The cry reverberated across the streets of Nerima as a pig-tailed figure sailed into the skies. No one noticed though, after all this was normal for Nerima.
Short time later Ranma pulled herself out of the back of a truck. A truck carrying water in an open trailer. Why a truck carries water in an open trailer you ask? Well because… umm… because… I said so, okay!!!
Anyway!! Ranma pulled herself out of the back of a truck wet and confused.
"So much for not letting any free hits," she mumbled as she snagged a convenient passing sign and pulled herself to the roof. There she sat down to ponder.
'Why'd I freeze like that? Had to be reflexes. That conditioning thing Dr. Tofu was talking about. So I have to break those stupid reflexes but how? Keep getting hit over and over till I stop? Feh that ain't gonna be fun. But it's for the art.' Her eyes glowed with determination. 'Yes for the sake of the art I have to endure. No pain, no gain. I shall over come all the things in my way. Only then shall I become the greatest martial artist.’
Ranma stood up on the roof, fist held up, eyes on fire, and her body burning with determination. Yes, she would be the greatest.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO."
Kodachi, who had been sneaking up on the unsuspecting harlot to beat her head in dispense with some divine retribution, froze momentarily before she ran away retreated to rethink her strategy. The wench would be a really tough opponent if the laugh was any indication.
The people on the street just avoided the side of the street with the insane laughing red-head.
***********
The next 4 days was no different from any other. Ranma and Akane fought, Ranma got hit. Shampoo/Ukyo glomped onto Ranma, Ranma got hit. Ranma refused to eat Akane's cooking, Ranma got hit. See a pattern here? The fifth day was different though.
Ryouga had appeared, as he tends to do, and started a fight with Ranma. One of their regular fights, only at one point, Ryouga had somehow ended up looking through a window as a woman was changing. The cry of "Pervert" echoed through the neighborhood as Ryouga trailed off into the sky, courtesy of a book, of all things.
Normally Ranma wouldn't have noticed this, but with his little quest still on his mind he saw something he would have otherwise missed.
Ryouga had dropped all defenses for a split second. Not entirely surprising considering Pig-boys inexperience with the fairer sex, especially angry members of that group. No, what caught his eye was that Ryouga froze AFTER the woman shouted. Until then he was in mid leap successfully dodging the iron she threw, spluttering apologies and trailing blood. She shouted and for one instant he froze, allowing a book ("How Not to Have Your Underwear Stolen") to impact his face, carrying him and the book towards the distant (hey it was a useless book anyway).
'Why did he suddenly lower his defenses,' Ranma wondered later that night as he sat on the roof. 'Heck, lowering nothing, he just stood there waiting to be hit. It was like….like…like she told him to standstill. But all she shouted was "pervert".....Is this a technique? I need to look into this more.'
So for the next couple of days he studied the females of the area as they pounded some guy. At first he didn't see anything of significance. Then, quite by accident, he noticed a small emission of ki from the woman's throat as she shouted that one word that would stop a guy in his tracks, thereby leaving him open to her righteous wrath. The amount was minuscule and seemed to be concentrated around the voice box and on the word. It was a ki technique if ever he saw one. And the women seem to do it unconsciously when they think they are unarguably in the right. Ranma smiled. A new technique.
“NYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
People avoided the obviously crazy, pigtailed boy.
*************
The next week was quite in Nerima.
"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW??"
"SHAMPOO. LET US RUNAWAY TOGETHER."
"DUCK BOY, GO FINISH DELIVERIES."
"FACE ME FOUL SOCERER."
"RANMA DARLING WAIT FOR ME."
"LEAVE RAN-CHAN ALONE, YOU FRUIT-CAKE."
"COME ON RANMA WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE."
.......
Ok it wasn't so quite.
The resident martial artists were on edge. That was understandable though. It had been a strange week. Oh sure, there had been a fight with some pansy in a tuxedo, cape and wearing a mask but that guy had been a weenie. Heck he threw roses. ROSES. What kind of pathetic moron would throw roses as an attack? And he threw it at the guys!!! Sheesh. Needless to say he was sent out of the district with a few bangs, as in the explosive kind. And there was that escaped panda that took a liking to Genma. And the weird challenger of Martial Arts Pastry Making. You know the usual stuff.
What worried the group though was Ranma. He had been.... quite...
He never spoke unless spoken to. And even then it was short sentences. No insults. No blabbering. No stuttering excuses. Even in the fights he had, he just beat up his opponents with out the usual comments. Heck, he ignored insults to his honor and manhood. Needless to say Genma was at a loss and unable to gloat his son into a rage during a fight, ended up with a lot of bruises. Nabiki had tried to find out what he was doing. He had just stared at her with emotionless eyes as if peering into her soul. She had felt like a bug about to be crushed. She walked out of that more than a little scared.
Nabiki scared??? Ranma not insulting anyone??? A lot of the students at Furinken were convinced that this was the first stages of the apocalypse.
Through out all this Ranma remained oblivious, for the most part.
He was working on the new ki technique he had seen the women used. The actual manipulation of the ki was not that difficult. It was controlling the amount that proved to be a pain. More often than not, he would use too much and strain his voice box thus ensuring that he couldn't speak too much. That's right folks, the reason he didn't talk so much was that he had effectively lost his voice.
Not that he noticed the insults and comments hurled his way. Most of those fell on deaf ears. His mind was occupied with trying to make the technique work and thinking up a cool name for it. And when Ranma is working on a new technique only his stomach can get his attention. The amount of ki used wasn't the only hurdle. He found that the pitch of his voice would also affect the outcome. The command voice and the pleading voice were very different. Also the pitch decided what sex and even what species he could effect. So he had spent a week working on 'The Voice of Submission'. No wait that was the name of that hentai book Dai had. 'Whispers of Angles?' Well it was subtle. Yeah "Whispers of Angles" it is. Not that he would shout that out of course.
He had most of the kinks worked out by the end of the week. And only then did he notice the nagging feelings in the back of his head. Something was different, what he did not know. Looking over the week he found nothing noteworthy. Except the time he scared the piss out of Nabiki. Or the fact he hadn't gotten hit or glomped or poisoned etc. as often. Nor had he gotten into as many fights. In fact most the usual things that happened to him had been almost absent the last week. What the hell??
And how the heck had he scared Nabiki?? All he did was look at her, pretty much ignoring her as he was busy trying to keep his ki from overflowing into his voice box, as she stared at his eyes. His eyes....he had been redirected some of the ki. Could some have gotten to his eyes and caused Nabiki to be scared. Hey a new technique!!!
What about the rest though. He hadn't done much. He hardly even spoke. 'Wait waz that the reason nothing happened?? All this time all I had ta do is stay quite and ignore the things said ta me and I wouldn't get into as much trouble? Can’t be right can it?'
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(Posted Tue, 23 Nov 2004 21:16)
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