Faking It

Part Eight

By Philip Weigel

The Disclaimer is in the Prologue.

Note: This part takes place while Theo, Kodachi and Sasuke were at the Kuno Mansion. Hope that clears any confusion up.

_______________________________________________________________________

It had not taken Ranma long to lead Julia and the others still at Nodoka's home to the soccer field of Furinkan High School. After all, both fighters wanted to face off against the other as soon as possible, eager for a challenge of their caliber.

Ranma and Julia stood in the center of the soccer field, facing one another. Their eyes locked as they stood there, practically gazing into each other's essences.

In the soccer stands that were aligned with the soccer field, we see Brianna, Sheila, Nabiki, Nodoka, Gar, and Tirga sitting down and watching; waiting for what would possibly be the fight of the century to begin.

"Man, I pity that poor human..." Tirga said. "She's gonna turn him into pigtailed pizza."

Nabiki looked over at Tirga. "I would be so sure, 'stripes'. Ranma is the trickiest, most highly skilled martial artist I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I'm sure he'll beat this Julia's butt soundly."

"I would not be so sure of that if I were you, Miss Tendo." Gar said. "Master Julia is an incredibly skilled warrior in her own right, and is the Armsmaster of Jade. She is the greatest. Period."

Nodding her head to acknowledge what Gar said, Nabiki then asked, "Willing to bet on it?"

Gar took Nabiki's hand, spooking the girl for a moment, but calmed down considerably when she felt him take his hand away. Looking down at what was in her palm, her eyes widened in shock. "Is this?"

"A Jaden gold piece." Gar said. "And I'm willing to bet that on Master kicking my soon-to-be pigtailed brother-in-law's butt."

Nabiki nodded her head. "Sure." She said. But mentally she was thinking, "Saotome, you had BETTER win this fight."

Brianna let out a yawn. Her mother and Ranma had been staring at each other for a good ten minutes, and had YET to move. Leaning over to Sheila, she asked, "Why does mom want to fight Ranma again?"

Sheila leaned over to Brianna and answered, "Something about beating someone named Benji."

Brianna nodded her head. "With or without the collar on?"

"Without it." Sheila answered. "Why?"

Brianna was wide-eyed with that. Benji, without his strength inhibitor, was absolutely a monster. A terror to deal with, and was a challenge to Ryan, Britanny, Asrail, and Arnie. Heck, they all took him on at once, and they barely suppressed him. "Damn... No wonder mom wants to fight him. She rarely gets a challenge."

Gar, who had been listening, leaned forward from his seat. "Even if he is a challenge to Master Julia, I have complete faith in Sensei's skills."

"Don't sell my son to short." Nodoka said. "I am sure that Ranma will either come on top, or at least tie with the woman."

Tirga shrugged his shoulders at all this. He was still kind of pissed that he had lost Sheila, and knew that seeing the pigtailed jerk getting his ass handed to him, would do the Weretiger a world of good. "I wonder when they're going to fight..."

"They'll fight when they're ready." Gar replied. "So sit back, relax, and wait."

********

Genma looked at Soun and the two of them looked at 'Brr' the master. Soun spoke to Happosai, "Master, just why are you having us follow this group?"

Happosai narrowed his eyes a bit and then spoke as they followed Ranma and the group he was leading to the Furinkan Soccer Field. "Simple, you both have known for some time now that I've chosen Ranma as my heir to the school right?" They both nodded, "Good, however usually to give him the title as Master or Grandmaster the current Master of Grandmaster of the school has to test the person and see how they do." Happosai then sighed, "Unfortunately Ranma has grown beyond my abilities."

Genma blinked, "Master? What do you mean?"

Happosai shook his head, "Two months ago I saw Ranma get into a fight with someone who could've beaten me easily. Ranma defeated that person and he had a broken arm to boot."

Happosai turned to the two of them. "That red headed woman, no not Nodoka, the other one, is also beyond my abilities."

Genma and Soun blinked in shock. Soun spoke up, "But master, I thought that you were stronger than any woman."

