After the crazy fight underneath the Urahara Shop, Ranma Saotome found himself with nothing in particular to do. He doesn't want to go back to the Hub right away, as he's only got a few yen left to his name, not nearly enough for a map or anything. Well, he'd told Pops and the Tendous he was on a training trip (though he conveniently neglected to mention it was an interdimensional one). Training sounds as good a way as any to pass the time, until he thinks of something better to do.

So in the vacant lot he's appropriated (near Urahara's shop), Ranma goes through one of his simpler exercises, while the campfire outside of his tent cooks a modest meal. Mind you, "simple" for Ranma Saotome is something that would tie Bruce Lee in knots. He flows from form to form almost in a blur, flipping and spinning and twisting.

Walking away from Karakura High is the resident friendly giant. Classes are over, after-classes are over, and now Chad is on his way to Urahara's Shop for his part-time job. It's so part-time he's hardly being paid for it! He's earlier than usual today, he'd like to tackle the large stacks of boxes early, since they ALWAYS tend to mysteriously increase in number as he's working. That crafty Urahara.

Since it's such a nice day he's coatless, and carries no manner of school supplies with him. He's still incredibly easy to spot, besides his impressive height he's wearing one of his favorite loud patterned hawaiian shirts today.

His walking speed slows as he nears Ranma's training site. Aside from the fact that he was positive that this lot was vacent just the other day, he sees someone compeltely unfamiliar. Tent, campfire... this isn't the best spot to camp out. He slows to a complete stop, watching Ranma train for a few moments. Hard to tell by the expression on his face, but Chad is impressde by his swiftness.

Sweep kick, flip onto one hand, push off and bring the foot down, then spin and palm strike forward, block up, Boot to the Head, spinning kick at chest-level with the other leg...

Finally Ranma finishes his kata, slippers touching down gently in the dry dirt. As he turns to check on the stew that's cooking, he sees Chad watching and blinks at him. 'Man, that guy's pretty big,' he thinks. 'Looks like he could practically arm-wrestle Ryouga.' "Yo," Ranma says out loud, essaying a wave.

Chad remains impressed as Ranma finishes up his routine. If only he were that agile, but Chad is a strength person. He waves back, silently (as he typically does) when Ranma waves to him, before speaking. "Impressive workout."

Glancing again at Ranma's set-up, Chad decides that he must indeed be from another one of those worlds. Ranma doesn't have any spiritual power, as he knows it, but Chad can sense... something, though he's not sure what. "Are you new to Karakura? From one of the Gates?"

"Heh, thanks. That's one of my older exercises, but I haven't gone through it in a while." Ranma kneels by the campfire and checks the stew. Yep, it's stew, alright. He puts the pot by the fire and pours himself a bowl. "Oh, here, y'want some?"

Ranma starts eating -- as fast as he was moving earlier. It seriously looks like he thinks someone's going to take it from him. "Yeah, I'm from another Japan," he says between mouthfuls. "Place called Nerima. Kinda got lost in that Terminal place or whatever it's called. Got to see a cool fight here, though."

Chad waves a hand, turning down Ranma's offer. "No thanks." He says. He's not about to take stew from a traveller who has to sleep in a tent in a vacent lot. Besides, Ranma looks pretty hungry, almost as if he'd bute off Chad's hand if he DID accept the offer.

Then something else clicks in his brain. A fight? "That must have been Kenpachi and Ichigo." He wanted to watch that. Urahara had him stacking more boxes upstairs though, the slavedriver.

Deciding he can afford not to arrive to Urahara's early today, he steps into the lot to judge this Ranma person a bit more closely. A skilled fighter, and a bit of a wanderer, he can probably take care of himself, but Chad feels he should fill him a bit on Karakura so he can watch his own back. "If you saw Kenpachi and Ichigo fighting then I guess you know there's a bit more to this place than meets the eye. You should watch your back. On top of the other Gate travellers there are creatures called Hollows to look out for."

Hey, it's not like he has to sleep out here! He's on a training trip! It's traditional!

