TP-What to Prepare For[8 of 18][FanFic]

[Twister]

Chapter Eight
-------------

The last day of the first week finally arrived and Twister was feeling
cheerful as he walked down the hall.
*Ah. Just peace today. I can handle that.* Twister was whistling as
he entered his apartment. Inside he saw something, however, that
puzzled him.
Yasuro, Morio, and Hito were sitting on the floor, looking very
gloomy.
"What's with you guys?" Twister queried.
Yasuro looked at Twister and sighed, "These two, along with a
couple of other friends that we know, made a bet with another group of
guys who are all going into physical education."
"Huh? What kind of bet did you make? It had to have been something
you were sure about for you to have done it in the _first_ place. So _why_ do
you look so depressed?"
Sighing, Morio spoke up, "We _were_ sure, until we saw _their_ champion
eating." Twister didn't look enlightened so Morio explained. "It's an eating
contest basically. Whoever loses has to do whatever the other team wants
tomorrow. We have someone on our team who eats a _lot_, but when he saw the
other guy eat at lunch today..." Morio shook his head. "He doesn't think he
has a chance after he saw that. And I'm inclined to agree. The amount of food
that guy ate was unbelievable! That was just his _lunch_ too!"
"What's he do?" Twister was a little amused.
"He's a sprinter, and skinnier than you." The surprised look
Morio received made him nod. "Yes. He doesn't look it, and that's what got us
into this trap. I heard later that this group has done this before. They won
easily. Apparently, this guy is _really_ hyper-active and has a super-fast
metabolism. He eats an enormous amount of food every day. It's a good thing
his family is well-off or he'd starve." Morio sighed. "It does not look good."
Chuckling softly, Yasuro said, "This guy almost sounds like _you_,
Twister."
Morio froze when he heard that.
Turning to Twister, Morio warmly smiled, "How much _can_ you eat?"
Twister shrugged, "Um... I really don't know. I've never _been_
full before. Believe me, there are quite a few all-you-can-eat places that have
regretted that fact. Why?"
The other three on the floor all smiled broadly.

An hour later, Twister was sitting in front of a large table waiting
for the other person in the eat-off.
*Great. If I become full then I won't be able to take Nabiki to
Ranma and the others because I'll be stuck doing whatever the other team
wants my team to do. How did I get talked into this?* He sighed. *Well,
if I _do_ win then I'll likely have energy to burn. It's a good thing I think
my power is low right now.* Twister stopped to consider the challenger who
just walked in.
The others just knew him by the name 'Legs' and he certainly looked
like a runner. His frame had _no_ excess fat on it and his strong-looking
leg muscles showed outstandingly as he wore running shorts. 'Legs' moved
constantly and rapidly. Face animated and had both arms waving as he
conferred with the rival group. Soon, he came over to sit opposite Twister.
Legs smirked at Twister, "So you're my rival? You certainly don't look
like it." His hands twitched rapidly on the table and Twister could
hear his feet constantly tapping on the floor.
Twister raised an eyebrow at the comment, "I'd get a mirror before
you say _that_ again."
"Very true." Legs smiled confidently as he waved his hand, "Let's
begin. The first to quit loses. Enjoy your future stomach ache."
Twister just smiled.
Equal portions of noodles were placed in front of both eaters. They were
replaced only after both had finished. Legs ate at a comfortable rate for
a few minutes, but after he saw Twister matching him he sped up the pace.
Realizing that finishing first gave more time to digest, Twister matched him
every time Legs increased his eating so that they both finished their
portions at the same time. They waited a minute for the next serving and
continued like this for some time.
Those cheering the eaters slowly stopped doing so and just stared
after a while. The eater's hands were blurring with their speed and they
were still increasing the pace. Legs finally decided to stop accelerating,
since Twister seemed able to keep up, and settled for just out-lasting
his rival.
This went on for an hour.
Both had consumed vast quantities of noodles and both were finally
starting to show signs of slowing down at last. Legs was forcing food into
his mouth while Twister looked nauseous.
When they had finished their current portion, Legs spoke up. "You...
eat...very...well." He gasped from exertion.
Twister wasn't very tired because of the energy he kept getting from
the food, but he was gasping too. "Not...bad...yourself. Will...thou...
admit... defeat?"
"Only...when...I...drop!" Legs looked determined, "I...have...never...
lost...and I...do not..plan to...start now!"
Twister sighed and they started eating again. After another half hour,
Legs' prediction came true and he fell face first into his noodles. Twister's
group cheered while the other looked stunned.
Morio whooped and pounded Twister's back. "Yes! You did it!"
Looking at Twister's face, Yasuro looked worried, "Did you eat
too much, Twister? You don't look so good."
Trying not to throw up, Twister commented, "No, I don't even feel like
I'm getting full yet."
This stopped Morio's cheering when he heard that. "What's wrong
then?"
Glaring at the two, Twister groggily got out, "_You_ eat nothing but
noodles for an hour and a half and see how _you_ feel! Gah! I need to lay
down somewhere." He groaned. "I don't want to see a noodle for a _long_ time."
Morio, Yasuro, and Hito looked incredulous.
Yasuro looked more closely at Twister. "Hm. You _do_ look like you've
gained a bit of weight. You have one funny body, Twister, but then again, so
did that Legs guy." He shook his head.
"At least I won't have to eat too much for a while." Twister weakly
grinned. "You guys enjoy the fruits of my labour tomorrow. I'll be going
somewhere else with Nabiki." He got up, recovering from the noodles. "I'm
going to bed." Twister started walking away.
Hito rubbed the back of his head, "Now _that_ is one weird guy.
_Nice_, but weird."
Twister exited through a door into an empty hallway beyond. The others
were startled to hear a large BOOM! on the other side of the door. Hito
rushed to open the door to see what had happened, but saw nothing in the
hallway at all. There wasn't a sign of Twister. Morio and Yasuro looked
out with him.
"What was _that_ and where did Twister go?" Hito was puzzled.
Morio just shook his head. "I don't think I wanna know." He smiled then
and turned towards the other group, dragging Hito with him. "Right now we have
more enjoyable things to decide on... Like what we will do tomorrow with
the losers." He grinned as Hito lost all interest in the hallway and looked
eager at the idea.
Yasuro stayed by the door and watched the hallway silently as he
thought, *Wet hair sometimes, perfect memory, strange metabolism, disappearing
red-headed females, and now _this_.* He pondered these facts about his
roommate. *Just _what_ exactly _are_ you, Twister?*

