"Ranma Saotome," said the boy. "Heir of the Saotome School Of Martial Arts. Though the redhead up there came up with this code name of ' Dragonline' because I've got strong chi."
"Chi?" Makoto echoed.
"It's life energy," the cute girl with glasses opposite Ranma explained, then blushed at her outburst. She gathered her courage to continue despite her embarrassment. "Every living thing has it to some degree, but in mutants it is extremely powerful and manifests as our uncanny abilities."
"Yeah, but I ain't a mutant," Ranma said with a mix of exasperation and pride. "I'm a martial artist. I learned ta concentrate my chi an' focus it. I'm just in this mess 'cause I saved a girl from a giant robot."
"You fought a sentinel by yourself! And won?" Makoto exclaimed, quite impressed. "I almost took one out with my lightning, but it seemed to insulated itself from further blasts."
"Summers-sensi says that they adapt," the girl with glasses commented. "The same thing never works on them twice. You have to overpower one, or surprise it before it can analyse your power, and relay it to the rest, or change tactics faster than it can anticipate. I guess that teamwork would be best against them."
"Yeah," Ranma said smugly. "But I don't gots no power ta counter an' adaptin's my schools' specialty. I just kept changin' styles an' techniques like ya said." Of course it hadn't been as easy as he made it sound; it had a surprising arsenal of nasty surprises hidden away it its compartments. He'd been running out of tricks of his own towards the end when it had made the mistake of trying to use a flamethrower against him. He'd then faked it into letting him form a spiral to victory.
"So you register as a mutant on the sentinels sensors, like me?" Makoto said, trying to steer the conversation back to herself.
"Nah," Ranma exclaimed, "yer powahs give ya chi a funky flavah. Ya battle aura's stick out like a sore thumb. Not mine."
"A mutant's, or metahuman's, energy signature is quite distinct from a normal human's," Jean amended from the copilot's chair. "Our unique powers shape and define them. Mister Saotome's chi, while exceptionally strong for a human, lacks that distinction. You could say that his chi is like white light while ours each has a particular colour."
"Yeah, you mutant's are only good at one thing."
"Oh?" the blonde accused archly. "You make it sound like you're so much better than us."
"Hey, I am tha best at what I do!"
Jean suppressed a laugh at some private joke, then placated her charges, "what Mister Saotome is neglecting to mention is that while mutants' powers usually develop in one particular way, they can be exceedingly powerful in that area. So, while he is indeed far faster, tougher, stronger, and more agile than a normal human, and can even manage a form of energy projection, he does not come close to matching mutants with those particular talents. His major advantage is, as he mentioned, his adaptability."
"He's a well-rounded general practitioner," the girl with glasses summarised, "while we're all specialists in our field."
"Precisely," Jean agreed. "It should be interesting to see what you can learn from each other."
Ranma pouted, then turned thoughtful, while ...
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(Posted Tue, 03 Feb 2004 06:48)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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