Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Slam Dunk Fan Fiction ❯ Tensai ❯ A New Direction ( Prologue )

Chapter 01 : A New Direction.

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A Ranma One Half & Slam Dunk Crossover Story

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma, nor do I own Slam Dunk.

This story takes place at the beginning of the Ranma manga and the year before the slam dunk manga.

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As had become his custom, Ranma reclined upon the slate tile roof of the Tendo dojo. This afforded the young man a spectacular view of the night sky, and allowed him to calmly analyse the dilemma he now faced. He was finding it difficult to adjust to the changes that had occurred in such a short amount of time.

He had spent the majority of his life in the wilderness with his father, something few could really appreciate. Subsequently, Ranma found it very difficult to relate to anyone of his own age. He had made no secret of this fact; however the people he was living with certainly didn't seem to care.

The minute the youngest daughter, Akane, caught sight of him the insults would start, pervert, idiot, no matter what he did, it was never right, though she certainly wouldn't tell him what the hell he did wrong.

It was so frustrating!

The middle daughter was similar in that she seemed to look down upon him, as though he was beneath her, not worthy of her time, He should not be surprised though, since from his first few days at school the girl seemed to treat everyone this way, not that it mattered, she would eventually get her due, people such as that always did.

Finally, the oldest, Kasumi, just seemed to ignore him.

Thus it could be understood that he found himself feeling very uncomfortable within the boundaries of this house.

He had decided that he needed to find something to occupy his time in the afternoons. Normally, he would just practice the martial arts, but that didn't give him an excuse to leave the house. He was too young to get a job, and wasn't really one for reading. So, the only option left to him was to find a club at Furinkan that he thought he could enjoy.

Hopefully this would provide him with ample opportunity to stay away from the dojo and its residents, as the only time he would be here would be during the weekends and after dinner each night. Resolved to this course of action, Ranma swung down off the edge of the roof and flipped into his room to go to sleep for the night.

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The next morning he awoke flying through the air, having been thrown out the window by his stupid panda of a father. After the standard morning spar in which his father ended up in the pond, and a great breakfast courtesy of Kasumi, Ranma was off early to school to find out what sort of clubs Furinken provided its student body with.

Checking the listing on the main notice board, he found a surprisingly large amount of choices, although after seeing the boys after Akane on the first day that shouldn't be surprising. Mentally checking off all the martial art's clubs, he scanned those left and immediately two seemed to jump out at him, soccer and basketball. He could remember seeing the two games occasionally on television during the training trip and thinking that they looked pretty cool.

Out of the two of them he decided to go with basketball, as it seemed to be the most physically demanding of the two. After checking where the club meeting was held he headed off to class for the day.

During gym that afternoon Ranma decided that he should at least know the basics of the game before confronting the club with his bid to join, so he headed over to the instructor and asked about the sport.

Only to happy to comply, the teacher, Mr. Nakumura, proceeded to tell him what he knew about the game. When the teacher brought up the need for shoes, Ranma grew worried, as he could never afford them. Luckily for him, as soon as he voiced his concern Mr. Nakumura told him that the club members were provided with shoes as they had yet to even qualify for participation in the district tournament.

In the schools entire history!

And thus the money normally used for travel, had been used to pay for shoes and anything else they wanted. The two of them continued the discussion for the duration of the class, and Ranma became more and more interested over time.

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After school that afternoon, Ranma made his way over to the gym to introduce himself to the team. He paused before the entrance, suddenly nervous; introductions had never gone well for him before, Ryoga, the amazons, the tendo's, all disasters. Hopefully this one would go smoothly, firming his resolve, and taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

And was surprised, there was only five students in the club, and they all looked older than him. He had thought that there would be more.

They were standing in a rough semicircle, passing three balls between each other. Making his way over to the five he introduced himself. "Hi, my name is Ranma Saotome, and I'm interested in joining the club". Judging by the groups expressions, unanimously surprised, this was highly unexpected. The largest of them, a guy ranma thought looked old enough to be a teacher himself, spoke." I thought you would join one of the martial arts clubs after that display you put up against Kuno, not that I am one to complain. You are welcome to join the club, my names Kenji Furosawa, I play centre position on the team as you can probably tell from my height ", he motions to the others then, and they introduce themselves as well.

The first was around 6 feet 4 inches tall (195cm), and wore a Chicago bulls uniform, with dyed blond hair in a crew cut introduces himself as Jin Hanabusa, power forward.

