Nestled deep within Joketsuzoku territory sat a heavily guarded shrine, although it may not have been the grandest building of them all, it was certainly one of the most secure. Near the entrance, stood two Amazons holding spears in their hands. Surrounding them were guideposts, all of which had stations at each corner of the three stories tall building.
The women stationed at the posts wielded swords on their hips, quivers filled with arrows attached to their other. They constantly had their bows at the ready while they scanned the perimeter for any would-be intruder.
From inside the shrine, the spectacled teen finished polishing the pot he had been painstakingly asked to clean. He looked over his shoulder to see that during his time there, another Amazonian had been stationed there.
Much like the two women near the entrance, this one was brandishing a spear. She stood with her one free hand to her hip, while her shoe heels met behind her. She noticed him looking at Mousse but only it was only for a minute.
"I'm done," Mousse announced as he put the lid back onto the pot.
There was no response to the long-sleeved martial artist, nothing but a simple nod of her head to confirm that she now knew. She saw him put his hands in his sleeves and walk out the same way he had come in sooner.
Mousse's glasses reflected the outside light as he was let out by the two other guards stationed inside. He walked down the stairs, "Hmm…" the hidden weapons master hummed to himself as his head looked to his right and then to his left.
Once he was at a safe enough distance he looked over his shoulder again, thankful for the glare his glasses provided at this hour, 'They've got all the ways in covered, gonna' need a little time before I can even attempt this…' he thought over his plan as he then began walking again.
"Maybe I should talk to Nodoka…" he muttered.
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Arriving at the campsite, Ranma and Ryoga saw how far along the three men had come at the construction site. It was starting to resemble a village more and more with each passing day, although a large portion of it was still under construction.
They were still almost complete enough that if they wanted a tour of the buildings, they'd still at least get a rough idea as to what kind of purpose those particular buildings would serve.
"Where are they…?" Ryoga commented as they began to walk past the empty campsite.
"Figure we'd at least hear something that sounds like workin'…" Ranma added with his hands behind his head.
Before anyone could say anything further, they heard a delighted squeal erupting from a familiar but despised voice.
"These are those limited editions you wouldn't let me borrow!" Happosai's voice echoed in the distance to their right.
Following it with flat and annoyed faces, they knew those words could only mean one thing. They'd rather ignore him but knew that if he was saying something like that, then there was likely a chance that the other two masters were nearby as well.
"If this gives Ranma some breathing room then I suppose it's fine…" Matsu muttered, until opening his eyes as the sounds of shifting sand struck his ears.
"Speaking of…" Chingensai stated, looked over his shoulder with his hands behind his back.
"Good afternoon, Masters," Ryoga said, bowing respectfully.
"Same, good afternoon." Ranma greeted as well, bowing at the same time as his fang-toothed companion.
Chingensai straightened his back and lowered his head in a much lazier bow. Matsu returned their bows with one of his own and Happosai continued looking through his precious reading material; if one could be so inclined to call what he was doing as 'reading'.
"I'm gonna' head off to prepare some more flowers or something…" Happosai excused himself rather poorly, vanishing while holding onto his loaned magazine.
"Did you two have fun on your date?" Chingensai asked, letting his curiosity get the best of him.
The two froze in place as they remembered the conversation they had to have with Nodoka, although their date was nice what followed all but ruined it.
"Yeah, sorry for being late…" Ryoga apologized as he looked pretty nervous, to say the least.
"It's alright, with a girl like Ranma I can see why…" Chingensai teased as the blue-eyed male next to the fang-toothed teen blushed.
"It wasn't because of anything like 'that' ya' old perv…" Ranma responded in his and Ryoga's defense.
"I was young once too ya know," The mop hair covered master of the arts replied as he turned to face his fellow teacher; Matsu.
Matsu all the while couldn't help but smile peacefully, the idea of the two upstart martial artists falling in love gave his heart a warm fuzzy feeling, 'I still can't believe Ryoga's gotten this far…' he thought to himself before realizing that he hadn't been listening to Chingensai. Seeing his fellow construction worker turn to him, he met his eyes or rather eyebrows, since discerning where they were exactly was more or less just a guess.
