Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi and its characters belong to her, and her alone. I'm just kinda borrowing them. A few others are mine. The story below is for entertainment purposes only, and not to be used commercially. ...Obviously.
"Learning Curve"
Part XVII (v1.3)
by: J. Wagner
"Why? Why so many people come to Jyusekyou?"
The Guide looked down at Mousse's body, and wiped his brow. Carrying the Chinese youth all the way to the edge of western Jyusenkyou, a side of the springs that, thankfully, most avoided, hadn't been easy, but it hadn't been too hard either. No, it was just an unusually hot day. Or maybe he was just nervous. He knew, of course, that the boy and his companion had been coming, but not that they'd arrive so soon.
Reaching behind him, the Guide's hand found the reassuring grip of his nine-millimeter Colt. He had been a soldier, once, a long time ago, but the sad fact was that his adopted daughter, Plum, probably knew twice as much martial arts as he did, simply because she hung around with other girls her age in the Joketsuzoku village. Gods to the left, super powered warriors to the right... where did that leave him? In the middle, really, which was where he needed to be.
He thought, very briefly, about putting a bullet between Mousse's eyes.
The boy had seen Herb, and would almost certainly not be content to leave things as they were, which was already bad enough. The Guide had carefully picked out the monkey for Herb to throw in the spring of drowned girl. The Prince hadn't, as he knew, thought anything of the poor creature's kicking and screeching, and wouldn't have until it was too late, and he ended up with a curse.
And a weakness.
That had been the plan the Society handed down.
"So many tragedies." The Guide shook his head, but his hand ultimately left his weapon tucked away in his belt, out of sight. Walking away, the Jyusenkyou Guide sighed, wearily. Old age was obviously catching up on him.
Then again, he really hadn't wanted that plan to succeed anyway.
***
"Come on, cross dresser! Come on, you sick fag! Is that all you got? Huh?" Taro twisted, blocked the roundhouse with one of his forearm bracers, and jabbed. Ranma-chan was obviously hurt, he could tell despite the way she hid it by switching postures and stances, but she was still flexible and fast enough to avoid, and catch the blow in he left hand. Taro smirked, and pulled back and up, snapping his fist out of her small hand and straight into her face. Momentarily caught off balance, he didn't hesitate to take advantage of it with a flurry of tiger strikes to the face and shoulders.
Ranma, even in his cursed girl form, was still a formidable opponent. Taro knew, and had known from the beginning, that fighting a male Saotome Ranma, with neither of them holding back, would be a bloody and Pyrrhic victory at best. It was an amazing revelation, that there could be people his age, with his level of speed, strength and skill, especially considering all the special training Taro underwent before he came to Japan, just in case he found the freak responsible for his true curse, and needed to beat the life out of him to make him change it. Regardless, it had been essential to weaken the other boy, and though Ranma's cursed form was still human, and still allowed him to fight, at least it greatly decreased his strength. The added speed, he could deal with. The weakened blows were like a godsend.
Suddenly, Ranma-chan kicked out and back, a spray of dust kicked up by her left foot as it skidded across the ground. The blow had hit Taro soundly in the chest, but had been easily absorbed by his dragonscale armor, as had the many he'd taken to the forearms. His clothes were a miracle in and of themselves - they were fashionable, and went well with a pantyhose sash that Taro kept around as both a weapon of last resort, and a reminder of his vow to change his name. They also magically reformed when he transformed, a necessity to keep from ending up naked half the time, and they provided superb protection from impact blows and even cutting attempts.
Taro gritted his teeth, and pressed the attack once more. Cutting his dash forward short, he lowered his head and twisted, letting his momentum carry his feet forward. Ranma-chan avoided the low attack, but was unprepared for him spinning in midair, and pummeling her with his fists. She had been stunned, for only the second time in their fight. Feet touching ground, Taro moved in, and jammed both his hands into her lower ribcage, and hooked his fingers up. He'd been aiming to snap two or three ribs, but Ranma-chan's erratic squirming, and his odd position, had thrown him off. Not to be deterred, or too disappointed, Taro brought his right palm up and into her jaw.
He was tempted to toy around with her, but decided to simply end things.
Ranma-chan screamed, blood flowing from her mouth, and stumbled back. Instinctively, her hands came up to block a snap kick to her neck, and she crouched to defend against another to the solar plexus, only to have a third, performed in nearly as many heartbeats, connect with her temple, right above her left eye. Nearly blinded, and now seeing stars, she rolled back, and jumped... high.
"Do you really think that's going to save you from me?" Taro laughed, and pivoted, watching impassively as Ranma-chan reached the apex of her leap. "Maybe I should..."
And disappeared.
"...What?" Taro blinked a few times. He still couldn't see her. "What the hell?"
Did the cross dresser just do what he thought he had seen? Had he just vanished, out of the blue? No... it had to be a technique of some sort. Taro quickly checked his mental inventory of techniques, both those that he himself could do, those he had seen done, and those he had heard of, and came up with a few possibilities. There were three different types of non-Musk type invisibility Ki techniques, two that shunted the user into another plane, smaller and more compact than our own (according to a theory he'd heard). Those two were Japanese techniques, restricted to an unknown school, and several hundred heard old, supposedly lost over time. The other was a Polynesian-Chinese technique that clouded the mind. The Saotome boy had known, at the very least, the Amaguriken technique, was it possible he'd picked this up as well, from some unknown source?
Twenty feet away, the ground cracked, and a geyser of water erupted. In it, Taro's keen eyes saw the highlight of ...something humanoid. Taro's eyes narrowed, but he still couldn't make out the form of the person clearly, but his brain was still working. Obviously, this wasn't any form of mind clouding, or else the fountain of water would still have concealed the user. No, this technique was actually bending light around its practitioner. A powerful technique indeed, but it must have weaknesses. Closing his eyes, Taro concentrated, and inhaled deeply.
Opening his eyes, he could just barely see it. The human mind, under-equipped as it was to deal with senses beyond its normal operating parameters, saw things in a limited fashion. Taro had been tapping into hints of his cursed form's powers for years, virtually his whole life. He'd conditioned both his mind, and his body, to it. He could see, on the periphery, the tiny wafting flavor of scent around him. Hints from the girl, and even the cat, nearby. A million other minute distractions, tuned out. And, finally...
"I have you!"
Taro felt his hand find purchase, and in a flicker of air and light, Ranma-chan reappeared, her head snapped back from Taro's risky haymaker. They'd been fighting for almost twenty minutes, and Ranma was definitely getting the worst of the confrontation. Catching the other boy's wrist, Taro snapped him in and intercepted Ranma with an elbow to the throat. Ranma-chan gasped for air, and Taro clasped both hands around her neck, choking the life out of her.
"Time... to die, cross dresser." Taro's mouth became a crooked sneer, devoid of mercy. "You shouldn't have f..."
He never got to finish his sentence.
"Leave... him... ALONE!!"
Akane swung, her voice nearly breaking, her muscles straining from anger and effort, as the face of her mallet met Taro's with all the finesse and grace of a baseball bat cracking open some poor sucker's knees. The Chinese boy fought against the urge to pass out, and regained his equilibrium in midair, shifting his weight so that his feet touched the ground, and even then, digging long furrows before he came to a stop. Looking up, his eyes slightly hazy, he saw that girl, with the short blue hair, holding Ranma-chan in one arm, and the cracked and splintered end of something wooden in the other.
Then, red clouded his right eye, and he reached up. His hand came back sticky and bloodied, and as his fingers brushed past them, he could feel the splinters digging into his skin and scraping damn near against bone. A long bloody gash had been opened along the side of his face, from just above the right eyebrow down to just below the ear. A roar of pain and rage tore from his throat, and he moved like the wind blew. Before Akane could even think about mounting some kind of defense, Taro's fist was buried nearly up to the wrist in her midriff.
"Akane!!"
It was almost in stereo, but Taro didn't care who had said it. He'd kill this bitch for doing that to him. He'd kill all of them, and then come back for the old man while he slept, or mourned... it didn't matter. Only payment mattered now. Revenge! Stepping back, Akane reeled, but still tried to raise her hands in defense. In her eyes, he saw that she knew how outmatched she was - that she had no chance, no chance at all, of fighting him on anything resembling even footing. For a moment, a very brief moment, Taro actually cared.
"Bitch!" He backhanded her, and she caught sky before landing, roughly, on her side, some ten feet away. He thought about following up, but barely had time to block, as Ranma-chan exploded into a furious creature of blows and nails and hate filled eyes. The assault was overwhelming in its intensity, and its animalistic fervor. Searching for an escape, and a respite from the fingers tearing at his defenses to get at his eyes, Taro found himself hammered with an explosion up close. He felt his skin blister from the heat, even as the smell of burnt flesh and saltpeter mingled in his nostrils. He slammed almost immediately into rock, which quickly gave way to water. Blessed cool water, that brought both relief, and...