Oh, who are we kidding, he's dirt poor.

Ranma swiftly finishes up his bowl and goes to serve himself seconds. "OK," he replies before digging in. "Yeah, mighta been. Orange-haired kid and a guy with bells in his hair?" He reaches for his backpack (which, incidentally, looks like it weighs at least as much as he does) and pulls out a pair of binoculars. "Got this at the fight. Could hardly see them without it. What are they, some kinda ghosts?"

Orange hair? Bells? Yup, it was then alright.

Chad sighs, then squats down on the ground across from Ranma, and glances at the binoculars. "Well... something like that. Captain Zaraki... erm, the guy with bells in his hair is a spiritual entity from a place called Soul Society. Ichigo, the other one, is a regular human, but what you were seeing was his.. uh, soul." A year ago, Chad would have been lost in this sort of conversation, and now here he is telling it to someone who seems to be handling it quite well. "Hollows are like ghosts, but malevolent, and they prey on the souls of others. Strong souls in particular." He points at the binoculars "So I'd keep those on you, in case you get any weird feelings around here." He then pauses for a bit to let Ranma finish his meal.

This takes about three seconds.

Ranma sets the bowl aside and tilts his head, listening. "Okay, gotcha. I've had ta deal with a few nasty ghosts back home. Everybody could see 'em just fine, though. Wonder why it's so hard here." He stuffs the binoculars back into the backpack. "Yeah, I'll keep a hold a' those." The mention of Soul Society doesn't really interest him that much. Ranma ponders for a moment, then switches to the conversation topic he's most comfortable with, as this one seems complete. "Say, ya know any martial arts? Ya look like the kinda guy who can handle himself in a fight."

Chad blinks. "Martial arts?" Despite how he looks, Chad's not all that experienced when it comes to actual fighting techniques. He shakes his head. "I don't have any formal training in anything, I just fight on instinct, when I HAVE to, anyway."

Chad's whole fighting style depends on hitting something as hard as he can, and hopes what he hits is softer than his fist.

He can sort of guess where this is going. He can put two and two together. Ranma seems like an avid fighter, and martial arts enthusiast, plus he mentioned that he was on a training trip. Chad glances around. The lot is empty, but there are houses nearby, so he certainly can't go ALL out. But maybe he can entertain Ranma a bit.

Besides. He's been wanting Urahara to train him in the areas he's lacking, ie: speed and technique, but maybe just fighting someone like Ranma can help him out quicker.

"If you want.." He says. "I can spar, but don't expect to pick up very much in the way of 'techniques' from me."

Ranma grins. "Hey, nothin' wrong with instinct. The School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts is all about pickin' up new stuff and changin' your patterns on the fly. Ya gotta have a good instinct or yer just goin' through the motions." He bends backward, putting both palms on the ground, then flips up to a vertical handstand. "Sounds good! It's been way too long since I had a good fight."

Ranma hops to his feet neatly and gives Chad another cocky grin. "With somebody who ain't actually tryin' ta kill me, anyway."

Chad actually grins back. "I know the feeling." He says as he gets to his feet. The last person he really fought against was also set on killing him, though he spared his life in the end anyway.

Chad dusts himself off, takes a few steps back, and faces Ranma. "Anything goes Martial Arts, huh? Sounds like something Mr. Urahara would teach." Adopting a fighting stance, or something LIKE a fighting stance, Chad prepares to summon his spiritual armor... but decides against it. He'll wait and see what Ranma is capable of first, waiting for him to make the first move.

This is gonna be interesting, Ranma thinks to himself. He relaxes his pose slightly. It doesn't look like a fighting stance at all, but looks can indeed be deceiving. 'He's lettin' me go first? Alright, let's test his defenses a bit.' Ranma zips forward, sending out a quick jab at somewhat less than Amaguriken speed.

Ranma Saotome gets a glancing blow on Yasutora Sado with his Here, have a punch feint.