Opening his eyes the next morning, Twister checked the time.
*Gah! An hour earlier than usual! Must be all those noodles I ate
yesterday.* He felt vaguely nauseous as he remembered. *I won't be able to
eat...no, make that _look_ at another noodle for a while. Maybe making
breakfast will shake that thought out of my mind. Then I'll go to Nabiki's
and 'depart' back to the dojo. Be nice to see them all again.* Twister
smiled.
An hour later, Yasuro was lured from sleep by Twister's cooking and
joined him for breakfast. When Yasuro smiled and queried, "What? No noodles?"
Twister almost hit him with something large and heavy. After eating, left
saying that he likely would be back that night.
After picking up Nabiki, they walked to an out-of-the-way spot and
he sent a letter ahead of them. Five minutes later, and checking that no one
saw them, Twister teleported them both. With a BOOM they appeared in the
dojo. Akane and Kasumi rushed up to Nabiki and hugged her.
"Nabiki!" Kasumi smiled happily, "How is college so far?"
"'Sokay right now." Nabiki smiled back.
"Has Kunou done anything yet there?" Akane queried.
Twister started. "Gah! Right! I haven't seen or heard of him yet."
"He's in some of _my_ classes Twister. He's going into Business,
too."
Walking in, Ranma smiled with great pleasure, "At least he's not
_here_. I don't have to fight him every second day anymore or put up with
'Oh, my pig-tailed goddess'."
Chuckling, Twister agreed, "Too true. Shall we have another lesson
while I'm here?"
Ranma snorted, "At the rate _you're_ learning, you'll have to go to
Cologne to keep advancing."
Twister mused about that thought, then shrugged, "Well, I'm not _that_
good yet." He grinned. "Shall we start sparring then? Since you seem to hold
me in such high regard..."
"Okay..." Ranma chuckled, "But you'd better get ready to be beaten."
"No problem..."

CRASH!
"Owch! _Big_ problem!" cried out Twister as she hit the wall, limbs
spread out. She peeled herself from the deep dent in the wall and considered
the new depression while rubbing her back. *No _way_ is my body close to what
I _used_ to think was normal. I should be pizza, but then, this happens to
Ranma all the time.*
"You ok, Twister?" Ranma-chan was smiling slightly while in a
fighting pose.
"Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'." Twister responded. "And you
were worried about _me_ catching up with _you_?"
Ranma-chan chuckled, "You _are_ pretty good now. Maybe around Akane's
level, but I'm guessing there since I've never really fought her without
holding back a fair bit. The fact that I know you're just a guy, like me,
frees me of that."
"Hm. I didn't realize I was _that_ far ahead. Also, the fact that I
can Heal myself probably makes things easier on you as well." Twister chuckled
while starting to get back into position.
"That's true. Hm?" Ranma-chan was curious after looking a little
closer at her student, "You gain some weight, Twister? You certainly look
like it."
"Gah. Some of the guys I've gotten to know in my apartment building
got me to be their champion for an eating contest. My rival was appetite
incarnate. I won, but we ate for an hour and a half before that happened.
Gave me energy to burn though. I'm going to see if I can do something special
with all of it."
Incredulous, Ranma-chan stared at Twister, "An _hour and a half_??"
She whistled softly, "Whoa. I knew you could eat a _lot_, but...," she shook
her head.
Twister grinned, "I have great ways of burning it off." She
inhaled and got into position again, "Ready to go again, partner."
Smiling, Ranma-chan attacked as Twister tried to defend herself.

