Project A-Ko Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Vampire Hunter (Darkstalkers) Fan Fiction ❯ Nabiki 1/2 (A Very Scary Thought) ❯ The Lost Senkens... ( Chapter 91 )

Nabiki 1/2

(A Very Scary Thought)

Written by Jim Robert Bader

Proofread by Shiva Barnwell

Based Upon the Altered Destinies Storyline

Inspired by the works of such fans as

Wade Tritshler

Richard Lawson

James Jones

And Many Others

Standard Disclaimer: This is inspired by the work of Takahashi Rumiko and is not my original creation. All characters belong to her. This is only a fanfictional work, and is not intended to compromise the rights of the original owners, distributors and publishers of the Ranma series. I have no money to spare and would very much appreciate if no one tries to sue me.

"Keep it up, Boys!" Genma called out, "No slacking up or giving ground here. You're both too evenly matched for one of you to suddenly start napping."

"I'm trying, Pop," Ranma grunted back as he dodged another of Ryoga's lightning-kicks, relying on his speed to counter the superior edge his opponent had in strength and raw power.

"Don't waste my time and yours with simply trying, Boy," Genma scoffed, "If you're going to do it, then do it, otherwise we might as well go home for all you seem to care about your training."

"So who are you now, Yoda?" Ranma snapped, fighting to stay on edge as the Lost Boy pressed hard against his defenses, forcing the Saotome heir to fall back on more elaborate evasions.

"Funny Boy," Genma snorted as he adjusted his glasses, "You're a regular comedian, but what do you expect to do, make Nabiki fall down and laugh so hard that she knocks herself out? Besides, if anyone fits the bill for a short-but-formidable instructor, I'm afraid that role must go to the Master. Perhaps you'd like to go to him for training, he's made more out of worse material than you're presenting."

[Yeah,] Ranma thought acidly, [He trained you, didn't he?] But aloud all he said was, "So what's the point of all this? All Ryoga and I are doing is training in stuff we already know…"

"Don't waste your breath talking, you need it to fight Ryoga," Genma replied, "And there's a reason I'm having you do this. You're supposed to fight using everything you know, every trick in your arsenal, and no repetitions of style and technique. Pretty soon you'll both have used every single Kata or movement that you know, and that's when the real fight takes place, when you've exhausted your whole bag of martial arts tricks, including the recent stuff in which you've been training."

"Yeah," Ranma said, "And what happens then? Do we go back and start it over?"

"Hardly," Genma smiled a crafty smile, "Once you've done every trick in your book you're going to have to defeat Ryoga with something you've never tried, something you've never had the chance to work out or train in…that's the point when you get creative, let inspiration take you over. It's the point that divides a common martial artist from a combat genius, and if I know anything about the both of you, you're nothing if not resourceful."

[Easy for him to say,] Ranma thought with rising panic, discovering how near he was to exhausting not only his arsenal but his badly needed reserves of energy. Fighting against Ryoga was like going one-on-one against a force of nature, and it was all that he could do to resist the urge to fall back on the tried and true methods that had always worked for him in the past.

Besides, he had already used those and only gained a temporary advantage.

"Ah, seeing you fight like this takes me back to the old days," Genma sighed, "When Soun and I used to spar like this regularly while the Master would sit smoking a pipe while counting his ill-gotten gains for the day. You'd never think he was really paying attention, but whenever one or both of us would slack, he'd be all over us, claiming we were wasting his time and his valuable training."

"Didn't know…you were so…nostalgic…Pop," Ranma panted as he tried one of the last tricks he had yet to use, and waited for Ryoga to make his lunge before executing a flying razor kick that actually caught Ryoga napping.

Kablam!

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Genma mused, "Back then I was tired, hungry, disheveled, hardly bathed and often downright miserable…and yet…there was an innocence back then that I almost regret. Mind you, that doesn't mean I'd want to go back to being your age again, Boy. I was lucky just to survive it the first time."

"Yeah," Ranma said as he took a moment to catch his breath while Ryoga shrugged off the effects of his kick, "Back then you had more hair, but it sounds like you had it tougher than me, Pop."

"You don't know the half of it, Boy," Genma sighed, then narrowed his eyes as he sensed the moment of crisis was arriving.

"RANMA!" Ryoga snarled, "Would you take our fight serious for once? How dare you ignore me!"

