Twilight of the Senshi

by Eric Thorsen

A Ranma, Sailor Moon Crossover. This story is based on a common theme, with uncommon execution... What if the Moon Kingdom wasn't the only government in the solar system during the silver millenium? What really happened back then? What does it mean now?

4. Part Four

1This is a Ranma ½, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

by

Stacko

Edited by Lord Dragonbane

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Part Four

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NEXT DAY

During breakfast the next day, Nabiki had asked Steve about the girl he had seen yesterday. Steve started coughing on the drink he was drinking, when he realized that he had totally forgotten about the girl, due to all the excitement that happened to him after he left school. Everyone else wondered what was going on. Once Steve got his coughing under control, he told everyone that he saw an old acquaintance from China. When Ranma asked who that was, Steve just said one word.

"Xian Pu." Steve said, causing Ranma and Genma to pale, which Nabiki noticed.

"Shampoo?" Akane asked confused. "What does a hair care product have to do with anything?"

"Not shampoo, Xian Pu ..." Steve stopped talking and sighed. "I guess her name is close to that."

"What does she have to do with you three?" Nabiki asked. Ranma looked over at Steve and Steve sighed when he realized that he would have to explain.

"She tried to kill us." Steve said finally.

"What!" Everyone else exclaimed.

"Why did she try and do that?" Akane asked.

"A matter of honor, and leave it at that." Steve replied.

From the look Steve was giving, he wasn't going to give anything more. So everyone finished breakfast and Nabiki, Akane, Ranma, and Steve left for school. It was an uneventful day at school; nothing really kept Steve from thinking about Shampoo. He almost got detention from not paying attention in class, but he was lucky that he knew the answer to the question the teacher asked. After school ended, Steve told Ranma and Akane that he was going for a walk to clear his head. They told him to be careful and that they would see him at dinner.

As Steve was walking, he stopped in a convenience store to get something to drink. As he was walking, a small group of kids came skateboarding by him, causing him to spill his drink on himself, triggering the change. She sighed in relief when she noticed no one saw the change. She collected herself and realized that she wasn't going to figure out what to do if she ran into Shampoo again. So she decided to head back to the Tendo Dojo to go have dinner.

As she was walking down the street, she passed an alley way and she was grabbed and pulled into it. When she stopped at the wall, she thought that the boys were back to mistaking her again and decided to try talking to them again, but when she looked up, she saw a sword pointing at her face. She thought that the boys were getting real serious on wanting to get back at her, but when she looked at the person holding the sword, she was in for a surprise, because the person holding the sword was Shampoo.

"Xian Pu!" Steve exclaimed in surprise.

"Nihao." Shampoo said calmly.

"Wha ... What brings you here?" Steve asked nervously.

"You."

Steve swallowed nervously as she looked into Shampoo's eyes. Her eyes opened wide as Shampoo lowered the tip if the sword. She watched as Shampoo cut each tie to her shirt off one at a time with the tip of the sword. Once Shampoo had finished cutting off all the ties, Shampoo used her sword to open Steve's shirt, revealing that Steve wasn't wearing anything underneath. Steve looked up at Shampoo and saw the evil looking smile as she brought her sword up above her head.

Steve closed her eyes, waiting for the death blow that was coming. After several moments of nothing happening, Steve slowly opened her eyes and saw that Shampoo's face was smiling only inches from her's. The surprise of seeing Shampoo's face so close caused Steve to flinch backwards and hit the back of her head against the wall behind her.

"Ouch." Steve said wincing in pain while holding the back of her head, and then she heard Shampoo giggle. "This isn't funny, that hurt."

"Shampoo sorry." Shampoo said sincerely.

"Are you going to kill me?" Steve asked wondering.

"No." Shampoo replied as Steve was closing her shirt as best as she could.

"Then what are you doing here?"

"Shampoo was told to retrieve Mistress and friend for audience with Elder."

"Oh, okay, but why did you cut my shirt open?" Steve asked and noticed that Shampoo suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Shampoo did it to get even with Stack." Shampoo said looking down.

"I guess that is fair, for what Red and I did to you. You're just lucky that this wasn't my favorite shirt, or else I would have to use my authority as your mistress to punish you." Steve replied smiling and saw Shampoo nod her head in agreement and then she heard her mumble something but couldn't make out what she said. "What did you say?"

"Shampoo also did it to see Stacko." Shampoo replied blushing. Steve also blushed when she caught onto what Shampoo was implying.

