead broke forward, intent on intercepting the enemy's path into the scaffolding that was built up on one side of the current battlefield. Her opponent seemed to sense what the redhead was doing and suddenly all Ranma could do was utter, "Oh shit", and lunge to the side as a large wide burst of blue flame tore through the area.
--
"Sure thing, Azula", the cheery girl called back to her leader. "This is going to be fun, Mai", she exclaimed to the dark girl beside her. Mai just responded with a quiet grin that twitched the edge of her mouth.
The staring session continued for a second until a flash of fire and a yell from behind them jerked everyone into action. Sokka reached up to the weapons strapped to his back but had to dodge as hidden weapons were flung his way from Mai. As this happened, a flash of tan and green shot forward towards Ty Lee, while whips of water crossed her path. With a grunt, Ryoga flung herself in a long jump that hurdled any of Katara's attacks, while keeping good speed towards her target.
"Prepare to die! Bakusai Tenketsu!" Yelling that out, the leaping teen felt a grin at saying those familiar words. 'It's been a bit since I last yelled that out', she mused as she landed where her target used to be and drove her finger into the wood floor. Even though Ty Lee had dodged, she and the other three combatants stalled for a split second as the explosion threw wooden shrapnel and dust into the surrounding area.
The fight resumed quickly though, with Mai flinging needles at Katara, who quickly blocked by freezing the streaming water she used as a weapon, halting the needles in its frozen grasp. Quickly converted back to water, the needles fell to the ground with a metallic ring as she flung the snake like water whip at the dark clothed weapon thrower. Mai dodged just enough to get out of the fast but easily readable attack, but soon committed to a full dodging roll as a whirling weapon arced its way toward her.
--
"Damn it", the blue eyed girl cursed under her breath as she saw her target cut a rope and ride it up towards the top of the scaffolding. Ranma jerked her head around to find another but it was too far away to be tactical. Growling, she ran into the same shaft Azula had used and started jumping upwards, trying to catch up.
She had just made it to the top to find the maroon colored girl kicking out a blast of flame towards Aang and the imprisoned Bumi. Before it could hit, though, the chain which held said pair up snapped, plummeting both males earthbound. Ranma growled as she charged the firebender once again.
Azula broke out of her glare at the fleeing Avatar and king just in time to see the redhead. With a grin, she jetted out another blue fan of flame, and like last time, she moved away from the pursuing fighter. Like last time, Ranma started to evade, but this time she was expecting the flame attack. What she wasn't expecting was to hit a weak floorboard in the structure and fall through with a startled cry as the attack flew over her as she fell to the floor below.
Coughing and pushing herself out of the small pile of boards that lay on her, Ranma narrowed her eyes and expanded her ki senses. An instant later, she jumped down a nearby transport shaft and fell towards the ground, where her companions were fighting. Sensing she freefell as far as was safe, she poured ki into her hands, trying to strengthen them for what was coming next. Then, she reached out and grabbed a hold of a rope that was strung down the shaft, screaming in pain as she felt the burning of her hands a second later.
Slamming her feet onto the ground, she ignored the fact that her hands felt like they were dipped in molten lead as she ran. Wincing with the pain, she pulled her hands together at her side, concentrating her ki between them quickly before thrusting them out before her, shouting the resounding battle cry, "Moko Takabisha!"
As the ki blast flew forward from her hands, she let out another cry, this one of pain, but the attack flew none the less. As she winced though teary eyes, she hoped she had the timing correct as her target came into view. Growling through the pain, Ranma shot forward once again, even as she saw Azula, who rode a earthen skid, and the ki attack converging. The following sight of the firebender flinging herself out of her cart just before the resulting explosion made the pain all worth it for Ranma, as she saw Azula rolling on the large channel before rolling onto her feet to slide to a stop.
Yes, the glare the redhead received was well worth it…
--
"Stand still, damn you!"
The bouncing and leaping Ty Lee just flashed her green haired attacker an incredulous look, "Oh, come on! Like I'm going to let you hit me! Look what you did over there!" With that, as she was mid leap, she pointed towards the huge whole in the wood floor Ryoga had caused not seconds before. "Besides, slugfests aren't any fun", she flashed with a smile before dropping through a hole in the wooden scaffolding the fighting floor consisted of. Ryoga just growled and scanned the area as Katara and Sokka continued to trade blows with Mai farther away.