Said statement was delivered as Ryoga's fist went rocketing towards Ranma's face with no time to duck, dodge or deflect the blow as the punch was propelled by the force of Ryoga's emotion. The blow connected solidly, and only the fact that Ranma was already moving backward spared him from the full force of the powerhouse punch. Still it rocked Ranma's teeth and sent him flying backward with his back intercepting the base of a wide tree, which jarred him further to the edge of consciousness. He managed to open his eyes in time to see a follow-up punch heading for him at devastating speed. No question that if it connected he was in for a world of hurt since Ryoga was not pulling his punches, having built up a considerable degree of heat from all the missed shots and taunts that Ranma had used to provoke him.

There was no room to dodge, no time to avoid that fist, yet somehow it seemed as if time began to slow down to a mere crawl as Ranma stared at the front two knuckles that were only inches from connecting. By shear instinct Ranma turned his face to the side and pushed with his back against the tree, propelling himself forward as he seemed to slide past Ryoga's arm. Ranma continued to turn with the blow as he kicked with both feet against the tree and brought his elbow backwards, catching Ryoga in his unprotected ribcage and driving the wind from the boy's sails as his foe was completely unprepared for this maneuver.

Ranma did not stop with that, however, knowing full well that it would take more than one lucky shot to take his companion out of the fight, so he used the recoil from his elbow-thrust to spin him back around as he continued beyond Ryoga, instinctively forming a spinning kick that caught the Lost Boy in the back of the head and knocking him face-first into the very tree in which he had expected to trap Ranma.

The Saotome heir fell into a fighting crouch and poised in readiness for any continuance of the fight, but Ryoga had impacted the tree so hard that he was actually stunned and in no condition to continue fighting. Ranma waited for a reaction as Ryoga fell to his knees in a bird-twittering stupor, and only when he was satisfied that the other boy would not immediately rise to the attack did Ranma become aware of what had just happened, at which point he said, "Whoa…did I do that?"

"Must be, someone did it," Genma said with deceptive ease, "Okay, Boys, time to take a break from your training. Come over to the fire and have some of this delicious cooked rice that your father has prepared for you."

"Rice?" Ranma said, "Aw…not again! Can't we have anything but just rice for a change? We ate better than this when we were with Nabiki and the others."

"Then why don't you go back to her, Boy?" Genma asked, then held up two more objects in his hands and said, "Of course you could also have cabbage with mayonnaise. In the old days that would have been the height of luxury for Soun and me when we were suffering-ah-training under the Master."

Ranma lowered his gaze and said, "I can't go back to her…at least not yet. I need to train some more, a lot harder even than this."

"Then why don't we ask Ryoga if he wants to go back home and eat some of Akane's cooking," Genma smiled, albeit slyly.

"Ah…no thanks…" Ryoga muttered in an incoherent parody of his normal voice, "I think I'll just wait here until the world stops spinning…"

"Geez, I didn't hit you that hard," Ranma frowned, "Did I?"

"That depends on how you look at it, Boy," Genma answered, "You turned Ryoga's greatest advantage-his strength-against him. A nice bit of improvisation, by the way, and you did it entirely by instinct."

"By instinct?" Ranma asked, "Is that how you learn to be a great fighter?"

"Not quite, Boy," Genma said, "Instinct just shows you what you're capable of in a pinch, but it's skill and strategy that wins battles. You have the heart of a fighter, but you need to refine your skills and sharpen your wits if you want to come anywhere near to approaching Nabiki's level."

"But what's the use?" Ranma sighed, "She knows all my moves, and a lot more that I'm still learning, and as fast as I acquire new skills, she just keeps one step ahead of me, especially with the extra training that she's been getting from the Old Woman."

"You've been watching her moves, Boy," Genma said, "You can learn to do anything she can learn if you just apply yourself. The one advantage Nabiki has over you is the power of her brain, her ability to outthink and improvise on her feet, which was sort-of what you were doing just now, only without the thinking."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ranma sat down on a log and heaved a sigh, "I still don't see how I can ever catch up with her, especially in two weeks. By that time she'll just be a whole lot better than she is already. You trained her, Pop, you know that she's as good as they come, and a lot better than I could even hope to be."

Genma was silent for a long minute, but then he softly murmured, "Not quite."

"Huh?" Ranma blinked, "What do you mean, Pop?"

"I mean that I taught Nabiki everything that she could learn during our times and travels together," Genma replied, "We'd go wherever we could learn and study from the Masters all through Asia, even as far as the Bayankalah range, where we…well…you already know that story."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ranma frowned, "What are you gonna do, drag me to Jusenkyo and dump me in the Spring of the Drowned Girl or something?"

