Happi's Redemption chapter 8

Happi’s Redemption
A Ranma One Half Fan Fiction
By Michael A. Ivins

Ranma along with all of his friends, enemies and acquaintances are the property of Takahashi Rumiko. I’m just borrowing them for my own amusement and hopefully that of my readers. Sailor Moon and the Senshi aren’t mine either. Please don’t sue me.

This story takes place after the end of the manga.

Chapter 8
Training

The next morning the two “girls” got up to find Po Shen had left them clothes. Ranma grumbled about putting on feminine undergarments, but used the garments provided. The clothes she had brought for the trip were very much in need of washing. The rest of the outfit provided for Ranma were borrowed from elsewhere in the village. They had found a girl who was the same size at the red haired martial artist.

The outfit provided for Ranma was a Chinese pantsuit similar to some that Ranma had seen Shampoo wearing. The gender changer felt that at least if she did have to wear girl’s clothing, it was better to wear pants than some kind of dress. Her outfit was a soft pastel blue in color.

Noriko found she had been left a similar outfit but in yellow. Considering that she had been a man for centuries, she had expected herself to feel more resistance to the idea of wearing feminine clothing. Thus is was a bit of a shock that she actually found herself feeling disappointed that she hadn’t been given a dress to wear.

On the other hand this might be the best choice. She was supposed to be teaching martial arts and she needed clothing she could move in. She had seen Shampoo fight in an outfit like this and knew that it was cut in such a way that a person could move well in it.

They took turns in the bath but cut their morning ablutions short. They went from there down to the dining room where they met their hosts. Lo Shen gave them directions to the police training ground for Noriko and the local clinic for Ranma. The Matriarch told them, “I already told you yesterday that our doctor’s name is Rin Se but she won’t mind if you call her Rinse. The sensei for our police has a name but nobody has used it in years. She is called the Brick. When you meet her you’ll understand why.”

Ranma cocked her head and commented, “She sounds like someone I’d like to meet.”

The Elder nodded. “After you finish your duties at the clinic you can go to join Noriko at the Police training ground. I’m sure the Brick would enjoy sparring with you. She would never actually say such a thing, but those who know her would be sure of it.”

After finishing breakfast everyone dispersed to their respective jobs. Ranma headed to the clinic. At the door of the clinic she was met by a tall, skinny young man with close-cropped brown hair. The young man wore glasses that seemed to constantly slide down his nose.

He gave a bow of his head and said, “Hello, you must be Ranko. I’m Comb. I know it’s a silly name.”

Well, at least the guy seemed to have a lot of enthusiasm. Ranma returned the bow and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Comb. Yes, I’m Ranko. I’m supposed to help out here for a couple of weeks.”

Comb nodded. “Do you have any medical training?”

Ranma thought to herself, “I hope this wasn’t a mistake.” Out loud she said, “Mostly first aid. I’m trained in treating wounds and stuff like that. From hanging around a clinic I know a little bit about herbal medicine (very little) and some pressure points. I can manipulate my own ki and can do that a little bit for other people.”

The young man looked bemused. “That’s a rather strange mix of skills. You’re a martial artist, aren’t you?”

Ranma looked at the floor for a moment. “It shows, does it?”

“Well, you move like a warrior,” explained Comb. “Treating and caring for wounds is one of the basic skills that a martial artist or warrior would need. The herbal medicine is a bit more unusual for a martial artist. The pressure points could also be used in fighting. So far as I know only the most advanced martial artists can manipulate their ki beyond using it to enhance their strength and speed.”

The redhead couldn’t resist a smirk as she summoned a ball of pure ki and let it glow in her hand. When she dismissed that she could hear the sound of hands clapping. She looked and found a woman standing there. She was of middle height (taller than Ranma’s girl form) with graying blue hair.

The woman was wearing a silk pantsuit similar in style to the one Ranma was wearing. Over that she was wearing a white lab coat. She also was wearing glasses, but didn’t seem to have the same problem as Comb with the glasses sliding down. The doctor also had a stethoscope hanging around her neck.

The doctor gave a slight bow and said, “An impressive display of ki control. I’d guess you could use that as a weapon if you needed to. Still healing is always more complicated than destroying things. Tell me, have you used that impressive reserve of ki for something other than fighting?”

