Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū Tenka'ichi Budōkai
By: JaquiK
Chapter 1: A New Student And A Different Kind Of Lesson
Kame-Sen'nin, the Turtle Hermit, stood on the beach of his small island and watched as the Kinto'un sped off to the horizon with his two potential students riding it. Well, one of them was actually riding; the other was just hanging on for dear life.
It seemed that word was spreading around about the other name he went by: Muten-Roshi. Twice in the same day he had someone come to his island asking to receive his martial art teachings. First was the strange young boy with a monkey tail named Goku, although now the tail was somehow missing. He was quite excited to follow in his grandfather's path. Shortly after was the almost as strange young monk named Kuririn. His motivation of wanting to be popular with the girls wasn't quite as pure, but at least the boy had decent taste.
Yes, as strange as they were, they would certainly make for interesting disciples, as long as they could pass their test of course.
The hermit wearing a turtle shell on his back started to go back into his house when something out in the distance caught his eye. Something in the water quickly approaching. "What? That meddling Turtle isn't back early, is he?" Roshi grumbled. However, it quickly became apparent that the approaching object was a boat, inside of which was a large man in a dirty white gi and headscarf sitting with his arms folded. Ahead of the boat, there looked to be someone swimming in the water keeping pace ahead of it. Not getting run over would be a decent motivator Roshi supposed. Something about the scene in front of him wasn't adding up though. After a few more seconds of relative silence, it hit him. There was no sound of a motor for the boat.
Looking closer, he could see a rope at the front leading towards the swimmer. Yes, this mysterious person seemed to actually be pulling the boat along with them. Roshi continued to watch as the swimmer reached shore and crawled onto the beach, a rope tied around their waist. They stayed on their hands and knees trying to catch their breath, bright red hair covering their eyes. The Turtle Sage didn't pay attention to any of that, nor the boat that was also reaching shore. No, all he was focused on was the person's red short sleeved shirt clinging to their body, making it very obvious that she was a young woman.
Before Roshi could say anything, he was stopped by the man in the boat who quickly bowed before him. "Oh, you must be The Muten Roshi, The Invincible Old Master!" the man exclaimed.
"That's right. What, did someone put my name in the yellow pages or something?"
The man quickly jumped back to his feet. "Oh no. I learned about your greatness from my old master Hap…" He stopped, then leaned forward whispering the last part. "...from the grandmaster of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts."
It took a few seconds for the name to fully click. "Oh, you mean little Happy? Yeah, I remember that kid. He wanted to train under me too. Had good taste and healthy enthusiasm, but I drew the line at thievery. I mean really, stealing underwear from poor women, what was he thinking? You're supposed to go up and politely ask them for it, like a gentleman. For example…"
Roshi looked over to the redhead who was still on the ground. She had managed to untie the rope from her torso, but was still catching her breath and hacking up seawater. "Uh, perhaps another time. Anyway, I take it you're here for training? Well I have two potential students already. So…"
"Oh, no! It's not for me," the man quickly interrupted. "I want you to provide your amazing, masterful, better than anyone else training to my son."
"I see. Well the polite thing to do would have been to bring him with you so I could reject him to his face."
"Wait, wait! I have him right here." The man went over and hoisted the red haired girl to her feet. "I present to you, my son!"
Roshi looked again at the red shirt still clinging tightly to the girl's torso. "Um, I think I have some news for you."
"Do you have any hot water?" the man quickly asked.
"What? Yeah, sure. You can get some from my kitchen sink."
"Ah, perfect." He ran into the house.
Roshi turned back to the girl who was looking at the ground and nervously tugging on her long red ponytail. He glanced over to the boat on the shore, then back to her. "So, when did you lose the oars to your boat?"
"Huh?" The girl looked up, confused.
"You know. Since you needed to pull the boat part of the way here."
"Oh. Actually, I did that all the way from the mainland."
Roshi blinked a couple of times, although it couldn't be seen under his sunglasses. "That so."
"Yeah. Pops said it would be good practice for your training."
"I see. 'Pops', huh? So that man really is your father?"
The girl mumbled out, "unfortunately."
"Seems to be under the impression he has a son."
"Um, yeah," the girl replied, nervous again. "About that…"
Anything else that was going to be said was immediately stopped by a cascade of water splashing on her. Roshi was about to say something, but stopped when he saw the girl suddenly…change. Shooting up several centimeters. Hair darkening to black. Shoulders broadening and chest, well, flattening.
