Doctor Mizuno nodded as much as that the rigid stance that she'd held since she'd heard of this. "He's our Master, so it's his choice."
"I know, but...."
"It's not something that we want having him do," Makoto grumbled. "I'd just like to know what he was thinking."
"The boy is thinking of what techniques he could learn," Genma commented in between bites of a chicken leg.
"And didn't he think of the rest?"
"What 'rest'?"
"The deal they made him!" Kumori snapped.
"Oh, that. Oh well, it's not like I thought that the boy will lose."
"Pardon me?"
"You know how it was. They put out a meal for me, and I was so busy eating, I didn't really care about those little details."
"'Little details'?"
"There was just so much food, like they were expecting us to stay there for a long while, and we had a chance to advance his abilities in the Art...."
The tall girl covered her face with a hand and groaned. "His father is at it again. Why am I not surprised?"
"So.... It's not Master's fault?" Minako asked.
"He probably doesn't know."
Relaxing a bit, the doctor found that her faith in her owner was restored, though she did realize that he was going to need better advisement in the future. For the moment though, there was a fight to watch.
From her position on the Challenge Log, Shampoo stared down her opponent, and tried not to scoff. She'd yet to meet an outsider male who wasn't either too full of himself for a good fight, or was too weak to provide much of a contest. This one looked rather capable, by what she could see in his eyes and his stance, but she knew that looks could be deceiving. After all, one could take a look at that idiot Mousse and not realize that he was either a fighter, or a obsessive moron, depending on when one saw him.
Yet, all those conscious considerations left her once the signal to start was given. She moved to get at him with her bonbori, trying to strike the boy before he could move against her. However, he proved to be a bit quicker than she thought, and managed to actually slide his foot along the side the log to give himself more of a chance to dodge. That impressed her, and she found herself actually hoping that he would prove to be the sort of man that she did want to face off with.
Her hopes were confirmed when he started his counterattack, as his punches actually made her have to sidestep them, where she could. Some she had to block, and could tell by them that they were not the strongest that he could manage. Not that he was holding back, as he seemed to have another intention. But whatever it was, she wasn't going to let him follow it through, and swung her weapons at him, making him jump.
But her plan to hit him when he came down didn't work when he flipped over her, landing with her back facing him. She twirled in place, and started to use her bonbori for balance as she sent several kicks at him. Only one of them hit, and he grunted under the force of it, but didn't fall. Instead, he tensed up and took the impact into his body, which would leave him standing with a bruise on his side for a while.
Then they really started fighting in earnest, as they traded strikes, with their bodies moving in a swirl of launched attacks, blocked blows, and constant motion. Both of them were clearly superior martial artists, and they were truly focused at that moment.
Some expected it when he started to pull back, as their expectations would have been met. He was moving towards the end of the log behind him, and if he went too far, he'd drop off the end. The fact didn't seem to trouble him though, as he let her advance on him. Every motion as he ducked, weaved, and struck pushed him closer to that loss. It would be slow going, but he would eventually get there.
She didn't want to subject him to that sort of situation, as that would be too long and drawn out for someone who had made her question her previous assumption that he was just another guy who let his slaves fight for him. This was the sort of man that she'd wanted to meet, and she didn't desire to have the other girls mock him for a drawn out loss. So, the only thing that she could do, in her tired and sweaty condition was to overwhelm him. Her bonbori came down between them, and he leapt back to where he barely had enough room to fall on the log, as the wood splintered a bit under her hit. Rather than worry about that, she charged forwards so that she could hit him with a double blow that would knock him silly, making him fall to the ground below.
Doing so seemed to be just what he was waiting for though, as he brought his forearms up between hers so that he could hit her wrists, knocking her hands wide. Once her hit was deflected, he grabbed at the shoulders of her blouse. That made her blink, as she didn't understand what he was thinking. But his reason for the move became crystal clear when he dropped backwards to the log, and flipped her over him. He hit the wood hard, but she went flying into the air, and once she saw that she had passed the end of the Challenge Log, she knew what had happened.
And the funny thing was that she didn't feel as bad as she thought she would.
It was definitely his victory, and everyone there knew it, while:
(Posted Sat, 27 Aug 2005 22:27)
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.