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Chapter Fourteen: The War, Round Five--the Battle of the Amazons
Everyone remained silent. They'd heard some pretty bizarre stuff tonight, and it was getting more and more weird with each passing sentence.
Ranko looked at Shampoo. "I'd think it best if you tell this part. You were there. I wasn't."
Now it was Shampoo's turn to look pained. She did something very uncharacteristic for her--at least for the Shan Fu Lao that the Americans knew: she glomped onto Mousse like a security blanket. "No, I can't, Ranko," she whispered. "The memories are too.... They still hurt too much."
"Now, c'mon, Shampoo." Mousse took her chin in his hand and kissed her gently. "I'm still here."
*"BUT I ALMOST LOST YOU!!!!!"* she cried vehemently. "If I did, I never would've gotten the chance to love you."
"Shampoo." Ranko and Libby placed their hands on their best friend for support. "You said this was a healing process, right? I'm not the only one who needs it, it seems. I'm here for you. Libby is, so's Mousse. We're all here, together."
"Okay, cut the melodrama," she said, the barest hint of a smile forming upon the lips of the former Chinese Amazon. "I'll tell it." Taking Mousse's hand for support, and looking into the eyes of her friends, she was once again her confident self.
"Oh, Ranko?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you."
* * STORY * *
The two moved through the silent and barren corridors. So far, since their entry into the Crystal Temple, they'd faced no opposition, as though they were truly feared...or walking into a trap. Neither Shampoo nor Mousse knew what to make of it, except for one thing: it wasn't going to be good.
Shampoo's sixth sense, that feline sense of premonition, was working overtime, feeding her mind with multiple inputs of danger, most of which wasn't there. That wasn't the point; the main thing was that danger was about and she knew it so intimately, she could taste it. She also knew that once this was over, so was she. There was the faintest realization of the fact that although her beloved Ranma was captured, there may have been a better way to accomplish his return than simple carnage. She was trained for this, yes; she however didn't want the hands on her blood.
A realization filtered into her mind: {This is what I've been trained for, all my life. My Amazon heritage to fight and be able to slay if needed. I don't want that--maybe it was important to me, two years ago, when I was willing to kill the red-headed girl to prove my prowess in battle, but no more. Now, I just want Ranma. If he wants me to be an Amazon, fine; if he wants me as a simple housewife, fine. I just don't care anymore. I just want to be Saotome Shan Fu, and to be by his side.}
But Shampoo knew the truth: as long as she was here, she'd have to. If Ranma--or any of her other friends--were in trouble, she might have to as well. To be the village Champion, yet to live in exile. To have one her closest female friends as one of the rivals for the hand of her airen. The life of Lao Shan Fu was a life of contradictions. A life that would have to have some meaning to it someday, even if it meant she'd have to possibly have to do something as drastic as forsake her Amazon heritage.
But at least she'd have her friends. And more importantly, she'd have Ranma.
Not too far from where she was, Mousse looked at the way she moved, appreciating her form, her beauty, her grace--everything that had made him fall in love with her since the day he first set his eyes on her. But, oh! was there nothing about her he didn't love. Although he knew that she tended to treat him a little badly, sometimes, and that she constantly nurtured that feeling that she had over Ranma, he knew that in the end, she cared about him. He only had to change that feeling, from the warm friendship and affection that she had for him to genuine, unyielding love...without resorting to K'o Lon's tricks--over the two years that he'd lived at the Cat Cafe, he'd noticed that the previously unstoppable potions and spells of the old woman generally failed when it came to Saotome Ranma. Either this meant that Ranma was far more deceptive and capable of countering the woman's tricks, or more likely, they had begun to lose their potency over the years--or perhaps *she* was beginning to lose her potency.
It certainly showed when it came to Shampoo. Perhaps either Lao was far too absorbed in what they considered their personal jihad to gain Ranma, but the whole situation had caused a gap between the way the two Laos operated in the world. Not that there was any animosity; indeed, despite Cologne's insensitivity towards her great-granddaughter's feelings, the two loved each other dearly. It was just the way they looked at the world. For Lao K'o Lon, furthering the tribe was the goal for her life. She was hundreds of years old, and was more than set in her ways. The fact that her lone descendant was defeated by a man that she loved was convenient, although not required--the "old ghoul" would've found a way to pair them together and have children, even if they were to cut each other's heads off after birth. Additionally, she *did* have (what she thought was) Shampoo's best interests at heart; that was why Mousse was spurned time after time.
Shampoo, on the other hand, had been going through an extremely subtle and slow change over the last year or so. After the failed wedding attempt, Shampoo had slowly began to realize something about Saotome Ranma. One was that Ranma did love her...in his own way. It was a start, and it left Shampoo walking on clouds for weeks. Secondly, she'd also started to be a tad more conservative in her approaches to Ranma, when she found out that he was celibate and "saving himself," as Kasumi explained. She'd also found a friend of a differently wild nature in her arch-rival, Akane; though the two didn't often cross paths as friends, when they did, you could tell that they were very comfortable in each other's presence.
The end result of all this was a Lao Shan Fu who was slowly growing more comfortable in being her own woman, in taking chances on her own and making her own decisions, instead of blindly asking her ancestor. Although it would annoy Cologne to no end in the beginning, Mousse thought that in the end, Cologne loved her great-grandchild enough to let nature take its course as it would, and let Shampoo the Amazon Princess become Lao Shan Fu, perhaps Jiang Shan Fu or Saotome Shan Fu.
{I have changed as well, though for entirely different reasons,} he thought. {I've seen the negative effects that Cologne's actions have hurt Shampoo, and how it's stifled her. Someday, she'll be able to overcome that, but where that day will lead her is anyone's guess. But I know that I'll be at her side when she needs someone.}
"Mousse," Shampoo commented out of the blue, "What do you think?"
Lapsing into routine, "I think you're the most beautiful, sweetest, brilliant--"
"No, stupid," she said hotly, her face flushing from annoyance...or in actuality, a blush. "I meant about this place. We haven't been attacked so far."
He stopped to think about that. "Yeah, now that you mention it...it *has* been a little too quiet, hasn't it? Maybe they were kept busy by the others outside, maybe they're just afraid of Amazons, maybe a million other possibilities, Shampoo." He shrugged his shoulders, then let them slump as he let out a sigh to ease the tension. "Are you that eager to dive into battle again, slaying your foes, Amazon?"
"Mousse no baka," she retorted in Japanese. Returning to her native tongue, she continued, without the heat. "Do...do you really think that I'm like that?"
{Mousse, here's your chance to help her along....} "What do you think?"
She looked at him uncomfortably. "I...I just don't know, Mousse. All my life, I've been proud to be an Amazon--one of a rare breed. I mean, other than the ones in Brazil and Crete, we're the only ones. I'm the great-granddaughter of the Village Elder, the so-called 'Amazon Princess', the heir apparent to the leadership of the tribe. I should be happy about the fact that I can use my Amazon-born skills to the best of my abilities."
