Chapter Eleven: The King of Fighters
Ranma groaned as the deck underneath his feet swayed up and down. The pigtailed martial artist usually had no trouble with sea-sickness, but the speed at which the ship was moving was enough to make even him queasy. He snorted as the water sprayed high over the railing. After the wedding, Geese had approached him and Kasumi, and handed them passes to this ship – a modified aircraft carrier called theBlack Noah, captained by one Rugal Berstein. The man was slicker than grease, able to talk himself out of impossible situations. In essence, Ranma mused, he was probably the personification of a modern-day rogue.
Geese had told him that the ship would drop him and Kasumi off at a location of their choice, and pick them up at a specified time. It was to be their honeymoon cruise, Geese had jested, but first there was a tournament to be held. Speaking of which, Ranma could see the floating island of Togenkyo nearing. It was their first stop, and would be the location of the first group of fights.
"It's a nice day, isn't it, Ranma-kun?"
The Saotome heir turned to his wife with a wry grin. "It'd be nice if the ship wouldn't move so much."
Kasumi gave a soft giggle at the slight green tinge on his face. She herself displayed no signs of sea-sickness, Ranma noted with envy. Then again, this was Kasumi, she was practically unshakable.
"It was nice of Howard-san and Bernstein-san to make arrangements for us to go anywhere we want after the tournament." Kasumi settled at the railing next to him. "I look forward to it."
"Yeah." Ranma smiled. "I can't wait for the tournament to be over. Just you and me, anywhere we want." He reached over and placed an arm around her waist. "I still can't believe we're actually married."
"What, you want me to show you the wedding pictures again, Saotome?" A smooth voice called out from behind them, somehow managing to carry over the roar of the sea.
The couple turned around to come face to face with a tall man in a black muscle shirt and camo pants as he climbed the stairs from below deck.
"Having memory lapses at such a young age already?" The man added with a chuckle.
"Good morning, Berstein-san," Kasumi greeted their host. The man waved it off with a roguish grin.
"No need to be so formal, Tendo-san. Call me Rugal, like everyone else does."
Ranma muttered a quick greeting, before sizing the man up. He'd only met Rugal in person once, when all the participants of the King of Fighters had boarded the Black Noah. The self-proclaimed "modern pirate" had only given them time for a cursory introduction, before moving on to the next team.
Rugal noticed the inspection with amusement. "I came to tell you we will be arriving at Togenkyo within the hour. Geese has already contacted Toma, so after we dock, the first fights will start."
"Where's the next stop after Togenkyo?" Ranma asked, curious as to where the rest of the fights would take place.
"Now that is a secret." Rugal smirked when Ranma groaned at the hated phrase, and in another universe, Xellos sneezed.
V-----------------------V
"Welcome to Togenkyo," Toma announced as he stood on the elevated platform the fights would take place on. "The battles for the first round of the King of Fighters tournament have been drawn, and it's my pleasure to call out the first two teams – the Hero team will be fighting the U.S.A. Sports team!"
Ranma watched in surprise as the sports team put up a strange, yet remarkably effective fight, until Kyo's Orochinagi took out even Brian. The Saotome youth snorted in disgust. He made a point to make careful mental notes on each of their fighting styles, even though it seemed that it wasn't so much about skill as it was about raw power and special techniques.
Goro, who apparently had been a sumo wrestler sometime during his fighting career, seemed to rely on brute strength, especially in close-quarters, preferring devastating grappling moves. He reminded Ranma of Ryoga in that regard, though his rival wasn't nearly as tall or heavy.
Benimaru's style was flashy to the extreme, and the blonde seemed to favor spinning attacks. His ki-projection looked suspiciously like lightning, causing Ranma to grin. You didn't hang out with Urd without learning something about lightning bolts. The blonde fighter relied on his speed and agility to connect with his moves, giving power to physically weak attacks by projecting a ki-field around his fists and legs.
Kyo was the most grounded of them all. The Kusanagi heir used semi-strong, quick moves that were mostly ground-based, though he had a few jumping attacks. What caught Ranma's eye was the fact that, possibly even more than Benimaru, his attacks were physically weak, despite looking quite devastating. He seemed to rely on his blood power of the Magatama to deliver the actual damage when connecting with his attacks. Stripped of his powers, Kyo's punches would do little more than tickle Ryoga, at best.
