Here's the next chapter! I like the rate at which I'm pullin these out but I'm sorry to say it prob'ly won't last.

Primary language English through most of the story, shifts to japanese in the Ryōzanpaku centric final section.

I Don't own Danny Phantom or History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.

Jack and Maddie Fenton were working in the lab, absorbed in their work, when they heard the door open upstairs and heard many footsteps and general racket. Maddie looked up, confused, while Jack just kept on with what he was doing. That's odd; Danny called and said he was showing some new students around town, he shouldn't be home already. And why so many people? She nudged Jack and they headed up to the living room where she was shocked to see a crowd of 8 strange people who were obviously not from around here, along with Sam and Tucker who kept looking at them warily. Jazz was already yelling at them until Sam and Tucker calmed her down. Then Maddie saw the reason for her concern; Danny was lying unconscious on the couch.

"Danny!" she rushed to his side

"What happened to Danny? Who are you and what are you doing in my house! " Jack said and pulled a bazooka out of nowhere.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Fenton. I apologize if we have startled you, but we merely brought Danny home after he fell unconscious" the largest of the strangers, an old man with long blond hair and beard, explained. His complete lack of fear of the large weapon aimed at him was unnerving.

"Yeah! I just mentioned that we were hired to take out Phantom and he fainted!" the man with a scar across his face explained. Jazz looked panicked at this and shared a look with Sam and Tucker. Jack on the other hand looked overjoyed and dropped the bazooka instantly.

"You guys are ghost hunters! Why didn't you say so, Welcome to Fenton works! Thanks for helping out Danny! Do you want to talk about ghosts?" The strangers looked at the overenthusiastic jumpsuit clad man, taken aback by the change of heart.

"Not ghosts per say, but I take it you are the one who made the energized staff Danny was carrying? I would very much like to study the designs, with your permission. " The most normal of the adult visitors said with a certain gleam in his eyes.

"You betcha!" Jack said and led the man to the basement with unbridled enthusiasm. This left Maddie to talk with the other masters alone.

"So, you came to the city to hunt Phantom. What does that have to do with my son?" Maddie's accusatory tone was not missed.

"We... contacted your son on an unrelated matter, actually. You see, our dojo recently took part in a contest funded by a particular online language teaching service that Danny had been using to learn Japanese. He won the contest. Coincidentally, that same day the mayor of this town hired us to take care of Phantom, so we decided to tell you in person since we'd be in Amity Park anyway. Danny has already agreed, and once we get your consent and we finish our job, Danny will come with us to Japan to study martial arts under us. With any luck we'll be gone within the week." Maddie didn't know what to say. She had simultaneously learned that Danny had entered a contest to go to Japan without her permission, that Vlad Masters apparently thought that she and Jack were doing a poor enough job that he needed to hire Japanese mercenaries, and had her abilities further indirectly insulted when the old giant implied they could do in a week what She had failed to manage in nearly two years.

"No. My son is not going to Japan. The trouble he's in for doing this behind my back aside, if he wants to learn martial arts, I can teach him. I am a 9th degree black belt and know more than enough to teach Danny to defend himself." She said, somewhat indignantly.

"Hmmm... well be that as it may, we are Masters. Martial Arts are our life, and we can teach much more than any casual practitioner. Take Kenichi here for example. Not a drop of talent for martial arts in him, yet in just over a year we've molded him into one of the strongest disciples there is. If you wish to test our ability to teach, you may test his ability. Spar with him. \\Ken chan, Take off your shirt and come over here, you are going to spar with Mrs. Fenton.\\" the elderly giant spoke to a subtly muscular teenager who responded with panic.

"\\I can't fight her! I can't hit a woman, besides Danny said she's a 9th dan black belt, didn't you tell me not to fight masters!\\" Kenichi practically screamed.