"Aang's got Bumi", Sokka updated his sister as he caught his boomerang out of the air. Rolling to the side to avoid flying knives his sister couldn't block, he grunted as he hit the ground wrong in the roll. Picking himself up quickly, he rubbed his shoulder after he flung his ranged weapon again.
While forming another ice shield before her to take the impact of multiple needles, his sister replied quickly, "We need to get out of here too." Then, with a quick movement, she was on the offensive with her water whip once again, having worked out a slight rhythm with her brother. "This is taking too long," the brown haired girl grumbled.
Just as Mai leaned backwards, the whip flying high over her body, her eyes were forced wide in surprise once again as she was pressured into another rolling dodge. This time though, it wasn't a blue boomerang that caused it, no she had gotten used to that attack. The swarm of yellow checkered blurs was another beast all together, causing her to spend the next few seconds dodging wildly, rolling along wooden floor as these yellow things tore through it.
Taking advantage of the flow and ebb of things is the main principle of waterbending, and Katara put that thought to good use as she sought to press this new turn in her favor. Flinging out her water once again, she scored a direct hit on the prone female, flowing it over the right side of her body and then freezing it rock hard. Mai let out a surprised cry but quickly shifted to trying to chip at it with her left hand.
"We need to get out of here", Katara called over to her brother. With a quick glance, she saw him reach into his shirt, "Already on it!" A second later, he was blowing on a previously purchased 'Bison Whistle' as hard as he could. This moment of distraction turned out to be the waterbender's downfall in the coming seconds.
Ryoga, who had given up on finding the slippery energetic opponent of hers, had flung her bandana projectiles to assist the siblings. She was running towards them, but was far enough away that all she could do was watch the coming events as Ty Lee appeared out of a hole behind Katara and went to work.
Catching Katara unaware, Ty Lee struck multiple spots on the girl's arms. The speed and accuracy of the ambush was such that the blue eyed girl never knew what hit her until a blur of pink came into her vision, back flipping towards Mai. The next thing she saw and felt was her loss of connection with the water line before her as it fell towards the wood deck. Quickly going through the motions to gain control back, the waterbender panicked as it failed to obey.
"Not so tough without your bending, are you?" The panicking girl looked up at that to see the slightly grinning Mai holding her hand up with weaponry ready to fly. As she looked on in fear as the ranged fighter raised her hands, Katara could only hear her own thoughts in her head, 'Oh, no… I'm going to die…'
Just as Mai cocked her hands back to let loose her weapons, she and Ty Lee jerked their eyes to the side and quickly started to dive in different direction. Only the cry of, "Shishi Hokodan", gave them enough time to react as a blue wave of energy tore line of destruction along the wooden floor towards the pair.
--
Hopping over another flare of flame, Ranma worked her way closer to the now focused firebender. Then, without missing a step, she dashed forward, closing the gap even farther, until she had to roll to the side from another attack. Quickly getting to her feet with a grunt, the redhead leapt high into the air over a rather large bout of blue fire.
That's when she saw the grin on Azula's face as she set her stance and flung her arms out a second later. Ranma swallowed as she realized her moves were anticipated and she couldn't dodge the attack. Thinking quickly, she charged up and fired off a Moko Takabisha into the oncoming flames. As they both met, the more concentrated ki attack pierced through the flames, but before Ranma could cheer, she notice the blast was still coming.
As a last ditch effort for defense, the airborne martial artist tried to dive completely into the 'Soul of Ice' technique. Clenching her eyes closed and taking a sharp intake of breath, Ranma felt a field of cold envelope her… right before it was stripped away by the rolling flames. Grunting with the heat, she forced herself to maintain the 'Soul of Ice', but just as it hit and washed over her, the heat was gone.
The heat was quickly replaced with the feeling of cooler air flying over her skin as gravity had its way over her body. Snapping open her eyes, the redhead fully expected to see the oncoming wooden deck. Seeing the massive chuck of nothing that should have been the edge of the deck, Ranma's eyes flew wide with the realization that her fall would fling her completely off the platform. Passing over the edge of where the platform should have been, the airborne female looked down and saw a drop of hundreds of meters… with no way to stop it. Having nothing else to do while she fell, the martial artist did what any normal person would… she screamed at the top of her lungs and then the feeling of hitting something solid followed by darkness…
--
The next thing Ranma knew, she was letting out a haggard moan of protest. This was quickly followed by a writhing request, "Stop hitting me with your damn mallet…"
"Well, at least we know she's alive…"
"Yeah, but is she alight? What was that about a mallet?"