"I think it's high time Ryoga demonstrated his Bakusai Tenketsu, no?" Chingensai imposed an inquiry onto his fellow master.
"What of Ranma?" Matsu returned the question with one of his own.
"As I said before," Chingensai addressed with a soft smile. "I'll be overseeing Ranma's training," he stated.
"Alright, I'll take Ryoga to his training grounds then…" the middle-aged man agreed, beginning to walk to Ryoga's practice field.
Looking at Ranma once more, the Lost Boy closed his eyes and nodded his head, following Matsu closely behind.
Nodding his head, Chingensai returned his study to Ranma and took out a pipe. He lit it and took a deep drag before exhaling a deep breath and cloud of smoke. The pig-tailed teen scrunched his face together, fanning the smoke that wafted over to him.
"What took you two so long to start your training?" Chingensai muttered as he looked up at his new student.
"We went on our date first and then when we wanted to come back, we got sidetracked and even kind of forgot I guess…" Ranma said, muttering just as much as the old man in front of him had, 'Then when it came to my Mom and our little agreement…' he mulled over as his thoughts wandered back to those intimate moments between himself and his fellow student.
Observant enough to know that wasn't the whole story, the Elder shook his head and chuckled. "Well, I suppose it's alright but how about we get to your training?" he suggested.
"I'm all ears," Ranma replied.
"Is there anything you specifically want to learn or want help with?" The wise Elder offered.
"I can think of one…" Ranma commented as he looked to his right hand, eyes focusing in on the burn marks while slowly closing his palm.
"Oh…?" Chingensai seemed amused, goading him to continue.
"I've been working on this speed training technique but it's a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be," Ranma answered, sounding determined; despite the fact that it still managed to elude him.
"I see…" The wise monk rubbed his chin.
"Can you?" Ranma asked, honestly wondering.
"Yes! To both of your questions!" to confirm one of them, Chingensai gave a very happy expression. Raising both eyebrows high enough for his round eyes to greet Ranma as he wiggled his brows.
"So any idea what you can do…?" Ranma inquired, crossing his arms.
"What happens to be the name of this so-called 'technique', my boy?" the master asked, lowering the hairy hand fans attached to his face, taking a long drag from his smoking instrument again.
"It's the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken…" Ranma revealed, looking at where he had last seen his master's tiny eyes.
"I actually know that trick," The wise Elder scratched their beard. "How about you show me how far along you've come?"
"Anything ya' got in mind?" Ranma asked, only to stop mid-sentence as he heard Chingensai shift his stance to a defensive one.
Instead of following it with any words, the Elder merely grinned and waited for his new student to attack. Ranma met Chingensai's arrogance with his own, smiling just as cockily before rushing over to his opponent, taking a few cautious swings as he was gauging his enemy's speed.
"That's not going to work…" the mop-haired sensei criticized, dodging Ranma's first attack by hopping over a speedy leg sweep.
After dodging it, it seemed that Ranma was playing out a combination attack as he finished his rotation and launched an incomplete chestnut haymaker strike. Just for Chingensai to bat it away by striking the side of Ranma's wrist with his tiny fist.
Ranma's eyes widened as his surprise attack hadn't landed as he intended and was now open for an attack. Although instead of taking advantage of this opening, he was allowed to recover as Chingensai opted to push him back instead.
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"Not bad…" Ranma commented, to which he received a light chuckle from the experienced martial artist.
"I said for you to show me that trick of yours, figuring me out isn't happening... " He warned Ranma as he disappeared.
"Where'd he…?" Ranma questioned but looked over his shoulder, expecting an attack from behind.
"Right here," Chingensai appeared in front of the pig-tailed male.
Reacting within a split second, Ranma's eyes widened as he unleashed his incomplete chestnut fist. Immediately after his attacks failed to land, the hairy master dodged every attempt or batted it away with the back of his palm.
