Dialogue should be short and sweet. Souun is rambling here. Bloated,
top-heavy dialogue is a problem with many fanfic writers.

Dialogue should be natural sounding.  Not everyone talks in short and sweet
sentences, and there is no hard and fast rule for how to write good
dialogue.  Mind you, I'm not saying I wrote great or typical dialogue,
here... I was using Soun's words to convey information to the reader, so of
course he's rambling a bit.  I feel it's necessary for what I wish to
accomplish.

Don't have your characters go into lengthy dissertations and clinical
debates; there's nothing like a long-winded exchange to kill the flow of
a scene.

Well, I can agree with most of that, but I don't necessarily agree that five
sentences equal a lengthy dissertation or a clinical debate.  It's a very
short story, I don't have time to waste a lot of words.  It could probably
do with some editing, but too much chopping would alter Soun's tone of
voice, which I don't want to do.

Anyway, I wrote it in half an hour, so it's bound to have some flaws, and
I'm not likely to fix them.  I did alter it slightly for the web page...
Genma gets to be a panda with a tool belt, thanks to whoever suggested
that... um, that would be Jim Lazar.  ^_^

       "Ha!  You wish!" Ranma yelled back.  The two leaped
forward, fists and feet flying.  Fifteen seconds into the fight, Ryoga
powered up one of his patented Shishi Hokoudan chi-blasts.  The
firey ball of chi energy flew across the room, narrowly missing
Ranma as he dodged, and blasted the far wall, sending splinters of
wood everywhere.

Shi Shi Houkoudan. Ki.

I copied the Shishi Hokoudan spelling directly from some idiot's expert
description of all of the various character's fighting styles.  I guess I
should check the manga and write my own guide for myself, but I'm too lazy.
^_^

What's the difference between chi and ki?  One's a Chinese word, one's
Japanese, right? (NO!  Do NOT spam up the list telling me what the
difference is, thankyouverymuch!)

       "Chi blasts," Soun said, "are a devastating weapon in the
hands of a true martial artist, but they also wreak havoc on
buildings.  With the aid of my new assistant, Daimaru-san, we will
be repairing the damage from the blast you just saw, today on 'This
Old Dojo'."

...It's original, I guess.

I will take that as both a positive endorsement of my silly fan fic, and an
admission that you do not necessarily know everything there is to know about
Ranma 1/2 fan fiction.  ^_^

Miko!