Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ A Fighter's tournment ❯ AFTCh8 ( Chapter 8 )

Scene: the next day

After defeating Yamazaki again with his own move Ranma hurried home and packed. The next two rounds of the tournament were going to be held in Italy. After the confrontation with Yamazaki Ranma had no problems except for sneezing when Kyo shouted that he would have his revenge. At the same time Iori felt the need to sue someone for using his lines.

After bidding his Aunt Sara goodbye Ranma met Rock and the team at the airport. Off they went to the next location for the tournament and the next rounds. The next rounds were of special interest for Ranma because he had heard from Bast that the some of the strongest fighters would fight. Particularly the Lone Wolf Terry Bogard.

After landing and checking into a hotel Ranma decided to do some sightseeing since he had never been to Italy before. Considering how long it took to travel from Japan to Italy, Ranma got the majority of his sleep on the plane while his teammates opted to stay up for the in-flight movie. Upon arrival, it took thirty minutes to check into their hotel room, paid for by NESTS.

During the trip, Rock wondered what could have changed the minds of the other contestants about not going to other countries to fight. It turned out that during Athena's training session, the flames from her Warrior ending to her new move, named Psychic 9, were larger than she anticipated. She not only damaged the training gym but part of the arena as well.

Frankly, she found herself highly embarrassed over the incident while NESTS scrambled to find another arena in a hurry since they cancelled their previous arrangements. The earliest country to respond turned out to be Italy and so NESTS made the arrangements. Athena used some of her own money to pay for repairs and replace equipment.

Jet lag took its toll on Ranma so he went easy on his morning exercises. He had to admit that the countryside is quite beautiful when the sun came up. After an hour of jogging, he came back to the hotel to have breakfast with his team. The hotel manager found that he would need to replenish his food supply since Ranma, Chae and Mignon had more or less wiped them out for the rest of the day.

Chapter 8

The match between Team Korea and the Fatal Fury team would not start until 11:30 in the morning so Ranma went off to do a little sightseeing. He made a quick promise to meet up with his team later at the new arena and brought a map of Italy to make sure that he doesn't get lost.

He walked around Rome for a while, wondering what can he do. Strike Claw suggested that he go visit a museum and experience the culture.

While thinking about this, he passed by a shop where a woman in a military uniform was shaking the shopkeeper senseless. 'What the?!?'

When Ranma entered the shop, he could hear the woman shouting. "Tell me everything you know about NESTS! I just saw you communicating with someone and sign off by saying 'Glory to NESTS!' so don't try denying it!!"

The shopkeeper shouted something in Italian before noticing the boy. The military woman noticed the boy too, giving the man an opportunity to get out of her grip.

"You ain't getting away that easy!!" The woman withdrew a blue whip and expertly swung it to tie up the man's legs and send him to the ground.

While the woman tugged her whip to bring the other man closer for further interrogation, Ranma pondered on what course of action he should take.

Ranma recalled that the girl was named Whip and she was part of the Hero Team. Seeing that she had everything under control he gave her a wave a headed off. Behind him Whip was torn from chasing Ranma and interrogating the shop owner.

He looked at his map and walked in the direction of the arena. He still had plenty of time to get there. As he turned a corner he found himself looking at the whole Women's Team. The Women's Team was kind of surprised to see the newest hunk in the tournament.

"Hey Ranma, what are you doing here?" Mai greeted him. Hinako, King, and Chizuru also nodded in greeting.

"Hello Mai. Ladies. I was doing some sightseeing and now I am heading back to the arena." Ranma greeted and answered the kunoichi.

"I see, so Ranma what do you think of the tournament so far?" Chizuru asked.

"I like it so far." Ranma said with a smile. "I can't wait for the fight against The Kyokugen Karate Team."

"So you love to fight." King asked.

"Don't you?" Ranma asked right back at her. "I think everyone except for a few people loves the fight. They have to if they are in the KOF tournament."

All the women there thought on his words and had to agree. Even Chizuru had to agree though she was a priestess. She loved the fight although for years she had been denying it. She could deny it no longer.

"We had better get going guys." Hinako indicated a clock that read 10:30.