Happosai shook his head, "I maybe incredibly skilled, powerful and experienced, but those two down there, the redhead and Ranma both exceed my power. Their skill is at my level or higher, even if their experience is less than mine." He then sighed, "I am getting old, I want to pass on my school to someone else, and Ranma is the best bet."

Genma spoke up, "But surely you can beat them, you said that your skill is around theirs and that you're more experienced than both, so why?"

Happosai shook his head, "No, combine skill and power and they could beat me." They continued to walk until they got to the soccer field, once they were there Happosai, Genma and Soun climbed into a tree to watch the fight. "A bit of advice for you two. In my life I have only counted five people better or equal with me in terms of skill and power. Since I've come to Nerima that number increased to six, and now it's eight."

Genma balked, "But master, what about the schools?"

Soun nodded, "With Ranma being so close to that jaguar-looking girl, the schools are in trouble."

Happosai shook his head, "No, the schools won't be united, at least yours. Nabiki and Kasumi are not interested in Ranma romantically and Akane is in a relationship with Shampoo. When this fight is over, I will tell him that the pledge has been annulled."

Genma and Soun paled. "No you two idiots will not go and try and break them apart." Happosai just shook his head. "Just sit back, relax, and wait for the fight to begin. This is going to be good."

********

Ranma and Julia were sizing each other up, peering into each other's depths, to find anything that could be used for their advantage in this fight. Julia was thinking, 'Damn, that's one heck of an aura for an Earth fighter. That aura has got to rival some of the better Weaponsmasters at least.'

Ranma was having kind of similar thoughts, 'Damn, her aura, I just can't explain it. It's outta this world.' He then smirked, 'Of course it's outta this world, she's from a different dimension after all.' He then spoke out loud, "Say, how about we make this interesting?"

"Oh how?"

"Simple, Anything Goes, meaning you can use any technique short of killing and crippling techniques, unless you can make them so that they don't kill or cripple."

Julia smirked, this sounded like a Tournament of Arms almost. "Anything?"

Ranma nodded, "Yep, from punches, to Ki, to weapons, to cheap shots, dirty tricks or anything like that."

Julia was internally thrilled; she loved fighting and putting down fighters who liked to play dirty. "Deal. Ready?"

Ranma nodded and then Julia was on him with a fast and strong left punch to his face. Ranma twisted his head out of the way, as soon as the fist was by his face he grabbed the outstretched arm and using that to hold her for a moment, he pulled her in close and elbowed her in the throat. Julia retaliated with a knee to Ranma's gut, which knocked him up into the air and away from her. Julia grimaced, 'He's a lot better than I thought he'd be.' She smirked, 'This is my kind of fight.'

Ranma tucked and rolled in the air and landed on his feet wincing, 'Damn that hurt. Oh well, Benji hit harder.' He knew she was holding back, so was he. Neither one was using any Ki yet. Ranma knew that to win he had to drain her Ki first. He charged at Julia, who in turn charged him and she jumped into the air, Ranma smirked, he'd teach her not to take him on in the air. He jumped up to follow her, as soon as the two met they were exchanging blows. Ranma blocked a powerful kick to gut and winced when he felt how hard that was. 'Damn, and she wasn't even using Ki to enhance it.' Still, he didn't let that get him down as he grabbed the leg before Julia could retract it, using that he pulled her close and landed about twenty fast and strong punches right on her chest.

Julia blocked what she could, but found that he was as fast as she was, if not faster, she wasn't totally prepared for this onslaught. She was impressed that none of the blows were hitting anything sensitive. She had to bite back a yell as Ranma grabbed her hair to throw her to the ground. 'Cheap shot.' She grimaced, she had agreed to this type of battle and it seemed that the kid was used to fighting in this type of environment. She landed on her feet; Ranma landed a few feet away from her. "Not bad." She commented before she charged Ranma again, she used a low kick to feint him out, he took the bait and jumped it, but then Julia elbowed him right in the cheek while he was in mid air, knocking him back several feet, surprisingly the kid landed on his feet.