Ranma's fist comes flying in Chad's direction. The giant is a bit startled, and raises an arm to block it, but only succeeds in deflecting it a bit, as it still makes contact with his upper torso. Not particularly painful, so he shrugs it off, but he bets there's more where that came from.

Not one for fancy side stepping, or much other footwork, Chad just steps forward, letting his size overwhelm Ranma for a moment and throws a jab at his midsection to counter his attack. He's not putting ALL his strength behind it, yet, as he's still getting a feel for what Ranma is capable of doing, or enduring.

Yasutora Sado hits Ranma Saotome with his You call that a Punch? jab.

As Chad's fist comes forward, Ranma's arms cross in front of him, but even with that protection the punch leaves him just a little winded. "Whew! Damn," he laughs, "you could give P-chan a real run for his money." Ranma feints left, then ducks to Chad's right, bringing his left fist up in a quicker strike.

Ranma Saotome misses Yasutora Sado with his No, I call THIS a punch. jab.

Chad dodges this strike by jumping back a bit, narrowing escaping Ranma's fist. "...P-chan? Who's that? Friend of yours?" What kind of guy has a nickname like P-chan, anyway? Then the discussion of names reminds him that neither of them properly introduced themselves yet. Meh, it can wait till the fight is over.

Now that Chad has a slight bit of distance between himself and Ranma, he decides to try something a bit more aggressive. Lowering his shoulder he sprints forward, trying to ram the martial artist. This is less of a move aimed to knock him down, and more to just damage him by the force alone.

Yasutora Sado hits Ranma Saotome with his Shoulder Ram jab.

"Yeah, you could say that. Good guy when he ain't screamin' --" Ranma goes into an impersonation of Ryouga. "'I've been through hell because of you, Ranma! Prepare to die!' Y'know, crap like that."

Whoa! Ranma is caught off-guard by Chad's battering ram impersonation. Chad slams into his shoulder, but he uses the momentum to spin, aiming a kick at the taller boy's back.

Ranma Saotome gets a glancing blow on Yasutora Sado with his Spin Kick attack.

The force of Ranma's kick sends Chad forward a few more feet than he was anticpating, he almost loses his balance, but the giant recovers. He's starting to get the idea. Ranma's fast, he'll have to be faster to keep up.

"I see. It's complicated, huh?" Chad won't get into the specifics of this 'P-Chan' guy. Whatever his relationship with Ranma is must be their business.

Spinning around to face Ranma again Chad almost feels tempted to try a kick out himself. But he's not much of a kicker. All of his real strength is in his arms. So it'd be a pity to waste his advantage. Running forward a few steps he thrusts his right arm forward, towards Ranma's stomach, with almost all of his strength. If it connects it should leave him winded, at least.

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Gut Punch attack.

Ranma rolls his eyes. "Yeah, everything in my life is complicated," he replies wryly. "Gods must just watch' me an' be crackin' up, I tell ya." He swerves to the side, but Chad's gut punch still clips him. Ranma hasn't done much damage yet; he'd better stop underestimating his opponent and get with the program. His fists last out in the Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire move he taught himself long ago. Aimed for non-vital areas, but this should still sting.

Ranma Saotome hits Yasutora Sado with his Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken attack.

*Punch*Punch*Punch*Punch*Punch*Punch*Punch*Punch*

Chad's certainly not nimble enough to dodge an attack like that, and he suffers quite a bruising against Ranma's fists. He staggars back and reels for just a moment, before regaining his focus. The way those fists were moving, that speed wasn't normal. Clearly there IS more to Ranma than meets the eye.

He can't help but grin at Ranma's words, though. "Hard life, huh? Can't be all that bad if you've got skills like that." Chad still opts not to draw out his spiritual power just yet, and advances on the martial artist to deliver another hard punch to his torso. Punches folks, it's about all Chad got. You can see here the limit of his basic skills.

Yasutora Sado misses Ranma Saotome with his Yet Another Punch attack.

"Yeah, I guess ya got a point there," Ranma says off-handedly as he hops over Chad's punch. "Some a' Pops' trainin' ideas were pretty damn stupid, but most of 'em worked." He demonstrates by casually aiming a kick for Chad's head. Tatsuki would be proud.

