Round 1

The Setting:

The crowd gathered around the center of the park, waiting for their chance to see skilled martial artists beat the crap out of each other. The place the fight was scheduled to take place was little more than a large expanse of concrete, the only real obstacles being benches, and a large fountain in the center. The area was by no means roped off, however, as everyone knew these fights had a tendancy to move around.

An announcers booth had been set up somewhat near to the proceedings, althought not too close, of course. Manning this booth was none other than Kolhotz High's famed announcer. He was a favorite amongst the people, mainly because of his ability to become emotionally involved in the events.

He spoke, and the crowd fell silent, "Welcome everybody, to the 23rd annual Nerima Amateur Martial Arts Showdown! Our opening match promises to be a good one, folks, so sit tight as they take the field." The crowd started to cheer, but quickly fell silent again to hear the announcements.

"Introducing, from the school of Arashi Aki no Ballroom, a young man whose skill in the ballroom is matched only by his skill on the battlefield... Devyn Soyokaze!!!" As soon as the words left his mouth, the crowd started cheering again. Devyn, dressed in his black western style suit stepped forward from the crowd and started to move into the center of the battlefield. He looked calm and collected, and not at all effected by the excitement around him. As he walked across the field, a breeze picked up, and several fallen leaves were blown onto the field behind him, seeming to follow in his wake.

Giving enough time to be considered a dramatic pause, the announcer then began to speak again, "And our other competitor, younger sister of the legendary Ranma Saotome and an excellent martial artist in her own right, Reeeeeeeeeeeei Saotome!!!"

The young girl jumped out from the crowds with a few acrobatic maneuvers in the air, and landed on her feet well into the middle of the field. The crowd, of course, cheered in delight at the flashy display. Some of them even got out their "GO SAOTOME" signs which they'd brought along for Ranma just in case he made an appearance, and started waving them around.

The two fighters went to their respective positions on the battleground. Rei threw a couple of quick warm-up punches into the air in front of her, looking very energetic and confident in herself. She gave a short bow, and then dropped into a standard Anything-Goes fighting stance.

Devyn, in contrast, still looked calm and almost disinterested. He simply snapped his fingers together, and said, "Let us dance the dance of fallen dreams." Another dramatic gust of wind picked up, and the fallen autumn leaves began to blow behind him. Oddly enough, thought some people in the crowd, it was the middle of spring.

Comments:

Lichan

Well, from what I've read I'm going to have to go with Rei on this one. Her determination is  impressive if she was willing to take on Shampoo. I think her speed should give her an edge. Not to mention that fact that she IS a Saotome! Fighting ability is in her genes!

Spanner

The roughest part of predicting this fight is figureing out just what Rei can DO. She's got just one special move that we know of (her Speed of Light Kick), and that is apparently more of a finishing move than a regular fighting technique. She does know Anything-Goes, however, as well as a couple of other styles, and has apparently studied alongside Ranma under Genma to learn them. So, she should have a fair bit of general skill   perhaps slightly less than Ranma had at the start of the series. Pretty good, but not in a league with most of the Ranma 1/2 regulars. Her curse, too, is probably a liability. At age 13, there's a fair chance that she might actually lose both strength and speed if she were to become a boy during a fight. Devyn, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have any real soft points in this situation. The fact that he's a specialist fighter will count against him in a fight with an Anything Goes fighter (true, Devyn would be familiar with Anything Goes, but his own techniques tend to focus on
the Ballroom Dance aspects - plus, Rei studied under Genma, rather than Soun, whose training techniques most would agree are more hardcore), as will the fact that his moves will be somewhat predictable, as they always begin with a spin. If Rei can pick out that weakness early in the fight, Devyn's victory will be more in question. After all, just because Devyn was able to take out a few thugs doesn't mean that his regular array of moves are going to help much once his special techniques have all been nullified. However, Devyn's specialization and predictability seem like smaller issues than Rei's youth and lack of special moves. This fight, I think, shall go to Devyn.

Rcajun Man

She has one true advantage, the Saotome genes. Whether it be by luck, skill, or stupidity, the Saotomes always seem to come out on top.

Wade Tritschler

Well, several reasons.  One, from his write up he is more skilled. Two, I refuse to give any merit to anybody that
tries to hurt Shampoo. And three... I thought there was a third one... maybe not.  I hate it when I do that, thinking I
have more reasons than I actually do.

