Nodoka
With an absent stare in her eyes the mother of the Saotome prodigy washed dishes in the kitchen sink. Various thoughts came rushing into her head but all lead her back to what she had made her catch-phrase. Though was that the most important thing anymore? Was it okay for Ryoga to harbor feelings for someone who was the same sex? Why Ranma exactly? Was it something along the lines of master and pet? No. The answer couldn't be that simple, why else leave? Ryoga cared deeply for Ranma and she couldn't allow Ranma to fall down such a path, Ranma's future involved him fathering children and continuing the family name...
Nodoka placed her hand to her forehead, not minding that some suds made themselves at home on her forehead. "What is a mother to do?" she groaned, suddenly becoming timid as she wanted to cry for the lose of their dear Ryoga. "M-my poor Ryoga..." she cried, her lower lip trembling, her eyes shutting tightly.
She wanted to be stronger, she wanted to calm down and forget that everything with Ryoga had even happened, but try as she might her efforts were in vein. All those seconds, all those days and feelings of motherhood came back to her, there was no power strong enough to make her forget their Ryoga.
The mother lowered her head and weeped quietly as to not bother Ranma and Genma's training. The worst part was that she had no idea what to think or what she'd do if Ryoga continued to show such deep feelings for her Ranma.
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Ryoga
The fang toothed boy stood before the elders, showing the depths of his determination as he eyed them down, quickly he shot his arms out to his sides and narrowed his eyes. "I can handle anything you've got..."
Happosai stood before him, his hands to his back before he reached out hand out and snapped his fingers, causing Chingensai to disappear and reappear with weighted training gear, that look exactly like rocks tied together with strong looking straps. The two grand master's made brief eye contact before vanishing and reappearing behind Ryoga, but nothing remained in their hands.
Ryoga's eyes couldn't trace Happosai's and Chingensai's movements but that did little to distract him from the heavy feeling that surrounded his entire body. On his chest and back their were oval rocks, the same went for every other piece scattered around specific spots over his body. "What the..." he groaned, tightening the various muscles around his body to keep himself standing.
Happosai smiled and turned around, chuckling. "That my boy is the first stepping stone onto your line of success! You gotta' wear these at all times! Before we make sure you're able to toughen your skin we gotta' make sure you'll be quick enough to strike the rocks!" he explained.
Chingensai nodded his head, "That's right my boy, not only will this make you faster it'll allow you to jump greater distances, the ground that'll rival true martial artists!"
Ryoga only absorbed half of the information that was given to him, being that his mind was on not letting the rocks around him crush his whole body. "I-I got it... so what d-do I do now?" he asked, through gritted teeth.
"Your first task is to fetch us two piles of water from the stream near by!" Chingensai added, reaching to his side and getting a long pole, seemingly from no where.
Matsu who happened to be working close by over heard what was being said and wiped his brow, "Are you two are aware that the nearest stream is almost two miles away?"
Ryoga's eyes widened and he lost control of the weight straped onto him. "W-what!?" he shouted, squinting his eyes as the stones tried to crush the poor fang toothed boy. Matsu tried to help but was stopped by Chingensai's hand, telling him to keep his distance. It worked as Ryoga pushed himself further to raise yet again, sweat dripping from his brow. "Rah!" he shouted, once again on his own two feet.
"Why ta' go boy! Now all you gotta' do is reach that river and carry these two buckets!" Happosai added, jumping up and placing the pole on Ryoga's back, the weight was minor but more weight wasn't really the thing that would help Ryoga.
Chingensai watched Ryoga's display of determination and smiled slightly, there was certainly something about the youth these days. "I see a lotta' potential in this one, Happy."
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"I won't quit..." Ryoga muttered, taking his first few steps out in the direction of the stream.
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Ranma & Genma
The two martial artists clashed fists, each strike feeling like a clap of thunder from the amount of pressure put into each blow. Genma maintained a composed look on his face, training Ranma one on one was what he was hoping to get back to. Now his son would achieve prodigy level, especially since being a mascot for meant more free time.
"Faster boy! Are you really a Saotome!?" Genma shouted, dodging and countering Ranma's attacks.
"Zip it and fight old man!" Ranma shot back, losing his temper and going all out but his efforts proved futile. Having his father bark like a dog at him hasn't helping Ranma maintain his focus.
Tilting his head to the side, evading Ranma strike with relative ease. 'Come on boy, focus! You're supposed to get past all these distractions but instead you're acting like a child!' Genma thought to himself.
