Disclaimer: All characters portrayed in this story are owned by their
respective owners and creators. I don't own any of them.
This story draws ideas from anime and manga of all the series involved.
A mix of the Street Fighter arcade continuities will be used, but
mainly from the Alpha series and takes an alternate route from SFIII.
This is part of my Life and Times crossover series. This is the fourth
chapter to the First Knight arc.
C & C welcomed.
First Knight 4: Debut
"Sakura!" Ranma screamed out, sitting up. *No, it was only a
dream," he thought as his awareness returned to him. It was then that
he discovered that he was sitting on a bed, a place he was sure was
different from the forest area where he had collapsed. A door creaked
opened, drawing his thoughts thankfully away from his nightmare.
"Oh, good, you're awake," the small old woman entering the room
said. "You've been asleep for over a day now."
"You found me? Uh, sorry, I forgot myself there. I'm Saotome
Ranma," he introduced himself to his benefactor.
"I know. I am the one you've been sent to see. Genkai. You
were closer to my temple than you realized. When I saw the forest fire
in the area, I had gone to see what I could do to help, and that was
where I found you."
"Sakura," Ranma said, remembering the vivid nightmare of the girl
with glowing red eyes, "I have to find her."
"It's too late. I suspect this is the name of the person you
were with? She is gone now. In her place is only a demon. I had
known Ryu was in the area but did not know there was another shotokan
student here. It's unfortunate what they have decided to become."
Ranma flopped back down on the bed. After a moment of lying
there, he got up again, anger evident in his eyes. "What the hell
happened last night? You seem to know more than I do and I was there."
"Just something that was bound to happen anyway to anyone that
trains in that godforsaken style of shotokan," Genkai sighed, thinking
of the folly of her old departed friend. "Did you know the style the
two people you were with was once the greatest of all the assassin arts
the world has ever known? One man had thought that by taking out the
killing aspect of this art, the bloodshed associated with it would be
gone. He was wrong."
Genkai could feel her age as the memories of the past came back
to haunt her. She pulled up a chair to the bed. As much as it pained
her, she knew that this boy needed to know certain things in order to
be prepared. "It is not entirely true that it is the greatest of the
assassin arts. There are a few other arts that held that distinction
on certain points in history. One of those arts was the Nekoken."
"T-The Nekoken?" Ranma stuttered, his distress rising at the
mentioning of it.
"Yes, I do believe you are familiar with it. The lone
practitioner of an art feared and long forgotten except by a certain
old perverted coot. Don't be surprised. I've known your master for
quite some time now. I can't believe how your father managed to steal
the manuscript from him."
"You know my Pop, too?" Ranma asked. Various questions were
jumbled up in his mind, but he did not know which ones to ask.
"Oh, yes, I know your father. The pride of your master. The
person Happi had been prepared to teach everything he knew too. I
don't know whether to say it was unfortunate when he decided to give up
this prize for your mother. The ambition that once burned so brightly
in him, he in the blink of an eye decided to move onto you."
"He taught me the Nekoken on purpose?" Ranma asked, putting the
little bits of facts Genkai told him together. "When I get my hands on
him..."
"The Nekoken was the most prized of all of the ancient martial
arts techniques that Happi had in his possession," Genkai interrupted
the angry Ranma. "The temptation was too great for your father, who
wanted you to take his place as heir to the Anything Goes School. It
was probably the biggest mistake of his life. For with that single act
of teaching you the move, he drew the attention of the current master
of the dark shotokan arts, Goki."
"The man that Ryu had fought against," Ranma said mainly to
himself. The person that had bested the now demonized Ryu. Were Ranma
to guess who was the better between him and Ryu now after what
happened, he would have to admit that the dark aura surrounding the
other man had been impressive. It only hinted at how strong Goki was
if he had the same dark force.
Genkai nodded. "Goki's sole purpose in life is to prove to the
world the power of his art. Almost none in this world can stand
against him."
"Yusuke once told me no youkai higher than a B class could roam
on the earth realm without Reikai stepping in and taking them out,"
Ranma said, confused, because Ryu's strength was at least A class,
which would mean Goki’s was also if not better.