Jazzie

I Just think the Character's cooler, I guess.  I mean how many hundreds of Ranma's little sisters are there in fanfic?  Couldn't he have an older sister? (j/k).   And how many martial arts ballroom dancers do you find?  Well surprisingly, quite a few.  But less than Ranma's sisters, for sure.  I want to see Devyn move on to see the weird styles fight each other - that's what Ranma's all about!

The Fight:

As Devyn waited for the match to begin, he noticed the stance that Rei had taken. He thought to himself, 'That looks like one of the stances Mr. Tendou used to try and teach me... I wonder if she uses Anything-Goes..' He had no more time to dwell on this, however, as the announdcer began to speak.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" He said in a loud and enthusiastic voice. The crowd started it's cheering again, eager to see the violence begin. One of the referees approached the middle of the field, and recieved a nod from each of the participants in turn. He shouted, "Begin!" And then turned and ran as fast as he could. First hand exposure to ki blasts in these tournaments had instilled in him a healthy fear.

Rei wasted no time. As soon as the match had begun, she rushed in to throw a few quick attacks. Any attacks she could land while her opponent was off guard would make this match that much easier for her, she thought. She opened with a quick punch aimed at Devyn's head. Devyn didn't seem surprised at all, however, and he gracefully sidestepped the punch. The young Saotome followed up her attack with a sweeping kick, which Devyn hopped over. Before he could counter attack, although it didn't seem like he planned on it anyway, Rei planted both of her hands on the ground, and launched herself at Devyn feet-first, executing a kick which would have caught her opponent right under the chin with both feet, had Devyn not again gracefully avoided it.

The announcer said, "Rei Saotome wastes no time launching a quick offensive! Devyn has been able to avoid all of her attacks so far... let's see how long he can keep it up!" Rei landed on her feet after her kick, and spun around to face her opponent. He stood there facing her, almost looking bored.

She smiled to herself, thinking, 'He can't dodge forever. If he's not going to attack, I''ve already won.' She quickly went into a sprint, closing the distance between the ballroom dancer and herself. Devyn started to spin around as she approached. Rei brought her arm back and threw a punch at Devyn's spinning midsection, timing it so that she would hit the side of him that was rotating toward her, giving the blow a little extra power. As the fist approached, Devyn's spin slowed down and he crouched down, one leg sweeping across the ground. Rei's shorter arm never hit her opponent, and the sweep knocked her feet out from under her. The dancer stood back up, his spin still continuing after the sweep, and brought one leg up, before dropping it down toward the airbourne Rei.

As a practitioner of Saotome School Anything-Goes Martial Arts, Rei had enough control in the air to twist out of the way of the falling kick, but she was unable to make a very graceful landing. She landed on the pavement with a 'thud', while Devyn halted his spin. He turned and looked down to his opponent, not pressing his advantage.

The announcer said in an excited voice, "Rei hits the ground! It seems that Soyokaze has drawn first blood... but what's this? He's holding his hand out to her? What a true gentleman!!" Some of the ladies in the crowd got a far-off dreamy look in their eyes as they watched Devyn reach down and help Rei to her feet.

Rei accepted the help, and smiled pleasantly at her opponent. She thought, 'He sure is nice.. It's too bad I have to knock him out.' She thought for a moment, and then said, "Thanks, mister... Hey, there's a leaf stuck to your jacket. Let me get that for you!" Sure enough, one of the leaves that had been blowing around was stuck to his jacket.

The announcer saw that the 'fighting' was going pretty slow, so he tried to make up some gripping dialogue. He said, "It looks as though our two combattants no longer have the will to fight each other! Could it be that love has sprung from this deadly battle of martial artists? Oh, how cruel is the hand of fate, that one of them must go home, defeated!!" He stopped paying attention, too busy trying to think of things to say which would keep the audience's attention. The audience's attention, however, was on the field.

Rei looked as though she was reaching out to grab the leaf off of Devyn's jacket. All off a sudden, she formed a fist and took a swing at  her opponent's gut. Devyn didn't seem surprised by this however, and moved one of his arms down to block the strike. The audience gasped as they saw him stumble backwards, holding his chest.

Devyn regained his balance, and thought, 'I saw that attack coming a mile away, and I know I'm fast enough to block it. What in the world did she do?' He didn't have a whole lot of time to dwell on it, however, as Rei sensed her advantage and followed it up. She struck out with her fist again. This time, Devyn elected to dodge it rather than block, since that had worked well earlier in the match.

