Part 1: Enter Ben, the Multi-Styled Blind Fighting Master

It was a slow day at the Cat Café; Shampoo was mopping up some of the water that a customer had track in from the rain. She looked up and saw a familiar looking red-haired girl walk by with a drawstring bag over her shoulder. "Ai-yaa," she thought, "is Ranma!" Quickly she grabbed an umbrella and dashed out to meet her. "Ranma!" she yelled "come inside, is warm, yes!" The red-haired girl looked startled at first but then nodded and entered the restaurant. She pulled up a chair and set her bag down. The girl was soaking wet, dressed in a dark blue sleeveless Kung Fu uniform that had an extra piece of fabric in the front and back that hung down to her knees, loose-fitting black silk pants, black forearm-length fingerless gloves, and a dark blue headband that tied in the back, and could have covered up a pig-tail. "Ranma," Shampoo stammered joyously, "you come visit Shampoo, me…"

"Uh, yeah... look could you do me a favor," the red head interrupted, "I'm looking for the Tendo Training Hall."

"Ranma," Gasped Shampoo, "you lose memory? You remember Akane?"

"Uh... no, should I?"

Shampoo jumped at the red-head, "Ai-yaa, Now we get married, Shampoo at last be blushing bride!"

"This may come as a shock to you," Stammered the red head, a little startled, "But I ain't never seen you before!"

"But... Ranma?"

Suddenly from the other corner of the restaurant, "Son-in-law!" Cologne hopped over on her staff. "I haven't seen you in a long time Son-in-law, what brings you here? Have you come to marry Shampoo?"

"Uh... look, I have no idea who either of you are, and why are you calling me Son-in-law?"

"Are you joking, Son-in-law," Cologne seemed surprised, "Tell me what you remember Son-in-law, we'll try to sort this out." She turned to Shampoo, "Shampoo bring the hot water.

"The red head jumped back, "What do you need hot water for!?! I'm Fine!" Cologne looked at the red head, "you want to change back, don't you?" The red head relaxed a little, "Look I'm gonna level with ya, because you seem to know my secret. I ain't Ranma, I am however looking for Ranma, If you could please point me in the right direction I would be very... grateful."

"You're not, Ranma? And yet you look just like him, how.."

"I'm guessing that Ranma Saotome and I have had similar 'accidents'," the red-haired girl chuckled a little "But that's a completely other story. Now if you could please help me find Ranma and the Tendo Training Hall?"

Kasumi was walking back from getting the groceries when she saw a red-haired girl step out of the Cat Café. "Oh, Ranma!" she called, the girl turned and looked at her. "Could you help me carry these groceries back to the Dojo.

"The girl paused for a second, and then smiled, "Sure!" and ran over to help her.

"RANMA, GET BACK HERE!!!," screamed Akane, "this is the last time you criticize my cooking!!!" She chased him through the hall with a big mallet, with Ranma laughing the whole time. He really seemed to enjoy this.

All the sudden she heard Kasumi holler, "We're home!" as they turned the corner Ranma screeched to a halt and Akane slammed right into him.

"Ranma, why the heck did you stop, you idiot?" Ranma didn't answer, he was looking at the girl who had come in with Kasumi, as was everyone else who was in the room.

The girl looked down at him, "Ranma?" Ranma nodded. "Ranma Saotome?" Again Ranma nodded. The girl jumped at him, "YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Ranma quickly jumped out of the way of the kick.

"Hold it, just who the heck are you?"

"Fair enough," said the girl, "you want to know who your opponent is. My name is Ben Setlin, I doubt you know who I am. But perhaps you know Shingo Nikkaido?"

Ranma shrugged "Doesn't ring a bell."

"Oh! Well, does this ring a bell?" Ben tossed a note at Ranma's feet.

Ranma picked up the note and read it "Send the bill to the Tendo Training Hall, care of Ranma Saotome." "Hey, this ain't mine! I..."

"You're Ranma Saotome, right?" Ben cut him off.

"Yeah, but..."

"This is the Tendo Dojo, Right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Well then, as I was saying, YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Ben lunged at him with a punch. Ranma grabbed Happosai and held the old man in front of this new girl. Ben froze a few inches in front of Happosai's face.

"This is the guy who wrote the note, not me!" Ben looked at Happosai then back at Ranma.