"But?" Mousse commented, looking at her just over the rims of his glasses.
"Mousse...Muu Tsu...did you ever get the feeling that...that..." she stammered, unsure of what to say.
Mousse reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. "That what you're doing isn't as great and grandiose as you thought it'd be?"
Her face registered shock. "How did you...?"
"Shan Fu, you forget who you're talking to. You may not like admitting it, but I've known and loved you all my life. There isn't much that I don't know about you, or for that matter, the way you think." He paused momentarily to place his glasses into his "thinking position"--atop his head, then continued. "Don't tell me; let me guess. You were completely for the Amazon way of life until you actually had to kill. Despite all the times you've talked about killing someone, or taking Akane and the other girls apart utterly, it wasn't until you actually had to run your swords through someone--" he pointed to her blades, still slick, coated with the red of someone's life fluid, "--that you actually realized that it's not something to take lightly. Something that the other Amazons joked about, dreamed about, maybe a few even fantasized about."
"You think I'm a murderer, don't you," she said, a catch in her throat. Shampoo usually could care less about what Mousse thought--or at least, she'd always given that appearance. Now, it seemed that she *did* take into account what he thought of her. Mousse filed that away for future reference; she probably wasn't even aware that she'd done it. "You must think extremely ill of me."
"No I don't, Shan Fu. I never have, and I hope I never will. What I *do* think is that you're beginning to see things in a different manner than Cologne has shown you; I have no doubt that your grandmother loves you and has only the best intentions in mind for you, but I don't think that she's been the best parent that you could have--not that your father was any better. He really didn't pay much attention to you, you realize." Then, thinking about the fact that he could be subjected at any moment to the infamous Amazon technique known as the Hohoemi Sannen Goroshi, he added, "Um, no offense meant."
"None taken," she replied, noncommittally. "Please, Muu Tsu, continue. You've got my interest."
He began to pace around the room, relieving his stress as he did so. "These two years in Japan have really matured you. Two years ago, you had no friends here save the twins and me...I think; now even your rivals are really close to you. Once, you were diving into Ranma's bed and bath every chance you got; now, I think you've learned on that issue. Your Japanese is still bad, but at least you're focusing on other subjects besides martial arts. You're becoming a well-rounded person, instead of the 'Chinese Bimbo' that Kodachi once called you.
"If that isn't enough of a sign, you've also begun to think in ways that you never would have in Joketsuzoku. One of the biggest ones is that your great-grandmother doesn't have all the answers. Or that maybe the ways of our village aren't necessarily yours."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that perhaps you have to take a look at where you're going in life, and where you'll be. What had you planned to do once you and Ranma--" he forced himself to say the words, though he didn't believe it could ever happen, "--are married?"
Shampoo was about to answer him--after a few minutes of incredulity that he would admit to words such as those--when there was a sudden buzzing in the air. She didn't bother to respond to his earlier topic, instead deciding to shout out, *"GET DOWN!!!!!!"* The pair split and dived in opposite directions, just as a burst of energy blasted the floor where they had stood, sending a shower of debris to the four winds as well as setting a percussive boom that rang within the ears of the two.
Mousse got up off the floor, dashed over to the safety of the nearest pillar, and turned to look to see if Shampoo was alright. If whatever had attacked them *had so much AS HARMED A HAIR ON HER HEAD....* From a pillar a meter or so away, Shampoo peeked her own head out and stared at him, the look on her face a mixture of annoyance, relief, and anger. Both then turned in the direction of where they thought that the energy discharge could have originated from.
As the echo of the explosion began to subside, Mousse bolted to Shampoo's side, bonbori out to counter a second attack. Reaching her side, he commented, "Whaddya think? Chi attack?"
"Nothing so fancy," Shampoo replied, quickly scanning the area. "See those shattered pieces over there?" She pointed to a few pieces of blackened, jagged fragments. "They don't look like crystal. Also, the pillars seem to be damaged. I guess we just happened to move out of the explosion's reach." She gingerly reached over and grabbed one, inspecting it. "It looks like it was a piece of a grenade." She looked at him, and their eyes met. "Somebody's *really* out to get us."
"Assassin," Mousse seethed. "You were right, Shampoo. This *was* a trap--"
A banshee's laugh broke the silence, malicious and colder than the rime on a frozen corpse on a winter night. Both Shampoo and Mousse ventured a peek out of their hiding location...
...then raced away from their hiding spot as a massive beam of hellfire tore through the pillar and its environs, the objects in question either melting or crumbling from the torrent of heat and energy. The haunting laughter began once again, its mocking tones a challenge to the pair.
Not in the mood to be shot at all day, the pair quickly took to the offensive, racing down the corridor, searching for their attacker. At the last instant, Shampoo noticed a slip of a shadow slinking into a red door in the sun-drenched hallway. Signaling to Mousse, the pair began to make their way to the door. Although the door was locked, Mousse opened the garnet-and-ruby door courtesy of a Chiitan Chuan attack. As he replaced the remaining explosive chicken eggs back in the carrying case, then slid them back underneath his sleeve, the pair peered into the chamber's depths.
The room appeared to be dark and morbid in comparison to the sunlit walkway they were currently in; the place was a virtual cavern. It, in actuality, was probably a dungeon or darkened grand hall of some sort or other. The light streaming in from the door seemed to halt at the entryway, an ominous sign of what they were to encounter. Nonetheless, they moved forward, ready to fight whatever came their way.
Once inside, a further inspection of the room indicated that it was a dimly-lit sepulcher of some sort. The floors were bare, the ceiling holding nothing but stalactites. Arranged on the walls, like soldiers facing one another, were eight outdoor-type stone lanterns, the candles within flickering their lights to play against the walls, creating misshapen, oversized shadows that might be a harbinger of things to come. Between the lightbringers were six obelisks, pictures and Chinese ideographs engraved into their rough-hewn marble faces. Somewhere in the distance, there was a sound of water dripping against the floor in a slow, almost excruciating pace, and there was also the sound of a faint, haunting Buddhist chant somewhere from just beyond. Facing them, a few meters away, was a huge Japanese enshrined gate, made out of what appeared to be bloodstone. A pair of enormous red doors with black highlights nestled underneath the gate, the figurative--if not literal--gates to the netherworld.
"Woah. Cree-py," Shampoo commented, looking at the general environments. To her side, Mousse nodded solemnly. Instinct alighted in his mind, and he went over to look at the first pillar.
"Hey, Shampoo, look at this." As she came over and looked over his shoulder, he pointed something out to her. The picture carved on the front of the stone obelisk was of their home village, an aged-looking but still fairly accurate representation of a village purposely behind the global technology curve.
