Scraped from here.
I've been posting scenes of this serially in...
I've been posting scenes of this serially in...
[RANMA/TO ARU] To Aru Hourou no Budouka
- Thread starter Alhazred23
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Alhazred23
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Scraped from here.
I've been posting scenes of this serially in http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ranma-1-2-fanfic-ideas-discussion-challenges-thread.227987/ but there is enough of it now that it seemed like an incredibly bad idea to give it a thread of its own, given what seems to inevitably happens to threads about Ranma 1/2 + To Aru [ADJECTIVE NOUN] stories... so here we go!
-----
[NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION]
Staring dumbly at the screen for a long moment, Saten Ruiko released a sigh of relief and set her phone aside. "Supplementary lessons, eh?" It was still sort of jarring how these things were all delivered electronically in Academy City, but at least she wasn't going to be arrested or expelled. She deserved no less, as stupid as she'd been. If only she'd trusted Uiharu and the others more and not been so... jealous.
Uiharu got kidnapped because of me. I can't ever let that happen again. Nothing is worth that, not even...
Digging her fingers into the thick grass at her hip, Ruiko pulled up a handful and held it in front of her face, staring at it intensely.
...Nothing. The blades wouldn't budge an inch. In fact, she could barely even remember what it was like when she was on the Level Upper network and she could almost see the force calculations locking together like glowing puzzle pieces in her mind's eye.
This is what I hurt Uiharu for? A sudden gust of wind disturbed the pitiful little pile of grass in her hand and for a moment Ruiko was elated, but then the beating of wings reached her ears and a huge black crow alighted beside her just long enough to grab her forgotten phone in its claws and fly off.
"Hey, wait!" Scrambling to her feet, Ruiko pelted down the riverbank after the crow but she could already tell this was a race she was doomed to lose. Seeing a boy sitting on the hillside a bit farther down the bank, Ruiko waved at him and shouted, "Hey, you! Help me catch that bird! It's got my phone!" Maybe he could scare the low-flying thief into turning around or something.
Instead, he stood up and began twirling something around in his hand while his head turned to track the bird. Ruiko wondered if he had a sling or something but then he whipped his arm forward and a soft buzzing sound cut the air as a yellow-black disk arced out to clip the tip of one of the bird's wings in mid-flap before returning to his hand.
For a moment Ruiko was horrified as the crow dropped like a stone, but then it recovered enough to land with an audible thump. Letting go of her phone, the bird hopped and hobbled away, vainly trying to stay aloft despite the inch of lead feathers now missing from its right wing, the slice as clean and straight as if it had been done with a knife.
"Is... Is it broken?" The boy asked, walking up beside Ruiko as she stooped to examine their prize. His voice was somewhat sheepish sounding and when Ruiko looked up she saw that he was about her age; handsome, if somewhat ruffled looking, with hazel eyes and a nervous smile.
He wore a standard, old-style gakuran so it was impossible to tell what school he was from, but he had a yellow and black bandana holding up his thick, shaggy fringe that was decidedly non-standard - and another one in his hand! "Hey, did you just throw that?" Ruiko demanded, eyes wide.
"Huh?" Looking down at his hand, the boy stared at the second bandana as though he'd forgotten all about it. "Oh, yeah."
"Cool!" Leaning forward, Ruiko grabbed his hand and began examining the weapon, but the piece of cloth felt entirely normal to her. "You made this cut that bird's wing? Are you telekinetic?"
Blushing and looking a bit overwhelmed, the boy snatched his hand away, leaving the bandana behind. "Tele- what? No! It's just a martial arts technique! Normally you're supposed to do it with a silk gymnastics ribbon, but that's kind of girly so I figured out how to-"
"A gymnastics ribbon?" Ruiko interrupted, peering at him incredulously. "Like in..." She held up the bandana and posed as though she were holding the wand of a gymnastics ribbon, and was rewarded by the boy going an even darker shade of red. "Haha! You do rhythmic gymnastics?"
"My- my mom taught me!" The boy sputtered, gritting his teeth and displaying a pair of surprisingly sharp-looking fangs. "It's a very demanding style - and it's useful! I stopped that bird, right?"
"That you did," Ruiko agreed, though she didn't let up on her suspicious stare; vampire boy was kind of cute when he was flustered. "'Martial arts,' huh? I've never heard of any martial art that teaches you to cut things with cloth - at least, not outside of cheesy Chinese action movies. Are you sure you're not telekinetic?"
Glaring at her, the boy crossed his arms and pursed his lips in the most adorable little pout. "Look, I don't even know what that word means, but it's a martial art! I still have the letters that mom sent me when she was teaching me, and she didn't say anything about tele- kina- whatsis."
Letters? Ruiko finally allowed herself a small, friendly smile which seemed to take the edge off the boy's simmering irritation. "Care to show me?" she asked innocently, fingering her black and yellow-checked plunder. "Thanks for the help by the way. I'm Saten Ruiko: number one urban legend hunter of Academy City! Pleased to meet you."
A look of confusion clouded the boy's face and he mouthed the words 'Academy City' under his breath before replying, "Hibiki Ryouga; pleased to meet you." With a slight jolt the newly named 'Hibiki Ryouga: Martial Artist' returned his attention to Ruiko, apprehension creeping into his eyes. "Um... I'd like to show you, but the letters are back at my house and I really need to get going. I have a duel this afternoon and I don't want to be late."
Ruiko's eyes bugged once again. "A duel? Like, a kung-fu duel to the death?" She struck her best Bruce Lee pose by way of illustration.
"Exactly!" Ryouga nodded seriously. Clenching a tense fist in front of his face, he glared up at the sky in defiance. "Today, I will finally crush my greatest enemy, The Bread Thief: Saotome Ranma!"
"Awesome! Can I watch?"
-----
"C'mon, don't mope! I thought you were pretty amazing out there, and it looked to me like you almost had him a few times!" Putting her hand on Ryouga's shoulder, Ruiko gave the gloom-faced boy a reassuring shove that caused him to spill a bit of tea on his shirt.
Ryouga didn't seem to mind however, and a bashful smile tugged at his lips. "Thanks, Saten-san, but you don't have to say stuff like that just to make me feel better." Releasing a long sigh, Ryouga hung his head once more. "I can't believe I lost to that jerk - and now I can't even challenge him to a rematch! Stupid Ranma, running off to China..."
Holding her tongue, Ruiko just gave a 'What can you do?' shrug. For all that Ryouga griped about daily humiliation and stolen lunches at school, Saotome Ranma had seemed like pretty decent guy to her. He'd even offered to lead them to Ryouga's house after the fight.
And what a relief that was! She hastily hid a grimace behind her tea cup. Ryouga's house was right next to the empty lot where Ranma and Ryouga had had their fight, but Ruiko doubted that he could have gotten them there before morning. It had taken them hours just to get to the duel site in the first place, and that was with the school-issued ID with Ryouga's address on it that Ruiko had eventually been able to shake out of the boy. She'd been starting to wonder if Ryouga was just pretending to be lost in order to lure her into some sort of trap.
It's a good thing he's just awkward and terrible with directions. If he really were some sort of creep I'd be done for.
Ryouga and Ranma's bounding battle between earth and sky had seriously been the most incredible non-esper fight she had ever seen, and Ruiko really did think that Ryouga could have won with a bit more luck. Ranma clearly had the skill advantage, but given that he'd just left on a 'training trip' with his father, while Ryouga apparently had to make do with the pile of dog-eared letters and '10-Minute Kung-Fu!' manuals spread out on the table in front of them, Ruiko knew which boy she would call the more impressive.
Speaking of which... "Are you sure you don't want to keep these?" She asked for the fourth time, uncertainly fingering the stack of letters that broke down the finer points of 'Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics' in the gentle, patient words of a mother teaching her son.
"It's fine," Ryouga replied, waving them toward her. "I've already taken out all the pages that are... that you don't... um... need." Reddening, Ryouga knocked back the rest of his tea in one long swallow, then slammed the cup down hard enough that Ruiko thought she heard it crack. "I- I'm going to make some more tea! Do you want a refill?" He asked, grinning shakily at her.
He really is a good guy, Ruiko mused, thinking about how she'd have to call her own mom once she got home; she wasn't looking forward to it, but at least she could say that she wasn't getting sent home a failure. I wonder if they've started supper yet...
