Koucho Kuno was sweating so profusely his head tree was in danger of dying from the salt intake. He'd been getting calls from infuriated parents about almost everything that had gone wrong in Furinkin in the past year, and threatened with lawyers over everything he himself had proposed, from the shark in the swimming pool to the Coconut Grade Hunt to the Lock-Out! He no sooner hung up on one than another would call! He desperately downed his pineapple juice and tried to save his voice. "Look, Brah-"
Trust Ranma to take a duel seriously. So much has been added, but Ranma isn't all that different, I suspect. Just- expanded on, really. Nabiki joined the crowd and chatted with her proxies, as they passed her by taking the final bets. Given how the Wrecking Crew tended to defeat all the invaders that occasionally came by, the odds were still comfortably against Hinako. Nabiki had expected as much, as Hinako had changed her behaviors so radically the students in general had forgotten the teacher was actually another wild Neriman martial artist. As long as Hinako wasn't unduly interfered with, this would make a killing for Nabiki, as well as for Hinako.
Nabiki carefully didn't startle as Ranma thought to her, #Nice to see you're giving us incentives to keep letting you bet on us! Good Girl. Do consider wearing the right clothes for this next time, though.# Nabiki shuddered a bit from the imagery Ranma had passed along, most of which involved girl-form/Nabiki play and both white and black lingerie.
#White Queen? I thought I was ice, not Frost! But later, Ranma. Right now, look over there!# Nabiki actually enjoyed bantering with a mind without fear of being overheard, after she had gotten used to it. Ranma had never had the vocabulary or social confidence to express it, but even before Jean it turned out he had a decidedly dark gray to black sense of humor. With his new arsenal of social expressiveness, he could impart concepts as sharply and with equal devastating effect as with a scalpel in the hands of a master.
Nabiki's comment back along the mental connection had Ranma glance at- Oh, damn. It looks like I get to unleash a few new tricks sooner than I'd hoped. He purposefully stepped into Ryouga's path as Cologne took her place to officiate and observe the actual duel (especially the teacher's sword. She was very impressed and worried by a soul weapon, it seemed).
Ranma's voice barked out. "What, you're so tired of losing fights to me without accepting it that you've decided to be a enabler for the poster child of self delusional egomania?" His voice held true anger at Ryouga, mostly at how the sorry fool's emotional downward spiral seemed doomed to kill him and likely scores to hundreds of innocent bystanders, overfond of the Shi Shi Hokoudan as Ryouga was.
As Akane was being held back in the background and spoken to harshly by Nabiki for her angry words nearly destroying a affair of honor, Ryouga went deep red with instant rage. "RANMA! I'LL KILL YOU!! HOW DARE YOU DEFEND ANYONE THAT ANGERS A-"
Ranma just smirked as Ryouga shouted just enough to make his next actions honorable while the crowd parted sufficiently, then he clearly spoke, "Bakusai Tenketsu Shadow Skill: Far Touch." Between his many observations of the Breaking Point technique, his deeper understanding of stress points, and (of course) his telekinesis, Ranma had discovered ways to press, infuse, and charge objects kinetically. Remy Le Beau, eat your fucking heart out! He watched with glee as the stones in the ground under Ryouga exploded, forcefully enough to toss the part time pork back 20 feet.
"Ryouga, I'll defend a official duel in any event, but this is between a teacher and a moron samurai wannabe. Akane has nothing to do with it, and her opinion about either one is completely beside the point." Ranma's tone was light, but his eyes had gone a paler blue from his anger, and his face was expressionless.
Ryouga charged forward. "How dare you steal my-" He stopped when a larger stone exploded, flinging his leg upward with such ferocity that Hibiki was lucky to not bit off the end of his own tongue.
Ranma snorted, "I didn't. Your technique is all about toughening yourself and hurting your enemies with the collateral damage, remember? I just refined the idea, as I did developing the Moko Takabisha. Once one masters the Far Touch, your energy can be used with much less damage to yourself!" He kept walking away from the battle, as Hinako stood and traded attacks with Kuno, letting the fool wear himself down and proving her sword style to be superior rather than knock him unconscious.
Nabiki looked from one fight to the other, seeing Hinako's intent plainly. With this many witnesses and not even being allowed to go unconscious before he finally yielded, Kuno would have to acknowledge his defeat. And with Cologne present, that acknowledgment was not one to be taken back at all. She turned back to see Ryouga fling more of those bandannas he preferred as missile weapons. Ranma flicked stones at each one just as quickly, smugly smirking as each stone detonated on impact to destroy the target head-wear.
Ranma spoke clearly once more, "Iron cloth/Bakusai Tenketsu Shadow Skill: Far Touch." At Ryouga's wordless scream, Ranma told the pig man, "Come on, pork belly futures! You tried that Iron Cloth stunt from our very first fight after you caught up with me from going to China! How could I not know that trick by now, I ask you?"
Akane started to shout angrily, "R-", but Nabiki interrupted.
"Sister mine, didn't Ryouga nearly kill the crowd and you then, and chop off over seventy five percent of your hair?" Nabiki's interjection shut up Akane, and allowed her to see how (again) the bandanna attack would have hurt many of the crowd if not for Ranma (including Akane herself).
As Hinako steadily dueled and wore down the insane kendo team captain, Ryouga lunged forward again, only to get a Moko Takabisha of rather extreme power detonating in his path. The explosive power of the telekinesis charged blast sent Ryouga into the wall. The wall didn't shatter. Ryouga's ankle did break however.
Ranma gloated, "I probably should have warned you I could and did strengthen the wall so you wouldn't go breaking it when I sent you against it." He punctuated this with force encapsulated kicks and punches that kept bouncing Ryouga off the enhanced wall, letting that send the rival artist directly back into the next strike. "But since you are so honor-less as to interfere with duels of honor, I figured you weren't worth warning."
As Ryouga faced sheer hell from a kinetically strengthened Chestnut Fist barrage, Ranma coldly announced, "I'm giving this warning. I choose how to satisfy honor. Anyone that thinks to make my choices for me will learn the meaning of pain." With that, Ranma left Ryouga embedded in the wall, walking away as it glowed with his aura for a few seconds. Then the wall blew up, the force of which was crafted to center on Ryouga. That clinched the knock out, just as Ranma had planned.
While Cologne stared after having declared Hinako the winner once Tatewaki finally gave up, Ranma just walked home, whistling. Nabiki stared too. Great. I'm being seduced by a total smart ass. Like I didn't know that already.
Ranma kept on walking, whistling a tune he'd gotten from his 'Jean' memories. Reach Out, Reach Out & Touch Someone-
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(Posted Mon, 20 Feb 2006 22:29)
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