The second stood 6 feet tall (183cm), had scruffy brown hair and glasses, and was wearing the school gym uniform introduced himself as Daisuke Tenoh, guard.

The third standing 6 feet 2 inches tall, in an LA lakers uniform, with spiky black hair introduces himself as Akira Mitsuba, small forward.

The fourth and final one stood 6 feet 3 inches tall (192cm), wore a rebel sport singlet and Reebok shorts, introduced himself as Kyo Hakubi, power forward.

Kenji continued once they were done, "We meet here every afternoon after class, and stay for a long as we can, this usually ends up at about two hours. You can stay longer if you want to though." He smirks here, as if he has some idea of why Ranma would like to join.

Ranma thinks he could come to like this guy, "Thanks, that's great."

Kenji motions him to get on the end of the semi-circle, and they begin to pass the balls again. "So, do you know anything about the game, or is it still pretty much a mystery to you?"

Ranma pauses a moment here, to hold the ball in place. "Well you see, I don't have any knowledge, heh heh, I just thought that it looked pretty cool."

Kenji laughs at this and says, " Not to worry, none of us are exactly spectacular, we couldn't even qualify for the regional tournament, and we don't have a coach, however we'll, be happy to show you the basics of the game. We've got the rest of the year to improve so we can qualify next year "

The finished the passing exercise here, so Kenji took Ranma aside and taught him all of the rules of the game, Scoring, Timing, Ball In Play, Shot Clock, Out Of Bounds, Free Throws, Violations, Goaltending, Fouls. All the while showing Ranma the appropriate areas of the court.

They had finished this after around an hour, so Kenji decided to show him the basics of dribbling. By the end of the two-hour session Ranma still wasn't having much luck, but was enjoying the challenge of it.

Kenji motioned Ranma and the others over to him, "That's it for today guys, I have to be home in an hour to help dad at the restaurant, pack it up."

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As Ranma was walking out the door he noticed someone tap him on the back, spinning around, he was confronted with a smiling Kenji. Handing Ranma a basketball Kenji says, "Here, you can have this to practice with, there is plenty to spare, I also wanted to ask if you would like to come and see a match with me on Friday, two of the top teams of the interschool league are playing. Teams we will have to play when we qualify next year".

Excited at finally having some friends Ranma readily agrees, "Sure that would be great, thanks again for the ball, I'll see you tomorrow."

On his way home Ranma was faced with the dilemma of how he could possibly practice anywhere at the dojo.

It would be impossible!

He decided to look around the area to see if there was anything available. Around two blocks from the back of doctor tofu's office he found a large park with a basketball court, the garish sign at the entrance proclaimed it Nerima Park.

Original or what?

Even so, he was just happy to have found a place to train. He decides that since he doesn't really need to return to the dojo before dinner, two hours away, he could get in some practice. He started with the dribbling drill that Kenji had shown him that afternoon. By now, he could keep the ball under control so long as he did not move.

After around an hour he could keep control of the ball walking around the court. Half an hour after that he could keep control while running from one end of the court to the other around fifty percent of the time. That is, so long as he didn't try anything fancy, like bouncing it between his legs, the one attempt had left him flat on his face. Satisfied with his effort for the day, he headed home to face the inevitable questioning from a group of people he was beginning to dislike more each day, his father chief amongst them.

After much badgering from Genma and both verbal and physical abuse from Akane he got up and told them that from now on, this is how things would be. There was nothing that they could do about it. His father protested of course, but by this time, that was really all he could do. Ranma had been consistently beating Genma for three years now.

So, for the rest of the week, his day's formed into a pattern.

Martial art's practice before breakfast and after dinner, Basketball practice from the end of school until dinner. Come Friday morning He could perform a basic dribble flawlessly, whether he was running, walking, standing in place, or flipping in the air, he could do it without error. Happy with these results, Ranma arrived at the gym that afternoon eager to see the game between the two other schools.

Kenji was waiting for him by the entrance, "Good, you're here early, that gives us an hour to get to the game."

He turned towards the gym entrance then and called out, "Akira, Ranma just arrived, lets go"

Kenji turned back to face Ranma again, "Akira decided to come along with us, Ryonan has a player named Sendoh that Akira wants to watch, he's pretty good, but there are better players, Kainan's Maki for instance."

Akira wouldn't let that stand, he dashes out the door and gets right up in Kenji's face, "That's not true, Maki is nowhere near as good a Sendoh!"