The redhead heard the questions, but hearing hurt… really hurt. Another groan was let loose, "Akane… head hurts…"
The next moment, the pain flared as someone yelled, "Leave Akane out of this, jerk!" It was quickly followed by multiple protests to leave the redhead alone and quit shaking her.
The sense of time for a certain martial artist was nonexistent. At least it was quiet now and she could sleep… yeah, sleep was good…
Finally though, she slowly opened her eyes to the darkness above her. Lazy clouds covered parts of the sky, with stars shining from the uncovered sections. From her side, she could feel the heat of a small fire and see the lights flickering in the side of her eye.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma took stock of her condition. 'Massive headache, torn left shoulder muscles, right thigh one big bruise…', she mentally noted. She winced slightly as she turned her head towards the fire, seeing four figures.
"So you're finally awake, huh?"
'Ryoga', flashed through the redhead's mind in recognition, noting the figures turning slightly to regard her. "Maybe… What happened?" Her voice was slightly ragged and raspy as she spoke.
"Oh, the usual: You screaming like a little girl and getting knocked out", a slightly amused Ryoga replied. The green haired girl kept grinning through the responding, "Bite me, Ryoga"
Even as the last bit of verbal sparring died down, a figure from the fire stood and made it's way towards the downed fighter. Kneeling down, the concerned voice of Katara spoke out, "How are you feeling, Ranma?"
"Just peachy", the response came, with a slight wince in her eyes.
"Right… Now where are you hurt?" Hearing Katara's dry response, Ranma tried to chuckle, but it came out as a hurting cough. Taking a quick breath, their blue eyes met, "Left shoulder, right thigh and my head are killing me…"
"Alright, I'll see what I can do about that", the waterbender replied with a smile as she placed a hand against Ranma's forehead. At first, it only felt like cool wetness, but slowly, the ache faded to an easily tolerable level. A sigh escaped the injured female's lips as the cool hand was removed a minute later.
"Okay, you guys better not look over here", she warned, turning her eyes back to the fire. A couple of muttered agreements resounded back a second later. Turning her gaze back down, Katara's eyes matched her apologetic voice as she said, "Sorry, but I need to take off your top and it's going to hurt some."
Hearing Ranma's grunt of acceptance, the young waterhealer moved her left arm around and worked at removing the left side of her top. Her eyes kept flashing apologetic glances as barely noticeable flashes of pain flickered on the redheads face, but finally the injured area was seen. The grimace on Katara's face was easy to see as she looked down at the giant bruised area which consisted of most of Ranma's left side of her chest. Taking a deep breath, she called some water into her hands and placed them over the damage. Like before, the pain lessened as the time passed, but some still lingered as the healer stopped.
Letting out a long breath, Katara sat back and ran a cloth over her face, wiping off streams of sweat. Seeing the elder female leaning up and putting her top back on under her own power, the waterbender spoke up, "Sorry, Ranma. That's all I can do for a while… I'm really worn out."
"Don't worry about it, Katara. It feels a lot better, thanks", the sincere reply came as she finished tying the blue top closed, while the healer went back to the fire. Then with a deep breath, the martial artist focused her chi towards the two injured areas, with most of it going down to her injured leg. 'Guess we'll find out if it works…', she mused to herself as she looked down at her leg, almost seeing the inner power gathering.
After a few minutes, though, she released the gathered chi. Breathing deeply, she wiped the sweat from her brow, 'Great… traded a pain in my thigh for another headache…' Grunting, she slowly gathered herself enough to stand and slowly walk towards the fire herself. Slowly sitting down, she quietly asked out, "Two things… Any food and what happened?"
Handing her a loaf of bread, Sokka spoke up, "Once Aang got away with King Bumi we decided to get out of there. Thanks to Ryoga, the two we were fighting got distracted enough for us to escape. Lucky for us, Appa was able to catch you while you were falling…"
"And screaming like a little girl", a certain bandana wearing female tacked on, receiving a glare from Ranma.
"Yeah… well, it made it easy to find you at least", Sokka continued, rubbing the back of his neck.
Turning her gaze back to the watertribe warrior, the redhead skewed her brow, "Wait… Who's Appa?"
A deep rumbling call from the large mound farther from the fire sounded out into the night. "Meet Appa", Aang answered with a wide smile. "He's a flying bison and my friend."