"Not bad yourself. I haven't had a fight like this since I fought Herb." Ranma smirked as he flowed forward like water, then he jumped up and over Julia. She turned around to block what was coming and was surprised when he swept her off her feet, then before she had hit the ground, he kicked upward into the lower part of her back and sent her flying up a bit and back.

Julia got up and into a stance all the while smirking at him, "I got to admit, this is the best battle I've had in awhile."

Ranma smirked, "Yeah, but maybe we should quit messing around then."

"Oh?"

"You and I both know that we're holding back, a lot. So how about we quit playing around and really start fighting huh?"

Julia smirk broadened into a grin, "You can tell huh?"

Ranma nodded while taking up a new stance, "You and I haven't used any Ki yet. So let's get a bit more serious." He blinked when he saw a whole lot of sports equipment behind Julia, hockey sticks, American footballs, softballs, bats, and a net. 'Perfect.' He smirked.

On the sidelines everyone was impressed to one extent or another. Gar, Tirga, Brianna and Sheila couldn't believe that a human could match up to the Armsmaster. Though Sheila was less surprised than the other three, having seen Ranma fight in the past. Nabiki and Nodoka were highly impressed. Nodoka hadn't seen a fight like this in a long time and Nabiki hadn't thought that anyone could match up to Ranma in a fight, no matter what, considering that he had taken down Saffron, a person that Cologne had said that she couldn't take on in battle and hope to win. In the tree Genma and Soun were flabbergasted that a mere woman could be that good. Happosai just nodded, this was a battle for the ages. "I wonder what will happen next?"

Back on the field both Julia and Ranma were preparing to go at it again, this time, not holding back much if anything, after all, they weren't trying to kill each other.

Ranma smirked as he started to pour Ki into his body, now the fight was going to be fun. "Here's a little something that someone taught me when she passed through Nerima a few days ago, it's called Don't Blink." Ranma pulled his left hand back and then threw it in a diagonal motion that was like a slash.

Julia blinked as she felt the Ki attack roll at her, she twisted her body to the left to avoid the shot, but she still caught the edge of it right on the ribs. She internally winced, but kept a straight face as Ranma came charging in. She caught his fist in a vice-like grab, "Nice try."

"Same to you." Julia blinked when Ranma stuck his foot into her gut and lifted her up into the air with one leg, Ranma looked like he was doing the splits to anyone watching, just with one leg on the ground and the other leg in the air. Ranma spun quickly and dropped his foot sending Julia off and away; she still managed to land on her feet though.

"Heh, good move." Julia rushed him, sending a knee up to gauge his reaction.

Ranma blocked the knee, but received a right uppercut to the chin, causing him to stumble back a bit. Of course Ranma wasn't going to let that go without retaliation. Julia then tried to sweep him, but was surprised when he grabbed her foot, tossed her up and landed a standing jump-kick to her back.

Julia grimaced but flipped around and landed on her feet, she charged up a relatively strong and fast Chi attack and let loose at Ranma, who was coming in fast and hard. Ranma's eyes widened, "Oh sh*t!"

The blast hit him full on, since Ranma didn't have enough time to twist out of the way. Ranma flew back a couple of feet, landed on his feet, but slid back a little. Ranma wiped his chin and looked at Julia anew, 'Okay, let's see if she can spot what I'm going to do with this.'

Julia moved toward the boy as he charged up a strong, but slow Ki shot and let loose, she snorted at seeing how slow it was and jumped it.

On the sidelines Gar scoffed, "That was slow, anyone could've dodged that." Everyone but Nabiki and Sheila agreed with that.

Sheila shook her head, "Nope bro, Ranma usually has a plan when he does something like that."

Julia's feet were almost on the ground just after the Ki blast passed under her, but her eyes widened however when she saw an open palm just centimeters from her nose, "Got'cha." A small, yet powerful Ki blast hit her in the face, sending her back and hitting the slow moving Ki blast that Ranma had fired earlier.

