"Michelle Yo?" asked Ikuko Tsukino, not having seen the movie.
"Yeah, she's cool!" said Usagi, nodding.
"Ah," said Ikuko, still a little put off by Usagi dedicating herself to something as untraditionally feminine as martial arts but it was an improvement at least. Plus there had been a note from Usagi's teachers asking if the girl had been replaced by a space alien because she was doing so much better on her tests. "Did this idol of yours do well in high school?"
"Uhm, yeah, I think she did," admitted Usagi, just knowing there had been a drawback somewhere. Oh well.
"Great!" said a more enthusiastic mother.
"Michelle Yeoh?" asked Shingo from the stairs, vaguely familiar with the actress and seeing this horrifying image of himself getting batted around by a buttkicking elder sister.
"Yeah!" said Usagi clenching a fist and looking as if she had fires of determination burning in her eyes.
Ikuko nodded and went back to fixing dinner. "That's nice dear. Don't forget to finish your homework before you get to training."
"Already done, thanks Mom!"
Practice practice practice.
The reason for a martial arts kata was that you repeated sets of movement enough that you programmed them into your reflexes to the point where they could be unleashed without thinking. The Anything Goes style utilized kata on the most basic level, though the style itself was like the old adage - 'be like water and change form to adapt to any situation.'
The body of Usagi Tsukino didn't have ingrained reflexes, or as Ranma would think - the right ingrained reflexes. There were a number of situations where he, as Ranma, had not had the right reflexes anyway but those had been dealing with alien situations - social skill use and things of that nature.
Women in martial arts movies tended not to use punches quite so much as kicks - length and strength of their arms being factors. They also tended to use weapons on a regular basis. Relying on one weapon was against the Anything Goes philosophy, but you also couldn't discount weapons entirely. They added a level of reach, could be used to block or disarm other weapons, and could be used to focus force in a precise application.
Weapons training was for after one mastered the basics, however. As Usagi Tsukino that was still a ways off.
Punch-block-counterpunch-kick.
Meditation had never been a strong suit of Anything Goes, yet meditation and the spiritual part of the Art was supposed to be good for building one's chi. Usagi thought that it would be best to build upon this angle because, quite frankly, she was uncertain she could otherwise get anywhere near where she had been as Ranma Saotome.
There was something odd though about the chi she had as Usagi. Almost like there was something else, some vast reservoir that was similar to chi but just tantalizingly out of reach.
It would have to be explored.
Usagi started practicing circle kicks, chaining them together. Not enough. Not nearly enough.
(Posted Fri, 29 Apr 2005 09:34)
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