"Do I look like a complete fool? This guy obviously doesn't have the strength to do what you did!"

"Now see here, young lady..." Soun began. Faster than you could blink Ben was holding Soun by the collar.

"Now, you have no way of knowing, so I ain't gonna hit ya or nothin but I ain't young and I ain't a lady, so don't call me either, okay?" Ben let go of Soun and said more politely, "Could I trouble you for some hot water, sir?" Soun nodded and headed off toward the kitchen. "Now then, where was I? Oh yeah, Shingo Nikkaido." Ben turned back to Ranma. "Shingo's a good friend of mine who owns the Jade Dragon Chinese restaurant. He has no fighting skills, and is not conditioned for the type of abuse you dealt out. When I came to Japan to visit 'im he was in the hospital, fighting to stay conscious, during one of his brief moments when he was awake, he handed me this note and said "it was him." Now, the Jade Dragon has a strict no tabs rule, so I'm guessing you ate and ran, he chased after you, and, BAM, you beat the crap out of 'im." Soun returned with the hot water, Ben thanked him and doused herself. He still looked roughly sixteen or seventeen in his male form. "Okay," Ben said, "seeing as how this is a Dojo, we might as well settle this here."

In the practice hall, while Ben was stretching and getting ready, Akane leaned over to Ranma and whispered "Are you sure you can take this guy? We don't know a thing about him." "Don't worry, Akane," he whispered back "he didn't seem so tough when he attacked me back in the hall. I'll bet..."

"Appearances can be deceiving," Ben said from the other side of the room, "maybe I didn't seem so tough then because I was saving it for the real fight." Ranma and Akane looked over at him in astonishment.

"How could he have heard us whispering all the way over here?" Ranma thought.

"All right," Nabiki said "are you both ready?" They both nodded. "Begin!" Ranma rushed out at Ben and landed the first punch, it seemed that Ben didn't even try to block. Dodging the next two punches and a kick, Ben threw a few Karate punches and then leaped at Ranma with a kick. Ranma dodged them all easily. "If this is all the guy's got I'm gonna win this fight no problem!" Ranma thought. Ben landed from his kick and turned to face Ranma. He then went into the fighting stance of Snake Kung Fu. He jabbed at Ranma a few more times than threw a fierce kick. Ranma back flipped away from Ben just avoiding the last maneuver. "What the...," Ranma thought, "he switched styles?" Ben pulled both arms up in front of his face, blocking the flurries of punches Ranma threw at him. Then he threw a couple of fast powerful jabs at Ranma, one of which caught him on the chin.

"What's this now, boxing?" Nabiki said.

Ranma jumped over the incoming right hook and landed behind Ben. "You're pretty good, but can you handle the Chestnut Fist technique?" with that Ranma rushed at Ben with his blinding furry of punches. Ben managed to block and dodge a few but was nailed by the majority, He fell on his back and looked up at Ranma. "I take it back, you aren't that good." Ranma remarked.

Ben got up, "Yeah, well," He said as he pulled the headband down over his eyes "that could be because I've been fighting out of my element." Ben went into the fighting stance of Crane Kung Fu, and leapt at Ranma with a flying kick. Ranma jumped away, but right as he landed Ben delivered a few quick punches to his head. Then he backed off and went into the boxing stance again, He delivered a few quick jabs that seemed to be even quicker than the ones he threw before. Ranma tried to dodge them but as he dodged one Ben grabbed him on the collar with his other hand, then quickly pounded him with a few head butts. Then he threw him in the air and flipped upside down and thrust himself at Ranma with a powerful flying kick. They both landed with Ranma unconscious. Ben pulled off his headband and chuckled a little. Ranma began to come to. "That's just a taste," Ben chuckled, "of what's to come. I'll give you time to strengthen yourself, Saotome, But after that you'll be in traction." He headed out the front door "Later, holmes, you'll be hearing from me." "How the heck did he do that," Ranma muttered "I didn't even have time to throw a punch after he put the blindfold on."

Part Two: Setlin's Revenge

It had been a few days since Ben defeated Ranma, no one had seen Ben since. Ranma was walking home with Akane. He was thinking about the difference in speed after Ben put on his blindfold. He was also thinking, although he couldn't see, Ben seemed to know exactly where he was. All of the sudden, from behind him, Ben shouted "You ready yet, holmes? I'm comin for you!" Ranma Turned around and saw Ben leaning on a wall.