BOOOOOOOOOOM! There was a massive explosion from that shot, Ranma just grinned, "Two for one sale." However Ranma was shocked when a rather burnt Julia flew at him with a fast leaping jump-kick, which hit him in the chin, sending him flying next to the sports equipment. "Ouch." Ranma jumped to his feet, but not before picking up a baseball bat with his hand, "That hurt."

Julia, even though she was burnt and had a trickle of blood running out of the corner of her mouth, smirked at him, 'He can still get up? Heh, this is getting fun.'

"Babe Ruth Home Run Derby." So saying that Ranma kicked up twenty balls and started swinging the bat at high speeds, hitting each one, and sending them going toward Julia, who was able to swat all of them away easily enough, except for the last one, which hit her right in the nose, "Ow, my bleeding nose." She frowned at the smirking boy, who had just picked up the net that was on the ground. "Okay punk, you asked for it."

Ranma just used his infuriating grin at her as she rushed forward. Ranma kicked the goalie stick that was under his feet at her, Julia, without slowing down, grabbed the stick and brought it up to bear as she did an overhead swing and swung at Ranma, who blocked it with his bat.

Julia kicked Ranma in the gut hard enough to drive the wind out of his lungs, Ranma doubled over, and Julia, using the goalie stick like a golf club, uppercutted him with the weapon sending Ranma flying up into the air several feet and back a couple, Ranma crashed on his back heavily.

Julia smirked and walked over slowly, keeping her guard up, to see if he was done, she had to admit that that was a good fight. She blinked when she saw him smirk, "Got'cha again."

Her eyes were wide open, "Huh?" Suddenly, she felt something wrap around her leg, she realized too late that the boy had trapped her again, this time using the net to wrap around her leg as he pulled, sending her crashing to the ground.

Ranma then hopped to his feet, yanked on the net and let go, sending Julia up and away a few feet. Julia landed on her side and Ranma wiped a little blood from the corner of his mouth.

On the sidelines Brianna blinked, "Oh good lord! They're going Casey Jones on each other!"

"WHO?!" Everyone there asked.

Brianna nodded, "Casey Jones, a little while ago Ryan, while in New York, ran into a guy who used sports equipment, along with martial arts, to fight and he got his butt handed to him."

Back on the soccer field, Ranma smirked and rushed Julia, who had just kicked the net off of her leg. Ranma ran around her, and before he completed a circuit he split into four different forms, "Splitting Cats Hairs."

Julia just smirked, "My father used this on me before." She stuck an arm out and clothes lined Ranma, who fell to the ground, but amazingly she got kicked in the back and on the side.

The clones smirked at her and all said at the same time, "Good thing I improved upon it then." Then they attacked again.

"Holy!" Julia then jumped up and did a spin kick, hitting the clones in the chin and sending them flying away.

The clones disappeared, but then Julia got a surprise when the Ranma she hit down was still there and he crescent kicked her in the chin, sending her back a bit, Julia rolled with the blow and ended up on her feet. "This is getting tiresome."

"I agree with you." Ranma said before he slammed his hand, open palm, onto the ground.

Julia didn't know what to make of it and rushed forward, just before the ground under her exploded before she got too far.

"Ranged Breaking Point. I gotta thank Cologne sometime for allowing me to finish my training under her."

Julia shook her head, that explosion surprised her. 'Time to end this.' She rushed forward, planning to put the boy down good. This time, he wouldn't be able to get her with little tricks like that explosion.

Ranma's face stilled as he twisted to the side just a bit, but it looked like he was in a completely defensive position. He brought his right arm back and shaped his first two fingers and his thumb like a snake's fangs, 'Poison Snake Deep Blow Hole.'

Julia internally frowned, 'So, he's going completely for defense huh? I'll make him pay for that.' So saying she knocked his left arm away from his body, leaving him completely open for a moment, but that was all she needed as she charged up the Master Blow. "HIYAHH!!"