"Well, that would at least teach you to have a little more respect for what Nabiki is going through right now," Ryoga growled as he dragged himself to the edge of their encampment.

"Hey, Ryoga…you all right?" Ranma asked, "You hit your head pretty hard that time…"

"Like you care?" Ryoga got back on his feet and glared at his erstwhile sparring partner, "Surely you don't think a little love tap like that could keep Hibiki Ryoga down for very long? Don't forget, I'm a lot stronger than you, and I've got loads more stamina…"

"I know you do, Boy," Genma replied as he stared into the fire, "You take a lot after your mother."

"Huh?" Ryoga blinked, "What do you mean about me…ohh…" Ryoga sagged to his knees and fell face-forward.

"So much for his stamina," Ranma said, "But, Pop, what do you know about Ryoga's mother?"

"Later, Boy," Genma replied, uncapping the metal container that he had used to cook rice, "Pass your bowl over and let's eat. You're going to need to get your strength up when we begin the next phase of your training."

"The next phase?" Ranma asked as he reluctantly passed his bowl over.

"I told you that I taught Nabiki everything she could learn from me," Genma replied, "But not quite everything that I have to teach. I was holding back the better part of my knowledge for a time when I thought she was ready…and some of it I wanted to pass over to you, my son, when I thought the time was right. That time…is now. Your defeating Ryoga just now proved to me that you've mastered the basic skills you will need in order to master…the Senken."

"The Senken?" Ranma blinked as he accepted back his rice bowl, "A thousand fists? Is that some kind of variation on the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken?"

"Hardly, boy," Genma replied, and the light of their campfire glinted off his glasses in a way that was almost uncanny, "The Senken is one of the forbidden arts of the Anything Goes system. I created it during my time with the Master, and I sealed it up fifteen years ago when I learned how devastating it could be in the wrong hands. I'm giving it to you now because you need the edge it will give you in your match against Nabiki."

"Is it that good?" Ranma asked.

"Good?" something strange appeared in the eyes of his father as Genma turned to regard his son entirely, "It isn't good, Son. The Senken is a dishonorable system created under the influence of the Master. I sealed it away because I knew that nothing good could come from having it available to use by others. I've only used the knowledge myself on extremely rare occasions when I've been forced to by circumstances. Once you understand and fully master the art, you will see why these techniques are forbidden."

"Ah…" Ryoga forced himself back to his knees, "If it's so dishonorable and forbidden…then why teach it at all?"

"Because knowledge can never be buried forever," Genma looked away, "I should know…I've tried. Take your mother for example…I see a lot of her in you, more and more the longer we train together."

"What?" Ryoga lurched to his feet, "You knew my mother?"

Genma made a slight sniff, "Now there's a loaded question. Know her? I wonder…I knew of her when we were both a lot younger…only a couple years older than you boys are now. I can still remember her face when we parted company, the words I said that unintentionally hurt her feelings…"

"What?" Ryoga staggered closer to the fire, "You hurt my mother's feelings? You…you cad!"

"Hey, cool it, Ryoga," Ranma urged, "This must have happened a long time ago, before either of us were born…"

"Exactly," Genma replied, "But I don't blame you for being upset with me, Boy. It all began one day when I was training with Soun under the master…we…encountered some very unusual ladies who got involved with us in a number of adventures. One of them…was a young girl named Atsuko…"

"Atsuko?" Ryoga blinked, "Why…that's the name of my mother…"

"Gee, how surprising," Ranma noted dryly.

"Her full name was Hibiki Atsuko," Genma replied, "We met in a forest much like this one, and I can still remember how she breezed into my life like a force of nature. She was beautiful, yes, and strong…much stronger than a normal woman, but not then a trained fighter. In point of fact…she wasn't entirely human."

"What do you mean, Pop?" Ranma asked, "Not human? Then what was she?"

Genma favored Ryoga with a glance then said, "Well…simply put, boys, she was an Oni, not that I held that against her, but in fact she was superhumanly strong and had the power to create effective and convincing illusions. I think she took a fancy for me…I never did understand why…but she hung out with us and often got into fights with the other girls…"

"Other girls?" Ranma lifted an eyebrow, "What other girls?"

"Ah…" Genma waved a hand to deflect the point, "That's not important. It's just…well, in those days I was quite the manly sort, and for reasons that escape me, I kept finding myself with beautiful women who fought over me…and a few fought over Soun, who was a handsome charmer before he settled down and married the mother of Nabiki and her sisters. I can't really explain what that was all about…but it seems to me you've picked up something from your old man besides a talent for the martial arts…"

"Yeah, right," Ranma said, "Why do I have trouble believing this cockamamie story?"

