Ranma 1/2
Anything Goes Battle Arena
The Setting:
Linlin and Ranran were sitting in the shade of a tall tree somewhere in the wilds of Japan. The Amazon pair was cooking a wild boar which they had just hunted down. The aroma of the roasting meat was carried through the forests by a light breeze. Linlin tended to the fire as Ranran rested for the moment.
<We'll never find strong husbands in Japan.> Ranran said in Mandarin. Even though the two of them had come to Japan to help Shampoo fulfill her kiss of death against female-Ranma, it never hurt to keep their eyes open for a prospective husband. Now that Ranma had turned out to be a man, which meant the kiss of death was null and void, LinLin and Ranran were free to search for husbands on their way home.
<We came very close, Ranran. The one called Ryouga Hibiki was able to defeat the both of us. I wonder why he passed out with a nosebleed when we tried to reward him... We shouldn't give up hope. There are many strong men for us to find.> Linlin replied.
<I hope you're right.> Ranran said with a sigh. She had gone through painstaking lengths to rebuild a new red dragon flamethrower which allowed them to execute their powerful team attack, and wanted a chance to test it out.
Linlin handed her a piece of the now cooked meat, <Let's take our minds off of these troubles for now.>
Meanwhile, in the same forest, not so far away, the smell of the food was strong in the air. "Oh, sister, do you smell that? I'm sooooo hungry!" Kurumi said. She looked at her older sister with pleading eyes.
Natsume sighed, "Very well, let's go get it. I'm hungry too now that you mention it." The two of them were supposed to be training hard so that they could challenge Ranma and Akane once again, but it seemed that lately, the only chance they had to test their skills was while stealing food. The two sisters followed the smell of the food until they could make out a pair of girls perhaps a little younger than themselves cooking meat over a fire.
Kurumi jumped out of the brush and in a split second made a grab for the roasted meat. She was a split second too slow, however, as Linlin had moved the meal right before she grabbed it.
"Why you want to take our food?" Linlin asked the young Kurumi. Before she could answer, however, Ranran took the less peacful approach to the problem and swung her weapon. Natsume leapt from the shadows and blocked the strike with her own weapon, which just happened to be a rug beater.
"You two is good," Ranran said, "But if you want to take food you go through us first."
"If you won't share, then we accept your challenge." Kurumi said. The two pairs of fighters faced each other, confident that their superior teamwork would bring them victory.
Commentary:
Owain Lawson
Natsume and Kurumi have age and skill on their side. All they have to do is have Natsume do her freeze-throw attack to knock Linlin and Ranran off their feet. Once they're down, N and K can use the Hiryu Carimbou to finish them off, this time using it at *full* strength, not like in the OAV.
Spanner
This was a tough call! Eventually, I was forced to just take a look at their performance in the episodes that I saw, and base my judgement on that. When stacked against Ranma, he mopped up the floor with the two of them until they brought out the Dance of the Great Fire Dragon. As for Natsume and Kurumi, both of them held their own against him (partly, I'll admit, due to the fact that Ranma allowed himself to be distracted by Akane), and even defeated him with their shared technique. It really comes down to the Dance of the Great Fire Dragon, Lin Lin and Ran Ran's most powerful technique. If the Amazons are to prevail at all, it will be if Natsume and Kurumi are unable to deal with it. But considering that teamwork, the key that Ranma and Akane used to defeat it the first time, is the speciality of Natsume and Kurumi, they will prevail (and probably earn a Kiss of Death as a result. Ulp!).
Bradster
Hmmmmm. Two anime-only teams going against each other. This'll be a little vague because there's not too much consistancy in these one-shot characters' scenarios w.r.t. the manga. In both teams, each partner has excellent rapport with the other. L-L and R-R are very fast during combat and fairly strong, but they are comic relief and their special weapon is a joke (not to mention the fact that they can't defend while holding it with both hands). Natsume can throw icy wind projectiles as well as ki bolts with her 'rug-beater'; Kurumi is good in close combat, as well as being able to use her (telescoping??) ribbon as a whip.
If Ranma and Akane both had to refine their techniques and work together to beat the 'Tendo Orphans', then the Amazon sisters have no chance, because all it took for onna-Ranma to beat them was having Akane covering her ears.
Oni Girl
Although Akane and Ranma beat Linlin and Ranran after a long battle, their attack was, well, silly. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out how to beat them easily, Ranma didn't take more than 5 minutes to defeat them in combat. When Akane and Ranma fought against Natsume and Kurumi, it took them weeks of practice to reach their level of martial arts. And even if it had taken the same amount of time to defeat both teams, Natsume and Kurumi appeared later in the series. That would mean that when Ranma and Akane fought Natsume and Kurumi they were more skilled than when they fought Linlin and Ranran. Besides, Natsume and Kurumi seem to be older and smarter.
Justicar
Granted LinLin and RanRan are Amazon trained, they are more cute than formidable. Give them a few years and they'll be dangerous. Natsume + Kurumi have experienced the world and what how cruel it can be. Both groups are sisters with a mental bond. Both have trained together and both can be quite viscious in securing what they want. The main advantage N+K is Natsume she is the oldest and strongest of the four. Kurumi may be the least skilled of the four but she has the advantage of being somewhat ferral. This fight is going to a long pitched battle with great destruction to the property around them.
