Well, this is my gift to every dear reader. Have a peacefull and jolly holidays!

Part 21: Call of the Valkyrie

"YOUR ACTIONS MADE MY DEAR SHAMPOO SHED TEARS OF LONELINESS!" Mousse jumped into action with a pair of sickles in his hands. A quick slice to the left made contact and Ranma's scream of pain was sweet to his ears. A swift spin followed by a tricky upward slash!
"Not so cocky now are you, Ranma?!"

Shigure, Kensei and the Elder watched the fierce fight. Neither felt it right to intervene, after all this was also a part of the road all martial artists walk. The tension was too much to bear as Shigure looked over to the others at the table.
"Should we... stop him?" The mistress of weapons took another rice cracker out of the bowl as she waited for the answer.
"I don't think there is need for it yet, we can manage much more than this." The Elder answered and took a sip of tea. Kensei nodded and put down the camera.
"I find it rather strange that Ran-chan attracts people like him... all talented fighters, maybe even geniuses and we haven't run into them or even heard about them." Shigure and Hayato agreed with a low hum.
"Ran-chan's friends are way above what people would call the average. To know that there are still young people like that... makes my old blood boil again!" The Elder started laughing as nostalgia washed over him.

The three masters snapped their gaze to the combat as the blades met the target's throat.
"Looks like I have some work to do." Kensei got up and walked over to the fighters. Mousse looked at his fellow country man. "There is no need for your help. The fight is over and beyond any aid!" The myopic amazon's smile told volumes about him.
"What should we do?" Shigure looked over the table again, not sure of the situation.
"Let him do as he wants... oh! Look at the time, I better hurry or Mr. Moustache is going to make me run with that tire again." With that Ranma stood up and walked out of the training room leaving behind Mousse who was busy hacking away at those creepy training statues.
The Chinese man smiled under his moustache at the rather entertaining scene. "Good thing that Akisame doesn't mind making new statues." Kensei looked at the remains, then grabbed Mousse by his hair and started pulling him out of the training room.
"Quit it! Let me go! Where do you think you're taking me?"
"To get a dustpan and broom! Just look at this mess you made."

Outside in the garden

"I must say, your form is great as always Ranma-kun." Akisame looked on, smiling as his disciple stood on the pegs, bearing weights of different size. "The first few minutes were off but seems like you got used to the weight differences by now."
The pigtailed boy was slightly sweating as he could feel the iron ball on his left almost making him fall of the wooden peg. He let a sigh of relaxation out before the sound of chain rattling and a loud click caught his attention.
"Huh? What the-"
"You adapted rather quickly so I changed up the weights to make it more fun. Now let's start again from the beginning and then we can continue to the endurance training."

Inside the dojo Miu grabbed Kenichi and slammed him onto the ground. "It seems like Ranma-san will be busy for a while."

Between kissing the floor and getting your arm twisted to the brink of braking Kenichi was a little preoccupied to answer the blond girl.
Quickly realizing that the tapping sound wasn't the rush of blood in her head, she let go of the Shirahama boy. "Forgive me, Kenichi-san. I wasn't careful enough."
While the scene was cute and fitting for a romantic comedy movie, Sakaki didn't want any of it. "Don't apologise Miu, if the kid slips up then break him! Akisame isn't THAT far to put him back together." Kenichi turned pale as a freshly painted wall when Miu suddenly grabbed him again.

As the three disciples trained, Kensei and the Elder were in the middle of plotting.
"So if we increase the time with Apachai for Kenichi by another hour, Miu would have more time to train with Ranma, but it would also push his training with me into the afternoon." The Elder nodded as he listened to the suggested timetable.
"The extra time would do good for Apachai, but are you sure that the two hour is necessary for Miu and Ranma?" The elder twirled his beard as he wondered about Kensei's reasoning.
"The two rarely spar and I thought that it would do some good for them. Besides us, who else would you want Miu to train with?" Hayato did ponder about letting them practice together, but as hard as it was to acnknowledge the fact the difference between Miu and Ranma was not a slight crack.

The sound of the pigtailed boy swearing at Akisame caught the Elders attention. Even though Ranma spew all kinds of foul words, he was doing the movements without slowing down while Akisame was playing around with the weights and sometimes changed them in the middle of a kata.
"A wide gap indeed..."