Pain, first. The pain of his limbs stretching, threatening to tear out of their sockets, shot through his body and danced along his nerves. It came and went in but a moment, replaced by a surge of heat and electricity, flowing from the horns that were starting to erupt from his head, all the way to his feet, where his toes were fusing into hooves. For a second, his body was not his own, even after all these years, and all these transformations, and then he was looking down at the insects that would do him harm. The tiny redheaded girl-thing jumped at him, her eyes alight with savage fury, but Taro swatted her down as one would a fly.
Then the ground exploded, and Taro instinctively jumped up, his wings starting to move, catching hold of invisible updrafts. He could feel the heat of this waterspout, and at its heart, a flaming figure, trailing heat of his own. A tiny fist, tiny but packing power enough to level a building, slipped past the astonished monster's hands, and collided with Taro's lower jaw in a flying uppercut. Taro felt himself go end over end, but his wings spread, and he flipped around in time to block a hailstorm of bandannas, thrown from the apex of Ryouga's jump.
They were as pinpricks to a giant, and Taro-monster shrugged them off. Bringing both hands back, and lunging forward, Taro followed the lost boy's uncontrolled descent, and intercepted him with both palms in a resounding thunderclap, crushing the Hibiki boy like the offending bug he was. Diving, his cargo still in his massive grip, Taro opened his cupped hands at the last second, driving them, and the man trapped in them, into the ground. Lifting his hands, and feeling the cold water pouring up from the blasted impact site, he saw only a little black dot. Raising a titanic hoof, Taro readied to crush the little creature.
Only to have it snatched away at the last second by a purple and pink blur.
"The Amazon bitch?" Taro thought, watching her race around, and throw the little black piglet into the earlier created hot water spurt. He looked, momentarily at his other hostage, the brown haired loudmouthed girl, who had been tied up by the old well. Sure enough, she was still tied up, but now standing... and she was wet. And it seemed as if her sister had managed to drag herself over to her as well. Suddenly it made sense. The damn Amazon, in her cat form, probably chewed through the single length of pantyhose keeping Nabiki tied down. The other girl had then ran over to the hot water spout, taking the cat with her, and gotten her loose, and now she was standing there, hoping he hadn't noticed, with the other girl.
Damn it.
Roaring again, he turned on the now three martial artists, two male and one female, and none in their cursed forms. Idiots. Didn't they know that an animal was at its most dangerous when cornered? Wings flexed, Taro rose higher into the air, pulled up, and got additional altitude. Going into a quick barrel roll, and flipping into a controlled dive, Taro bent both his legs and readied for the collision. He was headed right for the old well, and if anything would move the two more dangerous martial artists, it would be their girlfriends about to be smashed into red paste.
Sure enough, he saw them move, which left the Amazon alone and the two boys' hands full. Landing almost lightly, but still with a thunderous crash, Taro crouched and whipped around. To his annoyance, the Amazon was quick on her feet, and avoided him as he struck at her with both fists, sending jets of cold water up and out of the ground with every missed blow. Still, they were divided, and he was ready for them - a far more preferable situation than it had been before.
Straightening out, as Ranma and Ryouga charged in, blows raining down on the monster's torso, Taro twisted his upper body slightly, and brought an elbow down, catching the slightly slower, but far stronger, one of the two in the back of the head. Ryouga flew down, and crashed into the ground on all fours, cushioning the damage and blowing a small crater out under him, but preventing a rush of water from blasting out at him from below. Ignoring Ranma for the moment, he slammed down with one fist, then the other, pulverizing the prone lost boy, before rolling on his back to keep the pigtailed martial artist from blindsiding him.
Shaking his coat of fur like a dog, Taro saw Shampoo and Ranma come in low for a flying kick. Ranma was injured fairly badly, and Shampoo was keeping pace with him. Stepping back at the last second, as they leapt, Taro's hands shot out like cobras, snatching each in midair. Leaning forward, his weight on his right leg, Taro then slammed both into the ground, kicking up two explosions of rock and freezing cold water. Then, without warning, pain shot up from his tail.
Looking over his massive shoulder, Taro saw Ryouga holding onto his eel-tail, part of it wrapped around the lost boy's straining right arm. With a howl of effort, and a mighty heave to the side, Ryouga pulled the Taro-monster off its feet and into the air. Cursing to himself, and starting to feel a twinge of true panic, the Chinese martial artist concentrated, and instantly his tail lit up with power, as thousands of volts blasted down Taro's spine, into his eel-tail, and through the soaking wet Hibiki boy on its way to the ground.
Muscles threatening to tear, nerves on fire, heart beating erratically, and tendons on the verge of snapping like rubber bands, Ryouga pulled back, and spun Taro by his tail over his head one last time, before bringing his arms down, and slamming Taro's bulk into the ground. The tortured earth groaned and cracked in protest, before giving out completely. The entire area, broken and riddled with holes, and already porous with underground waterways, had taken enough damage. Huge cracks, wide enough to swallow a man whole, snaked out from the impact site.
Ryouga winced silently, and let go of the eel-tail. Steam rose from his form, and every muscle in his body began to fade from fatigue and built up damage. He saw, despite his unclear vision, the brown furred body of Taro slip into the gaping hole ahead of him. His ears hurt, but mixed with an angry, desperate, howl, he heard the roar of the ground below, deep below, straining and cracking. It was a sound he had caused enough in his own time; it was like an old friend.
Or an old foe.
It seemed difficult to tell the difference recently.
He felt like sagging down to his knees and passing out, but raw stubbornness kept him standing. Shaking his head violently, Ryouga looked to his side and saw Ranma and Shampoo, in her cat form, unconscious. Running over on weak legs, he picked Shampoo up in one hand, and Ranma-chan in the other. Shaking the latter, he was rewarded with Ranma-chan's eyes opening, frantically. Their eyes caught each other, and Ryouga let her stand on her own.
"Nabiki," he said.
"Akane," Ranma replied, and turned around, looking for the remains of the old well. To their left, another section of the temple outcropping crumbled and fell in on itself. Ranma's vision seemed to better than his rival's.
"I see them!" He yelled, and ran over. Ryouga simply followed. After the cascade of water had hit him, he'd been washed away, unable to fight the current in his piglet body. He'd ended up near their original campsite, and had, by pure luck, found a hot spring he and Shampoo had passed while tracking for Ranma. His clothes had been washed in with him, so he had gotten dressed and headed out, half expecting not to find the place for a day or more. It hadn't taken that long, thank goodness, but he'd still been late. He was always late!
Ryouga stopped, and gasped when he saw Akane. She had a trickle of blood on her lower lip, and a nasty welt growing on her cheek. That pantyhose freak had hit her! The bastard had actually hit her! A flash of anger came, and lingered, only to be overpowered by fear. Hastily he turned to Nabiki, keeping Shampoo tucked carefully under his arm. Removing her gag, he saw tears down her face. Emotion welled up, stronger than anything he'd ever felt, and he pulled her to his chest, feeling her erratic breathing against his body. She hadn't been hurt. A single blow from that bastard could easily have...
He didn't even think about it further.
Picking her up, he nodded to Ranma-chan, who held Akane like one would the most precious and fragile fine china. Together, they leapt up and onto the Temple roof, and then over the massive fissure that had swallowed up Taro's monstrous form. The ground beneath them was like cardboard, and instantly buckled, but the two martial artists were already airborne. Jumping from rock to rock, amid the rubble and crumpling boulders, around and past erupting water traps, they didn't even see the Temple of the Watery Grave give one last groan, before collapsing completely into a titanic landslide.
They never even looked back.
***
Ukyou woke up with a headache powerful enough to keep a Thai Kick boxer in bed. Shaking her head slightly, she amended that. There was disorientation, and the headache was receding rapidly, but it was still there, in the back of her mind. Blinking a few times, and rubbing her closed eyes thoroughly with the palms of her hands, she reached up, expecting her cotton bow, but felt only hair. Something was wrong.
Her senses cleared up almost instantly, then. Ukyou's eyes opened, and she realized where she was. Or where she wasn't - this wasn't Jyusenkyou. She was in a room, broad, rectangular, with high ceilings. A lavish wooden dresser with two tall glass mirrors sat nearby, while the far end of the room sported another ornate door, with a great many carved inlays. There was also a desk, with books and what looked like scrolls on it, flanked by two potted ferns that clung to a latticework of white wood. The room itself was gently lit from above, where she could see two rows of lights, maybe halogen or phosphorescent, set into the stone ceiling, with small wires, somewhat difficult to see, running to the large door that dominated the place.
It was almost a relief, to see that little bit of technology, after being in rural and outback China for so long. Quickly, she checked her clothes, and sighed with relief to see that she was still in them. Looking for her weapons, she saw her megaspatula lying against the wall, next to the soft bed she had been sleeping on, and her bandolier draped across its larger comrade in arms. Quickly, Ukyou slid out of and off the bed. Strapping the bandolier on, and feeling the reassuring grip of her megaspatula in her hands, she approached the room's large wooden door. Her first thought was to smash it down with the blunt end of her spatula, but then, on a lark, she decided to at least try opening it.
It swung open without resistance.