"Next," Toma called out from the announcer's platform after Kyo and his companions had left the platform victorious, "is the Korean team, and they're up against a new team this year – please welcome the Anything Goes team!"
Ranma grinned as he took a running leap from the corridor that lead to the fighter's lounge to the platform, easily clearing the fifty or so feet. Behind him, Iori snorted as he walked the distance.
"Showoff," the Yagami heir grumbled, causing Shampoo to giggle.
V-----------------------V
Kim surveyed the young man before him. While he looked quite ordinary, there was a grace to his movements that told the Korean he was not to be underestimated. And then there was that impressive leap onto the platform, of course. He grinned. It would be fun to find out how far the boy could go.
Tanma, meanwhile, was thinking the exact same thing. He blinked in surprise when his opponent bowed to him in the traditional show of respect. Returning it reflexively, he could only grin at the older man's words.
"Let's have a good match."
V-----------------------V
Most of the veterans of the King of Fighters tournament hadn't expected too much from the new teams this year, thinking that they may become competitive within a few years after some experience with the tournament's senior participants. When they saw Iori with his two new teammates, they had naturally expected him to take on the brunt of the battles. When they saw Ranma leap into the ring against Kim, they had believed it to be a short fight; after all, no twenty-year old teenager would be able to compete with a martial arts master in his prime, no matter how skilled the boy was.
They were wrong. In the span of five minutes, Ranma had proceeded to utterly demolish the entire Korean team by himself. Kim lasted by far the longest, managing to remain standing for a full three minutes. Choi came in second, at just over a minute. Chang, the giant with the chain and ball, didn't even last a full minute against the Saotome boy.
V-----------------------V
Iori grumbled under his breath, annoyed that Ranma had proceeded to win all three battles against the Korean team by himself without giving him a chance to fight. Shampoo was similarly miffed, but had quickly forgone her annoyance in favor of watching the next match together with her pigtailed ex-fiancee.
Most of the veteran fighters had given them a wide berth when they had made their way back to the lounge. Ranma merely shrugged it off, but both Iori and Shampoo caught on to the significance of the gesture. The other fighters were still in a state of shock at the skill and strength he had demonstrated in the ring just minutes before, and while there were a handful of people who believed the boy had just lucked out, the majority of them were giving the boy their grudging respect.
"Excellent fight, my boy!" Genma crowed, nudging the man next to him in the ribs. "That's my son! I trained him myself to be the best fighter in the world!"
Ranma pointedly ignored his father, still floating on a high from his fights before. The pigtailed martial artist couldn't believe the thrill he felt from battling some of the world's most acclaimed fighters. It was a rush like no other.
The man Genma had nudged, however, did not ignore his boisterous demeanor.
"There are more than just a few strong fighters in this tournament," he told Genma. Like the elder Saotome, he was clad in a white gi, with a dojo's logo emblazoned on his left chest.
"Kyokugen-Ryu Karate?" Genma snorted. "I've never heard about you."
Takuma sneered back. "That's strange, because I thought I knew all of the strong fighters in Japan, and I've never heard the name 'Saotome' before." That wasn't entirely true. Rumors of the battles in Nerima had even reached the Kyokugen-Ryu dojo, but Takuma had dismissed most of those as blatant exaggerations; after all, it was impossible that high school kids were throwing punches at speeds that rivaled the Zanretsu-ken and tossing around ki-blasts the size of Takuma's own Haoh Shi-Kou Ken.
The three people behind the pissed Kyokugen-Ryu master sighed in exhasperation as they greeted Iori's new teammates.
"This is a new one, Yagami," Ryo smirked. "Teaming with complete newcomers?" The blonde inheritor of the Kyokugen-Ryu commented after introductions were out of the way.
"It beats having to team with Kusanagi," Iori snorted in disgust. "Unlike him, the kid can actually fight."
"Maybe a bit too well, eh?" Robert noted, recalling how easily Ranma had dispatched the Korean team by himself.
Yuri grinned. "I'll say." Ryo's sister gave Shampoo and Iori a friendly nudge in the ribs. "You two didn't even get to go."
The amazon warrior giggled at the girl's antics. "Ranma too-too goodly martial artist. Ranma no let Shampoo fight, but take out later on date, yes?"
Her old ditzy sing-song voice coupled with the familiar words caught Ranma off guard, causing him to freeze for a moment. For a moment, he thought about stuttering around in panic for old times's sake, but he decided to smile, instead. Though it had only been a handful of years since Shampoo had come to Japan chasing after her potential husband, much had changed since then.
