“Say, Kassy, what’s so funny?” Ranma asked as he got up onto the roof, not even looking up into the sky. He had to start training her somehow. He hadn’t trained her after school, since she seemed distracted by something, but may she could concentrate better now. “At least she’s in a good mood,” He thought to himself.
Kassy froze up for a moment, until the realization that Ranma didn’t know what as going on settled in. So, turning to her friend with a huge smile on her face, she told Ranma, “Let’s just say, Nabiki’s bad karma finally caught up with her.”
Ranma blinked his eyes, several times. “Ooookay...” He said slowly. Well, at least whatever happened to Nabiki really made her happy. “Well, you know that rematch in gym that’s coming up?”
Frowning, Kassy nodded her head. “Yeah, I remember...” She said seriously, instinctively moving a hand to her left side. It STILL hurt from when that okonomiyaki bitch had smashed her hard with her stick.
“Well...” He started. “I could train you for a rematch. Or at the very least help your reflexes some.” How he was going to do that without hurting her was something he hadn't figured out yet. The only training methods he knew of where those of the Old Ghoul’s, the pervert’s, and of course, his own bastard Panda of a parent. Ryoga and Akane had their own training methods, but those were for themselves, and his own training wasn't meant for most people.
Crossing her arms over her chest, the skunk-eared girl nodded her head. “Sure... So, Ranma,” Kassy started, a smile on her face. “What shall we do first? Possibly teaching me to wield a hockey stick like a weapon?” As far as Kassy was concerned, she would have been happy enough to just knock some of that cross-dresser’s teeth out.
“I was thinking more of helping with your dodging first, then work with your weapon skills. Besides, knowing how to use a hockey stick like a sword does you no good if you can’t dodge an attack.” Ranma said, shrugging. Besides, Kassy didn’t move like she had any formal training, so best to try and help her dodge first, then work with weapons later. As much as Ranma hated to admit it, his Pops’ training methods were sound. The baka panda just couldn’t carry them out with any regard towards a person’s safety was all.
((TWELVE YEARS AGO))
“So Ranma... Ever see a game of dodge-ball?” Genma asked as he dragged a heavy burlap sack across an empty parking lot.
Nodding his head, Chibi-Ranma smiled happily. “Uh-huh!”
“Good!” Genma said as he stuck his hand into the sack and pulled out a metallic bar with two adjustable pieces on one end. “If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.”
Blinking his eyes as the wrench came flying towards him, all Chibi-Ranma could ask was, “Huh?”
*CLANG!*
And so, Ranma received the first of many blows to his head that would give the poor boy irreversible brain damage... Or at least major lacking in common sense.
((PRESENT))
Nodding her head to that, Kassy had to admit that made sense. “Okay. So, ‘sensei’,” She said that title with a small grin, “What shall we do for the first lesson?”
Ranma tapped his chin. He didn’t want to hurt Kassy, but she needed something to help give her incentive to dodge quickly. “Well...” He started, before shaking his head. “Come on. We should go to an abandoned lot and train there. More room to dodge.”
As he moved, not once did Ranma notice Nabiki’s image in the sky.
“Sure thing,” Kassy said, before squealing in delight as Ranma took her in his arms to jump off the roof with her held safely.
(------)
“WHAT A HAUL! WHAT A HAIL!” Happosai cackled as he ran across rooftops, his sack of stolen silken goodies held tightly as he bounded from here to there.
Yes, there was nothing that could stop Happosai in his latest panty-raid. NOTHING! No! Not the policemen! Not the mobs of women baring brooms, pitchforks, and torches! Not even that floating picture of Nabiki topless high above!
...Wait a second...
Back up, rewind...
Not even a floating picture of Nabiki topless high above!
Coming to a screeching halt, the old lecher turned his head to look up at the sky. Sniffling a little, Happosai took a pair of panties out of his sack of stolen goods to wipe his eye. “It’s beautiful...”
As he stopped to enjoy the image, Happosai didn’t realize the throngs of ladies empowered by their ‘Righteous Womanly Wrath’ were getting closer...
(------)
After a nice trek across Nerima, Ranma landed in one of the open lots of the district of Tokyo. It was a construction site, as evidenced by the incomplete buildings in the middle of the lot, just steel skeletal frames, no windows or floors yet. There were also a lot of metal and large rocks sticking into and out of the ground, respectively, as well as many small throwing stones.
Kassy pouted as the ride came to an end as Ranma placed her back down on her feet. The half-Salusian looked about, seeing all the incomplete construction here and there. “And what are we going to do here?” Kassy asked inquisitively as she looked at Ranma.
Ranma took a deep breath. “You see, Kassy. My father had a lot of half-baked schemes up his sleeve, but the ideas behind them were good.” He started. No need to scare the girl TOO badly just yet.
Nodding her head slowly, Kassy said, “All right...” She looked about some more and asked, “What does that have to do with a construction yard?”
“If you’re going to be able to fend off attacks from a hockey stick, or a giant spatula,” Ranma added as an after-thought, “You have to be able to dodge quickly,” He said, before bending down and picking up a few small rocks. He’d warn her before he actually threw them, at least at first.