"Flying… bison?" the still healing martial artist asked, raising an eyebrow. Hearing the young Avatar's "Uh huh" and nods from the others, Ranma just shrugged her shoulders wincing a bit from the leftover pain from her left. "Whatever… Thanks for saving me back there… I'm guessing I still landed hard though…"
"Yeah, definitely not one of your most graceful landings, Saotome", Ryoga answered with a chuckle from across the small fire. "I'm happy you didn't die back there…", she admitted a second later in a less cheery tone. The group was silent for a bit after that.
"Okay, this has been bugging me. Why do you two go by so many different names?" Sokka broke the silence and changed topics, before pointing at Ryoga. "You tell us your name's Ryoga but that guy back in Omashu kept calling you Ryoko", he continued before flicking his hand towards Ranma, "and you're Ranma, but she just called you Saotome."
Tearing off a chunk of bread, Ranma calmly replied, "Saotome is my family name… my full name is Saotome Ranma. That's Hibiki Ryoga", she finished with a wave to her rival. Then, she looked down at the bread she held loaf in one, chunk in the other and sighed, "As for the rest… You have any hot water?" Seeing the confused looks on three other faces, she finish before throwing the chunk into her mouth, "It's easier to explain with hot water."
A few minutes passed, in which Ranma and Ryoga stayed silent while the prior finished the bread off. There was a pot on the small fire during that time and by the time Ranma was finished, it was letting off some steam into the night air. Nodding to herself, the redhead looked over to Ryoga and said, "Why don't you take this one for now."
"Whatever", the green haired girl replied with a shrug before picking up a bowl and scooping some of the hot liquid into it. "Alright… Aang, Katara, Sokka…", she started, making sure she had their attention, "Remember how we told you that there was one more way to prove we are from another world?" Seeing their nodding heads she continued, "Well, watch carefully."
Without further delay, she upturned the bit of hot water over her head making the shift from green hair and eyes to black and brown. There was also a slight shift in height but the way her mass warped around into a he was recognizable if you knew what to look for. Then, there was the change in voice as a deep baritone hum escaped his throat as he stretched while muttering, "Been a bit…"
"Wha… What just happened?!" Katara's eyes were as wide as the other's but somehow her voice still worked well enough to ask that out in her shock.
"Ancient Chinese curse, very tragic tale, blah blah blah", Ranma replied as she caught the bowl Ryoga tossed at her.
"Damn it, Saotome. Shut up unless you're going to tell the full thing", the bandana clad male growled out. Ignoring the offhanded reply, he gestured towards her, "You guys might want to watch this, it's more… noticeable." What followed was another dump of water, coupled with a more dramatic change from female to male.
Expecting the coming questions of how exactly the wonder before them happened, the two Nerima males broke into a quick tale about Jusenkyo, along with a side note of the spell mishap which altered his own to match Ranma's.
"So… you change into a girl with cold water and guy with hot… So which one are you then?"
"A month ago, I'd tell you I'm a guy, easy…", the ponytailed martial artist replied with a frown. "Since coming here, though, the curse is acting weird", he continued with a snort.
Ryoga nodded solemnly, "We're still trying to figure it out, but something's definitely off…" Trailing off, he raised an eyebrow while looking around at the three non-cursed youths, "You know, you're taking this a lot better than I expected…"
"Well, you know…", Sokka started to reply while placing a hand on Aang's shoulder, "after waking up the hundred year old Avatar from a block of ice at the south pole, riding a huge flying Bison and going on a quest to save the world…"
The group chuckled as Sokka trailed off. A chuckle turned into a yawn for a couple and it was decided that the conversation could pick up in the morning, when everyone was fully awake. With that, the five youths rolled out sleeping bags or mats and bedded down for the night. After a few minutes, they were all in the land of sleep.
--
"So, you guys were actually ran out of town?"
"If you consider being chased by an angry mob with weapons, yeah, I guess you could say we were ran out", a damp martial artist replied in a dry tone as she warmed herself by the recently started fire. "So now you know why we tried to hide the curse in Omashu."
"Makes sense", Sokka agreed, pinching his chin and nodding. "in a weird sort of way." Training his eyes back on the green hair, he continued, "What's with the hair though? You guys both have black hair while male but green and red…"
Ryoga just shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. I'm just happy to have this curse than the other one."
"What would that be", the non-cursed female asked out, interested in learning about their new companions.