This sounded like a verbal challenge. Ranma answered, “When my friend Noriko was dying from ki depletion I transferred some of my own ki into her aura to keep her alive. Of course she was a man at the time.”

The doctor frowned. “A man? Jusenkyo?”

Ranma nodded. “Me too.”

“Ah,” said the doctor. “I thought I sensed something about you. I’m guessing you’re originally male.”

The redhead nodded. The doctor smiled now. “That was a nice piece of work with the ki transfer. Did you have any training on how to that?”

The girl noticed that the doctor had refrained from asking why Ranma was currently female. She answered, “No training. I found my friend more dead than alive and had to do something to save him. I guess you could say it was instinct.”

The doctor’s smile seemed to gain in warmth. “Then it would seem that you have good instincts. Lo Shen said you’re only likely to be with us for a couple of weeks, so I won’t have a lot of time to give you more than the barest basics. It should still be enough to teach you if this is something you want to do with your life.”

The sex changer nodded. “I get the feeling you don’t think too much of martial artists.”

The doctor was not the least bit apologetic. She said, “Don’t get me wrong, I know that warriors and martial artists have their place in the world. I just don’t like having to patch up the losers in the fights.”

With a slightly defiant expression, Ranma said, “I really didn’t have much choice in the matter. When I was five, my father took me away from my mom on a 10 year training trip. The whole time was spent in martial arts training. Nobody ever asked me if it was what I wanted to do.”

The doctor’s manner sobered. “I’m sorry if I brought up unpleasant memories. Come on back to the office. The first patient is due to arrive in about 15 minutes.”

In another part of town Noriko was led to the police station. From there they went into the open field in the back. There was a woman who was square in her build. She was powerfully muscled. Her face gave the impression of being carved from granite. Her hair was a red that was reminiscent of a brick.

The woman introduced herself, “I am called the Brick or just Brick. I do have another name but I like Brick better than the name my parents gave me.”

The name suited her. The woman gave off an aura of strength and solidity. The Brick said, “The Matriarch tells me you are the master of your own martial arts style. Is that true?”

Noriko bowed and said, “That is true. However, if you were hoping to spar with a martial arts grand master, I’m afraid I must disappoint you. Before I was a man of many years experience. What you see before you now is the body that Jusenkyo has gifted me with. I know all the old moves but it will take some time for me to get this body trained to level of strength and speed that I can execute all of those moves.”

“Used to be a man?” The powerfully built woman looked over the blonde. “I’m guessing this body is an improvement over the old one.”

Noriko couldn’t help laughing. “You could say that. The old body was very old. In fact it was dying of old age.”

Brick nodded. “So you went from old and male to young, female and pretty. Personally I think pretty is overrated.”

Silently, the Blonde thought, “You would.” Out loud she said, “I can still teach.”

The police trainer agreed, “Yes, I would imagine your knowledge would still be good. I hear you won’t be with us for very long. For the time you’re here, I’ll be willing to help you train to get your strength back.”

“Thank you, Brick. After my friend, Ranko, gets done with her work at the clinic, I’m sure she would like to come and spar with you. She’s a very strong martial artist.”

“If that’s true, what’s she doing at the clinic?”

Noriko shrugged. “The Matriarch felt that was better suited to her. I have the feeling that she may have the makings of a great doctor.”

Brick sounded doubtful. “A noble calling to be sure. But to turn from martial arts to medicine seems odd.”

The blonde shrugged. “Not as odd as you think. Besides, the child was forced into martial arts at an early age. While she has great aptitude for the Art, it may be that her talents would be better suited to healing.”

The martial arts trainer shrugged. “If that’s true, Dr. Rin Se will find it out.”

Noriko nodded. “That I may assess your level of skill I would like to spar. Keep in mind that I’m not up to my proper level of strength so go easy on me. I want to see your moves.”

The instructor pointed toward the police station. “The class is coming. Maybe it would be more instructive for you to observe me sparring with some of my students.”

Thus it was a short while later that Noriko was watching the students. She did get a good feel for the skill levels of both the teacher and the students. Before long she was able to start suggesting new moves or refinements to moves that were being used.

At the clinic the doctor was taking a lecturing tone as she spoke to her helpers. When a patient came in she would recite back the symptoms. Because of the newness of her students, the teacher would then list some of the conditions that could cause those symptoms. When needed she would have one or both of her helpers fetch pieces of equipment or instruments. For Ranma she often would have to describe what the instrument looked like as well giving the name of the instrument.

