"Stay down," Ranma ordered, enforcing his command with a hand on Hakufu's solar plexus, holding her down. "You did good, but now it's my turn."
"Who are you?" Taishiji blinked, noticing the boy for the first time.
"Ranma Saotome," Ranma replied. "Ya defeated my cousins so I owe ya a beat down for the sake of family honor."
"Ranma don't," Kokin protested. "He's one of the top five fighters in the Kanto area."
Ranma snorted.
"Not even close, Cousin," Ranma remarked. "I know little old ladies that could lay the smack down on him without breaking a sweat."
"Is that so, Boy?" Taishiji smirked.
"Yeah, it is," Ranma replied. "You look like yer a pretty good brawler, but now yer about to find out what it means to face a Master of the Art."
Ranma couldn't help but smile in pride at having the right to claim that. Before Genma had left, he had give Ranma several scrolls. One had been his Certificate of Mastery, making him a full Master rank in the school. Happosai had even signed off on it. The others had been the scrolls for a new set of techniques that Genma had sealed due to how dangerous they could be. Genma had told him to learn them, but only use them if the situation was dire.
Ranma took a stance and met Taishiji's eyes evenly.
"Don't worry. I won't do any permanent damage," Ranma assured him. "You've got honor and I respect that."
"Bring it," Taishiji nodded.
Ranma smirked and leapt into the air, not unlike Hakufu's first attack. As he expected, Taishiji easily avoided the attack by stepping to the side...only to get caught off guard by the foot sweep Ranma dropped into when he landed. Taishiji's feet went out from under him and he landed hard on his back. Ranma rose and backed off to give the bigger boy a chance to get to his feet.
"Hey braid boy," Ranma commented. "If you want to at least make this interesting for me, you better take your hands out of your pockets and kick it up a few notches."
Taishiji grimaced and flipped up to his feet.
"You duped me with your cousin's clumsy opening move," Taishiji commented as he took a stance, his fists held loosely in front of him. "Don't expect for that to happen again."
"Bring it," Ranma grinned arrogantly.
Taishiji nodded and closed range, launching the same devastating attack that brought Kokin and Hakufu down. To his surprise, Ranma just stood there, not moving and accepted the ki-charged punch.
"Oof," Ranma mentioned as he was picked up and thrown through the air by the punch to slam into a stack of junk cars kicking up a huge cloud of dust.
"Ranma!" Hakufu and Kokin shouted in alarm.
Taishiji stood and lowered his guard. There was no way the boy was going to have any fight left in him after that; not considering he had put even more power into the attack than he used with either of the others. He began to turn away.
"Wow, not bad," Ranma's voice said from the dust cloud with a cough. "That was almost as strong a punch as the Tomboy could dish out when she was pissed at me." Ranma walked out from the dust cloud seemingly unhurt. Everyone gasped at this new kid's unreal toughness. "But then I've been taking hits like that or worse everyday for nearly a year now. Is that all you got?"
"Who the hell are you?" Taishiji asked in awe.
"I told ya, I'm Ranma Saotome, the best martial artist in Japan," Ranma smirked. "You ready to continue?"
With a battle cry, Taishiji charged in and began swinging at the smirking boy. He led off with a sweeping right cross which Ranma merely leaned to the side slightly to casually avoid. The right cross was followed by a left upper cut which Ranma leaned backward to dodge. The backward lean was followed up by a handstand flip when Taishiji dropped to attempt a foot sweep. The new kid was proving to be as elusive as a shadow. It was like trying to hit smoke.
"My turn," the grinning boy announced.
Suddenly Taishiji was purely on the defensive as a series of lightning fast kicks and punches crashed against his guard. He was forced to give up ground even as he was amazed at the power behind the strikes. It was like he was fighting Ukitsu. Desperately, the larger boy launched a wild punch to try and get some space. The other boy ducked the punch and suddenly, Taishiji's ribs exploded in pain as Ranma landed a kick to his kidneys, launching the bigger boy into a pile of cars with a huge crash. Hanno's goon squad gasped.
"Whoa," one of them commented. "I've never seen Taishiji get taken apart like that."
Meanwhile, Hanno had found the crowbar he had picked up earlier and had slipped around behind where Kokin and Hakufu were gaping at their cousin's display of martial skill and power. He just had to wait for the right moment to strike.
Taishiji coughed and clutched his cracked ribs as he climbed to his feet. He looked up at Ranma who was standing there waiting for him to pull himself together. It wasn't often that he was outclassed, but he couldn't shake the impression that the boy was just toying with him. The grin on Ranma's face and the excitement in his eyes didn't help any. Still, Taishiji didn't become the fighter he was by giving up so easily. He gathered himself and charged the pigtailed martial artist.
Ranma cracked his neck and set himself to receive the other boy's charge. The larger boy barreled towards him and leapt into the air in a flying drop kick. Ranma deftly stepped to the side and then had to duck the spinning back fist Taishiji launched immediately after landing. Suddenly, Ranma was inside his guard.
"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranma shouted.
There was a rumbling roar that sounded like a minigun being fired and the amazed spectators watched at Taishiji's body began to float several inches off the ground while seeming to convulse. The roar ceased after about two seconds and before Taishiji could fall to the ground he was nailed with a spinning back kick to the chest. Taishiji was in a world of pain as he flew back from the kick that cracked even more ribs to land heavily on his back several meters away. He rolled to the side and coughed up some blood before blissfully passing out.
Everyone was frozen in shock at seeing one of the top fighters in the seven schools so easily taken out. As Ranma walked over to check on Taishiji, Hanno recovered his wits and decided that now was his chance. With Taishiji taken out, he was back in charge after all.
"You're mine, Booby Bombs!" he shouted and lifted the crowbar for a swing that would cave her head in where she was kneeling on the ground next to her boy toy.
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(Posted Fri, 04 Jul 2008 11:34)
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