Gold Digger Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Smoke and Wind ❯ Rivals and Battles ( Chapter 1 )

The Disclaimer is in the first part.

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G'Nolga growled as she reached the top of the chasm. After long torturous travel, she had finally reached the surface, where-ever on the surface she was.

Of all the humiliations, Julia Brigand-Diggers at least had years of experience to fall back upon. But this defeat...

To be buried alive in those damn catacombs, forced to work her way into the bowels of Jade before this final escape.

She snarled as she took a moment to take a breather. Here she was, a dwarf at the prime of her life and physical skills, with more than a hundred years of battle behind her, and she was beaten by a human whelp and an imitation were-cat with not even half a century of years between them?

Surely the whelp had potential, but he was far and away from Julia's skill level. Especially now that the Diggers woman had recovered her youth. If he had faced her in combat, then she would have merely beaten him down like she had the smoke-caster and then left him and the interfering bitch to contemplate their lesson about getting in her way.

But no, he had goaded her, baited her, TRICKED her into that accursed dungeon, and then he had BURIED her.

G'Nolga growled. Julia Brigand-Diggers was still her primary rival, but those two...these CHILDREN that sought to humiliate a weapons master. They must pay.

********

Tanya curled up in Ranma's arms, laying in bed at their home in the retreat, sighing and wishing that this could go on forever.

It couldn't, of course.

Tanya was given some lee-way over the matter with G'Nolga and the fact that she'd apparently found Ranma and given up her obsession over Strype and Britanny to a degree, but she was still technically under observation, as the bracelet around her wrist attested to those that recognized it for what it was. It would come off on its own when her time of punishment was over, but until then, she couldn't take it off or destroy it and she could be found by anyone that knew how to find the magical signature.

Fortunately for her, that had included Ranma and his Ki senses, else she might have died on her second-run in with G'Nolga.

Funny thing, to have one's life saved by a magical low jack.

And, of course, they'd eventually need some way to support themselves, in either on Jade or on Earth. And both had their positives and negatives. Both of them were heavily leaning toward Jade, away from certain people as much as possible. Though total isolation from their pasts was certainly impossible.

If for no other reason than that Julia had taken an interest in Ranma due to the defeat of G'Nolga.

********

Julia Brigand Diggers was sitting in Nali's clinic having a pleasant conversation in the morning with her friend and her husband. However she seemed a bit distracted.

Theo noticed this, "What's wrong dear? You seem out of it today."

Julia sighed, "I was just thinking about the rumors I've heard lately."

Nali blinked, "You mean about that human who beat G'Nolga? Oh come on Julia, you're the only person on Jade that can beat G'Nolga in a fight."

"I know that, but I recently found out that those rumors were actually fact."

Nali and Theo blinked, Theo recovered his wits first, "Say what?"

Julia nodded, "I was just as surprised as you were, the one who beat her is one maybe two skill levels lower than her. But he was still able to lead her into a cavern and blow up the roof, causing a cave-in that sealed her away for a bit."

Theo frowned in contemplation, "Did he use magic?" That would make some sense, augmenting his skill with magic powers would be the easiest way to do it.

Julia shook her head, "Nope, the cavern was littered with iron ore, so magic wouldn't have fazed the walls."

Nali spoke up, "Julia, how do you know this?"

Smirking a bit, Julia answered, "I've met him recently, and what's more, it seems he just got married to an old 'friend' of ours."

"And who might that be dear, and who was it that beat G'Nolga?"

Julia lost all amusement in her face when she answered, "The one who beat G'Nolga is a young man by the name of Ranma Saotome and the one he married is none other than the Kyrn Ex-Priestess Tanya."

Nali spoke up, "Julia, you mean the woman who tried to kill Britanny and her baby on the Astral Plane a few months ago?"

"The very same, I'll be honest, I don't like her, but I'm willing to allow her a chance to redeem herself, the only one she really has to watch out for is Britanny."