Shampoo read the caption. "'BIRTHPLACE OF THE DEMONESS.' I wonder what that means?" She patted Mousse gently on the shoulder, watching with momentary amusement as the older teen froze in place with delight at her touch. "I'm going to check the pillars on the other side."
In the interim, Mouse checked out the second pillar. On it was a picture of the annual martial arts contest that the village held once a year; it hadn't been held since the current Champion, was not in the village. On the picture, though, was a picture of a serene and beautiful young woman fighting off a small demonic girl. There was a grotesquely familiarity regarding the scene, something at the back of his mind that made the young man uncomfortable. The caption of the picture read, THE VICITMIZATION. Mousse turned to Shampoo and relayed what she saw.
She in turn did the same. "This one's entitled, 'THE STRIKE OF TRUTH THWARTED.' It shows the older girl holding a sword, surprised that her strike at the demon girl...was...blocked...by...a...." Her words trailed off as the pair stared at each other, dumbfounded. After a second, Shampoo shook her head, whispering, "No.... It *can't* be...." She raced to the second pillar as Mousse looked at the next.
The investigation revealed what the Chinese Amazon thought to be true. It was a history of the fateful day that Shampoo had first become the Village Champion, five years ago. It was a detailed pictographic explanation, from a biased and twisted point of view, blaming the pair for the girl's defeat and eventual banishment of the girl, while the demonic Shampoo and her equally hellspawned compatriot, Mousse, held firm sway over the populace of Joketsuzoku. The pictorials finally ended with the picture on the last one, a woman holding a sword over her head in triumph, the butchered and mangled bodies of demonic-Shampoo and demonic-Mousse trampled underfoot. The caption of the picture was listed simply as, JUSTICE. Aside from the different view and meaning of the picture, there was one other, major difference about the picture:
It was painted in color.
The colors shone freely, detailing everything, from the red of the blood, to the purple and black of Shampoo's and Mousse's respective hair colors, to the woman in the Chinese Amazon outfit, standing above their corpses, her aqua eyes and short, ivory hair. There was no mistaking the identities of the three people in the picture.
"That's supposed to be you, me--" Mousse began, his mouth set in a tight line.
"--and the Outcast," Shampoo finished, her tone equally grim. There was no other person it could be. The one person who no one in the village was allowed to talk about, or even acknowledge. The Outcast, once named Sung Pai Chan--Peach--did not, as far as tribal law was concerned, exist. She was a Stranger, anathema.
Yet here she was, firm in her commitment to destroy Shampoo for the simple fact that Shampoo was a better martial artist at age 13 than she was at 17; that was five years ago. Who knew what changes had occurred since then?
There was now no choice in the matter. Despite the fact that they currently did not reside in the village, tribal law demanded that the Outcast be executed upon sight; they were the very reason that she existed in this way. They were therefore obligated to mete *true* justice upon this woman, not the warped version that she might envision.
The pair faced the giant stone doors, ready for battle; Shampoo held her short swords, while Mousse held the bonbori. As she reached for the knocker, Mousse stopped her. "What?"
Mousse turned to face her. "Shampoo, I..."
"Yes?" {He looks pensive,} she thought. For the first time, she actually thought as to what damage her relationship with Ranma had done to him, her oldest friend.
"Shampoo, no matter how you feel about me, I love you. I always have, I always will."
She sighed, the resignation clear in her voice. {I've heard this a million times, Muu Tsu. Yet,} she realized, {there's something different about this, a ring of finality to it.} "I...what are you trying to say, Muu Tsu?"
"Shan Fu, you're the better fighter of the two of us. It's your job to take the Outcast out, no matter what it takes. I'll cover you, even...." he steeled himself, tightening his grip around her bonbori until the wooden handle nearly broke under his strength. "Even if it means I have to die to protect you. But you have to stop her. You have to."
{*What?!?!?!?!?*} Her mind raged. {No...no matter the fact that you're just a friend, Mousse, you're *my* friend, and I'm not going to let it come to that.} "Whatever it takes...but only to a point." He nodded, conceding the point, and understanding her semi-veiled meaning.
Mousse readjusted his stance, readying for the inevitable combat. "Okay, let's go in." He preached for the knocker, and rapped on the door once, the sound of two pieces of stone pounding together. The giant doors swung open, creaking loudly and revealing their entryway, another locale of darkness beyond.
As the pair began to move in, Shampoo grabbed his arm. "Wait." Leaning up, she kissed him on the cheek. As Mousse looked at her in surprise, she commented, "It's just for luck. Don't get any funny ideas," while her face held the picture of an ingenue. He smiled briefly, his face swooning with all the feeling he ever had for her.
Then their visages returned to that of the wrath of Joketsuzoku, and they moved forward.
They stepped in...
...and out.
They now appeared to be outdoors, but not in Vietnam...or, for that matter, in the real world. It appeared to be a shadow world, a dark mirror of the place they both knew as home. It was midnight, and the full moon loomed over all, larger than life. The light from the pale satellite revealed that they were in a clearing amidst a grove of trees, willows that were swaying in the cold breeze and were winter bare. Behind them were the outer walls of what appeared to be a castle of Japanese origin, made entirely of blood-red stones. To the front of them was a courtyard made entirely of granite; walled with similar red stone and enshrined once more by a tori gate, the gate bearing the Japanese kanji for death upon its stony brow. There was a walkway with slight steps leading up to the plaza, which was lit by stone lanterns radiating a bluish-orange light from a source that neither person could identify. If either were superstitious, it would seem that they were in the court of one of the seven hells, the light in the lanterns being radiated from the enslaved souls of the damned.
Nonetheless, the Chinese pair walked into the center of the courtyard, certain that it was a trap. The moved forward, each step they took make a noise that would alert any potential danger, from the footfalls crunching against the fresh, cold bluish-green grass, to the ringing, hollow clack of steps upon the granite. Despite the soft shoes both were wearing, and the training they had in silent movement, both knew quite well that the terrain was the enemy's home court, and that it would well be used against them.
Upon entering the square, within the walls they notice that in each corner was a skeleton--one dressed as a Buddhist monk, one as a geisha, one as a Chinese Amazon, and one as a male resident of Joketsuzoku. Ignoring the grotesque statues, they walked to the end of it, to look at the painting upon the wall. It was a design of some arcane style that neither knew about, yet neither felt comfortable with, either. Next to it was a sign that said in Chinese, DEATH COMES TO THE DEMONS IN ITS OWN WAY.
A laugh, cold and heartless, uttered from behind them. The pair spun around to face their worst foe, someone that, in Shampoo's and Mousse's minds, made Herb, Kirin, Tomba, Saffron, and any of the other opponents they all faced look small in comparison. This woman wanted them both dead, and would accomplish any means to do so.