The Fight:
The two groups stood still for a moment, sizing up their competition. Natsume and Kurumi saw that their opponents were both armed, Linlin with a short bamboo staff and Ranran with a short but sharp trident. Linlin and Ranran saw that the older of the two sisters was armed with a long stick with a strange end, and that the younger sister was seemingly unarmed.
Linlin and Ranran thought at the same time, "The younger one is their weak link... she doesn't have a weapon." Without a word to each other, the Amazon duo quickly jumped at Kurumi, getting their weapons ready to strike. As the distance between the two pairs grew shorter, Natsume and Kurumi reacted. Natsume swung her long staff-like weapon at the thin air in front of her in a wide arc, causing a small whirlwind to blast toward the Amazon pair as Kurumi jumped high into the air. Linlin and Ranran leapt over the whirlwind, but were still headed toward Kurumi with weapons poised to strike.
To the surprise of both Amazons, Kurumi quickly untied her very long hair ribbon and wielded it as though it were a whip. The pink ribbon began to glow red as the younger sister lashed out with it, wrapping it around Ranran, who had no way to dodge while in mid-air. Kurumi pulled hard on the ribbon to her side, yanking Ranran from her path of flight. The ribbon lost its glow as it came loose from Ranran and caused the Amazon to fall to the ground. Kurumi prepared her ribbon to do the same thing to Linlin, but by that time the other Amazon had already passed by her.
As Kurumi landed from her jump, she suddenly felt two solid blows in her abdomen and her shoulder. She guessed that it was some strange delayed damage technique, inflicted by Linlin as she passed. Meanwhile, Linlin rushed over to the downed Ranran.
Ranran stood up uneasily with her clothes torn in several places, saying to her sister, <That ribbon felt like it was on fire... There's more to these two than meets the eye. We need to try something more powerful.> Linlin nodded, and ducked down while Ranran jumped on to her shoulders. The two of them shouted out, "Combined Beat Up Nasty Bandits Who Steal Food Attack!" Linlin spun around very quickly, causing the Amazon duo to appear as a tornado. As the two of them moved toward Natsume and Kurumi, their weapons could be seen striking out at random as they spun.
Natsume looked at her sister and said, "Get your ribbon ready!" then shot a tornado of ice cold wind at the tornado of Amazons. Locked in their attack, Linlin and Ranran were hit by the attack full on. They stopped their spinning and shielded their faces as the whirlwind passed by. A split second later, Kurumi's glowing ribbon lashed out, hitting them several times and sending them both to the ground.
Kurumi halted her attack and held her ribbon still in her hands as Natsume called out to the Amazons, "Do you yield?" and held her staff weapon at the ready.
Linlin and Ranran stood up slowly, both with severe burns, and Ranran hissed through her teeth, "Amazons never give up!" The Amazons looked at each other and nodded. They stood back to back and shouted, "Behold the Dance of the Great Fire Dragon!" From seemingly nowhere, Linlin and Ranran pulled out a red colored dragon resembling a dragon that one would see in a Chinese parade, except this one had a large metal head and a flamethrower in its mouth. The Amazon pair grabbed the handles beneath the dragon and called out, "Great Fire Dragon, Mark II!"
Ranran reached into her pockets and pulled out a CD titled, "Hypnotic Music: Greatest Hits" and popped it into a radio housed under the dragon machine. Meanwhile, Natsume looked to her sister and said, "Time to end this Kurumi. You know what to do..."
Kurumi nodded and twirled her ribbon in the air, causing it to glow as it formed a spiral around the Great Fire Dragon. Natsume spun around, building up cold wind energy. She shouted, "Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts Final Attack! Hiryuu Carinbou!" and let loose a mighty blast with her weapon. The Music from the Great Fire Dragon had only just begun when the cold wind blasted through the inside of the hot spiral caused by Kurumi's ribbon with enormous force. Linlin, Ranran, and the Fire Dragon were thrown back, and Natsume and Kurumi quickly relented their attack.
The Amazon duo were sprawled out on the ground, badly wounded by the final attack. The Great Fire Dragon was on the ground next to them, parts of it on fire, and fuel leaking out onto the ground around it, and otherwise useless as a weapon. Kurumi gasped as she saw the explosion waiting to happen, and ran into the fray, grabbing both Linlin and Ranran and jumping away from the dragon machine quickly. Seconds later, the Great Fire Dragon Mark II exploded, engulfing the area Linlin and Ranran were sprawled a few seconds earlier.
Minutes later, Linlin and Ranran woke up. They looked at the remains of their weapon, then to Natsume and Kurumi, who were watching over them with worry. Linlin said, "You saved us..."
<We should give them the kiss of death because they defeated us, but they did save our lives.> Ranran said to her partner in Mandarin.
<Yes. I believe in this case we can make an exception to our laws.> Linlin replied. "Thank you for saving us. You is strong opponents. You welcome to our food."
Natsume bowed to the Amazons, "Thank you, you don't know how much this means to my sister." Kurumi, meanwhile, grabbed the cooked wild board and devoured it in 1.78 seconds. She bowed to the Amazons in thanks as well.
Linlin and Ranran giggled at how fast Kurumi ate the food, and then stood up, "If you ever in China, say Nihao!" The two of them walked off into the forest, continuing on their journey home.
The Results:
Natsume and Kurumi "Tendou": 11
Linlin and Ranran: 5
I didn't get a lot of good commentary from the people who voted for Linlin and Ranran, so the stuff I posted was pretty one-sided ^_^ Sorry for taking WAY too long to get this battle done and posted, but I was at a complete loss to find pictues for the next match. Thanks for voting.