Subject: [FFML] [Ranma][Alt] Ranmage.3: Blue Thunder
From: "Graham Kemp" <gj_kemp@hotmail.com>
Date: 5/25/2000, 12:01 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

[Ranma][Alt][ver 1.0] Ranmage.03.txt

C&C is still welcomed with open arms.

Silly Disclaimer:

The best of intentions can cause the greatest harm.  Every action has
consequences which may not be anticipated, especially when magik is
involved.
       - Richard Rahl, Blood of the Fold

Yes, I've gone back to putting the serious disclaimer at the end, so
you can get straight to the story.


Previously on The Reluctant Mage:

The Tendos learned about the Saotomes' curses and almost learned
Ranma's other secret.  Akane thinks she knows, and is determined to
learn his secret techniques.  Also, Ranma's use of spirit magic may
be having an unexpected effect.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
--- Chapter 3: Blue Thunder                                       ---
---------------------------------------------------------------------

"School?" Ranma blinked as morning birdsong rang out across the ward
of Nerima.

"Well, we *are* going to be staying here awhile", Genma explained
patiently.

"It's the same school me and Akane go to," Nabiki told him from
outside the open doorway.  "I'll walk you there, Ranma-baby."

"Nabiki, wait!" Akane frowned as she ran up to her sister.  "Ranma's
my... he's in my class.  I should walk him to school."

"What are you talking about?" Nabiki demanded.  "I'll wait for Ranma.
You sould go on ahead.  You don't want to be late for your admirers,
do you?"

Akane glowered at Nabiki who smirked back smugly.

"I'm ready, I guess", Ranma rubbed the back of his head as he stood
in the doorway holding his old book bag.  "It's not like I have a
uniform or nothin'."

"Come on Ranma," Akane grabbed his hand and tugged.  "You don't want
to be late on your first day, do you?"

Ranma's answer was lost amidst the doppler effect as Akane dragged
him out of the house.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time they reached the canal, Akane had slowed down to a walk
and dropped his hand.  "Listen, don't tell anyone we're engaged," she
advised, "and don't hang around me at school, okay?"

"No problem," Ranma agreed, then a thought occured to him as he
remembered Nabiki's earlier comment.  "Why not?  Afraid your
'admirers' will get jealous?"

Akane balled her fists and growled, "Listen, I have to beat the boys
off of me at school.  Stay away or you could get hurt."

"Oh?"  Ranma raised an eyebrow.  "Don't underestimate me, Akane.
I'm..."  He staggered as an old woman watered him down, along with
the pavement, causing his curse to flare unexpectedly.  This in turn
caused him to trip over a loose paving.

"You were saying?"  Akane asked flatly.

Ranma looked over her wet body.  She still couldn't believe how
easily water managed to get passed her awareness.  All it took was a
moment's distraction for it to sneak passed her guard at the worst
possible time.  It would be easy enough to fix, but she didn't want
to have to explain that to Akane.  "Humph.  You go ahead, Akane.
I'll go change."

"You'll be late," Akane observed.

"Not really," Ranma said, planning to wait until she was out of sight
then heat some water drawn out of the air.  "I don't want to start
school as a girl though."

"But if we just pour hot water over you, you'll turn back, right?"
Akane smiled, pleased that she'd be able to help.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

So Ranma found herself waiting outside of a clinic while Akane went
to fetch some hot water.  'Maybe I should have just shown her?' Ranma
sighed as she turned around.  "Excuse me?"

"Oh, pardon me, dear," the stranger exclaimed, suprised that his
favourite gag had been foiled.  "This is just my skelleton, Betty."
A puzzled expression crossed his face as he assessed the girl before
him.  "How did...?"

"Ranma, here's the hot...," Akane trailed off as she noticed the
stranger.  "Oh.  Doctor?"

"Well, Akane," the doctor bowed.  "Good morning to you."

"Uh, good morning," she replied, distractely handing Ranma the kettle
(or rather, setting it down on her head).  Her emotions jumped to joy
at the sight of the doctor, then settled down to embarassment and a
lot of emotions Ranma wasn't familiar with.  Ranma took the kettle
around the corner with a thoughtful look on his face.

"You haven't been by lately," the doctor enquired.  "No new
injuries?"

"No, sir," she replied quiely.  "I mean, I haven't been doing
anything that would..."

