Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Shampoo!" Ranma called out, looking over the area for the purple and white cat. Naturally as she was currently standing atop a building that was surrounded by other buildings and jungles trees, the cat was nowhere to be seen. "Shampoo!"
Mousse and Ryoga tried to get his attention, but with them in animal form there was only so much they could do. Nonetheless it worked.
"Whatever you're trying to say can wait. We can't finish the game without Shampoo, and right now she's really vulnerable." Ranma said, grabbing the two animals a little rougher than comfortable and trying to retrace her steps by jumping from roof to roof while avoiding the fire. "Shampoo!"
"Airen!" Shampoo called out, though it ended up being just a high-pitched mewling instead.
"Ranma!" Akane called out too, her own words emerging as a pathetic snarl. Though the two could understand each other even if no one else could. She tried sniffing, figuring if nothing else maybe her tiger form could help track him. "I can't get a scent. All I can smell is burning wood. The rain's washing everything else away."
"And the fire's spreading. We've got to find somewhere to hide." Shampoo agreed reluctantly.
'I don't know what's weirder, hearing a human voice come out of a cat's mouth, or hearing Shampoo speak with proper grammar.' Akane said to herself. "Where should we go?"
"Somewhere where we can be safe, but still near here so Airen can find us when he comes back." Shampoo answered, looking around.
"Maybe under a tree?" Akane suggested.
"Good idea. See if you can find one that's not on fire and has a hollow space under it. Preferably without something already in it."
Akane immediately began looking around with Shampoo doing the same. Unfortunately there were no such trees around, at least none they could find in the immediate area. And the fire was catching up.
"We can't stay here. We have to get away." Akane said.
"But if we do that Airen won't be able to find us." Shampoo argued.
"If we stay here all he's going to find is our burned bodies." Akane argued back.
Shampoo couldn't argue with that. "Then we should go somewhere where I can get hot water."
"I think maybe I can find my home from here, if we aren't that far from the Nekohanten." Akane suggested, trying to locate a familiar spot to use as a reference point. In the jungle that was impossible for her. "We have to get to the street. I can find it better that way."
The two felines ran side by side to where the trees had more space between them, which hopefully would take them to the streets. The streets were the most open areas of the magic-made jungle, always had been. The plants of the game, such as the trees, grass, and shrubs, all originated from the parts of the ground not covered in solid unbroken pavement. Where there were gaps or cracks or just plain nothing covering the ground, the plants had sprouted and spread, sometimes even spreading the cracks and gaps and thus providing more room for more plants to grow. As a result, streets were not devoid of plantlife but they were the least covered, and thus worked as natural trails in the jungle. Ranma and Shampoo had used them many times to hunt for food and the military had used them to travel when they ventured inside.
"I'm sure it's this way. I remember that store." Akane said, gesturing towards an abandoned building with a sign that she recognized. "As long as we can stay out of trouble we can get to my home quickly."
"Just remember it's a lot farther for a cat than for a human." Shampoo told her, following the girl in a tiger's body. "And avoiding trouble here is a lot harder than it sounds. But at least it looks like the fire is staying to one side."
"How did you guys handle this for two months anyway?" Akane asked, sounding curious.
"Part of Amazon training is spending a month each year surviving in the wilderness outside the village." Shampoo started, stopping for a moment, eyes closed like she just got a cramp or something, and stretched her legs one at a time. She also took the opportunity to shake some of the rain water off her, then started walking again with the tiger cub following. "From one full moon to the next, living away from civilization and off the land. The first couple of times we have a mentor with us to help us out, but when we're ten we start on our own."
"Ten?" Akane asked, surprised.
Shampoo nodded and made a silent wince, like the cramp wasn't fully gone yet. This time she didn't stop walking. "I've been in training since I was able to walk. Like Airen. And each year since I was six I've had to live in the forest like this. So two months here was barely a new experience for me. And Airen's been raised on the road, spending more time in the wild than in cities so this is familiar to him too. The only thing here we weren't familiar with was the jungle itself."
"Well, I personally would prefer to go back to Nerima as it used to be." Akane said, making a turn on a street.
"We all do." Shampoo replied, following. "I'd like to have regular hot water again. Real soap and shampoo, my favorite food, my video games, hell I'd even like to go clothes shopping again. Can you imagine only having one pair of underwear for a month?"
"One pair?" Akane repeated, almost shouting as best a tiger cub could.
