Second Chances
Chapter 14 - Hot Water Competition
By Lord Archive
Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and several other
companies and are used without consent. I'll return them... I just need
to get Urd to send them back into time....
"Ranma!" Akane yelled and grabbed a man with red hair.
He looked at her, confused. "Oro?"
"Kenshin! Who is she?!"
"Oro!"
"You're not Ranma." Akane let go of him.
"Oops, over did it. Bye." Urd left 19th century Japan.
--------------------
"And now the fight you've all been waiting for!" the announcer called
out.
The crowd began to cheer.
"The champions of the schools!" the announcer continued. "In this
corner, from Saint Heberke school for girls, KODACHIIIII KUUUUUNO!"
The referee glanced at the Furinkan judges of the match.
Kodachi waved to the crowd to gather the praise from her school.
"And in this corner, RAAAAAANMA SAOTOMEEEEEE!"
Ayashi, who had been selected as Ranma's second, leaned towards Akane.
"Is it wise to use his real name?"
Akane shrugged. "It won't matter." She was too distracted to say
anything else. Between the sleeping pollen in the flowers and various
attempts to get Ranma wet before the match, Akane was on her toes
looking for any potential threats. She really didn't like it that the
entire Heberke gymnastic team was visible as they watched from a bench
on their school's side. Akane scowled as she spotted a threat and walked
away from the ring.
The crowd was in an uproar about Ranma's name, but most of them
discounted any true connection. A few of the girls, however, had been
told by Ayashi and Yume about Ranma being cursed. They still weren't
entirely convinced that those two were telling the truth, and not joking
about this.
The referee looked at the Heberke judges and nodded to herself.
"Champions to the center!" The referee grabbed both of their arms. "Now,
shake hands!"
"Look over there!" Kodachi called out.
The referee looked while Ranma moved behind her.
Kodachi quickly fired her water gun but ended up getting the referee wet
instead.
"Attacking the referee is grounds for disqualification. You have been
warned." She adjusted her shirt; thankful she has chosen to wear a plain
white bra considering her white shirt was not doing a good job anymore.
Kodachi growled. "Your luck won't last forever."
"Today, Martial Rhythmic Gymnastics! The rules: no time limit, no
bare-handed blows, the match ends when one contestant is knocked
completely down, and if either contestant falls from the ring, she will
be the immediate loser!"
Ranma sent her ribbon spiraling towards Kodachi.
The youngest Kuno batted aside the ribbon with a 'rope,' which was
really a rod as the announcer noted. She then attacked with the ribbon
that she held in her left hand. The edge of the ribbon ran an edge
across the mat.
Ranma hopped away as the ribbon came too close to her feet, and was
quite thankful for that reaction. The area the ribbon had struck the mat
exploded hot water. It had been held tightly by the mat covering which
cause the pressure of the water to shot briefly one meter into the air
when the water pocket had been pierced. "Cute. Real cute." Ranma ran her
ribbon across the ground causing four spots on the mat to likewise
gusher forth hot water.
The referee frowned looking at the mat.
"The mat appears to be filled his water mines, which Furinkan's champion
seems quite reluctant to touch."
Akane groaned. She should've expected that since the Herberke's team was
obviously not under the mat. However, she had been a little busy making
her own personal 'modifications' to the portable water heater that sat
behind Herberke's team bench.
Kodachi's teammates weren't going to get in her way after she knocked
out six of them with only her left arm. Besides, there were other plans
they still had to perform.
Herberke's gymnast hadn't even begun yet. She called for a ball.
Ranma would have none of it. She launched her ribbon at the ball as her
opponent was about to catch it. It exploded.
Kodachi spat hot water out of her mouth. "You vile cretin. You shall pay
for that."
"I don't think so." Ranma continued to attack with the ribbon, causing
the area around Kodachi to splash her with hot water.
Kodachi ignored the way her leotard clung to her and called flatly,
"Hoop." She hurled it towards Ranma's feet.
Ranma leapt into the air. Unfortunately the ribbon trailed behind and
was sliced into bits by the hoop's razor edge. Not to mention causing
the area she had been standing on to become a puddle of hot water.
Saotome landed on the rope, seeing that most of the ring was now a large
hot water pool. She surveyed her options for what to do next.
Kodachi signaled her teammates into action. Six of them pulled out hot
water guns, but before they had a chance to fire Akane slashed through
four of them with a ribbon she had 'borrowed.' The remaining two pulled
their triggers. Fortunately Ranma had noticed them and dodged. Akane
quickly moved to disarmed them.
Herberke's champion smirked and threw a club at Ranma. The club trailed
hot water as it flew towards its target.
Saotome desperately twisted to avoid both the hot water guns and the
club. She latched onto a corner post to avoid landing onto the
water-covered mat.