The corridor was long, but also softly lit, and made of cleanly carved and well-maintained stonework. Running her hand experimentally along it, she saw that some of the blocks were truly huge, both in size and obviously in weight. Additionally, there wasn't any sign of masonry or plaster between the stones, rather they fit together like toy blocks, carved with careful precision and fitting together superbly. The ceiling was slightly higher than her rooms, she figured, and probably around ten to twelve feet high. The craftsmanship was impressive and monolithic, and like nothing she'd ever seen before.
Looking down the two ends of the hall, Ukyou arbitrarily took a left. Grimly, she realized that she wouldn't have much room to swing, even though the hall was quite wide, and without that berth, her megaspatula wouldn't help that much in a fight. Annoyed, she locked it into the holster on her back, and kept going. She came, first, to another large wooden door on her right. Set in what looked like inlaid gold were three characters she didn't recognize. The door was unlocked, she noted, and cautiously opened it.
She saw a large room, longer than hers, but without any extra doors, except an open closet, and a large set of screens on a nearby wall. The closet caught her eye, and making sure no one was inside, she walked over, noting the large bed, and large mirror on the far side of the room, accompanied by what looked like a fur rug on the smooth stone floor. In the closet, Ukyou saw a true juxtaposition - hanging side by side were what looked like leather and metal armor, maybe three suits, and at least three times that number dresses of assorted varieties, all seemingly custom made. Granted, Ukyou knew she'd never been particularly girly, but she had an idea of what it meant to be a woman, and though she had never put down money for one, she had toyed with the idea of wearing actual dresses. She even had a few skirts, herself, though she never quite got up the courage to wear them in public.
"Wow." She quickly stepped back, away from the closet, and opened the screens nearby. They pulled back, revealing a large collection of knives, some hung carefully, and others slightly imbedded in a long piece of soft wood. Most were not ornate, and as she leaned in, recognized them as combat knives - the kind weighted for balance, but otherwise not especially unusual. Ukyou herself ordered her mini-spatulas from a custom dealer she had contacts with through her father.
She backed up, and into something. Spinning, a min-spatula in her hand, Ukyou felt her wrist caught in someone's hand, as her own momentum was used to flip her over. She landed on her back with a soft thump, and looked up at her captor - a woman. Not even Asian, she looked American... or at least Caucasian. She also didn't seem to be attacking. Rolling to the side, Ukyou got back to her feet. The woman pointed to her mini-spatula and said something in English. It was, however, too quick for Ukyou to follow. Remembering her lessons at Furinkan, and even before that, Ukyou thought for a second, and decided to try and communicate.
"Erro," she said, experimentally.
"Hello," The other woman replied, more slowly this time.
"Doa rou spreak Jrapanese?" Ukyou tried. It was one of the many phrases they had students memorize. The other woman shook her head and said something in rough Chinese. Ukyou put her hands up, and put away her mini-spatula back into her bandolier.
"Mia nammu iz Kuonji Ukyou. I amu from Jrapan. Whata isu your nammu?"
"Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lufberry. From England." The woman finally switched to passable Japanese. She leaned in closer to the younger girl. "You must be new here."
"I... I am," Ukyou stopped when she heard footsteps. Turning, she saw a man, an old man, but not shriveled like Happosai. He was tall, though not particularly lean, and his hair was cut so close to his head that Ukyou wouldn't have been able to tell whether he was bald of not except by the fact that his hair was a creamy white, while the rest of his head was like a brown paper bag that had been crumpled, smoothed, crumpled again and stretched tight over a skull. He looked leathery and tough. Then she saw his eyes glint in the light.
They were yellowish gold.
He said something quick to the older English woman, then faced Ukyou and spoke in slightly accented Japanese. "I see you are awake, Miss. Please, if you would follow me?"
"Who are you?" She gripped her spatula tightly, desperately. "Where am I?"
"I am Borage. And this is Sach Khandu - the Eternal Palace of the Dragon Lord."
"Dragon Lord?"
"The young Prince Herb."
"Herb?" Ukyou thought back. Mousse had called him that - the guy that attacked them at Jyusenkyou. "You mean the jackass that kidnapped me?"'
Borage blinked, and considered that. "He sent me to fetch you from your slumber. To meet his highness in the Courtyard."
Courtyard?
An open area would be far easier to escape from, Ukyou figured. Besides, it was definitely best to figure out what was going on before doing anything drastic. And she owed that Prince Herb fellow for blasting poor Mousse and knocking her out. As the two made to leave, Ukyou heard a soft "Bye" from behind. She followed the old man down the hall, past several other closed doors, one of which was slightly ajar, and into an even larger hall that branched out two other ways.
"These lights," Ukyou spoke up. "Is there a city nearby you're getting the power from?"
"We Musk are not a primitive people like the Joketsuzoku or the Phoenix." Borage's pace slowed somewhat. "We have electrical generators to provide power where it is necessary."
"And the lights themselves?" Ukyou pressed. If there was a city or town nearby...
"Our contacts with the outside bring them in, along with other things occasionally desired. You should consider your position here before making any plans for escape, however." Borage didn't seem concerned with the prospect. "The nearest... people are the half human Phoenix savages. Their hospitality would be as warm as a snake's in its den. I can attest to that personally. You are safer here, among the Musk."
"The Musk... Mousse mentioned you guys."
"Oh?"
"He didn't paint a favorable picture."
"This Mu Tzu sounds Joketsuzoku. They have a unique relationship with us... The dislike is mutual, I assure you."
"And me?" Ukyou paused, as they walked past another woman, obviously pregnant, who was walking in the opposite direction. "I'm not an Amazon."
"Obviously." He snorted. "However, it is not my place to ...presume. At least not at the moment."
"Presume what?" Ukyou questioned, but Borage remained silent. Finally they came to an archway, supported by pillars, which opened out over a small valley area, flanked on all sides by great tall monolithic pillars, and high cliffs. Below, amid the trees, floated the sounds of battle. Walking down a long set of marble steps, and under a large Triumph like archway, the two came to a slightly sunken area, with a large square stone arena, the four sides decorated by large obelisks that reached up nearly forty feet. At center stage, two warriors were locked in a play of swords on Pudao-like polearm, dancing and clashing with grace and speed. On a throne overlooking the area sat the same royal brat Ukyou recognized from before, in slightly more ornate clothes, two others to his left and right, a young looking kid, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and another guy, with large striped shoulder pads and leg bindings, who was undoubtedly several years older.
In the arena, the two men fighting seemed to sense that their liege's attention would soon turn to other matters. Their moves intensified, with the polearm armed man, a large fellow, his head shaved bald except for a long plume of stark blue hair in the back, and wearing only baggy white pants, pressing the attack with a series of flamboyant and none-too-practical moves. Ukyou couldn't help but admire his controlled ability with the heavy weapon, and the speed he wielded it with. His opponent wasn't unimpressive either, deftly deflecting and docking every one of the showy, but deadly, attacks.
"Sumac," Borage said, as if reading Ukyou's mind. "He is fighting Balm, a fine warrior in his own right. The man on the throne is Herb, and those are his two personal guards, Mint and Lime."
Ukyou got a closer look at the two warriors standing at the Dragon Prince's side. The young one seemed especially interested in the fight. There was a light to his eyes. Awe? She also noted his hair, and the sword strapped behind his back.
"Sumac is Mint's brother," Borage spoke what Ukyou had suspected.
The match below would have undoubtedly have lasted longer if the Sumac had not gotten impatient. Martial arts displays for Prince Herb, or any audience, were fine, but once he ran through his repertoire of pirouette attacks and sweeping poses, it was almost as if there was little additional reason to continue. He'd demonstrated his style, his grace, and his keen technique, he'd given the audience a cheap thrill by nearly getting struck once or twice, and he was ready for a snack. It was time to end things.
With a flourish and a flash of speed he hadn't been using before, Sumac spun, hooked out the other man's legs, and disarmed him of his two Dao sabers. Before he had even hit the ground. Sumac's polearm spun, seemingly wildly, around his right arm, before coming to rest at his side, the tip of the bladed end nearly touching the ground. He bowed; his right arm tucked in, to the throne. "My Liege."
Herb's eyes moved from the prone fighter, to where Ukyou stood, next to Borage, and spoke in clear Japanese. "You defeated your opponent. Finish him."
"Finish him?" Sumac replied in the same tongue, and seemed to think about it for a second longer than he should have, before turning to his fellow Musk. "If you ...insist, my Lord."
"Wait..." The prone Balm gulped, and scrambled back a few feet. "Wait, Sumac... Lord Herb...!"
"This isn't right," Ukyou said, cutting off what the old man next to her was going to say. Angry, driven by astonishment and horror, Ukyou simply moved without thinking, and found herself in the arena, feet firmly planted on either side of the bested warrior's body, her battle aura just starting to fully manifest. She didn't know him, didn't know any of them, didn't even know these people's customs or really where she was, but cold blooded murder... execution, was just wrong, no matter who you were, or who was calling the shots. Maybe once, she could have stood there and not interfered, but not now. She was a different person - a better person! Her charging energy suffused her body as she drew her megaspatula and started to be manifested as a visible blue and red aura.
"Who the hell are you?" The ponytailed Musk, Sumac, narrowed his eyes at her. "A Woman?"
"Jumping to the defense of a beaten man?" Herb stood, and Sumac turned. He bowed again, his weapon to the side. "Very noble ...as I had hoped. Sumac, Balm, you may leave."