A glance at the clock on the wall sent an unpleasant shiver down Ruiko's spine. "Ack- I didn't know it was so late! I have to go! It's already hours past curfew!" Pushing away from the table, Ruiko stooped to grab her school bag while Ryouga also stood and began sweeping up the papers on the table.
"Do you know where the nearest bus stop is?" Ryouga asked worriedly, handing her the stack of notes as he followed her to the door.
Ruiko shook her head. "No, but I should be fine." Ryouga's ironic questioning of her ability to navigate wasn't entirely unfounded; his house was in a much older-looking part of the city (and before today Ruiko hadn't thought that Academy City even had 'older parts'). She also hadn't been able to get a signal on her phone since shortly before they'd arrived for Ryouga's duel, but Ruiko was sure'd be able to find one of the city's ubiquitous public information screens at the first major street she came to.
Frowning as he opened the door for her, Ryouga looked out at the darkened street. "Maybe I should walk you home," he rumbled unhappily. "It really is too late for a girl to be on the street alone."
Ruiko quirked an eyebrow at her new friend. "I appreciate the sentiment Hibiki-san, but If you did that you wouldn't get home yourself until sometime next week."
"I wouldn't- that's not- ugh!" Shooting her a snaggle-toothed snarl of frustration, Ryouga squared his shoulders mulishly. "At least let me call you a taxi! I think the phone bill is paid up for this month." Not waiting for Ruiko to reply, Ryouga escaped back into the kitchen.
Despite Ryouga's obvious concern, Ruiko couldn't help but giggle at the thought that the lost boy's house still had a land line. I guess his family really doesn't spend much time here. It was kind of sad to even think about it, but now that she knew where he lived Ruiko was sure Uiharu could work some sort of computer magic to find Ryouga the next time she wanted to visit - which would be soon, since she didn't know the first thing about martial arts and she was going to need a lot of help if she wanted to get good enough to protect her friends!
Moving to shut the door against the evening chill Ruiko noticed a letter in the corner that must have fallen through the mail slot and gotten brushed aside when they'd arrived. Crouching down to grab it, she was forced to do a double-take when she saw the date stamp at the top. "...Hibiki-san?" she called, suppressing a chuckle. "You really need clean more often! You've got a letter here that was sent before I was born!"
"Huh?" Ryouga called back intelligently. He returned a moment later, his frown slightly less intense than before. "The cab is on its way," he noted, accepting the ancient letter from her hands and examining it. "What are you talking about? This was sent last week."
"...Eh?"
-----
How did people live without constant access to the internet?
How on earth was she supposed to figure out what was going on if she couldn't do any research? For a moment Ruiko was tempted to ask Ryouga if he could get on top of one of the nearby buildings to see if he could get a signal with her phone, but she wasn't sure if she could handle another disappointment. Academy City provided student phone plans via its own private network of cellular towers, guaranteeing great signal anywhere in the city - except apparently they hadn't been built yet!
Hooking her legs through the rungs of the jungle gym she'd perched atop, Ruiko laid back against the cold metal bars and stared up at the sky, trying to clear her head.
The stars are so bright, just like back home...
The small town of her birth didn't have nearly the light pollution that Academy City did. The washed-out, starless night sky of the city had always struck her as kind of lonely, but apparently it hadn't always been that way. This was definitely the right block; the lines of the mountains and sea, the angle of the canal at the end of the street, the gentle slope of the hill; all the big things were just as she remembered them. Unfortunately, the street names were all wrong and there was a playground where her apartment building used to be (or would someday be?)
As much as she loved to investigate 'paranormal mysteries,' Ruiko was starting to think that she needed a new hobby. First the Level Upper and now this? It hurt her head to think that she might actually be in the past. Did Ryouga have some sort of freaky psychic time travel power? Did she? Ruiko knew first hand how amazing espers could be, but there should be limits!
The weirdest part was how 'old-timey' everything looked. When she'd first arrived in Academy City she'd spent an entire week gawking at how high-tech and futuristic everything was and this was the exact opposite of that feeling. Dusty brick and mortar replaced gleaming metal and glass on the faces of buildings. Flickering yellow sodium bulbs stood in for actinic white LEDs in the lamps that lined narrower, more winding streets. It was all incredibly surreal, like she was walking around in a giant museum exhibit.
"Are you alright, Saten-san?"
Turning her head toward that worried-sounding inquiry, Ruiko saw Ryouga staring up at her from the foot of the jungle gym. The cab driver was sitting a little ways away on the chain swings, his white gloves ghosting through the darkness as he brought an ember-tipped cigarette to his lips. He looked more confused than concerned, but either reaction was understandable. She'd been halfway hysterical during the ride over and the driver had almost kicked them out when she'd started trying to navigate by landmark.
Come to think of it, though, he'd looked even more confused when she'd pulled out her phone to try the GPS (again to no avail.) Did they even have cellphones in the 90's?
"Saten-san?" Ryouga called again, more urgently this time.
"I'm fine now," Ruiko lied, pushing herself up into a sitting position and stuffing her phone in her skirt pocket. "Hibiki-san, do you have a cellphone?" she asked, giving the especially lost-looking boy a tired smile to show that she was okay.
Returning an unconvincing, tight-lipped smile of his own, Ryouga ruined it immediately by pulling his lips back in a sneer of disgust that displayed those fascinating teeth of his. "I've had plenty of cellphones; defective pieces of junk!" he spat, crossing his arms. "Not one of them worked for longer than a week! Some even quit working the same day I bought them!"
Ruiko resisted the urge to ask if Ryouga ever remembered to charge his phones. He was kind of quick to complain, but he meant well. "Do you have any of them with you?" she asked instead.
"Well..." Ryouga considered for a moment, then reached for his now very reasonable-seeming travel pack. "I have this one that I kept to use as a clock," he explained, unbuttoning a side pocket and pulling out something limp and green that looked more like a dead frog or a water balloon than a cellphone. "I really liked this one too. It's tough and waterproof and you can charge it like this-" Ryouga then proceeded to grab two of the thing's dangling little froggy legs and began to spin it in a tight circle like it was one of his bandanas.
Stopping after a few seconds, Ryouga hopped up to top of the jungle gym in one effortless motion, landed next to Ruiko and offered it up for inspection. Grabbing the 'phone' by the middle, he squeezed, causing its little dot-eyed 'head' to bulge comically with a liquid squelching sound. When Ryouga opened his hand again a small square hologram appeared above the doll's 'back,' declaring in unmistakable English words [NO SIGNAL] before reverting to a digital clock screen.
"Misaka-san would go wild if she saw that," Ruiko mused aloud, earning an odd look from her friend, but her mind was already working too fast to stop for explanations. While Ruiko had seen holographic screens all over Academy City, she'd never heard of one being put in a phone before. That thing's definitely not from around here, and if Hibiki-san's phones always stop working-
Seeing her lost in thought again, Ryouga moved to put the phone away. "Don't worry, if you need to call someone to pick you up we can-"
"I'm already where I need to be, Hibiki-san. It's the when I'm having trouble with," Ruiko corrected, holding her hand up. "Can I see that for a moment?" she asked, promising with her eyes that all would become clear with time.
Ryouga's brow furrowed in confusion but he relinquished the phone without comment and sat down beside her to look over her shoulder. Once it was actually in her hands Ruiko noted that the device really did feel like it was filled with some sort of dense gel; no matter how much she poked, pinched, squeezed or fondled it she could detect no hard internal parts whatsoever.
Ruiko's tender ministrations did have some rather amusing effects on the phone, however. It kept making cute little noises of froggy protest and its 'skin' actually changed color several times. There also seemed to be some sort of navigation scheme tied to certain kinds of manipulation. She managed to find an internet browser, the screensaver settings and the music player's karaoke mode before she finally figured out what she was doing.
All of this only confirmed for Ruiko that Ryouga's phone was from the future, just like her, but she already had a few ideas of where she might find even better evidence. After backing out to the phone's 'home' panel she scrolled down until she found an icon that looked like a paper envelope. Putting the tip of her finger through the image and giving the phone a little squeeze, she opened the e-mail application.
"Bingo!" Ruiko grinned as she eyed the one unread message in the inbox. It was the carrier activation notice and it was dated June 1st- "2059!?"
"Hmm?"
-----
"You think I'm psychic? Like- like crystal balls and bending spoons with the power of my mind?" Staring at her like she'd grown a second head, the bandanaed boy wiggled his fingers near his temples for spooky emphasis.