"Technically, they are still human. Their demonic nature is of
the soul and mind, not of the body. Enma and Koenma have no
jurisdiction over the human living."
Genkai could already see the hope in Ranma's eyes. "Make no
mistake, they are demonic though. Once they head on to the path they
chose, there is no going back."
*Sakura is still human. I can still save her,* Ranma thought
excitedly.
Genkai could see that her words had no effect on the boy
whatsoever. The impulsiveness of the young. "It is for this reason
you have to fear him. His powers are great and even your master would
have a hard time taking him on in combat. Knowledge of the Nekoken has
no doubt reached his ears and thus his reasoning for targeting you
specifically. The prospect of pitting his art against the legendary
fury of the Nekoken would be too tantalizing for him to miss. It was
he that signed you up for the famed Street Fighter Tournament, in the
hopes of bringing your strength even higher so that he could taste the
full power of this ancient art."
"I can beat him without using stupid c-cats," Ranma tried to say
confidently, but failed.
"Can you?" Genkai asked as she got up from the chair. "We'll
see. There is someone waiting for you outside by the way. Try not to
hurt him too much. He only came because he thought you were an easy
target."
"Huh?"
"A Street Fighter. You are part of the game now. Challenges
like this will happen frequently and unexpectedly. I have a feeling
Happi had a hand in this. By now, your location is probably well known
to most people in the tourney. If you don't want to keep fighting in
the lower ranks, I suggest you make short work of him."
A fight sounded just about perfect right now to Ranma. His anger
at himself for failing to save Sakura was still fresh in his mind and
he needed to blow off a little steam.
* * * * *
Vega raised his head slightly to look at the screen numbered
forty four. "Names?"
"Barry Horowitz and Ranma Saotome," his butler replied quickly.
"Give me the data on Saotome," he said quietly. The words barely
left his lips before the screen filled with pictures of various fights
was replaced by one screen with a data sheet. It was quite short
compared to the other such data he had asked for in the past.
"He is a rookie in the Street Fighter Tournament. This should be
his first fight. And he just won apparently."
"More information."
"Loading... ah, there it is. He was signed up by an unknown
person," the butler said, before realizing what he was saying. Nobody
joined up the tournament without Vega knowing about it. He sweated
nervously as he looked at the large man sitting on the chair.
"It does not matter, continue."
"Practitioner of the Anything Goes style of the Saotome School,"
the butler sighed with relief and continued, before stopping again.
This was not his day. "And that appears to be it."
"Raise his rating to A. Proceed with the screenings." The data
screen was just as quickly removed and the various screenings of the
fight went on recording. On screen forty four a young boy was making a
victory sign towards the screen as if he saw them there.
The butler knew better than to question his master and motioned
to one of the technical personnel to do as he was told. *To raise an E
class rookie to A class World Warrior has never been done before,* he
recalled. *I kind of feel sorry for him. He'll be the target of every
A class fighter now. No one will miss the chance to fight someone so
green and raised atop the rankings so fast.*
* * * * *
"So, what are you going to teach me?" Ranma asked, his hands
intertwined at the back of his head, indicating how bored he was.
"Who said I was going to teach you anything?" Genkai said as she
sat with Yukina, enjoying the day.
"W-What?" Ranma sputtered out as he heard this. "But, Yusuke
said that you would be able to teach me some moves for the Makai
tournament."
"You thought wrong. I teach the use of reiki. You have quite a
bit of that, which I suspect comes from the times you spend in near
death situations. But you don't nearly have the potential Yusuke has
with it. I would stick with life energy if I were you. It suits you
well."
"Then why did I come here?" Ranma asked, thinking of his abrupt
departure from Nerima. *I'm dead meat, when I get back.* He stopped
yelling as he felt the gentle hand of the youkai girl, Yukina on his
shoulder.
"Hear her out, please, Ranma-kun," Yukina said.
"Thank-you, Yukina," Genkai smiled at the girl. "Just as
impetuous as Yusuke. I might not be able to teach you anything, but I
can train you in other areas. I'm afraid from what I've learned of
your training, you were coddled."
