Chapter Ten
In a matter of seconds everyone inside the Tendo house was out back, though few were anxious for what was about to take place. In fact the only ones truly anxious for the upcoming spectacle were Akane and Shampoo, but everyone had their own thoughts on this.
'Finally I can put this bimbo in her place.' Akane thought, eager to take down the Chinese girl and prove to her and Ranma who really called the shots around here. No part of her doubted she would win this.
'Violent Girl soon see what real martial artist like.' Shampoo thought, certain she would win but avoiding the mistake of assuming she couldn't lose. She had heard some details about Akane from customers that attended Furinkan but had only seen a few good hits in her direct observations. She was going to be prepared anything.
'I hope Akane doesn't get herself hurt.' Kasumi worried.
'I don't think this will go too well for Akane, but maybe she'll finally open her eyes after this is over.' Nabiki told herself.
Soun was too emotional to think straight, but the majority of his scrambled thoughts centered on his hopes that Akane wouldn't suffer here and Ranma does what had been expected of him all along.
'This is bad. If Akane loses Ranma will start to seriously believe he can desert her and if she wins he's going to resist his duty to wed her anyway until he gets some sense of satisfaction from her. My plans for retirement are in jeopardy no matter what happens.' Genma worried.
'I don't know what to say here. I don't want Shampoo's claim to Saotome to be stronger but I can't bring myself to wish her defeat either.' Mousse debated with himself painfully.
'I don't like the idea of these girls fighting over me, but I suppose this was inevitable and something the two of them need to resolve.' Ranma thought, keeping himself strangely calm right now.
'Shampoo's one step closer to achieving her goal, but still I better make certain no one can refute the consequences of this match.' Cologne concluded before facing everyone.
"Before this begins I believe that the stipulations behind this spar must be made clear to ensure that the losing side upholds the agreed upon terms." The Amazon elder informed everyone. "According to the statements made by the participants, if Akane Tendo should win then Shampoo will have to renounce her claim to have Ranma Saotome as her husband, and if Shampoo should win then Akane Tendo will have to renounce her claim to have Ranma Saotome as her husband. Is that agreed by the participants?"
Both girls nodded.
"I verify that Shampoo and myself will abide by the terms if need be. Will the Tendo family do the same if they are required to as well?" Cologne asked.
Nabiki nodded. "Yeah, I'll make sure of it."
Cologne arched an eyebrow, surprised at the declaration. "You will?"
"I understand your surprise, but I take debts very seriously. Not just the ones owed to me, but the ones owed by me and this won't be any different as far as I'm concerned."
"Even so child, the actual head of the family must agree for this to be valid." Cologne told the mercenary then faced the Tendo patriarch. "Soun Tendo, do you agree to uphold the terms if your daughter is defeated?"
The mustachioed man was in a moral quandary right then. A strong part of him wanted to say forget the terms and Akane was going to wed Ranma whether she won or not. His dreams were more important than some Amazon scheme. But unfortunately he had more to take into consideration than just his own desires. He was a respected member of the community thanks to his service in the Nerima city council and he always said the Tendo's were an honorable family. If it got out that he and his family had to make good on a wager and flat-out refused to, his family and his dojo would have a dark mark they might never recover from.
'Akane's self-directed training might not be enough for her so I have to at least consider the chance she will lose. If she does, all my dreams go down the... wait! The terms were just that she can't marry Ranma. But as long as Ranma still marries one of my daughters then everything can still work out. I'm sure either Nabiki or Kasumi would realize how important it is to take the engagement. So win or lose, I can still benefit from this.'
Soun looked at the Amazon elder and nodded. "Yes, I will see to it that the terms are met if you meet yours as well."
Cologne nodded. "Alright. And since this is an official spar it needs rules. For rules how about anything goes but no property damage or landing outside the property line and no getting the audience directly involved under penalty of forfeit?"
"That sounds fair." Soun said. Those were rather standard rules for Anything Goes martial arts so there was no reason for Akane to not abide by them. "Who referees then? No one here is unbiased for the outcome."