Trying to gain the upper hand, Ranma pushed the onslaught, hoping by forcing Chingensai to take gradual steps backward he could use that to his advantage, 'Just a little further you dried up geezer!' the teen thought.
"Too predictable…" Chingensai muttered as he avoided a swift left hook, then a right haymaker. "Your face outlines every attack for me, work on your poker face…" he advised the young upstart.
Ranma smirked as he timed his punch right after a dodge, a tree trunk directly behind Chingensai while he was in a mid-air jump. His eyes honed in on his target and he exerted more force to adjust for speed differences, 'Gotcha!' he thought.
"Almost got me there!" Chingensai exclaimed as quickly as he could, catching Ranma's fist with his open palm, planting his feet firmly against the tree trunk behind him.
"Huh!?" Ranma gasped, eyes widening when he saw that his plan had taken a sudden nosedive.
Improvising he tried to pull his arm away, only for the tiny master's unnaturally strong hand to keep it in place. Without thinking, Ranma tried to use his remaining hand to attack but before he could even do so, his other hand was thrown off to the side, shifting his momentum and in turn changing the projection of his backup punch.
Chingensai appeared in front of Ranma's face and flicked his forehead with enough force to knock him flat on his butt. "Not bad…" he complimented as he allowed gravity to do its job, landing softly.
"Dammit…" Ranma cursed as he sat up and grit his teeth.
"You gave up strength for speed and more or less outlined your attack to me with that panicked look on yer face…" he advised his underling with some sound advice.
Narrowing his eyes, the pig-tailed teen sighed heavily and dusted himself off.
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Once at a safe enough distance and away from earshot, the student and his master returned to the jagged landscape that was Ryoga's training grounds. Standing among the rubble and face planted boulders was Matsu and Ryoga at the center of it all.
"Do you mind showing me how far you've come, Ryoga?" Matsu asked kindly, his hands behind his back.
"Of course, should I try the boulder and rope method again?" Ryoga asked with a small smile.
"That sounds like an excellent idea," Matsu commented as he turned to the last failed attempt at learning the technique.
Ryoga's eyes followed his sensei's, looking at the last boulder they had last set for him while it was still hanging. The robe creaked a little as a gentle wind pushed it, swaying like a weak gigantic pendulum. Wasting little time, the Lost Boy strolled over to the crude harness he'd have to tie around himself.
In a single bound, Matsu landed on the tree branch opposite to where Ryoga was preparing himself. He took the rope used to pull the huge stone and yanked it back as far as he could, looking at his student.
Ryoga finished binding himself and then stuck out his finger, making eye contact with Matsu as they wordlessly seemed to understand each other. The fang-toothed grit his teeth, narrowing his brows. The world around him took on a dark black tint and memories of his fight with Ranko surfaced to the forefront of his mind. Playing over like some slideshow, until eventually cutting to Ranma's words.
"You're real... your feelings, your problems... they're real! Cause you care! Even..."
Finally, his mind's eye settled on Ranma's girl-side as she had her head bowed with her mouth open, frozen as her next words echoed in his blackened mindscape.
"My girl side Is real!"
The superimposed image of his object of affection vanished right after, a twinkling white dot revealing itself to him in his darkened void.
Matsu watched as the boulder was about to collide with his student, getting worried he saw that there was turmoil in his heart. Fearing that his inner turmoil would only lead him to ruin once again, he closed his eyes and braced for the worst.
"I can't watch…" he muttered and looked away.
"Bakusai Tenketsu!"
The cursed teen's finger sparked a chain reaction from the inanimate object, causing it to explode as if filled with a small explosive from within. Sending shards of shrapnel in all directions, even against the caster.
Opening his eyes, the middle-aged master looked to Ryoga and instinctually dodged all the bits and pieces of the once large stone. He had to lean back, side-step, and then quickly jump before landing back on his branch.
"H-he did it…" Matsu muttered while at a loss for words, his surprised look changing from blown away to delightfully happy shortly after. "Thatta' boy!" he congratulated.