Ranma didn't hear much more as she'd just poured the kettle over her
head.  After the brief burst of magic faded, Ranma turned his
attention back to Akane and the Doctor.

'Interesting,' he mused as he waited for Akane to finish.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"So," Ranma asked as he ran beside Akane, "who was that guy?"

"Dr. Tofu," Akane replied, "the chiropractor."

"You really like him, don't you?"

"What!?" Akane yelled.  "No, I...  How could you tell?"

'"Because I can sense your emotions with spirit magic,"' Ranma
thought of saying.  'Right, that'd go down real well.'  Instead, he
just said out loud, "hey, it was pretty obvious."

"Oh, no!" Akane panicked.

"I don't think he noticed, though," Ranma soothed, adding a flow of
spirit magic.

Akane sighed sadly as she calmed down.  "No, he wouldn't.  Ever since
I was little, he's taken care of my injuries.  But he still thinks of
me as just a little girl.  Besides, there's a girl who Dr. Tofu
likes... the way he looks at her...."

"I'm sorry."  However, Ranma couldn't help feel a little relieved for
some reason.  It wasn't like he was jealous or anything.

"It doesn't matter," Akane vowed.

"Oh, right," Ranma disbelieved.  "'Doesn't matter.'"

"That's right," Akane affirmed.  "Dr. Tofu likes Kasumi, anyway, not
me."

Ranma pulled on his pony-tail nervously.  He could feel Akane's
emotions, but he had no idea what to do about them.  He turned his
attention away from the girl and almost pulled to a stop with
surprise.

"What the heck is that?"

"What?" Akane demanded as she looked towards the direction in which
Ranma was staring.  "That's the school," she growled as it appeared
in the distance and she remembered what was waiting for her inside
the gates.

"No, I mean the crowd inside the yard," Ranma frowned at her.  He
was tempted to cool down her building anger, but with that mass of
agression and desire up ahead, he guessed that she might have a very
good reason for her anger.

"Huh?" Akane blinked, wondering how he could see the boys from so far
off.  But it wasn't the time to ask questions.  "Just stay out of the
way, Ranma."  She charged forward.

As she approached the school gates, a horde of boys emerged from the
yard yelling declarations of love and violence.  Ranma pulled back as
Akane ploughed her way through them.  He wanted to help, but without
drawing on magic, he wouldn't have lasted against them.  He was very
tempted to use it though.

'Man,' he thought as he found a safe place to watch, 'when she said
she had to beat the guys off, I thought it was a figure of speach.'
He clenched his fists.  The only thing really stopping him from
blasting away with air magic was that she was already knocking the
boys senseless.

"Oh, Ranma-baby," Nabiki called out as she came up behind him.
"Let's go into school now."

"But what about...?"

"Don't worry about Akane," Nabiki grinned.  "She does this every
single day."

Indeed, Akane finished off the last of her attackers with practiced
ease right about then and stood panting with her exertion and
frustration.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Every single morning!" Akane fummed as she stood over her fallen
admirers.  "What a drag!"

"Truly!" a voice declaimed in high dudgeon.  "Such a boorish lot.
Evidently each of them intends to ask you out, Akane, on the dawn
that he finally defeats you."

"Oh, Upperclassman," Akane said coldy as she eyed the kendoist
approaching with a bokken in one hand and a rose in the other.  "Good
morning."

"And now, Tendo Akane" he declaired, tossing the rose towards her
with a flick of his fingers, "might you fight with me?"

"What's going on?"  Ranma asked as he walked up to Akane with Nabiki
trailing behind.  Nabiki was radiating irritation at being ignored,
but Ranma was too distracted by the emotions broiling off the
kendoist to notice.

"Stay out of the way, Ranma," Akane cried.  "You'll get hurt."

"You there!" the kendoist cried, pointing his bokken at Ranma.  "You
are being quite familiar with Akane!  Who are you?"

"Leave him alone, Kuno," Akane cried protectively, believing that if
Ranma wasn't able to defeat her, then he wouldn't stand a chance
against Kuno, "he's only staying with my family."  Which was
precisely the wrong thing for her to say.

"What!?  Under the same roof as you!?"  Kuno swung his bokken as he
charged.  The blade was swung with a force capable of slicing bricks
or felling timber, but was blocked by Ranma's upraised arm.