"Espers can do all kinds of amazing things!" Ruiko countered, slightly offended that a boy who could throw pieces of cloth like they were ninja stars thought that espers were silly. "In my time scientists have discovered thousands of unique esper powers. One of my best friend's co-workers can teleport from place to place like it was nothing. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that you might be able to travel through time the same way. How else would you explain all this?"
Ruiko waved her hand over the clutter that once again covered Ryouga's kitchen table. Her phone and his phone were laid out side by side in the middle, along with their student IDs and the coins and bills they'd dug out of their wallets. Various other bits and bobs complemented Ryouga's side of the table, including a baseball pennant they'd taken off of the wall in his bedroom and a movie ticket he'd found in his pocket.
"You have a Hanshin Tigers pennant from the 2003 Japan Series Championship Game and people around here would probably just look at you funny if you told them how Jar Jar Binks ruined Star Wars," Ruiko pointed out, fingering the ticket stub. "All of my stuff is from the same year but yours is from all over the place, and I've already been tested as having no esper power whatsoever so it must be you!"
That last admission made Ruiko cringe a bit internally, but Ryouga apparently didn't notice her discomfort. He was too busy gnashing his teeth and glaring at the items on the table like he thought he could somehow intimidate them into making sense. It was a valiant effort - those fangs of his could be quite unnerving - but in the end the facts at hand remained stalwart in their defiance of reason.
"What can I do, then?" the lost boy growled, hanging his head so that his fringe covered his eyes. "I mean, if you can't go home because your home doesn't exist yet, then it's like... it's like I kidnapped you."
"Whoa! Hey!" Holding up her hands, Ruiko leaned forward to catch Ryouga's horrified gaze. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves - even if I am sort of ahead of my time..." Forcing a laugh, Ruiko suddenly wished that Ryouga was wearing a skirt; she'd know exactly how to break the tension then. "Um... it's at least half my fault anyway. My curiosity keeps getting me into trouble lately and I practically begged you to let me watch your fight. You had no idea where or when I was from-"
"-Or how to get you back," Ryouga grumbled, still determined to be gloomy and self-recriminating, though the hint of panic in his voice had thankfully passed. "It's not like we can just walk back the way we came."
For a few seconds Ruiko racked her brain for something else she could say to make him feel better, but something about his choice of words kept nagging at her. They reminded her of one of those 'mystery spot' legends, where to get out you had to walk backwards- "That's exactly what we can do!" she crowed, slamming her palms down on the table top and making Ryouga jump. "We can go back!"
"Wha-?"
"Back to that riverbank where we first met, exactly the way we came!" Ruiko clarified, not giving Ryouga a moment to dig in his heels. "Even for espers who can't consciously control their powers they don't usually just go off at random. If we can replicate the circumstances, retrace our footsteps, maybe we can make it happen again - and when we get to my time we can find someone to teach you how to control it!"
She could almost see the gears turning in Ryouga's head as the corners of his mouth twitched up and down, unable to commit to either a smile or a frown. "If I could control it, would that mean that I wouldn't get... lost any more?" he ventured, clearly afraid to hope.
Ruiko gave Ryouga her biggest grin. "Better than that! If you could control it you could go to the future and find out the next time your Tigers will win the Series and make a fortune betting on them!"
"You mean they haven't broken the Curse of the Colonel even back when you're from?"
"Nope!"
"That's horrible!"
-----
"Hibiki-san... let's stop... for a second!" Panting between words, Ruiko trudged the last few steps to the top of the hill before slumping forward and planting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "I don't... I don't think this is working."
Despite having spent the last eight hours walking Ryouga didn't appear the least bit winded as he came to a halt a few steps behind her, but the crestfallen look on his face was almost infectious. "Dammit, I knew it couldn't be that easy," he growled, hanging his head and swinging his fist around to give a nearby tree a smack that shook loose a pair of amorous squirrels.
"Don't... don't give up on me just yet!" Ruiko quipped, trying to remain upbeat in the face of Ryouga's penchant for melodrama and her own growing desperation. Straightening, she wiped the sweat from her brow turned to face the lost boy. "I just need to think about this again," she assured with a confident smile.
At least it's only May here, she noted, taking a moment to watch the angry rodents scamper off. Ruiko cringed at the thought of doing this under the blazing summer sun she'd left behind. I'd have died of heat stroke before we finished the first run through!
It had taken most of the morning to reconstruct their meandering, nonsensical path from the empty lot to the point where Ruiko thought they might have entered the past - or at least she hoped that's what they'd done. When they'd been rushing to Ryouga's duel she hadn't really been paying attention to her surroundings until she'd cottoned to the fact that Ryouga had no idea where he was going, so she was mostly going by half-remembered street names and things that had caught her eye, like drainage canals or interesting buildings.
From there, their only choice had been to experiment; they'd repeatedly follow that exact path until Ryouga's power activated or Ruiko remembered more of it. It was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience and Ruiko felt like she was going to go cross-eyed from trying to split her attention between keeping them on track, identifying turns they might have missed and keeping Ryouga from wandering off.
That last item was the hardest part, Ruiko mused, eyeing Ryouga cautiously as he unshouldered his ever-present travel pack and began rooting through it. Though Ruiko could hardly blame him for not trusting navigational cues that kept changing on him, Ryouga's tendency to just go his own way was getting kind of irritating. She was sure she would have lost him half a dozen times by now if she hadn't been watching him like a hawk.
Ruiko felt her eyebrows travel almost to her hairline as the bandanaed boy gave an exclamation of triumph and pulled a big, hairy coconut out of his pack. Giving the fruit a sharp chop with the blade of his hand, Ryouga lifted off the coconut's pitted crown and offered the fruit to her. "Here, this should help," he explained.
"Hibiki-san... why do you have a coconut in your bag?" Ruiko asked, hesitantly accepting the sloshing bulb of cloudy white juice.
"Um..." Ryouga had to think about it for a second before responding. "A jogger once told me that it's good to drink coconut water when you're training, so I grabbed a few the last time I saw a palm tree."
"I see..." And when was the last time you saw a palm tree in this city? Despite this strange little mystery the juice was refreshing, if a bit warm, and Ruiko was reminded of why she couldn't stay angry at Ryouga for too long. It was like kicking a puppy who was staring up at you with huge, eager eyes after making a mess - though the messes this puppy made usually involved punching giant holes in things that were in his way.
Taking another sip while Ryouga rearranged the contents of his pack, Ruiko pondered their predicament. Could she be mistaken about where they'd crossed over? She was almost certain that the remainder of their original trip had been made in her time, but... Maybe we should try finishing the path to the riverbank?
That was a daunting prospect for several reasons. Ruiko knew the area in her own time, of course, but all the streets would be different now and she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings at all when she'd first starting following Ryouga; she'd been too busy peppering him with questions about martial arts and his upcoming duel with Saotome Ranma.
That was when the transition must have happened, though - when she wasn't paying attention to anything but Ryouga. It sort of reminded her of something she'd read in her text books about the science behind esper powers, about how you could never know both the exact speed, direction and position of a quantum particle at the same time. "Hmm... What was that called again? The uncertainty principle? The observer effect?"
"Huh?"
"I'm just wondering if I'm paying too much attention to where we're going," Ruiko explained, though this only seemed to deepen the furrow of confusion between Ryouga's brows. "Maybe for the rest of this run you should lead," she elaborated.
"Oh!" Ryouga expression cleared immediately. "Well, if you think that would be best," he hedged unconvincingly. Her friend clearly didn't enjoy being led around by the nose like an idiot, but Ryouga's elation did nothing to still the butterflies that had just started fluttering like mad in Ruiko's stomach.
If she was right about this 'observer effect' thing, then that could definitely be a problem. "Hmm... how do I stop myself from paying attention, though?" Ruiko wondered aloud. Putting the coconut under her arm, she reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out the bandana that Ryouga had given her the other day. "I could probably use this as a blindfold," she observed, stretching the cloth out between her hands, "but then we'd have to go really slow I'd have to hold your hand or something to-"
All hint of comfort vanished from Ryouga's face and posture in a rush of incandescent red that went right to the tips of his ears. "H-hu-ho-hold your- your-" Looking down at his hands, Ryouga nervously picked a stray piece of coconut hair from his shirt and began rubbing it between his fingers so vigorously that Ruiko wondered if it might catch fire.
