Now, if this were a normal fight, he would not be so greatly concerned. Being able to turn invisible and immaterial at the blink of an eye, and float at will, he had a great many natural advantages in battle that were not easily overlooked. His ability to use a small portion of his Chi to enhance his body’s speed, strength, and endurance was also an impressive trait in and of itself.
But now he was put against a woman that quite obviously had a strength advantage against him, as well as the advantage of having lived in this society of women-warriors her entire life, thus being able to partake in their obviously vast store of martial and mystical knowledge.
To top it all off, Cologne had required it of him not to use any of his ‘special attributes’. Unfortunately for him, he had gotten quite used to them over the years of his other life, and had adjusted quite well to them in this one as well. To limit himself in such a manner was almost like fighting somebody when one was used to having a sword, and now had a willow switch.
Not impossible, if one was skilled, but much more difficult.
Soon enough, the time for pondering was over, as his opponent sprang into the offensive, the length of her staff making a thrumming sound of misplaced air as is swung towards his head.
His gold-yellow eyes narrowed as he ducked beneath the swing, trying to take advantage of the large movement to bring himself closer, where her advantage in reach was not so overwhelming.
He was intercepted halfway, as the other side of the staff came swinging around, following the same path the other had taken. Only by leaning backwards at a great angle, and then turning himself into a springing back flip, did he avoid the bone-crushing blow.
The two fighters separated, eying each other closely. The first conflict had occurred, and so far neither one of them had any clear advantage. Dowel was strong, and could wield her staff with great speed, whereas Ranma was more maneuverable, able to bend around her blows.
{Continue!} Cologne snapped, spurring the combatants back into action.
This time, Dowel tried for a quick thrust at his chest, the iron cap of her staff coming at him with all the force of a battering ram. Side-stepping the thrust, he took a step forward and to the left, spinning into a dropping leg-sweep.
Though he did make contact with the blow, the woman’s larger bulk and good balance made the attack next to useless, probably causing no more than a minor bruise on her calf.
Frowning to himself, Ranma spun around in the opposite direction, using the rebound from the failed leg-sweep to move himself around. Placing his right hand on the ground for support, he rose himself in an upwards kick towards her torso, which brought a grunt of displaced air from the amazon when it connected.
With another whirr of displaced air, she brought the free end of her staff down and around, trying to catch him as he recovered from his kick. Ranma quickly dropped himself more fully to the ground, launching himself away in a mid-air twist to avoid her blow.
Moments later, they were once again standing off against each other, the opinion of each other’s ability raised a slight amount.
{You’re quick,} Dowel noted. {That’s good. But you’re not nearly strong enough yet.}
Ranma grinned, his teeth and eyes gleaming eerily in the small light cast by the torches.
{You may be strong, but it will take speed and agility to be able to take my father down,} he told her. {He may not quite look it, but he’s quite agile, and he does pack quite a punch. That, and his girl-form is even lighter and faster, and more capable of taking full advantage of our Art.}
{Humph,} Dowel snorted. {All I need is one good blow to bring him to his senses.}
Ranma’s grin widened.
{Oh? Then hit me,} he taunted, crouching for a lower center of gravity. {If you can.}
Cologne watched from the sidelines as her newly adopted son, and his soon-to-be stepmother fought furiously against each other.
Both of the combatants were right about their abilities. Ranma held the clear advantage in style, speed, and agility. He was able to dodge most of her blows and, if he could not dodge them, he rolled with them to lessen the effect of their impact. At the same time, the few blows that he managed to get in against his opponent has little effect against her hardened body, his strikes just lacking the brute strength to get through to her.
If this had been the normal Ranma timeline, then Cologne could have very well drawn an analogy between Dowel and the young Hibiki lad. Brute strength and endurance, and a little speed. Any blow that landed solidly would have a great chance of finishing the fight. But, against a fighter like Ranma, landing that blow was not an easy thing to do.
After about ten minutes of this, an eternity in a fight, Cologne called a halt to the ‘sparring session’. Both combatants were a little tired and rumpled, and sporting a few bruises here and there that they would be likely to feel much more the next morning. They also seemed to be harboring no small amount of irritation on not being able to win the match outright.
{Well now,} Cologne said as she hopped forward on her staff. {It seems that my first impressions were indeed correct. Ranma here needs more strength and endurance, while you Dowel require more speed and agility. You are both quite formidable in your own way, but could do much better with more rounded abilities.}
Both fighters nodded, agreeing with her assessment.
{Ranma,} cologne continued, turning to the boy. {We will start you off tomorrow with strength and endurance training. I have a training harness that works against every major movement your body makes which, when charged properly with Chi, increases it’s tension. You shall practice kata and sparring while wearing this outfit, and I shall slowly increase the tension every day to give you a proper challenge.}
Ranma frowned, slightly dubious at the sound of this ‘training harness’.
{Dowel,} she turned to the large Amazon. {I think I will enjoy throwing rocks at you for a few weeks until you can dodge them properly. Just to make things fair, I will charge the rocks with a small amount of chi, causing them to burst with energy if they hit you. This will be a growing incentive for you to not get hit, mind you, and not endurance training.
{After you can dodge the rocks, we will more on to more difficult agility and speed exercises. At the end of one month, we shall have you two spar against each other again, to evaluate how much you have improved.
{Dismissed!}
Ranma and Dowel looked at each other, their faces showing a combination of foreboding and expectation, both dreading yet looking forward to the harsh training ahead of them.
Read the comments on this episode
See other episodes by Gryphon Aerie
(Posted Mon, 15 Nov 2004 17:49)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.