"Coddled? Lady, you don't know what I've been through to get to
where I am."
"Oh, I know. But when you reached a point where your body
physically surpassed that of your father, he no longer had any idea
where to go. One of the main reasons he looked for the best training
grounds and moved around so much instead of putting you through the
torture you needed. I have my own limits, but you have not yet
surpassed them."
Ranma thought of Yusuke and what he knew of the boy that was only
slightly older than him. If it was true that Yusuke didn't have any
formal training until he was fourteen, than this old woman was indeed
quite the task master. "Train me then. I can take whatever you throw
at me."
* * * * *
"Hey, why'd you wake us?" Mini-Urd complained groggily rubbing
her eyes with her little hands.
"Yeah, I had such a wonderful dream about Mamo-chan, too," Mini-
Usagi added.
"It was you!? Stop having them!" Ranma yelled at the sleepy and
now cringing girl. "Man, I thought I was turning...," he stopped as
another of the girls held his hand. His anger dissipated as he looked
at Mini-Moiraine's shy smile.
"Okay, just this one time. I thought I told you three not to
mess with my mind. Anyway, I need ask you three if you can stop
'enhancing' me while I stay with Genkai."
"Well, I don't provide you with that much of a boost," Mini-Urd
said. "It's the other two you should be looking at."
"Waah," Mini-Usagi cried. Ever since Usagi managed to bind Ranma
to her, her 'mother' was decidedly stubborn about making sure he never
got into a situation where he could die again. Her mother would be
pretty angry with her if she let anything happen to him. "But Usagi
can't control it. She naturally worries about you so her strength
transfers to you when she thinks about you."
"But it's a two way thing, isn't it? Just send everything she
sends to me back to her, okay?"
"Okay," Mini-Usagi agreed, after ruminating whether or not she
could hide that little detail from Usagi. She was rewarded with a
smile from her host. She happily smiled back as it meant Ranma wasn't
angry about her anymore. *Jeez, it was just a small dream. I wonder
if he'll be mad if dream about him instead,* she thought, giggling to
herself. *He probably wouldn't notice with his ego.*
"How about you," Ranma asked Mini-Moiraine. She had a cross look
on her face that made the resemblance to the Aes Sedai eerily familiar.
"It's only for practice. It's not like she's going to kill me."
Mini-Moiraine sighed and gave a pat on his hand to show that she
would do as he asked but kept the cross look so that he also knew that
she wasn't happy with it.
"Uh, can you keep it a secret from Moiraine? I don't think she'd
be too happy if she knew about this," Ranma said. Of Moiraine, Urd,
and Usagi it was oddly the former that made him feel the need to keep
this secret from. Though the woman had the outward appearance of a
marble statue, he could still feel from time to time the pain she
endured at not having her first warder by her side. "This won't hurt
her will it? I mean, I'm pretty sure of how she's going to feel if the
bond is broken."
Mini-Moiraine just smiled and held out her arms for Ranma to pick
her up.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Mini-Urd said as she looked at her
apprentice in disgust. "How hard is it to talk? You can't keep doing
that forever you know."
"Me too, me too," Mini-Usagi said, holding out her hands for
Ranma to hold up too. She squealed deliberately louder so Mini-Urd
could hear as she was placed on Ranma shoulder.
Mini-Urd scowled as she looked at the two scrubs. *I could be
cute too and not talk!* she thought, before noticing that Ranma was
heading out to meet up with Genkai. "Hey, wait up!"
* * * * *
A wave of nostalgia passed over Ranma as he locked the last of
the ball and chains into place over his left hand. It was awkward to
move with the four weights handcuffed to his wrists and ankles. The
weights themselves were not much of a problem as he could lift a small
boulder if he had to with the training he had undergone.
He could remember how he had scoffed at his pop the first time he
had done this sort of training. The weight distribution had been
inconsistent so it did not really help much in building up his body as
his pop had hoped. Not for the first time on this trip, he missed the
crazy ideas and company of the older Saotome. Neither of them were big
on touchy feely stuff, but at times the big lug did genuinely care for
him, Ranma knew.
"Are they secure?"