"Be skeptical if you like," Genma replied, "But know in the end I settled down and married your mother, and it turns out that she was the only one for me after all. I said my good-byes to Atsuko and we went our separate ways. I know I hurt her feelings by rejecting her in favor of Nodoka, but it seems she made a recovery and found a man of her own who could provide her with a strong and healthy son, for which I am both happy and grateful. She deserved some happiness, just like you do, Boy, with Soun's daughter."

"But…but how can you be sure that the woman you knew was really my mother?" Ryoga stammered.

"Well, let's see," Genma held up a hand and began ticking off points, "For one thing, though she was a powerful fighter and learned a lot about the martial arts from me, she eventually found a master who could train her in the Righteous Fist style, which you also practice. For another thing, thought very brave and loyal, Atsuko was not exactly the brightest apple in the cart and was even a bit slow on the uptake when it came to ordinary situations. Third point, Atsuko couldn't find her way out of a closet if you pointed the direction of the door handle. Actually, she was more than likely to break through the back end of the closet than go out the way she came…"

"Okay," Ryoga whimpered slightly, "Those are pretty good points…"

"You mean Pop really did know your mother?" Ranma lifted an eyebrow, "Whoa…what are the odds of that?"

"Considering that Japan is an island, and that there are only so many places a wandering Hibiki can go without leaving the home islands?" Genma replied.

"Okay," Ranma said, "So it was a dumb question…"

"But…I can't believe you know my mother," Ryoga said, "That she actually knew you before she met my father. But that means…if she had married you, then Ranma and me…"

"GAAAHHH," Ranma winced, "Don't go there, you're scaring me!"

"Well, it's all pretty dry and academic anyway, as Nabiki would say," Genma sighed, "I just wanted you to know that I had my days of misspent youth when I was foolish and foolhardy in my ways…"

"As numerous wanted posters would attest," Ranma snorted.

"Mind your manners, Boy," Genma frowned, "That smart mouth of yours will land you into trouble one of these days, mark me well."

"Sorry," Ranma said, "It's just…well…a surprise to hear you used to date somebody other than Mom."

"Not so much a surprise to her," Genma stared back into the fire, "Ours was an arranged marriage…but she knew the other girls, and they knew her. It's ancient history now, but…well…I brought it up because I can't help thinking how proud At-chan would be if she could see the man you are today, Ryoga. Your father must be a very lucky man."

"Ah…thanks…I guess," Ryoga said dubiously as he stared at his own now-emptied rice bowl.

"You know," Genma began again, "I wasn't the original heir of the Saotome Ryu. That honor used to belong to my older brother, Honima. He was the one who used to train with the Master, back before he fell in love with Soun's younger sister and…well…you've already heard that story. I got roped in when Honima and Mariko eloped, and then the Master decided I was going to be the one to carry on the Saotome name in martial arts. It wasn't exactly the destiny I had planned for myself, but…well…how often do we get the things we want on the first try?"

Ranma did not reply but instead stared steadfastly into the fire, while Ryoga did the same for very different (albeit somewhat similar) reasons. Without a word they set their rice bowls to the side and both began to munch down on their mayonnaise-topped cabbages.

Genma waited as she shadows grew longer all around them as the sun began setting over the far horizon, then in a melancholy voice he continued, "Turns out I had a great aptitude for the martial arts, and I took to it like a duck to water. Of course, at first, Soun and I didn't really see eye to eye or get along all that well at first, but after a while we sort of got used to each other, much like prisoners sharing a cell together. That's what it felt like to us to train under the Master, and after a while…we just stopped caring about everything but the single minded pursuit of staying alive for another day. I used to be a very different man before that training, you'd hardly even recognize me back then. For one thing I used to have hair, and for another I was a lot…less thick boned than I am now…"

"Hmm," Ranma said over the sound of chewing cabbage, but he did not voice any louder comment as he was now genuinely interested in seeing if there were a point to his father's nostalgic ramble.

"A trip on the road hardens you, makes you see things with a sharper focus," Genma continued, "In time the art came to mean everything to me, and all my other dreams faded away into nothing. Soun and I were virtual slaves to Master Happosai, but he taught us well the value of the martial arts…mainly as a means of staying alive when people came after us seeking retaliation for the Master's misbehavior."

"So bras and panties are the secret to all your training?" Ranma asked, having finished washing down his food with some spring water.