"You're right. I don't want to miss Terry Bogard's match." Ranma excitedly said. All the women there smiled at Ranma's excitement. They knew what Terry was like and could understand Ranma's excitement. All five of them started to walk back to the arena.

"Hey! Wait up!!" Ranma paused when he heard the voice of a fifth woman. He turned around and saw the military woman that he met briefly in the shop. She kept kicking the tied up Italian man in front of her to keep walking. He continued to shout in Italian, probably saying stuff about how he is going to hire a lawyer and sue.

"Whip? What are you doing?" asked King.

"I'm coming with you guys to the arena. And I'm bringing my suspect here to see Commander Heidern. He might have more luck getting somewhere with this guy. Ever since I apprehended him, he's been shouting non-stop in Italian." Whip paused before offering her free hand in front of Ranma. "Hi! I'm Whip, an ex-officer of the Ikari Warriors."

Ranma blinked as he shook her hand. "Uh…did you get discharged or something?"

"At the end of last year's tournament, I realized that I needed to branch out on my own to get some answers and so I left them and ran into Maxima and K'. We teamed up and found Lin before entering KOF 2001. Excuse me a moment." Whip took out some duct tape from her pocket and taped it over the man's mouth, giving some peace and quiet.

"Are you allowed to do stuff like this? Wouldn't the police catch you or something?" asked Hinako.

"Commander Heidern has a lot of connections all over the world. As long as I have some proof to justify my suspicion, they won't try to poke their noses into our investigation. Speaking of proof, I found this radio on him. Now why would he need something like that in a shoe shop?"

"Hey! That's the same radio I saw Angel with!" exclaimed the pigtailed martial artist.

Whip nodded. "In that case, I'll need you to verify it as a piece of NESTS equipment. That should explain to the local authorities why we're questioning this man. It won't take too long. Probably thirty minutes at most. And we'll be back in time for the tournament. And you four should move along. If you interfere, you could be slapped with charges of interfering with an official investigation."

The woman then took Ranma's hand to lead the boy to the nearest police station, leaving the Women's Team behind. "Um…I recently got a backup whip but I have no idea what to name it. So…can I use your name?"

The pigtailed martial artist looked puzzled. "You want to name your new whip `Ranma'?"

Whip blushed lightly. "If you don't mind."

"Uh, sure. I guess." What else could Ranma say?

As Whip dragged the NESTS operative and Ranma to the nearest police station three women got the same thought in their heads.

'Blast that Whip. I wanted to spend some time with Ranma and get to know him. Wait minute here. I saw the radio too so maybe I should go along and verify Ranma's claim.' King thought to herself.

'That Whip. I wanted to talk to Ranma about his advice and what happened when we talked. Hold on. I saw that radio too so I can stay around Ranma with the excuse that I saw the radio too.' Mai giggled to herself.

'I would like to get to know Ranma better. It would be a good idea to learn what he is about. Since I saw the radio this would give me the perfect opportunity to stay close to him.' Chizuru thought to herself.

The three women looked shot each other a glance and ran to catch up with Ranma and Whip. Whip looked around and saw Chizuru, King, and Mai walking with them now. She was wondering what was going on but was saved by Ranma.

"I thought you girls were headed back to the arena." Ranma stated.

"We are." King answered.

"So what are you doing with us?" Ranma asked.

"Well we saw that kind of radio Angel had with her and we decided to come with you to back your story." Chizuru answered. She chuckled to herself when she saw Whip's expression. Then her eyes narrowed.

"Since your a new face in the tournament the police might not believe you so we are coming along to back you up." Mai stated and grabbed Ranma's arm.

"Thanks. With more witnesses we might get out of there faster." Ranma said with a slightly less than comfortable feeling with the beautiful, busty ninja on his arm. 'Why do I get the feeling I'm back in Nerima?'

Looking around he saw the other women looking at Mai with death in their eyes. Ranma turned his head forward and gulped.

'All I need now is for the guys who like these girls to come and do their 'prepare to die' spiel and it would just be like Nerima.' Ranma shuddered at that thought. 'Why me Kami-sama? Why me?'

A stray thought came to Ranma. 'I thought Mai liked Andy so what is she doing cuddling up to me? When we're alone I'll ask.'