"Oh my, shampoo, I don't think I can let you take my husband out on a date." Kasumi wore a stern expression as she walked up behind the group. Ranma quickly found himself subject to the same look when Kasumi caught sight of his smile.
He quickly wiped it off his face. There was a jealous side to sweet, gentle Kasumi that should never be unearthed. The girl was downright frightening when provoked. "Y-yeah, I'm married now, Shampoo, remember?"
Shampoo merely pouted cutely, unperturbed by Kasumi's glare, causing the group to laugh.
"Now, if you were to take me along, it'd be an entirely different matter," Kasumi added, causing more laughter. Ranma sighed. His wife had a wicked sense of humor that, more often than not, revolved around scaring people into thinking she was angry. He chuckled; Kasumi was about as sharp with her tongue as his wit was in battle, which was one of the things he loved about her. She always knew the right thing to say.
"Kou-Ken!" A small explosion followed the shout, causing the entire room to turn their attention towards the commotion.
"Ha! You're too slow to hit me!" Genma crowed as he dodged two more of Takuma's ki-blasts.
The elder Sakazaki sneered as he continued to toss around projectiles. "Stand still and take it like a man, Saotome!"
"Genma-Tama! Ha!" The brilliant purple ki-blast exploded from Genma's hands and rocketed towards Takuma.
Caught by surprise by the fact that Genma was good enough to actually throw a ki-blast, Takuma took it square in the chest.
"Mine ball's bigger than yours!" Genma proceeded to do a silly little victory dance, with fans he got from who-knew-where, causing people left and right to drop from the sheer stupidity of the scene.
"I fight on!" Takuma suddenly stood again, striking a dramatic pose with one hand on his hip and the other raised skyward. He charged at Genma, and the two began to slug it out.
Ranma merely stared, fighting to keep his right eye from twitching. "I never thought I'd meet someone that could match oyaji's stupidity or Kuno's stubbornness."
V-----------------------V
Ranma, Kasumi, Shampoo, and Iori spent the rest of the day watching the remainder of the matches and mingling with the other participants of the tournament. Ranma found a special pleasure in watching Leona decimate Yamazaki. While it seemed the Yakuza still had his accelerated healing factor going for him, Heidern's daughter seemed to almost effortlessly dish out more damage than even Yamazaki could handle.
Ranma had grinned appreciatively as Leone, Ralph, and Clark walked off the platform victoriously. His eyes lingered on Leona as he felt something familiar about her aura, something he couldn't quite place his finger on.
"And the next fight will be between several of our veteran contestants, and a new team: Kusanagi Saisyo, Sakazaki Takuma, and Commander Heidern will be going up against-" Toma double-checked the list of participants Rugal had given him, "-against Saotome Genma, Tendo Akane, and-" Toma did a double-take at the last name on the list.
"Is he serious?" Toma turned away from the microphone as he whispered to one of his aides. The other man merely shrugged, relaying the message until it reached Rugal, who nodded in affirmative.
Toma shrugged and continued with the announcement. "As I was saying, they will be facing Saotome Genma, Tendo Akane, and, uh, The-Ultimate-Ueber-Super-Mega-Giga-Taro!" A sizeable sweatdrop developed on the heads of most people at the name. The prince of Togenkyo took it in stride. It could have been worse, after all. At least his name wasn't Pantyhose Taro, or something.
Up in the lounge, Ranma nearly fell over from shock. "Man, I don't know what's worse, his old name or his new one."
"Does it really matter as long as he likes it, son?" Nodoka elegantly hid a giggle behind the sleeve of her kimono. Just because Taro liked his new name didn't mean she couldn't find it highly amusing. The Saotome matriarch walked over to stand next to her son on the balcony that overlooked the arena.
"You think oyaji is up to this?" Ranma followed her gaze as Genma and Takuma climbed into the ring. "He hasn't fought seriously for a while."
"Your father may not look it, but he has quite a few surprises up his sleeves." Nodoka smiled.
"If ya say so." Ranma grinned as the referee called out the start of the match, and the two martial arts patriarchs leapt at each other.
The crowd gasped in awe as the elder Saotome twisted in mid-air to avoid Takuma's opening Hein-Shippu-Kyaku, delivering a powerful knee to Takuma's back in the process. Genma landed in a crouch, uncoiling up and around in an uppercut that caused his opponent to fly back.