"Maybe we don't need to go that far!" Ruiko blurted, feeling a bit of heat rising from her own cheeks. "I just need to be distracted enough that I'm not watching where we're going! We could- talk more! Or... um..." Remembering what had been so interesting to her before, she tossed the empty coconut into the bushes and hoisted her school bag in front of her. "Training! You said you could give me some pointers so the stuff in the manuals would make more sense!" She slapped her bag in a 'put it right here!' motion for emphasis.
"Yeah, we could do that!" Ryouga agreed, relief pouring off of him in runnels of cold sweat. He lowered his gaze to her bag and for a moment Ruiko was afraid he might actually hit it, but then he crouched down and started making more room in his own pack. "Here, hand me that," he muttered absently, holding out his hand.
Once Ruiko's things were safely(?) stored away, Ryouga returned his attention to his new 'student,' a contemplative look in his eyes. He circled her slowly for a second, then looked down the gentle hill they had to descend before nodding to himself.
"Okay, I don't know if there's a 'right' way to do this with beginners, how about we make it like an oni game?" he suggested. "I'll jog in front and you follow right behind me. I'll count while I jog and when I get to ten I'll turn around and you'll try to attack me. I try to block or dodge your attacks until I get to fifteen, and then we'll start over. I won't count at the same speed every time so you'll have to listen and watch to know when I'm going to turn around."
"That... actually sounds like it might be fun," Ruiko noted, slightly surprised. It also sounded like it might be enough to keep her from looking around too much. "But what if I trip or something? I don't even know how to punch right yet, much less run and punch at the same time."
"I won't let you get hurt," Ryouga assured her with that serious, jaw-clenching, 'I'd take a bullet for you, Mr. President,' look that you so saw often in the movies. "And you're right: We need to start by teaching you how to throw a basic punch."
Moving to stand beside her, Ryouga took a broad-legged, formal-looking stance and curled his arms at his sides. "This is called Horse stance," he explained. "You won't really be able to stand like this when you run, but it's a good way to see the motions. I'll throw a few straight punches while you watch, and then I want you to stand like this and try to copy me..."
-----
Saten Ruiko Gaiden - To Aru Hourou no Budouka...
I've been posting scenes of this serially in http://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/ranma-1-2-fanfic-ideas-discussion-challenges-thread.227987/ but there is enough of it now that it seemed like an incredibly bad idea to give it a thread of its own, given what seems to inevitably happens to threads about Ranma 1/2 + To Aru [ADJECTIVE NOUN] stories... so here we go!
-----
[NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION]
Staring dumbly at the screen for a long moment, Saten Ruiko released a sigh of relief and set her phone aside. "Supplementary lessons, eh?" It was still sort of jarring how these things were all delivered electronically in Academy City, but at least she wasn't going to be arrested or expelled. She deserved no less, as stupid as she'd been. If only she'd trusted Uiharu and the others more and not been so... jealous.
Uiharu got kidnapped because of me. I can't ever let that happen again. Nothing is worth that, not even...
Digging her fingers into the thick grass at her hip, Ruiko pulled up a handful and held it in front of her face, staring at it intensely.
...Nothing. The blades wouldn't budge an inch. In fact, she could barely even remember what it was like when she was on the Level Upper network and she could almost see the force calculations locking together like glowing puzzle pieces in her mind's eye.
This is what I hurt Uiharu for? A sudden gust of wind disturbed the pitiful little pile of grass in her hand and for a moment Ruiko was elated, but then the beating of wings reached her ears and a huge black crow alighted beside her just long enough to grab her forgotten phone in its claws and fly off.
"Hey, wait!" Scrambling to her feet, Ruiko pelted down the riverbank after the crow but she could already tell this was a race she was doomed to lose. Seeing a boy sitting on the hillside a bit farther down the bank, Ruiko waved at him and shouted, "Hey, you! Help me catch that bird! It's got my phone!" Maybe he could scare the low-flying thief into turning around or something.
Instead, he stood up and began twirling something around in his hand while his head turned to track the bird. Ruiko wondered if he had a sling or something but then he whipped his arm forward and a soft buzzing sound cut the air as a yellow-black disk arced out to clip the tip of one of the bird's wings in mid-flap before returning to his hand.
For a moment Ruiko was horrified as the crow dropped like a stone, but then it recovered enough to land with an audible thump. Letting go of her phone, the bird hopped and hobbled away, vainly trying to stay aloft despite the inch of lead feathers now missing from its right wing, the slice as clean and straight as if it had been done with a knife.
"Is... Is it broken?" The boy asked, walking up beside Ruiko as she stooped to examine their prize. His voice was somewhat sheepish sounding and when Ruiko looked up she saw that he was about her age; handsome, if somewhat ruffled looking, with hazel eyes and a nervous smile.
He wore a standard, old-style gakuran so it was impossible to tell what school he was from, but he had a yellow and black bandana holding up his thick, shaggy fringe that was decidedly non-standard - and another one in his hand! "Hey, did you just throw that?" Ruiko demanded, eyes wide.
"Huh?" Looking down at his hand, the boy stared at the second bandana as though he'd forgotten all about it. "Oh, yeah."
"Cool!" Leaning forward, Ruiko grabbed his hand and began examining the weapon, but the piece of cloth felt entirely normal to her. "You made this cut that bird's wing? Are you telekinetic?"
Blushing and looking a bit overwhelmed, the boy snatched his hand away, leaving the bandana behind. "Tele- what? No! It's just a martial arts technique! Normally you're supposed to do it with a silk gymnastics ribbon, but that's kind of girly so I figured out how to-"
"A gymnastics ribbon?" Ruiko interrupted, peering at him incredulously. "Like in..." She held up the bandana and posed as though she were holding the wand of a gymnastics ribbon, and was rewarded by the boy going an even darker shade of red. "Haha! You do rhythmic gymnastics?"
"My- my mom taught me!" The boy sputtered, gritting his teeth and displaying a pair of surprisingly sharp-looking fangs. "It's a very demanding style - and it's useful! I stopped that bird, right?"
"That you did," Ruiko agreed, though she didn't let up on her suspicious stare; vampire boy was kind of cute when he was flustered. "'Martial arts,' huh? I've never heard of any martial art that teaches you to cut things with cloth - at least, not outside of cheesy Chinese action movies. Are you sure you're not telekinetic?"
Glaring at her, the boy crossed his arms and pursed his lips in the most adorable little pout. "Look, I don't even know what that word means, but it's a martial art! I still have the letters that mom sent me when she was teaching me, and she didn't say anything about tele- kina- whatsis."
Letters? Ruiko finally allowed herself a small, friendly smile which seemed to take the edge off the boy's simmering irritation. "Care to show me?" she asked innocently, fingering her black and yellow-checked plunder. "Thanks for the help by the way. I'm Saten Ruiko: number one urban legend hunter of Academy City! Pleased to meet you."
A look of confusion clouded the boy's face and he mouthed the words 'Academy City' under his breath before replying, "Hibiki Ryouga; pleased to meet you." With a slight jolt the newly named 'Hibiki Ryouga: Martial Artist' returned his attention to Ruiko, apprehension creeping into his eyes. "Um... I'd like to show you, but the letters are back at my house and I really need to get going. I have a duel this afternoon and I don't want to be late."
Ruiko's eyes bugged once again. "A duel? Like, a kung-fu duel to the death?" She struck her best Bruce Lee pose by way of illustration.
"Exactly!" Ryouga nodded seriously. Clenching a tense fist in front of his face, he glared up at the sky in defiance. "Today, I will finally crush my greatest enemy, The Bread Thief: Saotome Ranma!"
"Awesome! Can I watch?"
-----
"C'mon, don't mope! I thought you were pretty amazing out there, and it looked to me like you almost had him a few times!" Putting her hand on Ryouga's shoulder, Ruiko gave the gloom-faced boy a reassuring shove that caused him to spill a bit of tea on his shirt.
Ryouga didn't seem to mind however, and a bashful smile tugged at his lips. "Thanks, Saten-san, but you don't have to say stuff like that just to make me feel better." Releasing a long sigh, Ryouga hung his head once more. "I can't believe I lost to that jerk - and now I can't even challenge him to a rematch! Stupid Ranma, running off to China..."
Holding her tongue, Ruiko just gave a 'What can you do?' shrug. For all that Ryouga griped about daily humiliation and stolen lunches at school, Saotome Ranma had seemed like pretty decent guy to her. He'd even offered to lead them to Ryouga's house after the fight.