Getting swung backward by the propulsion of his own technique, Ryoga had little time to stay dumbfounded as he blinked and felt himself feeling gravity dragging him back to where he had perfected his newly mastered ability.
Swiftly he reached out and grabbed the rope to balance himself out, looking to where Matsu was and smiling as he saw how excited his master was. "I did it…" he squinted his eyes shut and felt tears swell at the corners of his eyes.
"I did it!" he exclaimed loudly.
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Returning to their training, the raven-haired teen went to Chingensai with everything he had. Throwing anything and everything at him but Chingensai was constantly a step ahead of him though, either ducking or dodging with little difficulty.
"You're clever…" Chingensai commented as he ducked his head. "Thinking too far ahead while still having lousy control over your emotions, makes your attacks too noticeable…" he regrettably informed Ranma.
"Why won't you hit back!?" Ranma demanded to know as he felt a painful burning sensation in his arms, causing him to cringe while gritting his teeth.
"If I wanted to, trust me, I could…" He chuckled in response, still evading him casually.
Ranma could feel his blood begin to boil, letting his anger get the best of him. Here he was trying to master a skill he had dedicated so much time to, only to be mocked the entire time. Some part of him knew that this was to train him but his pride and his ego made it much more difficult than he'd like.
Blackflipping after another attempt at a gutshot, the mop-headed sensei landed gracefully as if he was some Olympic athlete. "Relay on your instincts and adapt without overthinking it…" he offered some sage advice.
Panting the raven-haired male lowered his head and clenched his fists to his side, feeling the heat of battle emanating from his body, 'Just let my instincts take over, don't think, just act…!' he contemplated, reciting his own version of the advice given to him.
"Hmm…" The old-man hummed, watching as Ranma's tense form eventually calmed down.
Breathing in deeply, Ranma held his breath before exhaling. His aura began to expand and his ki became cold. "One more time…" he suggested, his face devoid of any expression.
"Finally caught your breath, eh?" Chingensai said in what sounded like a condescending voice.
There was no reply from the teen, he was only stared at him. Taking a fighting stance, he was ready for another round.
"Better…" Chingensai lowered his head and curled up his mustache, smirking underneath it as he vanished but reappeared in front of the trainee.
Ranma tipped his head to the right then immediately began the exchange of fists. All the while Ranma's face remained as it had since they began again. His eyes focus on Chingensai's face, ignoring the rest of the world around them.
As Ranma's left fist soared towards him, Chingensai attempted to side-step it but found that the cursed male had grazed his bearded cheek, shaving a small portion of it off.
"Whoa!" Chingensai's eyes widened as he needed to up his speed.
Upon doing so he saw there was an inconsistency in Ranma's speed. At times he'd swing faster and harder than before but right after he'd return to the velocity he started with.
"Ranma!" Ryoga's voice called out as he jogged back over to their training field.
Matsu wordlessly followed after the Lost Boy but instantly found his eyes widening as he witnessed Ranma's icy aura. "My word!" he exclaimed.
"Damn Ranma! Give em' hell!" Ryoga cheered, pumping his fist.
During their fight, Chingensai was able to dodge while watching Ranma's attacks, 'It's much harder to dodge him than before but he's still not at the right speed, for the-' the Elder thought, raising his eyebrows up as he heard his other student cheer his current one on.
Ranma's pupils dilated as his breathing became steadier, his aura expanding even further as his strikes became wilder in nature. 'Give em' hell!' Ryoga's voice echoed in Ranma's head, similar to the way a voice bouncing off the walls of a cave.
"Your aura is getting bright-" Chingensai said before groaning, getting punched so hard that he spun in the air, twisting himself around in the air before landing like a cat.
"Was that the Chestnut fist…?" Matsu muttered next to Ryoga.
"Wow…" mouth went agape as he blushed and lowered his head a little, 'Is it me or did Ranma get faster after I…' he thought, feeling like his throat was suddenly dryer than usual.