Ranma stomped his foot and made an elbow strike, predicting Genma's movement but again failed to do so, since Ranma's lack of focus hadn't made him focus on his opponent body language. "Hold still!"
"Your mother could beat you!" Genma provoked Ranma further, if Genma had been anyone else Ranma's strike more than likely would have hit, even if they were barking insults like a dog.
Eyes widening for a second Ranma was going to flare, but before he could do so entirely Genma dashed forward, landing a mean right hook. Recoiling from the attack, Ranma grunted, "Damn you!"
"Take your opponents weakness and use them against themselves..." Genma smirked, his head tilted downward, causing the sunlight to reflect off his glasses.
Ranma quickly devised a brilliant plan, he just had to make the precise move at the precise time. Leaping forward with both arms to his side, Ranma gave out a battle cry. Genma sensing where this was going followed Ranma's, ready to counter whatever it maybe.
"Look a hundred yen piece!" Ranma shouted.
"What! Where!?" Genma asked, losing sight of the battle as his eyes scanned in the direction of Ranma's finger. Immediately following it, he came to release he was fooled, just in time to be bashed on the top of his skull by Ranma. "Ah!" he screamed, falling to his knees and grabbing his head, almost for dear life.
Ranma chuckled proudly, "Still falling for the old dropped yen piece, ya' sure you're the sensei here?"
Whilst Ranma was laughing, Genma rose to his feet. "Huh... not bad, using your enemies personal weaknesses..." he stated, a lump forming on his head, much like a muffin top in the oven.
"Yeah, all the training is making me stronger!" Ranma exclaimed, lifting his arm and feeling his muscles.
Now it was Genma's turn to laugh proudly, glad to see confidence in his boy. If he was strong his self-esteem then that means he'd certainly get places... or at least this was Genma's personal view on confidence. "Got a big head on your shoulders... but ya' ain't beat anyone yet, boy." Genma stated, narrowing his eyes slightly and going back on the assault.
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Happosai
Nighttime slowly descended on the strange little outskirts of the amazonian village. All throughout the day Happosai supervised Ryoga's training, the fang toothed boy proved his worth as even though he wasn't the strongest he was definitely the most stubborn when it came to better his art.
"Hm... hey! You've earned a rest, boy!" Happosai shouted, perched on a rock he shattered earlier in the day.
"I haven't seen anyone this determined in awhile, reminds me of when we were just lads..." Chingensai commented, finding himself rather nostalgic as he recalled past events of his perverted youth, Happy and him certainly had an interesting past.
Matsu smiled at Happosai and Chingensai, it was nice to see them being proud of their work and whenever he watched Ryoga he could feel himself believing in him, not using his martial arts to gain fame or anything superficial, he wanted to show someone the depths of his emotions and that required that he hone his skills. 'I'm gonna' believe in you...' Matsu thought.
Ryoga was drenched in sweat as his knees felt as though they give way at any moment, but whenever he let himself even begin to slip too far he'd remind himself of his inspiration. "I can keep going..." Ryoga muttered as he placed the latest bucket of water down in front of him but before he could go and make a second attempt at walking another two miles; technically four since it was two miles to get there and two miles to get back, he was stopped by Happosai.
"Heh... this is an order as a sensei lad, take a rest..." Happosai stated, smiling brightly. Though Ryoga clearly wanted to continue, he couldn't as in a blink of an eye, Chingensai flashed around him, removing all the weighted training gear, which caused the fang toothed boy to feel a sudden shift in his weight and being that he was used to the pressure, the sudden change caught him off guard, dropping to his knees.
"Ah!| Ryoga screamed, falling forward, only to be caught by master Matsu.
"Rest..." Matsu paused as he could smell Ryoga. "And I also think you could use a bath..." Matsu stated, seeing as Ryoga was covered in sweat.
Ryoga knew there wasn't much arguing with them, especially seeing as he could barely stand and probably knew that his exhaustion was probably getting in the way of him realizing that he needed to rest. "You're right..." Ryoga sighed as he leaned on Matsu.
As Ryoga had mulled things over the three old men began to walk in the direction of the nearby hot springs or rather this was walking distance to them, they were masters and traveling huge distances was nothing but a small chore to them. Though Ryoga had never really seen them use their speed, other than Chingensai and was surprised to see the three blaze through the forest and into the amazonian village.