Just so that he didn't bring anyone back to his secret spot, he was using different ones. That particular rooftop there where the access door had rusted shut and only someone leaping rooftops could reach it. That particular area of the park over there. This place under the bridge. This section of tunnel for the trains that had been abandoned in the 80s. That section of the pump areas - with the old building near the center that hadn't seen use in some time.
Ranma slowly built up his chi and the channels and paths within it. That was something the book repeated over and over again. Go too fast and you'd either burn yourself out or literally burn yourself up. Shrinkage was also possible - explaining Cologne's stature when she'd been so tall before. She'd built up her chi reserves but hadn't gone through these methods.
Once again Ranma reached the state which had so helped him in these studies and which was causing so many people to wonder if he was a pod person. Zuzen. A state of no self where one could feel perfectly attuned with his surroundings. Reverberation with the universe.
Anyone looking at him as he reached that state would not have seen him, their eyes skittering over Ranma's form without consciously noticing. He was so much a part of his environment that it would be like noticing one leaf on a tree.
After spending a timeless moment there, Ranma went to the slightly more impressive part where he worked on strengthening his channels, his vessels, and his ocean. Or at least that was how the book referred to them.
Now Ranma floated a few inches off the floor, still in lotus, limned by a glow of blue that slowly edged its way to white. Not a pure white, not yet at least, but white.
This transcended the Art, yet it was the Art. And Ranma Saotome was an extension of the Art.
A Light In The Darkness a chi ball that was bright enough to read by, but didn't require much of a draw from one's chi to maintain.
To Stand Like A Mountain by anchoring your chi with the earth chi - one became unmovable.
The Breath Of The Second Wind a refresh technique to banish fatigue and heal minor injuries.
Skin Like Unto Iron was a refinement of a technique like his ability to punch through thick stone without injury. Except that the ironskin technique was a lot stronger than that.
To Pass As A Ghost had been learned. Not only could he walk across rice paper or water, he could walk across open ground with less trace than a passing breeze. It was also possible to walk or climb walls by means of such - though he was still working on that aspect.
Nirvana Massage which not only helped the recipient channel chi and left them refreshed and healthier, but tended to make them feel compulsively nice towards the chi master performing the technique.
As A Distant Thunder was masking one's chi "ocean" and abilities. Not invisibility but a way of seeming perfectly normal to those who sought to find him by means of his chi. Shampoo hadn't been able to find him with her bicycle o' doom lately.
To See The Unseen - while his normal danger sense and ability to sense his environment had been pretty good, this was like taking off blindfolds and taking out earplugs and unwrapping his head. He could close his eyes and tell how many boards were in this old shack, and how many nails had been used. He could hear the small insects that made their home here, and feel the small sparks of chi from the birds on the roof.
To Be A Feather In The Wind like the immovability technique, this was one that had to be actively invoked. Drawing chi from the lines in the air, he became lighter. He could jump enormous distances before the technique - afterwards he could fall from an airplane without a parachute and land softly on his feet without leaving a mark. Handy when he was still being launched regularly by Akane.
Seven League Boots was a refinement of his previous roofhopping high speed travel techniques. It hadn't required much effort to enhance the travel slightly in speed and distance travelled.
He was now working on the first combat technique in the book. What was interesting about it was that according to these notes, he could "tune" it for individual chi signatures so that allies wouldn't be hurt. The Divine White Wind technique had obvious uses in his life.
Nabiki, recipient of the cleansing/massage technique, felt it first. A wrongness in the air as if something unpleasant had just died in the crawlspace under the house.
Kasumi, attuned to life in the house, felt it second but had no idea how or what it was.
The back bell jangled. The one used by those who wanted to "challenge the dojo in fierce combat."
Soun frowned at the momentary feel as if something were wrong, but put it down to the presence of the Master.
Happosai snored. It had been a late night trying to find where Ranma had been going and had become a panty raid when he'd discovered Saint Hebereke's School For Girls. It had especially been a late night after finding out Kodachi Kuno booby-trapped her gym locker.
Soun and Genma both looked up again as the back door came off its hinges, and the two looked on as they entered.
Thirteen of them. Other than one short thin guy (about 4'8") they were all over six feet in height. Thick muscles, leather jackets and pants, biker boots, chains worn as ornamentation and backup weapons. Also skin that was rotting, old open wounds that weren't bleeding, shambling gait.
Quite obvious from just a look at the bizarrely cut and dyed hair and the above details. A biker gang. An undead biker gang. An undead punk biker gang. This wasn't quite as bad as the fact that they had no faces. It was a pale smoothness where there should be a face.
"We started with the letter 'A'," stated one zombie despite the apparent lack of a mouth. "Who's the champion of this dojo?"
Soun and Genma stand solemnly and say:
(Posted Fri, 15 Nov 2002 13:06)
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