Ranma's eyes became as wide as teacup saucers, looking down to his hand. He remembered how the Lost Boy's voice affected him and how his words gave him the boost he needed. "I did it…" Ranma mumbled, looking to his left, he saw Ryoga waving to him bashfully.
"You sure did…" Chingensai rubbed his chin, nursing his sore cheek.
"You two sure are something," Matsu commented joyfully, hands to his back as he turned to Ryoga about to ask him if he agreed, but stopped as he noticed the bashful waving.
"We'll continue this again some other time," Chingensai announced, catching Ranma's attention as he changed his study from Ryoga to his sensei.
"Did I manage to do it…?" Ranma asked, looking perplexed.
"Not exactly," the wooly teacher shook his head while answering. "But you managed to reach the speed needed to master it for some definitive progress," he explained, pointing up in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
"Are you sure we can't keep trying?" Ranma pressed for more training.
"As much as I'd like to keep training you m'boy, I'm afraid I have some work to get to…" Chingensai put both hands behind his back.
"I have to agree but I also have some news," Matsu spoke up, causing all eyes to fall on him. "Ryoga's officially perfected the Bakusai Tenketsu!" he declared as he then looked to Ryoga, who bowed to him in appreciation.
Ranma smiled at the two, crossing his arms. "Congrats big guy," he said.
"You too," Ryoga's eyes met Ranma as they stared longingly at one another.
"Y-yeah, thanks…" Ranma responded, averting his gaze in one swift jerking motion.
Chingensai and Matsu looked at one another, chuckling softly right after.
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Near his training field, sitting on a log in front of a fire, Ryoga placed a teapot over a wooden fixture. "I guess Ranma's going home…" Ryoga said to himself as he looked down to the unopened cup of instant noodles near his feet.
"I was thinking about maybe heading home…" Ranma said with his back to the Lost teen.
"I wonder if it was because of me…" he muttered as he remembered what happened before he had sat down to prepare himself some food.
Unbeknownst to him and behind a tree, was the pig-tailed prodigy himself. Ranma summoned all the courage he required, thinking back to the sparring match between him and the bushy master, 'It was only when Ryoga cheered me on, that I…' he thought right before shaking his head and pouring the water over his noggin in one quick motion.
"Huh?" Ryoga looked over his shoulder, having just torn open the intended paper portion of his instant noodles cup.
"It's me…" female Ranma's voice answered Ryoga's confusion.
His breath was cut short for a second as he saw that Ranma had changed in front of him. "H-hey, Ran-Ranma!" Ryoga greeted nervously.
"H-hey…" she returned the greeting with her own but seemed to squeak out her words when doing so.
"W-what brings you here?" Ryoga asked, swallowing thickly as he blushed deeply.
"I was hoping you could help me with something," she told him outright, taking a few gentle steps towards him, dropping her water cup.
"What's that…?" Ryoga asked while leaning down to one side, putting his cup down on the log to his left.
The girl took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "I need your help with some training is all…" she stated as she grabbed her arm by the tricep.
When she clarified the Eternally Lost Boy stared at her, feeling the knot in his chest decrease, 'But then why did she change into a girl if she just wants to train…?' he pondered over her request. "Oh? W-what do you need, Ranma?" he questioned.
The redhead with slightly damp hair, closed the gap between them, blushing while looking off to the side. "I need ta' make sure of sumthin'..." she mumbled.
Standing before her, he blinked, his rosy red tinge to his cheeks decreased drastically. "Make sure of wha-"
"This!" Ranma exclaimed as she got on the tips of her toes and grabbed Ryoga by his collar, dragging his lips down to meet her in an intense lip-lock.
Ryoga's nose began to bleed as his eyes widened, his fading tinge exploding into a deep crimson red.
"Mmm…" Ryoga closed his eyes and subconsciously brought the cursed female closer.
'This feeling, i-it's what helped me to-to…' Ranma's inner thoughts got quieter as she melted into the kiss.