"There, see?" the man said while brandishing a bucket. "The boy was careless and picked up a curse in Jusenkyo. But just a little hot water turns him right back to normal."
"Hmm," Roshi mumbled out. "Damn shame that."
"Yeah," the now young man replied. "Once cold water finds me I turn right back into a girl. Then I have to go and find hot water again."
"Oh," Roshi said, brightening. "Your situation isn't that bad after all." He looked over to the boat once more, then up to the sky. "Well, at the very least this won't be boring. Yes, I think I will take you on as my disciple."
"Thank you so much, oh great master!" the man cried out, once again bowing before Roshi. I am truly and forever in your debt for this!"
"Well, the first thing you can do to repay me is get off my island. I have a student to teach."
"Oh, of course, your greatness!" the man said, jumping to his feet. "Oh, one more thing. Can you make sure he gets to the Tenka'ichi Budōkai in eight months?"
"The Number One Under The Heavens Tournament?" the boy asked in surprise. "That's like the greatest tournament in the world! All the best martial arts masters are supposed to be there!"
"Indeed," Roshi replied. "So I hope you have properly tempered your expectations. At your age, aiming for the title would be a fool's errand."
"Ah, but that's where you come in," the man said with a laugh. "With your legendary training, he is sure to excel. Right, boy?"
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," the young man grumbled out.
"Exactly," the man said as he climbed into the boat and pulled out a couple of oars hidden in the bottom. "Now, show me how much of a good son you are and give me a push.
With a sigh, the young man shoved the boat back into the sea, wading into the water causing him to turn back into the busty redheaded girl from earlier.
As the man rowed away, he called out, "I'm expecting great things from you, so you better not disappoint me, boy!"
Roshi waited until the man was completely out of sight before addressing the once again girl. "Is he always like that?"
"Eh, I think today was one of his better days. Oh, um, I'm very grateful for you to teach me, uh, sir."
"Well, don't thank me yet. You haven't seen the training you'll be going through. Now, let's go inside. I have some important business to take care of, then we'll see if you'll be having any fellow trainees. Oh, I almost forgot! I haven't gotten your name yet."
"Oh, right. My name is Saotome Ranma. Sorry 'bout that."
Ranma smiled and stretched, combing a hand through his damp black hair as he looked around at the large island that would be his training grounds for the next several months. At the very least, it was much larger than his new teacher's tiny island which they just traveled from. He gave a nod as he returned the kettle to the young woman standing next to him. "Thanks a lot for the hot water, Lunch."
"Oh, it was no problem at all, Ranma," the woman named Lunch kindly replied. He couldn't help but think that she really was a very sweet girl, at least during the times she wasn't a violent maniac. The fact that she would change from a gentle brunette to an angry blond and back again each time she sneezed was more than a little worrying. Silently, Ranma wondered if changing by sneezing would be better or worse than his current water of different temperature method. He did need to reassure everyone that his change wasn't the same as hers since he didn't actually become a different person. Although, for some reason, when he explained that he felt a slight itch in the back of his mind.
"Okay," Muten Roshi called out. "Now that we're all set up here, how about we get some quick training in before dinner, eh?"
"What an absolutely brilliant idea, Sensei. We are truly honored," Kuririn said, bowing slightly. Ranma rolled his eyes at the annoyance of the young monk's continued exaggerated praise. It reminded him a bit too much of his pops.
"Oh, wow!" came a voice from up high above. "There are other houses on this island. This is amazing!"
Ranma looked up at the spiky haired kid named Goku currently riding his flying cloud. That boy seemed to be in awe of everything he came across. Well, almost everything. Oddly, meeting two people in a row that transformed didn't actually impress him all that much.
"Of course there are other houses," Muten Roshi called up. "About 300 people live here. Now get down! We have training to do!"
Goku quickly jumped off his cloud, landing on the ground without issue. "Alright, training at last!" he called out, once again displaying that childlike excitement and innocence. Ranma still couldn't believe this kid was 14, only a year younger than him.
After a near miss with an almost sneeze, the three students found themselves in a small prairie. "Okay," Roshi said, "before we get to training, Kuririn, do you have any martial arts knowledge?"
"Yes, great master," Kuririn said with a grin. "I trained at the Orin Temple for eight years."
"I see. And Ranma, did you get any teachings?"