Sumac stood and stalked off, Balm close behind, lingering only to retrieve his fallen weapons. Herb approached her, arms wide, Mint and Lime trailing behind and staring at Ukyou intently.
"Come now, speak, woman." Herb stood before her in all his glory. "Let me hear your voice."
She decked him, suddenly, and caught unprepared; Herb fell unceremoniously to the ground, holding his jaw. Ukyou shook the pain out of her right hand.
"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a jackass in a cape."
***
The air was brittle with cold and Plun Gu was glad they'd all brought jackets. Rich scents of earth, hay and the memory of smoke surrounded them, and she felt tall grass brushing against her pants. It was resoundingly silent this high up and this far away. Too far away, really, in case something went wrong. The Elders always associated these mountains with tragedy and strife.
"I still don't get why we have to see it ourselves." She made her concerns known, and not for the first time.
"Aren't you the least bit curious what Jyusenkyou looks like?"
"A little... that's why I'm here, Tso."
"But you don't have to see a cobra to know it's dangerous." Another Amazon, Mir Ru, a tough looking woman with close-cropped hair, spoke up. Tso considered this - it seemed that Plun was not alone in her fear of the place, and her reluctance to make the trek to see it.
"And there could be Musk around," Mir added.
"Let them come!" Tso put up a strong front, and casually flicked her long teal hair behind her. "Three Joketsuzoku warriors... nothing short of the Dragon himself would dare try and take us on. I almost hope we run into one."
Plun and Mir didn't seem as enthusiastic, but it bolstered their pride, and their courage. They continued at a slightly faster pace down the old winding dirt trail, and started down into the Jyusenkyou Valley. They were taking a slightly oblique path into Jyusenkyou, to avoid running into the Guide or anyone else who would record or alert the Elders that the three Amazons had made the secret pilgrimage to the place.
Jyusenkyou was off limits to all Joketsuzoku unless accompanied by an Elder of the Village. The only one who had been allowed to make the trip in recent memory had been Shan Pu, accompanied by Elder Khu Lon, about a year or so ago. Tso Pu's sister, younger by just one year, had returned from her quest to fulfill the Kiss of Death given to an outsider woman twice as long ago. When she had returned, most expected a small celebration commemorating the victory, but there had been nothing - only a conference with the Elders, and a 'training trip' to Jyusenkyou. No one talked about it after that fact, and Shan Pu had left soon after for Japan again.
Apparently, the redheaded outsider woman had been giving Shan Pu more trouble than anyone had expected. Not really surprising, given how easily she had defeated Shan Pu in the Tournament. Finest warrior of her generation Shan Pu was, almost certainly, but she also lacked long term goals or insight. Simply being the strongest and fastest did not guarantee that she would inherit a position of power in the village, or even lead it in lieu of the Council of Elders. Still, Shan had spent two years in Japan, and Tso was more than a little worried for her sister after all this time, even if there was some lingering annoyance that she had been chosen for special training, and Tso had not. Could it be that Shan Pu and Khu Lon had gotten in over their heads?
Tso Pu knew well enough that three thousand years of Amazon history did not guarantee victory, or even a prosperous future. Jumping, she led the other two girls over an unsteady rocky patch blocking the path, and down a steeper incline and rolled down and into the midst of Jyusenkyou. The place had a swampy feel to it, but the lack of flies or even birds gave it an ominous, unnatural touch. Something caught on the wind made her skin crawl, but her danger sense never activated, which was some small relief.
"Jyusenkyou," she said, softly. The Forbidden Valley lay before them. A hundred springs, at least, stretched out awaiting their prey, like so many tiger traps from which there was no escape.
"I don't like it here." Plun looked around, nervousness etched on her features. "There's an ill wind blowing."
"Relax. You have to actually end up in one of the springs to be cursed. It's not like they can reach out and get you." Tso leaned over, and looked into the nearest spring. The water was clear... and almost inviting.
The three girls milled about the area, and gradually the danger of the place started to be replaced by wonder. How many of these springs were cursed already, and how many waiting for their turn? Where was the Legendary Spring of Drowned Girl that the Musk had created, in their hubris, sparking the Great Revolution that would eventually throw them down and 'destroy' their Dynasty and their hold on the region?
"Tso! Look! I found something!"
"What?" Tso leapt up, boldly, onto one of the bamboo poles planted firmly in one of the nearby springs. She didn't test her luck, however, and quickly jumped to the ground near Mir Ru.
"Look," she repeated from her crouched position, and pointed to a bruised patch of grass.
"Footprints." Tso nodded, confirming what the other girl didn't even have to say.
"Musk. It has to be." Mir stood up, her hand resting on the sword hung at her waist.
"Musk?" Plun leapt over, her voice eager. "Where?"
"Just some footprints. They look fresh." Tso drew out her Qiang spear.
"You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"
"You bet I am!" Tso's eyes followed the tracks to a scrub area, leading away from this Jyusenkyou, and around, possibly to another path. The footprints were fairly heavy, and no attempt had been made to conceal them. It was be child's play to follow them to wherever this person had been headed.
"This isn't a good idea," Mir started.
"Come on, you two. We're the best out here, and it's only one Musk. You can't say you've never wanted to actually fight one of them." Tao have them a quick smile, and they seemed to silently agree. Really, Tso had been lying. Plun Gu wasn't particularly intelligent, and Mir Ru had no stamina in prolonged fights. They were good enough with their respective weapons, a steel mace and a double-edged sword, respectively, but neither of them were really dedicated to fighting, or even the defense of the village and their people.
They were slackers.
Most people were, it seemed. Still, if they knew she really thought little of them, they wouldn't follow her. Tso Pu had quickly learnt that people followed a leader with greater loyalty and conviction if they believed they were needed, and important... even invaluable. Leadership was driven by example, and fueled by devotion and respect. Physical strength, which useful and sometimes indispensable, was not a true prerequisite. So Plun Gu and Mir Ru followed her as she tracked their target. It quickly became obvious that the Musk had been walking around Jyusenkyou, looking for another trail to get to that would lead out of the valley.
"What do we do when we find this guy?" Mir was sounding bolder, now, that they were committed to this as a group.
"Fight him," Tso answered, plainly.
"But how?"
"It'll depend. We'll think of something when we find him."
"Awfully confident aren't you?" Plun 'hmfed' but didn't seem to be complaining.
"No more so than others." Tso shrugged, and held out a hand, stopping the other two girls behind her. "Hold up a second."
"What? What's wrong?"
"The tracks. They end right here." Tso slowly looked up, and realized they'd walked into an area of high trees. "Nobody move. He's here."
"Where?" Mir's blade was already drawn, but her hand was shaking slightly. "I don't see anything!"
"You three are awfully far from home, aren't you?" The tone wasn't mocking, but it wasn't friendly either. From above, something fast and white fell, landing behind them without a sound. Without even thinking, Mir lunged, but was met by a swirl of cloth as she connected only with the tree behind her target, imbedding the sword several inches into it. Then, Tso and Plun saw a face amid the white robes, and a trail of long black hair.
"Mu Tzu?" Tso couldn't believe it - what was he doing here? He had followed Shan Pu to Japan months ago!
"Idiot male!" Plun growled. She was, as always, quick to anger. She had been scared, and obviously, too. To have been psyched out by a male Amazon was an insult, and an embarrassment to her sisters. So she lashed out, and punched Mousse square in the face. He took it, as any Joketsuzoku male would, and brushed the entire thing off moments afterward. He hadn't even flinched - impressive given the bulky Plun's raw strength.
"I guess I deserved that." He frowned, and his mocking voice came back in full force. Plun Gu fumed, and looked about to try and wail on him again when Tso intervened. Mu Tzu had always had a knack for pissing people off. He wouldn't like it, her sticking up for him, but someone had to before he was forced to defend himself, as everyone knew he could but chose not to.
Odd ideas Mu Tzu had somehow gotten into his thick head.
"What are you doing here, Mu?" Tso gave Plun a hard look, and the other girl backed away. Mir was still getting her sword free from the tree.
"What are YOU doing here? Jyusenkyou isn't exactly a safe place to visit." Mousse tucked his hands into his sleeves, and Tso noticed that he was keeping his glasses on. He usually took them off around other people. "No matter who you're with."
"We were looking for Musk." Plun sneered, and interrupted them. "Looks like we only found a small fry. To small - we'll have to throw it back, isn't that right Moo?"
Mousse didn't even seem to have heard the comment, and ignored her. "Never mind... I really don't care. I was on my way around the valley, to see the Guide. He was with someone before, and I wanted to... hear the whole story and find out what the hell's going on around here."
Mir and Plun exchanged glances, and Mousse smiled.
"We were just heading back to the village," Tso quickly replied.
"Oh?" Mousse's smile faded. It became somewhat obvious he was hiding something, or several things, and taking full advantage of finding them traveling where they were forbidden to go. "Good. I'll go with you and meet up with the Guide later."
His eyes said the rest. No one needed to know that any of them, himself included, had visited Jyusenkyou. In silent agreement, they headed around and back home.