Sweat pooled on Ranma's brow as he realised that if he hadn't
instinctively raised a shield of air along with the arm, the blade
would have broken his bones.  As it was, the blade had almost managed
to rip through the layer of thickened air and would leave a serious
bruise on his forearm unless he healed it.  So much for not using
magic in battle.  Ranma realised that until he retrained himself, he
was going to have to keep using it.

"Hey, I'm only staying with them," Ranma said, trying to calm the
kendoist down.  However the flow of spirit magic simply rolled off of
him as though it couldn't find any purchase.  That type of thing had
only happened once or twice before, and it was never a good sign.

"Silence fool!" the crazed kendoist shouted.  "For hounding Akane, I,
Upperclassman Kuno, shall bring you to justice!"

"*Who's* hounding Akane?" Ranma demanded as he parried another blow.
He couldn't believe that he had to actually double the thickness of
his shields against a wooden blade.

'Astounding!' Akane thought as she noticed the blade actually seemed
to stop just before touching Ranma's skin.  'What an incredible
technique!  He's using air pressure alone, but how is he doing it?
He's not moving fast enough to raise a breeze.'

"Blast!" Kuno swore as he saw his invincible blade blocked repeatedly
by bare hands or forearms.  "What trickery is this?"

"Look who's talking, Mr-Attack-Without-Warning," Ranma growled to
divert attention away from the nature of his defense.

Kuno pulled back; the insult stung true.  "Fine then.  My name is
Upperclassman Kuno Tatewaki, Junior Group E, captain of the Kendo
Club, undefeated new star of the high school fencing world.  But my
peers call me... the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High!  Who are you,
boor?"

"'Blue Thunder'?" Akane asked.

"News to me," Nabiki muttered.

"Okay then," Ranma said as he slipped off his book bag and tossed it
to Akane.  "Hold this a sec.  I'm heir to the Saotome School of
Indescriminant Grappling.  I'm Saotome Ranma.  It's after the fact,
but I accept your challenge."  'Got to make this quick, it will rain
any minute now.'  "What is all this about, anyway?"

"Know this, knave.  If you wish to date with Akane, defeat her!  I
will permit no other terms!"

"Who says I want to date her?" Ranma demanded.  "And what business is
it of yours, anyway?"

"I am the greatest fighter at Furinkan High!"

"I see..." Ranma said slowly, "you're the school bully aren't you?"

"What!  How dare you!"

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear," Ranma said beating aside
another attack and stepping inside Kuno's guard.  "I'm staying at the
Tendo practice hall, because Akane is my fiancee!"

"Oooh!"  The listening girls gasped and began to whisper among
themselves and a few of the less injured boys struggled to rise in
protest.

"Never!"  Kuno bellowed as he pulled back.  "I shall never accept your
engagement to Tendo Akane!  I forbid it!"

Ranma parried the bokken with one arm, and punched Kuno in the
forehead with two fingers knocking him out.  The actual force of the
blow was delivered by a blast of compressed air at the last moment.
Ranma then added a touch of water magic to the blood vessles in Kuno's
forehead to raise a bruise.

Akane whallopped him with his book-bag.  "Why you, jerk!  I asked you
not to tell anyone, and you shout it out for everyone to hear."

"Oops," Ranma grimaced as he grabbed her wrist, then glanced at the
clouds.  "It's about to rain.  Let's talk about it inside."  He wasn't
even sure why he'd said it; except that he couldn't stand the
possesiveness radiating from Kuno everytime Akane's name had been
mentioned.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the PE shed, Akane glowered at Ranma.  She was really furious;
it would take more than a light tough of spirit magic to calm her
down.  "I can't believe you!  Now everyone knows that we're engaged."

"Sorry 'bout that."  Ranma nervously tugged his pony pony tail.  "It
just slipped out.  Besides, it's no big deal is it?  We can deny just
it."

"You're kidding, right!?  What happens when out parents hear about
it?  Besides, now Kuno's going to be out for your blood."

"Feh.  Upperclassman Kuno didn't have much, did he?" Ranma bluffed.
'Damn, I'm going to have to do some serious training!'

"I wouldn't be too sure.  What about your arm?"