Ranma Saotome critically strikes Yasutora Sado with his Boot to the Head attack.

*SLAM*

Ranma's kick really scramble's Chad's head for a bit, as he staggars back. He almost falls over, ALMOST, but his endurance keeps him on his feet. He waits a moment for his vision to clear, and so that he only sees ONE Ranma. A bit of blood trickles out from under his hair, and down his cheek. But meh, that's nothing. I-beams have made him bleed worse.

But now he finally sees that he's going to have to get a bit more serious if he wants to show Ranma what he's made of. Limiting yourself TOO much in training, afterall, can hurt more than help. "Ok. Let's take this a bit further." Chad says as he extends his right arm outward. It glows with a blue energy. When it fades his arm is covered in a sleek, black armor. He wastes no time and dashes towards Ranma, closing the distance quickly. His legs may not move much faster, but his arm does! He launches a quick punch to Ranma's head, though he witholds any spiritual backlash. No need to blow a hole in the side of the building across the street.

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Armored Punch attack.

Ranma grins. It's been some time since he had such a satisfying battle, and it's far from over. "Alright, let's what the crap?" Chad's transformation catches him off-guard again, and the punch clips his head, spinning him to face away from Chad. He quickly ducks down and brings his elbow back, aiming for Chad's stomach. "Nice trick, man!"

Ranma Saotome critically strikes Yasutora Sado with his Elbow + Gut = Ouch attack.

"Thanks." Chad says, before Ranma's elbow hits him hard. Despite his size Ranma hits like a ton of bricks. A ton of very fast moving bricks. Chad still remains on his feet though, his stamina seeing him past the pain. He recovers from the elbow quickly and decides to take advantage of his close proximity to Ranma, and tries to uppercut him. Fast, quick, and with his arm ablaze with a bit of spiritual energy it's almost like a....

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Shoryuuken attack.

Ranma spins around to face Chad, just in time to catch a glowing-fist-to-the-chin. It flings him back several feet, and his slippers skid against the dirt as he regains his footing. "That thing's dangerous!" he laughs. "Let's see how it handles this... Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" His hands lash out at high speed, aiming for Chad's chest; Ranma hopes he'll block with the armored arm, so he can see how tough it is.

Ranma Saotome critically strikes Yasutora Sado with his Sonic Fists Mark 2 attack.

Chad tries to block Ranma's blows again, but only succeeds in deflecting a small portion of them. Incidentally, his armored arm feels as hard as rock, covered in metal, covered in something harder than metal. Luckily he doesn't block every strike with that arm, or Ranma may have wound up with a broken hand.

The flurry of punches sends Chad staggaring back again. He was even faster this time, Chad can barely keep up. Chad is glad he's actually been landing hits against Ranma, but this fight clearly shows where he's always been lacking. Speed and agility. Ranma may have the leg-up on speed, but Chad's not about to give up just yet. While he can't really use his spiritual blasts out in the open like this, or else he might a few people homeless, he can use them a bit more creatively. He slams his fist into the ground sending a shockwave of spiritual energy towards Ranma.

Yasutora Sado hits Ranma Saotome with his Spirit Shockwave jab.

Ranma hisses and shakes his hands out, hopping a foot or two backward. That armor's even harder than he expected! He watches warily as Chad punches the ground, and dust flies up in a wave of -- He figures something's up too late to dodge it. The energy slams into him, reminding him of last night when the Zaraki guy had let his energy loose. This power isn't as strong as his, but it knocks him off balance. Ranma crouches, then leaps to the side, kicking the ground as he lands to bring up a big cloud of dirt and dust in front of him.

Ranma Saotome stuns Yasutora Sado with his You Can't See Me action.

Ack! Dust in the eyes! Despite Chad's clever hair-shield (you thought the shaggy hair was just for looks? Hahaha!) he becomes briefly blinded by the dust. He instinctivly rubs his eyes, despite KNOWING that probably makes it worse, leaving him a sitting duck for a few moments.