They all nodded at that. Nali then spoke up, "But still, if Tanya is mellowed out, then that's a good thing. But what about that guy, if he was able to beat G'Nolga, then he must either be really lucky, or really skilled."

Julia nodded, "I'd say he's both, I've only met him once, but I'm going to go and meet him again today and test his skills and see where he's at. That and the fact is I'll be able to watch what Tanya is up to."

They nodded, though they had an odd feeling that said that it was going to be interesting in the next few months to say the least.

********

Meanwhile at the Retreat. . .

Ranma cursed, his aura guttering out as he lost his focus. "Damn it! I can't figure this out!"

Tanya sighed, dropping her hands from Ranma's brow where she had ben focusing her magic as a way to let her Husband gain a feel for the 'Ethereal Stream.' It was amazing, to her at least, that his strange abilities did not originate from the Ethereal Stream in the slightest. Fighters, like Julia Diggers and the various weapon masters drew up the Ethereal Stream to increase their strength, power, and even used to for attacks. They of course called this Ki and Chi.

However, they were wrong. Ranma used what he called 'Ki' and 'Chi'. Inner life force and the life force of nature respectfully. A whole new energy source as far as Tanya knew, which is the only reason she agreed to meet with Julia Diggers later this afternoon. She and her husband were curious about this.

Sighing softly, taking her husband hands in her own she thought about how to comfort him. "Ranma, don't take it too hard. People train their whole lives to access the Ethereal Stream." she raised his hand to her own, her warm moist lips kissing gently along the knuckles, "You'll get it. You just need to keep trying."

Ranma took a deep breath, holding it as he watched and listened to his wife. After listening to her, he released his breath and nodded. "Yeah. I'll never give up." he said with a smile that soon became lecherous, "So long as my sexy kitten is here to guide me back when I get lost."

Tanya tsk'ed, though she had a blush, "What would the Armsmaster say if she came upon us in the throes of passion, screaming each other names as we force one another to ascend the heavens in orgasmic delight?" he tone mocking, teasing.

Julia coughed, some how appearing with out Tanya or Ranma sensing her presence. "She would probably snort, find some water, and douse the lovers."

Tanya choked, looking at Julia as a deer would head lights. "Eh.. heh.. heh.."

Ranma howled in laughter at that. It was always so much fun to tease each other, especially when some one catches one of them in the act. "Hey Mrs. Diggers." he waved, trying to get control over his laughter. It's amazing what a glare from his wife could do in that regard.

Julia chuckled, though it was rather forced. Her entire demeanor screamed "On guard and ready for anything." Not that Tanya, or Ranma could blame her. Ranma knew Tanya and the Digger family did not get along due to their past...

Hopping to his feet, "Well Mrs. Diggers, lets get this over with." Ranma said.

Julia nodded, turning around and walking away from camp. Ranma and his wife followed. They didn't have to go far, an open clearing in the woods were they had set up camp was nearby.

Julia turned around, "An all out sparring session, no death strikes or permanently damaging blows." she turned a glare at Tanya, "No outside interference. We fight until one, or both can no longer fight. Agreed?" she then looked back to Ranma waiting for his nod.

Ranma frowned. He really didn't like this woman glaring at his wife like that. One again he reminded himself that he, and his wife, would have to earn this woman's - not to mention her families - trust if they were ever to put the past behind them. "Agreed."

Thus the battle began..

Ranma grinned, falling into a defensive stance.

Julia frowned, recognizing the confidence the boy had in his skills. She herself leaned back, bringing her left elbow up and formed a fist, extending her left arm forward also forming a first.

Ranma scanned, finding numerous holes the in woman's defenses that he felt safe to exploit. As he moved towards the warrior a memory tickled at the back of his mind, something Tanya had said about his opponent. Something...