Akane had had enough of Heberke team's interference. She used the ribbon
to grab their teams' bench. She held her end with both arms and hurled
it into the air, taking a few members with it. The team scrambled away
from her, as Akane clutched her right arm in pain. She knew she had
broken a few of the stitches, but that should've been enough to keep
Ranma safe.
Kodachi scowled when she saw her team scamper out of the gym. "Let's end
this farce, shall we?" She signaled her second and advanced towards
Ranma. "Now behold the secret technique of Black Rose, the blow of a
thousand hands at full frenzy!"
"What an incredible technique! Kodachi appears to be attacking with
countless numbers of clubs!" the announcer called out in disbelief.
Akane smirked since she already taught Ranma the counter to that move.
Then she heard an odd noise above her, but saw nothing when she looked
up.
--------------------
"Are you sure this will work?" a leotard clad girl asked.
"Of course it will," another girl replied, pushing up her glasses.
"Though I do hope MIT doesn't find out HOW I joined the gymnastic team."
The announcer's words concerning Kodachi's multi-club strike echoed to
where they were.
The girl with glasses smiled evilly. "Now to turn the sprinkler systems
on."
--------------------
Ranma landed after forcing Kodachi to drop all twenty of her clubs with
a well aimed ball. Saotome called for the rope coming up with a plan to
finish this. She then felt a couple drops of water, hot water.
Soon the entire gym was in a ruckus as the fire sprinklers started
showering everyone in hot water. It ended shortly after it began, but
the damage had been done.
Ranma clung to the outside of the corner post in an attempt to better
conceal certain parts of his anatomy that leotards would not hide well.
Kodachi pointed at Ranma. "My opponent is obviously a male now. He must
be disqualified!"
The judges debated the point, while the referee cleared her voice. "The
rules do not invalidate a competitor if he or she has already been
accepted as a representative by all schools involved. By not objecting
to Saotome, Saint Heberke accepted him as Furinkan's champion."
Heberke's judge stepped forward. "How were we to know he was a guy?"
"Check his school records. I did this morning when I heard the rumor
that Ranma was really a guy."
Furinkan's judge and the visiting judge from Tomobiki agreed to the
referee's reasoning. Herberke's judge didn't bother to vote since the
verdict was already in.
Ayashi splashed Ranma with cold water, and Saotome quickly adjusted her
leotard and prepared to finish this.
The crowd was absolutely speechless, particularly Furinkan's section.
They tried to grasp the notion before them- that Ranma was both a guy
and a girl.
"Woe is it that the referee and the judges falter in their judgement
when clearly Saotome is not fit to compete in a female sport," Kuno
bellowed. After a short pause, he corrected himself, "Or in any male
sport for that matter."
Akane was piiiiiissed. All her work was for nothing. Ranma had still
gotten wet, and he had not needed her help. She plopped down in a seat
near Furinkan's corner and applied a new bandage to her arm.
The referee called for them to resume the match. She spared a glare at
Kodachi.
Kodachi was livid. She was going to make not only Saotome pay, but also
the referee and those judges pay as well. They were making a mockery of
her sport. She kicked up a pair of clubs and rushed to attack.
Saotome caught Kodachi's left wrist with a rope and used it to throw her
out of the ring.
The Black Rose twisted and landed on her feet, however, she was still
out of the ring. She scowled at Ranma. "You may have won this match,
Saotome, but I will have my revenge. You have made a mockery of my sport
and I shall see you pay for that!"
"Um, Kodachi-san," Akane interrupted. "Didn't you start making a mockery
of it when you began to attack opponents before the match and by playing
loosely with the wording of the rules."
Kodachi glared at Akane. "I won't forget how you've interfered in this
either."
"One other thing." Akane smirked. "With all those water traps, I thought
you would've chosen a different leotard. That one is awfully clingy."
Kodachi looked down and saw how it clung to her private areas. Her black
leotard might as well be body paint since it left nothing to the
imagination. "I shall see that you pay for embarrassing me as well, both
of you! You have not seen the last of the Black Rose!" She jumped away,
but did not laugh as she left.
"Kodachi's leotard was certainly nice," Hiroshi drooled.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Daisuke clutched his stomach.
"Why's that?" Hiroshi asked.
"I was thinking about Ranma when she... he changed. Now I HAVE to get
that image out of my head."
"Ugh!" Hiroshi agreed. "Just one thing. Is Ranma a guy or a girl?"
"Don't care. My interest in red heads is completely gone now."
"We could always find out."
Daisuke shrugged weakly. "I guess."
---------------
Author's Notes:
Why wasn't Heberke disqualified when members of their gymnastic team
attacked Ranma with hot water guns? The same reason Ranma wasn't
disqualified when Akane interfered in the original fight, there isn't a
rule against it. It is not strange that it is omitted since I know in
many American football leagues there is no rule against it either. If
they don't have rules against coaches body-slamming little leaguers
while running for a touchdown (I'm not kidding), why do you suspect that
there would be such a rule in a gymnastic match in the Ranma-verse?
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