"Oh sure," Ranma casually replied. "Pops has been training me for as long as I can remember."
"So all three of you at least have a grasp of the fundamentals," Roshi continued. "Well, let's see what you got then. It's exactly one hundred meters from this boulder here to that tree over there. How many seconds will it take you to run it? Obviously, being fast doesn't automatically make you a master martial artist, but it's still good to have."
Kuririn went first, completing the run in 10.4 seconds. Goku, after a change of shoes, did it in 8.5. Finally, it was Ranma's turn. He did a couple of casual stretches, then got in position, ready to show them what he could do. At the signal, he dashed quickly to the finish line. "So, how was that?" he asked with a smirk.
"8.7 seconds," Roshi declared.
"Oh wow!" Goku exclaimed. "Was that better or worse than mine?"
Ranma's smirk turned to a frown. "Let me try again. I know I can do better."
"Oh, you're going to complain now?" Kuririn grumbled. "Your shoes look perfectly fine to me."
"Actually, I think that's a good idea," Roshi said. "Although, with one little change." He then tossed an object over to Ranma.
The ponytailed boy blinked as he looked at what he caught. "A water bottle? Wait, you don't mean…"
"Of course. It's important that we test out your other form as well."
"What's the point, though? We all know it won't be as good."
"Oh? So you've already checked this yourself?"
"Well, no, but I shouldn't need to. We all know girls are just weaker."
"We do, eh?"
"Yeah. My pops is telling that to me all the time."
"Why don't you go and show me then?"
"Oh good," Kuririn said. "Looks like I won't be in last place after all." Ranma glared at the young monk for that remark.
A change in form and a change of shoes later, a redheaded Ranma was once again at the small boulder that was the starting line. Even if he wasn't going to get near his other time, at the very least he could out do that annoying kiss up. He took a deep breath to prepare himself and tried to ignore the memories of his father's chastisements currently going through his mind.
"This is a waste of time, boy!"
He shook his head to clear it and got into a ready position. At Roshi's signal, he ran towards the tree that was his goal.
"What do you think you're doing? We're supposed to be training. Change back from that weak form right now so we can get started!"
Ranma grit his teeth and pushed himself harder, even knowing it wouldn't be nearly as impressive.
"You're supposed to be my manly son, not some weak little girl. Start acting like a man!"
Finally after what felt like forever, he reached the finish line. Taking a few quick breaths, he gasped out, "There. See what I mean?"
"8.3"
"Yeah, exactly. I…what?" Ranma looked over in surprise.
"This time you completed the run in 8.3 seconds," Roshi declared.
"Oh neat. That's good too, right?" Goku asked.
"Goku, you shouldn't be happy. We both got beat by a girl!" Kuririn lamented.
"Huh?" Goku looked over to Kuririn in confusion. "Is that a bad thing?"
Ranma wasn't paying attention to what his fellow students were saying. He was still staring forward in shock. "I…I was faster?"
"Is it really that big of a surprise?" Roshi asked. "You did manage to swim all the way to my island after all."
"Y-yeah, but…Pops alway said…"
"Ah, so your father is correct about everything then?"
"What? No, of course not!" Ranma said, snapping out of his shock. "Pops is an idiot!"
"But you still think he's right about this?"
"I…" Ranma blinked, then looked down at the ground. "I guess not."
"You did exceptionally well, Ranma. In both of your forms. In fact, all three of you were quite amazing. However, you are still within human limits. For you to become true masters of martial arts, you will need to break past that wall. That will be your challenge."
Roshi took off the turtle shell he was wearing and handed the stopwatch he was using to Kuririn. "Here. Clock my time for me." He then casually walked over to the boulder and called out, "Ready to go!"
At Kuririn's signal, Roshi shot forward like out of a cannon, reaching the finish line in a flash. "So, how many seconds was that?" he asked.
"Fuh…five p-point…si…six…" Kuririn managed to stammer out.
"5.6, huh? Not too bad for an old timer," Roshi commented as he put the turtle shell back on. "Now that is what I mean by breaking through the wall of human limits. Why, at your age and with proper training and discipline, you can run 100 meters under 5 seconds easily!"
"You really mean that, sir?" Ranma asked.
"Of course, Ranma m'girl," Roshi said with a laugh. "With my training, you'll be pulling off amazing feats in both of your forms."
"Wow, that's great! Um, I'm still a guy though."