Ranma sent the cloud up almost on instinct, but he feels a bit guilty as he moves in to attack. This is just a sparring session, after all; it's not like he's protecting somebody or anything. So he settles for a quick kick to Chad's lower back.

Ranma Saotome hits Yasutora Sado with his Over here jab.
Yasutora Sado is no longer stunned.

The kick gives Chad a bit of an idea of where Ranma is. He could have used a less painful method, but hey, this IS a sparring match afterall. He's able to see fairly well by now, but there's still a bit of dust in his face. "I guess Anything Goes is literal, huh?" Oh well, Chad's no complainer. Raising his right arm up in the air, he slams it down on Ranma, and probably continuing down until he hits the ground, sending one heck of a vibration across the empty lot.

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Haymaker attack.

A sheepish laugh. "Well, yeah, pretty much. I try not ta be too underhanded unless it's a real important fight, but --" Whoa, that was close. Ranma dodges the punch, but a few rocks fly up and smack into him before he can catch them. "...You oughta see some of the moves my old man thought up. Pretty pathetic." Ranma ducks back into melee range, testing Chad's defense again with a few quick strikes.

Ranma Saotome gets a glancing blow on Yasutora Sado with his Is this bugging you? I'm not touching you. OK, maybe I am. feint.

Yes, Ranma IS touching him. Hitting him rather, pretty hard. Chad's defenses, if it wasn't evident from the rest of the battle, aren't the greatest. He's a tank, afterall. He excels in absorbing the damage, not dodging it. His problem lies in suddenly taking more damage than he can handle. While Ranma's attacks are wearing him down, he's not done yet. Chad decides to kick it up another notch.

He's been working on control lately. He can only train in construction sites at night for so long before he destroys every one in town, at his current pace. So he has been able to limit the range of his huge destructive blasts to avoid excessive property damage. Given the size of the vacent lot, he can probably fire one off without it causing undue harm elsewhere. As for Ranma, well...

Chad's sure he can withstand it. It won't be a lethal blast, anyway.

Still, he decides to give him a bit of a head's up, if only to be fair. "Don't lose your head, now." Yeah, that's reassuring. Chad then punches the air in front of him, or rather, that's how it LOOKS for a split second. A split second later a bright blue blast of spiritual energy is launched from the end of his fist, towards the Saotome wonder child. Hit or no it should dissapate before it reaches the other end of the lot.

Yasutora Sado misses Ranma Saotome with his Spiritual Fist Blast super.

Ranma looks at Chad suspiciously as he offers a cryptic warning. And then punches the air. What is he...

Now, Ranma hasn't got any real spiritual sense. But his danger sense is saying MOVE THE HELL AWAY, BOY. He flings himself off to the side, turning to watch as something he can only barely see leaves a long groove in the dirt. "Whoa," he says to himself. "Is that like those blasts the orange-haired kid was throwin' around last night?" He couldn't see it, so it's obviously not a ki blast like he's familiar with. Ranma approaches Chad again and -- *punchpunchpunchpunchpunch*

Ranma Saotome hits Yasutora Sado with his Chest, Fists. Fists, Chest. attack.

More punches, more lack of blocking from Chad. By now the giant is on his last legs. He can't seem to quite shake the double vision, he needs a breather, which means the match is pretty much over. But, Chad's not going to just throw in the towel, he'll at least fire one more attack at Saotome before calling it quits. No more spiritual blasts, no more feints. Chad charges at Ranma, and throws one final punch towards his midsection, putting whatever strength he has left behind it.

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Last Punch attack.

Ranma is clipped once again by Chad's punch. He keeps dodging, but Chad keeps managing to hit him! Even if the strikes don't do much on their own, Chad could wear him down to nothing if he could just dodge more often. Looks like he's on his last legs, though. Ranma comes in with a palm to the chest to see if he can bring the battle to an end.

Ranma Saotome misses Yasutora Sado with his Palm Strike attack.

