Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū Tenka'ichi Budōkai

By: JaquiK

Chapter 2: Off To The Tournament!

Soon enough, it was the day before the tournament and the three students were gathered by Muten Roshi's house. "Alright," the Turtle Hermit said, dressed in a suit and hat, "it's time for us to head out to the tournament. Which means you three can literally come out of your shells now."

"You know, I'm still just a guy," Kuririn grumbled while removing the heavy shell from his back.

"Yeah well, nobody's perfect," Ranma responded with a grin as the currently dark haired, currently boy took off his own shell. He took a step and managed to barely catch himself as he quickly stumbled forward. "Huh?"

"Woah, my body feels so light!" Goku commented with wonder.

"Why don't you try jumping as high as you can?" Roshi suggested.

The three did so, and found themselves rapidly ascending high into the air, the figures of Roshi, Lunch and the house all appearing smaller and smaller below them.

"What the?" Ranma said.

"Are we?" Kuririn continued.

"Really flying?" Goku finished.

As if in response, they all reached the apex of their jump and fell back to earth, landing without issue.

"That was amazing!" Kuririn exclaimed.

"Yeah it was…wait, let me try something," Ranma said, pulling out a water bottle and pouring it over his head. The now redhead took another leap, soaring high into the air before landing back down gracefully. "This is great!" he yelled out. A grin developed on his face. "Hey, Goku?"

"Huh, what is it?" Goku asked.

Ranma slowly leaned down towards the spiky haired martial artist as if to ask a question, before quickly tapping them on their nose and dashing away. "Tag!"

"Hey! No fair!" Goku called out, chasing after.

"Wait for me!" Kuririn said, following behind.

"Enough of that now, we have a plane to catch soon!" Roshi called out.

Once the three students were gathered again, Roshi pulled out some boxes. "Since we'll be traveling, I went and got you all fancy suits for the trip." He gave a box each to Goku and Kuririn. "These should be in your size. Go and get changed quickly."

"Okay!" The two smaller martial artists said before going into the house.

Roshi then turned towards Ranma with a box in each hand. "Now, since you have your two different forms, I took the liberty of getting something a little special for you for this form," he said, indicating the box in his right hand.

Ranma simply looked at his master with a half-lidded glare before grabbing just the box in Roshi's left hand and calmly storming into the house.

"Hmph," Roshi said with a snort. "So much for gratitude."

Soon, Goku and Kuririn came out in their new suits and matching hats.

"Heh, you look funny," Goku commented.

"Look who's talking," Kuririn responded.

"Hey, I don't think it's so bad. At least once I adjust it a little," a still red-haired Ranma said, looking for all the world like a kid dressed up in their older brother's clothes.

"Huh?" Goku looked up, confused. "I thought you said today was a guy day for you?"

"It is," Ranma said with a smile. "I just figured I could use the extra leg room."


The next day, they arrived at the location where the 21st Tenka'ichi Budōkai would be held. To Ranma, the front grounds with its rows of vendor booths selling souvenirs and snacks reminded her somewhat of the occasional festival she was allowed to go to when her old man was really impressed with her training. Silently she wondered if there would be any time for her to score some free eats.

"Woah, I had no idea there are this many people in the world!" Goku said with amazement.

Kuririn seems just as overwhelmed. "Yeah, and how many of them do you think are contestants?"

"Alright, that's enough rubbernecking. Let's get you to the qualifying rounds," Roshi said.

As they walked to their destination, Goku leaned over to Ranma. "Hey, so didja figure out what you're gonna do?"

Ranma sighed and shook her head. For quite some time now, the question was what form would she end up competing in. While she would love to test her mettle in both forms, she suspected the judges would believe she was two different people and disqualify her for it, so she needed to pick one. One would think being in a girl mood would give the answer there. The problem with that was of course her old man was going to be in the audience. As fun as it would be to show off just what a girl could do, could she really afford the distraction of him yelling at her constantly throughout her fights?

Her contemplations were suddenly interrupted as she found herself at the registration table. The two men running the booth seemed slightly confused at the two young kids announcing they were entering the tournament. "You two boys are seriously planning to compete?"

"I'm not a boy, I'm Goku. And I'm definitely here to fight," the spiky haired youth said with enthusiasm.

"We'll try at least," Kuririn said with noticeably less enthusiasm.

The lead registrar then turned towards Ranma. "And what about you, miss?"

"Oh! Um, I…" Right, if she signed up in her girl form then showed up later as a guy, she'd probably be in trouble. Maybe she could say she was registering her brother. Would that be allowed?

"Hey, quick question," Roshi said. "Transformations aren't actually against the rules, correct?"