"SHAMPOO!" The desperate bellow followed up by a feminine scream brought back the elder from the stupor as he saw Miu punching the myopic boy into the next room.

"I have a bad feeling that the carpenter will be on speed dial from now on." The Elder scratched his head as the lack of funds in the near future became clear to him. The laughter of his granddaughter and disciple laughing together erased the problems of the cruel tomorrow. "That reminds me! Miu, Ken-chan could you two go to the store? We are running low on snacks." The sound of snacks caught the attention of those nearby and the quick trip to the store became a full blown shopping spree.

Ranma watched as the masters descended on Miu and Kenichi like vultures! "I wouldn't want to be in their shoes now. You plan to go for a soda and you buy out half the stock." While the masters might not have heard his words, he felt a tap on his shoulder and met with a familiar face. "Miss me Ranma ma boy?" It could have been on instinct or just the close proximity of the old man's face made him react, but the pigtailed boy struck with all his strength and speed. This time the sound of something crashing into the concrete fence caught the attention of the masters.
The Elder quickly checked to see what the damage was and a wide grin appeared on his face. "It looks like Happosai is back." Just as he mentioned the name, Happosai and Ranma were already trading blows.

While the scene of Ranma and Happosai fighting was not new, there was still something that terrified the Shirahama boy about it.
"Elder, shouldn't we stop them?" While Kenichi quaked at the show of skill, the blond Fuurinji heiress wanted to join in the fight. Hayato did notice the 'battle lust' in her eyes but before she or anyone could act, a newcomer jumped into the fray. A swarm of weapons and chains surprised the duo but both dodged in time so the ambush didn't work. Mousse jumped between the two, in his left hand wielding a niuweidao while using his claws in the right.
"It seems I missed a golden opportunity. I guess it is time to mend my ways!" With that Mousse ran at the pigtailed boy who seemed thrilled as the armed man ran towards him.

"Won't anyone do something?" Kenichi was terrified that seemingly no one bothered to stop the pigtailed boy and the nearsighted fighter. Even worse was that they were cheering!
"(At least Miu is outraged as well! This is not something that should go on anymore.)" Luckily his message reached one of the masters, as Shigure stood up and walked over to the two combatants.
"(I guess Shigure can take care of them... I mean she should be stronger than them.)" To his utter dismay Shigure just went there to give tips to the near sighted fighter and even helped him to take up a better stance! After that she fished out from under her garments the sword Ranma used when they practiced. She threw the blade over to Ranma who looked at her a curiously.
"Good time for... some practice." Before the pigtailed boy could have voiced his concerns about this, Mousse was already up close and personal. The somewhat obsessed amazon started with an overhead strike with his sword which Ranma blocked with the guard, but had to dodge backwards as mousse clawed with his right hand. "Easy there Mousse, you could end up harming someone like that." Ranma spun the sword around and tried to hold it like a ton fa." (I guess the party has just started.)"

While Mousse was the better of the two when it came to armed combat, Ranma was not out of the game yet. "For once in your life be a man and fight me!" Mousse let loose another flurry of slashes and thrusts hoping to catch the pigtailed boy off guard. The pigtailed boy took a step back as mousse lunged forward, then with a quick flick of the wrist pushed Mousse's arm far enough to make the sword useless-
"Ranma-san!" Myu yelled as she saw drops of blood tint the end of the claws, her instincts were telling her to jump in and end the fight, but Hayato grabbed her shoulder. There was no need for words as the painful coughing came from the myopic fighter.
"You almost had me, Mousse." Ranma was leaning backwards. The blades grazed his skin and used the momentum to hit Mousse in the kidney with the pummel as hard as he could. Mousse spat at the grass and blindly clawed where Ranma was. The pigtailed boy used the blade to catch the attack and with a quick spin aimed for his opponent's shoulder. With a loud cry Mousse let go of the sword as his hand was too weak to hold it. As a last attempt he dropped smoke pellets to make a brake for it. Quickly jumping above the cloud of gas, Mousse used his signature move, throwing chains and nets to hinder his opponent's movement while concentrating the hail of weaponry at his opponent.