Ranma ruefully brushed the bruise that was already starting to show.
If she hadn't noticed, he could have just healled it at once.  As it
was, he'd have to heal it before his father asked questions.  "Heh,
it looks worse than it is.  I bet it'll be gone before school's out.
Kuno's no threat."  'He's a homocidal maniac!'

"It looked like a pretty even match to me."

"Oh, I don't know about that," Ranma smirked, then rembered why he
had the advantage.  "Anyway, you fight with Kuno every morning
right?"

"Yes," she agreed reluctantly.  "For some reason I always win, but
you should know that when he battles a male opponent, Kuno doesn't
hold back.  He is very skilled."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"Amazing," Nabiki said as she stared at the kanji for 'bully' bruised
on Kuno's forehead.  "And you don't even remember being touched?"

"Hmmph," Kuno snorted in contempt as he lowered the hand mirror.  "I
can't imagine what trickery that buffoon used.  Tell me, can it be
true that he is engaged to Akane?"

Nabiki's eyes narrowed as she scented an opportunity.  "Well, my dad
decided that Akane's going to marry Ranma but she wasn't happy about
it."

"I forbid it!" Kuno yelled.  Unfortunately (or fortunately depending
on your point of view) he was in class at the time and was promptly
ejected on his outburst.  Nabiki smirked and went back to her work.
From what she saw, Ranma-baby wouldn't be hurt too much, but if he
decided that Akane was too much trouble...

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is all *your* fault," Akane accused as she stood outside the
classroom holding a pair of heavy, waterfilled buckets.

"My fault?" Sayori demanded.  "You're the one who showed up late!
And with a cute fiancee too."

"Yes, but you two could have waited till break to mob me with
questions."

"Sorry.  Anyway, how did you two meet?  I bet it was so romantic!
What's his blood type?  That's very important, isn't it?  Have you
ever..."

"How could you do it, Akane?" Yuka interupted.  "You said you
*depised* men!"

Ranma inched away from the girls.  The way they were sloshing water
around, he'd soon be one of them.  Being on his guard, he was able to
sense a stream of water heading his way, Ranma dodged the main mass
and diverted the rest with a touch of water magic.  "What do you
think you're...?"

"Never, Saotome Ranma," Kuno yelled as he dropped the bucket and drew
his bokken.  "I shall never allow you to force Akane into an unwanted
marriage."

"Who says it's unwanted!"  Akane was dripping wet and boiling mad.
Ranma's defence had diverted the water onto the girls.  Unfortunately
she said this as the classroom windows were opened by currious
students.

"I'm not forcing anyone...," Ranma began as Kuno did his best to cut
him off - literally.  The blade sliced through one of the buckets
that Ranma was holding.  Leaping away from the water, Ranma parried
next swing; catching the blade between two hands and wrapping it with
hardened air.

"This is great!" Sayori bounced gleefully.  "Two martial artists
fighting for a woman's love.  The winner gets to go out with Akane!"

"You've just *got* to stop reading those samurai romance novels,"
Yuka muttered.

'This boy is good,' Kuno reluctantly admitted to himself as he tried
to rip his bokken free.

'This guy is dangerous,' Ranma grimaced as he spread earth magic
through the wooden blade, 'and this is no place to fight.'  With a
twist of his mind, and his hands, the wood shattered.

"Saotome!" Kuno gasped in shock as he looked at the remains of his
blade.  "How dare you defile an honourable weapon?"

"Feh," Ranma snorted.  "Like any weapon of yours would have honour."

"Now you insult my honour?"

"Can't insult what you don't have."

"Die Saotome!" Kuno yelled and leaped at him but, without a bokken,
was easily knocked out.  Ranma didn't even need his magic to do it.

'What ya know.  Pop's insult technique _does_ work.'

"Ranma, you jerk!" Akane growled.

"What?"  Ranma asked as he turned to see three damp girls glaring at
him.  "Hey!  Kuno threw the water.  Uhm, girls, put those buckets
down.  Akane...!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Next: Kuno fights on


Serious Disclaimer:


The characters and situations of "Ranma �" are the creation of
Takahashi Rumiko and is published by Viz Communications.  This fan-
fiction is produced purely for entertainment and should not be
reproduced in any form for profit.  It may be archived or posted on a
free site, so long as this disclaimer is attached.


Graham Kemp
gj_kemp@hotmail.com

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