"Uh…", Ryoga stalled before a certain redhead broke in. "Come on, P-chan, why don't you tell them", she asked with a smirk.
Growling at Ranma, the fanged teen heard the questioning of the nickname from the Avatar. Snorting and shooting a glare over at her rival, she growled out, "I turned into a piglet, ok… At least with this curse I have hands and can talk! You don't know what it feels like to be almost turned into pork chops!" The last bit was directed with a glare at Ranma.
"Okay, Okay… sorry, Ryoga… sheesh", she replied while scratching the base of her red ponytail.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the campfire before Sokka let out a cough, "Uh… so… Hey! Explain how you did that blue light thing in the fight!"
"The Shishi Hokodan", she asked, receiving a nod, "I just take my ki, add depression and fire it out like this." As she finished, she stood, turned towards the lake and yelled out the technique. As she flung her arms forward, a blue wave of ki shot over the lake, rippling the water, fading out halfway across the lake.
After the moment of awe washed over the group, Katara spoke up, "Depression? Why do you need that?"
"The simple answer is, it makes it easier. Ki is usually used in special techniques like the Bakusai Tenketsu or my Hiryu Shoten Ha, but those don't involve pure ki like the Shishi Hokodan does", the redhead explained, "Even my Moko Takabisa uses confidence to help power it."
"What happens if you don't use an emotion?"
Both martial artists looked at each other and blinked before looking to the youngest of the group, who had asked the simple question. "I… I don't know", came the reply from the redhead. "It's just the way we learned…"
Looking back to Ryoga, the redhead saw her rival deep in thought for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders. Turning back towards the lake, she set up her stance once again, but this time held it for a while. After a few deep breaths, she cried out her signature attack while throwing her arms forward like before. Unlike before, however, instead of a blue wave of depression empowered ki, both martial artists felt and saw a stream of pure white ki exit the fanged fighter's hands. This stream shot across the lake, blowing past the point where the prior attack had faded out, to slam into the other side of the valley.
"Holy shit…", Ranma exclaimed under her breath as Ryoga numbly nodded. A second later, the green haired female promptly collapsed where she stood. Katara and Ranma scrambled over to the heap on the ground, rolling the unconscious girl onto her back and examining her.
"Ki exhaustion…", the martial artist stated a few seconds later, after running her hands over her friend. "She'll be out of it for a while, but she'll be fine."
With knowing that Ryoga would be fine, Ranma sat back down by the fire, chin in hand while deep in thought. 'So… Ryoga's attack became more… powerful? No… Well, maybe. Definitely more focused after removing the emotion charge. I wonder why she's drained of Ki though? Something I've got to look into… Wonder how my own attack would change…', she pondered while staring into the fire.
"Hey, Ranma", a voice called out, breaking her from her thoughts. "Yeah, what's up?" she answered back, dropping her hand and looking over at the older of the current males.
"Sorry about all the questions", he started off, receiving a dismissing wave from the redhead, "But I've been wondering, why do you two keep referring to each other with 'She' and 'Her'? I thought you said you both were… well, guys."
He was slightly amused to see the sight of the redhead open her mouth in response, hang there for a second and then she closed it, looking down into the fire once more. After a few moments of thought, she finally replied, "You know… I don't know why."
There was a slight break before Katara spoke up, "I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but when we first met you and Ryoga… Well, I thought you both were really girls." She grinned slightly, "A bit tomboyish, but still two girls." Seeing the look on Ranma's face as she looked into the fire, she lightly finished with a, "Sorry…"
A few seconds passed before Ranma responded, "No… It's ok…" Letting out a sigh, she looked to the brown haired girl, "That's part of what's got me wondering. Part of what's going crazy with the curses." She let out a wry grin while tapping her temple, "You see, before, I might have been a girl in body, but I was always a guy up here." The edge of her lips turned downward, "Now…"
"Does it matter?"
Looking over at Aang, the redhead let out a quick, "Huh?" The face she looked into held no humor or malice, just a pure questioning look, like the voice that repeated, "Does it matter?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I mean, does it matter? Boy or girl… are you still you?"
--
"What's Saotome up to?"
"She's meditating. I said something to her and afterwards…", Aang replied in a low tone.
Giving a puzzled look at the young boy, Ryoga wondered, "What exactly did you say?"
A few seconds passed as he wondered if he should say it again, considering that the girl before him was in the same situation. Finally, taking a breath, he relented, "I asked her if it really mattered whether she was a boy or girl as long as she was still her on the inside."