"Oh, sorry about that, m'boy."
Ranma grumbled as he walked along the beach near the house, the light of the waning moon giving a bit of illumination to the dark ocean water and his currently red hair. "Stupid tree branch making me miss out my meal." His stomach grumbled back in agreement. If it wasn't for that tree getting in his way, he would have brought back the rock that Roshi sent them to find and gotten the reward of dinner. That fish smelled so good too. The sweet taste of fugu along with the even sweeter taste of victory would have more than made up for the food poisoning.
"Hey, Ranma!"
He turned towards the voice to see a figure running up to him. "Oh, hey Goku. Here to complain about a certain cheating monk?"
"Huh? No. Is that why you're up this late?"
"Nah, just couldn't sleep with the sounds of everyone else throwing up. What about you?"
"Oh, there's something bugging me and I wanted to ask you."
"Sure. What is it?"
"When you're in this form, are you a boy or a girl?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, Kuririn and the old man were calling you a girl earlier."
Ranma rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm still a guy right now, okay?"
"Really?"
"Yes!" Ranma said in annoyance as he continued to walk down the beach.
"So you do have balls right now!" Goku exclaimed, causing the redhead to trip and fall onto the sand.
"W-what?!" Ranma shrieked as he slowly got up into a sitting position.
"Well, you said you were still a boy in this form. So that means you still have a thingie, right?"
"I…um…actually I don't."
"Huh? But you said-"
"Look, I'm a guy. No matter what form I'm in and no matter what's between my legs, I'm always a guy. Got it?"
"Really?" Goku looked down in brief thought. "You can be a boy even if you don't have balls?"
Ranma was about to automatically refute that with the basic biology his father taught him, but he stopped himself. After all, with the body he currently had he was pretty much a walking contradiction to his father's lesson. "Yeah, I guess so," he muttered out.
"Oh wow," Goku said as he sat down on the beach. "So does that mean someone can be a girl even if they have balls?"
"I…maybe?"
"Oh, neat. But then, how do you know if you're a boy or a girl?"
"Look, I just do, alright?! Just like how you know you're a boy."
"Well, my grandpa told me I was a boy because I had a thingie." Goku looked down at the sand. "Do you think maybe Grandpa could have been wrong too?"
Ranma didn't answer right away, instead looking out over the waters. Of course Ranma knew he was a guy. It was obvious. In fact, he was going to be a man among men. It was what he was born to be. It was what he was trained to become. Even if his father was an idiot, everyone else he met on his training trip at least agreed on that part. Even if there were days where being a man felt like a challenge and a hardship, there were just as many days where it felt perfectly natural.
"Look, Goku, I…" Ranma paused as he found Goku fast asleep on the sand. He gave a small, resigned smile as he watched the boy gently snoring. "Sorry, kid. You're a bit mistaken. I'm sure you'll figure out the truth of the world eventually."
Ranma sat on the edge of a cliffside, watching the setting sun. Another day of training was complete. Already a month in, and he certainly could feel it. Milk delivery across the entire island, digging fields bare handed, construction work, swimming in shark infested water, dodging hornets. Those last two reminded him a bit of training with his father, mostly the times he had to run from packs of wolves or stampeding triceratops or angry shopkeepers. Oddly, while his new master's training was much more intense, it was also oddly…less life threatening. The parts with resting and studying were also big departures from the training he was used to.
The most annoying part of this whole thing to him, though, was the twenty kilo turtle shell he had to wear all the time. With it on, he wasn't able to lie on his back to watch the sky. He gave a quick glare to the house sized boulder sitting in the middle of the field, mocking him with its stationariness. If he wanted a chance to learn any special moves from the old man, he'd need to move that thing. Even after this much training though, he still hadn't been able to budge it a centimeter.
"Hey, Ranma!"
The dark haired boy looked over. "Oh, hey Goku. What's up?"
"You remember that whole thing about how you know if you're a boy or a girl?"
"So, you finally figured it out by yourself, huh?"
Goku gave a big grin with a hand on the back of his head. "Well, not really. So I went and asked everyone else about it."
Ranma gave a slight smile at that. 'Yeah, makes sense.' he thought. 'The kid didn't even realize he's actually 12 until the old man taught him math. Well, at least they'll be able to set him straight.' "So, what did they tell you?"
"Well, Kuririn said he's a boy because he knows he is. Lunch said the same thing about being a girl. The nice Lunch said that anyway. The mean Lunch just said it wasn't any of my business and shot at me a bunch of times."