Julia frowned. While the boy's charge was good, his stance excellent and he also seemed to move with a fluid grace of one long since a Master in the way of fighting, his intellect obviously wasn't that high. It was obvious to the Armsmaster that the boy had fallen for one of the many 'holes' in her defense, the ones she had put there on purpose in order to trick her opponents into thinking she wasn't a big a threat as she generally was.

Ranma's plans changed half way to his target. He remembered everything Tanya had said about the Armsmaster and her fighting ability, he trusted his wife in all matters even if his evaluation showed different. It didn't make sense for one of the best fighters in the world to have such obvious holes in her defense, so he could only conclude it was a hole intentionally left in her defenses. The better to lead unsuspecting morons to their inevitable beat downs.

Jumping to the left, Ranma used his inertia and Ki strengthened legs to fly through the air.

Julia frowned following her prey into the air. Obviously she had been wrong in her earlier assumptions.

Ranma grinned, the woman had taken the bait. Ranma kicked off a pine needle tree, unknown to Julia he had snagged to hand fulls of the pine needles while rebounding, and flew in a straight line for his target.

Julia closed her defenses slightly, bunching up her legs in preparation for some kind of defense.

Ranma shouted off, "KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN Revised: Haimatsu Hari Renda!" and went about shooting single threads of the pine needle, each pine needle imbued with a portion of his Ki.

Julia saw the attack just as Ranma summoned his aura. She didn't understand the purpose of it. It definitely wasn't a Ki Projectile, and he was too far away - though closing fast - to make full use of a punch/kick speed technique. What was he up to?

Julia gambled by pushing her legs out, the action giving her a bit more inertia - which she used to flip over the incoming Ranma. It was here she realized her gamble failed. Tiny slivers of.. something flew out of Ranma's hands at rocket speed, the tiny little things digging deep into her armor and scoring first blood across her back. Oh would that boy pay.

That wasn't the end of Ranma's game though. As Julia flew over head he ceased his attack, turned over and grabbed at Julia's hair. With a great tug he robbed her of some of her speed/inertia and prepared to continue this fight in the air.

Julia gritted her teeth as the boy used her own hair against her. She used Ranma's leverage against him, and added her own strength to the change of inertia, flipping around and nailing the boy in the face with her feet.

'Shit' Ranma groaned as he flipped over and braced himself, landing carefully. This woman was strong, monstrously so. He didn't think anyone could hit as hard as she could. Skill wise he knew she was still hiding the majority, but that didn't matter. He had fought many battles with people equal, or higher in terms of power and skill and always came out the winner, in the end.

Julia landed, ignoring the searing pain in her back from Ranma's strange pine needle attack. She whipped around, just in time to see Ranma land. Opening her center to the ethereal stream, Julia quickly gathered the pure energy that comprised the source and let loose with a moderately powerful(for her) Chi blast.

Ranma's eyes widen slightly, he noticed Julia smirk when he did that. The ball of milky white.. something.. flew towards him. It felt like a Chi attack, but he couldn't feel any emotions raidiating off the blasted thing. The power.. the power on the other hand he could.

Quickly accessing his inner being, Ranma let loose with a "MOKO TAKABISHI!" a weak one though, no point in wasting his strength in trying to overcome something that powerful.

Julia frowned, the boy was using his emotions to gather his Ki. Not a good thing.

The ball of milky white met with shimmering blue - the small impact enough to disrupt the stability of her Chi projectile and explode violently across the clearing.

Julia back flipped away from ground zero, immediately flowing into an aggressive stance as she charged the dust cloud generated by the explosion. She closed her eyes, that sense would be useless and more a deterrent than anything else. She remained cool and in control as she ran for her target.. only... she couldn't sense him!

Julia's eyes flared open, already well past the dust cloud their attacks had generated. Her cool facade faded as the blood pumped in the excitement of the battle. The fight, the battle was what she lived for, and this one was turning out to be more than she expected.

