He was in a cave, looked like a ancient and unsuccessful effort to mine one of the smaller mountainsides down at the lower regions of Mount Fuji. He was male, despite the light misting rain outside, due to having found the cave, he reasoned out.
That wasn't why he wasn't leaving to get back to Nerima yet. No, that would have to be pinned down on his being totally naked. Yup. Naked. I always knew those crazy gals would get my clothes if nothin' else did. Wish I remembered, then I'd know you or what needs a whuppin' over this.
He wasn't too cold, despite the dampish air and chill. Long as he'd spent in frankly stupid training and inclement weather, he was about as weather-durable as Ryouga. (He remained unaware of Symbiote, who was of course augmenting the aforementioned climate-endurance.)
He finally muttered aloud as he rent a few fallen support beams from the edges of a cave-in or two "Alright, Saotome, time to suck it up. First, we get a fire goin', Then we find something to use as coverin'. We'll get back to civilisation once the threat of arrest for streaking is removed."
He frowned a bit. "We? I knew I was gonna have trouble from eating that much wasabi on my food while we watched Nab's DVD of The Two Towers. Oh, well!"
He finally got enough dry wood in the center, then he looked for flints or other suitable rock. Nothing suitable proved to be present in the Mine/cave, so he experimanted with his techniques. "Lessee here, Maybe if I reverse the Soul of Ice.." This showed promise at first, as reversing the chilling side-effects of the Amazon technique was a easy thing to understand. Simply get emotional! That's when he hit a brick wall.
No matter what he did, he couldn't get mad enough! "Come ON, already! Akane's cooking, Ryouga's sleeping habits, my school enviroment, SOMETHING! Why can't I get furious?" He was frustrated, but that was IT. It was like something was..
The cave was filled with a weary and VERY complete set of Chinese and Japanese swears for the next few minutes, as Ranma realised he literally had his emotions damped down. They existed, but they never rose above a certain level. He finally muttered to himself "Well.. sigh It's probably just some leftover from Pops trying to fix the Neko."
He pondered "At least I finally know why I never could master the true Shi Shi Hokoudan. Guess I'll have to try something else, unless I want to eat whatever I find raw." Shuddering at the very thought, Ranma thought about it, and finally came up with a second idea.
"Okay, if I concentrate the Soul properly, to draw the heat to one point, but keep the COLD within, I should be able to focus the heat into one spot, just like when we do Ki spheres. Won't be huge, but it only needs to be HOT, but big. Let's try it!"
Pig-tail settling back behind him, Ranma sat in a lotus position before the wood, then cupped his hands before the firepit he'd rigged up, focusing his intent on the core wood and kindling at the base. He felt the cold forming in himself, then withheld that, while *pulling* at the opposing energies he sensed. Anything that felt of fire, the martial artist sought to draw into that one spot. At first, he just felt the absence of his susual emanations of cold, then he sensed energy all about him..
He wasn't classifying it any further than Heat and Not-Heat, so total was his focus. His spirit grasped power he grew more and more able to sense, then he pulled it all into the kindling, utilising himself as a lens of sorts. He felt tired, and warm.. *warm*!
He opened his eyes to see the entire firepit filled with a flame the same shade as his eyes, luminescent. This startled him, and he lost it, but there was enough heat from it that the wood had caught. It therefore continued to burn.
He felt.. more all aropund him, some tiny tickling awareness of everything around him. It reminded him of when he first gained Ki sense of his enviroment, but this was more profound. A new order of awareness altogether.
He sat there, naked, feeling oddly comforted by a fire in a cave. "Stupid Tomboy always *did* say I was a Neanderthal. Man, what *was* that! I know Chi and Ki, and that wasn't just Chi. What's happening to me?" He wasn't too freaked, but Ranma Saotome didn't like losing any of the miniscule control he felt he still had in his life. He knew he'd just have to get answers.. and soon.
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(Posted Sun, 11 Jan 2004 11:54)
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