The Mightiest Disciple 1/2

This is the Guy? Weakling Witnesses Real Strength

Kenichi Shirahama was on extreme edge. The school day had ended, and Kenichi was currently in the school greenhouse for the gardening club. It was almost time to let out for the day, but Kenichi just couldn't calm his nerves.

What was the source of his anxiety you may ask? He'd been unable to find Miu for the latter half of the day. While he was aware that she'd be in the rhythmic gymnastics club, the fact that they didn't meet up before she went like they usually do worried him.

Izumi, the gardening club president, could tell that Kenichi was troubled and decided to ask him about it. "Um...Kenichi, are you alright? You look like some kind of nervous wreck," she said.

kenichi turned to her, trying not to look shaken up, and gave her a calm looking expression. "Thanks for your concern Izumi, but I'm fine," he said. "But to be completely honest, I've just had a really weird premonition for some reason," he added putting his hand to his chin.

Kenichi then felt an eerie hand on his shoulder. "I think I know what it is," said a familiar creepy voice.

"DEYYYAAAAghhhhhh!" Kenichi yelled jumping up, and scaring Izumi.

The two gardeners finally calmed down and turned to see Niijima with his trademark grin.

Kenichi narrowed his eyes. "Niijima, if you're done giving me a heart attack, what the hell do you want this time!?" he asked.

"Calm down, Kenichi. Geeze, if you worry too much you'll just drive yoursel into paranoia!" Niijima said cackling.

"Just answer my question, dammit!" Kenichi exclaimed, grabbing Niijima by the collar.

"Alright fine. Here's the deal, you know that new transfer student Saotome?" Niijima asked.

"Yeah, he sits right behind me in homeroom," Kenichi answered. "Wait, have you been stalking the guy, Niijima?" he asked. "Not cool dude! The guy just shows up today and you already have to play your ninja creep games on him."

"Well my 'ninja creep games', just pulled up some VERY interesting stats on this Ranma Saotome character, and I'm pretty sure you want to hear this," Niijima replied.

"Forget it!" Kenichi snapped. "I'm not interested in anything you have to say Niijima. Now beat it before you kill all the plants!" Kenichi said shoving him out of the greenhouse.
[ ]

Niijima stood outside the greenhouse with a coniving look on his face. "Fine, be a spoilsport. But when Saotome shows up to kick your ass, don't say I didn't try to warn you!" Niijima said quietly.
[ ]

Kenichi stood with his arms crossed. 'Oh man, now I have to apologize to Saotome about Niijima. I'll do it tomorrow before homeroom starts,' he thought. Kenichi's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Expecting it to be Niijima, Kenichi turned to the door and yelled, "Get the hell outta here you punk-ass!"

When Kenichi finally calmed down, he realized the person he just yelled at was, "Gah! Miu!"

The girl in question immediately broke down into hysterical tears. "How can you be so mean! I just wanted to see if you wanted to walk home together, but if you really want me to leave!"

Kenichi approached the crying girl and took her by the hands. "Oh no, I do wanna walk home with you, please don't cry!" he said trying to console her. "See ya tomorrow Izumi!" he said heading out the door with Miu.
[ ]

Kenichi and Miu were heading back to Ryozanpaku, and Kenichi took the chance to apologize about that little 'episode' in the gardening club.

"Sorry about that mess at the gardening club," Kenichi apologized. "When the door opened, I thought it was gonna be Niijima."

"Niijima?" Miu asked.

"Yeah. He tried to tell some BS about the new kid Saotome," Kenichi explained. "But I told him I wasn't interested."

"So Niijima knows about Ranma too?" Miu asked.

"Knows what about Ranma?" Kenichi asked, suddenly interested. 'And why is she using his first name?' he mentally added.

"Knows that he's a martial artist," Miu answered.

"What!?" Kenichi exclaimed. "Wait, how do you know that?" Kenichi said raising an eybrow.

"Oh I bumped into him on my way to the RG club," Miu explained. "He...came up to me from behind and I kinda..." she trailed off slightly embarrased.

Kenichi, realizing what she was getting at, chuckled. "Okay I gotcha, but what makes you think he's a martial artist?" Kenichi asked.

"Well for starters, he was able to do a near flawless uke recovery from when I threw him," she said.

'Uke? I think that's a judo technique,' Kenichi thought.

"Second, he asked me where the karate club was," Miu continued.

"The Karate club!?" Kenichi yelped. "Wait, does he know about me beating Daimonji and Tsukuba!?" He asked frantically.

"Calm down Kenichi," Miu said. "I actually followed him to the karate club and watched him spar with Daimonji. He won it almost effortlessly."