Ranma shot his hand forward at the same time, hitting Julia in-between, and right below, her breasts as she hit him in the middle of his chest with the Master Blow. Ranma's eyes widened as he felt the pain emanating from his chest from that hit, Julia for her part looked almost like Ranma as she felt all her strength leave her from that hit. Julia fell on her face, barely breathing. Ranma for his part flew back several feet and landed on his back, not moving either, save for his breathing.

Sheila, Nodoka, and Nabiki quickly went out to make sure that Ranma was all right, while Brianna, Gar, and Tirga all went to check on Julia.

********

Thropan shook his head as he made his way to Nali's clinic. He didn't need to be healed or anything, but he felt that Nali could tell him just where Onoli and Raphiel were at. As he entered the office he spotted Nali just going over some medicines, "Say Nali?"

Nali blinked and turned to look at him, "Ah, Thropan, what brings you here?"

He shrugged, "I was just wondering if you knew where Onoli or Raphiel are at?"

"Nope, sorry, why didn't you go to your headquarters?"

"It was closer to come here."

Nali groaned a bit as Thropan chuckled, "Besides, it gives me the chance to tell you some interesting news."

"Oh? What?"

"It seems that Sheila has just gotten engaged."

Nali blinked, "Really? Well, good for her then."

Thropan nodded, "Yeah, however, there's something more."

"Oh? What?"

Thropan smirked, "Want to throw a party for Sheila?"

"Why?"

Thropan shrugged, "Why not? I already cleared it with Dragen, just a little party to congratulate her on getting engaged and meeting the guy, if he comes here that is."

Nali blinked, "Wait. You mean to tell me that you don't even know if the guy is coming to Jade?"

"Nope! Sorry."

Nali shook her head, "Sure, why not? Um, do you even know WHO she got engaged to?"

Thropan chuckled, "Nope. All I know is that she got engaged."

Nali rubbed her forehead, "Alright. I'll help you out."

Thropan nodded, "Thanks."

********

Back on Earth . . .

Sheila helped Ranma up by holding one of his arms over her shoulders. She looked at him, concern showing in her eyes, "Ranchan, you okay?"

Ranma nodded, albeit a bit tiredly, "Yeah Shechan, just tired. That last move hurt!"

Gar was holding Julia up as he kept one of her arms over his shoulders, he looked at Ranma with a newfound respect, "I would think so, it’s one of Master Julia's best techniques."

Ranma chuckled and nodded. Nabiki looked at the two and shook her head, "Just what the hell did you two use on each other there at the end?"

Julia chuckled, "Two moves which we should never use."

Ranma nodded, "Yeah."

Nodoka looked at Ranma, "Son, wasn't that the Hako Dato Shin Sho technique that my husband created years ago?"

Ranma grinned, "Kind of. It's a modification of that move, but yeah."

Nabiki blinked, "Poison Snake Deep Blow hole?"

Ranma smirked, "Originally the move was designed to rip a person's heart out, I developed a less lethal version of it."

Sheila shook her head at that and looked at Julia, "Mrs. Diggers wasn't your move the Master Blow?"

Julia nodded, though she was sore and tired, small movements weren't too hard for her to do. "Yeah, I guess I wanted to win so badly that I used a move that was a bit too strong."

Ranma chuckled, "S'ok. I know how that goes."

Gar looked at Nodoka, "Mrs. Saotome, I hate to be rude, but can we please head back to your house for a bit so that these two may rest up a bit?"

Nodoka smiled at him, "Of course."

"Hmm, so you don't want to hear what I've got to say?"

Everyone turned to the side and saw Genma, Soun and Happosai. Ranma groaned, "Great it's the ole' pervert."

Happosai shook his head, "That's a fine way to talk to the Grandmaster of Anything Goes Ranma."

Julia blinked and muttered, "Sounds like Master Leep."

Happosai looked at her, "Did you say Leep?" Julia nodded and Happosai smiled, "So, you know my son huh?"

Ranma and Nabiki paled.

Sheila for her part looked a bit nervous. She had never met Leep or Happosai personally, but had heard enough stories about both to tell her that she didn't want to meet either of them.