Such as it was.
Joketsuzoku.
"Learning Curve"
Part XVII (v1.3)
by: J. Wagner
"Why? Why so many people come to Jyusekyou?"
The Guide looked down at Mousse's body, and wiped his brow. Carrying the Chinese youth all the way to the edge of western Jyusenkyou, a side of the springs that, thankfully, most avoided, hadn't been easy, but it hadn't been too hard either. No, it was just an unusually hot day. Or maybe he was just nervous. He knew, of course, that the boy and his companion had been coming, but not that they'd arrive so soon.
Reaching behind him, the Guide's hand found the reassuring grip of his nine-millimeter Colt. He had been a soldier, once, a long time ago, but the sad fact was that his adopted daughter, Plum, probably knew twice as much martial arts as he did, simply because she hung around with other girls her age in the Joketsuzoku village. Gods to the left, super powered warriors to the right... where did that leave him? In the middle, really, which was where he needed to be.
He thought, very briefly, about putting a bullet between Mousse's eyes.
The boy had seen Herb, and would almost certainly not be content to leave things as they were, which was already bad enough. The Guide had carefully picked out the monkey for Herb to throw in the spring of drowned girl. The Prince hadn't, as he knew, thought anything of the poor creature's kicking and screeching, and wouldn't have until it was too late, and he ended up with a curse.
And a weakness.
That had been the plan the Society handed down.
"So many tragedies." The Guide shook his head, but his hand ultimately left his weapon tucked away in his belt, out of sight. Walking away, the Jyusenkyou Guide sighed, wearily. Old age was obviously catching up on him.
Then again, he really hadn't wanted that plan to succeed anyway.
***
"Come on, cross dresser! Come on, you sick fag! Is that all you got? Huh?" Taro twisted, blocked the roundhouse with one of his forearm bracers, and jabbed. Ranma-chan was obviously hurt, he could tell despite the way she hid it by switching postures and stances, but she was still flexible and fast enough to avoid, and catch the blow in he left hand. Taro smirked, and pulled back and up, snapping his fist out of her small hand and straight into her face. Momentarily caught off balance, he didn't hesitate to take advantage of it with a flurry of tiger strikes to the face and shoulders.
Ranma, even in his cursed girl form, was still a formidable opponent. Taro knew, and had known from the beginning, that fighting a male Saotome Ranma, with neither of them holding back, would be a bloody and Pyrrhic victory at best. It was an amazing revelation, that there could be people his age, with his level of speed, strength and skill, especially considering all the special training Taro underwent before he came to Japan, just in case he found the freak responsible for his true curse, and needed to beat the life out of him to make him change it. Regardless, it had been essential to weaken the other boy, and though Ranma's cursed form was still human, and still allowed him to fight, at least it greatly decreased his strength. The added speed, he could deal with. The weakened blows were like a godsend.
Suddenly, Ranma-chan kicked out and back, a spray of dust kicked up by her left foot as it skidded across the ground. The blow had hit Taro soundly in the chest, but had been easily absorbed by his dragonscale armor, as had the many he'd taken to the forearms. His clothes were a miracle in and of themselves - they were fashionable, and went well with a pantyhose sash that Taro kept around as both a weapon of last resort, and a reminder of his vow to change his name. They also magically reformed when he transformed, a necessity to keep from ending up naked half the time, and they provided superb protection from impact blows and even cutting attempts.
Taro gritted his teeth, and pressed the attack once more. Cutting his dash forward short, he lowered his head and twisted, letting his momentum carry his feet forward. Ranma-chan avoided the low attack, but was unprepared for him spinning in midair, and pummeling her with his fists. She had been stunned, for only the second time in their fight. Feet touching ground, Taro moved in, and jammed both his hands into her lower ribcage, and hooked his fingers up. He'd been aiming to snap two or three ribs, but Ranma-chan's erratic squirming, and his odd position, had thrown him off. Not to be deterred, or too disappointed, Taro brought his right palm up and into her jaw.
He was tempted to toy around with her, but decided to simply end things.
Ranma-chan screamed, blood flowing from her mouth, and stumbled back. Instinctively, her hands came up to block a snap kick to her neck, and she crouched to defend against another to the solar plexus, only to have a third, performed in nearly as many heartbeats, connect with her temple, right above her left eye. Nearly blinded, and now seeing stars, she rolled back, and jumped... high.
"Do you really think that's going to save you from me?" Taro laughed, and pivoted, watching impassively as Ranma-chan reached the apex of her leap. "Maybe I should..."
And disappeared.
"...What?" Taro blinked a few times. He still couldn't see her. "What the hell?"
Did the cross dresser just do what he thought he had seen? Had he just vanished, out of the blue? No... it had to be a technique of some sort. Taro quickly checked his mental inventory of techniques, both those that he himself could do, those he had seen done, and those he had heard of, and came up with a few possibilities. There were three different types of non-Musk type invisibility Ki techniques, two that shunted the user into another plane, smaller and more compact than our own (according to a theory he'd heard). Those two were Japanese techniques, restricted to an unknown school, and several hundred heard old, supposedly lost over time. The other was a Polynesian-Chinese technique that clouded the mind. The Saotome boy had known, at the very least, the Amaguriken technique, was it possible he'd picked this up as well, from some unknown source?
Twenty feet away, the ground cracked, and a geyser of water erupted. In it, Taro's keen eyes saw the highlight of ...something humanoid. Taro's eyes narrowed, but he still couldn't make out the form of the person clearly, but his brain was still working. Obviously, this wasn't any form of mind clouding, or else the fountain of water would still have concealed the user. No, this technique was actually bending light around its practitioner. A powerful technique indeed, but it must have weaknesses. Closing his eyes, Taro concentrated, and inhaled deeply.
Opening his eyes, he could just barely see it. The human mind, under-equipped as it was to deal with senses beyond its normal operating parameters, saw things in a limited fashion. Taro had been tapping into hints of his cursed form's powers for years, virtually his whole life. He'd conditioned both his mind, and his body, to it. He could see, on the periphery, the tiny wafting flavor of scent around him. Hints from the girl, and even the cat, nearby. A million other minute distractions, tuned out. And, finally...
"I have you!"
Taro felt his hand find purchase, and in a flicker of air and light, Ranma-chan reappeared, her head snapped back from Taro's risky haymaker. They'd been fighting for almost twenty minutes, and Ranma was definitely getting the worst of the confrontation. Catching the other boy's wrist, Taro snapped him in and intercepted Ranma with an elbow to the throat. Ranma-chan gasped for air, and Taro clasped both hands around her neck, choking the life out of her.
"Time... to die, cross dresser." Taro's mouth became a crooked sneer, devoid of mercy. "You shouldn't have f..."
He never got to finish his sentence.
"Leave... him... ALONE!!"
Akane swung, her voice nearly breaking, her muscles straining from anger and effort, as the face of her mallet met Taro's with all the finesse and grace of a baseball bat cracking open some poor sucker's knees. The Chinese boy fought against the urge to pass out, and regained his equilibrium in midair, shifting his weight so that his feet touched the ground, and even then, digging long furrows before he came to a stop. Looking up, his eyes slightly hazy, he saw that girl, with the short blue hair, holding Ranma-chan in one arm, and the cracked and splintered end of something wooden in the other.
Then, red clouded his right eye, and he reached up. His hand came back sticky and bloodied, and as his fingers brushed past them, he could feel the splinters digging into his skin and scraping damn near against bone. A long bloody gash had been opened along the side of his face, from just above the right eyebrow down to just below the ear. A roar of pain and rage tore from his throat, and he moved like the wind blew. Before Akane could even think about mounting some kind of defense, Taro's fist was buried nearly up to the wrist in her midriff.
"Akane!!"
It was almost in stereo, but Taro didn't care who had said it. He'd kill this bitch for doing that to him. He'd kill all of them, and then come back for the old man while he slept, or mourned... it didn't matter. Only payment mattered now. Revenge! Stepping back, Akane reeled, but still tried to raise her hands in defense. In her eyes, he saw that she knew how outmatched she was - that she had no chance, no chance at all, of fighting him on anything resembling even footing. For a moment, a very brief moment, Taro actually cared.
"Bitch!" He backhanded her, and she caught sky before landing, roughly, on her side, some ten feet away. He thought about following up, but barely had time to block, as Ranma-chan exploded into a furious creature of blows and nails and hate filled eyes. The assault was overwhelming in its intensity, and its animalistic fervor. Searching for an escape, and a respite from the fingers tearing at his defenses to get at his eyes, Taro found himself hammered with an explosion up close. He felt his skin blister from the heat, even as the smell of burnt flesh and saltpeter mingled in his nostrils. He slammed almost immediately into rock, which quickly gave way to water. Blessed cool water, that brought both relief, and...
Pain, first. The pain of his limbs stretching, threatening to tear out of their sockets, shot through his body and danced along his nerves. It came and went in but a moment, replaced by a surge of heat and electricity, flowing from the horns that were starting to erupt from his head, all the way to his feet, where his toes were fusing into hooves. For a second, his body was not his own, even after all these years, and all these transformations, and then he was looking down at the insects that would do him harm. The tiny redheaded girl-thing jumped at him, her eyes alight with savage fury, but Taro swatted her down as one would a fly.