Ranma tuned the rest of the argument out, only listening long enough to learn that the teams they were going to see were indeed Kainen and Ryonan. Two of the top seeds both boasting number one players for the district, apparently the centre for Ryonan was the tallest in the league, and had solid ball skills to boot.

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During the one hour train journey both Akira and Kenji were constantly talking about the two teams set to play tonight, their strengths, weaknesses, how they had faired in the season so far, and who they most admired from each team. From their descriptions Ranma was beginning to get excited at the prospect of seeing these two teams play. He had always learned best by example, and by the sounds of it, after tonight he should have plenty of new manoeuvres to practice and eventually refine.

He had expected to be going to just another gym at a high school similar to Furinkan, that is a hall primarily for school assembly with a basketball court conveniently marked in the centre of the theatre.

Boy was he wrong!

Today's game was being played at Ryonan High school, said to be the number 4 team in the prefecture, also home to the number one freshman ace, Sendoh Akira. Admired by the whole team who believe that no matter what, Sendoh will bring victory to them. The school had a gym exclusively for basketball with multi level grandstands on both sides of the court.

The place was packed well before game time, and looking around Ranma could not help but think what it would be like to play in front of so many people. It was a good source of determination for improvement.

Suddenly brought out of his thoughts, he hears the signal for the start of the game.

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The game is intense from the very beginning; some of the ball handling and passing from Sendoh is magical. And the occasional dunk from each team open's a slew of new possibilities, it is also becomes clear to him that basketball requires a high level of skill and concentration, as it requires you to do a lot of things at once. Keep track of surrounding players, plan your attack, keep control of the ball, and know the strategy of the team. All these things are required.

Ranma can also see that while Sendoh may be the best player for Ryonan and they rely on him, He couldn't do what he does without the support of his team-mates. Basketball is very much a team game. By halftime he thought he could see the requisite skills that made a good ball team. Consistent shooting ability, in both long and short range, supporting play by the team- mates, rebounds, both offensive and defensive. As far as physical traits required for all this, speed, stamina and strength by far stood out.

From watching the game it became clear that while his edge in speed over the competing players wasn't that great, his stamina was miles above. He had no doubt that he could play the whole game at full intensity and only break a light sweat. He came to the decision that as his team-mates trained him in the basketball skills he would train them in both speed and stamina drills, and if any were interested would even teach them some anything goes.

If their team had the ability to constantly play at 100% they would have a huge advantage over the others. Similarly with rebounds, lay-ups & dunks the jumping ability provided through his training gave him a huge advantage. That would take a ridiculous amount of time to teach, however he though he could get the lot of them to match the height of Sendoh's jumps by the time the next year rolls around.

By halftime Ranma thought he had the measure of the majority of moves each player was using, though the tactics of the teams as a unit still eluded him. From that time he just enjoyed the game and found that as Akira and Kenji had told him he did appreciate the game, it was something else, being surrounded by so many people, all fascinated by what was occurring down on the centre court, he had never felt so alive, besides when he perfected a new kata or move in the art. In the end, the score was 92 to 89, Kainen over Ryonan. However, it was clear that Sendoh was the best player on the court, especially when he turned up the tempo during the last quarter of the game. Ranma couldn't help but think what he would be like if he had the stamina to play that way start to finish.

On the way home he had the thought to ask Kenji whether they had anything comparable to a training manual from the martial arts. Suiting actions to words, he asked, and found that there were indeed training manuals, and that he was welcome to borrow them. He also asked about the clothes that all of the players seemed to wear. To this query they just told him not to worry, they would get some money from the club and go with him into town to get a set for him after practice on Monday. Happy with this, they continued their discussion of the game and upon arriving back in Nerima said goodbye and left. He found he liked the feeling of having friends; he had never really had that in his life before.

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Turned out that Genma decided that since he was wasting time away from training during the week, from that point on, they would train all weekend twice as hard to make up for lost time. Really not caring at this point, Ranma just went through with it. It's not like Genma could teach him anything new. On the other hand, his father was the only person of comparable skill level he had met so far in Nerima, so beggars couldn't be choosers, eh?

Should've known, his father was tired by midday (more like to lazy to continue), so after lunch Ranma grabbed his basketball and headed out to the court near Tofu's. He was surprised to find that there were quite a few people there, as he had yet to see anyone in the previous days.

No matter, this just gave him more incentive. He had an audience!

He decided that now his dribbling was okay, he should work on his jump shot. Taking his place at the free throw line, he tries to remember the shooting action of Sendoh. After a disastrous first few attempts he found that though the ball was arcing correctly it either went to far or over toward one side. Puzzling through this he decided it had to be from his shooting action.

