Disclaimer: By now you know the drill.

< >: Thoughts

Chapter 4

This is All Your Fault, Ranma!


<Man! THAT was pathetic!> Ranma mentally commented as he and his other self 
conversed while sitting in homeroom.

<What was pathetic?> Hung asked. <The fact that Akane tried to do Street 
Fighter moves, or the fact that she got pounded by nearly all the sports 
teams AND Kuno?>

<Both. I mean, what was she thinking?>

<She probably heard from Nabiki or someone, that we play a lot of fighting 
arcade games and use those moves.>

<Yeah, but we only use those for inspiration and fun! You already had my 
body primed and ready for months!>

<And don't forget that you had been training for ten years, plus the fact 
that we both train every night to master those video game moves.>

<Right! Did Akane think that she could use those moves after playing a few 
games and not train for anything?>

Animeaddiction mentally shrugged. <What can I say? Akane's been sheltered 
for most of her life and hadn't experienced any real challenges. She thinks 
she's a great martial artist and is therefore entitled to things without 
having to earn them. It looks like she isn't above taking shortcuts either. 
I guess that's why she didn't think it was cheating during the Super Soba 
and Battle Dogi episodes.>

<Super Soba? Battle Dogi? What's are those?>

<Something that may or may not happen in a couple of months. In any case...>

Hung was suddenly cut off as Ranma's body reacted by reflex. His right hand 
shot out and caught a piece of chalk before it could bounce off his 
forehead.

<Oops.>

The teacher glared at Ranma for lack of attention and pointed to the door. 
"Buckets, Saotome!"

Ranma and Hung both sighed as they got up from their desk.

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"This all your fault!" Akane said angrily as she glared at him from across 
the hallway. She had seen better days.

As she stood while holding her own two pails of water, Ranma glanced at her 
appearance and could tell that she was in considerable pain. She was 
sporting a large shiner over her left eye. Her school dress had several 
smudges, and a few tears on the hem of the skirt. Her hair was a mess and 
she was slightly slouched. Her shoes were scuffed and her socks were dirty. 
Her arms had several bruises and the pigtailed martial artist assumed that 
her limbs weren't the only places that must be sore. He knew that she would 
be aching for days, if not weeks.

However, her injuries were not the worst of her problems. She had been 
defeated by several dozen boys. The only reason why they hadn't been trying 
to get into her panties now was the fact that Kuno declared that since he 
was the first who defeated her, he had the first rights to dating her.

It had been one of the most humiliating defeats of her career as a 'true' 
martial artist. She had planned to wipe out the Horde of Hentai with the 
Super Hurricane Kick, but that had been a mistake.

"How can this be MY fault?" Ranma asked nonchalantly. "I'm not the one who 
tried to do a Hurricane Kick without training for it." He couldn't help but 
chuckle. Even though Akane's attempt had been sloppy and uncoordinated, it 
did make her admirers even more enthusiastic when her skirt flew up and 
revealed her panties. That had caused the sports teams and especially Kuno 
to be more eager to defeat her.

"Shut up! You're the reason why I lost today!" Akane growled. She just 
couldn't understand it. She had played so well on Street Fighter III 
yesterday! How could she have possibly lost?!

"Hey! Don't try to blame this on me! I had nothing to do with this. If you 
were stupid enough to try and copy those Street Fighter moves after just 
playing the game, then you deserved what you got."

Hung mentally shook his head. Apparently, Ranma's mouth was still moving 
faster than his brain. <I think that's enough, Ranma. Don't say anything 
else, unless you like the taste of foot. >

"STUPID?! WHO ARE YOU CALLING STUPID?!" Akane roared.

Ranma was about to retort, when Hung decided that this was one of those 
times to take over. Ranma's consciousness was shunted to the side as 
Animeaddiction took control.

"I don't see any reason why we're even having this conversation, Ms. Tendo. 
I didn't go and tell you to try and copy Street Fighter moves. It doesn't 
matter how good you are at the game. Unless you train seriously, then 
there's no point in even trying."

Akane growled menacingly at Ranma. How dare he mock her skills! It was all 
his fault that she was now stuck with dating all those perverts, especially 
Kuno!

Hung however, saw no reason to say anything more as he and Ranma quietly 
stood in the hall. Though the writer was quite aware of the hostility being 
directed toward himself and his host, he maintained that Akane needed a dose 
of reality and her lessons in humilty had been long overdue. If she didn't 
learn now that she wasn't the great and unbeatable martial artist that she 
believed herself to be, then she wouldn't survive long against opponents 
that wouldn't go easy on her.

<Hmmm... she'll really be in a big mess when Natsume and Karumi show up. 
That is... if that Dojo Destroyer doesn't pound her flat first. Then again, 
if she gets recruited by the gymnastics team, then Kodachi is going to put 
her in traction before the match.>

<Who? What?> Ranma asked.

<I'll tell you later.>

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