Chapter Text
Ranma hadn’t been expecting the scene in front of him to be happening today, or any day really. When his Ucchan showed up with what his sinking heart knew could be another fiancee, he knew that at least the boredom of the past week would be cured. Unfortunately he would have to consider what damage would be done before it was cleared up.
He was in the dojo having followed Akane and the newcomer, Andromeda, to referee their match. Ukyo followed close behind, seemingly interested as well. To his surprise, the fight would be with practice swords, not fist. Andromeda had asked for that, saying she wanted to see what kind of technique the Tendo Dojo held. Even more surprising was Akane saying yes, but he figured that she had trained in them somewhat, what with them being in the dojo at all.
He turned to Ukyo, questions already spilling from his lips “So you know her or somethin’?” pointing a finger at Andromeda.
Ukyo shook her head, “Nope, was thinking your dad might. She says she just came in from the states. But you never know around here.”
Ranma nodded, it was odd to come seeking out the Tendo Dojo as a first vacation destination. He kept himself at the ready, mostly to get out of dodge when things went down.
Stepping to the center of the floor he looked to the two combatants. Akane stood to his right, having changed into a gi, and holding a well worn shinai. In fact, he could have sworn she had thrown that one at him!
To the left stood Andromeda, wearing the same outfit she had walked in with. In her hands was her own shinai, which she twirled around in her hand. To his eyes she seemed to be testing the weight of the blade.
“Are both combatants ready?” he asked with a raised hand. The women nodded their heads. With that he dropped his arm, “Then begin!”
Ranma leapt back, doing a completely unnecessary backflip while doing so, and took a bow. It drew a laugh out of both Ukyo and Andromeda, while Akane only sighed. Then Akane made the first move, swiftly moving to her opponent.
The fist strike came from below as Akane slashed at her opponent, but the blade was smacked away by Andromeda who in turn swung her own strike at Akane. Then they moved onto trading attacks, each blocking and recovering easily. But something pricked at Ranma’s mind, something didn’t seem right. The blocks and strikes coming from Andromeda were very well placed, in fact he realized she didn’t present a single opening at all.
He turned to Ukyo, who had clearly noticed the same thing as him.
“You seein’ what I’m seein’?” Was what he asked, Ukyo giving him a nod of agreement.
“Yeah, knew she looked like a fighter, but she’s damn good with a blade.” Ukyo turned back to fight, taking a closer look at the details.
While Akane wasn’t a slouch by any means, having trained with both her father and on her own, it seemed Andromeda was on another level entirely. She controlled the whole flow of the match, without Akane even realising it for a moment.
Akane was now being put on the back foot, giving ground as Andromeda advanced. Akane went to block an overhead strike, but quickly found herself ducking as it became a much quicker horizontal slash. She regained her footing, but was still retreating as the match went on.
“I think ‘Kane just backed herself into a wall here.” Ranma commented, his mind kicking into martial arts overdrive, dissecting the fight. While he personally didn’t use weapons, he had studied them all the same.
Ukyo looked at him, not too far off that assumption herself. “I see it too, hell I’d say she could give me a run for my money.” Ranma was surprised to hear that from Ukyo, one of the better weapon fighters he knew.
And before the conversation could continue, the fight met a quick end. Akane had gone for a desperate attack to keep Andromeda from claiming victory, but instead the taller girl swiftly sidestepped the stab. In retaliation Andromeda turned the flat of blade, and slapped the shinai out of Akane’s grasp, then turned the blade to the other girl.
“I think that’ll wrap it up!” Andromeda declared, extending a hand to Akane. She took the offered hand, her face hiding her true feeling as she congratulated the taller girl.
“I believe so, where did you learn to wield a blade like that?” Akane asked, collecting the practice blades and returning them to the rack. She turned to face the other girl, and Ranma couldn’t help but wince. More than likely things would be going downhill from here.
“Aw, well from my summer camp actually. I had some good mentors there. You were pretty good yourself Akane!” Andromeda answered easily, clearly having enjoyed the match.
Akane simply smiled at the compliment “I’m much better at hand to hand myself, but dad did teach me the basics.”
Andromeda tilted her head to the side, clearly surprised “Really? My mentor had mentioned that the dojo trained in weapon use.” She went back over to the luggage she had carried in, and dug out a large pamphlet. She opened it up, and showed it to Akane, along with Ranma and Ukyo when they approached.