"Huh", she grunted in reply, but didn't say anything else. Shaking her head, she looked out at the lake and changed the subject, "Whatever. So I'm guessing I passed out from Ki exhaustion."
"That's what Ranma said", Katara agreed. Anticipating the next question, she continued, "You've been out for about half the day."
Hearing that, Ryoga looked up into the sky at the sun. Nodding to herself more than Katara's statement, she stood up slowly and asked, "Can you gather fish with waterbending?" Seeing the nod, she grinned, "Great. Problem with Ki exhaustion is being really hungry afterwards."
A quick smile and an understanding nod, the waterbender headed over to the lake with the Avatar following in conversation. Watching them leave, Ryoga moved over to another area and sat down and settled down into a comfortable position. Taking a deep breath, she tried to calm herself. Just as she felt her consciousness drawing inward it was ripped back as she heard Sokka's voice, "How does it feel?"
Opening an eye, she quirked an eyebrow, "How does what feel?"
"You know", he tried to get out, "how does it feel to be able to throw around attacks like you did earlier? Does it feel like bending?"
Hearing that, the bandana clad female opened both eyes to look on at the younger male. "I don't know how bending feels… Using ki though… It's…" Rubbing the back of her head, she mentally grasped for the right words. "I can't really explain it… sorry."
The male looked dejected at hearing that, but asked another question, "Can anyone learn how to do that?"
"Yeah… I guess", the girl replied with a shrug. Seeing the look in the blue eyes, a grim grin quirked onto her lips, "It's a lot of hard work, though."
He almost jerked forward into her face, loudly asking, "How much?"
Blinking, Ryoga replied, "Err… Pretty much my whole life and I only learned the Shishi Hokudan around six months ago." Saying that, a memory flashed forward which caused her to laugh. Seeing the confused look on Sokka's face, she waved a hand, "It's nothing. Just thinking about how why I learned it."
"Oh come on, you can't leave me hanging like that", he complained, "Why'd you learn it?"
Grinning, she stared into those blue eyes, "I learned it to defeat Ranma. The funny thing is, if I hadn't learned it, Ranma wouldn't have learned her own attack."
"Yeah, and I'm thankful you did", a familiar voice caused Ryoga to look to her side. "I needed it in later fights, so you helped me out a lot."
"Glad to be of service…", she wryly told the redhead gaining a grin out of her.
"Yeah and Shampoo loves Mousse", Ranma replied as she sat down with the other two non-benders. "So, what happened back there?"
"Don't know for sure", Ryoga replied while scratching at her temple. Sokka silently looked between the two as she continued, "Felt like everything was normal at the start but a little harder to push out."
"Probably cause you didn't use the emotion part…", the redhead mused, to which Ryoga nodded in agreement.
"Then, once I let it loose, it felt like… I don't know… Like it was being sucked out of me instead of pushed."
Hearing that, Ranma just put a hand to her chin and let out a low "Hmm". Moments of silence reigned until she finally stood and said, "Looks like I'll have to try it to figure it out."
As she made her way towards the shoreline, she saw Aang and Katara walking back with a gathering of fish. Smiling as she passed them, she mused about how lunch was going to be good. Then, the redhead's smile turned to a cocky grin as she thought about the task before her.
Coming to a stop, she easily charged up and fired off her standard Moko Takabisha, seeing it travel roughly the same distance of Ryoga's standard Ki attack. Nodding to herself, Ranma took a couple deep breaths and tried to push her confidence out of the standard attack. Seconds passed before she finally got back into the attack stance and charged the Ki into her hands. Preparing for the drain Ryoga talked about, she thrust her hands forward, yelling out the attack.
The drain never occurred. Well, nothing more than more Ki required to produce the attack. The major problem was the fact that the glowing ball of pure Ki just hung in the air before her an arms length away. Stunned, she just stood there wondering what the hell just happened… then it clicked in her mind and she whispered, "Crap…"
From farther away, Ryoga and Sokka watched intently over the experiment. They watched as the first one was fired off as normal and the calming silence during her preparation. Ryoga's eyebrows furrowed as the second attack. "It feels wrong…", she muttered under her breath as the ball hung in the air. Then, just at the same time Ranma swore, Ryoga saw the redhead jerk to the side and sprint away from the sphere.
"Get down!"