And what a relief that was! She hastily hid a grimace behind her tea cup. Ryouga's house was right next to the empty lot where Ranma and Ryouga had had their fight, but Ruiko doubted that he could have gotten them there before morning. It had taken them hours just to get to the duel site in the first place, and that was with the school-issued ID with Ryouga's address on it that Ruiko had eventually been able to shake out of the boy. She'd been starting to wonder if Ryouga was just pretending to be lost in order to lure her into some sort of trap.
It's a good thing he's just awkward and terrible with directions. If he really were some sort of creep I'd be done for.
Ryouga and Ranma's bounding battle between earth and sky had seriously been the most incredible non-esper fight she had ever seen, and Ruiko really did think that Ryouga could have won with a bit more luck. Ranma clearly had the skill advantage, but given that he'd just left on a 'training trip' with his father, while Ryouga apparently had to make do with the pile of dog-eared letters and '10-Minute Kung-Fu!' manuals spread out on the table in front of them, Ruiko knew which boy she would call the more impressive.
Speaking of which... "Are you sure you don't want to keep these?" She asked for the fourth time, uncertainly fingering the stack of letters that broke down the finer points of 'Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics' in the gentle, patient words of a mother teaching her son.
"It's fine," Ryouga replied, waving them toward her. "I've already taken out all the pages that are... that you don't... um... need." Reddening, Ryouga knocked back the rest of his tea in one long swallow, then slammed the cup down hard enough that Ruiko thought she heard it crack. "I- I'm going to make some more tea! Do you want a refill?" He asked, grinning shakily at her.
He really is a good guy, Ruiko mused, thinking about how she'd have to call her own mom once she got home; she wasn't looking forward to it, but at least she could say that she wasn't getting sent home a failure. I wonder if they've started supper yet...
A glance at the clock on the wall sent an unpleasant shiver down Ruiko's spine. "Ack- I didn't know it was so late! I have to go! It's already hours past curfew!" Pushing away from the table, Ruiko stooped to grab her school bag while Ryouga also stood and began sweeping up the papers on the table.
"Do you know where the nearest bus stop is?" Ryouga asked worriedly, handing her the stack of notes as he followed her to the door.
Ruiko shook her head. "No, but I should be fine." Ryouga's ironic questioning of her ability to navigate wasn't entirely unfounded; his house was in a much older-looking part of the city (and before today Ruiko hadn't thought that Academy City even had 'older parts'). She also hadn't been able to get a signal on her phone since shortly before they'd arrived for Ryouga's duel, but Ruiko was sure'd be able to find one of the city's ubiquitous public information screens at the first major street she came to.
Frowning as he opened the door for her, Ryouga looked out at the darkened street. "Maybe I should walk you home," he rumbled unhappily. "It really is too late for a girl to be on the street alone."
Ruiko quirked an eyebrow at her new friend. "I appreciate the sentiment Hibiki-san, but If you did that you wouldn't get home yourself until sometime next week."
"I wouldn't- that's not- ugh!" Shooting her a snaggle-toothed snarl of frustration, Ryouga squared his shoulders mulishly. "At least let me call you a taxi! I think the phone bill is paid up for this month." Not waiting for Ruiko to reply, Ryouga escaped back into the kitchen.
Despite Ryouga's obvious concern, Ruiko couldn't help but giggle at the thought that the lost boy's house still had a land line. I guess his family really doesn't spend much time here. It was kind of sad to even think about it, but now that she knew where he lived Ruiko was sure Uiharu could work some sort of computer magic to find Ryouga the next time she wanted to visit - which would be soon, since she didn't know the first thing about martial arts and she was going to need a lot of help if she wanted to get good enough to protect her friends!
Moving to shut the door against the evening chill Ruiko noticed a letter in the corner that must have fallen through the mail slot and gotten brushed aside when they'd arrived. Crouching down to grab it, she was forced to do a double-take when she saw the date stamp at the top. "...Hibiki-san?" she called, suppressing a chuckle. "You really need clean more often! You've got a letter here that was sent before I was born!"
"Huh?" Ryouga called back intelligently. He returned a moment later, his frown slightly less intense than before. "The cab is on its way," he noted, accepting the ancient letter from her hands and examining it. "What are you talking about? This was sent last week."
"...Eh?"
-----
How did people live without constant access to the internet?
How on earth was she supposed to figure out what was going on if she couldn't do any research? For a moment Ruiko was tempted to ask Ryouga if he could get on top of one of the nearby buildings to see if he could get a signal with her phone, but she wasn't sure if she could handle another disappointment. Academy City provided student phone plans via its own private network of cellular towers, guaranteeing great signal anywhere in the city - except apparently they hadn't been built yet!
Hooking her legs through the rungs of the jungle gym she'd perched atop, Ruiko laid back against the cold metal bars and stared up at the sky, trying to clear her head.
The stars are so bright, just like back home...
The small town of her birth didn't have nearly the light pollution that Academy City did. The washed-out, starless night sky of the city had always struck her as kind of lonely, but apparently it hadn't always been that way. This was definitely the right block; the lines of the mountains and sea, the angle of the canal at the end of the street, the gentle slope of the hill; all the big things were just as she remembered them. Unfortunately, the street names were all wrong and there was a playground where her apartment building used to be (or would someday be?)
As much as she loved to investigate 'paranormal mysteries,' Ruiko was starting to think that she needed a new hobby. First the Level Upper and now this? It hurt her head to think that she might actually be in the past. Did Ryouga have some sort of freaky psychic time travel power? Did she? Ruiko knew first hand how amazing espers could be, but there should be limits!
The weirdest part was how 'old-timey' everything looked. When she'd first arrived in Academy City she'd spent an entire week gawking at how high-tech and futuristic everything was and this was the exact opposite of that feeling. Dusty brick and mortar replaced gleaming metal and glass on the faces of buildings. Flickering yellow sodium bulbs stood in for actinic white LEDs in the lamps that lined narrower, more winding streets. It was all incredibly surreal, like she was walking around in a giant museum exhibit.
"Are you alright, Saten-san?"
Turning her head toward that worried-sounding inquiry, Ruiko saw Ryouga staring up at her from the foot of the jungle gym. The cab driver was sitting a little ways away on the chain swings, his white gloves ghosting through the darkness as he brought an ember-tipped cigarette to his lips. He looked more confused than concerned, but either reaction was understandable. She'd been halfway hysterical during the ride over and the driver had almost kicked them out when she'd started trying to navigate by landmark.
Come to think of it, though, he'd looked even more confused when she'd pulled out her phone to try the GPS (again to no avail.) Did they even have cellphones in the 90's?
"Saten-san?" Ryouga called again, more urgently this time.
"I'm fine now," Ruiko lied, pushing herself up into a sitting position and stuffing her phone in her skirt pocket. "Hibiki-san, do you have a cellphone?" she asked, giving the especially lost-looking boy a tired smile to show that she was okay.
Returning an unconvincing, tight-lipped smile of his own, Ryouga ruined it immediately by pulling his lips back in a sneer of disgust that displayed those fascinating teeth of his. "I've had plenty of cellphones; defective pieces of junk!" he spat, crossing his arms. "Not one of them worked for longer than a week! Some even quit working the same day I bought them!"
Ruiko resisted the urge to ask if Ryouga ever remembered to charge his phones. He was kind of quick to complain, but he meant well. "Do you have any of them with you?" she asked instead.
"Well..." Ryouga considered for a moment, then reached for his now very reasonable-seeming travel pack. "I have this one that I kept to use as a clock," he explained, unbuttoning a side pocket and pulling out something limp and green that looked more like a dead frog or a water balloon than a cellphone. "I really liked this one too. It's tough and waterproof and you can charge it like this-" Ryouga then proceeded to grab two of the thing's dangling little froggy legs and began to spin it in a tight circle like it was one of his bandanas.
Stopping after a few seconds, Ryouga hopped up to top of the jungle gym in one effortless motion, landed next to Ruiko and offered it up for inspection. Grabbing the 'phone' by the middle, he squeezed, causing its little dot-eyed 'head' to bulge comically with a liquid squelching sound. When Ryouga opened his hand again a small square hologram appeared above the doll's 'back,' declaring in unmistakable English words [NO SIGNAL] before reverting to a digital clock screen.