"Uh, okay, did you enjoy the view?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Shampoo said quietly.

"Well, next time you want to check me out, you just have to ask, okay?"

"Okay."

"Let's get going before we anger the Elder." Steve said and grabbed Shampoo's hand. Shampoo looked at Steve in confusion and saw Steve smile at her. Shampoo followed Steve back to the Tendo Dojo.

xxxxx

Steve was having a difficult time keeping her shirt closed. After she had left the alley, the wind had started picking up, and with her holding Shampoo's hand in one hand, it caused Steve's shirt to be blown open. After giving several people a good show of her breasts, she held her shirt closed with her other hand. She blushed hotly and heard Shampoo chuckling at her, they continued on their way to the Tendo Dojo. After having Shampoo chuckling at her for a few blocks, Steve glared at her, causing Shampoo to stop chuckling, but Steve could see she was still chuckling on the inside.

When they approached the front gate of the dojo, Steve and Shampoo could hear a female voice yelling complaints of a person being a pervert and a jerk, a few moments later, a splash was heard. Steve groaned when she realized that Ranma had angered Akane again and Shampoo had a confused look to her face. Steve continued on into the dojo and hoped that Ranma wouldn't be too surprised when she saw Shampoo.

"I'm back!" Steve called out when she entered the house.

Steve came in and took her shoes off; Shampoo did the same following Steve's lead. When they reached the living room, they saw Ranma ringing water out of her shirt as best as she could and Akane fuming nearby. When the both of them entered the room, Steve smiled when she saw Ranma freeze in surprise when Ranma noticed Shampoo. Akane then noticed that there were other's in the room and took her attention off of Ranma and turned to face the people in the room.

Akane noticed that the two people that had entered were Steve and some girl with long purple hair, which Akane thought was probably a dye job. What caught Akane's attention right away was Steve's shirt. When Steve had entered and removed her shoes, she had released her hold on her shirt which caused the shirt to open up and have her breasts out on display. When she looked at Steve's eyes and saw the amusement in them. She figured that Steve was showing off her breasts on purpose and got angry again.

"What do you think you're doing?" Akane asked angrily at Steve.

"Huh?" Steve said in confusion when Steve realized that Akane was asking the question to him and not Ranma for a change.

"Walking around exposing yourself like that." Akane said pointing Steve's exposed chest.

"Ah, geez." Steve said when she followed Akane's pointing finger and realized that her shirt was open again and quickly closed her shirt as best as she could and started blushing in embarrassment, much to Shampoo's enjoyment.

"What are you, some kind of exhibitionist?" Akane asked angrily.

"Come on Akane, it's nothing like that." Steve tried explaining herself. Shampoo got angry that Akane was yelling at Steve, so she walked in front of Steve and faced Akane.

"Angry girl threatening Stack?" Shampoo asked Akane, who was caught by surprise by Shampoo's name for her.

"Who you calling 'Angry girl' and what are you going to do about it if I am?" Akane said.

"Shampoo calling Angry girl Angry girl." Shampoo said. "And Shampoo must take care of you then."

Suddenly Shampoo had her two bonbori's and was swinging them at Akane. Akane fell down in surprise and was lucky she did when the bonbori's swung where her head use to be. Steve then grabbed Shampoo around the waist and tried to pull her away from Akane, but the force that Shampoo was using to get at Akane, caused Steve to be dragged along wherever Shampoo went.

Ranma had gotten over the shock of seeing Steve's naked breasts and seeing Shampoo there that she suddenly got defensive when she saw Shampoo start attacking Akane. Ranma saw as Steve tried to stop Shampoo by grabbing her around the waist and kept telling her that it was alright, that she should stop attacking Akane. Akane for the most part had a surprised look to her face as she was crawling away from Shampoo, who was dragging Steve along with her. Ranma didn't want Akane to be beaten up, so she decided to help Steve stop Shampoo by getting in-between her and Akane.

Through all the commotion in the living room, Kasumi had decided to heat up some water for Steve when she heard him in his female form enter the house. When the kettle was heated, she took it off the stove and headed out to the living room to give it to Steve. When she was in the living room, she noticed that they had a guest over and it seemed that Steve and Ranma were trying to stop the guest from beating up Akane. Kasumi headed over to the table and set the kettle on the table for them to use it when they were done playing around. She then headed back to the kitchen to make more of dinner to handle their guest. She also made a mental note to talk to Steve about exposing herself like that in the house. So she started humming a song she liked as she continued on with dinner.