Ok, so he thought that would be the last PUNCH. No need to go against that. As Ranma thrusts his palm forward Chad musters the energy to step back quickly, then he tries to grab Ranma's arm with his armored arm, and fling him over his shoulder and onto the ground.

Yasutora Sado gets a glancing blow on Ranma Saotome with his Over The Shoulder attack.

WHAT. Ranma is unceremoniously yanked over Chad's shoulder and slammed to the ground. He manages to twist himself to absorb much of the blow; the Saotome School has a large aerial repertoire, after all. But he's caught off-guard, just when he was ready for the fight to end. Ranma spins around with a sweep kick to try to take Chad's legs out.

Ranma Saotome gets a glancing blow on Yasutora Sado with his Sweep You Off Your Feet (nonotlikethat) attack.
Yasutora Sado has been knocked out!

*SLAM*

Chad's giant frame hits the ground. The dust settles around him, and it stays that way for a moment or two. It seems that all the damage he had taken throughout the battle caught up with him with that final strike. The armor on his arm vanishes in a blue haze and Chad remains unmoving for the time being.

Match: Saotome

Ranma Saotome lets out a long breath. "Whew! Man, now that was a fight!" He walks over to Chad, kneeling unsteadily and helping him get into a sitting position. "You've got some serious power, man! If ya work on yer speed, I'll have some real trouble keepin' up with ya." He pats his chest, then winces a bit. "Ya got some good hits in. And what was that blast ya threw at me? Bigger 'n my Mouko Takabisha, that's for sure!"

The world is still all fuzzy and spinny as Ranma walks over to Chad. After a few moments his vision clears, and slowly the giant sits back up. Though Ranma is asking questions a bit too fast for him to keep up with, so he settles for answering the last question he hears. Not that he remembers the previous ones. "It doesn't really have a name. In fact, I don't know much about my power, actually." He remains sitting on the ground, not ready to stand up just yet. "It's all a long story. It has to do with all the spiritual energy localized in this town, coming from one guy in particular. I don't really understand more than that." Pausing to catch his breath, he turns to regard Ranma, his vision nearly back to normal. "You're good also. Especially for someone without any spiritual power as we know it, you could probably give a Captain a run for their money." He doesn't elaborate on what a Captain IS, though, poor Ranma. Instead, he extends his hand.

"Yasutora Sado."

"Spiritual energy, huh? Guess it's different from the ki I use in my attacks." Ranma's gotta do some training to learn this stuff. Attacks that his opponent can't actually see? That is all kinds of awesome. "Thanks, man! I'm undefeated back home. Well, pretty much. When I do lose, I always come back an' win eventually."

He grins and clasps Chad's hand. "Saotome Ranma. Nice meetin' ya."

Chad grins. He really reminds him of Ichigo. Getting to his feet (finally) Chad looks around the vacant lot (which now looks a bit more vacant), and thinks for a moment. "You know, if you want to get out from here, I got a spare section in my apartment if you'd want to sleep there while you're in town." He rubs the back of his head. "It's not big, but it's better than sleeping on the ground. Unless you happen to enjoy that."

Besides, Orihime's supposedly been taking in new roommates out of the kindness of her heart, and that MUST be working out fine!

Ranma helps Chad stand up carefully; the smaller boy is fairly beaten up himself, so there's a moment of uncertainty before they're both upright. He looks over at his makeshift camping site, then nods to Chad. "Yeah, I wouldn't mind that. Ever since me an' the old man moved in with the Tendous, I've kinda gotten used ta havin' a roof over my head. Thanks for the offer, Yasutora. Just gimme a sec to pack up." He checks the campfire -- long since put out by their fight -- and starts taking down his tent.

Chad nods. "No problem." He's a generous guy, anyway. Of course, now he's going to be late for his part-time job at Urahara's shop, but he figures he can afford to miss his schedule at least once. Besides, all this counts as training, right?

He waits for Ranma to finish up before leading him to his apartment. What sort of wacky roommate hijinx will ensue between Sado and Saotome? Time will tell. 

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