"Transformations?" The official asked. "You mean, like a mecha?"

"What? No no," Ranma quickly responded. "It's just that I'm able to, well, turn into a boy."

The official blinked a couple of times, then turned towards his assistant, who merely shrugged. "If it doesn't involve anything like a weapon or lethal force, then I guess there's no issue with it," he finally said.

"Really?" Ranma said as the relief washed over her. "Alright then. My name is Saotome Ranma and I'm here to kick some ass."

As they passed the registration booth, Roshi turned to address them. "Alright, this is as far as I can take you. Just go out and do your best."

"Yes sir!" All three said.

"Ah, right. I almost forgot," Roshi continued, pulling out a suitcase. "You probably don't want to go out fighting in those suits, so I have your fighting outfits here for you."

A quick change later and the three students checked themselves out in their new uniforms. The Turtle School gi consisted of a reddish orange sleeveless shirt and matching pants complete with a black belt to hold them together. A small patch with the Turtle School logo was included on the front of the shirt while a larger version of the logo was present on the back.

"Woah, this is so cool!" Goku exclaimed.

"Yeah, I just hope I'm worthy of it," Kuririn said.

"Oh, we totally got this," Ranma said with a grin. "The crowd's gonna love us."

"Well, keep in mind that only the eight that make it through the qualifiers will actually be fighting in front of the audience," Roshi reminded them. "I'll be watching from there, so if I get to see you, I'll have no complaints."

As the three young martial artists made their way to the competition hall, Ranma suddenly slammed her fist into her palm. "I got it!"

"Got what?" Goku asked.

Ranma casually placed her hands behind her head as she continued to walk. "I'll fight the qualifiers in my girl form, and then do the fights in front of the crowd in my guy form. That way I get to fight as both and I don't have to worry about my Pops buggin' me about it. It's perfect!"

"Yeah, but that depends on actually making it through the qualifiers," Kuririn said.

"Oh come on, how bad could it possibly…be…" Ranma trailed off as they entered the massive hall.

All around them were martial artists and other fighters of every shape and size, mostly on the larger scale. Humans and animal people wearing various gis, boxing gear, and other types of fighting outfits.

"All these are the other fighters?" Goku asked.

"Maybe we rushed things a little," Kuririn muttered.

"Hey, don't worry. We still got this," Ranma said. Looking up at one of the contestants who was at least twice her height, she absent mindedly tied her ponytail up into a tight, pigtail style braid. "We'll just have to fight a little harder, is all," she finished in a quieter voice.

As they went further in, they saw an older looking official get onto the nearest competition stage with a microphone. "Greetings, contestants," he said. "For the past five years, you have all been training to compete for the title of 'Number One Under The Heavens'. This year we have a total of 145 entries from all across the globe. However, only the top eight will be going on to the final rounds."

"A hundred…and forty…five?!" Kuririn stammered out.

"Huh," Goku muttered.

Ranma barely heard the official going over the rules. Instead she looked over the sea of people, every one of them most likely a martial arts master. As she did so, there was only one thought going through her head.

'I want to fight all of them.'

The qualifiers were made up of four blocks with two brackets in each block, the winner of each bracket going on the tournament proper. Everyone went and drew numbers to determine their spot.

The three stood by the large sign on the wall showing the full brackets and each checked their number.

"Okay, I got '95'," Kuririn said. "So that puts me in block 3."

"Hmmm, Goku said, carefully studying their number. "I got a '7' and then a '4'."

"Gah! That's also block 3! I don't want to fight you, Goku!"

"Relax," Ranma commented. "You're still in different brackets, so you're fine."

"What number did you get?" Goku asked.

"I got '18', so I'll be in block 1."

"Awww. I was hoping we'd all get to see each other fight."

"Hey, it's cool," Ranma said, looking over at the four large elevated platforms spread across the hall. "We should still be able to see each other from a distance. Besides, if we were all in the same block, that means at least one of us won't make it in the tournament."

"At this point, I'm starting to doubt if I'll even get past the first round," Kuririn muttered.

"Oh, come on," Goku said. "Remember all the stuff the turtle guy taught us."

"What stuff? That's what I'm worried about."

"Hey now, we're all going to do great," Ranma said with a reassuring grin. "I'll see you two after we get done kicking butt."

"Yeah!" Goku responded, before heading off with Kuririn in tow.

Ranma turned back to the wall and looked over the bracket she would be in. Due to the somewhat odd number of participants, it meant that a few would need to fight an extra round. And naturally, one of those few just happened to include Ranma. Not that she minded of course.

"Hi there!"

Ranma turned to see a girl about her age in a dark blue gi walk up . She couldn't help but notice the yellow ribbon in the girl's loosely tied back long bluish black hair swaying back and forth slightly as she approached. "Um, hi."