"Kou-Ken!" Takuma rolled backwards as he released the ki-blast, expecting Genma to either dodge it or cancel it with a blast of his own.
When Genma leapt over the ki projectile, Takuma grabbed the leg that had been extended in an aerial kick and wrenched it around, causing Genma to slam into the ground. The elder Sakazaki's eyes widened when the heave-set man's legs wrapped around his arm.
Genma lifted his body off the ground with his arms and spun, causing Takuma to come crashing down to the floor as well, held tightly in a textbook armbar. Takuma twisted towards his opponent to relieve the tension on his arm and let fly a ki-blast point-blank into the elder Saotome. The explosion blew both of them apart, sending the skidding across the ground.
Takuma smirked as he planted his feet, his aura flaring to life around him. The flare of his ki coalesced into his outstretched hands. "Haoh Shi-Kou Ken!"
The massive blast of spiritual energy exploded from Takuma's palms, expanding in size as it crossed the distance between the two combatants. Takuma held his position, pouring more energy into the blast. He completely missed Genma's smirk hidden behind the wave of ki.
After a few seconds, the elder Sakazaki relented, and the ki-blast winked out of existence, leaving behind a scorched concrete ground and a completely unharmed Genma, who was holding a folded bandanna in his hands. Takuma only had a moment to stare in shocked surprise as the cloth dropped open and a giant wave of ki rushed back at him. He only had time for a single thought before the force of his own Haoh Shi-Kou Ken knocked him unconscious and blew him out of the ring.
"What the-"
That thought was echoed by every person in the stadium. It took the shell-shocked referee several seconds to call out the winner. "Round one, winner by knock-out, Saotome Genma!"
The audience was quiet, unsure of how to react to one of their favorite veterans going down so quickly and so spectacularly.
They continued to watch in stunned silence as Genma plowed this way through Heidern. The aging mercenary commander's military-grade hand-to-hand combat training was generally acclaimed as one of the best in the world, as proven by Leona, Ralph, and Clark. Despite that, it was barely enough to slow the elder Saotome down, but in the end, Heidern dropped out of the ring unconscious after a well-placed kick.
By that time, however, Genma's stamina had started to wane, the two battles in a row taking their toll on his aged body. Up in the lounge, Shampoo watched in wide-eyed surprise at the Saotome patriarch's skill.
"He's good," she whispered. Shampoo counted herself amongst the best fighters in Nerima, and she had improved tremendously over the years. In all the time she had spent around Ranma, however, she had never seen Genma fight all-out. Sure, she had seen him spar against his son, but this was different. Even from up here she could feel the almost frightening intensity with which he fought, so much like his son. She could feel the almost tangible joy and exhilaration they received from fighting just for the sake of fighting.
This Genma would utterly demolish her, even now. And to think Ranma had been able to fight him to a draw some of the times even when he first arrived in Nerima, and later on, surpass him in skill and strength; suddenly, she was very glad for the pigtailed young man's kind soul. The gods only knew what could have happened had he snapped under all the pressure he had been under during his first few years in Nerima and decided to turn that frightening skill upon them.
Seeing the father and son pair fight with identical content smiles on their faces caused her to grin in anticipation. To fight simply to test their strengths, without a life hanging in the balance, without impending doom looming over their heads, this was what she lived for. To fight for the sake of the Art.
V-----------------------V
In the end, Genma fell to the elder Kusanagi. Neither Tao nor Akane managed to defeat Saisyo in the next rounds; what surprised Ranma was that unlike his nephew, Saisyo barely relied on the magatama. Instead, he proved extremely crafty, using his combat expecience to feint and trap his opponents before hitting them with moves that, while similar to Kyo's, were much more refined and powerful.
When Shampoo and Nodoka giggled, the pigtailed martial artist turned around, chuckling at the sight that presented itself to him. His father was hobbling into the lounge on crutches, an indignant expression on his face as he headed for them.
"It hurts, you know," he muttered.
Nodoka arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Whining over a little pain isn't very manly, right, son?"
Ranma grinned. "Nope, not at all, mom. Whatcha think, Shampoo?"
"Manly man no whine," the amazon agreed.
"That's quite true, uncle Genma," Kasumi added.