She barely got out the shout before an explosion rocked the area, knocking everyone off their feet. Even as the shards of debris fell around about her, the green haired fighter jumped to her feet to view the damage. What she saw left her in awe as she saw her rival on her knees shaking her head with a hand against it, as if trying to get her brain knocked back into place. Behind the redhead, there was a new pool of water, where the lake filled into the newly formed crater.
Before she knew it, she was standing next to Ranma, helping the fighter to her feet. "What the hell was that?"
"A challenge…"
--
"So, other than a new way of almost blowing yourself up, what did you find out?"
A laugh escaped Ranma's mouth as he looked over at his friend and fellow Ki user. "Well, there was no drain, that's for sure."
Letting out a grin, Ryoga replied, "Really? Wouldn't have known, with you still standing and all." His brown eyes took a more serious turn a second later, "What really happened, Saotome?"
Swallowing another bite of fish, the long haired fighter took a second to think. "It felt like a normal Moko Takabisha, but it took twice the ki to use. Then… it just hung there in the air."
"Yeah, I saw that…", Ryoga agreed, "Why'd it happen though?"
"I'll have to think about it, but my first guess is it's because I didn't use any confidence."
"I thought that was the whole point though, sort of like with me and not using depression…", the tan clothed male replied back.
"So, you don't use depression and get drained, you don't use confidence and your attack hangs…", Sokka reiterated while putting a hand to his chin.
"What's the reason to use emotions like that in an attack?"
Both Ki users looked over at the yellow and orange clad boy who asked the question. "Well, whatever emotion you use determines how powerful your attack is going to be and how it…" There, Ranma looked over to Ryoga, "It changes your attack."
"What? What are you talking about?" Katara asked in confusion.
Letting out a groan, Ranma pinched the bridge of his nose, "Emotions have different… values… It's like saying fire is hot and water is cool. If you hold a sword in fire it gets hot, for example." Dropping his hand he continued, "Ki attacks work the same way. Emotions are the fire or water."
Hearing the silence while he took a breath, he continued, sating their curiosity and talking his thoughts out, "Since I'm more in tune with it, I can tell you that confidence is a light emotion. Depression is a heavy emotion. Well, that's the basic gist of the two. There's more to them than just that, but those are harder to explain."
"So, normally, you add those to your attacks, right?" Seeing a quick nod, Sokka continued, "Well, if you remove them, shouldn't you expect the opposite?"
Ryoga and Ranma blinked at the obvious statement, "Yeah, but I've never had any experience with pure ki blasts… have you Ranma?"
"I've seen Happosai and Cologne use a couple different ones but no pure attacks… I think… Hinako-san uses one for sure, but she uses a weird drain and return attack that we can't use." Shaking his head he continued, "She also needs to use coins to perform them and if I remember right, even that is affected by the emotions of the people she drains."
"So you're trying out something completely new, then", Katara asked from across the fire.
"Pretty much", Ryoga responded. "Anyways, I'm still drained from earlier, so I can't even try anything out." Turning to his rival he grinned, "You still have Ki, but until you can figure out a way to get it to move, you can't do anything with it."
"Yeah…", Ranma agreed, scratching the back of his neck. "Guess I'll try and think of something and try again tomorrow."
With that, they broke camp and took to the air once more on Appa's back. This time, Ranma was awake to enjoy the flight while he and Ryoga continued their talks and musings on their combined revelations.
--
End of Chapter 8
--
Author's Notes
Alright, lets get to a little Q/A here from the reviews:
How come I don't expand on the information about the Avatar world in comparison to Ranma and Ryoga? Well, in the Avatar world, R&R (Ranma & Ryoga) are the weird ones, barring the fact that they are weird in their own world too. -Grin- If you would like more info on the Avatar world, I would suggest going to a Wiki or watching the series, which is pretty good IMO. I'm only going to explain out stuff as R&R ask questions or find out themselves, though some things will be taken for granted as learned 'off screen/panel'.
Jess D – That's a good theory you have there. Maybe it will turn out that way, maybe not, but I really appreciate you spending the time to write that long review out. –smile- As for the 'Dragon's Whisker' and Ranma's hair, it was resolved in season 5 of the anime and was never in the manga IIRC. You can assume that since Ranma's hair isn't falling out and he's not scrambling around for the whisker, this is after that event. –grin-
As for your third question… We'll find out eventually… maybe… -grin-
Well, keep those questions coming, and I'll keep avoiding the ones I don't want to answer. –wide grin-