Shampoo nodded. "I was around Happosai all this time too. I couldn't risk having other pairs for him to take."
"Can't really blame you there." Akane responded. "Though I have a feeling it will be hard for you to find Chinese clothes in this town."
"That's true. I've only found one place here that sells the kind I like. Maybe some local clothes wouldn't hurt. Where do you shop?"
Akane blinked, surprised by that simple question. "I normally just go to this one department store with reasonable prices. Not sure they have anything you're used to. You might need to settle for some simple shirts and dresses like the rest of us. Actually, maybe you'd enjoy the kind of clothes Nabiki wears."
"Why?"
"Just a feeling I guess." Akane said. "Thing is, the reason I bring up Nabiki is I get the feeling you two have one thing in common, a great figure with no shame in it. Unlike me, my sister's comfortable with her sex appeal and not afraid to emphasize it when she gets a new outfit. Or borrows some of my clothes."
"Well I'm definitely not shopping with her. I'd spend more money on her than myself." Shampoo joked.
Akane tried to laugh as best a tiger could, a somewhat staccato purring. "You got that right." Shampoo tried to join in too.
It was so strange, these two girls for months had been at each other's throats whenever they could and yet here they were sharing a laugh and a genuine conversation. It was nice in a way, sort of a reminder that despite their differences the two still were and always had been just two girls trying to find love in their own ways.
The nice mood however was ruined by Shampoo stopping in her tracks and yelling in pain, this time unable to suppress it.
Akane immediately moved to check the purple cat. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine, I must have pulled a muscle earlier and it's still not settling." Shampoo claimed, but she looked like the pain was only getting worse now.
"That's no muscle cramp. You look like something inside you is being ripped apart." Akane said, getting closer. "Where does it hurt the most?"
"My stomach. Like something I ate really didn't agree with me." Shampoo answered. Then suddenly she gasped, looking and sounding horrified. "Oh no, please, no! Not this! Not now!"
"What's wrong? Can I do anything?" Akane asked, getting worried.
"Get me to some hot water now!" Shampoo practically ordered. "I need to be human again!"
Akane looked around, trying to see how close she was to her old house. Then she got an idea. "I think I can get you to Dr. Tofu's place quicker. Climb on my back, I think I can carry you."
Shampoo was struggling to move, but with some help from Akane she was able to get on the tiger cub's back. It was fortunate that Akane's animal form was larger than Shampoo's form. Once the purple cat had a decent grip, Akane starting running again, certain she could find the clinic before she could find her own house.
"How is hot water going to help you?" Akane asked, still wondering what was happening to the Chinese girl.
"I think... my body is rejecting my baby." Shampoo reluctantly admitted, saying it making it that much more real to her.
Those words sent a chill down Akane's spine. 'The curse isn't taking her child into consideration when she changes? So right now she's basically a cat pregnant with a human child? If that's true, then her body can only miscarry it, unless she becomes human again quickly. And it might already be too late to save the baby.'
Akane picked up the pace, determined to get Shampoo some help. 'If this gets bad enough, she could die too. Shampoo can't die this close to the end of the game. If she does then all this will have been for nothing and Ranma...' Her thoughts trailed off, not sure exactly how her former fiancee would react. All she knew was she didn't want it to happen.
'Hang on Shampoo, we're almost there.'
Ranma was searching for the two girls, but sadly she was heading the other way. She had stopped calling out for them, as there was no real way for them to answer her even if they heard her.
There was one thing in her favor now, the fire had left the area since everything was already burned. Fire preferred fresh fuel, so once some of the trees and buildings were just burnt wood the fire moved on.
Ranma stopped to look at the game. "If only there was a way to find a missing player too."
"Ah, so this is the curse the boy told me you have." Perfume taunted, showing up in front of the aquatransexual perched on a burned tree.
"You!" Ranma hissed with Ryoga and Mousse making angry animal noise.
"You were expecting Tarzan?" Perfume sarcastically replied.
"What do you want now?" Ranma asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I want to see your defeat. I want to see what part of my beautiful jungle will finally kill you or Cologne's progeny."
"What's the point? Why would killing us make you happy? You got your revenge against your enemy!" Ranma yelled.
"Not quite. The game has to end at some point, and when that happens Cologne is going to be alive again, with no idea any of this has happened. Not much of a revenge now is it? Might as well have done nothing. But if the game eliminates one of the two of you, then either way once the game ends one of you is gone and Cologne will lose someone she values. Then I can find her myself and hurt her directly for full measure." Perfume boasted.