The Outcast stood there, arms crossed and looking as sexy and deadly as she did the day she was outcast from the village. She wore the black and purple of her original Amazon clothing, and strapped to her back were her familiar short swords. She eyed Mousse appreciatively, smiling in a way that told Mousse something obscene...and not regarding carnal desire. To Shampoo she merely gave a look of pure unadulterated hatred that burned far brighter than any sun.
"Well," the Outcast said, mockingly. "If it isn't Lao Shan Fu and Jiang Muu Tsu. Or is your name now Jiang as well, Shampoo? I'm afraid I haven't kept up on the village's marriages in the five years since I've been outcast."
"It was better than you deserved, Outcast!" Mousse shouted.
"Tsk, tsk," the Stranger said. "Must you call me Outcast, Mousse? I do have a name, you know. Though I suspect," again, there was the flash of that ominous smile, "it is not the one that you knew me as."
"Fine, then, Pai Chan," Shampoo said in a commanding tone that belied her status as the "Amazon Princess". She began to flex her sword arms slightly, voicing, "You will not live long anyway, Peach."
The Stranger's response was to laugh once more. "You think that to be my name? How clever a guess, little Shan Fu, but how wrong as well!" She uncrossed her arms and moved them to the akimbo position, closer to access her own short blades. "In case you thought I didn't know, my once-parents had a daughter who they named Pai Chan, since I 'never existed.' So I took a new name--Sung Min Gei, or Mango, if you will."
"But that name was taken by your sister, before she and her husband died in the hills of South Korea three years ago," Mousse responded, his tones the very embodiment of indignation..
"Oh, but how would I know that?" "Mango" now grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Unless...." She gently nodded her head in the directions of the two corpses behind Shampoo and Mousse.
While Shampoo kept her eyes on the woman that called herself Mango, Mousse turned to look at the two skeletal frames dressed in the Joketsuzoku finery. In a dreamlike state, he wandered over to the two bodies. He looked at the one dressed in Amazon clothing. The clothing was the soft orange and mint green that was commonly worn by the woman that he had known as Min Gei--Mango; a woman that he knew well. He looked at the skull, and noticed that it had a gash that nearly cut it in two.
"No," he whispered. "Shampoo....it *is* Min Gei." At the sound of his voice, Shampoo dropped into a battle-ready stance, one that called for a high-speed spring, aiming her blades straight for the woman's throat.
Mango continued to stand there, unconcerned about the now visible threat made on her life.
Mousse, meanwhile inspected the next body with reverence. The body wore clothing similar to his own, and glasses similar to his own, though of a weaker prescription. Mousse looked at the body with reverence, ignoring the nicks and scratches on the bones which indicated that the man died torturously.
"Muu Lin," he whispered, as his eyes began to water. "How I've wanted to see you again, dear brother." He couldn't take the remains of his older brother into his arms, lest the endoskeleton fall to pieces. "How long we've all wanted to know your fate, dear brother," he said, choking back a sob. "I joined the circus to look for you, to hope that the message that you died wasn't true, only to give up when Shan Fu moved to Japan...." He couldn't finish the sentence, as he began to shed tears over the fate of his long-lost elder sibling, found at long last, and in the way Mousse would have least liked their reunion.
From behind him, at her battle stance, Shampoo's face was a mask of fury. This woman had killed both her own sister and her husband, Mousse's older brother. Within, she was crying with him. Shampoo knew that Muu Lin and Mango had died, but she didn't know that Mousse had run off and joined the circus to look for him--she assumed that he did because he had wanted to impress her. Now she knew the truth, and the words drove the sliver of anti-Amazon sentiment deeper into her heart of hearts. The Amazon way required newlyweds to go on an extended training trip, not only to consummate their love and marriage, but to meld their fighting skills. Had they not been Amazon, they would never have left the village--and might still be alive today.
The only sound carried on the slight breeze was the sound of Mousse's soul-wrenching sobs.
Without warning, Mousse turned around and stomped back to Shampoo's side. Shampoo chanced a brief look at his face, then stared; for the Mousse was frightening her. Mousse, when around opponents, could be cruel and malicious, and had a tendency to be a bit on the aberrant side. That was the Jiang Muu Tsu that she had known throughout her life.
The man that stood by her side was a being of pure enmity and wrath. His face was contorted in lines of pure malice. *"He loved you,"* Mousse began his inflections that of a vocal typhoon, *"He loved you....and you did this to him."*
Mango looked at her nails, unconcerned. "He married the woman that was once my sister. He deserved what he got."
*"SHE loved you as well, and you killed HER, too! Did you ever think that they married to meet tribal LAW, not because they loved each other?!?! HE LOVED YOU!!!!"* Mousse was roaring now. *"HE LOVED YOU AND IF YOU'D'VE ASKED HIM, HE LOVED YOU ENOUGH THAT HE WOULD'VE WENT INTO EXILE WITH YOU!!!!! BUT YOU DIDN'T, AND TRIBAL OBLIGATION REQUIRED HIM TO MARRY THE NEXT ELIGIBLE IN YOUR FAMILY'S LINE!!!!!!! YOU OWN SISTER!!!!!!!*
*"YOUR SISTER NEVER LOVED HIM!!!! SHE NEVER WANTED HIM!!!! BUT YOU KILLED HER, TOO!!!!! YOU KILLED TWO INNOCENTS, YET YOU CALL YOURSELF 'VICITIMIZED??!?!?!?' YOU TRIED TO KILL ME AND THE GIRL I LOVE OVER NOT ONLY SOMETHING AS PATHETIC AS CHEATING, BUT OVER THE FACT THAT SHAN FU IS SIMPLY BETTER IN THE ART THAN YOU??!?!?!*
*"DAMN YOU!!!! DAMN YOU AND THE WHOLE DAMN AMAZON NOTION RUN INTO YOUR, MY, HER HEADS!!!!!! DAMN IT ALL, AND THE FACT THAT YOU WANT IT SO BAD THAT YOU'RE WILLING TO VIOLATE IT JUST TO GET IT!!!!! WELL, IF THAT'S THE CASE, I'M THROUGH IT, WITH IT ALL!!!! YOU CAN HAVE IT, BECAUSE I...DON'T...WANT... ANYTHING...TO...DO...WITH...IT!!!!!!!!!"*
Shampoo stared at Mousse, dumbfounded. {Did he just say what I think he said? Mousse, oh, Muu Tsu, do you have to go that far for revenge?} Mousse had declared himself no longer part of the tribe; he had just cut himself off from everything that was his identity. Furthermore, Shampoo, as an Amazon, was no longer obliged to help someone who betrayed the tribe...meaning although she could fight Mango, protecting Mousse was no longer an opt--
Shampoo's concentration was shattered as Mousse raced forward, shouting, *"THIS IS IT, YOU MONSTER!!!!! JUST YOU AND ME, AN EXILE VERSUS AN EXPATRIATE!!!!! LET'S SEE HOW FAR YOUR VAUNTED 'AMAZON' SKILLS CARRY YOU NOW!!!!!!!"* With no further words, he attacked, swinging the bonbori in one hand while releasing a hail of shuriken from the other. Mango, at the last moment, moved like a flash, dodging each projectile and brought her swords to bear, easily blocking his strike. She then went into a knee shot, hitting him in a sensitive spot and dropping him like the proverbial stone.