That little bit of info only failed to calm Kenichi down. "So he's stronger than Daimonji...? "Is he stronger than Tsukuba too!? IS HE GONNA COME AFTER ME!?" Kenichi exclaimed.

"Kenichi, calm down! Ranma's not the bully type!" Miu snapped.

Kenichi looked at her with confused eyes. "How can you tell?" he asked.

"I watched their match from a distance where I could hear them talking. And from what Ranma said, I can tell he has a heart of a true martial artist," she said thinking back to Ranma's words to Daimonji.
[Flashback]

Ranma stood above a downed Daimonji. "You said martial arts is only for the strong? You're wrong." "It's a true martial artist's duty to protect the weak." Ranma spun around and dealt a swift kick upside Daimonji's head knocking him out
[End Flashback]

"Whoa," Kenichi said awestruck. 'To think, this guy beat Daimonji in like, only two hits.' he thought. Kenichi took a look at Miu who was off staring into space. Possibly recalling the Ranma vs. Daimonji match again. 'I probably should be less worried. After all, if Miu says the guy's okay, that's good enough for me,' Kenichi thought as the two finally approached the dojo.
[ ]

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a red-clad figure, who was bounding across the rooves of the local houses, let out a loud sneeze. "Achoo!" Ranma took a moment to recover from the sneeze as well as assess his location. 'Okay..., my home is...' "...Right under me," he said aloud when he realized where he stopped.

Ranma hopped off the roof of his house, and entered. "I'm home!" he announced.

"Ranma!" Nodoka greeted. "How was your first day of school?" she asked.

"About the same as any other day of school, except a lot quieter." Ranma said.

"Is that really true boy?" Genma asked with a raised eyebrow. "Because according to your schedule, your last class ended some time ago, so why are you late coming home?" he asked.

"I thought I'd check out one of the clubs they had, but as I should've expected, it wasn't really my thing," Ranma answered.

"Well what kind of club was it?" Nodoka asked.

"A karate club, believe it or not," he said.

"A karate club? But that sounds like something you'd jump at the chance to join Son."

"Yeah well, let's just say I didn't like the atmosphere there. The members were a buncha jerks...not to me, but still."

Nodoka put a hand on Ranma's shoulder. "Don't let it get to you Ranma. It's only the first day. Things will get better soon, I promise." Nodoka said.

"Oh don't worry about that Mom. This was actually better than my first day at Furinkan," he said. 'For starters, there was no Kuno and my curse didn't activate.' he added.

"That's the spirit!" Nodoka exclaimed.
[ ]

Later that day, Ranma was training in the backyard. He was interrupted by his mother's voice.

"Ranma, could you come here for a moment?" she called.

Ranma reentered the house and said, "What's up?"

"I'm trying to get dinnerstarted, but I need some more ingredients," Nodoka explained. "Could you head down to the market and pick them up for me?" she asked.

"Sure, it's no problem." Ranma accepted.

"Oh great," Nodoka said handing Ranma a piece of paper and some money. "Here's a shopping list and some cash, hurry back."

Ranma hurried out the door, the thought of food exciting him.
[ ]

While heading to the supermarket, Ranma had gotten lost as he was still a little unused to the area. "Dear kami, Ryoga really is starting to rub off on me," Ranma said to himself. Hoping a bird's eye view would help him out, Ranma took to the rooftops.

Scanning the town, Ranma was able to see his destination. After a couple of warm up stretches, Ranma hopped off the roof and decided to sprint it from that point onwards.
[ ]

A moment later Ranma exited the market, groceries in hand, with a very excited look on his face. "Can't wait to get back home. I'm starving for...whatever the heck Mom's cooking," he said out loud.

His mellow walk quickly becoming an excited jog, Ranma's stroll was deterred by a really disturbing sound.

'The heck was that?' Ranma thought. Listening closely, he could hear the sound of something being smashed and the sound of a punch landing. 'That doesn't sound to good,' Ranma thought. On a whim, Ranma followed his ears to where he heard the unpleasant noise.

Ranma's ears led him to a vacant lot, where he witnessed two people, a boy and a girl, being surrounded by a bunch of other rough looking guys. "What's going on here?" he said under his breath.

Ranma was cut off from his thoughts as he witnessed the boy with the girl get kicked in the face by a shorter guy with spiky dark-blue hair.

"Kenichi, no!" Ranma heard the girl say.

'Wait a sec...I know that voice!' It took a moment for him to recognize her, but Ranma knew it was the same girl from school earlier today. "Miu?"