"Makes sense. And I suppose Roshi said the same thing?"
"No, the old man said a bunch of stuff about my heart and that I should go with how I feel."
"Yeah, I guess he would say something like that. So, what did your heart decide to tell you?"
"Well…" Goku paused for a moment. "I thought a bunch about what my heart was saying and…"
"Yeah?"
"I don't think I'm actually a boy."
Ranma blinked a few times. "Wait. Are…are you saying that you're a girl?"
Goku looked down and the ground for a bit, then looked up, arms behind head, one leg crossed over the other. "Nah. Don't really feel like that either."
Ranma quickly picked himself back up off the ground. "Goku, you sort of need to be one of those."
"Are you sure? Maybe there's another one that we don't know about!"
"I…well…what do you actually feel like then?"
"I feel…like Goku. Oh, can I be that?"
"I mean…" Ranma wanted to disagree, but every argument instantly died in his throat. "I guess?" He looked down at himself with a contemplative expression.
"Really? That's great!" Goku exclaimed. "Oh, is your heart telling you something too?"
Ranma gave a sigh. This was something he learned long ago not to bring up. Whenever he hinted at it in the past, he'd just end up with his father yelling at him for half an hour. This was Goku though.
"For as long as I could remember, there were times where this body-" He gestured down to his current dark haired form. "-didn't feel quite right to me. I didn't get why, especially because there were other times where it felt perfectly fine. Then I got my Jusenkyo curse. I figured I should have hated that different body all the time. That…girl body. But the exact same thing happened. There are days where that form feels just a bit off. But there are just as many days where it feels…natural."
"Really? That's weird," Goku said. "Oh! Maybe your heart can transform too!"
Ranma blinked and looked over. "My heart?"
"Yeah! I bet the old man can figure it out for you."
Ranma looked back down at himself again. "Goku, do you think maybe I'm-"
"Oh hey! I can smell dinner!" Goku exclaimed, running to the house.
"Oh no, you're not getting food before me, you brat," Ranma called back, while chasing after.
Ranma smirked, leaning against the giant boulder along with Kuririn.
"Look!" Goku excitedly said as they dragged Roshi over.
"Yeah, it's a boulder. What about it?" Roshi said as he looked up at the massive rock.
"Great master, we can move it now!" Kuririn exclaimed.
"Check it out," Goku said as they put their hands up against the 10 meter tall stone. They pushed with all their might and the boulder moved over more than a full meter.
"Now me," Kuririn said. "I can't push it quite as far though." He proceeded to demonstrate, pushing the huge rock almost the length of a meter.
"My turn now," Ranma said, going up to the boulder and pushing with full force, causing the rock to also move a full meter.
"There, see?" Goku said.
"Wait, I better show what my other form can do," Ranma interrupted, taking out a bottle of water and pouring it overhead. The now redhead pushed against the giant rock, causing it to shift once again, this time slightly over one meter."
"Oh cool, you pushed it even more that time!" Goku said with excitement.
"Yeah, I did. Maybe that's just because it's a girl day for me today," Ranma replied, smiling down at her friend.
"Alright, we did it old man," Goku said to Roshi. "Now will you teach us fighting moves?"
Roshi looked over his students with amazement. "I'll be perfectly honest. There really isn't much more I can teach you."
"What?" The three exclaimed.
"All the basics of the Kame-Sen'nin School are built into the very training you have been doing for the past seven months. It may not have occurred to you yet, but your eyes, your fists, your feet, your entire bodies, even your minds have been forged and refined like steel."
"And our hearts too," Ranma said, a smile on her lips.
Roshi gave a nod in the redhead's direction. "Yes, and your hearts as well. Martial arts is much more than just fancy moves. One's goal should not be about victory over an opponent. Instead, one should work to avoid defeat by their own self. This is what you must train yourselves for, based on what you have learned.
"I do not expect any of you to win the upcoming Tenka'ichi Budōkai and neither should you. Instead, use it as an opportunity to test your abilities and learn from others. Now, for this last month you will continue the training you've already been doing. Except you won't have to wear those 20 kilo shells anymore."
"Really, you mean that, sir?" Ranma asked with a sigh of relief.
"Yup, now you'll be wearing these spiffy 50 kilo shells," Roshi proudly declared as his three students collapsed on the ground.
