Ranma stood in one corner of the cage, people cheering outside, and stared at his first opponent of the evening. The arena was dark now, and while he couldn’t get a good a look as he would’ve liked at the muscular bald man, he could tell the guy was frowning at him. The stadium filled to overflowing as people of both poor and high standing.
“Ladies and gentleman!” Came a voice over the loud-speaker. “In the blue corner, weighing in at two hundred and fifty-five pounds, is the man of the mark who specializes in boxing. The one, the only Rikaru ‘The Bull’ Tarkido!”
The light shone on Ranma’s opponent, the man with a large scar on the top of his head stood and started flexing his muscles. However, instead of boxing gloves, the man wore a pair of brass knuckles on each hand.
Following his display was some wild cheering, obviously the big guy in boxing shorts and sneakers was a regular here.
“And in the red corner,” The announcer spoke out. “Some new meat tonight, weighing in at one hundred and thirty-five pounds... A mixture of fighting best described as ‘Anything Goes’, the Nerima District's Urban Legend, Ranma Saotome!”
As light shone down upon him, the pigtailed martial artist cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.
There was murmuring around the audience, and a few respectful claps. Most people that knew of the stories about Ranma didn’t believe it was him.
“You all know the rules, anything goes,” Said the voice over the loud-speaker. “Winner is determined by knock-out, kill, or surrender. BEGIN!”
With a roar, Rikaru raged forward, his right fist pulled back to deliver what would be a painful punch to his opponent.
Ranma remained in his ready stance, arrogant smirk firmly in place, until the last moment before moving. When he did he jumped straight up, barely missing being hit, and landed perfectly balanced on his opponent’s fist.
Sweating a little, Rikaru glared and brought his fist down suddenly, and struck out with his left first.
Ranma twisted impossibly in midair, avoiding the fist with ease, and sneaked into his opponent’s nonexistent defenses. He delivered a quick kick to Rikaru’s jaw, sending the man flying back.
The man clattered against the chain-link of the cage. Shaking his head to clear it, he glared at Ranma angrily before getting up and charging once more, taking a wild swing at his opponent’s head where he stood.
Ranma evaded the clumsy blow and stood with his hands behind his back. “That’s the best you can do, isn’t it?”
With the taunt, the boxer saw red. Roaring he lunged out at Ranma with BOTH fists.
The pigtailed martial artist smirked. Ranma knew he had him now, and dropped to the ground. He swept his opponent off his feet and, just as he was starting to fall, kicked him upwards with considerable strength. Enough strength that the larger man hit the top of the cage. Twitching a little as his skin stuck to the chain-link for a moment, he began falling back down the rest of the distance. The boxer landed unconscious against the floor as he slammed into it with a loud thud, rustling dust from between the floorboards.
Ranma flipped to his feet and flicked his pigtail over his shoulder before crossing his arms over his chest.
The speakers went on again as two men entered the ring, carrying out Rikaru. “Winner by knockout, Ranma Saotome!”
The crowd went wild at the great show of skill. It seemed like they now believed it was indeed Ranma Saotome.
“Up next,” The voice over the loud-speakers continued even as people still cheered, “Up against Ranma will be our own sword dancer, Tamaharti!”
Amongst the throngs of spectators and gablers, there was great speculation about whether Ranma would be able to defeat Tamaharti or not, what with his increased range and all.
Then there was more cheering as a man in augmented Kendo armor and mask so the top of his head and arms were visible stepped into the ring. He held up a bokken with broken glass shards in it here and there.
“You got to be kidding me!” Ranma grumbled irritably. Now they had him fighting against a Kuno wannabe!
“HIYAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” Tamaharti shouted as he lunged forward.
Ranma kicked the bokken out of the man’s hands and proceeded to beat the living shit out of him. He did consider it somewhat unfair, but it was the principle of the thing. Spectators were shocked as the match was over before it even began.
Again, the speakers went on. “Once again, winner by knockout, Ranma Saotome!”
Off to the side, Takato was cheering. It was looking to be that he might win the jackpot prize tonight if Ranma could win this round-robin competition.
Again, two men entered to remove the fallen fighter. “Up next,” The voice over the loud speaker began. “Back from a two month stay at Tokyo General Hospital, give a round of applause got Madman Yeijiro!”
It was then that a heavily-tattooed muscular man with black hair flaring out in all directions and wearing only a pair of denim shorts walked into the cage, snarling at Ranma. Cheers were heard, but they were very subdued after Ranma’s previous performance.
Ranma blinked his eyes as he looked his opponent over. “Hey, buddy... Combs were invented ages ago, you know...”
“RAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!” Yerijiro growled and lunged at Ranma, eyes flashing manically.
Ranma jumped over the charging man and kicked him in the back of the head. He then somersaulted and landed on his feet elegantly.
Skidding across the floor a bit, the wild man got to his feet, shaking his head. Turning back on Ranma, he snarled and started to stalk towards him, circling around his opponent with his teeth bared.
Ranma shook his head at the display and decided to go easy on this one. He didn’t like the idea of beating on someone that didn't know what he was doing.
When he was close enough and felt he had a good opening, the wild man lunged out at Ranma with a horizontal swing of his opened hand, as if to tear with claws
Ranma ducked under the blow and jumped back, giving himself some maneuvering room.
The man growled and ran to the side of the cage, climbing up quickly after Ranma.
This gave Ranma an idea and he continued to jump around, seemingly defying physics with how he was bouncing around like a pinball, denying inertia and going in different directions while in mid-air.
The man was practically climbing all about the cage in circles as he went after Ranma, climbing higher and higher.
As they were about to reach the top Ranma jumped very close to the man, easily in grasping range.
And the Wild man lunged out to grab Ranma...
...only to leave himself wide open in mid-air...
“RAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”
*THUD*!
Shaking his head, Ranma smirked to himself. He didn’t even have to do anything. His opponent just made his way down.
“Winner by knockout,” The Speakers went on once again. “Ranma Saotome!”
Ranma’s smirk widened. Oh yeah, this was going to be some easy money.
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(Posted Fri, 05 May 2006 01:59)
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