In all the commotion nobody noticed as Kenichi took a step backwards. Seeing Mousse and Ranma fight was like watching an old martial arts movie with all the wire pulling and cheesy effects. Yet the knowledge that this wasn't a movie made him shiver! "(If I was as strong as Ranma then I could protect the school from Ragnarock... I could protect Miu!)"
Ranma flew out of the cloud like a bullet and before Mousse could move made contact with his sword. The sword reached Mousse's abdomen, followed by a quick spin and hit the amazon man on the back of the neck. The myopic boy gagged on a word he wanted to say as the hit caused spots to appear in his sight.

The Chinese boy fell to the ground and could only grunt as his vision became clear and the nausea passed. The first thing he saw was a familiar pair of feet clad in red shoes. The feeling of cold water followed by the transformation was welcome in a certain way.
"I knew where to find you Mousse." Shampoo had a stern look at the duck, who was trying to hide behind the nearby tree. "Great Grandmother told you to take the night shift and look at you now. I had to stay up all night because of you!" The duck had tears in its eyes and fished out a bouquet of roses to appease his one true love. "Isn't that sweet? I guess everything is good now." With a snap kick she booted the sometimes bird into the side of the house. "When will you ever learn?" The duck quacked but it sounded like the whimpering of a beaten dog. "I don't care what you have to say. You had a job to do! Now... will you follow me back home or do I have to TAKE you home?"

"Is what she said." Ma Kensei translated to the rest of the dojo.
Miu looked at the broken boy. "I kind of feel sorry for him. The moment he saw her he was already smiling." Sakaki shook his head as he looked at the scene. "She is kind of a harsh mistress, but he DID ask for it if you think about it." Hayato laughed as he patted the karate masters shoulder. "Then should this be your punishment the next time you ignore the shopping list?" "Hey!"

Leaving the masters to their ways, Miu and Kenichi ran up to Ranma. The duo looked concerned with his wellbeing and Miu started taking off his tank top but to her amazement the bleeding already stopped.
"Satisfied?" The blond girl was rather confused as she barely saw the wound. "But I saw blood and you..." Before she could say anything else Ranma grabbed her hands. "Don't worry, okay? This was rather tame compared to what we usually do. At least there were no explosives this time.""EXPLOSIVES?!"
Before the trio could delve into the topic of past battles Shampoo gave a surprise hug to Ranma who was rather flustered from it. "I has to hurry Airen, but no worry Shampoo will visit again soon!" With that the amazon girl shot a glare at the mortified duck, which started running in a rather urgent way and flew towards the Neko Hanten.

While under the watchful eyes of his lilac haired 'warden', far above the civilian population, the duck known as Mousse plotted revenge.
"I will never forget this humiliation. Mark my words Saotome Ranma! I will be your death!" The sound of angry quacking could be heard even in the distance.

Back at the dojo, the masters were too deep in analysing the fight so the three disciples had a chance to talk. While Ranma got himself a new shirt, he listened to Kenichi trying his best to talk about his recent fights and how different it was.
"(Now that I think about it... I kind of forgot to ask how it went. Kenichi seems to be okay so I guess it went well enough. His training didn't change that much either.)" The pigtailed boy looked at them and saw that Miu and Kenichi was looking at him.
"Erhm... sure?"
Kenichi looked rather hurt as he turned a shade paler. "Ranma-san you weren't even listening!"
"Sorry about that... just got caught up in something. Anyway how did the fight go with that hooded guy? I kind of lost track after Ryoga and me started fighting."
"Well... it was rather stressful. I almost fell of the bus but luckily...

... and so that is how it ended. Sakaki-san and Ba-san helped me get back." Kenichi was rather proud of himself even when he talked about how Kensei and Shio helped him. Miu looked rather happy as she listened to the feats of bravery and skill the boy showed.
"It was good experience for you Kenichi-san. The next time will go even better I am sure of that." This sentence made the Shirahama's boy heart skip a beat. "N-Next time? I have to do that again?" The blond girl and the raven boy looked surprised by the question.
The blond girl thought about a little. "I rarely had rivals so I am not sure but I guess you don't."
"Oh that is a huge relief because..."
"I mean you don't have to fight on the top of a bus next time. It would be rather inconvenient." Ranma nodded at that. "I usually just run into them on the street or get a challenge letter to meet in an empty lot. Now that I think of it... it happens a lot at school as well! And at the Tendos..."
Kenichi and Miu quickly shut the pigtailed boy out of the conversation as he was in the middle of a long list.

