Martial Arts Mage (preview)

Magil hurtled through the familiar void of colors, taking note that this Gate’s coloring was different than the standard gates (which were blue, green, and red). This Gate was orange. Magil correctly guessed that its orange color simply denoted that it traveled distance only, and not time. The end of the Gate began to near, and Magil prepared himself so that he would land on his feet, as there was no telling precisely where one would end up.

He exited the Gate and landed on his feet, although he nearly lost his balance. It was night, and he was in a forest on the side of a mountain. Not nearly one as dense as the Guardia Forest, nor were the trees as big as those in Fiona’s Forest. Then he heard a boy screaming in a language that he understood because of a permanent translation enchantment he had placed on himself. The spell quickly worked and let him learn the entire language from just a few sentences.

“No, Pops! I don’t wanna! Those c-c-c-cats will kill me dis time fa sure!”

“Stop crying like a girl! A Martial Artist must suffer for the sake of the Art! Now get in there and learn the Neko-Ken!”

Magil quietly snuck up on them. He saw a very young boy with black hair and wearing a training gi, wrapped almost completely in fish products, being thrown into a pit where a lot of mewing and hissing was heard by a large, fat, balding man with glasses and a training gi made to fit his girth. Magil was infuriated. He didn’t know what this “Cat Fist” business is, but by the amount of noise coming from the pit, there were more than enough hungry cats to pick all the flesh off of the poor kid’s bones.

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Saotome Genma didn’t know why the kid liked to complain. If he had simply mastered the Neko-Ken the first time, then he wouldn’t have to be subjected to the training again and again. He was probably just lazy. After he put the extremely heavy lid over the pit, he turned around to see the Grim Reaper. Well, he thought it was the Reaper, what with the cloak, white facemask, and deadly-looking scythe. How was he to know the difference?

“OHPLEASEMISTERDEATHDONTTAKEMETHEREISSOMUCHISTILLWANTTODOINLIFE!!!”

This was unexpected for Magil, but he felt it would work to his advantage. He spoke in the creepiest voice he could possibly do, which admittedly scared some of the undead soldiers he once had in his army so long ago. “Okay, I will make a deal with you. How about I take your son instead?”

Genma began bowing. “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK - herk!” Thud. Magil had stabbed him in the back of his head. And then put his scythe away.

Using his magic, Magil levitated the lid off of the pit and casually tossed it aside (where it went to a small village where the reincarnation of Attila the Hun was growing up, and he would’ve caused a new World War to begin had the lid not landed on his head, killing him instantly). Magil then levitated the boy out of the pit and set him down on the ground. There were about fifteen cats still attached to his body, and he kicked them back into the pit. Magil noticed three things about the boy: 1) the poor kid was still conscious, 2) he was underfed, and 3) his wounds were critical and life-threatening. Although not his specialty, Magil was pretty good at curative magic, and healed the boy of his wounds. Magil then fished one of his meal rations out from... well, his hammerspace, and gave it to the kid.

“Eat, before you pass out.”

The starving child (who is now hungrier than ever, as curative magic uses calories in the body to heal it), ate the entire ration in a matter of seconds. Magil figured that the kid needed to learn some manners, or at least be dignified about his speed-eating habit. After he ate, the boy started talking to Magil as he rummaged through Genma’s pack, finding a good deal of canned tuna, sardines, fish paste, etc.

“So, who are ya, mister?”

“My name is Magil Zeal.” Magil opened each of the cans and packages and dumped them into the pit, where the mewing and hissing of the cats continued, but it was more subdued each time they were fed.

“Where’s Pops?”

Magil knew that it was probably wrong to tell this boy the truth... but it was more wrong to lie. “He was going to kill you. In order to save you, I had to kill him.”

The boy looked at him with wide eyes. “But... he was a Martial Artist, and he protected da weak and...”

“Did he protect you, or did he throw you repeatedly into a pit of starving cats?”

“... so he wasn’t a true Martial Artist.”

“What’s your name, kid?” Magil said as he dumped the last of the fish products into the pit, where all the cats’ hunger had finally been sated. The cats were sleeping like... well, kittens.

“Saotome Ranma.”

Nice enough name, thought Magil. “How old are you?”

“Six and a half, I think.”

Not too old to begin studying magic. “Do you have a mother?”

“I think she died.”

Well, it seems he no longer has any family relations. I wonder... “Ranma, was it?” The boy nodded. “Let me touch your head, I need to see something.”

Magil put his left palm on Ranma’s forehead, and his other hand seemed to dance in the air, plucking invisible strings. Ranma felt a small amount of energy go through him as the mage chanted in some archaic tongue. Magil was scanning the boy, to see if he had any magical potential and to find out if he had an element. The process only took about a minute.

Seems that he have a lot of hidden potential for magic, especially Fire. I didn’t think I’d find my apprentice right of the bat!

“Ranma, I’ve decided train you how to be a Warrior.”

“A... Warrior?”

“Yes, like a Martial Artist, a Warrior protects the weak, but a Warrior also kills evil beings who will never change their ways.”

“You’d do dat?”

“Yes. But I’ll not have you use the name of your idiot father. I think you should use the name Zeal as your family name. Yes, Ranma Zeal.”

“I thought da family name came first.”

“In the society where you live, maybe. What country are you from?” Magil started rummaging through Genma’s clothing and found some money.

“Japan.” Magil then went through Genma’s pack and took out everything that was unnecessary. He did find two scrolls though, one entitled the “Umisenken” and the other entitled “Yamasenken”. He decided to keep those.

“Well, I’m new around here, so I need to know where we are.”

“I think we’re in southern Kyuushuu.” Magil found a few other things of note, most of them on paper, including a seppuku contract. He kept those as well.

“Is that another country?”

“No, it’s one of da main islands in Japan. Da most southern and western island.”

“Are there telephone wires on every hillside in Japan?” asked the mage, looking at some that were fairly close.

“Pretty much from what I saw.”

Magil nodded. He was beginning to get an idea of the layout of the country.

“Well, we’ll come back here later, we need to get to my world so that you can learn magic.”

“What?! Magic exists?! YOU’RE AN ALIEN!?!”

“Kind of, but I’m a human like you. And of course magic exists. Now come on, Ranma.”