"Just what the heck is your beef with me anyway? You beat me up and got your revenge so what do you want now?"

"I ain't got my revenge, not yet." He leaned off the wall and started walking towards him. "But I gotta admit, you're damn good. It's been years since I've fought someone with your skill. And I ain't never fought anyone who uses your style."

"Uh, thanks... I guess"

"You know, I grew up in the slums of big city America where fighting was the only way to survive. I wasn't so bad when I started out, but then I learned real fighting, martial arts. I helped out this old blind guy, gangs were after him for extortin' money. Turn's out he's an old Ninjitsu master, say's he'll help me improve my style. So I learn from him until I'm about sixteen, then I get my break." He leaned up against a fence and continued. "See the gangs all know me, although I ain't a part of 'em, and they know me good enough to leave me alone, especially when I got this on." He pointed at his headband. "so one day they start messin' with this guy cause he's in the wrong part of town." Ben shrugged, "I don't like that, so I step in and take a few of 'em out, rest just back off. So this guy turns out to be this big film executive, says he'll make me a star. Hell, I just want out of the ghetto." Ben looked at Akane. "So you see, I start doin' stuntwork for awhile, director's get to know me as the only guy who can do stuff blindfolded. Then I start doin' small acting parts in a few fighting films. I figure if I wanna keep the job I gotta get better at it. So I travel around to different countries learnin' new styles. Teachers all say I'm a natural." He looked back at Ranma. " I get to know a lot of people while I'm goin' around. I met Shingo here when I was twenty five..."

"Yeah right," Ranma interrupted, "you're barely older than me." Ben threw a quick punch into Ranma's gut.

"I'm TWENTY EIGHT, Jackknife, plenty older than you."

"Well, then, how come you look so young?" Akane asked.

"Gotta condition," Ben said, gruffly, "mild form of Systemic Hypoplasia, I'm gonna look about sixteen for the rest of my life." He looked back at Ranma, "See, holmes, we both cursed, just in different ways."

"What are you talkin' about, you turn into a girl too!" Ranma yelled back.

"Oh that." Said Ben, "While I was traveling around, happened to visit this place in China..."

"Jusenkyou?!" Ranma and Akane said in unison. "Ah, so you've heard of it!" Then he turned to Ranma, "You probably been there, haven't you?"

"You could say that." Ranma said, gritting his teeth.

"Yeah, I was practicin' a new move, lost my footing and fell into some cursed puddle called 'Nyanniichuan', Bummed me out for a while. Til' my agent says I can do roles for both guys and girls now!" He shrugged. "Funny how life works out. Still, gotta keep it secret, y'know, some people think I'm a freak enough already." Than he looks at Ranma. "So how bout you, holmes? What's your story?"

"Getting awful friendly now, aren't we?" Ranma replied.

Ben started to walk off "Scuse me for wanting to know a little about my opponent. This don't change nothin'. Just thought you'd like to know who was gonna mangle ya." Ben smiled and kept on walking. The next day during gym, Ranma was out playing baseball on the field. He didn't realize that only about a hundred yards away, someone was spying on him. Ben was hiding behind some bushes, in jeans and a tank top, watching him with some binoculars. Ben was in his girl form now, not by choice. He just happened to get splashed by some old lady as he walked past her house. It didn't matter, he was just here to observe Ranma, judge how fast he was, so she would be better prepared for the fight. What Ben didn't realize is that she was being watched too. At least she didn't realize it till someone rushed up at her yelling "pig-tailed girl!"

Ben jumped back before Kuno grabbed her and started blubbering, "Oh, pig-tailed girl, you've come to me at last, how I've longed for this..."

"Get the hell off of me, man! I ain't who you think I am!" Kuno looked at the red-haired girl before him. "But, pig-tailed girl, my love, it is I, Tatewaki Kuno. Do you not recognize me? Or are you still being enslaved, by that cursed Ranma Saotome?"

"I ain't being..." Ben began, then she paused. "This wacko thinks Ranma is keeping this 'Pig-tailed' girl away from him." she thought " Hah, I can use this to my advantage." "Yes, that's right, Mr. uh... Kuno. Ranma is treating me like a piece of meat, you have no idea, the agonies he's put me through, the humiliations, oh the humiliations!" Ben cried.

