A Side of Wild Magic Ch. 2 (Finished)

[Spokavriel]

That lack of a subject she could teach Ranma seems to be a good reason for her to insist on the whole Proper Lady teaching attempt.

Oh and don't count out Yosho as a Teacher. Even if he doesn't want to Ranma will watch Tenchi training in Sword combat and learn from him too.

Edit: Any chance of getting Washu-chan to get Ranma to agree to doing some physical training with her Ki/Mana/Masu powers sealed? In a way the enhancements they provide could be hindering the maximum possible physical development. I mean think of it this way. Which Ki users in Nerima couldn't match Arnold Schwarzenegger in lifting weight so long as it was a bolder? Even Akane seemed to pull it off that one time when Ranma's neck was at a 90 degree angle thanks to the distraction of Tofu-sensei.

[KonokoHasano]

Edit: Any chance of getting Washu-chan to get Ranma to agree to doing some physical training with her Ki/Mana/Masu powers sealed? In a way the enhancements they provide could be hindering the maximum possible physical development.

Sounds like a good idea, actually. While Ranma may hate having her abilities sealed off, she'd find herself agreeing that it'd be a good training method for her physical body itself.

Hmm... during those early years, her Masu abilities would make it difficult to train in her ki/chi abilities due to her always creating energy matter instead of properly channeling ki/chi and using it. In fact, the energy blasts would tend to make such attacks as Mouko Takabisha obsolete.

Sealing certain aspects of her abilities would also allow her to get a proper feel for them so that she fully knows what she was working with.

On the martial arts front, I can see Ranma actually learning 'Academy Shinken Style' from Airi. It may seem like a useless martial arts style, but it is still martial arts.

Which means that Ranma would have to use that at one time or another in the main story.

[Spokavriel]

Why am I now imagining some where half way to the start of the Main story seeing Ranma-chan beat up the Enhanced Seina Yamada using all the combat moves he knows against him even with his bad luck assisting him.

[Andy2kk]

Ranma training Wash-chan could be fun. Ranma could at least have some kind of a chance to get back at Washu for all the learning, tests, her rules, forcing herself on Ranma (making her purr). Even if some of those things were for Ranma's own beneift. This would also give Washu a real reason to 'experiment' on Ranma, not that Washu would really need one, but the more equal relationships (well in this case) would be more fun!

[KonokoHasano]

Why am I now imagining some where half way to the start of the Main story seeing Ranma-chan beat up the Enhanced Seina Yamada using all the combat moves he knows against him even with his bad luck assisting him.

I can actually see Ranma performing a Dill Brand on him once she recalls the spell and is able to freely use her magic.

Ranma training Wash-chan could be fun. Ranma could at least have some kind of a chance to get back at Washu for all the learning, tests, her rules, forcing herself on Ranma (making her purr). Even if some of those things were for Ranma's own beneift. This would also give Washu a real reason to 'experiment' on Ranma, not that Washu would really need one, but the more equal relationships (well in this case) would be more fun!

I'm actually getting a mental image of Ranma and Washu trying to one-up each other at certain times.

Anyway, I fixed up the whole Seiryo scene where Mihoshi's ship is falling to the lake. I'm rather fond of it. Because of the edit, I had to also change a little in the scene where Washu has Ranma restrained and scratches her behind the ear.

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Ranma stared up at the raven-haired woman. “Do you know anything about that guy?” She asked as she pointed to the pink-haired man.

Funaho nodded. “His name is Seiryo Tennan. He is the son of a wealthy Juraian family. He’s known to be rather boastful and full of himself, but he does possess some skill.”

‘Well, at least it’ll be a fight.’ Ranma thought as she accepted some popcorn and tea from Sasami. As she listened to Seiryo rant and rave about the Masaki house and everything about it, Ranma soon found herself losing her cool. “Kick that idiot’s butt, Tenchi!”

Seiryo turned his attention to the cat-girl and laughed. “Him; kick my butt? Little girl, your faith in him is incredible. However, a lowly Earthling such as him will never be able to defeat one such as myself. It is a sad fact that everyone knows. I am the great Seiryo Tennan, after all.”