Her senses flared to life! An overhead attack! She looked up, raising her arms in defense of an attack she couldn't see. Nothing.. until the ground beneath her erupted with a shout of "BAKUSEI TENKETSU!"

Ranma smirked, watching the woman engulfed in the secret Amazon technique. He wasn't stupid though, that attack wouldn't gain him much respite. Cloaking himself once again in the Umi-Sen-Ken, Goshin Dai Ryu Sei Fu, or Body Defense Shooting Star Cloth, Ranma faded from view.

Julia growled, using the various peices of stone flung through out the air as leverage to regain her balance. That attack HURT! The explosion had suprised her, that was for sure, and the rocks had pounded into her back before she could get control of her ascent. Normally that wouldn't be bad, but whatever weapon he had used to attack with earlier had been pushed deeper into their wounds. This punk was going to pay!

Landing with all the grace of an alley cat, Julia expanded her senses in search of the little twerp. Nothing.. wait... the air coming towards her.. an Invisibility technique! She was left with no more time to contemplate as her target appeared raining blows fast and furious - though Ranma's control impressed her, obviously the boy knew to keep his head in a battle. A lesson G'Nolga had yet to learn.

Julia managed to block most of the attacks, the surprise of the situation let the boy land numerous blows upon her face and chest - Though she was oddly impressed with the way the boy skillfully avoided her sensitive areas.

Countering with a back flip, Julia slammed Ranma with a knee to his chin then skillfully cleared the back flip, and flowed into the boy - Who had managed to recover from her powerful blow.

Julia pondered things as she prepared to way lay holy hell on the boy. That invisibility technique was NOT magic. He wasn't even drawing on the Ethereal Stream, and that was something Julia couldn't understand.

Julia met Ranma in a series of blows, both very skilled. Julia was by far the more skilled, but she was amazed at how quick the boy was adapting to her techniques. 'What other tricks does he have?'

Julia began channeling the power of the Ethereal Stream, preparing to finish this fight once and for all. She noticed subtle changes in the boy's Ki path, but couldn't for the life of her figure out what he was doing. 'Whatever it is, it doesn't matter.' There! Her opening, the boy had spread his arms - obviously going for the attack in exclusion to defense. Well, Julia vowed to make the boy pay for that.

"MASTER BLOW" Julia exclaimed as she focused her attack, connecting with the boy straight in the chest

"HAKU DATO SHIN SHO!" Ranma called out at the exact same time as Julia. He knew whatever attack he was about to be hit with was going to hurt, but he'll take the woman out at the same damn time!

Julia gasped as Ranma quickly struck certain points in her body, her remaining Ki and Chi reserves blowing out her back as the boy flew away from her hit - the boy crashing against - and THROUGH the pine tree he had earlier rebounded off.

Julia collapsed to her knees then to her face, all her strength leaving her. Whatever attack the boy had done destroyed what was left of her strength. She couldn't even move!

Minutes past, Julia heard some rustling going on in the direction she had knocked Ranma to. Odd thoughts of the boy standing up after that blow quickly being squashed. She didn't care how good he was, he took that blow full force. It just had to be Tanya caring for him.

A shadow appeared over her, and if Julia could groan she would have. It figured she would be helpless like this before one who probably would like nothing better than to end her life.

Tanya lifted the prone and unresisting form of Julia into her arms, slowly carrying the girl to their camp site. When the fight had ended Tanya had immediately run to her husband, quickly taking care of his wounds first before helping the Armsmaster. Ranma was in bad condition, but he wasn't in danger of dying. He would need to rest for a few days to regain his full strength.

Tanya laid Julia down next to a pot of water and some rags, and went about tending to the Armsmaster's wounds.

Julia frowned when Tanya tended her wounds. Why would the woman help her like this? Then she boggled when Tanya showed her what Ranma had used to damage her back. Pine Needles?! The little pup had used Pine Needles!

She was unable to voice her.. astonishment at that fact, still far to weak to do anything more than breath.