"I'll do it." Nabiki offered. "I can at least be trusted to be professional."
"That works for me." Cologne stated. 'It's true. Soun, Genma, and Kasumi are too likely to be lenient to Akane in this and Mousse is unlikely to even keep his glasses on for this, and even if he did I'm not sure how he'd rule regarding the terms of Shampoo's outcome. Ranma is the prize and would feel put on the spot for choosing one of the two girls so his judgment would be questioned immediately, as would mine, so Nabiki is the safest bet here.'
With no objections Nabiki went to where one would expect a referee to stand. "You two aware of the rules and terms?" Both girls nodded, both looking ready to just get this over with. "Ready?" Nabiki said as she raised her right hand then quickly dropped it. "Begin!"
Akane made the first move, looking much like she did when she had fended off the Hentai Horde. But Shampoo did not respond as the many boys had done. She pulled out a single chui and hit Akane's left side with it, knocking her on her knees. Rather than follow up she stepped away.
"Hey that was cheating!" Akane announced bitterly, clutching her aching side.
"Akane, weapons aren't against the rules and it was a clean shot." Nabiki told her.
Akane got back on her feet and tried to take another swing at the lavender-haired girl. Shampoo countered by blocking with the blunt end of her chui and while Akane's fists could break bricks, Shampoo's chui could break walls made of bricks too so her weapon was mildly stronger. Thus Akane's hand was the one to take damage.
Hurt but with nothing broken, Akane cradled her hand and fumed before following up with another hit from her weaker arm. Shampoo stepped back and put her chui away, even held her hands behind her back as if to say 'I will not fight you'. Akane tried again but the same thing happened.
'Weird, Shampoo's dodging and blocking more than fighting. Is she toying with Akane?' Nabiki thought.
"Dammit, stand still and let me hit you!" Akane yelled, currently frustrated beyond belief that her hits weren't connecting.
Shampoo gave her an 'are you serious' look. "Really? You hear self? You expect Shampoo to just stay in one place like tree and take hits? That no martial artist talk, that thug talk."
Akane fumed. "You take that back!"
"Make me." Shampoo teased as the fight resumed.
Ranma watched on with much interest, but most of it on their fighting styles than in the outcome. He had seen the two fight before, but in all but one case each (the Hentai Horde for Akane and the fight Shampoo had before she challenged female Ranma in China) he had been the recipient, not an observer. So now he got a good opportunity to simply observe.
'Akane's fighting all wrong. She's moving like she's fighting the Hentai Horde again instead of just one person. She swings her fists like she's trying to hit a group approaching her, and she puts virtually all her strength into her shoulders, ignoring her elbows completely. She could sure hurt Shampoo if she made one connect, but her moves are too readable.'
'Shampoo on the other hand is nothing like I expected. I figured she'd fight Akane just like any other girl she surely fought back home, but all she's doing is goading her and backing up.' His thoughts froze as something clicked in his mind. 'Wait a minute, is she...?'
Ranma felt compelled to stop the fight, but the second he made a move he felt a hand on his shoulder stopping him. To his surprise, it was Mousse. "Huh?"
"Saotome, they clearly have bad blood between them that they need to clear out on their own terms. You getting involved will only make that worse." The myopic boy sagely whispered.
Ranma lightly frowned even though Mousse had only told him the same thing he had told himself before. "You're just saying that because you want Shampoo to win." He whispered in return.
"Why would I want that? If she wins then the biggest obstacle to her marrying you is gone."
Ranma arched an eyebrow. "So you want her to lose?"
"I didn't say that either. I'm more of a forced neutral given the circumstances. I think the real question is who do you want to see win?"
Even if Ranma could give an answer, he didn't have time to as Shampoo enacted what he feared she would.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
Too late did Akane recognize the spiral that Shampoo had been moving in all this time and tried to jump out of the way but that action only helped the maneuver more as the swirling conflict of hot and cold battle auras swept her up further and lightly battered her as it did so. It was different than the one Ranma had made that she got swept up in before in that this one was weaker, but Akane was still powerless to defeat herself from it.