It was likely that examination of every patient took longer than it would have otherwise. The doctor explained nearly every step she took. The exception to this was the things she had already explained earlier in the day. If a patient came in with a similar complaint to one who had been earlier, the doctor would question her helpers to see if they remembered from the earlier patients.

Of course the helpers did all of the cleanup.

Both of the travelers kept busy at their respective jobs most of the day. When the doctor’s closed her office for the day, Ranma went to the police station. The students had been dismissed for the day, but Noriko and Brick were going through a light sparring.

Ranma stood and watched for a while. The instructor noticed the audience. She stepped back and turned to the redhead. “Are you Ranko?”

The redhead bowed. “That’s me.”

The police trainer said, “We shall see if you live up to the praise your sensei has given your. Defend yourself!”

With no more warning than that, the powerfully built woman rushed forward. Ranma ducked under a punch and snapped off a kick. Her kick connected and Ranma felt some pain come from it. Damn, the woman was tough! She probably had gone through the training for the Breaking Point technique to be so tough.

A few exchanges of blows and Ranma had an evaluation of her opponent’s fighting style. The woman was very strong and seemed to favor moves that used that strength. She also seemed to disdain defense, depending on her toughness to protect her. Ranma adjusted her attack to fight as if she was going against Ryoga.

For the first time in a long time Brick had to adjust her fighting style. She found the petite redhead was hitting vital spots. Places that still hurt even with her toughness. For the first time in a long time the fighter nicknamed brick had to start fighting defensively.

After a while of this, the police trainer jumped back, held her hand up and said, “That’s enough for now.”

Ranma eyed her quizzically. After a moment the woman said, “I see that your teacher didn’t exaggerate. You have good defense and an intelligent offence. I admit that was a bit of a surprise.” She rubbed absently at the inside of her right elbow. “Your natural strength isn’t as much as mine, but with ki enhancement, you are equal or even a little stronger. I wasn’t using ki enhancement, but I do know how.”

She raised an eyebrow. “I hate to admit it, but I don’t think I could match your speed even with ki enhancement. I could tell you weren’t even using your full speed.”

Ranma smirked. “Yeah, I’m pretty fast. I do have to admit that I’m faster in girl form than am as a guy.”

“Oh?” The trainer gave the redhead another appraising look. “Does your male form have a compensation for the loss of speed?”

“Yeah, my male form is bigger and stronger.”

The big woman frowned and shook her head. “I’m tempted to ask you to change to male form and see what you can do. But Lo Shen said you needed to stay female for the time you stay with us.

At Ranma’s sour expression, the police trainer clapped a hand to the redhead’s shoulder and said, “There’s worse things you could be than a woman. From what I’ve heard you could probably use some time in female form so your growth can catch up to your male form.”

Ranma cast a glare at Noriko. Responding to the look, the blonde held up her hands and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you wanted to keep it a secret.”

The younger girl shook her head and said, “I guess there’s no real harm done. I’d like to ask that you not be so quick to share information about that in the future.”

Suddenly the expression on Ranma’s face turned into an evil grin. “Now I seem to remember you wanted to get some exercise so you could get your new body in shape.”

While the Brick’s mouth didn’t turn up at the corners there was just the faintest hint of a glint of humor in her eyes. She said, “I can help with that as well. You really do need to have strength to match your skills.”

Noriko looked back and forth between the other two women and suppressed the desire to groan. She thought, “I’m doomed.”

Sometime later Ranma walked back to the home of Lo Shen, not in the least hampered by the weight of Noriko who was draped over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry. The older woman was conscious, but so tired she could scarcely move. When Ranma had offered to carry her, the blonde readily agreed.

Noriko groaned and said, “I’m going to be sore tomorrow.”

Ranma glanced at the woman on her shoulder and commented, “All you had to do was say you’d had enough. Even a woman like the Brick isn’t deliberately cruel. You just had to keep going until you couldn’t even stand up anymore. I hope you realize you are probably going to be pretty much useless tomorrow.”

Only a groan answered. Ranma rolled her eyes as she stepped up to the door of the house. She knocked and the door was answered by Po Shen. The young woman’s eyes went wide, “Oh, my goodness! What happed to Noriko?”