"\\Kenichi, in the past several months you have fallen deeply into the world of martial arts, into the secret world the average person knows nothing about. You are about to learn an important lesson about how our worlds define 'master', as well as why we doesn't bother with ranks or belts. Now get your shirt off and get over here.\\" Maddie watched the exchange with confusion, and then watched Kenichi Take of his shirt in resignation, his muscles not so subtle without the cloth covering them. "Sorry, our disciple here is quite the chivalrous youth and refuses to hit women, and that coupled with our previous orders that he never fight a master made him rather reluctant to fight you." The Elder spoke with a subtle tone of amusement. Kenichi stood before Maddie and bowed, before taking a fighting stance. Maddie was immediately more inclined to believe the Elder; the boy's stance was flawless and he certainly had the body of a martial artist. I suppose I haven't much choice. But making me fight their student instead fighting me themselves? And calling me a casual practitioner? These guys are pretty good at accidental insults. She bowed back and took a stance as well.

"Ready, set, Go!" The elder exclaimed. Considering the boy's hesitation, Maddie decided to make the first move. She was startled when Kenichi moved out of the path of the punch before she was even done punching. He then looked confused as she tried again to kick him only to have him behind her by the time it was. As she turned to face him, he started speaking to the masters as he turned to remain behind her.

"Kenichi says that while he appreciates the gesture, He asks that you not hold back for his sake."

Everyone was surprised when it was Danny who translated. Maddie was quite relieved that he was ok and stole a quick smile at him but willed herself to keep her mind on the fight.

"Jeez, the kid's finally awake! You won't hold up so well at Ryōzanpaku if you faint over nothing like that." The man with the scar said, relief sneaking in past his chastising tone. Ryōzanpaku? Where have I heard that name before...? She shook her head and decided to concentrate on the fight. He doesn't want me to hold back I won't! Funny though, I really wasn't holding back that much, it's impressive that he realized it. She attacked full speed, only to have Kenichi dodge again. Next she feigned a punch and a kick to kick him with her other leg, only to have the first round blocked by his hands and the actual kick blocked by his leg. She pushed off him and flipped to the ground for a quit counterstrike, hoping to get him while he was off balance, but her maneuver hadn't fazed him in the least. That's a solid stance! And it feels like I hit a stone statue! But he's still just the student. There's got to be something I can use that he hasn't learned, though that might be hard, his masters seem to know a pretty good range of skills... but I bet he's never seen a ghost fight. Maddie stopped thinking of this a martial arts fight and began thinking of it as a ghost hunt, and adjusted her moves accordingly. Since the Fentons fight ghosts for a living, they have (or at least Maddie has) adjusted their fighting style to suit the wild, powerful attacks of the ghosts. (It's not all lasers and bazookas you know) This meant equally wild and powerful attacks, but with a bit more finesse and timing. While Kenichi hardly fought like a ghost, Maddie's ghost-countering techniques were guaranteed to be something he'd never seen before. As Maddie got into her ghost hunting groove, she fought much harder and faster than she had ever expected to fight a human. And Kenichi was no longer fighting with the same ease he had in the beginning of the fight. But after about ten minutes the edge from changing styles was lost and Maddie was struggling again. Then, in less than an instant, Kenichi spotted an opening and took it, and Maddie was sitting on the floor with her arms twisted behind her back, unable to move. Kenichi won. He beat me with a jujitsu technique! ... He really didn't hit me once, even when it meant getting hit. Huh, I guess that Fūrinji san was telling the truth about him being all chivalrous. Wait, where'd that name come from, they never told me their names... but Fūrinji Hayato is the head of the Ryōzanpaku dojo... right! I've heard of Ryōzanpaku before!

"Ok, you win." She said and Kenichi let go and backed off. They bowed, and Maddie turned to the elder. "Could you please tell me your name?"

"I am Fūrinji Hayato, head of the Ryōzanpaku dojo." Maddie's eyes lit up in amazement

"So it is that Ryōzanpaku! I've heard of you, you six are the best in the world!" she turned to each of the Masters in turn. "You must be Shio Sakaki, Karate Master; you're Apachai Hopachai, Master of Muay Thai; Kōsaka Shigure, weapons prodigy; You're Ma Kensei, Master of Chinese martial arts; The man with Jack must be Kōetsuji Akisame the jujitsu master, philosopher, doctor and artist... I'm actually a little afraid of what he'll do with the ghost tech..." she turned back to the elder "and you're the Invincible Superman! Now I'm really glad I didn't insist on fighting one of you instead." She bowed to the masters, looking a bit flustered. "If it's what Danny wants, I'd be honored to have you teach him. I'm curious though, why did you agree to teach a random American kid? I'm not sure if Danny can take whatever it is it would take to get your level. I mean, you guys are practically legendary! If the rumors were to be believed you can run on water and take on an army single handedly! Amazing how things can be blown out of proportion like that, huh?" She laughed and the other masters chuckled along awkwardly and Kensei jumped up and put a hand over Apachai's mouth before he said something that would cause trouble.