After verifying that the radio was a piece of NESTS equipment the fighters were able to convince the police that the man should be held for questioning. After Whip and Ranma had mentioned the name Heidern the police were very cooperative.

Mai was still hanging off Ranma's arm and he suspected Mai was hurting very much. Ranma's suspicions were confirmed when he saw the sadness and depression in Mai's aura. The women there could see there was something wrong with the usually perky, fun loving Mai. After signaling Whip, Chizuru, and King that he would help the depressed kunoichi and that he wanted them to head back to the arena without him and Mai he turned his full attention to the woman.

"Mai, what's wrong?" Ranma asked.

"Huh, what do you mean Ranma?" Mai asked playing dumb.

"Mai, please don't try to fool me." Ranma stopped Mai in her denials. "I can sense the sadness behind your fake cheerfulness. I consider you a friend and I want to help."

Mai saw the truth in Ranma's eyes and took a deep breath. "You were right about what you said when you refused to help me make Andy jealous, Ranma. Andy and I had a serious talk about our relationship, the first one we ever had in fact."

Mai stopped walking to the arena and that forced Ranma to stop as well. Ranma wanted to know what was said between Mai and Andy but he knew it was not part of his business. Still it hurt he could not do anything for a friend.

"Mai, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Ranma waited until Mai was looking at him. "Just remember if you need help let me know."

Mai smiled at the genuine offer of help. "No, I want to talk about it. Get it off my chest and get some more good advice."

Ranma knew Mai was going to say something that would have him wanting to hide under the biggest rock he could find.

"Since we don't have time now and you want to see the next rounds we can discuss it over dinner tonight." Mai said.

Ranma knew it. He absolutely knew it. 'A date. She wants to go on a date with me. Still I promised I would help her.'

Ranma just nodded and for the first time he saw Mai he saw a real smile on her face. The two fighters walked to the arena setting up the date when Mai would need a friendly ear.

Your soft heart gets you into messes like this Ranma

'Believe me I know Strike Claw. I know.'

As the two teams scheduled to fight next started doing some quick warm ups, most of the crowd used the time to buy snacks, chat or pay attention to the big screen TV. The anchors from the Italian network broadcasting the next two rounds were currently analyzing some of the fighters and gave their thoughts on their strengths and weaknesses.

On the field, Team Korea thought about who they were going to send first into battle against the Fatal Fury Team. May Lee volunteered but Kim decided to send in his personal student that he trained for the year during the little competition between himself and Jhun on who could bring out the best in Chang and Choi.

"How am I gonna survive this?" grumbled 'Choi'.

May Lee smiled. "You'll do fine. And I'll be there to back you up when you need it!"

Kim looked up to check the time on the stadium clock. The match would be starting in ten minutes. He turned back to finish his warm up exercises when he noticed that the Italian network started focusing on Ranma Saotome and Yamazaki. 'They must be explaining how Ranma brought Yamazaki to justice a few days ago.'

"What are you looking at, Master Kim?" asked 'Chang'.

"Just noticing the Italians making their remarks on how Ranma defeated Yamazaki a few days ago, Choi."

"Hey! I think they have some fight footage!" May Lee pointed up to the TV.

+++++++++++++++

"Made it! I hope they didn't start yet!! This is where we part ways, Mai," said Ranma.

Mai gave the boy a quick reminder of their date. "Until tonight's dinner."

"Er...yeah. I'll remember. See ya later!!" As Ranma looked around to find his team, he noticed that every single person he passed by had their eyes looking elsewhere in the sky.

'What are they all looking at?' He looked up himself and saw a video tape of himself dodging Yamazaki's Snake Arm attacks before the last one showed the criminal hitting himself in the family jewels because Ranma proved to be too fast for him.

At that moment, almost every single man went 'oooohhhh' as in 'ooooohhh, that's gotta hurt.'

"Who videotaped my battle with Yamazaki last night?" Ranma paused when he noticed that a lot of fighters and members of the audience diverted their attention from the TV to him.

'Man, I'm starting to feel a wee bit creeped out by all this.'

