Depending on whom you asked he was either a person who escaped from an insane asylum or the Hidden Emperor of Jade. Either way Sabbo always had the best intentions of Jade in mind whenever he did something. And a year ago he thought about a bit of a problem in the local’s perspective of the Armsmaster.
Namely the fact everyone and their dog though Julia Brigand-Diggers was invincible.
Gesturing the bartender he watched as his drink was refilled, a pineapple on either side of him. Damn, he should go to the Earth Realm more often, the liquor wasn’t as strong but it sure tasted better. He smiled under his mask as he nursed his drink.
Julia’s aura of invulnerability was quite troubling to the man. Oh sure it gave the people confidence in the fact that if a foe too strong arose the Armsmaster would be there to guard them. But at the same time nearly everyone who fought her, no matter how good, thought they would lose to her. The only exception to the known rule was G'Nolga, who had yet to defeat Julia but had come extremely close.
That psychological edge was a weapon to Julia’s favour, why try if you know you’ll lose? And very few people would seek her out to challenge her, keep her on her toes so to speak. Still it wasn’t a problem.
Yet.
Sabbo took a sip of his drink, ignoring the odd stares he got. “If that one foe, that one foe appeared that could defeat her... All hell would have broken loose.”
It wasn’t likely to happen, but if something arrived and beat Julia it would send a message to the rest of Jade. ‘This is what I’ve done to the best warrior you have. What hope have you now?’
And even if such an event did not happen Julia’s back wasn’t her friend these days, and with the curse that the Lich King had placed on her cured she was spending more time with her family than training. Her skills were bound to slip at some point.
Unless someone beat her at the Tournament of Arms. That would raise the bar and set a new standard, not only for Julia but every other fighter on Jade.
However one problem stood out immediately: Julia was the (Apparently) unbeatable Armsmaster of Jade. Who COULD defeat her? At the time it was a year from the tournament and none of the up and coming fighters on Jade had a hope in hell of taking her on, and the only one who might have been able to beat her, G'Nolga, was simply unable to be trusted in Sabbo’s opinion. Which meant he needed to find someone on Earth.
“And then I found him.” Sabbo muttered as his glass was refilled.
Ranma Saotome. Confident, bordering on arrogant, capable and better than Julia was when she was his age. Hell, when he found him he could have given her a major workout.
Beat her, no. But he had one year. One year to whip this boy into shape and make him a MAN!
The first problem was obvious: Ranma was on Earth but Sabbo needed him on Jade. The second made it appearance in the form of a sex-changing curse, but Sabbo had no clue on how to help with THAT one.
The fear of cats was going to be a problem. Jade had a LOT of were-cats. Some of which would be in the tournament. For a moment everything seemed to fall apart.
“So I put them back together again.” Sabbo said sipping at his drink again.
Part one was simple, as he set a Gate Scroll for Happosai to find, although it was labelled as a ‘Scroll of Banishment.’ And since Ranma had put a halt to one of his panty raids the little pervert used it to ‘banish’ Ranma from Earth.
And so Ranma was torn from his native realm and dropped into Gneiss’ Tower.
“How nice that that young Were-Lion apprentice mage was being sent to collect a book from Gneiss.” Sabbo mused gently toying with his glass.
Ranma’s Neko-Ken made itself apparent, but Gneiss had quickly stepped in and cast a sleep spell. With the help of a Rakshasha, Gneiss was able to remove all but some of the lingering fears, which would lessen during the next few days. Shortly there after Gneiss explained to Ranma where he was, and what had happened. The fighter befriended the older mage who learned that Ranma had been stuck in a bit of a rut and had no viable challenges back home. Gneiss then gave him a bit of currency to use and suggested he explore Jade and find himself a challenge instead of waiting for one to find him.
Quickly learning that good money can be made from bounties on bandits (As well as selling their equipment) he went along and beat them left to right. A month after his arrival he stumbled over a ruined fortress and stepped inside, intending to use it as a shelter for the night.
The monsters that inhabited it had other ideas. They proceeded to challenge the martial artist who began to pummel them. Once they were defeated he relieved them of their treasures (“Why do monsters need gold anyway?” Ranma mused. “Do they have a monster shop or something?”) he carried on. Soon he was exploring more dangerous dungeons, facing more dangerous foes.
“And becoming stronger all the while.” Sabbo said as he finished his drink.