Genma, who had grown progressively paler with each statement, whimpered as his wife stemmed her fists into her hips and fixed him with a penetrating glare.
"Are you implying I married an unmanly man, husband?"
Before the elder Saotome could reply, Nodoka lost control and broke out into giggles that quickly proved infectious. Ranma chuckled at his father's expression. Now I know why mom and Kasumi-chan get along so well. They have the exact same sense of humor.
"What's so funny?" Taro grumbled as he climbed the stairs to the lounge. "Share the joke, femboy."
"Just pops here whining about his bruises." Ranma smirked. "So, how exactly did you manage to stumble and fall flat on your face?" Taro had, in fact, not been knocked out. Instead, the Chinese boy had lost when he had attempted to dodge one of Saisyo's attacks and ended up tripping and falling out of the ring.
"That right," Shampoo nodded vigorously. "TUUSMG way too clumsy."
"TUUSMG?" Taro atared at her blankly.
"Yeah, it short for your name. So-so hard to say." Shampoo grinned.
"You have to admit, it's quite a mouthful," Nodoka noted. The kimono-clad woman suddenly noticed something. "Where's Akane-chan?"
Taro shrugged. "Last I saw her, she was downstairs talking to some girls. I think they're up next. Weird chicks." He pointedly ignored the combined glares of all females within hearing distance.
The group returned their attention to the arena down below as Toma announced the next match.
Takuma's students of the Kyokugen-Ryu were facing against Todo Kasumi, King, and Kagura Chizuru of the veteran All-Women's Team. Akane joined the group while the first two fighters entered the ring. The youngest Tendo girl had more than her fair share of scrapes and bruises – had Soun been there, he would most likely have bawled his eyes out at his little girl getting hurt.
Akane, however, had an excited grin on her face despite her loss. She leaned against the railing in between Ranma and Nodoka as she looked down at the fighting platform where the match was starting.
"You did good." Ranma's voice came from her right. Akane craned her head at her sensei. He gave her a thumbs-up and a smile in acknowledgement, his right arm wrapped around an equally-proud Kasumi.
"I lost." Akane's expression fell.
Ranma shrugged. "So? He's got three times your experience. You did damn good, Akane. Give it another couple years, and you can take him, no problem. I guarantee it."
"Thanks."
"Did you enjoy it?"
Akane's grin returned full-force. "Yes."
"Good." Ranma placed his free hand on her shoulder. "That's all that matters."
Akane was forced to agree. Under Ranma's tutelage her abilities in the martial arts had grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. The pigtailed boy's assessment of her had proven correct – she had always had the potential, but had been prevented from growing by her own ego and temper.
Once she had overcome those, however, she had quickly caught up to Shampoo in terms of pure skill; while she still didn't have the necessary control to project a ki-blast, she had overcome that handicap quite readily: she had retained use of her mallet of doom. This had thoroughly surprised Ranma, because, now that he had gotten a closer look at it without having to worry about it actually hitting him, he realized it wasn't a real mallet at all – it was a ki-construct she could control subconsciously.
In a way, it was a more advanced technique than Cologne's Splitting Cat's Hairs; instead of a mere illusion of a solid object, she had created something that actually felt like a solid object.
"Winner, round one, Sakazaki Ryo!" The roar of the crowd announced the victory of their favorite.
Takuma's son offered a hand to his downed opponent, patting King on the shoulder as he helped her up. The tuxedo-clad kickboxer chuckled as they exchanged a few words that went unheard by the audience.
Akane eyed the next woman who stepped into the ring and grinned. The woman down below flipped her long blue-black hair back over her shoulder and took her stance.
Ranma noticed his student's interest in the woman. Like her opponent, she was dressed in a traditional white gi, but with the addition of a set of blue hakama. The pigtailed martial artist was reminded of Kuno for a brief moment, but shook his head. The style of dress was where the resemblance ended. Her stance was wide and narrow, with both of her arms extended straight in front of her chest, bent at right angles at the elbows.
"Kobojutsu," Ranma suddenly realized.
"That's right," Genma agreed.
"Man, I haven't seen a stance like that in ages," the Saotome heir chuckled. "Not since that dojo down in Kyoto."
"What's Kobojutsu?" Shampoo observed the battle down below carefully, wondering what kind of style the girl was practicing. To the amazon, the woman's stance was rather inefficient; her narrow stance made it seemingly easy to put her off-balance, and she seemed to have no low guard at all.
