“BEGIN!”
Ranma darted towards Karia, intent on defeating the War-mage Weaponsmaster of Seer’s Hamlet. The arena felt wrong to him, now that the chi seemed to be ... withered, as if it wasn’t flowing right. His body seemed ... upset at the situation. Even though he had a huge reserve of energy within him, his body seemed to wish to have the normal flow of chi around him restored.
His mind, on the other hand, enjoyed the challenge this presented. Sure, he couldn’t draw energy from the Ethereal Stream like many mages on Jade did. Then again, he never did. He replenished his chi either by food or background absorption. Of course, if he could get someone to teach him how to do it through that stream, he’d have no trouble running out of power.
But he couldn’t think about that at the moment. Right now, he had a tough Dark Elf to defeat, while in his human form. Suckers, I fight better as a human anyway!
As he approached her, he could spy a bit of shock on her face. She had probably assumed he wouldn’t have such speed without being either in his hybrid form or his full cheetah form. And a main tenant of Anything Goes was to always take advantage of surprising your opponent with a surprise attack.
“Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken!”
“What the hell?” said Julia, as Ranma’s arms blurred, Karia rocking with what looked like intense hits.
“That’s impossible!” yelled Gar. “How could he do that without accessing the Ethereal Stream!”
“Wrong,” said Nabiki. “Your stream is an outside power source. Ranma, however, uses an internal power source. In other words, he can store chi inside himself; perfectly legal.”
“He stores chi?” asked Julia, eyes wide in surprise. Her shock was mirrored by Lily, the Amazon Breeder Weaponsmaster, and a pair of eyes hiding in the shadows belonging to a certain rival of Julia’s.
Nabiki nodded. “And since it is an internal ability, it’s perfectly legal. Get ready to pay up one dinner, Gar.” Even in a world of magic, suckers are still born.
Karia dodged as best as she could, the only thing saving her from more punishment was the fact Ranma had reduced his speed to conserve his energy. She was being worn down by the strange were-cheetah in human form. The battle had barely lasted a minute, and so far she was showing more damage than she was giving.
And she was having the time of her life. When Ranma had asked her for a battle, she had at first considered rejecting him. Though he moved like a warrior, he was still a were-cat, and they rarely studied fighting styles or magic. The Edge Guard were more the exception to the rule rather than the rule. Many were-species relied heavily on their regeneration rather than skill.
But his eyes... His eyes spoke of skill, of prowess as a warrior, as a worthy challenge.
And she was glad she had accepted. A near child, barely eighteen years, was proving to be a challenge to her, a top-level War Mage. “Ranma!” she yelled out. “If you can end this, then quit playing. I wanted a fight. Now stop holding back and show me what you’ve got!”
Ranma blinked a bit. Weird, she wanted a quick end. Oh well, he’d give it to her.
He darted quickly again, quickly getting inside her defenses, and raising his hands to deliver a double palm strike to her unguarded chest. She moved her arms, trying to block.
“Möko Takabisha!”
Too bad that wasn’t his plan.
The stunned spectators could only look in shock as a blue blast of energy struck Karia, sending her racing across the arena, before she skidded across the ground, coming to rest against the wall.
“Um ... you okay?” asked Ranma. Man, I put too much into it! Damn, now she’s gonna be pissed.
Nabiki smirked. It looked like she had a dinner coming to her, courtesy of a betting were-jaguar.
Julia could only gawk. Oh, Theo was so getting a letter about this.
“Told you he was good,” smirked Sheila.
The Amazons were smirking as well; Ranma had just sent the value of his genetics through the roof.
The rival felt a smirk coming over her features. If she could learn those techniques, learn how to store ether...
“Victory will be mine yet, Julia,” smirked the dwarf, as she left the arena.
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(Posted Sun, 27 May 2007 17:10)
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