“I don’t care if yer the king of cheese. You-- Mmph!” Ranma found her hand being covered by a small mouth. Turning her head, she learned that it was Washu who had silenced her. “Mmph!”

“Be quiet and let them start the fight.” The older redhead stated as she continued to chow down on popcorn.

Ranma -- reluctantly -- complied and watched the fight begin. Well, if you could call it a fight, that is. Tenchi and Seiryo just seemed to be standing there, and the latter was insulting and berating the former about the fight being hopeless. Bored out of her skull, Ranma was about to insult Seiryo some more, but was silenced due to a faint noise being picked up by her ears.

Turning her head from side to side, she attempted to locate what sounded like either a whistle or a hum. The young redhead couldn’t find the source, but she did notice that Sasami was passing out umbrellas to everyone. “Why’s everyone getting umbrellas? It doesn’t look like it’s gonna rain.” Ranma asked as her ears continued to twitch to the annoyingly faint sound that was growing louder.

Wrapping her arm around Ranma’s head, Ryoko pulled the younger girl towards her. “That’s because we’re all preparing for Mihoshi.”

“Huh?” The cat-girl asked in confusion.

“Her ship’s probably going to crash.” the ex-space pirate drawled out as she leaned forward to speak into Ranma’s ear. “You see, a little over two months ago, Mihoshi’s ship fell to the ground and completely destroyed the house.” She had to refrain from laughing in amusement at the rather pale expression that appeared on the two-year-old’s face. “It took almost a month for Tenchi’s father to rebuild the house, and so we had to bunk in Washu’s lab until it was finished.”

It took a couple tries, but Ranma finally managed to find her voice. “Um-- Ryoko-- By any chance, would the low whistling sound that I’m hearing right now be coming from Mihoshi’s ship?” The noise was getting louder and louder with each passing moment.

“Hmm… yep.” Ryoko answered as the amusing sight of a freaked out two-year-old cat-girl played out in front of her eyes.

“What?! But shouldn’t we-- Gah!” The redhead’s sentence remained unfinished as the steadily growing whistle noise became too loud for her sensitive hearing to handle. Pulling her legs towards her to hold on to the egg, Ranma’s hands quickly moved to her ears in an effort to stop what felt like her head trying to explode. “It hurts…” She whined as tears appeared at the corners of her eyes.

Ryoko’s amusement promptly vanished when she noticed just how uncomfortable the younger girl was getting. Sure, the noise -- nearing its peek as Mihoshi was just a few moments away from splash down -- was ear-piercing, but it wasn’t as painful as the kid was making it out to be. It was then she remembered that the girl’s hearing was much greater than everyone else’s. “Washu, I think we have a problem.” Ryoko stated in a rare moment of concern as she attempted to comfort the younger Masu. She wasn’t the only one in the group who realized the issue at once.

“Damn it, I didn’t even take that into consideration!” Washu cursed as Mihoshi finally crashed down into the lake and produced an even louder boom that accompanied the still lingering whistle. Both sounds together had caused Ranma to shout out in excruciating pain as the tears continued to flow from her eyes.

Without any thought, Washu -- in an action that surprised everyone present -- pulled the distraught child into a comforting and motherly hug. As she held Ranma in place, the older redhead proceeded to speak into the younger’s ear in a soothing manner as she softly ran a hand through child’s hair. “Shh… it’s alright, Ranma-chan. It’ll be over soon.”

The crying subsided, but the cat-girl still seemed distraught and in pain from the overwhelming experience. Deciding to try something that Misaki had mentioned to her, Washu moved a hand to the base of Ranma’s ear and started gently scratching the spot. As she scratched, the small cat-girl began to relax and calm down. Once she was fully relaxed, said cat-girl began to softly purr.

‘Misaki was right.’ Washu thought. ‘Her purring really does have a strange soothing effect.’ placing her chin on top of Ranma’s head, the diminutive genius began to gently rock back and forth with a content two-year-old resting in her arms. She honestly didn’t care what anyone thought of the scene.