"Wait, if you intend to hurt her yourself again, then what's the point of killing one of us first?" Ranma asked.
Perfume frowned, like Ranma wasn't supposed to notice that part of her plan. "That's none of your business."
Ranma frowned back. 'She's determined to have either me or Shampoo die in this jungle. Why? What's the point if she intends to do it anyway after the game ends? Wait, after the game ends...'
Ranma then grinned, which unnerved the elderly woman. "What are you smirking about?"
"I know we can beat you. I can win this game."
Perfume frowned more. "And how do you plan to do that without your partner?"
"I won't be separate from her for long. And I can take down anything you throw at me."
"Oh you really think so?" Perfume asked, getting her own sinister grin now. "I think I know just the threat for you." She waved her cane like it was a wand, but nothing happened.
Then from out of nothing, as if they had been teleported, the in-game tribesman surrounded the redhead, pointing their spears at the pigtailed martial artist.
"You think I've never been outnumbered before?" Ranma asked Perfume, not intimidated.
"You think you can kill another human to survive?" Perfume asked back.
"Why would I have to kill-?" Ranma started, only to be cut off by a tribesman trying to skewer her with a spear. She dodged and punched them in the face, making them fly back a few feet, then others started attacking too.
"These are cannibals. They aren't the kind of opponent you can just beat up. They fight to kill, so to win you have to fight back to kill too. Mercy will only delay their pursuit, not end it." Perfume proclaimed, watching from the tree. Ryoga and Mousse had run off into the foliage in order to escape the tribesmen who wanted pork and duck too.
Ranma had no trouble avoiding the swarm of men, no more than Akane ever had, and of course fought back. The one thing she wasn't doing was fighting to kill like Perfume goaded her to.
"I don't have to kill people to win. If I stoop that low I'm no better than the people who have tried to kill me before." Ranma announced, jumping over a tribesman that tried to skewer her with a spear. Behind the jungle warrior he grabbed his head and the head of another one and made them crash together hard, knocking them both out.
"Why hesitate?" Perfume continued to speak. "They're not real people, merely game constructs. No different than the punching bags you would use for practice. Why hold back? Just kill them. They aren't real so it's not murder."
All the while she grinned sinisterly, enjoying the way she was pressing the younger martial artist's buttons. 'Yes boy, kill these people. Once you do, you'll try to rationalize is and realize any sense of honor you thought you had is purely circumstantial. Or you could refuse to kill a fake human out of a misguided sense of right and wrong and let them kill you instead. Either way, a part of you dies.'
No matter what, this was all still just a game to Perfume.
Ranma kicked a tribesman in the chest and swiftly turned to deliver an Amaguriken to another that had tried to attack from behind. "If I act like these guys aren't real then I'd have to say my tiger wasn't real either." She declared, making her choice.
"So you'll spare them out of sentimentality? How you survived in this jungle is beyond me boy." Perfume insulted.
"But I have survived, and I will win." Ranma pointed out, jumping into a tree then back down for a kick to the last of the tribesmen, knocking them out and winning the battle.
"Not while I'm around boy." Perfume claimed, sounding like she was taking his defiance personally. "Maybe I'll send something after the other player."
"How can you do that if you don't know where she is?" Ranma asked, solely to test the former Amazon's power within the game. 'I don't think she can find us simply by sensing us or something like that. If she could why would she wait until now? Then again, if she can't how did she find us in the Nekohanten? I need to get her to admit what she can do.'
"I came from Joketsuzoku remember? Tracking down those I want to eliminate is one of the things all women are taught to do."
'Still not a solid answer, but I can't ask for a more clear answer without giving myself away.' Ranma thought. "Well I'll find her before you can."
"And how do you plan to do that when you're dying?" Perfume challenged.
Right then, Ranma realized that one of the tribesmen had gotten back on its feet behind her. And she realized this when she felt the tip of its spear stab her in the back.
"We're here!" Akane yelled as Tofu's office came into view. It was dusty and covered in jungle foliage along with bird crap all over the roof, but it was still a sight to her sore eyes.
"It hurts! It hurts!" Shampoo screamed atop Akane's back.
"Just hold on." Akane said, getting into the office thanks to the door being left not fully closed. She still had to push it open though. "There's no running water, but I'm sure he kept bottles of sterilized water for his work."