"Hardly," Genma replied, "That's the Master's perversion. Mine…well…I took to some pretty dishonorable behavior in order to get ahead. I've changed a lot from back then, but…the old reflexes still come in handy now and then. Observe," he held up an object in either hand, which both got startled exclamations on the two boys sitting on either side of him, by the fire.

"HEY, that's my wallet!" Ranma exclaimed.

"That's the locket that contains Akane's picture!" Ryoga was equally outraged, up until Genma returned said items to their owners.

"So that's your big secret?" Ranma said in irritation as he checked the contents of his wallet, "You were a small time thief, Pops?"

"What did I tell you about dishonorable behavior?" Genma gave no evidence of regret in his expression, "I did what I had to in order to stay alive back then, Son, and I won't apologize for that, only that I have to tell you now in order to clarify a few points about the Senken."

"What has stealing got to do with a martial art system?" Ryoga asked.

"Everything," Genma's shoulders slumped a little, "Back then I had reached a plateau in my training, and the Master was encouraging me to create my own style, the same as with Soun. He wanted us to be able to perform a martial art that even he had never seen before, and in Soun's case it took the form of an ability to project a mental image of himself as something frightening and demonic. That was the closest he ever came to developing his own ki-based attack, and it came in handy for frightening away villagers who were a bit upset about losing their undies."

"And what did you come up with?" Ranma asked, remembering many occasions when he had witnessed Soun give a demonstration of this quite formidable ego-attack.

"The Senken," Genma replied, "It came to me when I was…ah…helping the Master out on one of his raids…a simple technique using what I knew then about the art to force my way in past an opponent's defenses. Of course, the minute I came up with such an aggressive attack style, I began to think up a way to counter it, a different system that would serve like the Yin to the Yang. The basic Senken comes in two parts, but since then I've learned to master a few more…elemental variations."

"And you never taught this to Nabiki?" Ryoga asked.

"She wouldn't have understood it until quite recently," Genma replied, "Even though she probably knows me a lot better than she does you, Son. I owe a lot of what I am today to her good example. She was the brains in our partnership, the one with all the scams and angles. She would often decide if something we did was dangerous or in our best interest…a habit she fell into after…ahem…that incident with the Nekoken…"

"In other words, after you dropped her into a pit full of starving cats wrapped in fist sausage," Ranma glowered.

"She did kind of take that one the wrong way," Genma sighed, "I always told myself that I was acting to protect her in her best interest, but…women-and young girls especially-have a different way of looking at things than we men. More often than not it would turn out that her judgement was a lot better than my own, though a few times…well…she could get a bit stubborn and overconfident, and then it would be up to her Uncle Genma to bail her out of these messes. After a while I found that I could learn a great deal just from watching how she handled herself when it came to negotiations and dealing with other people. I'd teach her about the art, she would show me new ways of getting what we needed, though on the subject of stealing, she could be pretty unreasonable at times. She's always insisted on a fair deal for fair wages, and she never likes taking advantage of someone who can't defend themself…she hates people who take advantage of weak and helpless sorts. She prefers to scam the con-men and con artists…I think she finds it more of a challenge."

"So, you're saying she made you into a better person?" Ryoga asked.

"That's…one way of putting it…" Genma conceded.

"More like she showed you how to be a better class of thief, Pop," Ranma countered.

"And…that's the other," Genma sighed, "I know I've lost some of your respect with all the revelations of my past conduct, Ranma, but I am trying to make amends for those things I did that have brought harm to others. The problem is...the Senken is one of those things. I...have a very good reason for not wanting to teach it to Nabiki...at least not until she's ready."

"I get it," Ranma said, "You liked having it as an edge around her. It gave you a thrill knowing that there was one technique you knew that she didn't, right?"

Genma did not immediately answer that one, but then he looked at Ranma and said, "The Senken is much too important to treat lightly, Boy. I'll only teach it to you if I think you can handle it. The same goes for you, too, Ryoga. Ranma will need a sparring partner, so you'll each learn the technique and then practice it on one another. Ranma…you'll learn the Umisenken…the art of stealth and speed. Ryoga…you're more suited to the Yamasenken, the Earth-based art of force and power."

"Umisenken?" Ranma asked.

"Yamasenken?" Ryoga chorused.

"You'll both learn both styles," Genma said, "And train in both halves of the system, just as you did with the Mako Takabishi and Shi Shi Houkonan. It will improve your overall martial arts styles and make you more than a match for just about anything you are likely to encounter."

"So, when do we get started?" Ranma asked.