A half-hour later, they called it quits. Twister was sore all over
and Ranma-chan was sweating a little.
"Uhhh... This reminds me of when I was bedridden for a week." Twister
shook her head and looked around. "I think we trashed the place a little
much though."
Holes and large dents covered the walls of the training room. Debris
littered the floor where the two had accidentally demolished some of the few
objects in the room.
Ranma-chan finally took a good look at the room, "Uh, oh. I think
we might have trained a bit too hard."
Looking thoughtful, Twister muttered out loud, "Hm. I don't think I've
tried this before." She smiled. "No time like the present."
"What are you talking about?" Ranma-chan absently said as she
contemplated the damage. *Mr. Tendo is _not_ going to like this.*
Ignoring the question, Twister thought of a quick rhyme and tried
to visualize the room as it had been _before_ they demolished it. After a
minute, she spoke the spell.
"Room once whole that now lies wrecked,
Time to have the damage checked,
Wood now mend and stone be one,
For cleaning up is so much fun."
A soft purple glow illuminated the damaged parts of the room and a
funny thing happened before Ranma-chan's startled eyes. Like reversed
explosions, the debris in the room flew towards the walls and objects where
they had originated from. The jigsaw puzzle of the pieces slowly joined up
together and filled in the holes in the walls. The bent pieces straightened
out. Soon, everything was reconnected seamlessly together and the training
room was as undamaged as when they had entered it.
Rubbing her hands together, Twister chuckled, "Well, I guess _that_
worked pretty well."
"Now _that's_ handy," Ranma-chan told Twister as she viewed the
now whole room in relief.
"Twister the fixer-upper, that's me! I'm surprised I didn't think of
doing something like this before. Saves on repair bills anyway."
Akane walked in dressed in a practice gi herself and saw the two
standing in the middle of the room. "You finished?" She looked around the
dojo. "Doesn't look like you practiced very hard, considering it's _you_,
Ranma."
"Yeah? Well, _some_ people are more skilled than others, Akane."
Ranma-chan stuck her tongue out at Akane.
Now looking angry, Akane heatedly replied, "Are you implying that I'm
_clumsy_?!"
Ignoring Twister's warning glance, Ranma-chan smirked, "Of course not.
Just that a tomboy like you breaks things easily, that's all."
"Ranma no baka!" Akane punched Ranma-chan through the roof and
the latter flew off into the distance.
Twister sighed as she looked at the new hole, "So much for my repair
spell."
"Repair spell?" An angry light dawned in Akane's eyes, "So you two
_did_ damage the room! Ooooh! That Ranma!"
"You should have seen it before. Holes everywhere. Ranma _is_ very good
and he sure showed it." Twister looked inquiringly at Akane, "Ranma mentioned
that I was about as good as _you_ now, Akane. Do _you_ think so?"
"Really?" Akane calmed down a bit and smiled, "Do _you_ want to try
me on?"
Thinking about it, Twister nodded, "Sure, I guess. I'm still
sore, but I think I can manage." She walked over to the center of the
room and assumed a fighting pose and grinned. "Be warned, however. Unlike
Ranma, I believe a far bit more in equality of the sexes. More so since I'm
both now."
Akane mirrored her and smiled, "That's fine with me..."

When Ranma-chan finally came back a half-hour later, she spotted the
two who had been left in the training room. Akane looked tired and a little
wobbily, but satisfied. Twister, on the other hand, was lying down on the
floor, looking very much like she was going to regret it if she moved at
all.
Ranma-chan shook her head at the sight, "Don't you two think you
pushed it a little too long? I knew Akane was stubborn Twister, but you
too? And after _our_ session?" Ranma-chan smirked.
Twister wearily raised her head off the floor. "Well...after your
comment before...we decided to test it." Twister paused, "I think...you were
right." Her head dropped back to the floor as Twister got ready to stand
again.
"That...was a...good match." Akane panted as she watched
Twister slowly, and painfully, get up. She smiled. "Thank you, Twister."
"You're welcome and thank _you_. I guess I shouldn't have done
that. Ow. But I'll soon be better. Whoo! Hot water time. I've got bruises
on top of bruises now. Good thing I can Heal or I'd be moaning about this
for the next few days."
Seeing Akane waver a little, Ranma-chan looked a little concerned,
"You okay, Akane? Not that I'm worried or anything." She hastily added.
Akane sighed, "I'm fine, Ranma. I just need to take a bath now." She
quickly smiled at Ranma-chan, "Thanks for asking though."
Embarrassed, Ranma-chan rubbed the back of her head, "Uh...sure. No
problem." She was silent as she watched Akane leaving.
Twister came up to Ranma-chan and smiled, "Sooooo... How goes
_your_ love life?"
"What?! Twister!"
Twister just chuckled as she painfully walked away to get some hot
water, leaving a flustered Ranma-chan behind.

--
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Darren Steffler a.k.a "Twister"- mail at <umst...@cc.umanitoba.ca>
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