Shampoo was put on the floor and Akane ran to the supply closet, where the door was fully closed this time. She moved a chair so she could reach the doorknob and with a lot of effort was able to open the door. Akane was right in that Tofu had stored water, and luckily for her the bottles were at the bottom of the closet. Taking some, she put them by Shampoo.
'Now how do I heat it up?' She asked herself, looking around for any way to generate some heat. There was no gas or electricity, and she had never had to start a fire the hard way.
"It... too late." Shampoo wheezed, sounding like the worst of her pain was behind her now. The smell of blood now hit Akane's nose.
"Oh no." The youngest Tendo could only say.
Shampoo simply laid there, looking like she wanted to cry. And if she wasn't in her cat body she certainly would be. "My baby is gone."
Ranma had become used to many kinds of attacks, including weapons. But one thing she was not used to was being stabbed. She could feel the sharpened stone cut into her back and possibly puncture her intestines. This wouldn't kill her, but the internal bleeding certainly could.
Then the tribesman that was holding the spear grabbed her from behind and pressed a stone knife to her neck, threatening but not killing her just yet.
'Why? The old bitch can control them and kill me off right now if she gives the order. Why try scaring me first?' Ranma asked herself.
Before she could get an answer, something attacked the tribesman holding the redhead. It was Mousse, still in his duck form and lashing out at the jungle native's face. Caught by surprise, the cannibal released Ranma and tried to bat off the duck in his face to no avail.
The first thing Ranma did was pull the spear out of her back. Then she used it to smack another cannibal in the face with the blunt end when it tried to recapture her. The wound hurt when she moved, but she had to ignore it.
"Mousse!" She called out, turning back to the one who got her out of that tight spot, hoping he hadn't gotten in trouble in her place. What she saw when she looked was one of the tribesman grabbing the flailing white duck by its neck, then snapped its neck.
Mousse flailed no more.
Ranma went pale and almost lost the ability to stand. She had just witnessed a murder. Mousse maybe have been in animal form, but he was still human and he had just been killed. And if that wasn't bad enough, the reason he had been murdered was because he had just saved Ranma. Mousse, someone who hated Ranma and probably would have been happier if he had died, had instead given his own life so Ranma could beat this accursed game.
This sank in for the young Saotome, and shock gave way to fury. "Damn you old woman! You won't win this time!"
When she looked into the trees, she couldn't see Perfume though.
'Where'd she go? Wait, how long has she been gone? Is she going after Shampoo now?'
Back on their feet, the jungle dwellers tried to surround Ranma. She only had one way now. "Alright, come get me boys." She said with a 'come here' hand gesture.
As expected, the natives tried to swarm her, only for to jump and dodge but never retaliate. Ranma winced with each spin and landing, the back of her ripped shirt stained with her own blood, but she kept it up until the moment came.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"
The whirlwind of ki swept all the tribesmen away, sparing Ranma and hopefully scaring off any dangerous animals in the area. Panting, Ranma refused to let herself rest.
"Hold on Shampoo, I'm coming." She said, ripping off one of her pant legs and tying it around her waist tightly to stem her bleeding. She looked around the area, not seeing P-chan or Mousses' dead body, the former probably lost now and the latter swept up in the tornado. The thought stung almost as badly as the physical wound in her back, she couldn't even give Mousse a burial now.
'He'll live again, and never be aware he died to begin with. We will win, his death will not be in vain.' Ranma vowed, tightening her hold on the game board. 'I need to get the game to Shampoo, and I need to get some hot water for me and her.'
Having no idea where to go, Ranma tried heading back to the street where the Nekohanten had been on, guessing that her partner would have headed somewhere familiar and safe in her animal form. And if not, there was of course the means to heat up water already there, if it hadn't burned to rubble yet.
Getting back to the former cafe was easy, especially now that the rain had weakened the forest fire and the storm itself had already passed. Some fires remained, making Ranma happy and taking some sticks to use as torches. With one in hand, she went inside the burned building and found some pots that had collected water. That wasn't the only thing she found though.
"Kahn!"
Their faithful tiger was there, wounded but okay, and looking like it was trying to track their scents. Seeing Ranma, the tiger went up to her and licked an outstretched hand.
"Good to see you too boy." Ranma greeted, using the fire to heat the pots of water. "Now listen carefully, because I'm going to need your help to find Shampoo. Before it's too late."