Then the ground exploded, and Taro instinctively jumped up, his wings starting to move, catching hold of invisible updrafts. He could feel the heat of this waterspout, and at its heart, a flaming figure, trailing heat of his own. A tiny fist, tiny but packing power enough to level a building, slipped past the astonished monster's hands, and collided with Taro's lower jaw in a flying uppercut. Taro felt himself go end over end, but his wings spread, and he flipped around in time to block a hailstorm of bandannas, thrown from the apex of Ryouga's jump.
They were as pinpricks to a giant, and Taro-monster shrugged them off. Bringing both hands back, and lunging forward, Taro followed the lost boy's uncontrolled descent, and intercepted him with both palms in a resounding thunderclap, crushing the Hibiki boy like the offending bug he was. Diving, his cargo still in his massive grip, Taro opened his cupped hands at the last second, driving them, and the man trapped in them, into the ground. Lifting his hands, and feeling the cold water pouring up from the blasted impact site, he saw only a little black dot. Raising a titanic hoof, Taro readied to crush the little creature.
Only to have it snatched away at the last second by a purple and pink blur.
"The Amazon bitch?" Taro thought, watching her race around, and throw the little black piglet into the earlier created hot water spurt. He looked, momentarily at his other hostage, the brown haired loudmouthed girl, who had been tied up by the old well. Sure enough, she was still tied up, but now standing... and she was wet. And it seemed as if her sister had managed to drag herself over to her as well. Suddenly it made sense. The damn Amazon, in her cat form, probably chewed through the single length of pantyhose keeping Nabiki tied down. The other girl had then ran over to the hot water spout, taking the cat with her, and gotten her loose, and now she was standing there, hoping he hadn't noticed, with the other girl.
Damn it.
Roaring again, he turned on the now three martial artists, two male and one female, and none in their cursed forms. Idiots. Didn't they know that an animal was at its most dangerous when cornered? Wings flexed, Taro rose higher into the air, pulled up, and got additional altitude. Going into a quick barrel roll, and flipping into a controlled dive, Taro bent both his legs and readied for the collision. He was headed right for the old well, and if anything would move the two more dangerous martial artists, it would be their girlfriends about to be smashed into red paste.
Sure enough, he saw them move, which left the Amazon alone and the two boys' hands full. Landing almost lightly, but still with a thunderous crash, Taro crouched and whipped around. To his annoyance, the Amazon was quick on her feet, and avoided him as he struck at her with both fists, sending jets of cold water up and out of the ground with every missed blow. Still, they were divided, and he was ready for them - a far more preferable situation than it had been before.
Straightening out, as Ranma and Ryouga charged in, blows raining down on the monster's torso, Taro twisted his upper body slightly, and brought an elbow down, catching the slightly slower, but far stronger, one of the two in the back of the head. Ryouga flew down, and crashed into the ground on all fours, cushioning the damage and blowing a small crater out under him, but preventing a rush of water from blasting out at him from below. Ignoring Ranma for the moment, he slammed down with one fist, then the other, pulverizing the prone lost boy, before rolling on his back to keep the pigtailed martial artist from blindsiding him.
Shaking his coat of fur like a dog, Taro saw Shampoo and Ranma come in low for a flying kick. Ranma was injured fairly badly, and Shampoo was keeping pace with him. Stepping back at the last second, as they leapt, Taro's hands shot out like cobras, snatching each in midair. Leaning forward, his weight on his right leg, Taro then slammed both into the ground, kicking up two explosions of rock and freezing cold water. Then, without warning, pain shot up from his tail.
Looking over his massive shoulder, Taro saw Ryouga holding onto his eel-tail, part of it wrapped around the lost boy's straining right arm. With a howl of effort, and a mighty heave to the side, Ryouga pulled the Taro-monster off its feet and into the air. Cursing to himself, and starting to feel a twinge of true panic, the Chinese martial artist concentrated, and instantly his tail lit up with power, as thousands of volts blasted down Taro's spine, into his eel-tail, and through the soaking wet Hibiki boy on its way to the ground.
Muscles threatening to tear, nerves on fire, heart beating erratically, and tendons on the verge of snapping like rubber bands, Ryouga pulled back, and spun Taro by his tail over his head one last time, before bringing his arms down, and slamming Taro's bulk into the ground. The tortured earth groaned and cracked in protest, before giving out completely. The entire area, broken and riddled with holes, and already porous with underground waterways, had taken enough damage. Huge cracks, wide enough to swallow a man whole, snaked out from the impact site.
Ryouga winced silently, and let go of the eel-tail. Steam rose from his form, and every muscle in his body began to fade from fatigue and built up damage. He saw, despite his unclear vision, the brown furred body of Taro slip into the gaping hole ahead of him. His ears hurt, but mixed with an angry, desperate, howl, he heard the roar of the ground below, deep below, straining and cracking. It was a sound he had caused enough in his own time; it was like an old friend.
Or an old foe.
It seemed difficult to tell the difference recently.
He felt like sagging down to his knees and passing out, but raw stubbornness kept him standing. Shaking his head violently, Ryouga looked to his side and saw Ranma and Shampoo, in her cat form, unconscious. Running over on weak legs, he picked Shampoo up in one hand, and Ranma-chan in the other. Shaking the latter, he was rewarded with Ranma-chan's eyes opening, frantically. Their eyes caught each other, and Ryouga let her stand on her own.
"Nabiki," he said.
"Akane," Ranma replied, and turned around, looking for the remains of the old well. To their left, another section of the temple outcropping crumbled and fell in on itself. Ranma's vision seemed to better than his rival's.
"I see them!" He yelled, and ran over. Ryouga simply followed. After the cascade of water had hit him, he'd been washed away, unable to fight the current in his piglet body. He'd ended up near their original campsite, and had, by pure luck, found a hot spring he and Shampoo had passed while tracking for Ranma. His clothes had been washed in with him, so he had gotten dressed and headed out, half expecting not to find the place for a day or more. It hadn't taken that long, thank goodness, but he'd still been late. He was always late!
Ryouga stopped, and gasped when he saw Akane. She had a trickle of blood on her lower lip, and a nasty welt growing on her cheek. That pantyhose freak had hit her! The bastard had actually hit her! A flash of anger came, and lingered, only to be overpowered by fear. Hastily he turned to Nabiki, keeping Shampoo tucked carefully under his arm. Removing her gag, he saw tears down her face. Emotion welled up, stronger than anything he'd ever felt, and he pulled her to his chest, feeling her erratic breathing against his body. She hadn't been hurt. A single blow from that bastard could easily have...
He didn't even think about it further.
Picking her up, he nodded to Ranma-chan, who held Akane like one would the most precious and fragile fine china. Together, they leapt up and onto the Temple roof, and then over the massive fissure that had swallowed up Taro's monstrous form. The ground beneath them was like cardboard, and instantly buckled, but the two martial artists were already airborne. Jumping from rock to rock, amid the rubble and crumpling boulders, around and past erupting water traps, they didn't even see the Temple of the Watery Grave give one last groan, before collapsing completely into a titanic landslide.
They never even looked back.
***
Ukyou woke up with a headache powerful enough to keep a Thai Kick boxer in bed. Shaking her head slightly, she amended that. There was disorientation, and the headache was receding rapidly, but it was still there, in the back of her mind. Blinking a few times, and rubbing her closed eyes thoroughly with the palms of her hands, she reached up, expecting her cotton bow, but felt only hair. Something was wrong.
Her senses cleared up almost instantly, then. Ukyou's eyes opened, and she realized where she was. Or where she wasn't - this wasn't Jyusenkyou. She was in a room, broad, rectangular, with high ceilings. A lavish wooden dresser with two tall glass mirrors sat nearby, while the far end of the room sported another ornate door, with a great many carved inlays. There was also a desk, with books and what looked like scrolls on it, flanked by two potted ferns that clung to a latticework of white wood. The room itself was gently lit from above, where she could see two rows of lights, maybe halogen or phosphorescent, set into the stone ceiling, with small wires, somewhat difficult to see, running to the large door that dominated the place.
It was almost a relief, to see that little bit of technology, after being in rural and outback China for so long. Quickly, she checked her clothes, and sighed with relief to see that she was still in them. Looking for her weapons, she saw her megaspatula lying against the wall, next to the soft bed she had been sleeping on, and her bandolier draped across its larger comrade in arms. Quickly, Ukyou slid out of and off the bed. Strapping the bandolier on, and feeling the reassuring grip of her megaspatula in her hands, she approached the room's large wooden door. Her first thought was to smash it down with the blunt end of her spatula, but then, on a lark, she decided to at least try opening it.
It swung open without resistance.
The corridor was long, but also softly lit, and made of cleanly carved and well-maintained stonework. Running her hand experimentally along it, she saw that some of the blocks were truly huge, both in size and obviously in weight. Additionally, there wasn't any sign of masonry or plaster between the stones, rather they fit together like toy blocks, carved with careful precision and fitting together superbly. The ceiling was slightly higher than her rooms, she figured, and probably around ten to twelve feet high. The craftsmanship was impressive and monolithic, and like nothing she'd ever seen before.