Comprehension blazed through the younger Amazon's mind. {He meant to do this! He meant to stop Peach--Mango--whatever-she-calls-herself-now in whatever way it takes, even if it costs him his life!} Shampoo, however, continued to crouch there, unmoving, as Mousse leapt up and away from Mango's cutting blow.
At this point, she had a hard choice to make, most likely the hardest one that she would ever have to face: coming in to rescue Mousse meant that she would be aiding and abetting an Outcast of the village--especially since he renounced it voluntarily; the truth when Cologne found out--and she would, no doubt in the girl's mind--would cause Shampoo to lose everything she had in life. Her claim on Ranma would be null and void, because she would no longer be an Amazon. In addition, she would be entirely on her own, and subject to the same fate as Mango.
On the other hand, if she didn't, Mousse would be a goner, for sure. She was watching the combat so far, and it was rather obvious that Mango was toying with him. Mousse was an excellent fighter, but Mango had chi; Mousse's arsenal would be bound to run out sooner or later, whereas Mango could keep on coming. Mousse could weaken her to the point of exhaustion, thus allowing Shampoo an easy victory, but the aforementioned victory would be at the cost of his life.
Landing on his feet, he spun and attempted both a slice kick to the head and whipped a set of chains out from his sleeve. Mango in turn hopped over the chain, did a quick limbo movement under one of the bonbori. Coming out of that motion, she went into her Laser Fan, the tracing energy of her chi slicing the air as Mousse scrambled to avoid the deadly blurs of light. At one point he attempted to block; the result was one of the bonbori being sheared neatly and completely in half. Mousse nearly lost his hand as a result of the strike; a last-minute spin kick, countered by a hasty parry by Mango saved it, and added the bonus of letting him go on the offensive.
Using the other bonbori, he hit the deck, avoiding the next strike, then curled his back up to outmaneuver a kick by the ivory-haired villain. He dashed to his right, ducked under a Laser fan tracer that sheared off some of his hair, then leapt up and delivered an ax kick that knocked Mango back. He then attempted a head strike with the remaining mace that his opponent simply leapt over and landed on, then conveyed a sword strike to his face just slight enough to make a small gash on his left cheek. Mousse dropped the bonbori as he cartwheeled back, unsheathing his oversized bear claws as he did so. Mousse then went into a defensive position, awaiting the next attack.
Venturing the tiniest of peeks at Shampoo, she noticed that she was paralyzed with indecision--something that he'd never seen in her eyes in her entire life. {Shan Fu,} he thought, {I'm laying my life on the line for you, for the Amazons. I made a statement that I intend to stick by--I no longer have a people, a place to call home. In a few minutes, I may not even have a life. I'm doing this so you can avenge the Amazons, so you can avenge Mei Gei--so you can avenge my brother. I don't have a chance, but you do. If you care at all for me,} his eyes pleaded, {do what you have to.}
For her part, Mango booted the other bonbori to arm's height and immediately shredded it with a lightning quick sword attack. She then stepped away from the tattered remnants and sawdust that once made the maces. Crossing her arms once more, Mango looked at Mousse. "I'm surprised, Muu Tsu. Five years, and you haven't improved? Such a pity." She stuck one of her blades into the nearby wall, then blew on a set of her fingernails and polished them against the fabric of her tunic. Inspecting her handiwork, she continued. "I would have hoped that you would have at least made more of a challenge before I killed you, but I guess all you are good for in the end is a human shield, is that not correct?" She smiled briefly, chuckling at the memory gone by.
She then turned to Shampoo. "Ah, Shan Fu. Always the good little Amazon Princess, scion of the ruling clan. Here you stand, unmoving, unable to protect the man you love, lest you disgrace both your great-grandmother and the tribe as well. Is that not the problem of the ages? Furthermore, your lover is in a duel between us--something you cannot interfere in."
Shampoo continued to be in her combat ready position. Mango was right, damn her--this was a duel between two citizens of the People's Republic, not subjects of the Emperor, as the Amazons considered themselves. Shampoo could attack the woman--if Mousse had not declared himself to be no longer of Joketsuzoku. Why did he do that? He just cut himself off from the way of life he grew up with. It made no sense. None at all. And yet...
...maybe it was the most profound thing she'd ever seen in her life, as though she'd just witnessed Einstein at work.
In any event, there was no time to think about it, because Mousse roared back, *"LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS, MANGO!!!! THIS IS BETWEEN YOU AND ME!!!!!"* He shot forward, swinging the claws like a pair of scythes, occasionally loosing a few explosive chicken eggs towards his opponent, intending to make her suffer every bit as much as he had made him suffer.
"Now *this* is more like it!" Mango chirped with glee as she vaulted skyward, cutting loose with her fireball attack and detonating some of the eggs in mid-air. She bounced off a wall, then turned it into a flying bicycle kick, which Mousse parried with one arm, and counterattacked with the other. The attack was successful in that it shattered the right set of Mousse's bear claws. The attack was unsuccessful in that Mousse raked the left set against her side, slashing her tunic open and cutting into the skin, drawing blood. This is what Mango had expected, though, so at the last moment, she hooked a sword into the other pair of claws, twisted and snapped them , sending the shards of metal back at Mousse, cutting him several times with the broken pieces of his own weapon. Ignoring the pain and taunting him, she leapt to the top of the tori gate, daring him to come forth.
Seeing an air game in progress, Mousse took to the blue himself, not willing to let her get away. He was beginning to not see clearly--and not due to his vision, either. His desire for vengeance, compounded with his love and concern for Shampoo blinded him in a way that was unusual for the master of weapons.
Mango simply saw an opening, then exploited it. Screaming down, "And now you end, Jiang Muu Tsu!" she cannonballed towards him. Prior to slamming the whole of her body into him, she called out a special attack in Chinese, "Napalm Gunshot!" immediately igniting. The ball of chi-flame that was Mango contacted into him, alighting him on fire as well, burning not his clothing but every pore of his being, setting his very soul ablaze. As he fell, limp, he screamed in unearthly pain, as he weakly tried to produce a fire extinguisher from the folds of his clothing.
This proved to be mistake number two, as he dropped the bottle, the large metal container falling to the ground and snapping off at the nozzle. The immediate release of CO2, as well as the angle of the bottle resulted in an unguided metal missile being thrust back at the owner's unprotected back, pounding into it and easily cracking it. As Mousse bellowed out in further pain, the intensity increased as he fell to earth on his gravely injured back, contorted around the shape of the choking CO2 escaping form the damaged bottle, not only cutting away from the oxygen supply, but also frostbiting him with the sub-zero temperatures of he released gas.
