O-Sensei had decided to retire, so he'd let himself be swept overboard in a storm. 'Like that would actually kill a martial artist.' Ranma chuckled.
Ranma sorted through the box of files that had been mailed to him three days after O-Sensei had 'Died.'
An abandoned warehouse in Gotham...
Batman froze in place for a moment, sensing a change in the environment and trying to identify it. His cape, cowl, and belt vanished a second later.
"A true martial artist must be ready to fight at any moment," a voice from the shadows said.
Bruce Wayne clenched his fists and did his best to push down his anger at whoever was using his dead sensei's words to taunt him, as he searched the darkened warehouse for his foe.
Ranma waited, cloaked in the umisenken, for Bruce to call in backup, something that O-Sensei's notes said he was unlikely to do unless pushed into a corner and with him unmasked there was only two people he'd call.
The air shimmered and Wonder Woman and Superman were suddenly there, teleported down from the watchtower, at some signal from Bruce.
"Bruce?" Wonder Woman asked, seeing him unmasked and wondering how it had happened.
Ranma dropped the umisenken and poured 89 percent of his chi into his next technique and hoped he'd gotten it right, otherwise... well he'd lose and that just wasn't an option.
Everyone winced at the flare of red light as a ball of red energy was shot into the air above them where it hung like a malevolent eye casting the scene in shadows and crimson.
Ranma flung himself towards the two new arrivals, even as Bruce rushed to join them.
Superman was ignored as Ranma swayed around Wonder Woman's first punch, snagging the lasso off her belt. Dodging back from a waist high kick that would have wrapped his stomach around his spine, he felt Superman's fist skid across his ribs, to no effect.
Kicking Superman into the onrushing Bruce, before he could get in any position to help the other two, he lassoed Wonder Woman with her own lasso and tied her up, rendering her powerless.
"The ball of energy is like a miniature red sun," Bruce warned, having seen the effect it had on Superman.
"Yeah, I figured that out myself," Superman replied wryly.
"Exactly right," Ranma agreed easily. "Now if you promise not to free Wonder Woman or interfere, you may watch, otherwise I'll have to render you unconscious."
"Just because I've lost my powers, doesn't mean I've lost the will to fight!" Superman swore, making Ranma smile.
"Excellent!" Ranma beamed. "But today's training isn't about you, it's about Bruce."
"Who are you?!" Bruce demanded.
"My name is Saotome Ranma," Ranma introduced himself with a polite bow. "But you may call me O-Sensei."
"What?!" the three heroes chorused.
"The torch has been passed," Ranma explained. "Now the previous O-Sensei was the kind of Sensei who taught through a thorough knowledge of Koans and Philosophical lessons, or what I like to call inscrutable bullshit." Ranma's right hand slapped at the air in front of him, moving fast enough to break the sound barrier as it was perpendicular with his chest. "That was the sound of one hand clapping. If it did not make the sound, then it didn't clap."
"What is the purpose of all this?" Batman asked bluntly.
"Introductions to my teaching style," Ranma explained. "I teach practical lessons and chi manipulation."
"Chi manipulation?" Superman asked just before Wonder Woman growled, "Then would you mind untying me?"
"Part of this lesson is going to be driving Bruce beyond the limits of his emotional control and I don't believe you would be able to stop yourself from interfering as I make him suffer an emotional breakdown," Ranma replied.
"And the reason we need to be here for this?" Superman asked.
"To show you both what an ordinary human is capable of," Ranma smirked, "and it'll help get you to take me seriously when I train you."
"I think we know full well what an 'ordinary' human is capable of," Superman said shaking his head.
Ranma laughed and flung a rubber ball off into the dark where it bounced several times before finding the light switch, just as the orb of chi Ranma had released earlier flickered out like he no longer needed it. No need to let them know how much time and effort he'd put up into this little lesson and how much of it was planned out by the former O-Sensei after all. "Bruce is about one of the laziest bastards I know," Ranma said shaking his head. "That butterball only does a half assed job as a martial artist."
"He's one of the world's top martial artists," Superman defended while Ranma flicked Bruce's nose.
"Hardly," Ranma snorted. "Fatty here," he ducked under Bruce's swing to flick his nose again a moment later, "limits himself to what he thinks a normal human is capable of and goes no further."
"Humans have limits," Bruce said yanking his head to the side so Ranma couldn't flick his nose only to discover that it was a feint as Ranma stomped on his foot.
"See what I mean? Lazy bastard thinks he knows the limitations of the human body better than centuries of martial arts knowledge." Ranma chuckled as he slapped Bruce in the face. "Besides being human is all about surpassing limits, not accepting them."