"Tomorrow will be fine," Genma replied, "Now…it's time for the three of us to turn in and get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us, and you'll need your strength if we're to get in some good training."

"Sounds good to me," Ryoga yawned, "I'm feeling a bit tired already."

"Well, I'm not," Ranma studied his father in the flickering light of their campfire, "There's something you're not telling us about this system, isn't there, Pop? You've got that look like you're holding back on telling us something that's very important."

"That I am," Genma reluctantly nodded, "But…there is a good reason for that. I…I'll fill you in about it after we begin training. In the meantime, Boy…answer your father something. What do you know or remember about your early training?"

"Huh?" Ranma blinked his eyes, then seriously thought about it, "I…don't really know. The last ten years when I was living at the Tendos is pretty much all that I can remember…"

"Really?" Genma asked, "Nothing about any incidents in your early childhood? Do you remember anything all about our time together before you were six?"

"Sorry," Ranma said, "I'm drawing a blank."

"It's just as well," Genma sighed, "Some memories are…a lot less pleasant than others. You were only two years old at the time, barely old enough to walk all that far on your own. I used to take you out on short training missions that hardly lasted more than a few weeks…your mother wouldn't let us out of the house for anything longer until…until I made that deal to trade you with Soun's daughter."

"Something happened, didn't it, Mister Saotome?" Ryoga asked, "Something bad…that made you give up on this forbidden system."

"Bad isn't the word for it," Genma sighed, then promptly changed the subject, "Son…I may not have said it before, but I have to say it now. I've had my doubts about leaving you with your mother. I had hoped Soun would teach you all you would ever need to know about the art, just as I tried to impart upon Nabiki the benefits of my skill and wisdom. Turns out living at home has had a few drawbacks in your training…for one thing, you don't yet know what it means to truly live by your wits from day to day. In spite of that, you turned out very well, and I'm proud as a father can be that my son is a man of integrity and great courage. If anything, you're a better man than I could ever be…but…to learn the Senken properly, you're going to have to turn your back on all that. You have to be willing to discard normal concepts like duty and honor in order to truly understand the meaning of the Anything Goes Ryu. You have to see the art as something more than just a system of self-defense…"

"More than self-defense?" Ranma blinked.

"It's about survival…but more than just survival," Genma explained, "It's victory at any price, at any cost, no matter the sacrifices you must make to achieve supremacy in a battle. It's not even about taking into consideration what is honorable and what is not. It's about coming to see the Art itself as the center of all meaning, the very heart and reason of your existence."

"I don't know if I can do that," Ranma glanced down, "Honor…I mean…doesn't it matter that you can hurt people who you don't mean to hurt? I…mean…right and wrong, good and evil…"

"Those are just words," Genma replied, "Concepts that civilized men and women use to conduct themselves in a socially acceptable manner. Stealing is wrong because it takes from those who have and often harms the victim. Theft is unacceptable in any society because it is seen as deliberately harmful. But in the Anything Goes school, such concepts have almost no meaning. You have to decide for yourself if what you do is beneficial or negative. You can't let the standards used by others blind you to the need for survival. If you slow yourself down by stopping to think about the rightness or wrongness of what you do, then you'll let your guard down at a critical moment…"

"That doesn't sound right, Sir," Ryoga spoke up, "Achieving victory by dishonorable means…"

"Is still victory by whatever name you mean to give it," Genma concluded for him, "That's the lesson the Master taught Soun and me so long ago, that it is better to live a coward than to not live at all. I don't expect you to understand that, and I'm not saying that you should give up on being honorable men, but what I am saying is that you should be prepared for any eventuality and what circumstances may force upon you. Life in this world is often a case of difficult choices, sometimes competing rights and wrongs, and you have to let your instinct guide you, those wonderful senses that we were all blessed with in our animal nature."

"I'm with Ryoga on this," Ranma said, "Sacrificing everything in order to win a fight…"

"It's better than letting those you love and care for down, Boy," Genma retorted, "You can struggle with your conscience and spend all day moralizing and agonizing over the rightness of what you do, but in the end you have to do something in order to break the impasse between Conscience and Reason. Expediency is its own justification, and those who are not ready and willing to sacrifice their pride and even some of their self-respect in order to win a battle will no doubt go to their graves knowing that they were in the right, but they're dead just the same. Does winning the contest for moral perfection justify letting those who depend on you down? You'll have to think on that and come up with your own answers."