Ranma looked at the woman on her shoulder and said, “A little too much hard exercise with the Brick. Actually she did a little better than I expected. I’d have to rate Noriko’s level of fitness about equal to a high school soccer player. Still pretty weak for a martial arts master, but we can work on it. If nothing else, today’s session was important to teach her what her limits are.”

“What were you doing during this?” Po Shen wanted to know.

The redhead’s eyebrows went up. “I was following along, of course. What we were doing was a good workout. I feel a bit tired myself.”

The young woman looked Ranma over. The shorter girl couldn’t be too tired if she had the energy to carry Noriko. Shortly Ranma was inside and Noriko was on a couch in the living room.

They were just in time for dinner. When Jin Rei announced the meal, Ranma went over and let Noriko lean on her as they went into the dining room. While they were eating Ranma said, “Hey Po, if you don’t mind I’d like to get on your computer after dinner to check if Nabiki has answered my email from yesterday.”

The older woman nodded. “That won’t be a problem. I’ve got some work to do before I need to use the computer myself. You’re welcome to it.”

After the meal Ranma helped Noriko up the stairs and they went into Po Shen’s room to use the computer. Ranma was seated in the desk chair, while Noriko lay down on Po Shen’s bed.

Before long Ranma was logged onto the mail server and checked her in-box. Besides some spam the only significant piece of mail was from Frozen Monarch.

Ranma clicked on it then decrypted the mail.

“To: Undomesticated Equine
From: Frozen Monarch
Subject: Got your Pictures

The picture with the blue background should work fine for a passport photo. I’ve passed a copy on to my people and they will get to work on it. You should have the new passport in 3 weeks at the most.

I took a good look at the other picture. Wow! Are you sure that pool you fell into wasn’t the Spring of Drowned Beautiful Young Hot Girl? Noriko’s gorgeous. I’m jealous.

I’m pretty sure I found your sorceress. It wasn’t hard. She runs a store called the Spell Book. From what I can find out it is a pretty standard occult book shop with some New Age stuff mixed in. Rumor has it that there is a back room or even a basement where there are real magic books, supplies and even weapons. If anyone could help you with your problem, she’d probably be the one. What kind of control do you think she could give you?

It’s nice that you found people who are willing to let you stay with them while you wait.

There is a possible problem here. I’m guessing that a certain ninja servant has been talking to Café bunch. The True Blunder is still saying that the ‘foul sorcerer has fled from his just wrath.’ But now he’s started going on about the Pigtailed Goddess has been kidnapped by the ancient lecher. The Black Rose is glad the competition for her ‘Ranma-Sama’ is gone, but says that even she wouldn’t want her worst enemy in such captivity as the red haired one must now be suffering.

I’ve heard nothing new from the Café crowd. Miss Big Spat dropped by yesterday to ask where you had gone. I told her the agreed on story of you going to help out a sick friend. I get the feeling she doesn’t believe it.

What have they got you doing to earn your food and lodging?

I’m doing what I can to keep things contained, but considering the people I have to deal with, there’s likely to be a limit to what I can do.

Signed,
The Ice Queen”

Ranma thought about it. After a moment she said, “3 weeks, maybe less. I guess that shouldn’t be too much trouble.”

“Speak for yourself,” Noriko said from the bed.

Ranma let out a big sigh. “You’ll recover. You just overworked yourself. It not like you did any permanent damage to yourself.”

A groan answered her. The blonde finally said, “I’m going to have to channel my ki to speed up my recovery if I’m going to even have a chance of helping with Brick’s class tomorrow.”

Ranma looked with an interested expression. “I can do that a little myself. Since you always seemed to recover from even the worst beatings from angry women wanting their lingerie back, I’d guess you can do that self healing trick better than I can. Can you teach me?”

“Eh?” The blonde seemed to think about it. “Sure, I can do that. Part of it comes from having a very high ki reserve. Even if I did get a new body, my ki reserves did transfer over.”

Ranma shook her head. “I think part of it may be in the technique. If it were just how bad the wounds were, I’d think the extra ki would do it. But you don’t just heal up worse damage, you do it lots faster than I can.”

“Okay,” Noriko agreed, “I’ll teach you.”

Ranma nodded, then began typing.