"It's a very defensive style," Genma explained. "It's similar to Aikido in that it is a purely reactive fighting style. It focuses solely on counters."
"How come I've never seen you use it?" Shampoo shared Akane's amused smirk as Todo Kasumi proceeded to dismantle the heir of the Kyokugen-Ryu dojo. "It seems very effective," she amended her initial opition of the style.
"He's too aggressive," Genma chuckled. "Kobojutsu requires patience in waiting for your opponent to strike, and then counter with precision. He's got the precision part down, but he's still too hot-headed to use it effectively."
Ranma merely smiled sheepishly at the exchange.
"Winner by knock-out, Todo Kasumi!"
The fight continued into the next round much the same way, though Kasumi's counters seemed less effective against Robert than they had been against Ryo.
"He's got too much range," Taro commented at Akane's quizzical look. The Chinese boy pointed down. "Look at how tall he is compared to her."
The European towered over the Japanese woman by at least a foot, Akane realized with a start.
"It means that she has to move further into his zone of movement to be really effective. He can just chip away from outside her range like he's doing now."
"I see."
"That's the weakness of counter-arts like Aikido and Kobojutsu. Since they're purely defensive, they have no offensive moves at all."
"Chou Kasane Ate!"
Taro's jaw dropped open when, following the echoing shout, a massive wave of ki thundered across the ring, bathing the stadium in a bright blue light.
"No offensive moves, eh?"Ranma chuckled as he blinked the brightness out of his eyes.
"Of course…there are always…exceptions," Taro muttered, trying to keep his left eye from twitching.
"Winner by knock-out, Todo Kasumi!"
Ryo's sister Yuri climbed into the ring after Robert had been woken and taken to the infirmary. While most fighters generally controlled their attacks to simply knock out their opponents without overly injuring them, there were always those few that didn't, and there were always unpredictable accidents.
The two women exchanged a few words and faced off, friendly but serious smiles on their lips. To everyone's surprise, the fight only lasted for a few seconds as Yuri threw a large ki-blast at her opponent, charging in behind it.
Instead of cancelling the projectile, Kasumi rolled sideways, coming up ready to counter. Before she could get her guard up, however, Yuri had put on a sudden burst of speed and dashed through her defense with a cry of "Yuri, Cho Reppa!"
Ranma glanced sideways, and noticed Akane frowning when the Kobojutsu practitioner collapsed, unconscious.
"What do you think, Ranma?" A new voice came from behind them.
"Yo, Mousse!" The pigtailed martial artist moved to greet the myoptic amazon.
Mousse inclined his head in greeting. "I saw your first fight. Nice work."
"Thanks. So, when's your turn?"
"Two more fights. We're the last in this block."
"Cool."
"Wow, that's so much better than the Splitting Cat's Hairs!" Shampoo's shout caused both of them to look down at the ring to see what had caught the girl's attention.
"Ni-Hyaku Juu-Ni Katsu: Shinsoku non Norito-" Yuri's opponent, a woman with long black hair clad in the white robes of a Shinto priestess, spun, releasing a shadowy form that quickly solidified into a clone of herself.
"Whoa, that's way cool," Ranma noted, and Mousse nodded in agreement, equally impressed.
Yuri blocked the clone's attacks and leapt over it to rush her opponent. Her eyes widened when her fist connected with nothing but thin air, and she found three fingers jabbing into pressure points on her back.
"-Tenzui." Chizuru lifted her hand and bowed as Yuri slumped to the ground.
"Winner by knock-out, Kagura Chizuru!"
Taro blinked in shock. "Did she just create honest to God clones of herself?"
Ranma grinned and nodded. "She sure did."
"You're gonna try and emulate that technique, aren't you." Taro sighed at the eager look in the pigtailed boy's eyes.
"Yep."
"He'll probably have it down in four days or something," Mousse grumbled good-naturedly. While he still considered Ranma a rival in the martial arts, the Saotome boy's uncanny ability to observe, analyze, and duplicate – not to mention counter – new moves with frightening ease had his full respect.
Shampoo looked at them skeptically. "Nah. Two days, tops."
Kasumi smiled as the group around her husband laughed. Only a few weeks before, the pigtailed young man had been lost in his depression, devastated by the loss of Ukyo and Cologne. Seeing him chatting and laughing amongst his friends lifted a heavy weight off her shoulders, and she found herself enjoying the tournament as much as he was.