The struggle that Steve and Ranma had with Shampoo was getting more difficult when Akane started arguing and throwing insults at Shampoo, who became more determined to beat the living daylights out of Akane. During the struggle, it brought them closer to the table, where the kettle was waiting, and during one of the wild swings Shampoo did, that her bonbori hit the kettle, sending it up into the air. No one paid attention to it until it started raining warm water over the four of them. The ones that were really surprised by it were Ranma and Steve, as they changed back to their normal forms.

The struggling ended when the kettle landed on the floor and Akane and Shampoo noticed that Ranma and Steve had changed. Shampoo dropped her bonbori in shock as she looked at Steve and Ranma, who were now males. Shampoo knew that the males were Steve and Ranma, but she didn't want to believe it. With Steve's shirt being open, she could verify that the two of them had changed into boys. She nervously reached a hand out and patted Steve's chest as to make sure her eyes weren't playing a trick on her. Steve sighed because he knew that Shampoo's view of the world is starting to crumble down.

"Well, I guess this was one way to tell Shampoo about your curses." Came an old woman's voice nearby. The four of them turned to face the person and saw Nabiki standing next to an old woman balancing on a huge cane. It was Steve that gained his composure first and greeted the old woman.

"Elder Kho lon, what a pleasant surprise. What are you doing here?" Steve asked, bowing as a formal greeting.

"Can't an old woman check up on her favorite two students? Well, I was coming here and this nice woman let me in." Cologne answered and chuckled. Her chuckling grew some when she saw Steve give her a look like he didn't believe her. She then noticed the condition of Steve's shirt and thought to have some fun with him. "Do you always greet people with a shirt that is open like that?"

"Why don't you ask Xian Pu why my shirt is like this? It seemed that she had an interesting way of saying that you guys were here." Steve said and everyone turned to Shampoo who was blushing hotly in embarrassment.

"It seems that you better punish her then." Cologne said.

"I'll be getting around to it." Steve said as he looked at Shampoo and she gulped in fright as what he was going to do to her.

"What is going on?" Nabiki asked, getting everyone's attention. "I thought you said that this girl was out to kill you? But it looks like she is some sort of servant to you?"

"I guess an explanation is in order." Steve said.

"I would think so." Nabiki said irritated.

"Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes." Kasumi said coming out of the kitchen and then she noticed Cologne. "Oh, we have another guest, good thing I made extra then." Kasumi then returned into the kitchen to finish up dinner.

"How about after dinner, and then we can tell everyone at once, since it will take a while to explain it all at once." Steve said to Nabiki.

"Okay, sounds good to me." Nabiki agreed.

"Why Stack and Red male?" Shampoo asked Cologne when she had a chance.

"That will be explained after dinner, Slave." Cologne said with firmness that Nabiki was almost jealous of. When Shampoo heard that, she shied back a ways and realized what her place was.

"Why did you call her 'Slave'?" Akane asked confused.

"Like Kho Lon and I said, it will be explained after dinner, but right now, I would like to change my shirt out for a new one and I think Red would like to change clothes before he changes again." Steve said and noticed Ranma nod slightly in agreement. "While Red and I are doing that, Xian Pu, go and clean the mess that you caused."

Shampoo was about to comment, but the glare from Cologne shut her up and she headed into the Kitchen to ask Kasumi for something to clean the spilt water from the kettle. While Shampoo was doing that, Steve and Ranma headed upstairs to change clothes, leaving a thoroughly confused Akane and an intrigued Nabiki to wait for their return.

xxxxx

The dinner table was some what crowded with Cologne and Shampoo being there while Kasumi served dinner. Throughout the meal, Steve noticed that Shampoo had kept glancing over at him whenever he wasn't looking at her. Cologne had a smile on her face as she watched Ranma and Genma fight over their meal. Akane sat fuming at the display that Ranma and Genma were doing, also she was a little upset at how easily Shampoo made a fool of her. Nabiki was wondering what was up with the old woman and the other girl, while the rest of them was just enjoying the meal. When dinner was over and Kasumi, with Steve's and Shampoo's help, finished the dishes and went to the living room for the big talk that was going to happen.

So when everyone was in the living room, they all sat around so they could see everyone else. Everyone was sitting on chairs except Cologne, Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo. For Cologne, Ranma, and Steve, they were sitting on the couch and Shampoo was sitting on the floor at Steve's feet, much to her reluctance. Once everyone was situated, Nabiki started the talk.