"Maybe I don't want to learn this Senken after all," Ranma frowned, "You're making it sound like it was created as something evil…"

"It's not evil, son," Genma assured, "An art, by itself, has no moral relevancy at all. It's what you do with the art that can be good or evil. A weapon makes it easier to harm others, and the Senken is a very formidable weapon. Used in the wrong hands…and by that I mean someone who doesn't care a whit about the consequences…it can be a force of great evil…or a force of great good. It all depends on how you use it."

"So, why is it you think it's so dangerous?" Ranma asked.

"It's all about the art, Boy," Genma said, "And why you fight at all. If you're just looking to defend yourself against attack, then you've lost already."

"Now that I don't understand at all," Ryoga shook his head.

"Welcome to the club," agreed Ranma.

"Boys," Genma sighed, "There's a big difference about being negligent and being evil. You can do evil without intending anyone harm, but deliberate evil takes an active and willing mind, one that sees the goal as more important than the means. The Anything Goes Ryu is exactly the opposite of this…the goal means nothing to you…a true Martial Artist only cares about the fight. You don't think about victory, you don't think about the end of the fight. You don't even think about the causes or what started the altercation…all of that relates to the past and the future. The only thing that maters to an Anything Goes master is the PRESENT! You live in the moment, you act on your feelings, you judge by observation if a thing is positive and beneficial, or negative and harmful. To think a step beyond yourself in a fight means you are not concentrating on the fight itself, and so you are not giving the fight your complete and total concentration."

"So…it's not really about behaving dishonorably?" Ryoga asked.

"It's about going beyond concepts like honor and morality," Genma replied, "You're not really above good or evil, but you have to learn to think only in terms of the moment, to judge an act in an instant and prepare to adapt yourself to changing circumstances with whatever means you feel to be necessary. To do anything less is to surrender the advantage."

"I ain't comfortable with this," Ranma said, "You sure this is really the way to get better than Nabiki?"

"Son," Genma asked, "Do you remember the technique known as the 'Touched Soul?'"

Both boys reacted to that, Ranma paling so much that it was obvious even by the light of the dwindling fire, "Ah…yeah…you did that to me when I was little…"

"I only did it part of the way with you back then, Boy," Genma replied, "The Touched Soul was the means by which I awakened in you the dormant potential to be a great martial artist. Ryoga…I take it from the way you're looking at me that your mother did the same thing for you, after I taught it to her. Ranma only got the partial initiation due to his being no more than five when it happened. It was my hope that Soun would finish the process, but it's clear enough that he decided not to include it in your training regimen. His daughters have obviously never undergone the process…"

"But Nabiki has?" Ranma asked dubiously.

"She has undergone the complete process," Genma said, "And so will you before this is over. That will help you to learn to focus your total mind and body concentration into acting on the moment so that the Senken will come naturally to you. When you've completed the process, then we'll begin on the real training."

Ranma did not like the sound of that at all, but there was something in his father's tone that brooked no opposition. His memories of being subjected to the "Ki-Shock" process were still fresh after nearly a dozen years since it had happened, and the thought that Nabiki could have undergone far worse was enough to make him wince in mute horror. He knew why the technique was necessary, knew full well what could happen if it were performed improperly, and knew that it had the power to totally break a man's sanity, and there was no telling what it might do to him if he was not prepared and ready.

"Time for bed, Boys," Genma resolved at last, going to his sleeping bag beckoning like an almost forgotten lover.

"I guess," Ranma paused to look towards Ryoga, "You feel enough like resting already?"

"Oddly enough, yes," Ryoga replied with a yawn, "I think that story wore me out even more than the fighting. See you in the morning, Ranma."

"Sure thing," Ranma agreed, wondering why just saying the words made him wonder if it was really such a "sure thing" that the coming morning would be such a "good" one.

He didn't see the pair of crafty eyes regarding this trio from a distance as a soft voice said, "Well, imagine that…Saotome Genma as a philosopher of the martial arts. Will wonders never cease? Well…maybe if I stopped causing them they would…but it seems as if they're going to be peacefully studying the Yamasenken and Umisenken, and that would never do."

"Going to go into your Deus Ex Machina routine?" a feminine voice asked from somewhere nearby him.

"Nothing so melodramatic," the first (male) voice replied, "More like an overlapping of probability lines. It's more fun that way."

"Whatever," the feminine voice replied, and then the dual presence withdrew, leaving not even a disturbance in background animal noises in passing…

Ranma awoke with a start, hearing a woman's scream from somewhere in the distance. He looked wildly around, finding daylight had crept upon them unannounced and that they had (somehow) overslept past the normal time when his father would wake him.

