Then had just gone ahead and done it, special manuevers to the side for the moment - there was still the Art.
She wanted to train the genie in weapons use. This was, after all, a fight against deadly enemies and supernatural evil. Bludgeoning something like that to death with fists and feet took too long. Weapons had been around for so many years because they made it a lot easier to do serious damage to your target.
She'd tried a variety of weapons to see who was best suited for a particular type.
Ranma did well on the bo staff. Saturn showed promise. Mercury was passable. Mars was between Mercury and Saturn. Moon tripped and managed to knock Mars out.
Ranma did well on the chain weapon. Saturn wasn't as good with this. Mercury was worse. Mars was passable. Moon managed to tie herself up and roll downhill into a stream.
Ranma did well with the spear. Saturn was better with this. Mercury was passable. Mars was on a level with Mercury. Moon managed to trip and end up with another impromptu bath.
Ranma did well with the butterfly swords. Saturn managed not to hurt anyone. Mercury was at least better with these than the spear. Mars showed some promise. Moon managed to lose both of the practice swords.
Ranma did well with the bonbori and the golden moon mace. Saturn tired too easily. Mercury and Mars lacked the upper body strength. Moon managed to knock herself out.
Ranma excelled with the nunchaku. Saturn bruised herself. Mercury managed to knock Ranma out, which would have been impressive if that had been the intent. Mars gave herself a headache. Moon lost one of the nunchaku and knocked Mars out with the other.
Trident? Same pattern. Ranma showed some skill. Everyone but Moon was an average student. Moon managed to pin one of her own shoes to the ground.
The exception to the pattern came with the Japanese halberd, or naginata. Saturn showed a lot of promise there, having an almost instinctual feel for the weapon. The same thing occurred with the bow for Mars and Mercury showed the most promise with war fans. Moon had been sidelined after the incident with bow and arrows where she'd shot herself in the foot.
So, as Ranma was Japanese, use mainly Japanese weapons for now.
Ranma - bo, it had better reach and more uses (climb pole, walking stick, poling rafts, etc) than the nunchaku.
Mercury - war fans. They were light, ornamental, but reinforced to be used as a parrying and blunt weapon, and eventually she could learn a few special manuevers using them.
Saturn - naginata. With the blade removed it was a walking stick, with the blade attached it was a deadly weapon. Until she felt Saturn was ready though, best to keep the blade in the hard leather sheath.
Mars - bow training when feasible. Bo staff when not.
Moon - this was a toughie. Eventually Cologne decided on a mace - singular. It could be used to parry some attacks and lacked the potential for disaster of some of the other weapons.
Shampoo continued to train with her bonbori. When she wasn't flying and crashing into things, that is.
Cologne also hit on the idea of enlisting Ranma as her assistant. After all, if the boy was to take over some dojo eventually - best get some experience in as a sensei, right?
Ranma hadn't been too sure what to make of the idea at first, but upon being told by Cologne that a little pain now might keep them from getting seriously hurt later, quickly took to the new duties.
Cologne left a few vague hints about the special manuevers she'd teach him, but that it was important to bring his genie skills up to speed.
Though he also had to think about what to get Saturn for finding the Mars ring back at the bathing house. That Moroboshi kid had had Mercury, Mars had been at the bath house, and Genma had gotten re-maid by a cursed ring. Yet Saturn had found the Ring that had originally drawn them and so needed a reward. Ranma was still puzzling over what he could give her.
Four days passed as they travelled, continuing North, until:
(Posted Sun, 03 Nov 2002 16:04)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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