"So what is this all about?" Nabiki asked.

"What do you want to know?" Steve replied.

"First off, this morning, you tell us that this Shampoo character is after you guys in order to kill you, and now we see that she is some sort of servant to you guys. What is up with that?" Nabiki said.

"Well, I think I should do some introductions first before I answer that." Steve said. "This here is Kho Lon, Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons of Jyoketsuzoku."

"Chinese Amazons? There is no such thing." Akane said.

"Just because you never heard of us, doesn't mean we don't exist." Cologne said and smiled when Akane closed her mouth when she couldn't think of anything to say.

"And this here is Xian Pu, and to answer a part of your question Nabiki, according to the laws of her people, she is my slave." Steve said, grabbing Shampoo's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze while continuing his introductions.

"What!" Exclaimed everyone that didn't know the Amazon laws.

"Actually, she's a slave to my female side." Steve replied.

"Like that makes any difference to it." Akane said angrily.

"Okay, but why did you say that she was trying to kill you two?" Nabiki asked and noticed that Cologne had raised an eyebrow when she said that and looked over at Steve.

"Well, it wasn't her precisely, but a certain individual that is after Shampoo."

"Who?" Nabiki asked.

"Hey Stack," Ranma said all of a sudden before anyone could answer Nabiki, which angered her just a little. "I just realized something; Shampoo and Akane have something in common."

"What do you mean by that?" Akane said angrily.

"He means that both you and Xian Pu both have a love-crazed idiot chasing after you." Steve said to Akane to calm her down. "And Red, if I remember correctly, the same idiot that is after Akane, is also after your female form."

"Urk." Ranma froze when he remembered that, which caused Akane to start chuckling at him.

"So who is this person?" Kasumi asked.

"His name is Mu Tsu, or Mousse for those that have trouble with his name. He became infatuated with her after Xian Pu was nice and helped him out on day when they were three. He's been after her since then. So when she became my slave, he didn't take that very well." Steve said.

"What did he do?" Kasumi asked.

"He got it in his head that if I was out of the picture, Shampoo would be his." Steve said.

"Speaking of that guy, he didn't follow you guys here, did he?" Ranma asked.

"No, Mu Tsu has been banned from following us." Cologne said. "But if he does show up, he better not be here for my Great-granddaughter, or he will answer to the Counsel."

"She's your Great-grand daughter, and you have her being a slave to him?" Akane asked surprised, pointing at Steve.

"I think we better start with the story, for I know Xian Pu wants to know why Red and I are male." Steve said and saw Shampoo nod slightly.

"Yes, I think you should." Nabiki said, finally getting to the parts she wanted to hear.

xxxxx

"This story starts about a day after we visited Jusenkyo." Steve said as he started the story and noticed Shampoo become wide-eyed when he said Jusenkyo. "The Jusenkyo guide was nice enough to escort us to a nearby village that he said that they may help us with a cure to our curses. The only downfall was that it had rained early in the day, so we were in our cursed forms and we felt that it would be pointless to try and change back. So when the guide took us to the village, we found out that they were having a tournament going on."

"Here Sirs is Amazon village Jyoketsuzoku. You in luck today is annual tournament." The Jusenkyo Guide said.

Steve and Ranma looked around and saw just a mass of people had surrounded a suspended log, and on the log, were two females fighting each other. Genma seeing that there were nothing but females around, he became bored and looked around. He suddenly came across a picnic table that was loaded with food and suddenly his stomach growled and he made his way to the table and started eating. He was in the train of thought that it was just laying around, so it was fair game.

Ranma had noticed her father moving away and saw where he was headed. When she saw the picnic table of food, her mouth had started to water when she realized how hungry she was. She glanced over at Steve and noticed that she was busy talking to the Guide in English, so she decided to follow her father and partake in the food.

Steve in the meantime was talking to the guide about what was going on. The guide was explaining about how the tournament went, and what it meant to the Amazons. Steve was watching the two girls on the log and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. One of the women on the log, with the guaranty from the guide that it was a woman, she could have sworn was a cross-dressed man. The guide had fun and decided to tease Steve with the other woman, who was wearing skin tight clothing and had long purple hair, which Steve probably thought was a dye job. So when the guide started talking about how the purple-haired one was more to her liking, Steve started blushing. A couple of moments later, the purple-haired one hit the other woman and the other woman went flying. So Steve turned to where she thought Ranma was to ask her what she thought of the fight, but was surprised to see that Ranma wasn't there.