He neatly sidestepped Rei's attack, but it seemed as though she was counting on this, and smiled. She pulled her arm back and struck again at where her opponent was sidestepping to. He was forced to block again, and while it seemed to everyone watching that his arm had been there in time to block, he again reeled from some kind of impact.

Devyn frowned. He thought, 'How is she hitting me...? Her arms are too short... she doesn't have that kind of reach!' Rei struck out a few more times with her first, and then did a sweeping kick. The ballroom dancer hopped over the attack, but now he was unable to keep dodging, and he knew it. Rei shouted, "The final blow!" And threw a punch directly at his throat. Devyn knew he couldn't afford to take this hit, so he put his hands in the way to intercept the blow.

The announcer shouted, "This could be it! Saotome's attack is unstoppable! Soyokaze puts his hands in the way in time, but he still goes to the ground hard. Will he be able to recover?" The persons in the crowd waving the 'GO SAOTOME' banners went wild, while the ladies who had been impressed by Devyn's grace and style held their breath anxiously.

The dancer grunted, and got to his feet again. He looked down at one of his hands, which had bourne the brunt of the attack, and saw a circular shaped red mark. His eyes went wide with realization, and he took a loose fighting stance. Rei thought to herself as she saw her opponent stand again, 'I've got to finish this right now, before he figures it out.'

She let out a yell, and charged. Devyn began to spin again, and several leaves began to drift across the field again. Rei recognized the spin, and expected his Low Falling Arashi move again. She hopped into the air, and struck forward with her fist again, aiming for Devyn's jaw. Unexpectedly, the dancer grabbed her by her forearm well before it was in range for her attack. He spun her around, as though dancing with her, and looked down at her hand. In it was a lead pipe. 'That's what I suspected,' he thought, 'A hidden weapon.' He spun her around rather harshly, and then threw her into the fountain in the center of the park.

Rei landed in the water with a great splash, and the announcer said, "It looks like Saotome has gone into the water! Could this be the end?" A few of the referees started edging toward the fountain to see if the match was indeed over. Rei sat on the bottom of the water, although she was now a he. He thought, 'Looks like I'll have to reveal my curse if I'm going to keep fighting. If I get that trip to China, it won't matter anyways.' He jumped out of the pond, and turned to face Devyn.

The dancer wondered why his opponent's hair had just gotten short. He said, "What is this? Did she slip in a substitute in the middle of the match? Who are you?"

Rei frowned, "I'm Rei Saotome! It's time to finish this!"

Devyn looked disbelieving, not being familiar with Jusenkyo, and replied, "Whatever... It doesn't matter who you are, this match is over." The two combattans let out a yell, and charged each other. Rei jumped into the air, and threw a kick at Devyn. The dancer noted that his foe's speed was considerably lower than that of the foe he had just been fighting. He blocked the kick, and grabbed Rei's leg before slamming his opponent to the ground hard. The young Saotome kicked his opponent's arm with his free leg, and then jumped clear.

"It looks as though Saotome is in trouble..." The announcer said, unaware that Rei had changed forms. He went on, "Soyokaze has started to spin again... let's see what he unleashes this time!"

Sure enough, Devyn had started to spin again. Rei shook his head, thinking, 'He may be fast, but not fast enough to avoid my finishing move.' Rei yelled and charged forward. He jumped into the air, and said, "Speed of light kick!" Before the kick could be thrown, however, a gust of wind full of fallen leaves blasted against him. The fast kick met nothing but open air.

As Rei brushed the leaves from his face, Devyn was standing right behind him, spinning again. Rei pulled his lead pipe out of hammerspace and launched an attack in desperation, but it was too slow. Devyn grabbed his arm and spun him around again before slamming his back into the ground.

The referees started to slowly approach the two combattants as Devyn walked away from his prone opponent, followed by a trail of autmun leaves. After a moment's inspection, the head ref gave the thumbs up to the announcer. As Devyn left the field, uninterested in the applause and cheers, the announcer said, "The winner by knockout, Devyn Soyokaze!"

The Results:

Devyn Soyokaze: 9

Rei Saotome: 3

Thanks to everyone who voted, and especially to those who submitted their characters for this battle! ^_^

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