“Washu-chan, how’s Ranma doing?” Tenchi asked as he stopped over in front of the group. He had noticed that something had happened with the cat-girl while facing off against Seiryo, and he had guessed that it must have been because of Mihoshi.

“She’s doing fine. I may need to run some tests to check and see if her hearing is alright, but I have a feeling she’ll bounce right back.” Washu answered. “By the way, Tenchi, congratulations on your ‘win’.”

“That’s right, Tenchi’s the winner!” Sasami announced as she jumped to her feet. Ryo-Ohki also gave a few happy myahs.

A sniffling and wet Mihoshi appeared before the group. “Um-- Washu--”

“You idiot!” Washu shouted as she jumped to her feet. The sudden and unexpected action caused everyone to leap back in surprise. “Do you realize that -- through your blasted carelessness -- you could have very well damaged Ranma-chan’s hearing? She’s still trying to get used to her enhanced senses!”

Mihoshi’s eyes began to tear up again. “I… I…. I’m sorryyyyy!” The blonde cried as the tears began to flow out of her eyes. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. My ship just suddenly stopped working!”

Washu opened her mouth to speak, but closed it as she began to scratch her head in annoyance. The girl was just so annoying at times. “Alright, I’ll fix your ship, Mihoshi.” She didn’t add, however, that if Ranma’s hearing had been damaged, she was going to strap the blonde to a machine and use her as a guinea pig.

A small groan caused everyone’s attention to switch to the waking form of Ranma. “My head feels like I was hit by a bus.” The cat-girl stated as she opened her eyes. “What happened?” Glancing around, she noticed that Tenchi was no longer facing off against Seiryo. All of a sudden, her eyes widened. “AAAAHHHH!” Everyone watched as the redhead instantaneously leapt to her feet. “I MISSED THE FIGHT?!” A stream of tears soon began flowing from her eyes. “Noooo… the first real fight I’d be able to see in forever, and I end up missing it.”

“Actually--” Tenchi began with a sweat-drop.

“Who won?” Ranma asked in a depressed voice with drooped ears and tail. “Tell me you at least kicked that guy’s butt, Tenchi. Don’t tell me that you lost.” This time the entire group sweat-dropped.

“Technically, Mihoshi won the fight.” Funaho answered. At the cat-girl’s confused look, she continued. “Tenchi won, officially. However, Mihoshi’s ship crashed into the lake and sent up a surge of water. Tenchi managed to remain standing, but Seiryo was knocked out and pulled into the lake. He’s still floating around at this moment.”

Ranma stared at her for a moment before making her way over to the edge of the deck. Sure enough, the pink-haired wannabe fiancée was floating on his back in the water. “Ya have got to be kidding me.” Ranma stated as she slapped her face. Turning around, she made her way back to the group. “There wasn’t even a fight. I was excited to see one, but the idiot got knocked out by some WATER.”

“Well, the wave of water WAS kind of large and powerful.” Tenchi answered as he scratched his cheek.

“Don’t care.” Ranma retorted. “He still lost to a bunch of water.”

“Wait just a minute.” Everyone turned around to see Seiryo struggling to climb out of the water. Once he managed to get back on the deck, he coughed out some water. It was apparent -- with the sight of him clenching his fists and glaring at Tenchi -- that he wasn’t happy with his supposed loss “Are you saying that I LOST? How did I lose if we didn’t even FIGHT? Sure, I couldn’t keep my ground when that water hit, but that doesn’t even count! There’s no way I could lose to an EARTHLING of all people. I won’t admit defeat yet, and I won’t allow the princesses to live in these barbaric living conditions any longer! I will--”

“Hey, Pinky!” Ranma shouted.

“What do you wan--” Seiryo quickly found himself enveloped in a fireball. The magical flames quickly dissipated away, but Seiryo himself was left completely charred. A puff of smoke and a groan exited his mouth before he fell backwards and back into the water.