The Tendo's and Genma were horrified to see Akane swept up in this man-made, or more accurately woman-made, tornado while the Amazons and even Ranma were mostly impressed.
'Wow, she actually knows that too. Then again it's kind of obvious, the Old Ghoul is her sensei and has been for years. Right now I wouldn't be surprised if she knew the Bakusai Tenketsu and other things I've never even heard of before.'
Maybe it was seeing the attack, or putting that thought into words, or a combination of the two, but right then Ranma had an epiphany: Out of all three of his fiancees, Shampoo was the only one who took her martial arts training even close to as seriously as he did. Her home might not be as advanced as the rest of the world was, but it was centered around a warrior lifestyle and Shampoo was considered their champion. Not to mention she had honestly once installed in him the fear of death and had the skills to make such a fear justified. If anything, Shampoo was just as good a rival and friend for him as Ryoga was if not more.
Of course with that thought in mind Ranma couldn't help but think about how Akane and Ukyo held up in comparison to Shampoo in terms of skills. What first came to mind was both girls swinging a weapon at someone who had irked them, much like Shampoo using her chui so in that aspect the playing field was level.
He had seen Ukyo fight only once, and to be honest Ranma had not been impressed by it. It suited her, but the premise and tactics behind it were too gimmicky for Ranma's tastes. Her style felt more like it was meant to entertain or humiliate than it was to win, and the only reason Ranma had taken any damage at all was because he didn't want to fight his old friend. The moment he decided to, he completely dominated the match. He hadn't seen Ukyo fight seriously since then, never even train for a fight. For a girl who claimed to have spent years training for revenge against him, she sure didn't act like someone who put in a lot of effort. Heck she even gave up on it as soon as he called her cute, so she was a bit of a mystery to him. But one thing that was certain was that whatever the okonomiyaki chef wanted, martial arts likely wasn't a big part of it.
Akane was different. He had seen her fight and he had seen her train, the problem was he and her had different ideas of what was acceptable. Her idea of proper training was a jog in the morning, hitting bricks and straw dummies, and if need be hit people into LEO. To Ranma that was like cooking something using only half the recipe at best, an analogy that fit Akane quite well in Ranma's opinion. And if that wasn't bad enough, most of the time Akane blew this routine off if it got in the way of something else to do. She only jogged on days she had no school, and she hit things more to vent anger than to train herself.
To Ranma both of these approaches were abysmal, but he had no time to think about it further as Akane came crashing back down to earth, landing in the koi pond. Whether or not Shampoo had planned that was debatable, but it was better than any alternative landing spot available.
Akane crawled out of the pond aching and coughing up water as her family approached her, ensuring she was okay. Ranma however stayed back, feeling rather unwelcome in that situation.
Shampoo came right up to the pigtailed young man. "How Shampoo do Airen?"
"You did good as always Shampoo." Mousse said before Ranma could.
"Shampoo ask Airen, not you." The lavender-haired girl told the myopic boy.
"I'm impressed Shampoo. I have no idea you could do that." Ranma told her.
Shampoo beamed at his praise. "It was weak move, Violent Girl not strong enough to give much battle aura beyond anger. But it do job."
"You bitch!" Akane screamed, making the group look towards her. "How dare you do such a thing to me?!"
"I was under the impression that Anything Goes meant exactly that." Cologne answered for her great-granddaughter.
"She's right Akane, it wasn't against the rules." Nabiki told her sister who didn't want to hear that.
"She should be disqualified for trying to kill me like that!" Akane argued.
"Trust me Akane, if Shampoo was trying to kill you you'd know." Ranma told the youngest Tendo, having been on the receiving end of actual killing intent from the Amazon.
"Don't you dare take her side on this you jerk! You're supposed to be on mine!" Akane yelled.