As Ranma was still counting the various and sometimes exotic places he ran into and faced his rivals, the owner of Ryouzanpaku Hayato patted Kenichi on the shoulder.
"Rivals are a good thing Ken-chan! They make your strive to be better, they enhance you." Pride and excitement radiated off the Elder as he looked at the young Shirahama who wasn't so sure about rivals... especially, if they are as dangerous as Tanimoto! The Elder noticed the uncertain look the young disciple had so he pulled out the big guns.
"With this, you have finally entered the ranks of martial artists, Ken-chan!" The elder was pleased by the awe in the boy's eyes. As the boy asked the masters about how many rivals they accumulated under the years which turned into a sort of bragging competition and tallying the number of active or still living rivals nobody noticed Ranma walking away.

A few blocks away from Ryouzanpaku

Not far from Ryouzanpaku the pigtailed boy was deep in thought as he roamed the streets. While he was rather interested in how Kenichi will deal with the news and what is waiting for him, he didn't worry about him.
"(With all the people there looking out for him... he should be fine from now on. That Hermit guy... I guess he is a good foe for him. That reminds me... the fight with Ryoga and now with Mousse didn't go so well to say the least.)" As he walked by the playground where a lot of kids were having fun, he let a smile form on his face as two little boys were running around trying to shoot each other with their watergun-
The kids stopped in their track as they realised that they drenched the cute redhead. Both looked rather troubled as the slightly annoyed girl looked at them.
"We are sorry miss!"
"(Son of a ...)" Ranma sighed as she realised that she should have gotten used to this by now. "No harm done. Just... try to be more careful next time, okay?" The kids nodded and moved to the centre of the playground where the water spray couldn't reach the pedestrians. The pigtailed girl sighed as she mentally went through scenarios how she could have evaded the water, but all she could come up with was this: no matter how careful she is the Jusenkyo curse will find a way.

While walking around the neighbourhood was a rather nice and calming experience she knew that something was going to happen. It always does. Fortunately, she didn't need to wait for long as she ran into a rather pleasant diversion in the face of Nanjoo Kisara. The slightly taller and more slender redhead just exited the corner shop with a small bag in her left hand as she caught sight of the petite and curvy redhead. Ranma could only smile as Kisara dropped her grocery bag and stared at her.

A lot of things happened recently that made Kisara rather tense. The problems that Ragnarock was facing, the inner turmoil of said gang, the whole Saotome Ranma thing that she still couldn't understand and now her plan to enjoy a movie in the comfort of her home while munching on snacks was ruined. By a certain redhead who also happened to have a pigtail. Who not also looked more feminine but also had a voluptuous body to boot. All this came crashing down on her as she gave voice to all her frustration.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"
Ranma being Ranma deciphered the question in the method of the Furinkan way.
"Enjoying a stroll around the place." With that said she walked up to Valkyrie, picked up her shopping bag and handed it to her with a smile.

Kisara was rather taken back by this kind gesture. From what she gathered about the redheaded girl, she was just as bad, if not more so than the bane of her existence, Saotome Ranma. A slight pause followed as she wasn't sure what the redhead will do after she accepts the bag full of snacks, Kisara looked into the smaller redhead's eyes.
"Is this some sort of trick?"
"What?"
"Don't try to fool me! The moment I take the shopping back you are going to attack, aren't you?" The hurt look that the smaller redhead showed was yet another reaction Kisara wasn't prepared for.
"I just wanted to help you since you dropped it to the ground." In the back of her mind, Kisara was still nervous about the situation. But the girl in front of her seemed sincere and she really needed a chocolate bar and soda right about now, so she quickly took back the grocery. Since no trick or follow up attack happened, the redhead fished out a can of orange juice from the bag.
"This isn't right. From what I heard you pretty much destroyed the top tier of Ragnarock... I thought that you would be a menace and yet..." Opening the drink she consumed a big portion of it before she continued.
"Would you... answer some questions I have?" The redhead perked up and nodded while rolling back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Near the river bank