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And here's the revised scene of Washu and ranma.
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“Oh don’t be so angry, Ranma-chan.” Washu stated with a smirk as she rested a hand on the restrained cat-girl’s head. “It’s not like I’m forcing you into a cute little dress with a big bow on your head.”

Ranma averted her gaze. “You probably would if you felt it would be amusing.”

‘Heh-- She’s right.’ The 20,000-year-old genius thought in amusement. “You know, Ranma-chan, you have a very interesting situation on your hands.”

“Huh?”

“I’m talking about how you react when someone scratches you behind the ear.” The look on her student’s face was absolutely priceless. “You wouldn’t mind letting me see if you purr every your ear is scratched, would you? It could be a good subject for me to research. Maybe we can see how long it lasts for at a time, and learn if there are any lingering after-affects of you entering into that state.” Her hand began to slowly move towards the younger girl’s ear.

“Wait, stop!” Ranma shouted as she struggled, but remembered that she couldn’t move at all. “Damn it, Washu!”

Washu stopped before tilting her head and staring into her student’s eyes. “Oh my, you didn’t call me either Washu-chan or Washu-sensei. How do you expect me to listen to your request?” When the cat-girl opened her mouth, Washu shook her head before she began to scratching. “I’m afraid it’s too late, Ranma-chan.”

“You’re insane!” Ranma managed to shout out before she began succumbing. “So… insane.” Her body proceeded to fall relaxed as she started purring.

‘I’m so glad I decided to take her up as a student.’ Washu thought in amusement. The girl was just so full of surprises and easy to tease. ‘Her purring really is soothing to listen to.’

[Spokavriel]

The pacing in this altered scene is much better for Pinky's recovery. Before he got back up too soon.

“You wouldn’t mind letting me see if you purr every your ear is scratched, would you?

Any chance you lost some time in this one?

Ok here's a little addition for how I am understanding the magic resources involved in this fic and trying to explain how Wand Wizards can manage spells equal to examples of wandless magic without apparently having the bucket capacity for Wandless spells.

Mana: Pool, Bucket, and Wand.

The Mana Pool is all that the magic user has.

The Bucket is what the Magic User can use at a given moment.

A Wand is a tool that allows a magic user to exceed bucket capacity by channeling multiple fills of the bucket to allow stronger spells but also offers some resistance so the pool won't end up depleted. It may also be capable of channeling Mana from external sources as needed to assist a magic users natural abilities.

Other talismans can also be created to artificially increase ones Mana pool or contain spells independent of a users magic reserve.

Edit: Wands with more powerful core materials are needed for people with larger buckets so that they can handle the amount of energy that would make someone gifted in that way require a wand. Selecting the right wand is testing the combination of restrictions and storage capacity. If the wand doesn't have a powerful enough core component it will overflow and leak energy. If the core component is too strong or incompatible it won't react at all. Or if a wand has the ability to assist in gathering Mana and ends up with someone who has no need of such an ability in the wand it also won't react but only out of protection spells to avoid it self destructing from trying to amplify something already more powerful than it can take.

[KonokoHasano]

Hmm... and while wand users can -- at times -- use spurts of magic without their wands, those times are usually through intense emotions of sorts. In a way, the wand-user can sometimes cast magic without the need of a wand, but it's more unstable. The wand allows for safe stability.

Also, even though Ranma could possibly create some sort of talisman, or find/purchase some, they wouldn't really give the same boost that the Demons' Blood Talismans would have. Without something like those, it would be harder for Ranma to cast something like the Ragna Blade.

Unless...

You know, since the Demons' Blood Talismans that Lina wore when she drowned are at the bottom of the Drowned Girl Spring, I wonder if it would be possible for Ranma to use the Accio spell to retrieve them. Unless the magic of Jusenkyou manages to block the use of the spell.

It would kind of be amusing for Ranma to try it, and manage to obtain the talismans, but also drag up the old and decayed skeleton of Lina Inverse.

"GAAHH! GET IT OFF!"

[Spokavriel]

Hey it would allow one of her families (previous life or current) to have the honor of finally laying the great Mage to rest in state. Just think of what something like that would mean to the Wizarding world?

