<snip>

Kendra was running down the street, following the scent of bamboo-breath
when her scanners suddenly went bezerk, telling her of a LARGE amount of
power and a weapons discharge.  Her scanners brought her to the source of
the power readings and her sensitive ears picked up what the mech was
saying.  "Panda's in there??
PAAAAAAAANNNNNNNDDDDDDAAAAAAA-CCCCCCCCHHHHHHHAAA>AAAANNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Panda was still meditating when he heard a voice out in the street calling
his name...er...her name?

   C-koH glanced over at the armored cat-girl in the distance, who was
making enough noise to wake the dead.
   _Thank you *so* much for warning the prey, you moron,_ she thought
irritably.  Turning her attention back to the dojo, she noticed the other
hunter slipping though the door.  _No problem,_ she thought.  _I'll just use
*two* darts._

she yelled and threw herself at the mech, kicking it in the chest with both
feet and making it stagger backwards.  She dove into the car after landing
on her feet (it's a cat thing:) and found two confused guys and a keypad
thing.  She picked up the keypad thinking "Neato! New toy!" and magically
altered her armor enough to attach it on the left arm, protected with a
small armor plate, turning it off as she does so, making Stargazers sensors
go dark.  Seeing the mech finally righting itself and aiming right for her,
she game it a bright cheery smile and 'ported up to a nearby roof, following
the scent of bamboo-breath once more...

Panda went back to his meditating at Master Kido's dojo, putting the cry he
had heard off as hearing things. As his mind wandered away again, the door
to the dojo opened silently, and a slim, feminine form slid in through the
opening. Panda's left eye opened just enough to let in some light, the
feeling that he and the master were not alone eating at his senses. There!
Behind
him came a sound. The sound of feet padding softly along the smooth wooden
floor.

"Vixxy. I'm glad you came back. Now, has the time since our last kiss been
too long for another?" Panda waited for a reply, his back still to the the
intruder.

The soft padding sound stopped abruptly, while the master, who had been
lighting the last few candles in the far corner, had disappeared.

A woman's sweet voice finally replied from behind Panda, closer to him than
he had originally judged. "There is no time for that now. I am to bring you
back to the Taskmistress... now."

"Hmm. I see. And that is the only mission in your heart right now, as we
talk here, a mere few feet apart?"

Panda suddenly felt a hand slide down his furry shoulder to his chest, the
fingers parting and running through the thick black fur like a hungry comb.

"There may be time for that later my love. But right now you have something
the Taskmistress wants, and she pays my bills so... "

Panda grinned. "Can't argue with that logic. Alright. I'll go peacefully.
After all I *do* have the fanfics she wants so badly. I just have one
question; how do you propose to get me out of here? I'm guessing there are a
half dozen bounty hunters parked outside somewhere who will pounce on us the
moment we leave here. And when I say pounce I mean it literally. The Blue
Tigress has been called in, and she has probably been watching all of this

>from just outside the circle of chaos. She of all of them I fear the most,

for her methods are sometimes... I shudder to think of it. Any how, you have
a problem on your hands."

Vixxy kneeled down behind Panda, her hand still ruffling through his soft fur
as she thought about their escape. "Hmmm. You have a point my dear. Perhaps
we will have to fight our way out of here. You.. I... against all of them...
What do you think of the odds?"

Panda smiled and turned slightly to face his long lost love. "Sorry. I
wouldn't know. I'm a poker player, not a race horse expert. But-  maybe it
is time to
play a bluff hand... "

Vixxy just smiled and giggled. It was almost like old times...

   Something about the other hunter had been nagging at C-koH for some time.
As she watched the dojo's exits, she ran the woman's face though her mental
files, and came up with a match.  She was Vixxy, a known associate of Panda,
also in the employ of Foxtrot, who had issued the contract.
   _Interesting,_ she thought.  _So Foxtrot decided she couldn't trust us
freelancers to do the job.  But where are Vixxy's loyalties in this mess?_
She pondered the situation, coming up with the above as the most likely
scenario.  _Time for the big guns,_ she thought.  She hated doing this, but
it was necessary, she felt.  Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a
large sealed metal container, which held her latest attempt at fudge brownies.
   At this point I need to break in to explain something about the headband
that C-koH wears.  Yes, it *is* Ryoga's headband, passed on to her in the
moments before his death.  You might notice, however, that it has little
effect on her sense of direction, which is excellent.  The curse that the
headband carries has little to do with navigation, but skills.  It makes the
wearer's worst skill even worse.  We all know what C-ko's worst skill is,
right?  Do you even want to come *near* those brownies?
   Grimacing with distaste, C-koH broke the seal on the cannister and dumped
some of the contents by each and every exit from the dojo, the discarded the
can and quickly returned to her vantage point, unslinging her tranq rifle again.
   _Let's see you two get past *that*,_ she thought, watching the brownies
starting to eat into the concrete.  She could almost see them growing.

Panda

Kent Magami
Second Deacon of Ryoga, Tracker of the Wandering One
Co-founder and High Priest of the Holy Order of A-ko