Cologne hopped into the bar clinging to the top of her staff. While she didn't frequent places like this, it was Nerima so the sight of the tiny crone displaying unnatural agility balancing atop a staff wasn't cause for notice.
Cologne peered around he dimly lit interior of the bar until she spotted her target where he sat drunkenly across from his partner in crime. She was about to head over to the pair when suddenly her target was accosted by a large, foreign matron wearing a professional maid uniform complete with white support stockings and Cobby Cuddlers.
"Oh dear! You've got a right case of the dingies, you do!" the matron announced in what Cologne believed to be a Cockney accent to the fat man in the grubby gi.
Cologne could only stand and gape along with the rest of the bar as the master, albeit drunken, martial artist struggled ineffectually as he was stripped to his underwear and left to wonder what the hell just happened as the matron disappeared out the door, his soiled gi in hand, with a battle cry of 'Fight for the bright!'
After a long, stunned silence, Genma Saotome climbed back up onto his chair, ignoring the fact that he was only wearing a pair of stained boxers and went back to drinking. Everyone else took that as a cue to resume their own activities, ignoring the nearly-naked, fat man. It wasn't the strangest thing that ever happened in Nerima.
Cologne shook her head and chuckled as she made her way to Genma's table. After all, she had an interrogation to get to. She was going to find out where her Son-in-law got off to or Genma was going to wish being assaulted by an insane British Matron was the worst thing that happened to him today.
"Have you found out anything, Sugar?" Ukyo asked as she buttonholed Nabiki at school.
"I can't get anything out of that fat slob except that Ranma went to live with his mother," Nabiki replied with no small amount of frustration. "But as you know, they left the Saotome home and haven't been seen since. I did overhear the old fart telling Daddy that Nodoka may have went to live with her family, but he wouldn't give out any names. I have someone that owes me a favor looking into who Nodoka is related to, but I haven't heard anything back yet."
"It's been a week, Sugar," Ukyo pointed out. "Who knows what sort of trouble Ran-chan has gotten into so far?"
"You!"
Ranma turned to see Chouhi standing a few feet away, looking at him with a hostile glare. Ranma raised an eyebrow in question.
"The training hall! Now!" she commanded belligerently.
"Why would I listen to anything a mouthy tomboy like you had to say?" Ranma challenged. It was Friday afternoon and school had just let out. He was looking forward to getting home so he could start training with those techniques on the scrolls his father had given him.
Chouhi scowled at him.
"Anytime, anywhere, you said," the aggressive girl growled. "The training hall, now...unless you're scared."
"Well, I guess this way you'll have all weekend to recover from the beat down," Ranma shrugged. "Fine. Let's go."
"There you are, Guvna," the British matron proclaimed as she finished dressing Genma back in his gi. "Good as new! No more dingies here!"
"It is new," Cologne deadpanned, pointing to the tag hanging from the sleeve of Genma's gleaming white gi.
The matron sweat-dropped and looked sheepish.
"Er...right. How was I ta know it were only the dingies holding the thing together?" she remarked. "Disintegrated in the wash it did. Oh well, I'm off! Fight for the bright!"
Cologne shook her head and turned back to Genma.
"So Son-in-law's mother has a sister and a brother, huh?" she asked. "Now where might I find them?"
Genma cringed back as the tip of the staff moved toward the pain-inducing pressure point that had already killed the pleasant buzz he'd been working on. Soun would be no help as he was currently slumped over the table, passed out from the pressure point Cologne had used on him.
Chouhi screamed as she was launched across the training hall and slammed face first into yet another wall. Her body bounced off the wall and hit the ground in a heap, her hands going to her lower back where Ranma had just hit her. Fighting to ignore the pain she was in, she struggled to her hands and knees, panting heavily. Wiping a trickle of blood from her lip with the back of her hand, she looked over at where Ranma was standing in the middle of the dojo, a place she had been unable to displace him from since the fight began.
"You done already?" Ranma asked with a patronizing smirk that made her blood boil.
Chouhi pushed herself up, standing unsteadily on her shaking knees, her vision blurring in and out as she faced her opponent.
"I am...Chouhi...Ekitoku...and I...will never...surrender!" she cried, charging him again.
The brunette tomboy's eyes widened as he casually caught the kick she had launched at him and then screamed in pain as he stabbed a nerve cluster on her inner thigh. She tried to counter with a punch but before she could get it off, he nailed her with a palm strike to the diaphragm which tore the air from her lungs and sent her skidding across the dojo on her back.
Chouhi laid on her back trying to gasp for air as her leg felt like it had been dipped in molten metal. Her eyes were clinched shut tears of pain squeezed out from them to trail down her cheeks. Suddenly, the pain in her leg vanished and she could breath again. Gratefully she took huge gasping breaths and opened her eyes.
"Hey, tomboy, this ain't a death match, ya know," Ranma said from where he squatted next to her. "There's no shame in admitting when you're over matched—not when it's just a sparring match. You've got nice form and a bunch of strength, but you're too slow. You need to work on your speed. If you're too slow to hit your opponent, all that gorilla strength won't do you a lick of good. You're defense and endurance could use some work too. You've got holes I could drive a truck through and you were exhausted by the fifth wall you crashed into."
He smiled and offered her a hand up.
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(Posted Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:01)
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