"That vile wretch," Shouted Kuno, "how dare he disgrace such a lovely young maiden! I will surely make him pay for such an atrocity!"

"Tell you what, Kuno," Ben said, "how bout we gang up on him soon as he gets outta school. Deal?"

"I accept my love, but let me deliver the final blow to that cretin for you!"

At the end of the day Ranma and Akane left out the front door, only to be stopped by Kuno out on the main walkway. "Hey Kuno, what's up." Said Ranma, nonchalantly.

"Silence, wretch!" Yelled Kuno, Lifting his wooden sword "Thou fowl abuser of women, this time your crimes will not go unpunished!" He lunged at Ranma with a powerful swipe with his sword, Ranma dodged quite easily.

"Kuno, What the heck is bugging you now!"

"You should know!" yelled a voice from above. Ranma dodged quickly enough to avoid the incoming assailant. Ben landed, in his girl form, with blindfold on, holding a wooden Bo-staff in one hand, and a very nasty look on her face. "After the way you treated me, I'd say it's time for a little pay-back!" Ranma looked at Ben, then at Kuno, and finally spouted,

"What the heck did you tell him, Ben! Kuno, this isn't who you think it is!" Kuno looked over at the Red-haired girl, and aside from the fact she didn't have a pig-tail she looked exactly like the girl he knew.

"A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, just as my beautiful maiden without her pig-tail is no less the woman I love!" Ben took this opportunity to charge at Ranma with the Bo, and swung it at him as he jumped over the charge. Kuno leapt at him with an overhead swipe, as Ben backed off and removed her blindfold. "Best to observe the fighter in action." She thought. Kuno swung at Ranma again and again, with Ranma dodging every move. Ben pulled out a few small spheres from her pocket and threw them at the combatants. "Just a few prop explosives," she thought "just some flash and bang items to make things interesting."

The following explosions startled Ranma a bit, but did little more than unnerve him. "Okay," he thought "time to end this." He began to circle around Kuno dodging his every move before delivering his final blow "Hiryuu Shouten Ha!" Ranma shouted as he threw the uppercut for the Rising Dragon. Kuno flew into the air and landed several feet away unconscious. Ranma turned to Ben and shouted "Okay do you want some too?! C'mon and fight already!"

"No, no." Ben said, casually, "this ain't 'the' fight, this was just another preliminary. See, now I can judge your speed, and I know some of the moves to be prepared for." She pulled a business card out of her pocket and tossed it to Ranma. "A friend of mine owns this dance club downtown, the interior's being redone. Come at eight P.M. tomorrow, and we'll finish this once and for all." Ben shrugged "Y'know winner take all." Ben turned around with the Bo on her shoulder and walked off.

"That guy is really starting to get to me." Ranma grumbled. Akane didn't respond, she just stood there and thought to herself.

Part Three: The Night Club Battle and the Aftermath

Ranma arrived at the club at about two minutes to eight. Someone was sitting by the front door reading a newspaper. Ranma assumed that this was Ben's friend. "Where's Ben?" Ranma asked bluntly. The man didn't even look up from his paper, but pointed inside. Ranma walked inside thinking "I've gotta be careful, this guy's got an edge on me. He has my moves all timed and can react without watching what I do first." He turned a corner and saw what was probably the dance floor, Ben was already there stretching his muscles. "Okay, I'm here," Ranma said "so when does the fight start?"

"Hey, man," Ben said, all too confident,

"I'm ready when you are." Ranma stepped onto the floor and immediately went into his fighting stance. Ben pulled his headband down over his eyes. "BEGIN!" Ben shouted. Ranma rushed at him and launched into a flying kick. Ben dodged without much effort, but as he did he raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The lights went out and the strobe lights were turned on, as well as many other flashing and multi-colored lights.

"What the..?" Ranma began.

"Just a little added distraction," chuckled Ben, "something I don't have to bother with!" Ben went into a Praying Mantis Kung Fu stance and attacked at Ranma with several jabs, Ranma dodged them all. Ben then attacked with a few kicks, the last of which Ranma grabbed and threw the blind fighter off his balance, as Ben was getting up Ranma attacked him with the Chestnut Fist, Ben blocked blow after blow until finally one blow made it through, and sent Ben sprawling backwards.

"What the heck is it?" Ben stammered, "augh, shut it off!"