Nabiki cried out, "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD!!"

"Good Lord! The Old Freak breeded?!"

Tirga looked at them, "It can't be that bad can it?"

Sheila shook her head, "I've never met this guy personally, until now, but from what I've heard, he makes you look like a monk Tirga."

Brianna blinked, "It can't be that bad."

Ranma shook his head; "You don't know the freak then." He looked at Genma and Soun, "So what are you two doing here? Going to try and force me to do what you want?"

Genma was about to open his mouth, but seeing a glare from Happosai and Nodoka caused him to use what little brain-cells that he had and he shut up. Soun, however, spoke, but he chose his words carefully, "Well, I admit it is tempting to drag you to the alter and make you marry Akane, but we're here for another purpose right now. Um, Master, you can take over right now." Soun gulped as he saw several angry glares in his direction.

Happosai nodded, "Right, and before I begin," He turned to Brianna and held up a gray pair of silken underwear, he then rubbed it to his face. "I gotta say, I like your silken bra and panties."

Brianna stared wide-eyed at him, she knew she wouldn't like it, but she lifted up the shoulder strap of her shirt a bit and saw that, yep, she didn't have her bra on anymore. She turned to Happosai, let go of her shirt, grabbed her underwear and started stomping on the ancient pervert for stealing her underwear.

Nabiki smirked and turned to Tirga, "You were saying?"

Tirga just nodded, Gar and Julia just stared wide-eyed at the spectacle of Brianna stomping on Happosai. Sheila and Ranma just shook their heads. Soun smiled as he watched Brianna beat up on Happosai, he even started giving her pointers as she stomped on his master. Nodoka raised an eyebrow at Genma, who just whistled innocently.

After a few moments Brianna stopped and was panting fairly hard, causing her chest to bounce in interesting ways. Tirga watched intently, Gar, Soun and Genma watched a bit, but Genma turned away as Nodoka glared at him. Soun did as well, he felt as if he was betraying his wife when he looked. Ranma just rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself, "I've seen better." Sheila looked at him and he whispered to her, "Yours are bigger and better." Sheila just blushed at that.

Brianna wrapped her arms over her breasts, "God! I feel violated!"

Nabiki shook her head, "You haven't been violated until Happosai decides to give you a hug."

Brianna shuddered at that. Ranma looked at Sheila, "If he touches you, he's dead." Sheila nodded and smiled at that fact.

Happosai groaned as he got up, "Ouch."

Gar blinked his eyes in shock, "He got up that quickly?"

Nodoka looked at him, "I've seen Happosai get ran over by a car, six times over and get right back up without a scratch on him."

Gar, Julia and Tirga goggled at that, Brianna was still glaring at Happosai, who just shook his head and got back up, "Anyway, there's a reason that I'm hear Ranma."

Ranma sighed, "What is it?"

Happosai stood up and reached into his purple Gi and pulled out a scroll, "This is for you."

Ranma blinked and took it, he was about to open it, but then asked, "This isn't a bomb or something like that is it?"

Happosai shook his head, "Nahh. It's your teaching license."

Ranma just stared at him in shock, as did Nabiki, Nodoka and Sheila. Genma and Soun had an idea that Happosai would do that and weren't too surprised. "This means that you consider me to be. . ."

"A Master of Anything Goes? Yes."

Ranma looked at the scroll and then at Happosai, "I don't know what to say. Well, yeah I do, and I can't believe I'm saying it, but thanks."

Happosai waved it off, "Don't worry about it. Besides, you'll really thank me after you see what's on that scroll. Well, I'm going to go on some rounds. Genma! Soun! Let's go!"

With that Happosai bounded off, Soun followed him, but Nodoka grabbed Genma's ear, before he could get anywhere, "Dear, you're staying home tonight and I don't want to hear any guff about it."

Genma nodded absently, "Sure Nochan."

Nabiki looked at them all, "So how about we all head over to Auntie's house?" Everyone nodded and made their way back to the Saotome household.