"Misaka-san would go wild if she saw that," Ruiko mused aloud, earning an odd look from her friend, but her mind was already working too fast to stop for explanations. While Ruiko had seen holographic screens all over Academy City, she'd never heard of one being put in a phone before. That thing's definitely not from around here, and if Hibiki-san's phones always stop working-
Seeing her lost in thought again, Ryouga moved to put the phone away. "Don't worry, if you need to call someone to pick you up we can-"
"I'm already where I need to be, Hibiki-san. It's the when I'm having trouble with," Ruiko corrected, holding her hand up. "Can I see that for a moment?" she asked, promising with her eyes that all would become clear with time.
Ryouga's brow furrowed in confusion but he relinquished the phone without comment and sat down beside her to look over her shoulder. Once it was actually in her hands Ruiko noted that the device really did feel like it was filled with some sort of dense gel; no matter how much she poked, pinched, squeezed or fondled it she could detect no hard internal parts whatsoever.
Ruiko's tender ministrations did have some rather amusing effects on the phone, however. It kept making cute little noises of froggy protest and its 'skin' actually changed color several times. There also seemed to be some sort of navigation scheme tied to certain kinds of manipulation. She managed to find an internet browser, the screensaver settings and the music player's karaoke mode before she finally figured out what she was doing.
All of this only confirmed for Ruiko that Ryouga's phone was from the future, just like her, but she already had a few ideas of where she might find even better evidence. After backing out to the phone's 'home' panel she scrolled down until she found an icon that looked like a paper envelope. Putting the tip of her finger through the image and giving the phone a little squeeze, she opened the e-mail application.
"Bingo!" Ruiko grinned as she eyed the one unread message in the inbox. It was the carrier activation notice and it was dated June 1st- "2059!?"
"Hmm?"
-----
"You think I'm psychic? Like- like crystal balls and bending spoons with the power of my mind?" Staring at her like she'd grown a second head, the bandanaed boy wiggled his fingers near his temples for spooky emphasis.
"Espers can do all kinds of amazing things!" Ruiko countered, slightly offended that a boy who could throw pieces of cloth like they were ninja stars thought that espers were silly. "In my time scientists have discovered thousands of unique esper powers. One of my best friend's co-workers can teleport from place to place like it was nothing. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that you might be able to travel through time the same way. How else would you explain all this?"
Ruiko waved her hand over the clutter that once again covered Ryouga's kitchen table. Her phone and his phone were laid out side by side in the middle, along with their student IDs and the coins and bills they'd dug out of their wallets. Various other bits and bobs complemented Ryouga's side of the table, including a baseball pennant they'd taken off of the wall in his bedroom and a movie ticket he'd found in his pocket.
"You have a Hanshin Tigers pennant from the 2003 Japan Series Championship Game and people around here would probably just look at you funny if you told them how Jar Jar Binks ruined Star Wars," Ruiko pointed out, fingering the ticket stub. "All of my stuff is from the same year but yours is from all over the place, and I've already been tested as having no esper power whatsoever so it must be you!"
That last admission made Ruiko cringe a bit internally, but Ryouga apparently didn't notice her discomfort. He was too busy gnashing his teeth and glaring at the items on the table like he thought he could somehow intimidate them into making sense. It was a valiant effort - those fangs of his could be quite unnerving - but in the end the facts at hand remained stalwart in their defiance of reason.
"What can I do, then?" the lost boy growled, hanging his head so that his fringe covered his eyes. "I mean, if you can't go home because your home doesn't exist yet, then it's like... it's like I kidnapped you."
"Whoa! Hey!" Holding up her hands, Ruiko leaned forward to catch Ryouga's horrified gaze. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves - even if I am sort of ahead of my time..." Forcing a laugh, Ruiko suddenly wished that Ryouga was wearing a skirt; she'd know exactly how to break the tension then. "Um... it's at least half my fault anyway. My curiosity keeps getting me into trouble lately and I practically begged you to let me watch your fight. You had no idea where or when I was from-"
"-Or how to get you back," Ryouga grumbled, still determined to be gloomy and self-recriminating, though the hint of panic in his voice had thankfully passed. "It's not like we can just walk back the way we came."
For a few seconds Ruiko racked her brain for something else she could say to make him feel better, but something about his choice of words kept nagging at her. They reminded her of one of those 'mystery spot' legends, where to get out you had to walk backwards- "That's exactly what we can do!" she crowed, slamming her palms down on the table top and making Ryouga jump. "We can go back!"
"Wha-?"
"Back to that riverbank where we first met, exactly the way we came!" Ruiko clarified, not giving Ryouga a moment to dig in his heels. "Even for espers who can't consciously control their powers they don't usually just go off at random. If we can replicate the circumstances, retrace our footsteps, maybe we can make it happen again - and when we get to my time we can find someone to teach you how to control it!"
She could almost see the gears turning in Ryouga's head as the corners of his mouth twitched up and down, unable to commit to either a smile or a frown. "If I could control it, would that mean that I wouldn't get... lost any more?" he ventured, clearly afraid to hope.
Ruiko gave Ryouga her biggest grin. "Better than that! If you could control it you could go to the future and find out the next time your Tigers will win the Series and make a fortune betting on them!"
"You mean they haven't broken the Curse of the Colonel even back when you're from?"
"Nope!"
"That's horrible!"
-----
"Hibiki-san... let's stop... for a second!" Panting between words, Ruiko trudged the last few steps to the top of the hill before slumping forward and planting her hands on her knees to catch her breath. "I don't... I don't think this is working."
Despite having spent the last eight hours walking Ryouga didn't appear the least bit winded as he came to a halt a few steps behind her, but the crestfallen look on his face was almost infectious. "Dammit, I knew it couldn't be that easy," he growled, hanging his head and swinging his fist around to give a nearby tree a smack that shook loose a pair of amorous squirrels.
"Don't... don't give up on me just yet!" Ruiko quipped, trying to remain upbeat in the face of Ryouga's penchant for melodrama and her own growing desperation. Straightening, she wiped the sweat from her brow turned to face the lost boy. "I just need to think about this again," she assured with a confident smile.
At least it's only May here, she noted, taking a moment to watch the angry rodents scamper off. Ruiko cringed at the thought of doing this under the blazing summer sun she'd left behind. I'd have died of heat stroke before we finished the first run through!
It had taken most of the morning to reconstruct their meandering, nonsensical path from the empty lot to the point where Ruiko thought they might have entered the past - or at least she hoped that's what they'd done. When they'd been rushing to Ryouga's duel she hadn't really been paying attention to her surroundings until she'd cottoned to the fact that Ryouga had no idea where he was going, so she was mostly going by half-remembered street names and things that had caught her eye, like drainage canals or interesting buildings.
From there, their only choice had been to experiment; they'd repeatedly follow that exact path until Ryouga's power activated or Ruiko remembered more of it. It was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience and Ruiko felt like she was going to go cross-eyed from trying to split her attention between keeping them on track, identifying turns they might have missed and keeping Ryouga from wandering off.
That last item was the hardest part, Ruiko mused, eyeing Ryouga cautiously as he unshouldered his ever-present travel pack and began rooting through it. Though Ruiko could hardly blame him for not trusting navigational cues that kept changing on him, Ryouga's tendency to just go his own way was getting kind of irritating. She was sure she would have lost him half a dozen times by now if she hadn't been watching him like a hawk.
Ruiko felt her eyebrows travel almost to her hairline as the bandanaed boy gave an exclamation of triumph and pulled a big, hairy coconut out of his pack. Giving the fruit a sharp chop with the blade of his hand, Ryouga lifted off the coconut's pitted crown and offered the fruit to her. "Here, this should help," he explained.
"Hibiki-san... why do you have a coconut in your bag?" Ruiko asked, hesitantly accepting the sloshing bulb of cloudy white juice.
"Um..." Ryouga had to think about it for a second before responding. "A jogger once told me that it's good to drink coconut water when you're training, so I grabbed a few the last time I saw a palm tree."
"I see..." And when was the last time you saw a palm tree in this city? Despite this strange little mystery the juice was refreshing, if a bit warm, and Ruiko was reminded of why she couldn't stay angry at Ryouga for too long. It was like kicking a puppy who was staring up at you with huge, eager eyes after making a mess - though the messes this puppy made usually involved punching giant holes in things that were in his way.