About two and a half months after his arrival he found a gang of bandits harassing a pair of local women. Ever the hero Ranma stepped in. Unlike most bandits, however, this group had competent fighters and a pair of mages. In the end Ranma still won, although he came out of it injured. Still, another bounty was made and he didn’t need to worry about an inn since one of the women let him use a spare bed in her house. At first he refused but both women wanted to thank him for his intervention. The fact that one of them knew some healing magic to heal his wounded body didn’t hurt either.
“Thank him indeed.” Sabbo chuckled.
When he woke up he found his morning wood being attended to by the damsels he had saved. He might have run for it, but the sensations were too good for him to resist.
“That wasn’t in the plan...” Sabbo mused as his drink was refilled. “But he needed to get all the pent up sexual frustration out SOMETIME!”
The result was a Ranma that was more relaxed about the female gender.
From the West Continent to the East he travelled, defeating bandits left in his wake. Soon he gained the moniker ‘The Bandit Slayer’ for the hordes of bandits he had brought to justice. (He didn’t know where the ‘Slayer’ part of his moniker came from, but it did sound better then his made up title of Bandit Ass-Kicker)
Soon fighters here and there heard of his combat ability and challenged him, each battle only adding to his ever-increasing skill, speed and strength. Hell, even that old battleaxe Mumsey Brigand challenged him to a battle that Ranma won.
“Barley.” Sabbo added to himself. “Something else that wasn’t in the plan, but hey, it works.”
Ranma began adapting his known techniques for more power, and when he was unable to do that he created new ones to combat new problems.
By month seven his body was better toned, his height increasing by an inch or so and his skill sharpened to a fine edge. All the while he matured, still confident but never disrespectful, still prone to letting his thoughts known but with an ounce of thought behind it (Which halted the old Foot-in-the-Mouth some of time), still rough about the edges but more polite. Jade had begun to shape him into a man.
By month nine whispers of the Tournament of Arms entered his ears. And soon he traveled and trained with but one thought: to win this tournament. To enter it and challenge the best of the best.
The next three months went past in a blur. Traveling and training, tuning every kick for more speed, every stance for better defence, every technique for more power.
A year had past. A year in which Sabbo had made sure whispers of monsters to fight bandits to beat and loot to claim had reached his ears. A year of insuring he was challenged to become his best, a year of taking a very talented fighter and making him into a skilled warrior. And now he entered the Tournament of Arms.
“Turned out better than I hoped.” Sabbo said proudly as he downed his drink.
He quickly went from an unknown dark horse to the man to beat in a few rounds. Only one man, a ninja trained by Tsunami himself, gave him a workout.
“It wasn’t embarrassing to lose to Ranma.” Sabbo chuckled. “But to fall for the old ‘Hey, is that a gold coin’ trick? Priceless!”
Ranma won the right to face the Armsmaster in single combat, her name being chanted by the crowd, echoing in the arena as she stood opposite of her opponent. It was only then that Sabbo was worried.
Could Ranma do it? He had of course heard of the Armsmaster and her supposed invincibility, but he shrugged the though off. But that still didn’t change the fact that she was far more experienced than he was. Her half-giant heritage gave her great strength too. Before Ranma would only qualify as workout. What would he qualify as now?
The fight began with Julia gaining an upper hand early, much to Sabbo’s grief, but Ranma’s main strength was in his adaptability and he surprised Julia, catching her off her guard as he found new ways to open holes in her defense, ways that left her surprised. As the battle wore on it became more and more even. Julia would land a punch then Ranma would land a kick. An uppercut to Ranma’s gut cracked his ribs while his counter punch gave a hairline fracture to Julia’s jaw. Finally the pitched battle ended as both warriors lashed out with a fist, smashing the other’s face. For an eternal moment both stood, their cheeks distorted by a fist.
Ranma fell to a knee. Sabbo cringed as a cheer rose up in the arena.
Then Julia collapsed to the ground and all was quiet.
Then the announcement was made. Ranma Saotome: The NEW Armsmaster of Jade. The victor staggered to his feet as cheers slowly rose from the crowd, the wounded warrior hobbling away.
“It worked... It really worked.” Sabbo said as he reached into for his wallet. “Wait a sec... Hula skirts don’t have pockets...” He muttered as the Bartender gestured to him, two bouncers approaching. “Uh oh...”
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(Posted Thu, 03 May 2007 09:59)
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