Ranma looked at the diminutive old woman standing in front of him
on the edge of the cliff side. "Yeah. I don't know what you're
planning. But this type of training doesn't work very well in building
up the body. It would be if the weight was more evenly spaced."
"You've been living with Happosai for a year. I trust that your
body is at the top physical condition."
"Then what are we doing here?"
"I am going to kill you and you are going to stop me."
"What..." Ranma barely uttered the word out before Genkai
launched herself at him with a deceptive speed her old appearance
belied little of. The woman quickly got under his guard as his
encumbered arms were not fast enough to stop her. He grunted as he
felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. She was also strong for her age and
size it appeared. One would have thought that after staying with the
likes of Cologne and Happosai, he would have learned not to think so
little of the old.
Genkai didn't pause a moment in her assault and fired a minor rei
blast into Ranma's gut. The boy crumpled to the ground. Not bothering
to make sure if he could take anymore, she continued with a flying
stomp to where his body lay. She was not surprised that he finally
managed to gather his wits and scramble out of the way. "In Makai,
many youkai have abilities that might give them an unfair advantage.
They will not hesitate to take advantage for a single moment and many
fight to the death."
Ranma spit some blood out of his mouth. "Sounds fun," he said.
He regretted it when Genkai took the small moment he used to reply to
her to come after him again and he found himself gasping as her leg
found its way into his midsection. She was deliberately not making
this fair he was beginning to find out. He fought through the pain and
managed to take a swipe at the head of his assailant. "You think just
because I haven't been to Makai, I don't know what it's like to fight
when the odds are stacked against me?"
*Another mistake,* Genkai thought as she prepared to use the
conversation and once again draw close to the boy. She was surprised
to see that Ranma didn't even wait for her to answer his question as
she had expected. *Using my own method of distraction against me.
He's learned the Anything Goes style well, Happi.*
Ranma winced and knew what a fool he had been even as he threw
his first punch in this one-sided battle. Predictably, his weighted
arm didn't even come close to the old woman before he saw her image
blur from his sight and another searing pain erupted in his stomach.
The pendulous swings of the ball on the chains counteracted his
momentary surprise attack as they fought against the momentum of his
speeding fist.
* * * * *
"Oh, that's got to hurt," Mini-Urd said, averting her eyes. She
found Mini-Usagi cowering below her, not even daring to look. "What's
the matter with you."
"What I don't see, I won't know. If Usagi finds out about this,
I'm going to get it," she said, keeping her eyes shut.
"..."
"And what's with you?" Mini-Urd asked her apprentice, who didn't
even blink as she watched Genkai 'train' Ranma. Mini-Moiraine didn't
answer her, keeping her silent vigil.
"You better not be thinking about healing him. I get first dibs!
Besides, the Yggdrasil doesn't like you using that old fashioned magic
of yours," Urd said suspiciously. Her suspicions were confirmed as she
felt the air around her contract around her body, holding her into
place. "How... oh, sign language. You little spore! When did you get
the Yggdrasil to accept that as your input device? If you heal Ranma,
I swear I'm going to make you talk and then lets see who's the cute
silent one then!"
Mini-Moiraine sniffed and wagged her little fingers, invoking a
spell to close Mini-Urd's mouth. Satisfied, she went back to looking
at the fight making sure to note all the places Ranma was injured.
*That little brat. After all the things I taught her... hey,
come to think of it, it's my fault. I _did_ teach her this stuff,*
Mini-Urd suddenly recalled. Pride at this little fact warred against
her anger for a moment. Anger won out as she caught the smug look on
her apprentice's face. *My luck to get a student with the personality
of both Moiraine and Ranma.*
* * * * * *
Genkai finally stopped when she waited a full minute and Ranma
did not get up. The battle did not go as badly as she would have
guessed. The boy really was quite well versed in the art and thinking
of the Anything Goes style. He almost had a chance when he decided to
just stand in one place and then used the two chains tied to his arms
as weapons, negating the hindrance of his mobility and turning the
other two on his arms into tools. Even when she started firing rei
blasts at him, he still managed to hold his own with firing chi blasts
himself. That is until she used one that, while not strong enough to
kill Ranma, was strong enough to knock him out for a day.