Taking another sip while Ryouga rearranged the contents of his pack, Ruiko pondered their predicament. Could she be mistaken about where they'd crossed over? She was almost certain that the remainder of their original trip had been made in her time, but... Maybe we should try finishing the path to the riverbank?
That was a daunting prospect for several reasons. Ruiko knew the area in her own time, of course, but all the streets would be different now and she hadn't been paying attention to her surroundings at all when she'd first starting following Ryouga; she'd been too busy peppering him with questions about martial arts and his upcoming duel with Saotome Ranma.
That was when the transition must have happened, though - when she wasn't paying attention to anything but Ryouga. It sort of reminded her of something she'd read in her text books about the science behind esper powers, about how you could never know both the exact speed, direction and position of a quantum particle at the same time. "Hmm... What was that called again? The uncertainty principle? The observer effect?"
"Huh?"
"I'm just wondering if I'm paying too much attention to where we're going," Ruiko explained, though this only seemed to deepen the furrow of confusion between Ryouga's brows. "Maybe for the rest of this run you should lead," she elaborated.
"Oh!" Ryouga expression cleared immediately. "Well, if you think that would be best," he hedged unconvincingly. Her friend clearly didn't enjoy being led around by the nose like an idiot, but Ryouga's elation did nothing to still the butterflies that had just started fluttering like mad in Ruiko's stomach.
If she was right about this 'observer effect' thing, then that could definitely be a problem. "Hmm... how do I stop myself from paying attention, though?" Ruiko wondered aloud. Putting the coconut under her arm, she reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out the bandana that Ryouga had given her the other day. "I could probably use this as a blindfold," she observed, stretching the cloth out between her hands, "but then we'd have to go really slow I'd have to hold your hand or something to-"
All hint of comfort vanished from Ryouga's face and posture in a rush of incandescent red that went right to the tips of his ears. "H-hu-ho-hold your- your-" Looking down at his hands, Ryouga nervously picked a stray piece of coconut hair from his shirt and began rubbing it between his fingers so vigorously that Ruiko wondered if it might catch fire.
"Maybe we don't need to go that far!" Ruiko blurted, feeling a bit of heat rising from her own cheeks. "I just need to be distracted enough that I'm not watching where we're going! We could- talk more! Or... um..." Remembering what had been so interesting to her before, she tossed the empty coconut into the bushes and hoisted her school bag in front of her. "Training! You said you could give me some pointers so the stuff in the manuals would make more sense!" She slapped her bag in a 'put it right here!' motion for emphasis.
"Yeah, we could do that!" Ryouga agreed, relief pouring off of him in runnels of cold sweat. He lowered his gaze to her bag and for a moment Ruiko was afraid he might actually hit it, but then he crouched down and started making more room in his own pack. "Here, hand me that," he muttered absently, holding out his hand.
Once Ruiko's things were safely(?) stored away, Ryouga returned his attention to his new 'student,' a contemplative look in his eyes. He circled her slowly for a second, then looked down the gentle hill they had to descend before nodding to himself.
"Okay, I don't know if there's a 'right' way to do this with beginners, how about we make it like an oni game?" he suggested. "I'll jog in front and you follow right behind me. I'll count while I jog and when I get to ten I'll turn around and you'll try to attack me. I try to block or dodge your attacks until I get to fifteen, and then we'll start over. I won't count at the same speed every time so you'll have to listen and watch to know when I'm going to turn around."
"That... actually sounds like it might be fun," Ruiko noted, slightly surprised. It also sounded like it might be enough to keep her from looking around too much. "But what if I trip or something? I don't even know how to punch right yet, much less run and punch at the same time."
"I won't let you get hurt," Ryouga assured her with that serious, jaw-clenching, 'I'd take a bullet for you, Mr. President,' look that you so saw often in the movies. "And you're right: We need to start by teaching you how to throw a basic punch."
Moving to stand beside her, Ryouga took a broad-legged, formal-looking stance and curled his arms at his sides. "This is called Horse stance," he explained. "You won't really be able to stand like this when you run, but it's a good way to see the motions. I'll throw a few straight punches while you watch, and then I want you to stand like this and try to copy me..."
-----
Saten Ruiko Gaiden - To Aru Hourou no Budouka...
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Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
- Pronouns
- He
Huh.
Not a bad start, at least....
Not a bad start, at least....
Winchester
Buzzzzzkill
- Location
- Creeping towards your ear
Oh Ryoga, never change. Loved his cell phone collection, knew exactly where that green thing came from before the date was mentioned. He really does get around, in more than four dimensions... What does the title mean? (Budoka is martial artist, but I hadn't seen that adjective before)
Keep it coming, and cheers!
Keep it coming, and cheers!
Alhazred23
Unreliable Commenter
I suppose it might have been better to use English >_[;...Winchester said:
The title means "A Certain Wandering Martial Artist."
</blockquote]
Alhazred23
Unreliable Commenter
Ruiko is the equivalent for To Aru Kakagu no Railgun. She more or less exists to kick off plots by being in the right place at the wrong time.Obfuscated said:
Heh.Simonbob said:
Kuroko: Alright, you and me? We have no problem as long as you keep your hands to yourself and your eyes off Onne-sama. Got it?! Try anything and they won't find a body, clear?
Ryouga: ... uh... er...
Kuroko: YOU'RE THINKING LASCIVIOUS THOUGHTS ABOUT HER AREN'T YOU?! YOU ANIMAL!
Ryouga: You're all kinds of crazy aren't you?
Ruiko: You really should try to get along with her.
Alhazred23
Unreliable Commenter
Heh... i should find some way to arrange for them to take a brief trip back to Ryouga's time so Kuroko can see Mikoto's mom in her late teens/early twenties and they have to knock Kuroko out to drag her away. She fits in with the Ranma cast too well...
Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
- Pronouns
- He
.....Obfuscated said:
Did we ever see Kuroko's parents? Could even be one of THE Kuno's involved.
"I am the Blue Thunder of Academy City!"
"Daaaad! I asked you not to call yourself that!"
... wait. No. Wait... hold on. I have an explanation that may make much more sense:shanejayell said:
"Mother... what are you doing in Academy City?"
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOH~! Why would the Black Rose not visit her ONLY beloved daughter? OHOHOHOHOH~!"
*facepalm* "Did you bring Father with you?"
"Oh, he's around here somewhere."
"MY BELOVED DAUGHTER~!"
"FATHER! RELEASE ONNE-SAMA AND PUT ON YOUR GLASSES!"
Shanejayell
Yuri Fan without a Pause
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- He
*LOL*
Okay, I like yours better....
Okay, I like yours better....
GeshronTyler
Kleiner Giftzwerg
Muchly amusing so far. Plus points for averting "Ranma! Because of you I have seen HELL"
I reaaly think the best way to integrate Ranma 1/2 crazy martial arts is by making them esper boosts to "normal" arts.
Heck, maybe Ranma-tachi is what inspires the whole Esper developement project.
I reaaly think the best way to integrate Ranma 1/2 crazy martial arts is by making them esper boosts to "normal" arts.
Heck, maybe Ranma-tachi is what inspires the whole Esper developement project.
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It really isn't.GeshronTyler said:
A better way is to have it so that Ki is a known factor by the higher ups, but was discarded in favor of Espers. Because the power curve is so much higher for them compared to the massive amount of time and effort it takes to train a Ki user up to even level 2 Esper status. That way you avoid cheapening the massive effort people like Ranma went through to gain power when compared to the Espers in To Aru Index.
Now what mental trauma and in universe unbeatable technique does Ranma have that could be likened to an Esper ability?
Alhazred23
Unreliable Commenter
Hmm... I'd think that Kongou Mitsuko would be more likely as Kodachi's kid, given that they both have the ojou-sama laugh, lack all common sense and have similar taste in pets (Mr. Green Turtle and Ekaterina.) The less likely ones are always more amusing, though...
"Daughter of mine! Truly, words cannot express the joy that fills my heart of hearts to behold you once more! See how the heavens themselves weep at this momentous occasion!"
"Father! Come inside, you're getting soaked! I have a towel around here somewhere..."
"You are a gracious hostess, my fair flower. You blossom more brightly every time I see you."
"...Thank you father. I'm glad you were able to get mother to lift the restraining order."
"Bah! As if those snivelling curs could hope to match the righteous might of the Blue Thunder of the Tokyo Bar Association! Speaking which, how go your own studies? Has any wrongdoer in this heathen city escaped your watchful eye, fair maiden of Justice?"
