Even if the general public pretended nothing weird was going on, there were monster attacks in Juuban and apparently, the only ones able to fight them were magical girls in short skirts. Occasionaly, they would get help from some guy named Tuxedo Kamen whose idea of battle dress was formal wear. The old Ranma had found this tales amusing and thought that if the monsters were always defeated by these superhero jokes, they were wimpy losers not worthy of his time.
Now that the Great Will had cleared his mind, he viewed the situation differently. Stopping creatures intent on draining innocent people's energy or stealing their souls was a lot more productive than fighting with Ryoga over Akane's last attempt at cooking.
He honestly believed in the phrase 'a martial artist's duty is to protect the weak', a legacy of the ancient code of the chinese shih. It was time to practice what he preached, unlike Genma, Happosai and all the martial artists he knew of. How could he return to his former life knowing people needed his help ?
He needed a heroic persona who couldn't be traced back to him by the old Nerima crew, something they knew Ranma Saotome would rather die than being caught at doing (without being the newest senshi, the curse was gone and good riddance...). Dressing like a penguin would work but Ranma was a warrior, he wanted something classy yet functional.
He searched through his memories of all the manga, anime, video games and movies he had seen in his life, looking for inspiration. He settled for a white reinforced bodysuit with metal plates protecting the vital areas. A full-face mask was added for anonymity and a scarf for dramatic poses (Think Jin Saotome in Marvel vs. Capcom). The blazing red kanji for 'Justice' on the back of his costume would speak for him too.
The whole concept of Anything Goes martial arts was to take the best maneuvers from other styles and add them to the base who was rooted in Kempo. Still Happosai's misdeeds had corrupted it to the point that you gained negative karma just practicing it. The first thing Ranma did was purging his mind of Anything Goes and replace it with a more respectable form of the Art. Jeet Kune Do had the same purpose : a pragmatic fighting form designed for efficiency, not show, and taking the best of all the different styles of Kung-Fu. It would do nicely as a starting point for his own fighting style.
The main problem was where to find the energy to power his special techniques. He had used the Great Will to download fictional martial arts techniques and powers, making them real and usable in the process. He had more ki and control over it than most martial artists but he was only human. Herb had dragon blood, Saffron was a phoenix and Happosai got his energy from his perversion. What could he use ?
Then he thought back to the Senshi. Each of them stood for a planet of the Solar System, Tuxedo Kamen had been heard refering to himself as the prince of Earth (ick, scary thought...). There was still an unclaimed celestial object in the heavens, one who held special meaning to the people of Japan...
The Sun.
Science had found a way to extract energy from the rays of the Sun. Why wouldn't a martial artist learn to absorb and convert them in to Ki. Oh sure, the dragonlines still existed, a ready supply of chi ripe for the taking but the growing pollution of the planet weakened them. It was out of the question to tap into them in an artificial environment such as Tokyo.
Ranma smiled and tied his lifeforce to the Sun. As long as it burned, he would have a nearly-infinite power source.
As predicted the Great Will was pulled out from him but his little surprise went off without a hitch. He said goodbye to Nerima for good and headed for Juuban. Last he heard, creatures calling themselves daimons were running around stealing 'heart crystals, whatever that was...
*What to do first ?* he mused.
See other episodes by Jamil Nate
(Posted Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:07)
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