The genuinely happy expression on his face was a welcome change, and even just by watching she could feel his joy in displyaing his Art.
While Kasumi herself didn't have much of an interest in practicing martial arts, she had to admit she found a great pleasure in watching; maybe it was because she came from a family with deep roots in the Art, maybe it was her long exposure to one of the most brilliant martial artists she had ever met. Whatever the reason, Kasumi was glad she could share the joy of such an important aspect of Ranma's life.
Watching the battles in the arena below, she found herself looking forward to them, to seeing these carefully practiced and refined moves put to the test in a dance of unrivalled elegance.
Of course, none of those contestants down below could really compete with her husband, Kasumi thought with a smile.
"What are you thinking about, Kasumi-chan?" Nodoka's gentle voice brought the eldest Tendo daughter out of her musings.
Kasumi merely copied the redheaded woman's smile and glanced at her husband, who was chatting animatedly with Taro, Mousse, and Akane.
Nodoka chuckled at the sight of her happy child. "It's good to see him so alive again, isn't it."
"Yes." Kasumi's eyes wandered over to her mother-in-law. "What about you? You were with him, it must have been horrible."
Nodoka sighed tiredly, and for a moment Kasumi could see the pain in the older woman's eyes before she expertly masked it again.
"It wasn't anything I haven't seen before," she finally replied. "The battle we fought at Jusendo was just as hard four years ago than it was a month ago. War is ugly, Kasumi-chan, but unfortunately, it's a part of life."
"Yes, but no one died back then."
Nodoka's eyes bored into Kasumi with such an intensity that the brunette practically felt the Saotome matriarch look into her soul.
"A lot of people died in those few days, Kasumi-chan. We were lucky enough that it wasn't anyone we know. We weren't as lucky this time." The elder woman sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry, Kasumi-chan. I know you didn't mean it like that."
"That's quite all right, auntie. And you're right, we were very lucky that time." Kasumi shuddered, remebering the horror of the few days they had spent under constant siege at Jusendo a few years ago.
"It was a lot harder for Ranma than for me," Nodoka admitted. "What I saw was the death of two good people. What he saw was the death of his sister and grandmother."
Kasumi nodded. "He's been coping with it remarkably well. We all miss Ukyo and Cologne-san, but he's grown especially close to them the last few years. I don't know what Howard-san told him, but I'm grateful it worked."
"He shouldn't be, though," Nodoka sighed.
"What?"
"Don't get me wrong, Kasumi-chan. I thank Kami-sama every day that he's doing so well, but he's so young." Nodoka smiled sadly. "The kami have graced me with a wonderful son. Ranma is so much stronger than I or his father ever were; he's survived so much and is still a good person, he's never given up. But he's so young, Kasumi-chan. He's barely even twenty, and he's already been through more than most of us go through in a lifetime. He shouldn't have to deal with death so often, so early."
"That's true," Kasumi agreed. "But I thank the kami every day that Ranma-kun is the kind of person he is. Anyone else would have surrendered long ago. You should be proud of him, auntie."
"I am, Kasumi-chan." Nodoka wiped a lone tear from her eyes. "I'm so very proud of him," she whispered.
"Mom? Kasumi? What's wrong?"
Nodoka quickly put on a smile at her son's concerned voice. "Nothing, son." She could see in his eyes that he didn't completely buy it. Her smile broadened. "Did I ever tell you how proud I am of you, Ranma?"
The pigtailed boy blinked in surprise, having missed the conversation between the two women. "Uh, yeah, you have, mom."
Kasumi looked on with a soft smile as Nodoka pulled her son into a hug. "Don't ever forget it."
"Mom?"
"Yes, my son?" Nodoka started at the emotion in her son's eyes, realizing that he, too, had been thinking about Ukyo and Cologne.
"Thanks."
That one word somehow managed to convey a world of meaning to Nodoka. The Saotome matriarch suddenly found it difficult to speak, but she didn't have to. Ranma tightened his hold on her for a moment before pulling back.
"Hey, kid."
Mother and son turned around at Iori's call. The redhaired man was standing next to a woman Ranma recognized as the last fighter in the ring. She stepped forward and bowed to both in greeting.
"Ranma-kun, Saotome-san, it's a pleasure to meet you."
"Kagura-san, right?" Nodoka inclined her head in response.
"That is correct."