"I think we're doing well. Esper crime is down by 20% in our district."
"Verily, you are a credit to your ancestors."
"We're ba~ack! Ah! Uiharu, who's this?"
"Daughter of mine! Truly, words cannot express the joy that fills my heart of hearts to behold you once more! See how the heavens themselves weep at this momentous occasion!"
"Father! Come inside, you're getting soaked! I have a towel around here somewhere..."
"You are a gracious hostess, my fair flower. You blossom more brightly every time I see you."
"...Thank you father. I'm glad you were able to get mother to lift the restraining order."
"Bah! As if those snivelling curs could hope to match the righteous might of the Blue Thunder of the Tokyo Bar Association! Speaking which, how go your own studies? Has any wrongdoer in this heathen city escaped your watchful eye, fair maiden of Justice?"
"I think we're doing well. Esper crime is down by 20% in our district."
"Verily, you are a credit to your ancestors."
"We're ba~ack! Ah! Uiharu, who's this?"
GeshronTyler
Kleiner Giftzwerg
Yeah, but then you have to account for 3 different sources of para-normal power- ki,esp,and magic. If those martial artists comparable to Ranma are espers, the insane martial arts training has been serving them as a development program, but the Academy City version is more refined and targeted. Don't forget, Mikoto and co. do put quite a bit of training in. It not just based around martial arts anymore. Whereas the Nerima crew would have been randomn chance, the AC espers are deliberately sought out and built up. Don't forget either how the esper levels are distributed amongst the population, the low levels far outnumber the highs.Vaermina said:It really isn't.
A better way is to have it so that Ki is a known factor by the higher ups, but was discarded in favor of Espers. Because the power curve is so much higher for them compared to the massive amount of time and effort it takes to train a Ki user up to even level 2 Esper status. That way you avoid cheapening the massive effort people like Ranma went through to gain power when compared to the Espers in To Aru Index.
Now what mental trauma and in universe unbeatable technique does Ranma have that could be likened to an Esper ability?
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And whats wrong with that? More sources of supernatural power mean more things you can do without trying to constrain one set of abilities within possibilities shown by the other.GeshronTyler said:
Currently the entire world is searching for a way to reliably produce espers. So doing it your way would require dropping an idiot ball of giant proportions. What with most of those crazy martial arts schools being open to students.
Alhazred23
Unreliable Commenter
Edit: Spoilerized all that; should have done that in the first place -_-;...
Just so nobody gets all... disappointed later, i'm currently working under the general plan that 'mystical martial arts' are a form of magic as defined by the To Aru-verse rules. Not all martial artists in Ranma 1/2 can do the really crazy stuff, and the thing that differentiates Akane from, say, one of her fanatical suitors from the kendo club is that the style she learned and the belief structure tied to it draws upon the Idol Principle (imitation + belief = magic) just enough to qualify as a minor magical ritual; this effectively makes the various card-carrying members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew cultists as far as the To Aru-verse authorities are concerned, though neither the Science side or the Magic side pays them much mind probably because their influence is so minor - and they don't go around, y'know, performing holy miracles. This doesn't necessarily mean 'ki' doesn't exist, though, or that anything works differently from Ranma canon, since 'life energy' does exist in the To Aru-verse and some schools of magic draw on it directly rather than using Mana.
Anyhow, that's the current framework in my head. It's subject to change and i'm open to suggestions. Making martial artists into espers was another thought, but To Aru-verse magic seemed to fit much better from a 'teachability' standpoint and a 'multiple unique effects' standpoint. Gemstones with wonky, unexplainable powers like Sogiita Gunha are supposed to be super rare, after all. Making martial artists into a OCP via 'ki use' was also a thought, but i wanted to avoid that since i'm tying the settings together closely enough that if that was how it worked, someone on either the Science or the Magic side should have cottoned to it by now.
Also, even though Ruiko believes that Ryouga's an esper, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's right about what's going on with his apparent time travel adventures - or that she's necessarily wrong because he can do martial arts, for that matter. We have no idea how gemstones interact with magic training, as far as i'm aware. We only know that Academy City espers, who have had their brains modified by SCIENCE, tend to self destruct when trying to do magic.
It feels kind of weird showing my cards like this rather than playing it vaguely in story, but i've already said most of this in the Ranma 1/2 ideas thread (and in the other two crossover threads that went up in flames recently >_[;...)</color]
Just so nobody gets all... disappointed later, i'm currently working under the general plan that 'mystical martial arts' are a form of magic as defined by the To Aru-verse rules. Not all martial artists in Ranma 1/2 can do the really crazy stuff, and the thing that differentiates Akane from, say, one of her fanatical suitors from the kendo club is that the style she learned and the belief structure tied to it draws upon the Idol Principle (imitation + belief = magic) just enough to qualify as a minor magical ritual; this effectively makes the various card-carrying members of the Nerima Wrecking Crew cultists as far as the To Aru-verse authorities are concerned, though neither the Science side or the Magic side pays them much mind probably because their influence is so minor - and they don't go around, y'know, performing holy miracles. This doesn't necessarily mean 'ki' doesn't exist, though, or that anything works differently from Ranma canon, since 'life energy' does exist in the To Aru-verse and some schools of magic draw on it directly rather than using Mana.
Anyhow, that's the current framework in my head. It's subject to change and i'm open to suggestions. Making martial artists into espers was another thought, but To Aru-verse magic seemed to fit much better from a 'teachability' standpoint and a 'multiple unique effects' standpoint. Gemstones with wonky, unexplainable powers like Sogiita Gunha are supposed to be super rare, after all. Making martial artists into a OCP via 'ki use' was also a thought, but i wanted to avoid that since i'm tying the settings together closely enough that if that was how it worked, someone on either the Science or the Magic side should have cottoned to it by now.
Also, even though Ruiko believes that Ryouga's an esper, that doesn't necessarily mean that she's right about what's going on with his apparent time travel adventures - or that she's necessarily wrong because he can do martial arts, for that matter. We have no idea how gemstones interact with magic training, as far as i'm aware. We only know that Academy City espers, who have had their brains modified by SCIENCE, tend to self destruct when trying to do magic.
It feels kind of weird showing my cards like this rather than playing it vaguely in story, but i've already said most of this in the Ranma 1/2 ideas thread (and in the other two crossover threads that went up in flames recently >_[;...)</color]
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Makes sense, and it allows a joke about ki users being the backwords hillbilly cousins that Magic users like to pretend don't exist.Alhazred23 said:
If you really wanted to add it in as a separate thing you could just have them know but not care. All the showings in Ranma are so far below the bar for Index that Ki could very well be considered a dead end. Probably with a fancy speech about how they are trying to make a God and Ki users will never be anything more then human.
It isn't their brains being modified that causes them to self destruct it is the interactions with their AIM field that causes their bodies to begin to break down.
I know that I'm starting a (f)lame war here, but... really? From what I saw (I have only watched To Aru anime) Ki using martial artists (even those tht aren't really top tier) would stomp all over people below level 4 esper equivalents and many level 4s. They are ridiculously strong, fast and durable. And that's before you get into weirder stuff and life extension (how is magic/science fairing on the whole life-prolongation thing?).Vaermina said:
Not to mention pulling off stunts like oh:
Creating tornadoes, destroying mountains, flight (Herb), Kaiju sized monsters, turn a city block into a jungle and so forth.
As to Ki being a dead end. Well the counter argument to trying to make a God is that Ki can make one into a paragon of humanity, a superior human which is valued.
Creating tornadoes, destroying mountains, flight (Herb), Kaiju sized monsters, turn a city block into a jungle and so forth.
As to Ki being a dead end. Well the counter argument to trying to make a God is that Ki can make one into a paragon of humanity, a superior human which is valued.
Doesn't he need a huge life support system to stay alive while only being what, one hundred and fifty (he was born on 12 October 1875)? Happosai and Cologne are at least that old (and are three hundred according to some sources) and still kick butt.HidCyan said:
EDIT: I'll admit that Crowley looks far better than either Happosai or Cologne though.
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Requires the power of two or more people.fitzgerald said:
Most of that was Herb, but then Herb isn't human and his feats reflect such.
Which had no special protection to blunt force trauma.
?_?
Where is that one from?
It is not however valued to the people in charge of Academy City or to the people in charge of the Magic side.