Seeing Ranma pick up a few small rocks, Kassy started to get the idea. “You’re going to throw those at me, huh?”
Ranma nodded. “Yeah. It was either rocks or wrenches, and rocks are more plentiful.” He then shrugged. “Someone once said that if you can dodge a rock, you can dodge a sword.” The pigtailed martial artist frowned, remembering that it was his father that said that. He wondered if that was a good thing.
At those words, Kassy blinked her eyes once, twice, thrice. “Wrenches?”
To that, Ranma nodded his head. “Yeah. And personally, I’d rather use rocks,” He said, before holding up one of the smaller rocks. “You ready?”
Seeing Ranma hold a rock, Kassy’s muscles tensed. Slowly, the half-Salusian nodded her head. She was nervous, but she didn't think Ranma would try to hurt her. “Ready.”
*FLING*!
Ranma tossed the rock, at a moderate speed for him...
...Unfortunately, what was moderate for him was fast for most other people.
*PLAT*!
“OW!” Kassy shouted as the rock bounced off her forehead. The force was enough to knock the Salusian down on her ass. “Ow, ow, ow, ow...” The skunk-eared girl whined as she rubbed her forehead. Yee gods, that smarted!
Seeing the reaction that had attained, Ranma winced. “You okay?” He asked, nearly going up to her and trying to make the bruise better. He wasn't his father after all.
Kassy winced as Ranma touched the sore spot on her forehead. “Be more careful next time, will you?” She asked as she continued to rub the lump she could already feel forming. “I hope this doesn’t leave another bruise...”
His guilt gnawing at him for having hurt the skunk-eared cutie, Ranma visibly winced. “Sorry Kassy,” He then shook his head and sighed. “Look, I’ll slow down how fast I throw these rocks, but Ukyo and the other girls aren’t going to slow down how fast they swing their hockey sticks.” He said in warning. “Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ukyo did some special training to swing her stick faster.”
Kassy’s eyes widened considerably to those words of warning. That okonomiyaki fascist WOULD do something like that... The skunk-eared girl stood up quickly and looked straight into Ranma’s eyes. “Ranma...” She started seriously.
“Yeah?” Ranma asked, blinking in surprise. The seriousness in her eyes rivaled his own when he was trying to learn a new technique.
“How did YOU get so fast?” Kassy asked. “I want to do the same sort of training,” She said in utmost serious, not realizing what she was jumping into.
Ranma blinked once, then twice, before biting his lower lip. “You want to know?” He hesitantly asked.
Nodding her head firmly, Kassy told Ranma, “Yes.”
“Okay. Where to start?” After a moment, Ranma blinked as an answer came to him. “When I was five, pops tied a couch to my shoulders, and then sat on it, while he made me run through a swamp with wolves chasing me the whole time.”
((TWELVE YEARS AGO))
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!” Little Ranma cried as the wolf almost took a chuck off of his foot that time as it nipped at his heel.
Holding a bucket of KFC protectively, Genma frowned as the ride got a little bumpier. “Darn it, boy!” The fat oaf said as she shook a drumstick bone like a teaching tool. “You need to work on your balance. I almost lost the chicken that time!”
((PRESENT))
Then there was the time he tied me up to a tree and had a bunch of stinging wasps come after me, and all I could do was bat them away.” He then trailed off for a moment, thinking of some of the other training methods, while Kassy looked VERY pale. “Then there was the Amaguriken training...” He then shrugged. There were a lot of methods he had used to get faster.
Kassy’s eye twitched as she started at Ranma. “What?”
Looking back at the half-Salusian, Ranma nodded. “Yeah.” He shrugged. It was no big deal to him. “Heck, to learn the Amaguriken, I pulled flesh-eating piranhas out of a fish tank and put them in separate bowels before they got to my hands.” Ranma then added, “Though the basic training consists of pulling chestnuts out of an open fire,” He said with a shrug.
Kassy nodded her head slowly, it sounded like it would be painful, but... “Ranma?”
“Yeah?” Ranma asked “What?”
Smiling a little, Kassy asked, “Think we can go and buy some chestnuts...” She winced. “And some burn ointment?”
Ranma winced. He knew what she was talking about. “Um... I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” When Kassy frowned, he held up his hand. “It’s just, I was a lot faster than Ukyo is when I learned the Amaguriken. You have to be really fast for it is all.” He would train her, if she wanted to, but Kassy had to know everything first-hand. He didn’t want her getting injured after all.
Still, the half-Salusian princess was determined. “I’ll do it!” She said, even though the irony in the back of her mind reminded her about how she was never THIS enthusiastic whenever her grandmother Anna tried to teach her martial arts.
Ranma nodded. “Okay then...” He knew that Kassy didn’t really know what to expect though, but if she wanted to learn, he couldn't stop her.
“Yeah, I don’t know what Else could happen to make this thread any more different.”
“Quit breaking the fourth wall, Sasuke.”
“Sorry, Master Kuno. And while I’m at it... STEAM!”
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(Posted Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:31)
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