Steve looked around and found both Ranma and Genma sitting at a picnic table that was covered in food, eating it like food was going out of style. Steve couldn't believe that they were still hungry from when they had last ate, but it was then that Steve noticed a sign that was sitting on the other side of the picnic table of Ranma and Genma, and saw that it was in Chinese. So she turned to get the guide's attention to translate for her.

"Hey, Guide, what does that sign say on that picnic over there?" Steve asked once she got the guide's attention. The guide then looked at the picnic table that Steve was pointing at.

"It says first place." The Guide said to Steve in English, since that's what they been talking in for a while now. It was then that he noticed Ranma and Genma at the table, eating the food that was on it. "Uh, what do they think they're doing?"

"Getting into trouble it seems." Steve said and then made her way to where Ranma and Genma were eating. As Steve approached, she could tell that the villager's had finally noticed what Ranma and Genma were doing. So she got behind them and used her walking stick as a club and swung it so it hit the back of both of their heads. "What the hell do you two think you're doing?"

"Eating." Ranma replied with Genma holding up a sign that said the same thing.

"Is this your food?" Steve asked angrily.

"It was just sitting here unattended, so it was fair game." The sign that Genma held up said.

Steve got fed up at what Genma was saying, and to top it off, they had continued eating despite Steve trying to tell them otherwise. So Steve grabbed her walking stick again and used it to hit them behind the head again to get their attention again. When they had complained about being hit, Steve started chewing them out about taking other people's stuff. Genma tried again with his reasoning, but Steve disputed him with reasoning's of honor, which make Ranma second guess what she was doing. Steve thought she was getting through Ranma when a big mace like item came crashing near Ranma. Steve and Ranma looked at where the mace came from and Steve saw that it was the purple-haired girl that had won the match.

xxxxx

Shampoo had just defeated her warrior sister, Dowel, for the village championship. As her fellow Amazons cheered for her, she felt elated that all her hard work has finally paid off. As she got off the Challenge log, her fellow Amazons came up to her and started congratulating her. As she was about to receive her prize, a fellow Amazon gasped and pointed at the prize table. When Shampoo and the other Amazons looked at the prize table, Shampoo became enraged that an outsider and her pet panda was eating her food that she rightfully won. So she grabbed her bonbori's and headed to the table to teach that outsider not to mess with an Amazon.

As she approached the table in order to teach the outsider her place, she stopped in surprise at what she suddenly saw. A girl that looked younger than the one eating her food came up behind the one eating her food and hit them in the back of the head with what appeared to be a walking stick. She then watched as the girl then started talking to the girl and the panda with what Shampoo could tell to be Japanese, and the little girl appeared to be angry. Then she got another surprise when she saw that the panda hold up a sign, like it was answering the little girl. Shampoo watched as the little girl became angrier at the other girl and panda as they seemed to ignore her and continue eating. Shampoo watched as the little girl took her walking stick and hit the both of them again and started yelling at them again. Shampoo got fed up and decided to stake her claim to the offender of her prize and threw one of her bonbori at a section of the picnic table near the red haired girl, causing the two girl's and the panda to look surprised when the bonbori hit the picnic table. Shampoo smiled and walked over to the red haired girl and pointed her other bonbori at her.

" What do you and your pet panda think you are doing eating my prize? " Shampoo said in Chinese, which cause blank stares from the two girls. She then watched as the little girl turned to the Jusenkyo guide, who Shampoo just noticed was there, and asked him something in a language she didn't recognized.

xxxxx

"What did she say?" Steve asked the guide in English.

"She say why your friend and her pet panda eating her prize." The guide told Steve in English also.

"See; now look at what you and your stomach have done." Steve turned to face Ranma and told Ranma that as she poked Ranma in her stomach, switching back to Japanese.

"What did I do?" Ranma asked confused.

"You and your father just ate that girl's prize for winning the tournament that was going on." Steve replied to Ranma. Before Ranma or Genma could reply, the girl started saying something again and it sounded like she wasn't very happy either. So both Steve and Ranma turned to the guide for translation.

"She say quit ignoring her and what you going to do about what you have done." The guide replied in Japanese so both of them could understand him.

"So you're saying if I challenge the girl and I win, then the food will be mine by right?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, basically." The guide replied.