Still, somehow, he managed to get up, and slowly to his feet. Ejecting two buzzsaws from his sleeves, he slowly began to advance upon Mango, who glanced at him, unconcerned. He moved slowly, painfully, but intending to take her out no matter what.
"You...will...pay, Mango...."
"Surely you don't think you are going to be me, do you, Mousse?"
"I don't have to," he wheezed, as a trickle of blood rolled from his mouth. "Sham...poo will take you out if I don't." He was now right next to her, readying to thrown the strike that would end this creature for once and for all...or give Shampoo the opening she needed to, at the end of his existence.
"It's such a shame that I disagree." Mango then spoke a phrase in Chinese, "Wheel of Fire!" and instantly becoming a cyclone, inferno, and Cuisinart all in one, aiming for a clean strike, and taking off his head. Fortunately for the Chinese youth, he was not swatted away or cleaved cleanly in two; he instead, saved by his own flagging strength, fell back. However, he took a grievously deep slash from a burning blade, scorching the gash as it snapped his ribcage. He fell back, a virtual ball of chi-powered flame, to land on the floor below.
Using every last iota of his ebbing strength, he turned onto his heavily injured front, crawling towards Shampoo, and leaving a huge trail of reddish-black blood and ichor behind him. He reached towards Shampoo, who was still unmoving, her face reflecting pure horror from what she had just seen, and the fact that she had done nothing about it. He called out once, "Shan Fu....." then fell to the ground, silent.
Shan Fu stared at the broken heap in front of her, the look on her face one of unspeakable horror. She didn't know what to do. She would never shed a tear in front of this thing in front of her. Jiang Muu Tsu, one of the few friends she had throughout her life, the only man who had ever loved her unconditionally, was dead. Her best, truest, and only friend, even though she had spurned him; the person who stoically dealt with the grief of his brother's death even as he was at her side when her father died; a person who semi-accepted her possible unrequited love of Saotome Ranma, though he still continued to chase her; a person who she scorned and mocked, even though she considered him her closest friend.
Dead, now. Taken from her. Because of her inability to get past her inbred Amazon heritage and traditions. Because of that, he was as dead as if she had laid the killing blow herself.
{I've killed him, by failing him,} her mind railed, every thought a blow of self-incurred derision. {The Amazons have killed him, by coming up with those inane tribal laws. Mango has killed him...
{*...Mango killed him...*
{*...MANGO HAD KILLED HIM. KILLED MY BEST FRIEND. KILLED A MAN THAT I CARE FOR,*} her conscious mind still unable to come to grips with a reality that would not come to pass for many more years.
Cold, icy rage raced through the heart of Lao Shan Fu. Never before had she been this cold. This went beyond any childish notion of killing Akane, Ukyo, Kodachi, or any other obstacle to her airen. This went beyond the disgusting, heart-wrenching, yet needed killings of the mercenaries and brigands outside. This went beyond anything that she had ever felt before. For the first time in her life, Lao Shan Fu, heir apparent to the Leadership of the Amazons of Joketsuzoku, scion of the Lao Clan, proud descendant of Lao Jiukiu Tsesao, was Death herself, not only riding in on the pale horse but moving in at full speed.
Shampoo decided she would grieve over her friend later. She would shed tears aplenty, wear dark colors, wail, pull out her hair, lose several pounds due to sadness, slide into a blue funk, whatever--*later.* Not here, not now, and certainly not in front of the woman who had killed Muu Tsu.
Shampoo stood up, threw away her blades. She stood up, looking down at the ground, shivering uncontrollably. Without warning, she moved slowly and gracefully into a combat stance, ready to fight the combat of her life.
She then looked at Mango, and her violet eyes blazed with a vengeful, cold intent. *"You want me,"* she spoke every one like the challenge it was meant to be. *"You want a piece of me, drop your blades and fight me here and now. Let's see you good you think you really are, Mango. Let's see if you are talented enough to survive fighting me."*
Mango's response was to laugh in her face. "Oh, Shan Fu, do you truly think you can beat me without your magic trinkets? I was unprepared, then. I'm more than prepared, now."
*"You'll pay for what you did to Mousse, you heartless bitch."* Shampoo's voice was a soft roar of anger and hatred, and an unquenchable thirst for vengeance against the woman who had just opened once more the wound of death in the Amazon's heart.
"Defending an Outcast, Amazon Princess? How unlike the offspring of the great Lao K'o Lon."
*"To hell with the village. Forget my great-grandmother, the tribe, and everything that goes along with it. This is between you and me, Mango. And if it means I have to throw away everything to defeat you, if I have to become like you to issue justice, then it will be well worth it, though my Amazon sisters may never understand. But at least they will be able to sleep soundly, knowing a waste of flesh like you still infests and infects the world with your existence."*
"So you relinquish your claim to the tribe then. My victory is complete," Mango yawned in disinterest.
*"No, no it isn't. Because as long as I live, you don't have the skill to beat me. In fact, you're so cowardly, you call it a work of magic rather than admit that your grasp of the Art is so incompetent, you have to kill to have any talent."*
Mango's response to that was to turn to walk away, then turn around and launch a fireball towards the purple-tressed girl. Shampoo simply sidestepped it, then looked at Mango with a malicious gleam in her eye as she dared her opponent to come closer and made a comment that would one day become her battlecry, one more fearful than the simple Amazon expletive of "Aiyaa": *"You want to fight me? Okay then...*
*"Kitty wanna play."*
Mango and Shampoo raced towards each other, fists cocked back and ready for attack. Mango then went into a crescent kick, but Shampoo, being the faster of the two, tucked herself into a tight roll, then cannonballed herself towards Mango's torso. As she impacted, she bounced off, then threw a quick punch.
Mango blocked that punch, grabbed Shampoo's arm and tossed her over her shoulder. Shampoo stabilized herself on the ground, then countered that move by tossing Mango over *her* shoulder. Mango hit the deck and immediately went for a sweep, which Shampoo hopped over, and as she did, the ivory-haired woman pounced up and forward and threw a dashing uppercut that Shampoo had to lean back to avoid. Falling to the ground, Shampoo arched her back to avoid a kick, then rolled out of the way to dodge as Mango screeched, "Demonic Break!" and shattered the ground worse than Ryoga ever did with the Bakusai Tenketsu.