“To: Frozen Monarch
From: Undomesticated Equine
Subject: Re: Got Your Pictures

Yeah, I know. Noriko’s really pretty and she’s older than my girl form. It sort of makes me feel like a little kid.

The Elder here said the sorceress could change the trigger for my transformatipm from water to will power. That still wouldn’t mean that I would stop changing, just that I’d be able to control when.

It was explained to me that the curse wants me to spend at least half or more of my time in cursed form. If it thinks there’s been too much time since I was last in cursed form, it magically attracts water. She tells me that if I had just got in the habit of sleeping in girl form, I could have cut down on the number of water accidents during the day. It can also cause hot water accidents if I’ve been a girl too long, but exactly how long that is, I don’t know.

This Amazon village doesn’t have Warriors; they call them police officers instead. Noriko is going to teach them Anything Goes. The Matriarch seemed to think I’d be best off helping out at the local medical clinic. We’re staying at the Matriarch’s house.

All for now
Signed,
Undomesticated Equine”

Ranma encrypted the message and sent it.

In a thoughtful tone Noriko said, “Nabiki’s comment got me thinking. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Nyaniichuan curse victim whose girl form wasn’t at least cute. Most would qualify as pretty or even beautiful. I’ve never heard of one who was ugly or even plain.”

Ranma sat for a moment. “Well that’s interesting, I guess…”

Noriko rolled her eyes. Old people say stuff like that all the time. Oh, well. Maybe now that she was young again, she could start relating better with young people.

When Ranma logged out of the email server she put the computer in standby mode for Po Shen to get to work with it quickly. The redhead stepped out of the room and went partway down the stairs.

Po Shen was reading a book and making notes on a pad of paper. Ranma spoke just loud enough to get her attention. “I’m done with the computer now.”

The other woman looked up and nodded.

When Ranma got to the guest room she found Noriko was already in bed. She looked at the redhead with a questioning expression.

The younger girl nodded then stepped up to the other’s bed. She stood at the side of the bed and held her hands over Noriko. Next she closed her eyes and tuned her ki senses. Having done the ki transfers, Ranma was now used to connecting with another person’s aura. She hadn’t tried something like this since Happosai became Noriko.

There was a difference now. The aura had a distinct feminine feel that had not been there before. Ranma took that to mean that Noriko was adapting well to the change. She supposed that was good.

She took a moment to locate all of the ki flows in the other girl’s body. When she felt she was ready for the demonstration, she said, “Ok, do it.”

Ranma watched, fascinated, as Noriko channeled ki within herself. Ranma could tell that she was doing it slower than normal to allow the younger girl to see what was being done.

The redhead was watching with the same concentration she used when watching any martial arts technique. The same talent that allowed her to master a technique by only seeing it was now applied to this self healing.

When Noriko was finished she said, “And that’s it.”

Ranma pulled in her ki senses and opened her eyes. She asked, “How do you feel?”

Noriko answered honestly, “Still tired but it’s the kind of fatigue that sleep and food will fix. Did you get a good read on the technique?”

Ranma grinned. “Yep, I got it. I could tell you were going slow so I could see it. I’m pretty sure I can do it myself. Actually, from what I saw, I’m thinking I could do it to someone else. I just don’t know enough about ki flow patterns to try it right now. If I did I’d probably do more harm than good.”

The blonde nodded. “I bet your Dr. Rinse could teach you about ki patterns if that’s what you want. You should ask her when you see her tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll do that.”

Noriko smiled inwardly. Ranma really seemed excited at the thought of learning healing techniques. Maybe Lo Shen was right about Ranma. Maybe he was better suited to the healing arts than martial ones.

The blonde said, “I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to turn in now.”

Ranma nodded and turned out the light. She moved over to her own bed. She wasn’t feeling particularly sleepy at the moment. She wondered if the good doctor would have a ki flow pattern chart that she could borrow.

The young girl lay down on her own bed and closed her eyes. She wasn’t trying to sleep. Ranma again tuned her ki senses and focused them on herself. She wasn’t looking for specific problems but seeking to learn the pattern of ki flows. Mentally she rehearsed the technique Noriko had shown her without actually using it.

Ranma did eventually drift off to sleep.

Author's Note: So Ranma begins learning more about medicine and Noriko gets in some hard training. At least they are doing something constructive while they wait for Noriko's new passport.