Apparently Ryoga had awaken too, for the lost boy was saying, "Did you hear that? It sounded like it was a mile or two from here."

"I heard it," Ranma rose fluidly to his feet, pulling on his trousers and shirt as he called out, "YO! Wake up, Pop! It's already daylight!"

"Eh?" despite his near-legendary ability to sleep through virtually anything, Genma found himself instantly alert (if somewhat confused) from just that simple verbal summons, "What in the name of…Boy, why didn't you awake me sooner?"

"You mean why didn't you wake me up," Ranma corrected, slipping on his shoes before hurrying off towards the sound of screaming in the distance, "C'mon, Ryoga! Stop lagging around, we gotta go check this!"

"I'm not lagging around," Ryoga complained as he, too, finished dressing, "I'm right behind you."

"Uh…boys?" Genma started to say when the sound of a woman's screams made him alert to the situation, "Oh hell…"

Two miles at top speed was only a matter of minutes to the two martial artists, and all the while the sound of a woman screaming drew their attention to the urgency of haste. They descended from the hills that they had camped within and found themselves approaching the edge of Nerima proper, an area where it seemed that a circus had made camp somewhere during the past several days (which did seem odd as neither boy recalled seeing a single flyer or poster advertising this fact before setting out on their training mission), and it was from this area that the sounds of many screams were being raised.

"Over there!" Ranma pointed as they approached the scene of greatest commotion, "What do you think's happening?"

"I don't know," Ryoga replied, "Maybe a wild animal got loose from its cage."

They came to an abrupt halt as the crowd suddenly dispersed in all directions, giving space enough for the two boys to see the source of their recent panic, to which Ranma said, "Good call."

Ryoga blanched and said, "No kidding…"

It was a large brown bear-almost a Kodiak by the size of it, menacing a woman who was laying on the ground clutching a small child to her bosom. The bear was snuffling and growling in a way that suggested it was about to pounce on these helpless victims, and indeed it was rearing back on its hind legs while turning its head about as though to challenge the spectators.

"No time to lose," Ranma said, "We gotta double-team this sucker. You take it on the left, I'll go right, and stay clear of those paws, they look as big as tennis rackets."

"I got you," Ryoga nodded as the two boys prepared to go into action.

Genma arrived about then, slightly winded, and saw what his two charges were about to do, then adjusted his glasses and murmured, "Something about this whole scene looks awfully familiar…"

All at once a figure detached itself from the crowd and confronted the bear before it had time to react. With a swift thrust of both hands and a kick at the creature's gut, this stranger doubled the creature over, at which point the man vaulted onto its back, uncoiling a rope that he carried around his shoulder as he looped it around the creature's neck, then pulled back as he applied leverage to choke off the creature's attempt to snarl and bite him.

"Whoa…" Ranma averred, staring round-eyed as this tall figure heaved up and somehow managed to lift the bear up off the ground, balancing it high on his shoulder before slamming it down again in one fluid, decisive motion, the entire thing taking less than three seconds before the bear was bound by the ropes around its paws and muzzle. The tall man stepped back and nodded to the creature in obvious satisfaction.

Unnoticed by anyone, Genma paled as he stared at the young man, who wore combat fatigues and an olive green sleeveless military jacket, and in a trembling voice the Saotome Elder said, "No…it can't be…!"

By this point one of the circus employees got bold enough to come and check on the fallen woman and her child, confirming that they were all right, much to the crowd's satisfaction. The young man seemed satisfied by this as the crowd began to edge forward, eyeing him from all sides as if recognizing him to be an instant hero.

"Man, did you see that?" Ryoga asked.

"Saw it, yeah," Ranma replied, "Believe it? No way!"

As they voiced this opinion, a woman dressed like a circus ringmaster came up to the man with a delighted expression and said in a voice that was audible to everybody, "Thank you, kind sir, that was an incredibly brave and resourceful gesture, saving that woman and her baby…"

"It wasn't anything special," the tall young man replied with a shrug, "You just have to move faster than the grizzly."

"None the less, you're a hero," the lady Ringmaster replied, "Can I ask what your name is, and whether you might be interested in a job working with animals? I can pay you quite handsomely…"

"Thank you, but I've got something else lined up," the man replied, "But as for my name…call me Saotome Ranma."

There was a very long pause before Ryoga said, "Saotome…?"

"Ranma?" said Ranma himself.

"Uh oh," murmured Genma, sensing that there was about to be serious trouble in the offing…

Continued

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