Shampoo moved forward, then leapt up and delivered an aerial snap kick that sent Mango staggering back. Shampoo lunged forward and delivered one of her Cat Scratch Fever attacks, hitting her opponent for a 426-hit combo, then slid, sweeping Mango. Mango however, vaulted off the ground and counterattacked with a Thrust Kick that Shampoo had to move quickly to outmaneuver; however, this left her flank open, which Mango took advantage of as she stopped her attack and nailed her in the side with a chi-charged roundhouse kick. Shampoo grabbed her leg upon the end of the attack, and, ignoring the slash of pain that ripped up her side, she pulled the leg forward and holding Mango's ankle to her knee, she brought her elbow down hard on it; an audible gushing *pop* emanated from the wounded ankle as Mango screamed in pain and leapt back.
Both fighters looked at each other with intense fury, each combatant breathing heavy, spurting gasps as they both tried to ignore the pains of the blows both dealt them. Then, they charged forward, beginning the second round. Mango led off the assault by dashing forward and nailing Shampoo in the side of the head with a crescent kick. Shampoo took the blow, but as she fell back, she turned it into a flip kick, then repositioned herself and launched into a Thrust Kick that sent the older woman flying back against the wall in a shower of crimson chi. Shampoo then rebounded and pulled the woman off the wall, then pulled her forward. Shampoo rammed her elbow into her midsection, then backhanded her in the chin, following up with spinning her and palm-punching her away.
That gave Mango just enough time to launch a fireball as she was thrown back, nearly scorching Shampoo's face had the younger girl not swerved at the last moment. That motion allowed Mango to rush in and throw a well-placed charging fist attack at Shampoo's face, which connected and snapped her head back. In the interim, Mango kicked her in the crotch, then lunged forward for a backhand across the face.
Shampoo, still seeing stars from that last blow, nevertheless made a wild grab for her opponent, making a second mistake. Mango grabbed the outstretched arm, and kicked under the armpit, attempting to dislocate Shampoo's arm. Shampoo instinctively moved forward, trying to blunt the majority of the hit, hoping to lessen the impact of the strike. Mango saw this and upon the kick connecting, twisted the arm, readying to flip her over. Shampoo's eyesight cleared just in enough time for her to roll with the flip and use the momentum to loose a nasty back kick that pounded Mango in the ribs. Shampoo then executed a quick flip, grabbed Mango's head with her legs courtesy of a scissors hold, then twisted and slammed her face into the granite floor, sending a small spurt of blood and a bone-crunching noise as Mango slightly whimpered in pain.
Mango, however, ignored the pain and sprung off the deck several feet in the air. Reaching into her pockets, she launched a volley of daggers at Shampoo, who moved like lightning to avoid them. Unfortunately, three embedded themselves in her sides and arm, causing her to scream in pain as they tore in to her flesh. She crumpled to her knees, further agitating her injured arm, ripping something further and running the risk of rendering it useless. As Mango descended, she ricocheted off one of the walls and torpedoed herself against the Amazon Princess, who was still trying to staunchly ignore the pain creeping throughout her entire body. As Mango neared, Shampoo played an erratic move and vaulted directly skywards, swinging her fist in a backhanded motion and by pure luck tagging her opponent between the eyes, dropping her like a stone. As for Shampoo, she landed on the ground, not all too well; something in her knee popped out of place, and there was a rip as she fell back to the hard stone floor, crying in pain.
Both girls crawled to opposite ends of the challenging ring, struggling to get back to their feet. Shampoo got up first, and, nursing her damaged knee, moved into an offensive stance that would take less strain on it. Mango, meanwhile, slumped against the wall, trying to focus her power into the glowing orange sphere she cradled between her hands.
Shampoo called out, *"Mango! Your time is at hand! Surrender now, and I'll be merciful and kill you quickly."*
Mango laughed a guttural reply. "Really, Shan Fu. Do you think that you have the skill to beat me? Living as the champion has made you softer than I recall. Even without your magic shams, you still had speed and power. I suppose constantly mounting your now-deceased lover will do that to you."
Shampoo screamed, *"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MUU TSU LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!"*
"Oh, have I hit a nerve?" the Outcast wheedled. "Tell me--is there something more than the fact that I have removed your constant playmate from you. Tell me, you seem to be acting though he was something just a little more than your mate, Shampoo. Did he father a child on you? Did I leave you a widow, your children fatherless? Is that it?"
Knee or not, Shampoo was not going to put up with her mouth one minute longer. Ignoring the searing pain as she bolted forward, she roared, *"I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR GODDAMN LUNGS OUT AND STOMP ON THEM, YOUR HEARTLESS BITCH!!!!!"* Shampoo cocked back her fist, infusing every iota she could muster into one huge chi-strike that she intended to ram straight down Mango's throat.
Unfortunately, she played straight into the other woman's trap. Mango thrust her hands forward and bellowed, *"Ultimate Technique!! Ho ni mou!!!!!"* A huge and intense beam of orange energy ripped forward, slamming into Shampoo, who had barely enough time to realize her possibly fatal mistake and covered her face in desperation. The blast hit her full brunt, rocketing her back against the wall, nearly snapping her ribs and almost completely scorching the clothing off her body. As she pounded into the wall, she hit with enough force to not only crater the wall, but to sit there, embedded for a few seconds before gravity semi-mercifully slid her back down to the ground, leaving her there to curl up in a painful fetal position, gasping for breath in excruciating, shallow, ragged bursts.
Shampoo laid there, on the brink of not only defeat, but death, failure and dishonor as well. She looked out of the corner of one swollen eye and saw Mango stumbling over to pick up one of the swords; no doubt intended to be used on her. A tear slid down the side of her cheek as she focused what little thoughts she could. {Ancestors,} she mentally intoned, {I'm so tired. I'm soooo tired. But I can't stop yet. I can't fail yet. I have to save my friend, my Mousse, my Muu Tsu. I have to rescue the man I love, my airen, my Ranma. I have to avenge the village against the one who has wronged us, wronged me, and wronged Mousse. I can't be allowed to fail.
{I have turned my back on the village in haste; I spoke out of anger and spite. I am no longer worthy of the honor that was once the village. Or perhaps the village is not what it was, and my failure was the price for staying. I don't know, I don't have the time to know, right now. I cannot ask for that enlightenment.
{But I ask for this: grant me the strength to stop this madwoman. Even if I die, here and now, alone, unloved, and forgotten, let me stop the pervasive evil that this woman represents. I ask for nothing more.}
Mango finally stood over her, one of Shampoo's swords in her hand. She licked her lips in delight, and a psychotic gleam of delight lit up her eyes, as she cooed, "At long last! Justice is at hand! I have won!! I am free!!! Hope that your ancestors are kinder to you than you have been to others, Lao Shan Fu!!!" She then rammed the blade down at full speed, relishing the moment forever, an ecstatic space in time, forever embedded into the mind of the woman once known as Sung Pai Chan--Peach; now known as Sung Min Gei--Mango.
It would've been perfect had Shampoo been in that one spot to die.