Until this moment Ranma didn't notice the low pitched whine that was being given off by the speakers, apparently they had been turned on with the strobe lights. Ranma used this opportunity to attack Ben with a furious barrage of punches and kicks. The sound had weakened his defenses, and Ben couldn't block what he couldn't foresee. At last Ben back flipped away from Ranma and went into an odd Ninjitsu-type stance. "Very well," he said "looks like I'm gonna have to resort to some dirty tricks."

"Like you haven't been using them already." Ranma replied, sarcastically.

Ben jumped into the air and in-between one of the strobe light bursts he seemed to disappear. Ranma froze... no attack came. Finally from a corner of the room, Ranma heard Ben's voice whispering "C'mon, damn you, move!" For a split second Ranma turned his head toward the voice, then Ben leapt at Ranma from behind. Ranma seemed ready for it and quickly turned and gave an uppercut to the incoming Setlin. Ben hit the floor and tumbled into a kneeled position. "Game... set and... match" he panted, taking off his blindfold, "'cept I always have... an ace... up my sleeve." Ben raised both hand above his head. "House of Richtenhielm final attack," He began then he thrust both hands down onto the floor "BLITZKRIEG WAVE!" as soon as his fists made contact with the floor a thunderous explosion occurred. Even blocking it Ranma was thrown back a few feet. When the dust cleared Ben was panting like mad, he was about to pass out from exhaustion. Ranma got up to deliver the final blow, when Akane rushed in with a taller long-haired girl.

"Stop!!" She screamed, "This girl here is an eye witness to your friend's 'beating'" Ben looked over at her, still gasping for breath.

"I work at the Jade Dragon with Mr. Nikkaido," She began, "The other day an old man carrying a sack stuffed with women's underwear rushed in, stole some food, dropped the note and left. As Mr. Nikkaido rushed out after him he was... well... trampled by a mob of women chasing after the old pervert, then as he was getting up... he was hit by a car... and knocked through a wall." Ben turned to Ranma and panted "Th...the... old l...letch is... the..?"

Ranma nodded. "The old freak back at the Dojo."

"I…see…"

Later at the Dojo Happosai was ironing part of his underwear collection when Ben stormed in. "That's it freak. You're goin' down."

"My dear boy," said Happosai, a little startled, "what do you mean, Ranma was the one who beat up your friend, remember?"

Ben's eyes widened "Boy!?!" he threw a punch at Happosai who seemed to be paying no attention to him. In a second Happosai had flipped him through the roof with his pipe. Ben stormed in again, and was flipped out again, and again, and again. Finally he had enough. "This ain't over perv, I'll be back!"

When Ranma left school the following Monday Ben was outside the gate waiting for him. "Well now," Ben Began "seems I owe you a debt of honor now, seeing that I caused you some problems last week."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, look, I'm a guy who always pays his debts back, okay?" then he replied more coolly "But I'll pay it when and how I see fit, okay, holmes, I still don't know if I can trust you."

"Hey wait a minute," Ranma blurted, "didn't I tell you from the beginning it was the old man?"

"Look, man, I've got my reasons." Ben said as he walked off "See ya, holmes."

Epilogue

That night Happosai was out in the park responding to a challenge letter. He had been waiting there for a while and was missing some excellent opportunities for his panty raids, but the note said it'd be worth his while. He was about to leave when he heard a voice from behind him "Hey, Perv!"

"Well, it's about time!" the old man snapped as he turned around. He saw Ben walking towards him carrying a large box. "What's that?" Questioned Happosai.

"I got you a big lingerie collection straight from a Victoria's Secret warehouse back in the states." Ben said, setting the box down. "But I thought you were mad at me?"

"Pissed as hell is more like it. But I slept on it, I figure it was just a freak occurrence, not your fault. So..." he gestured to the box "no hard feelings, okay, Perv?"

"Accepted!" exclaimed Happosai, moving toward the box.

"Look, I gotta run, so see you around and enjoy, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." said Happosai opening the lid. Ben began to run off when Happosai called out "Hey, what's this ticking sound?"

"Oh, that's the free watch, it comes with every order of over 100 items!" Ben called back, picking up the pace a little.

"What a nice young man." Happosai said to himself as he sorted through the panties. Soon after he finished his sentence the bomb exploded, sending the little pervert flying.

The End

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The Legal Stuff: Ranma ½ and the characters therein are the property of Rumiko Takahashi and are used without permission.