"So, you're competing too?"

"Yup, that's the plan."

"Oh, that's amazing," the girl said, flashing a smile that caused Ranma's chest to tighten up for some reason. "It's so great to see another girl my age in this tournament."

"Yeah, for sure," Ranma said, smiling back. "Hey, what number are you? Maybe we'll get a chance to fight."

"I'm '124' in block 4," she replied while looking over the crowd of other competitors.

"Darn, I'm '18' in block 1."

"Oh well. I guess we'll just have to settle for beating all these arrogant guys who think they're automatically better than us girls."

"Yeah, I guess so," Ranma said with a laugh, trying to ignore how not too long ago someone could have easily put her in that same category. She then blinked in confusion as the girl did another scan of the crowd. "Um, are you looking for someone?"

"Huh? Oh, it's just that there's this guy that's supposed to be at this tournament too. I've never actually met him, but…"

"But what?"

The girl hesitated before looking away slightly with an annoyed expression. "He's my fiancé."

"Your fiancé? But you said you never met the guy."

"My dad set it up. He doesn't have any sons, so this way he gets a male heir to our dojo."

"Yikes, that's rough. And this guy just went along with it, getting married to a girl he doesn't even know to inherit a dojo?"

"Seems so."

"Wow, he sounds like an absolute jerk," Ranma commented. "I hope you get to meet him in a match so you can whoop his punk ass!"

The girl gave a little smile at that. "Yeah. Here's hoping. I'd better get to my block before I miss my first fight. It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too. Hey, let's talk later, after we both qualify for the main tournament," Ranma said with a grin.

The other girl returned a grin of her own. "Yeah, for sure."

Ranma made it all the way to her own block before the realization hit her. "Oh crap, I forgot to get her name."

As she waited for her turn, she looked over at the other fights. She managed to spot Goku take out some big, burly guy with just a poke of their finger, although everyone else seemed to think the guy just tripped. That gave her some pause. Unfortunately, just as she saw the girl she met before take her stage for her fight, Ranma heard her own number called.

When she got onto the stage, she had to do a double take at the opponent across from her. A tall pretty boy standing in that annoying tall pretty boy pose. He was wearing, of all things, a kendo uniform and was holding a red rose in his hand.

"Um, you are aware that weapons aren't allowed in this thing, right?" she said.

The man gave a smirk which caused Ranma's skin to crawl. "Ah, but of course my fair maiden. For this is no mere weapon. Indeed, it is a token of my desires." He then threw the rose at Ranma, who caught in on instinct.

"Um, no, not that," Ranma said, still a bit perplexed as she casually tossed the rose away. "I mean if you're looking for a kendo tournament, you're kinda in the wrong place."

"Ah yes, 'tis a shame to not battle at my full splendor. Still, I fight on, to prove myself worthy for my true love and future bride. And soon the entire martial arts world shall bear witness to the glory that is Tatewaki, The Silver Wind, Tournament Entrant Number 17!"

Ranma just blinked at the absurd spectacle in front of her before the cogs began turning in her head. "Wait, true love? Future bride?! You're not talking about her, are you?" She gestured over to the stage where the girl from earlier was set to face off against some fox guy. The girl looked over their way, then gave a harsh glare to the annoying boy.

"Yes, indeed," the boy responded. "My fierce tigress. We shall both advance to the end and face each other in the finals. Then, once I achieve my victory over her, the stage of the tournament shall then be transformed into a stage for a wedding most glorious!"

"Uh huh," Ranma said, deadpan. "There's a big problem with that though. You have to get through me first."

"Hey, you two!" Yelled out the tournament official from the sidelines. "You're supposed to be fighting already. Hurry it up!"

The Tatewaki boy didn't seem to be listening though, only responding to Ranma's statement. "But of course, my fiery maiden. And when I defeat you, I'll allow you to become my mistress." He then charged forward, extending his arm out like he was performing a thrust with a sword.

Ranma gave a sigh and leapt in the air. Initially, her plan was to start light to test out her new skills. However, for this guy, she'd definitely make an exception. She landed deftly on the boy's outstretched arm with one foot and gave a snap kick to his chin with all her might with the other. She expected the strike to at least knock him all the way to the wall on the far side. Instead he flew, full force, right through the wall and off into the distance.

Everyone in attendance was stunned by what just happened, helped by the same thing happening to the opposite wall by Kuririn's opponent. Ranma just stood in amazement as the official stammered out her number as the victor. She looked over to the dark haired girl, who just stared back at her after finishing off her own opponent. It was all Ranma could do just to give a goofy smile and a thumbs up.