The walk to the river was rather amusing to Ranma. Kisara was rather nervous and while she didn't intend to torture the girl, she did find some amusement in her reactions. Valkyrie lead her to the river bank, a couple of elderly were fishing near the water so Valkyrie sat down on the stairs leading to the road.
Not patient enough to wait till the other redhead gets comfortable she started asking her questions. "Okay for starters... who are you?"
"(I could say that I'm Saotome Ranma but I don't think Kisara would take it well. I guess I should give her a name.)"
The smaller redhead was silent after a simple question like that and Kisara wasn't sure why.
"(It's not that hard of a question... maybe she doesn't want to give me answers after all? Or is she thinking about a way to attack me? I am at a disadvantage at the moment so-)"
"I'm Yoiko, Hibiki Yoiko. It's nice to meet you." The family name was rather common since Valkyrie knew two Hibiki's... though she only heard about one.
"I don't want to pry but you don't have any relations with Hibiki Kugenin or Hibiki Yuuki... right?" Yoiko shook her head and which made Kisara a bit less tense about it.
"(It wouldn't have made sense to begin with... a family member of Ragnarock turning against the group. That would have been a real shit show!)"

After offering Yoiko a soda, Kisara continued on with her list of questions.

"So you are from the Furinkan area, right?" The girl nodded as she took a swig from the can of orange soda. It was strange to see the voluptuous redhead... what he heard of her contradicts how she acts now. She was calm, friendly and while she looked rather feminine at first now she sat next to her just like a boy... and even belched as one after crumbling the soda can up like a piece of paper. Kisara smirked as she thought about the next question.
"It's kind of annoying that you won't speak but I guess you are at least answering in a sense. Well here comes the big question I would like to know. Do you know Saotome Ranma?"

Kisara made sure to remember that Yoiko's eyes opened up a little after hearing the question. "Yeah, I know him. He attends at Furinkan High."
"(Finally she spoke. Okay let's continue.) What can you tell me about him?" Before Yoiko could speak Valkyrie continued.
"I know a lot about him, but from experience most of that is garbage. I know his class, his teachers and even his grades! He learned a lot of different styles but never took part in any official competition that would garner him fame and yet EVERYONE knows his name over there..." Valkyrie blushed as she realized that her tone changed in the middle of her speech and the redhead next to her was giggling.
"The man is a mystery to me and it is drives me crazy, okay?!"
"And what else do you know about him?"

While the roles got switched, Kisara didn't mind it the least. She wanted to talk to someone and she won't look a gift horse in the mouth.
"He knows how to push someone's buttons that is for sure. I- I fought him and in hindsight reading his bio should have given me enough to beat him but it seemed like he was just playing. I didn't even register as a threat to him! He even fought... an acquaintance of mine and he is pretty skilled but to Saotome it was still just fun and games! He even grabbed me and... you know what forget that part!" The memory of the sudden intrusion of her personal space and the touch of the pigtailed boy resulted in Valkyrie blushing. Suddenly the agent of Ragnarock felt a chilly wind and rubbed her arms.
"Where did this cold come from?"

Ranma wasn't sure what to think. Here he was listening to Kisara spilling a lot of things to him, some which made him rather uncomfortable to be right next to her.
"(Please don't be another Kodachi... and please don't be another want to be fiancée!)" His poker face was still horrible and without the Soul of Ice he would be sweating bullets and probably halfway to where ever Ryoga wandered off this time.
"So you like... look up to Ranma?"
Kisara caught her sudden change of word and blushed and after a while she nodded.
"What can I say? I love martial arts and he is like... it's like he appeared out of one of those martial arts movies or those fighting video games! I don't know... I guess I want him to teach me. I want to obtain that level of skill, if only he wasn't as irritating as he is sometimes." Ranma smiled as she felt somewhat at eased by Kisara's words.
"(So she isn't after me like the girls back home. Kisara wants to learn from me.)" With that Ranma let go of the Soul of Ice then stood up and looked at Kisara.
"Want to spar?"

Author's note:
It has been a long time since I last uploaded. To summarize why I didn't (if the dear reader is interested) is mostly because I got a job working as an escalator mechanic which takes up a good portion of my weekdays. Also started playing several tabletop rpgs in which many I ended up as the Game Master so most of my creativity went into that project. Only one of those games is still going on but the game sessions are not so frequent unfortunately.

Also got a form of distaste for anime and needed some time to enter once again into the genre. I theorized that what brought me back to writing was a bad experience. After watching Dragonball Super until the start of the Tournament of Might saga I realised that for me the series was over a long time ago. I could sit down any day and marathon Dragonball/Z and still enjoy it, but this new series just feels empty and I feel "jilted" after getting my hopes up and crushing it.