"You girls can come out now and help him. Get him rested and
tell him we do this again tomorrow." She rolled her eyes as the three
female souls looked back at her with scowls. Who would have thought
that someone would have a sillier excuse for a soul than Pu, Yusuke's
rather silly looking plushie-like soul.
Looking at them again, she wondered where this would lead. She
knew of how Pu had transformed when Yusuke assumed his rightful
heritage as a half-demon. The link between them was similar to Ranma
and these three. This was especially true in the case of the silent
one. Whether she grew into a demon or an angel would depend on Ranma
and the woman he was bonded to. She shook her head sadly as she
thought of the Makai tournament. While Yusuke thought battle brought
the best out in everybody, Genkai's experience taught her that it also
brought out the worst aspects.
* * * * *
"Are you okay, Miss?" the stewardess asked the woman who was
currently clutching her head in pain. She noticed that it was the
Police Inspector that had demanded to be let on at the last minute.
"I-I'm fine. Can you get me some aspirin?" Chun Li asked, her
hands still holding her temples. She looked up and gave the stewardess
a fake smile, to show that she was feeling a little better as far from
the truth as that was. She leaned back into her chair after the woman
came back with her pills and the pain had passed.
The blackouts were becoming all too familiar. *What did that
bastard do to me?* Chun Li thought as she tried to finish off some of
the work she brought with her on her laptop. Her recollections of her
time she spent captured by Vega were still not very clear to her, but
lately she was able to drudge up some memories of that event. If Ryu
and Ken had not saved her... she shuddered. She would still be a
puppet of that evil megalomaniac. Ever since then, she had taken
showers every day as if that could help erase the psychopower Vega had
once forced upon her.
*But it never works. The shroud of darkness never seems to leave
me.* Chun Li shook that unhappy thought and again looked back at the
screen of her laptop. She frowned and knew that something had to be
wrong. Nobody jumped up to A class status in the Street Fighter
Tournament with just one battle no matter how good he or she was. That
meant only one thing. Vega had interfered directly with the status.
Whatever Vega touched could only lead to destruction.
"Saotome Ranma. Your next match won't be so easy."
* * * * *
Ken panted as he lay on the ground breathing hard. *Why am I
doing this? Eliza's going to be angry that I missed our date again.*
As he lay on his back, his eyes traveled up the reinforced
specialty punching bag he had made. Sand trickled down from the rather
large gash on it. *I did it... I finally did it. I've perfected the
shoryuken.*
He forced himself to stand up and look at his handiwork and
suddenly he found himself staring in horror. His shoryu reppa, a move
he had developed when trying to perfect the shoryuken had _changed_.
It was a technique he had sought to practice after seeing his sensei
beaten by a similar move. It had been a slow process, but eventually
with a little hard work he managed to heat his fist with chi enough
that it burned his opponents. Now, however, the stage of his growth
was far beyond what he had thought was his limit so short awhile ago.
The move he had just performed had been the messatsu goshoryu.
The exact same move his sensei was beaten with. He could do nothing
but stare at the gash that radiated with the same dark aura he had seen
on only one other person. *But, how is this possible? The perfection
of the shotokan arts is the same art that Goki uses? Unless...*
Ken raised his hands up in front of him. His trained senses
could still see the kill chi radiating from them. Without even
thinking of it, his natural instinct had been to kill and that was what
brought the change in his technique. Every time he had used it before
he had been mindful to hold back lest he kill his opponent with it.
And he enjoyed the feeling.
*What's happening to me?* he asked himself as a the thought of
testing the move out on a Street Fighter passed through him.
A figure, hundreds of miles away from the dojo that Ken practiced
at, lowered his head again once the dark aura he had felt filtered into
nothing. "That's three."
* * * * *
"That dumb jerk!"
Minako looked up questioningly at Usagi from her place on the
floor with her friends.
"It's probably Ranma again," Ami said, also looking up.
"He's gotten himself beaten up again! When I get my hands on
him...," Usagi said, holding her hands out as if the choke the boy if
he were here.