"As for why we wanna teach some random kid, well, as famous as we apparently are we've had financial issues lately and the contest was a good help. And if we can whip Kenichi into shape we can make anyone with proper determination into a martial artist." Sakaki said. While Kenichi couldn't understand what Sakaki said, he got the gist and was having mixed emotions about being used as rating of the ability of the dojo again and again. On the one hand he was being praised, but on the other hand, he was being shown off like a dog in show, and the references to how weak he was without the training were getting annoying.

"\\We... tested Danny, and I think he has quite a bit of potential. He actually survived a fight with me, matched me blow for blow, up until I actually tried at least.\\" The Elder translated Kensei's words as the masters nodded their agreement and Maddie looked at Danny with surprise, to which he rubbed the back of his neck and blushed.

"Since when can you fight?" Maddie asked Danny, startled to the point of uncharacteristic bluntness.

"Well, you did teach me some when I was younger, and we live in the most haunted town in the world" He cringed inwardly at using that weak excuse again "so I've been practicing, just in case." Maddie seemed to accept it and hugged him, smiling with pride. Just then Jack and Akisame came back up from the lab.

"Maddie, this guy is a genius! I swear he caught on after watching for just a few minutes. Now, if you Re-oozin-packu guys are as crazy powerful as they say, your main disadvantage against ghosts would be their intangibility, since even your freaky attacks won't work if your opponent isn't physically there; Which is why Aky-samy and I made these!" He handed out to each of the masters what appeared to be altered gloves from his jumpsuits, which glowed ever so slightly. "With these, you can hit ghosts even when they're intangible! We'll be done the boots in about an hour." he took a bottle of some glowing green liquid and handed it to Shigure "Use this next time you sharpen your blades and you can mutilate those intangible spooks like nobody's business! Try to leave enough for me to dissect though!" He looked around eagerly for approval from the masters and was answered with an excited gleam from their eyes and waves of energy from their bodies. Danny turned almost as green as the liquid Shigure was now examining.

"What the heck am I gonna do!" Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz went up into his room as soon as Ryōzanpaku left, and Danny was pacing back and forth, trying in vain to think of a solution to the problem of his new "masters".

"Lay low. That's your only option, really." Sam said bluntly.

"Yeah, I mean if these guys are around working as ghost hunters, you won't be need as Phantom. Besides, since you'll be gone once you leave to train in Japan anyway, Phantom might as well disappear now. In fact it's probably for the best if your departure and Phantom's disappearance don't match up." Jazz said. She had initially been very much against the idea of him going to Japan, but she seemed to have accepted it fairly well once she heard how it was contrived by Clockwork.

"Yeah, the only thing is that this was planned by Vlad, and I'm afraid to think of what he might do to draw me out into the open if I lay low for too long. Though most likely they've reported this to him by now, he's probably laughing his ass off." Danny paused and thought hard. "I'm gonna hafta come up with a battle strategy to survive long enough to convince them I'm not the bad guy."

"That might not be enough; we're talking about a million dollars here." Tucker said

"They don't really strike me as the type to put money over morals, though." Sam said.

"But they're still really strong; you heard what mom said about them, she thinks it's exaggeration but from what I've seen and felt I wouldn't put it past them and seriously can't afford to underestimate them in the least. It's going to be a battle to simply not die." Danny paled. This was the first time he had faced his mortality so directly since the Pariah Dark invasion and he was hardly eager to voice the fact.

"They said they don't kill, right? Their whole 'Saving Fist' thing" Sam tried to be re-assuring.