Edit: About the Stability with a wand and emotional focus thing. I always thought of that as someone bypassing limits (Kicking the bucket out of the equation) and/or spending their life force in addition to their available Mana if needed.

Kinda makes ya wonder just how many students at Hogwarts would be considered Squibs without their wands.

[KonokoHasano]

I actually wonder if Ranma would randomly decide to see if other students at Hogwarts would be able to use at least SOME wandless magic. If so, I actually see that happening sometime in fifth year with the whole DA thing.

Ranma often goes to the Room of Requirement for some training, and when the DA starts using that room, she'll decide to sit in on the meetings. I've had some thoughts about Ranma learning Patronus, but I'm not really sure what the animal would be. Sure, it could be a cat just like everything else about Ranma has been lately, or it could be a throwback of sorts and come out as a large horse.

If it was a horse, I could see Ranma jumping on top -- possibly floating there if the patronus is incapable of holding a person or anything -- and going 'Hi ho Silver!' just for the hell of it.

Anyway, I'm thinking that when I end up getting to the next chapter of the side story -- I'm unsure when that'll be exactly, -- I'm thinking the chapter will deal with Laira's hatching. Ranma's reactions to a newly hatched -- and capable of speech -- cabbit calling her 'momma' and all would be interesting.

[Spokavriel]

Just imagine with Laira being able to speak it could leave the question of Washu's DNA somehow being less advanced than the cat girl. After all the same techniques went into Ryo-Ohki and she can only speak like a person when in humanoid form outside of Pretty Sammy sequences.

[Andy2kk]

Lol, Ranma getting called momma, and Laira calling Washu; granny, old lady, hag, something alone those lines after picking it up from Ranma telepathically or something. Heh, now the results of that could be funny.

More soon!

[KonokoHasano]

With a newly hatched Laira, I can see her acting somewhat like a newly hatched Ryo-Ohki -- from episode three.

Considering Ranma and Laira are connected mentally, it would be interesting to see Laira manage to accidentally access some of Ranma's memories without permission, and then ask her about some of the things she saw.

[Spokavriel]

I don't know if you would want to do something so drastic but how about a Neko-ken moment? I could imagine Laira shifting to crystal form and then under the influence of Neko-Ken memories going into a cat form instead of ship form. With Ranma being the only one she feels fully safe with. Sure others aren't a threat unless they attack but it would be one way to have a problem with it now that Ranma's over it.

[KonokoHasano]

Being able to see into each others' memories isn't all that drastic. Ranma and Laira's mental connection is similar to Ryoko and Ryo-Ohki's, and you can also say Ryoko, Ryo-Ohki and Washu's mental connection since those three DO have one.

In episode 4, when Ayeka asked Ryoko how she knew about the cabin, Ryoko responded by saying that she looked into Ryo-Ohki's memories.

Laira is basically a computer unit connected with Ranma to a mental level.

I also finally figured out the reason for Laira being incapable of flying up until a little after the main story.

As mentioned by Washu in GXP -- after Seina asks if Fuku can transform into humanoid form like Ryo-Ohki: "She can if she wants, but she has to want to, understand?" "All I'm saying is that if you treat a child right, it will mature and grow. Do you agree? Treat her right and you'll be fine."

Basically, even though Ranma and Laira got along all right, Ranma was uncomfortable and at somewhat of a loss about the whole situation and how to exactly to treat Laira. Those issues also slightly affected Laira and caused her to internally doubt her ability to fly.

The issue finally started getting resolved in the main story. Ranma still had some issues with figuring out how to feel about Laira, but the two finally started to really sync. Once that happened, Laira was finally able to function in space ship form properly.

[Spokavriel]

Might also want to toss in the memory of that fall into Ryouko. After all if Even Mommy is having trouble flying how cafe can it be for little Laira? If you remember in that scene with Fuku thinking back on being comforted while in the egg. Things outside of the egg are noticeable and a fall before hatching like that could be quite memorable.