"What do you hope to accomplish by upsetting me?" Bruce asked, annoyed but not really upset by Ranma's actions.
"I'll tell you after I accomplish it, otherwise this is going to take forever," Ranma said giving Bruce a wedgie and easily dodging his retaliatory strikes. "What is your motivation?"
"I seek Justice," Bruce swore as Ranma gave him a noogie.
Wonder Woman and Superman watched in confusion as Ranma continually treated Bruce like he was a ninety-eight pound weakling and Ranma was a high school football player, though Superman did catch Ranma tapping bruce seemingly at Random points, too fast for Wonder Woman to see.
"Justice is an ideal not an emotion and while ideals are fine they aren't what actually moves people... So, what emotion moves you?" Ranma asked giving him a wet willie while tapping three points on his back.
"Shouldn't you know that already?" Bruce demanded annoyed, having just gotten a purple nurple.
"I do, I just wanted to make sure you did, before we get to the serious portion of the training," Ranma said solemnly.
"I know what motivates me," Bruce replied.
"Good, keep that emotion in mind, because now I'm going to break you," Ranma said with a nod.
Superman and Wonder Woman tensed but didn't interfere, Superman because he'd said he wouldn't and knew that growth required pain at times and Wonder Woman, because she was still tied up.
"Your mama's so stupid she thinks a light beer weighs less," Ranma said with a smirk.
If they weren't already sitting the two witnesses would have fallen over in shock. This was going to break Bruce, the most self controlled man they knew? But to their shock they could see Bruce was having a hard time not responding.
Five minutes later...
Ranma casually tossed Bruce over his shoulder. "And your father replied, did you hear any shooting?"
The two watchers were beyond shock at the moment. Bruce was fighting on a level neither had though a normal human could achieve, but he was also acting far more emotionally than they'd ever seen before.
"My mother is Dead! You sick bastard!" Bruce snarled at Ranma's latest torment.
"Guess that's why she didn't move much," Ranma replied thoughtfully.
Bruce struck and an explosion of flames covered Ranma for a moment before dispersing, leaving him with a lack of suitable attire and looking like he had a sunburn, while Bruce was left on his knees, exhausted and cradling his right fist.
"Nice shield," Bruce said numbly as he sat there.
"What shield?" Ranma asked.
"That black fire shield," Bruce replied and looked up, taking in Ranma's condition for the first time. "What happened to you?"
Ranma just grinned. "It wasn't a shield."
"But my hand?" Bruce said holding up a blistered right hand.
"A man who sets out to seek revenge..." Ranma began.
"Must first dig two graves, one for his enemy and one for himself," Bruce finished confused.
"That's right, because vengeance is a form of anger that harms the one who wields it," Ranma explained. "That was a chi blast born of vengeance."
"But I'm not a metahuman," Bruce protested weakly.
"Who said you needed to be?" Ranma snorted. "You seem to believe that being human is a limiting factor when the opposite is true. There is nothing a human can't accomplish if they work for it. I can pick up a car and throw it, not because of some quirk in my genes, but because I, a normal human being, worked for it and ignored anyone telling me it was impossible."
"So Bruce can set people on fire now?" Superman asked fascinated.
"Not yet," Ranma replied. "I opened up his chi pathways and enhanced his emotions to pull this off, besides the flames-of-vengeance is a very dangerous technique to the wielder as well as the target. I figure a good year and a half of training is needed just to break his habit of being lazy!"
"Glad to hear it," Wonder Woman finally spoke up. "Could someone untie me now?!"
Present day
Batman stepped into the training room and felt a sudden draft as he was suddenly bereft of everything but his underwear and cowl. "What's the training for today and more importantly, what's the recovery time?"
Ranma grinned as a forest formed around them and he tied raw steaks to Batman. "You will be carrying a sofa for a little jog and the recovery time depends on if you can keep ahead of the wolves."
"Wolves?" Batman asked paling.
*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*
Wonder Woman passed Shyera the popcorn as they watched Batman run carrying a sofa while Ranma relaxed on top of it ignoring the wolves just a couple of feet behind them.
"Even my people don't train this hard," Shyera said impressed.
"Um hmm," Wonder Woman replied absently her eyes glued to Batman's rear.
"I understand why Batman isn't wearing any, but where's Ranma's pants?" Shyera asked.
Suggested Titles to continue.
1. To the mall of shopping with K'ontour and Raven.
2. Ranma returns to the Tendo's
3. Something else.
Return to: Ranma BranchPosted: 2018-01-27 12:13:44 -6 gmt
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