His ball doesn't seem to have any backspin after he takes a shot, curious. Watching the others on the court he saw that as they released the ball at the apex of their jump shot's, they snapped their wrists. Giving it a try, he performs the action.

Success!

Continuing this for the next hour it seems he has about a one in ten chance of getting a basket from the free throw line. Next he began to change position around the key he practiced the shot at the various distances until he had comparable skill from every position. Looking around he noticed it was almost dark, a bit shocked that so much time had gone by he took to the roofs, and arrived home just in time for dinner.

When he came in no one so much as asked him how his day had been, Akane just glared at him. He just received a smirk from Nabiki, and Kasumi with her usual indifference just informed him that dinner was ready and to take a seat at the table.

Not really paying attention to those around him he ate his dinner in silence and then went up to his room. He fell asleep once again thinking over all the manoeuvres he had seen at the match on Friday.

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Sunday proved much the same as Saturday with half the day spent on martial arts and half on basketball. By the end of the day his accuracy had improved to about one out of eight, not bad if he says so himself. Satisfied with this he headed home and decided to watch some television, flicking the set on he changed the channels until he found an American basketball league match, something he hadn't seen in years. The teams involved were Chicago and Orlando. Watching this was even more intense than the game over at Ryonan, however, it seemed to loose something with you not being there in the thick of it. Oh well, you take what you can get. After another quiet dinner he went to bed early that night.

After the usual morning routine he was off to school once again. Ranma did not bother to wait for one of the others, he could do without being yelled at the whole way to Furinkan, thank you very much. Jumping up on the fence, he starts running towards Furinkan, wondering how things would turn out that week.

Once in class, to keep his mind off the glaring Akane, he began to listen to his teachers, he found that while rather boring, it certainly kept him occupied, and surprisingly, he didn't get in trouble all day!!

Bonus!

Happy with this, he jumped out the window and rushed over to the gym after school eager to try some of the manoeuvres he saw on Friday night. Changing into a spare pair of Daisuke's shoes he decides to practice the move where they jump up next to the hoop and place the ball in the hoop. After a short warm-up, he dribbles the ball up to the free throw line and jumped, right over the hoop. This drew a lot of snickers from the rest of the team.

Heh, new problem, now he's gotta practice jumping from different lengths and at different heights, all being precisely judged to place him near the basket. With around a half hour of training left he was happy that he had the jumping down, through using a combination of trial and error, and use of the ability to judge distance he got from his shooting. Deciding to bring up his thoughts from the match on Friday, he calls everyone over.

Thinking for a moment he begins, "As you all know Kenji, Akira and I went to the game on Friday night over at Ryonan. I noticed that the players tired out very quickly and couldn't understand why, as due to my training I could play all day long at full intensity and not really notice it. The point being that I would like to know if you guys would like me to teach you some anything goes, with focus on endurance and speed drills. This would allow us to play a game start to finish no worries, something we really require with only six members. I'll tell you now not to expect immediate results, as that's not how it works. Anyway, what do you think?"

They all agreed and it was decided that from now on the second half of the group meetings would be spent on martial arts training. Happy with the decision they all hit the showers to get cleaned off.

From there, they all made their way over to the business district, to a sporting goods store. In the basketball section they all start to show him the various outfits available. After much mucking around, he decided he didn't really feel like wearing the uniform of another team, as he wanted to make their own team strong. He ended up getting four sets of Nike basketball uniforms. That is shorts, shirts, track pants, jackets, and socks. Finding them surprisingly comfortable, and much less restricting than his current clothing he decided that that he'd wear these from now on, it's not like anyone would even notice.

Each one of them having bought something, they then went downtown and got something to eat. Then they just hung around for a while talking about the upcoming game's in the regional tournament and what they thought of each team in the competition. During this time, they decided that they would all go to the next game, Shohoku verses Ryonan as it would give them a chance to see two of the best centres in the competition, Akagi and Uozumi.

Happy with the afternoon, and not really feeling like dinner, Ranma made his way home and went to sleep. Little did he know that in just a few days his life was going to take a rather dramatic turn.

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End Chapter One. Another slight revision. var PUpage="76001078"; var PUprop="geocities"; var yviContents='http://us.toto.geo.yahoo.com/toto?s=76001078&l=NE&b=1& amp;t=1047831137';yviR='us';yfiEA(0);geovisit();