Ranma saw Miu get grabbed by two of the thugs, as the two other guys continued their bout. He also saw one of the thugs who grabbed Miu grope her breast, and that was enough to make him blush and piss him off.
[ ]

Miu was irritated that she had gotten caught off guard and allowed the two goons to catch her. She was 'triple' irritated that one of the bastards had the gall to grab her boob. However, before Miu could make a move to get the creeps off of her, she and the two thugs were knocked down by a red blur.

Kenichi, Koga, and the other guys all turned to see what the commotion was, and were surprised to see a new person enter the fray; a guy about the same age as them wearing a red chinese shirt, black pants, and his hair was tied up in a pigtail.

"Ya know, I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but you guys should be nicer to a girl," he said looking at the two guys who were on the ground with Miu.

"Who the hell is this guy?" one of the thugs asked.

"Doesn't matter, just kill him!" Koga ordered.

The two thugs who were knocked down before sprang up and lunged at the new fighter. The man in question ducked under their attacks and dealt two swift uppercuts to his assailants, knocking them out.

"Miu are you alright?" he asked extending a hand.

"R-Ranma?" Miu said taking his hand and getting to her feet.

"Y-you're the new kid Saotome!" Kenichi realized.

"That's right lady and gentlemen. Heir to the Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling, Ranma Saotome has arrived!" Ranma said taking a fighting stance.

Koga just laughed cockily. "I don't know or care who you think you are dumbass," Koga taunted. "But just cause you're here, it doesn't mean my boys and I aren't gonna bring Shirahama and Blondie to Kisara!" he said.

"I dunno who this Kisara character is, but Miu and..." Ranma trailed off. "What's your name again?" Ranma asked Kenichi.

"Kenichi Shirahama," he answered.

"...Kenichi ain't goin nowhere." Ranma declared.

Koga narrowed his eyes and smiled. "We'll see about that, tough guy. GET HIM!"

The gang of thugs all rushed Ranma. The pigtailed fighter leapt up and did a midair flip, landing away from the group. "Now it's my turn," Ranma said with a coky grin.

The thugs decided to try and rush Ranma a second time, but Ranma was ready to counter this time. Taking a defensive stance, Ranma pulled his fist back and waited for the thugs to get closer.

Once they were within the range Ranma wanted he thrust his fist forward with a triumphant yell. "Kachu Tenshin...AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma threw a volley of nearly a hundred punches at the thugs and knocked them all out within about a minute.

Kenichi and Miu watched in awe as Ranma took out all of the Ragnarok goons in what looked like only one attack.

'No freakin' way!' Kenichi thought. 'It's no wonder this guy beat Daimonji so easily. That was-'

'Amazing!' Miu thought. 'I admit, I could've handled these guys myself, but who would've guessed Ranma would show up to lend us a hand. Not only that, but that technique, his speed, it's way beyond what someone our age should be capable of.'

'Who is this guy!?' Koga thought terrified. 'He just ripped through all of my guys in like 30 seconds!'

Ranma dropped his guard and turned to Koga. "So little man, you wanna go a round?" Ranma said with a smirk.

Koga's face visually turned blue, and he hightailed it away from the lot. "Someone help! This guy's a monster!" he yelled while running away.

Ranma sighed. "Well, that was easy," he said putting his hands on his hips. "Are you two okay?" he asked Kenichi and Miu.

"Oh thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kenichi said grabbing Ranma's hands. "If you hadn't shown up, I don't know what would've happened!" he exclaimed.

"Uhh, you're welcome?" Ranma said sweat dropping.

Miu giggled. "Please excuse him, he hasn't been in too many fights until recently," she said.

"No problem, but can I please have my hands back?" Ranma asked.

After Kenichi finally let go, Ranma put his hands behind his head. "Well now that that's over, I should probably introduce myself properly," He said. "The name's Ranma Saotome," he introduced himself.

"I know, you sit behind me in homeroom." Kenichi said. "I'm Kenichi Shirahama."

Ranma felt something tugging at the back of his brain, but just couldn't place it. A moment of thinking later, he finally put it together.

"Wait a second. You're the dude that the big karate guy has a grudge against!?" Ranma exclaimed.

Kenichi could only chuckle in slight embarrassment.

'Okay, now there's a story behind this I think I wanna hear the end of now,' Ranma thought.

(A/N: Another day, another chapter. I feel like I might've made this chapter a bit too long, but I think it'll do for now. As for the battle with Koga and his thugs, I figured it'd be a favorable point to have Ranma give a small taste of what he's made of to Kenichi and Miu. Hopefully they'll get a bigger taste next chapter. Don't worry, I won't have Ranma take ALL of Kenichi's battles, and I will try to give Ranma his own to deal with. Sit tight folks cause sooner or later, we're taking a trip back to Nerima.)