The trio looked over the map, noting writing in an odd language before Akane noticed something in the bottom corner. She pointed at it looking at Andromeda.
“This shows 1989 as the date, where did you get this from?” Was all she asked, clearly confused.
Andromeda looked confused herself for a moment, taking the map and staring at it a little closer. Then it seemed to click, and a blush spread across her face.
“Oh man, I uh- well my mentor is a bit older. I think this is what he had on hand, oh man this is really embarrassing.” She looked up at the roof, clearly embarrassed.
The other three chuckled, though clearly no malice was meant. Ranma felt his spirits begin to rise, maybe this wouldn’t boil out of control. He looked to his side, and could see both Akane and Ukyo were thinking the same thing.
“Well old man Tendo hasn’t had any students for a while, so it kind of surprised me when you said you were looking for training.” said Ukyo, looking at Andromeda, who had finally gotten the large pamphlet wadded up and thrown in her bag.
“I was wondering why you looked at me like I was crazy when I asked about that!” Andromeda said with a laugh.
Akane clearly didn’t like Ukyo poking fun at her father, if the irritated look on her face was any consideration. “While dad may not have any other students, he did teach me.” She turned to Ukyo, who just smiled and turned away.
Ranma sighed, hopefully they wouldn’t start a fight here with a guest. Not like it had stopped really anyone before though. He looked over the new girl, trying to figure out the newest mystery to hit town. She was slightly taller than him, which was a surprise here in Nermia, but he figured most Americans were tall anyways. She was quite tan, with long black hair done up in a messy ponytail. She moved like a fighter obviously, but he would have been able to tell that without the match. What surprised him were the scars he could see on her arms, they were small, but they were plenty.
Not long into his thoughts, he could feel twin stares on the back of his head. He turned to face both of his fiancees, giving him an evil eye. Clearly they had taken the staring the wrong way he mused. Before either of them could say a world, Ranma jumped to the ceiling, clinging to the wooden beam with his toes and smirking at the other two.
They both just gave him a stink eye, to which he just stared back. He wasn’t going to be the one to start something today, no sir. But in the brief amount of time that had taken, Andromeda had turned back, making a noise of confusion, then glanced up.
“Holy cow, how are you doing that?” She shouted, pointing up at him. Ranma just smirked, and did an upside down bow.
“Well that’s cause I’m Ranma Saotome, heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes!” He felt quite proud, it was always a nice boost to impress people with his finely honed skills. And he was a little bit of a show off.
Akane just shook her head, used to his theatrics. She looked at the guest a little surprised with the amazement she had shown. Ranma was too, after all she seemed like a trained fighter.
“You can’t do this yourself?” Was what he asked, now he really wanted to get to the bottom of this.
Andromeda laughed, shaking her head “Not even close, but it looks like a lot of fun.” She looked to Akane, “Say you guys teaching any classes on how to do that?”
Akane frowned, but kept her thoughts about Ranma and his inability to not showboat to herself. Ukyo jumped in the conversation, not one to miss out on a chance to embarrass her rival.
“Nah, that’s just Ranchan, his father dragged him all over to train to be the best martial artist you could ever find.” Ukyo felt no shame in puffing up his pride, it was an easy way to make him happy.
Ranma smirked, enjoying the praise, before having to drop to the floor to avoid the brick Akane had sent his way. Her aim was true, if he had stayed up there, but instead the brick was on a one way course to Andromeda. He then went to launch himself to catch the missile, only to be stopped short.
The brick flew at Andromeda, only for her to reach a hand up and snag it out of the air. Then in what looked like to his eyes and almost unconscious reaction, the brick shattered in her grip. She shook her hand quickly, trying to get the bit of brick off. Ranma just raised an eyebrow at the sight.
Andromeda, who was trying to play it cool, simply gave them a nervous grin “Pretty cool right?”
The other three simply shook their heads, all smiling. Akane had a smile, clearly relieved she hadn’t been hurt.
“Why don’t we go inside and wash up? Maybe we could help you find some more up to date things around here?” Was all Akane said, turning to the dojo doors. Andromeda perked up, gathering her luggage.
“If you wouldn’t mind, that would be really helpful!”