Looking down the two ends of the hall, Ukyou arbitrarily took a left. Grimly, she realized that she wouldn't have much room to swing, even though the hall was quite wide, and without that berth, her megaspatula wouldn't help that much in a fight. Annoyed, she locked it into the holster on her back, and kept going. She came, first, to another large wooden door on her right. Set in what looked like inlaid gold were three characters she didn't recognize. The door was unlocked, she noted, and cautiously opened it.
She saw a large room, longer than hers, but without any extra doors, except an open closet, and a large set of screens on a nearby wall. The closet caught her eye, and making sure no one was inside, she walked over, noting the large bed, and large mirror on the far side of the room, accompanied by what looked like a fur rug on the smooth stone floor. In the closet, Ukyou saw a true juxtaposition - hanging side by side were what looked like leather and metal armor, maybe three suits, and at least three times that number dresses of assorted varieties, all seemingly custom made. Granted, Ukyou knew she'd never been particularly girly, but she had an idea of what it meant to be a woman, and though she had never put down money for one, she had toyed with the idea of wearing actual dresses. She even had a few skirts, herself, though she never quite got up the courage to wear them in public.
"Wow." She quickly stepped back, away from the closet, and opened the screens nearby. They pulled back, revealing a large collection of knives, some hung carefully, and others slightly imbedded in a long piece of soft wood. Most were not ornate, and as she leaned in, recognized them as combat knives - the kind weighted for balance, but otherwise not especially unusual. Ukyou herself ordered her mini-spatulas from a custom dealer she had contacts with through her father.
She backed up, and into something. Spinning, a min-spatula in her hand, Ukyou felt her wrist caught in someone's hand, as her own momentum was used to flip her over. She landed on her back with a soft thump, and looked up at her captor - a woman. Not even Asian, she looked American... or at least Caucasian. She also didn't seem to be attacking. Rolling to the side, Ukyou got back to her feet. The woman pointed to her mini-spatula and said something in English. It was, however, too quick for Ukyou to follow. Remembering her lessons at Furinkan, and even before that, Ukyou thought for a second, and decided to try and communicate.
"Erro," she said, experimentally.
"Hello," The other woman replied, more slowly this time.
"Doa rou spreak Jrapanese?" Ukyou tried. It was one of the many phrases they had students memorize. The other woman shook her head and said something in rough Chinese. Ukyou put her hands up, and put away her mini-spatula back into her bandolier.
"Mia nammu iz Kuonji Ukyou. I amu from Jrapan. Whata isu your nammu?"
"Elizabeth. Elizabeth Lufberry. From England." The woman finally switched to passable Japanese. She leaned in closer to the younger girl. "You must be new here."
"I... I am," Ukyou stopped when she heard footsteps. Turning, she saw a man, an old man, but not shriveled like Happosai. He was tall, though not particularly lean, and his hair was cut so close to his head that Ukyou wouldn't have been able to tell whether he was bald of not except by the fact that his hair was a creamy white, while the rest of his head was like a brown paper bag that had been crumpled, smoothed, crumpled again and stretched tight over a skull. He looked leathery and tough. Then she saw his eyes glint in the light.
They were yellowish gold.
He said something quick to the older English woman, then faced Ukyou and spoke in slightly accented Japanese. "I see you are awake, Miss. Please, if you would follow me?"
"Who are you?" She gripped her spatula tightly, desperately. "Where am I?"
"I am Borage. And this is Sach Khandu - the Eternal Palace of the Dragon Lord."
"Dragon Lord?"
"The young Prince Herb."
"Herb?" Ukyou thought back. Mousse had called him that - the guy that attacked them at Jyusenkyou. "You mean the jackass that kidnapped me?"'
Borage blinked, and considered that. "He sent me to fetch you from your slumber. To meet his highness in the Courtyard."
Courtyard?
An open area would be far easier to escape from, Ukyou figured. Besides, it was definitely best to figure out what was going on before doing anything drastic. And she owed that Prince Herb fellow for blasting poor Mousse and knocking her out. As the two made to leave, Ukyou heard a soft "Bye" from behind. She followed the old man down the hall, past several other closed doors, one of which was slightly ajar, and into an even larger hall that branched out two other ways.
"These lights," Ukyou spoke up. "Is there a city nearby you're getting the power from?"
"We Musk are not a primitive people like the Joketsuzoku or the Phoenix." Borage's pace slowed somewhat. "We have electrical generators to provide power where it is necessary."
"And the lights themselves?" Ukyou pressed. If there was a city or town nearby...
"Our contacts with the outside bring them in, along with other things occasionally desired. You should consider your position here before making any plans for escape, however." Borage didn't seem concerned with the prospect. "The nearest... people are the half human Phoenix savages. Their hospitality would be as warm as a snake's in its den. I can attest to that personally. You are safer here, among the Musk."
"The Musk... Mousse mentioned you guys."
"Oh?"
"He didn't paint a favorable picture."
"This Mu Tzu sounds Joketsuzoku. They have a unique relationship with us... The dislike is mutual, I assure you."
"And me?" Ukyou paused, as they walked past another woman, obviously pregnant, who was walking in the opposite direction. "I'm not an Amazon."
"Obviously." He snorted. "However, it is not my place to ...presume. At least not at the moment."
"Presume what?" Ukyou questioned, but Borage remained silent. Finally they came to an archway, supported by pillars, which opened out over a small valley area, flanked on all sides by great tall monolithic pillars, and high cliffs. Below, amid the trees, floated the sounds of battle. Walking down a long set of marble steps, and under a large Triumph like archway, the two came to a slightly sunken area, with a large square stone arena, the four sides decorated by large obelisks that reached up nearly forty feet. At center stage, two warriors were locked in a play of swords on Pudao-like polearm, dancing and clashing with grace and speed. On a throne overlooking the area sat the same royal brat Ukyou recognized from before, in slightly more ornate clothes, two others to his left and right, a young looking kid, maybe fifteen or sixteen, and another guy, with large striped shoulder pads and leg bindings, who was undoubtedly several years older.
In the arena, the two men fighting seemed to sense that their liege's attention would soon turn to other matters. Their moves intensified, with the polearm armed man, a large fellow, his head shaved bald except for a long plume of stark blue hair in the back, and wearing only baggy white pants, pressing the attack with a series of flamboyant and none-too-practical moves. Ukyou couldn't help but admire his controlled ability with the heavy weapon, and the speed he wielded it with. His opponent wasn't unimpressive either, deftly deflecting and docking every one of the showy, but deadly, attacks.
"Sumac," Borage said, as if reading Ukyou's mind. "He is fighting Balm, a fine warrior in his own right. The man on the throne is Herb, and those are his two personal guards, Mint and Lime."
Ukyou got a closer look at the two warriors standing at the Dragon Prince's side. The young one seemed especially interested in the fight. There was a light to his eyes. Awe? She also noted his hair, and the sword strapped behind his back.
"Sumac is Mint's brother," Borage spoke what Ukyou had suspected.
The match below would have undoubtedly have lasted longer if the Sumac had not gotten impatient. Martial arts displays for Prince Herb, or any audience, were fine, but once he ran through his repertoire of pirouette attacks and sweeping poses, it was almost as if there was little additional reason to continue. He'd demonstrated his style, his grace, and his keen technique, he'd given the audience a cheap thrill by nearly getting struck once or twice, and he was ready for a snack. It was time to end things.
With a flourish and a flash of speed he hadn't been using before, Sumac spun, hooked out the other man's legs, and disarmed him of his two Dao sabers. Before he had even hit the ground. Sumac's polearm spun, seemingly wildly, around his right arm, before coming to rest at his side, the tip of the bladed end nearly touching the ground. He bowed; his right arm tucked in, to the throne. "My Liege."
Herb's eyes moved from the prone fighter, to where Ukyou stood, next to Borage, and spoke in clear Japanese. "You defeated your opponent. Finish him."
"Finish him?" Sumac replied in the same tongue, and seemed to think about it for a second longer than he should have, before turning to his fellow Musk. "If you ...insist, my Lord."
"Wait..." The prone Balm gulped, and scrambled back a few feet. "Wait, Sumac... Lord Herb...!"
"This isn't right," Ukyou said, cutting off what the old man next to her was going to say. Angry, driven by astonishment and horror, Ukyou simply moved without thinking, and found herself in the arena, feet firmly planted on either side of the bested warrior's body, her battle aura just starting to fully manifest. She didn't know him, didn't know any of them, didn't even know these people's customs or really where she was, but cold blooded murder... execution, was just wrong, no matter who you were, or who was calling the shots. Maybe once, she could have stood there and not interfered, but not now. She was a different person - a better person! Her charging energy suffused her body as she drew her megaspatula and started to be manifested as a visible blue and red aura.
"Who the hell are you?" The ponytailed Musk, Sumac, narrowed his eyes at her. "A Woman?"
"Jumping to the defense of a beaten man?" Herb stood, and Sumac turned. He bowed again, his weapon to the side. "Very noble ...as I had hoped. Sumac, Balm, you may leave."