Ranma had finally located his team looking up at the monitor. He stayed silent for a while until his three teammates noticed him standing there. They kept on glancing between him and the monitor up in the higher areas.

"I guess Yamazaki wanted to have some payback, mate." The staff wielder started off.

"I have never seen anyone just dodge his Snake Arms moves like that." Mignon added. "You must have tremendous speed to have pulled that off."

"Not to mention Ranma using one of Yamazaki's own techniques off and hitting him there." Chae said. Chae had good eyes, almost as good as Ranma's.

"What do you mean Chae?" Mignon asked. "Yamazaki hit himself with his own technique."

"No, if you watch more carefully you will see Ranma pulling that off, not Yamazaki." Chae explained.

"Great. Just Great." Ranma muttered. All his teammates looked at him. He noticed the looks. "With this out on the TV Yamazaki is probably going to be dogging me the whole tournament."

Ranma stopped muttering and looked to heaven for answers. "Not to mention there is no way he could miss this."

All three of his teammates understood why he was a little upset. His team now realized thanks to this broadcast Yamazaki would be harassing Ranma all tournament long until he defeated Ranma. They knew the Yakuza had no choice.

Ranma stop being depressed. You didn't know your rematch with Yamazaki was being taped

'You know that. I know that. But Yamazaki doesn't know that.'

Oh

Zero walked into his boss's room and blinked as he saw Ignitz, with Misty and Krizalid behind him, watching some footage, grimacing at times. "Um, boss?"

Ignitz shook his head and looked up. "Ah, Zero. Did you find what I asked you to?"

Zero nodded and pulled out a disk. He walked up to the computer on the desk and popped it in. "Well, I found what I could about pressure points and what they could do. Unfortunately, I could only really find some basic ones in the time that I had sir."

Ignitz waved it off and looked at the screen when Zero turned the monitor to him, on the screen was a diagram of the human body, littered with red and blue dots. "So what do those do?"

"Well, the red dots represent various points on the body which can be pressed to react. I compared them to a diagram of the nervous system and found something interesting." With that, Zero typed something into the computer, and a bunch of thin wires appeared all over the body. "Those wires represent the human nervous system. You'll notice that the red dots in the arms and legs are connected to either the end of the "wires" or in cluster areas."

Ignitz nodded at that as he looked at the screen, he was beginning to see something. "Let me guess, pressure points are really just nerve clusters, and pushing them in a special way makes the body react, correct?"

Zero nodded at that. "More or less."

"I see, so what about the blue dots?"

Zero shrugged, it wasn't too important but... "They're the counter-points to the red ones."

"Hmm, I see." The leader of NESTS trailed off as he thought about this new information. If EVERY human had pressure points which could be exploited, then he would have to be careful. Looking back at the diagram he narrowed his eyes in thought. 'If these are just basic ones, I wonder what the more advanced ones are.'

"Um, sir?"

Ignitz looked at Zero. "Yes?"

"Um, what were you watching before? It seemed painful."

Ignitz looked at Misty. "Play that again okay?"

The white haired woman nodded and pressed play. Zero blinked as Yamazaki and Ranma appeared on the screen, with Yamazaki attempting to hit Ranma and the newcomer was doing a very good flea impression, that is, jumping all over the place incredibly fast and agile. Zero winced a bit as it appeared that Yamazaki hit himself in a very private place. "That had to hurt."

Ignitz nodded at that. "Yes I know. Apparently the newcomer is very quick and agile." He then started to chuckle. "As well as capable. Having Yamazaki hit himself was quite innovative."

"Actually..." Zero spoke up, and the other three looked back at him. "Misty, rewind the tape up to where Yamazaki got hit."

The woman nodded and did so.

"Okay, stop."

The picture stopped with Yamazaki getting hit hard.

"Now zoom in."

Everyone blinked, but Misty did so. She then gasped as she saw what Zero did. "Oh my."

Krizalid shook his head. "Now that's something else."

Ignitz frowned as he saw that. "How the hell?"

The picture was showing the blur going in the opposite direction than if Yamazaki had used his Snake's Arms. The leader of NESTS frowned deeply as a thought came to him. 'He can emulate moves used against him, this... Is not good.'

End of Chapter