"Why Akane? Why am I supposed to be on your side?" Ranma calmly challenged, waiting for her answer.
Everyone else waited too, wondering what the young girl was going to say. Expected answers ranged from 'I thought you loved me' to 'I said so', depending on the one expecting it. But the one Akane gave was none of those.
"That doesn't matter. Now apologize to me and get rid of these lousy Amazons and maybe I'll let you stay here a little longer." Akane declared.
With that, Ranma came to the only conclusion he could. While he cared for Akane, and he knew on some level of her mind she did too, she wasn't ready to show it. Neither was he, but his only crime was not admitting it. Akane on the other hand actually made it a point to declare she felt nothing for him except contempt, tolerance at best. Maybe someday both of them would be ready to properly show their feelings for each other, if they learned to work at their relationship rather than against it. He just had to ask himself one question: Was the waiting worth it?
One look at Akane told him his answer.
"No."
"What?" Akane asked.
"I said no. I told you I'm not putting up with any of this from you anymore Akane." He told her. "I'm not ready to get married and neither are you, but it's clear that even if you were I'm not the kind of guy you'd want to be married to. And right now you're not the kind of girl I'd want to be married to either. I don't know what kind of girl I want, but right now I've got something more important to take care of."
"Nonsense! Honor demands you marry Akane boy! Nothing is more important than that!" Genma argued.
Soun nodded, tears running down his face. "The fight isn't over officially yet so you're still bound to her. Or at least one of my daughters should she be defeated."
Ranma then looked at the entire Tendo family and his father. "I came here to warn you all that a cursed game is transforming Nerima. That's why a bunch of trees and monkeys showed up at the school. Shampoo and I are the only ones who can handle this, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. Just be on your guards everyone, and if you can get out of Nerima for just a little bit and go somewhere safe that would be better."
"Why only you two?" Nabiki asked.
Shampoo held up the game. "It two-player game."
"Show it." Nabiki requested, wanting to see how it worked.
Shampoo set the game down and rolled as it was her turn. "Watch out for-" She was cut off as a black and white monkey jumped and landed right on the board game as the tiger figurine moved. Everyone jumped back a bit from sheer surprise, but that wore off quickly. "Shoo!" Shampoo said as she waved the monkey off, making it leave.
"What did the board say?" Ranma asked.
Shampoo looked at the glass panel, seeing words fade away. "Not know, phrase gone."
"Great, now it could be anything." Ranma groaned. He and Shampoo looked around for any sign of approaching danger, only to see the jungle plants that had been at Furinkan were now starting to encroach around the Tendo estate. "Are the plants following us or something?"
"Where did you get that game?" Soun asked.
"Ryoga showed up and wanted to use it against me. He got lost but left it behind and me and Shampoo wanted to know how he planned to use a board game against me." Ranma explained.
"If you didn't pick on him so much he wouldn't have to resort to this sort of thing." Akane cursed.
"For crying out loud Akane he yells out 'Prepare to die' every time he sees me. You've even seen him try to kill me. How am I picking on him?" Ranma argued, having enough of her nonsensical view of him.
"He does not!"
"Yes he does. You're just not always there to see it."
"Well you go too far in your fights."
"If I pick on Ryoga then you pick on Kuno."
"You take that back!"
Ranma held up his hands. "Wait, you hear that?"
Akane paused to hear what he was referencing, but all she heard was wind in the trees and some monkeys moving around. "There's nothing there."
"I hear it too." Genma said, making Akane doubt herself a bit.
"Same here." Cologne added.
Everyone remained silent, wondering what it was they were sensing.
"Look." Shampoo said, pointing at the koi pond. They saw the water slowly start to ripple more and more.
Cologne felt some tremors from her staff, implying a vibration in the ground. Off in the distance people were screaming and things were being broken, and a rumbling sound was getting louder little by little. Remembering one bad experience in her youth back when some cattle got spooked, she realized what the new danger was.
"Run! It's a stampede!"