Sumac stood and stalked off, Balm close behind, lingering only to retrieve his fallen weapons. Herb approached her, arms wide, Mint and Lime trailing behind and staring at Ukyou intently.
"Come now, speak, woman." Herb stood before her in all his glory. "Let me hear your voice."
She decked him, suddenly, and caught unprepared; Herb fell unceremoniously to the ground, holding his jaw. Ukyou shook the pain out of her right hand.
"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's a jackass in a cape."
***
The air was brittle with cold and Plun Gu was glad they'd all brought jackets. Rich scents of earth, hay and the memory of smoke surrounded them, and she felt tall grass brushing against her pants. It was resoundingly silent this high up and this far away. Too far away, really, in case something went wrong. The Elders always associated these mountains with tragedy and strife.
"I still don't get why we have to see it ourselves." She made her concerns known, and not for the first time.
"Aren't you the least bit curious what Jyusenkyou looks like?"
"A little... that's why I'm here, Tso."
"But you don't have to see a cobra to know it's dangerous." Another Amazon, Mir Ru, a tough looking woman with close-cropped hair, spoke up. Tso considered this - it seemed that Plun was not alone in her fear of the place, and her reluctance to make the trek to see it.
"And there could be Musk around," Mir added.
"Let them come!" Tso put up a strong front, and casually flicked her long teal hair behind her. "Three Joketsuzoku warriors... nothing short of the Dragon himself would dare try and take us on. I almost hope we run into one."
Plun and Mir didn't seem as enthusiastic, but it bolstered their pride, and their courage. They continued at a slightly faster pace down the old winding dirt trail, and started down into the Jyusenkyou Valley. They were taking a slightly oblique path into Jyusenkyou, to avoid running into the Guide or anyone else who would record or alert the Elders that the three Amazons had made the secret pilgrimage to the place.
Jyusenkyou was off limits to all Joketsuzoku unless accompanied by an Elder of the Village. The only one who had been allowed to make the trip in recent memory had been Shan Pu, accompanied by Elder Khu Lon, about a year or so ago. Tso Pu's sister, younger by just one year, had returned from her quest to fulfill the Kiss of Death given to an outsider woman twice as long ago. When she had returned, most expected a small celebration commemorating the victory, but there had been nothing - only a conference with the Elders, and a 'training trip' to Jyusenkyou. No one talked about it after that fact, and Shan Pu had left soon after for Japan again.
Apparently, the redheaded outsider woman had been giving Shan Pu more trouble than anyone had expected. Not really surprising, given how easily she had defeated Shan Pu in the Tournament. Finest warrior of her generation Shan Pu was, almost certainly, but she also lacked long term goals or insight. Simply being the strongest and fastest did not guarantee that she would inherit a position of power in the village, or even lead it in lieu of the Council of Elders. Still, Shan had spent two years in Japan, and Tso was more than a little worried for her sister after all this time, even if there was some lingering annoyance that she had been chosen for special training, and Tso had not. Could it be that Shan Pu and Khu Lon had gotten in over their heads?
Tso Pu knew well enough that three thousand years of Amazon history did not guarantee victory, or even a prosperous future. Jumping, she led the other two girls over an unsteady rocky patch blocking the path, and down a steeper incline and rolled down and into the midst of Jyusenkyou. The place had a swampy feel to it, but the lack of flies or even birds gave it an ominous, unnatural touch. Something caught on the wind made her skin crawl, but her danger sense never activated, which was some small relief.
"Jyusenkyou," she said, softly. The Forbidden Valley lay before them. A hundred springs, at least, stretched out awaiting their prey, like so many tiger traps from which there was no escape.
"I don't like it here." Plun looked around, nervousness etched on her features. "There's an ill wind blowing."
"Relax. You have to actually end up in one of the springs to be cursed. It's not like they can reach out and get you." Tso leaned over, and looked into the nearest spring. The water was clear... and almost inviting.
The three girls milled about the area, and gradually the danger of the place started to be replaced by wonder. How many of these springs were cursed already, and how many waiting for their turn? Where was the Legendary Spring of Drowned Girl that the Musk had created, in their hubris, sparking the Great Revolution that would eventually throw them down and 'destroy' their Dynasty and their hold on the region?
"Tso! Look! I found something!"
"What?" Tso leapt up, boldly, onto one of the bamboo poles planted firmly in one of the nearby springs. She didn't test her luck, however, and quickly jumped to the ground near Mir Ru.
"Look," she repeated from her crouched position, and pointed to a bruised patch of grass.
"Footprints." Tso nodded, confirming what the other girl didn't even have to say.
"Musk. It has to be." Mir stood up, her hand resting on the sword hung at her waist.
"Musk?" Plun leapt over, her voice eager. "Where?"
"Just some footprints. They look fresh." Tso drew out her Qiang spear.
"You aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?"
"You bet I am!" Tso's eyes followed the tracks to a scrub area, leading away from this Jyusenkyou, and around, possibly to another path. The footprints were fairly heavy, and no attempt had been made to conceal them. It was be child's play to follow them to wherever this person had been headed.
"This isn't a good idea," Mir started.
"Come on, you two. We're the best out here, and it's only one Musk. You can't say you've never wanted to actually fight one of them." Tao have them a quick smile, and they seemed to silently agree. Really, Tso had been lying. Plun Gu wasn't particularly intelligent, and Mir Ru had no stamina in prolonged fights. They were good enough with their respective weapons, a steel mace and a double-edged sword, respectively, but neither of them were really dedicated to fighting, or even the defense of the village and their people.
They were slackers.
Most people were, it seemed. Still, if they knew she really thought little of them, they wouldn't follow her. Tso Pu had quickly learnt that people followed a leader with greater loyalty and conviction if they believed they were needed, and important... even invaluable. Leadership was driven by example, and fueled by devotion and respect. Physical strength, which useful and sometimes indispensable, was not a true prerequisite. So Plun Gu and Mir Ru followed her as she tracked their target. It quickly became obvious that the Musk had been walking around Jyusenkyou, looking for another trail to get to that would lead out of the valley.
"What do we do when we find this guy?" Mir was sounding bolder, now, that they were committed to this as a group.
"Fight him," Tso answered, plainly.
"But how?"
"It'll depend. We'll think of something when we find him."
"Awfully confident aren't you?" Plun 'hmfed' but didn't seem to be complaining.
"No more so than others." Tso shrugged, and held out a hand, stopping the other two girls behind her. "Hold up a second."
"What? What's wrong?"
"The tracks. They end right here." Tso slowly looked up, and realized they'd walked into an area of high trees. "Nobody move. He's here."
"Where?" Mir's blade was already drawn, but her hand was shaking slightly. "I don't see anything!"
"You three are awfully far from home, aren't you?" The tone wasn't mocking, but it wasn't friendly either. From above, something fast and white fell, landing behind them without a sound. Without even thinking, Mir lunged, but was met by a swirl of cloth as she connected only with the tree behind her target, imbedding the sword several inches into it. Then, Tso and Plun saw a face amid the white robes, and a trail of long black hair.
"Mu Tzu?" Tso couldn't believe it - what was he doing here? He had followed Shan Pu to Japan months ago!
"Idiot male!" Plun growled. She was, as always, quick to anger. She had been scared, and obviously, too. To have been psyched out by a male Amazon was an insult, and an embarrassment to her sisters. So she lashed out, and punched Mousse square in the face. He took it, as any Joketsuzoku male would, and brushed the entire thing off moments afterward. He hadn't even flinched - impressive given the bulky Plun's raw strength.
"I guess I deserved that." He frowned, and his mocking voice came back in full force. Plun Gu fumed, and looked about to try and wail on him again when Tso intervened. Mu Tzu had always had a knack for pissing people off. He wouldn't like it, her sticking up for him, but someone had to before he was forced to defend himself, as everyone knew he could but chose not to.
Odd ideas Mu Tzu had somehow gotten into his thick head.
"What are you doing here, Mu?" Tso gave Plun a hard look, and the other girl backed away. Mir was still getting her sword free from the tree.
"What are YOU doing here? Jyusenkyou isn't exactly a safe place to visit." Mousse tucked his hands into his sleeves, and Tso noticed that he was keeping his glasses on. He usually took them off around other people. "No matter who you're with."
"We were looking for Musk." Plun sneered, and interrupted them. "Looks like we only found a small fry. To small - we'll have to throw it back, isn't that right Moo?"
Mousse didn't even seem to have heard the comment, and ignored her. "Never mind... I really don't care. I was on my way around the valley, to see the Guide. He was with someone before, and I wanted to... hear the whole story and find out what the hell's going on around here."
Mir and Plun exchanged glances, and Mousse smiled.
"We were just heading back to the village," Tso quickly replied.
"Oh?" Mousse's smile faded. It became somewhat obvious he was hiding something, or several things, and taking full advantage of finding them traveling where they were forbidden to go. "Good. I'll go with you and meet up with the Guide later."
His eyes said the rest. No one needed to know that any of them, himself included, had visited Jyusenkyou. In silent agreement, they headed around and back home.
Such as it was.
Joketsuzoku.