"He's a martial artist, Usagi. He can take care of himself. I'm
sure he's gotten into worse scrapes," Rei said, though calmly she went
and brought the phone over to the hysterical girl to make sure.
"What!?"
"Jeez, Usagi," Makoto said. "What'd he say that got you so riled
up?"
"That's just it. He's not home and won't be for two years. He's
decided to go on a training trip." Usagi gave up all pretense of
pretending to study and got up to get her shoes. She had to get to
Nerima.
"Wait, hold it! Usagi, didn't he go on a ten year one just
before this?" Rei asked, but also got up to get her shoes. She frowned
as the rest of the vultures... her friends got up to do the same.
"He went alone! And that stupid brat, Usagi-chan, won't answer
me when I call her," Usagi complained.
The rest of the group bigsweated, not knowing how to take what
was basically their friend insulting herself.
* * * * *
"Hey, I thought I told you not to help me," Ranma grimaced as he
the three girls pushed him down on the bed. Mini-Usagi stood by his
legs with a miniature wand pointed at his feet. Mini-Urd sat on his
chest muttering in rhyme. He avoided looking at Mini-Moiraine who had
a very ugly expression on her face. She was tending to his head so he
was forced to look at her after a while.
"Hey, what are you looking at me for? I didn't die, did I?"
Ranma asked. She kept looking at him with a frown. "Okay, you can
help me heal up after we spar. But, no power boosts. I want to do
this on my own."
If she was happy about this, her passive face didn't let him
know. She was constantly the one that made him edgy. She was
literally his daughter in that she grew as he grew. From what he had
learned from Mini-Urd, this personification of his bond with the Aes
Sedai back in Tokyo was not yet fully grown yet, being so new. The
Yggdrasil was constantly modifying the little soul with information
from him and Moiraine. With the way the woman kept her emotions to
herself though, Ranma had become something of a single father.
"Eep! What do you think you're doing, Ranma," Mini-Urd asked as
she was suddenly picked up by the boy.
"You girls can do this tomorrow. Little girls need their sleep."
"Ranma, I'm hardly little. I'm the same age as you. It's
grandma over there that needs sleep," Mini-Usagi giggled, pointing to
Mini-Urd.
"Who are you calling Grandma? You're just a baby!" Mini-Urd
yelled.
"Girls, go to sleep," Ranma said, after having enticed Mini-
Moiraine into his arms and gently rocked as if she was a baby.
"Oh, we don't really need sl...," Mini-Usagi suddenly found her
mouth clamped shut.
"Will you rock us to bed too?" Mini-Urd asked sweetly.
"I guess..."
"Done!"
"Hey, me too!" Mini-Usagi said. She winked conspiratorially with
the small goddess. The truth was that while they often slept inside
Ranma's body, they didn't need it. Being part of Ranma's soul, when he
slept, he rested for the three of them. It was just that there really
wasn't that much to do inside his body so they spent most of their time
in stasis as most souls did, coming out only in times of need and
'boosting' the bodies as Ranma said. Unlike most souls, they did this
even when asleep. It took conscious effort not to help Ranma.
* * * * *
"Will he be fine?" Yukina asked Genkai as they sat enjoying the
end of the day.
"I don't know," Genkai said truthfully. "It is as they say. His
ambition is as great as Yusuke's once was. The 'battle fever' within
him grows larger the more he fights. Every times he encounters his
better, he can not help but want to level the field, like our battle
today. The Anything Goes style should have been destroyed along with
the art his friend Ryu had fallen prey to."
"He seems okay right now."
"It only takes one memorable fight to spark him and he will be
lost. Such is the case with anyone that takes on the mentality created
by following the way of Anything Goes. If I were to try and challenge
him at this moment even though he has just witnessed how badly I
defeated him, he could not say no."
Yukina turned and looked towards the room Ranma slept in. "Does
he have any hope?"
"He has already been targeted with by an S class demon. The boy
will not back down from this fight. His chances do not look good."
Yukina prayed for the soul or rather souls of the sleeping boy
that was unaware of what was happening.
* * * * *
The End. (maybe)
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