"Yeah, but they don't know their opponent isn't already dead." Danny said. No one knew what to say. "So my best bet is to lay low and train my ass off so I can at least have a fighting chance. I think I need to start my training with them before we get to Japan." He chuckled bitterly "Oh the irony; training to avoid death with the people who are trying to kill me."

"Kenichi, you were sloppy in your fights today." Akisame's voice may have been calm but it still sent shivers down Kenichi's spine.

"Yeah, what was that crap with lettin' that blond blob hit you? I'd've just knocked him out cold from the get go, though I will admit that the look on his face was priceless and you had a pretty good stance afterwards." Sakaki chuckled. Kenichi and Miu were disturbed but not quite surprised to find out that they had been watched during school.

"And more importantly your fight with Mrs. Fenton was not your best display by any means, you hesitated far too much. I hope you at least learned your lesson." The Elder looked at Kenichi, his expression shifting to fit the wise old teacher role.

"Eh, I think so, something about how 'Master' by the standard of the normal world is not the same as 'Master' by the standard I've been getting used to? I'm sorry for hesitating, but I was really confused during the fight, I mean, she was barely as strong as some of the disciples I've faced, and even less threatening since she wasn't trying to kill me." Kenichi said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yes, I'd say you've learned your lesson sufficiently. But what I've learned is that you need to learn to assess your opponents better." The elder stroked his beard. "On an unrelated note, I think we should invite Danny to stay with us to train before we actually go to Japan. When I spoke to Masters earlier he seemed to think that Phantom knows about us and will be lying low, harder to find, so it might be a while until we begin training otherwise. Besides, if Danny is staying in Kenichi's room it lessens the chance of Kenichi and Miu to taking advantage of their conjoined rooms." Miu blushed and looked somewhere between embarrassed end sheepish.

"That door leads to Miu's room! I thought it was a storage closet!" Kenichi looked shocked and then started to cry; the conflicting emotions of having missed an opportunity but avoiding death in doing so were too much for him. Just then, a timid looking man who appeared to work for the Hotel walked shakily up to the Ryōzanpaku gang.

"\\Uh... I-I'm going t-to have to a-ask you to l-leave the gym. You're s-scar uh disturbing the other g-guests and you're misusing the equipment.\\" The man looked relieved to have delivered the message.

"\\I apologize if we are disturbing the other guests, but in what way are we misusing the equipment?\\" Akisame inquired calmly

"\\W-well for starters, one person is only supposed to use one p-piece of equipment at a time.\\" He looked at Kenichi. Each of Kenichi's limbs was strapped to the wires of a different weight machine, and as he kicked and punched the weights clanked ferociously and shook the machine. The Manager would have said something earlier, but no one had wanted to argue with the people who had picked up and moved the abused equipment in question with one hand.

"\\I see. My apologies.\\Kenichi, we're going to go practice your kicks in the pool now!" Kenichi was removed from the equipment and carried to the pool, still crying. The manager and the bellhop that had wound up telling them to leave looked on in amazement.

"\\... Should we be calling Child Services? \\" The bellhop asked uneasily.

"\\I don't think the American Child Services has any authority over Japanese citizens. Besides, they are mayor Masters' guests; do you want to be the one to get them in trouble? \\" The manager replied. The bellhop simply paled. "\\I didn't think so\\"

AN Ok so I think I'll pro'ly be doing a little time skip in the next chapter, I know people have been eager to see Danny training but I think it will be more interesting to skip to the results of training and Phantom Vs. Ryōzanpaku than to linger on the process. There'll be plenty of time for training once they actually get to Japan. Please R&R!

A big thank you to those who voted on the poll, the unanimous vote is currently to not give Apachai powers, but with only 4 votes... I'll leave it open for, let's say a week after this is posted, and then close it.

I am really excited to make the fight, but I think this will quite a challenging chapter; I like a strong Danny, but for this story he obviously can't be too strong, but he can't be brought down in a single hit either (And considering one of his opponents is Fūrinji Hayato ...) anyway, it will be a difficult balance to maintain and a challenging chapter in general, so I may have to ask you guys to be patient. Though with spring break, I might have more time to write...