"So, what's up, Iori?" Ranma asked after returning the priestess's greeting as well.
Iori shrugged. "Not a clue. I was hanging around downstairs when she asked to meet you."
All eyes went to the priestess, who was staring at Ranma.
The pigtailed boy chuckled nervously under her scrutiny. "Uh...okay,. So, what can I do for you?"
Chizuru smiled after a few tense moments. "I'm one of the hosts of the tournament, along with Howard-san and Rugal. I've heard quite a few rumors about your accomplishments, but frankly, some of us found them hard to believe. I came to meet you in person."
Ranma shrugged. "It really doesn't bother me what they believe."
Chizuru's smile widened. "So, what do you think of this year's tournament?"
"It's really great to be here. I've been following this tournament ever since '94, but I never thought I'd actually take part in it."
Kasumi nodded. "We were really surprised when Howard-san showed up with the invitations."
"From what I've seen of you so far, Howard-san made an excellent decision in inviting you and your friends. You're an exceptional fighter, Ranma-kun," Chizuri chuckled at the boy's blush.
"Winner by knock-out, Wolfgang Krauser!" The crowd below roared in response to the announcement.
"I'm the best," Ranma shrugged.
"So modest, too." Chizuru inclined her head. "I actually came to ask you to keep an eye out for Rugal."
"Why's that?" So the captain of the Black Noah was a bit of a con artist, and harder to hold on to than a fresh water eel, but Ranma was wondering what made him so dangerous that he had to keep an eye on him.
Chizuri frowned. "Last year he tried to blow us up along with his ship."
"You're kidding."
"Unfortunately, no."
"But why?!"
"He was obsessed with accumulating power," Chizuru shot Iori a pointed look before continuing. "He seems to have mellowed out somewhat, but you never know."
Ranma swung around to Iori. "Did you know about this?"
"I was there, kid," Iori smirked.
"And you didn't tell me!?"
"Hey, getting off that ship before it blew up was the fun part."
"Only you would think so, Yagami," Chizuru sighed, leaving Ranma to wonder what kind of madman he had teamed up with.
"You let my mother and my wife get on a ship with a crazy guy who tried to blow you all to hell last year!"
"Oh, don't take it so seriously, son," Nodoka giggled at the murderous glare her son was sending Iori. "Bernstein-san is not going to be blowing up any ships anytime soon."
"How do you know, mom?"
"Let's just say this ship was raised and repaired by a friend of the family." The smirk on the Saotome matriarch's face was so devious Ranma found himself shuddering involuntarily.
"Rugal definitely isn't going to do anything, if he knows what's good for him." Geese cracked his knuckles as he came up the stairs followed by his two teammates.
The modern pirate sent him a dirty look. "Don't have to rub it in, Howard. Orochi-blood or not, I can still kick your ass."
"Get in line, Rugal, he's mine first." Terry grinned as he and his team passed by the Boss team on their way down into the arena.
"Looking forward to seeing you down there, Bogard. Of course, you have to make it to the finals, first," Geese smirked.
Terry merely waved back at them before vanishing down the stairway.
"That was quick," Iori commented while Geese, Rugal, and a tall blonde man, who had more muscles than any of Nerima's inhabitants had ever seen, settled down.
"They're good, but they're still children. Mere amateurs playing at being warriors," the heavily muscled man replied. "Wolfgang Krauser, at your service," he introduced himself, bowing deeply at the waist at Kasumi and Nodoka. "It's a pleasure to meet such beautiful women."
Introductions were exchanged, and Krauser noticed with an amused smirk that Ranma had wrapped a protective arm around his wife.
The group passed the rest of the day in idle chat while watching the fights below. Herb's two retainers, Lime and Mint, put up a decent fight and managed to defeat a kunoichi by the name of Shiranui Mai, but eventually lost to her enraged husband Andy. Ranma had to admit, the two were the weirdest ninja he had ever seen.
The dragon prince himself, however, mananged to not only take out Andy, but also fought his older brother to a draw. It seemed that even amongst the world-class fighters here, Herb's ability to fly and his innate skill at manipulating ki gave him an incredible edge.
The fight ended when Terry managed to connect with a lucky shot; when Herb recovered from the Burn Knuckle, the fight was over – his left foot had landed outside the ring.
Mousse excused himself from the observing group when his team was called out, and Ranma could clearly see the excitement shining behind the amazon's glasses.