"Too slow!"
Genma caught the extended leg of his son and threw him headfirst at the side of a hill. Ranma spun in midair, landing easily on the steep ground and instantly jumped toward his father."I'll show you slow, you fat ass!" Genma launched himself in the air and both exchanged a series of kicks and punches in midair, barely dodging and blocking each other attacks. Finally they passed each other with a spin kick and landed on the ground, Genma dropping to his knees. Ranma turned toward his sparring partner, watching him get up with a smirk ."Fast enough for you, old man? "
Genma frowned and ignored the ache on his side. That last hit would probably leave a bruise, but Ranma didn't need to know that "That was passable boy, but you need to work on your power. Hitting like a schoolgirl won't win you any fight".As expected, that wiped the irritating smirk from his arrogant son's face. With a snarl, Ranma rushed him with a flurry of straight punches. Genma dodged a right haymaker with ease and before Ranma could remove his arm, reoriented it in his left arm's path, pinning them together .He used the opening to give three quick punches to Ranma's gut and when the boy stumbled back, kicked him to the head. Ranma fell hard and did not get back up.
"That was terrible. No son of mine should get caught off-guard like this." The only answer was a groan ."Get up, boy!"Genma said harshly."Practice is over for the day. Go fetch some water, I'll make a fire."He watched his son son jump to his feet, take the bucket in his pack and leave without a word.
Gemna began gathering dead wood and allowed himself a smile. The boy was getting better, and incredibly quickly too. Ranma had always been a fast learner but since he had acquired that Rune, fast took a totally different meaning. In a matter of days, the last difference in pure skill between the boy and him had disappeared. During the fight Ranma acted different, nothing too remarkable, but Genma knew Ranma's way of fighting in and out, making those tiny differences glaringly obvious. A little less brash, a little more cautious. His feints were less elaborate and his attacks more straightforward .Completely unlike Ranma, but you couldn't argue with results.
Now, all he needed was to turn back his son into a male. There was no Tendo in this world, so that engagement had gone down the drain, but Genma had corrected the situation the best way he could, engaging his son to a number of interesting parties. The okonomiyaki Chef in Osaka, the rich family down in Tokyo, that weird scientist with a sickly girl and the kenjutsu dojo in Kyoto. As far as he could remember, that was it for Japan. Genma supposed he could go back to that ninjas hidden village, but the thought was distasteful. They would not care about Ranma's gender, but he wanted his name to live on after he was gone. For that he needed a male heir.
With a spark of hot ki, Genma lit up the fire. On the bright side, Nodoka would never find them here.
Ranma reached quickly the spring they had spotted before stopping for the day. In the horizon, the sun was just beginning to set. Ranma cursed her father. Weak, slow, the girl snorted, that was bullshit. Ranma had never been that good and they both knew it. Heck, in two weeks tops, she'd defeat her father every time. Now that Genma had lost the reach advantage. The only way for the lazy bastard she had as a father to get a solid hit in was to attack him on her new "problem".
Lowering herself toward the water, she froze. That was not her face staring back, but the face of a girl. Gone was the face she knew, which had just begun to lose his childish quality to gain some manly traits. Instead, there was a pretty girl with big blue eyes and small mouth and soft features, her silver hair glittering in the dying sunlight.
Silver, for god's sake!
There were some good in her transformation. she was almost as tall as her father now, faster too, even slightly stronger. But that wasn't nearly enough to make up for the gender switch
And to make it worse, it felt right. She had not realized that her body was any different until her father had pointed it out .She had freaked out big time, and her scream had resounded in a horribly high pitched tone, another bad surprise. She had turned to her father, and proceeded to beat him up for another stupid plan. Despite her completely different build, she had pulled her moves with the same ease as always. That worried her. Instead of a boy trapped in a girl's body, she felt like a girl telling herself she was a boy. It was a good thing Genma kept calling her "boy" and acted the same as always, no girl could have taken the harsh treatments Genma dished out. But she could, proof that she was still herself.
A screech rung out behind her, and Ranma jumped to the side just before a spinning blade flew where she had stood. She turned to face her attacker, some sort of mantis. Expect they came up to her waist. She counted six of them.
Another weird thing in this world was the existence of "monsters". In Ranma's opinion, they were more like overgrown animal with a mean streak. Hardly threatening to a fighter of her level, that was even more true with her new ace. Somehow, the Rune could tell what her opponent was about to do. It didn't work often against his father though, she supposed it was related to the skill of her opponent.
Against these enemies though, Ranma could win her eyes closed.
Without hesitation, The pigtailed youth jumped in the middle of the insects group. Dodging their clumsy attacks, Ranma took two of them with a spinning kick, sending their head flying in the water .The bodies kept on attacking aimlessly, as if unaware of the loss .She took out the others just as easily.
The martial artist stretched her arms over her head. That had not been enough even for a cool-down.
The sun was almost down over the mountain, she had stayed here long enough. She didn't need another round of her father's complaining. Taking water in her bucket, Ranma hurried back to the clearing.
"I hope you know what you're doing boy, taking us in the middle of nowhere"
"Huh! It won't be worse than where you took us before, old man."
Genma kept on grumbling, but Ranma ignored him, quickly putting her bowl out of her father's range. Genma had wanted them to go to a large port city, to search for a Rune Sage to identify the rune on Ranma's hand, and then find transportation. Instead they were going further inland, following Ranma's hunch. She had told her Father that they were something calling her in that direction. She didn't know what, but she felt that it was important, and she intended to find exactly what it was.
The fact that for once it was her father forced to follow blindly was something Ranma thoroughly enjoyed.
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(Posted Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:40)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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