As the blade rang against the hard stone floor, Mango looked down to realize that her quarry was no longer there. Shampoo bolted over to the other wall as Mango made her speech. The other girl, so lost in her apparent victory, didn't notice. As Mango turned, she faced the fury of the village of Joketsuzoku, incarnate--namely, Lao Shan Fu, glowing with a pinkish-purple battle aura so powerful that she was positively blinding.
*"Wha--what're you...?"* was all that Mango could say.
*"You want to try to beat me? I don't think so."* Shampoo's anger and wrath clearly radiated far more fiercely in her voice than in her incandescent aura. *"TAKE THIS!!!! LAO CLAN SHAOLIN FINAL ATTACK!!!!! LEAPING TIGER!!!!!!"*
Shampoo raced towards Mango, then leapt up and rolled into a powerslide that swept Mango off her feet. As Mango cleared the ground, Shampoo leapt up and launched her with an arc kick.
Mango went flying for about ten meters...
...only to be met in midair by Shampoo, who then delivered a flurry of punches, kicks, and elbows, before punching her opponent back down towards the ground...
...where a few centimeters above the ground, Shampoo threw another attack at her foe, consisting of a Cat Scratch Fever, a knee to the face, and a blow to the solar plexus before Thrust kicking her back towards the air...
...where the Amazon Princess was waiting once more. In mid air, she delivered a hit to the chest, following up with a smash to the chin and then grabbing it, bringing Mango's face down hard on her knee before letting her fall once more to the ground...
...where Shampoo simply booted her back up skyward...
... to a point slightly higher than Mango had originally entered the air. As Mango reached her zenith, a crimson comet, charged with pure chi slammed down on her and shoved her towards the onrushing ground at a ballistic speed. As Mango dazedly looked at the shooting star with horror etched on her face, she could see Shampoo's grim visage set in determination...
...as the Chinese Amazon leapt off Mango as she hit--and cratered the battlefield, sending a detonation of stone shards and energy to disperse to the four winds. Shampoo landed safely on the ground, her battle aura drifting away to nothingness. She stood over the sizable crater, staring down at her broken and beaten adversary. Shampoo, unable to see an intact sword anywhere amidst the debris, instead picked up a huge chunk of granite and held it over her head intending to cast it down and smash Mango's head in.
Mango, too injured to move, glared defiantly at Shampoo. "Go ahead and kill me, Shan Fu. You cheated again, just when I had least expected. Kill me and return to the village of the Amazons, *o mighty champion,"* she said, mockingly. *"Kill me now, but I swear that I'll haunt you for the rest of your days and see that your soul is brought into the seven hells!"*
Shampoo then looked at her with something that made Mango even more furious: pity. She tossed the boulder to the side and said, *"No.* Mousse was right. *You* deserve to be the Amazon, *not* me. In the end, you think that your honor is so important, that you'd sacrifice it to see that it looks intact. Image is everything, apparently. No, I don't deserve to be an Amazon. I'm too honest, and would prefer to stay that way.
"I've listened to my great-grandmother, without thinking of what it made me look like. Now my airen thinks I'm a dumb country peasant that's constantly in heat. My friends can't trust me. I've abused the one person who's always been at my side. All for the sake of honor.
"It's over. You can have the title of Champion, if it means so much to you, *Sung Min Gei."* Now Shampoo loosed an acidic remark at her pathetic foe. "I, Lao Shan Fu, heir apparent to the leadership of the village of Joketsuzoku, the Amazon Princess, do hereby renounce my heritage and birthright as a Chinese Amazon. I am Outcast, nothing more than a citizen of the People's Republic...and maybe later on, a citizen of Japan.
"Enjoy your status, Champion of the Amazons. In the end, it means little anyway when you have to leave your home and kill someone you've never met simply because they're a better Artist than you. Or marry them, should you find out that it's a different story than what you imagined." Nothing further needed to be said, she turned and walked away.
*"Come back here and face me, Shan Fu!!!!"* Mango screamed from her pit. *"This isn't over yet! I'm still a better Artist than you, come back and face me, you cheater!!"* Shampoo continued to walk away, ignoring the woman's words. At the last, she was tempted to turn and retort that she didn't bother to pick on those weaker than her, since it was the Amazon way, but then she realized that those sorts of things didn't matter to the "Survival-of-the-fittest" tribe...and she just quit the Amazons, anyway.
Shampoo instead moved on, to the next task at hand--carrying Mousse's corpse out. She could do nothing for the remains of his brother or the original Min Gei; she hoped their spirits would understand.
She was shocked then to discover that the skeletons of the two were gone...
...as well as Mousse's body!
Panic gripped her. Could Mango have another person nearby, ready to ambush her, to defile the deceased? She barely had the strength to stand, much less fight another round. She had just enough chi reserves left to bust her way out of here, if there door wasn't open.
That also meant that she couldn't help Ranma at this point. Any fight she'd walk into would be a suicide maneuver, and she wasn't willing to risk dying needlessly. Besides, she had a duty to look for Mousse's remains. He sacrificed himself to save me, she thought, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks unhindered.
"Don't cry, Shampoo," a weary, pained voice behind her said. She spun around to see...
...Mousse, barely standing, leaning against the tori for support. He was shirtless, the remnants of his robe tied around his chest to staunch the flow of blood that the sizable gash had created. Even with the large makeshift bandaging, she could see that the scar ran the length of his front, and would leave a permanent mark once healed. It didn't matter, though. He was still alive.
Shampoo fought every instinct in her to leap into his arms, knowing that doing so could injure him. Furthermore, she would knock the satchel out of his hand, the one that was large enough to carry...
"Yes, it is," Mousse said, dreamily, exhaustedly, somehow still reading her thoughts. "I can't take them home again, but I can at least ensure that they rest in peace somewhere away from this place. Then I can rest--"
*"Don't think you're dying on ME, buster!!!!!!"* she snapped, more harshly than she intended.
"--in a nice soft bed," he finished. Let's go home, love." He stood straight, nearly collapsing from the effort; fortunately Shampoo was there to catch him as he collapsed. He weakly looked up at her, and smiled. She rewarded him by slipping under his shoulder and smiling back.
"You do know that you can be such a pain, sometimes," she teased, still smiling as she steadied him and led him to the closed stone door that led to their home dimension.
* * *
All across the western Pacific, US Navy ballistic missile submarines were maneuvering into launch position. Their captains, under strict orders to await an all clear signal, or failing that, begin launching immediately. Missile tubes began to flood as the subs sat at battle stations, ready to do their mission, though it was horrible and inconceivable.
In various locations around the US, Air Force missile silos also opened, ready for their task at hand. These missiles, unlike the Navy Tridents, were to be the initial strike against the Black Palace that loomed in Vietnam. The Navy missiles, however...
...were to be launched at Chinese sites, once they had begun to launch at American ones.
Time was being counted on the speed of a satellite in space being maneuvered into position to witness either the salvation or damnation of humanity...
...and time was running out for Tendo Akane...