"Good, then tell her I challenge her for the food." Ranma said.

"You think that is wise?" Steve asked, suddenly concerned about the whole affair for some reason.

"Don't worry, I have it under control." Ranma said smiling. Steve looked at her in concern but didn't say anything else as she watched the guide talk to the purple haired girl.

"She accepts your challenge." The guide said when he finished talking to the girl.

So Ranma and Shampoo hoped on top of the log and faced each other as the rest of the village and Steve, Genma, and the guide watched what was going to happen. Steve looked around and noticed that most of the villager's were cheering for the girl, and she guessed that her name was Shampoo from what the villager's were shouting out, even though Steve thought that was a strange name for a girl. So she watched and hoped that Ranma didn't get them into to much trouble over this.

Steve watched as Ranma and the girl faced off against each other for a moment. Then Shampoo got tired of Ranma just standing there like the fight didn't matter, so she started to charge Ranma. When Shampoo went in for an easy strike to finish the fight, she was surprised that her target wasn't where she swung her bonbori. She then felt a sharp pain at her chin when then she was lifted off the log and fell over the side of it. As she was falling, Shampoo noticed that the girl had ducked under her swing and then kicked her at the chin. Shampoo was too stunned to realize that she lost by only being hit once. She realized that she lost when she landed on the ground near the challenge log.

Shampoo stood up in time to see that Ranma was being declared the winner of the fight. Shampoo couldn't believe that she lost the fight so quickly, much less the rest of the village. As the referee was raising the arm of Ranma to declare her the winner, Shampoo knew what she had to do and made her way over to where Ranma was standing. As she approached Ranma, Ranma was standing there with a confused look on her face as Shampoo walked up to her and placed a kiss on her cheek, which had the entire village gasp in shock. Ranma then placed her hand on her cheek where Shampoo had kissed her with a surprised look to her face.

The Jusenkyo guide saw what happened and he panicked. He grabbed Steve's hand and then ran over and grabbed Ranma's hand and started running out of the village, not being concerned with Genma since he was in his panda form and could take care of himself. Steve and Ranma were being dragged out of the village not knowing what the guide was doing.

"What's going on?" Steve asked in English as she was running, trying to keep up without losing her footing.

"She give 'Kiss of Death' to your friend here. We must escape now." The guide replied in Japanese.

"What do you mean by that?" Steve asked.

"If an outsider female defeats an Amazon, then that Amazon must give 'Kiss of Death' then kill." The guide replied.

"What!" Exclaimed both Ranma and Steve in surprise at what the guide had said.

But before the guide could say anything else, a bunch of Amazons jumped in front of them. The three of them stopped and stared at the Amazons that cut off their escape route. The guide released their hands and they looked around for possible escape routes and finding none. Then they notice Shampoo approach with a sword in her hand and an angry look to her face. Steve, Ranma, and Shampoo looked at each other; mostly it was Ranma and Shampoo looking at each other with Steve looking at the both of them.

"Stack, stand back, this is between her and me." Ranma said getting into a ready stance.

Steve took several steps off to the side so she was in between the two fighters. As Steve was watching, she was thinking how stupid this situation was, and how could she stop it. Steve watched in worry as she saw Shampoo start her charge towards Ranma. Suddenly something inside Steve clicked and Steve jumped into action. She intercepted Shampoo and used her walking stick to trip Shampoo up. When Shampoo landed on the ground, Steve jumped on top of Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo to the ground, causing the surrounding Amazons to gasp in surprise.

Ranma watched, getting ready to counterstrike any attack that Shampoo was going to do. Just as Shampoo was starting her strike, Ranma watched as Steve suddenly ran over to Shampoo, using her walking stick to trip Shampoo up. So when Shampoo landed on the ground, she watched as Steve jumped on top of Shampoo and used her walking stick to pin Shampoo down on the ground. It was then that Ranma realized that Steve took the fight out of her hands.

"Hey, Stack, what are you doing? This was my fight." Ranma yelled out.

"Huh?" Steve said suddenly regaining enough sense to realize her surroundings.

"You two must go now, or else you two in trouble." The guide called out.

Steve was still only realizing what was going on when she noticed that she was sitting on the back of Shampoo, holding her walking stick so Shampoo couldn't get up. When Steve heard both Ranma and the guide yelling at her, she hesitated on what to do. Her hesitation was just long enough for one of the Amazon Elders to show up. Steve and Ranma saw an old woman approach them by hoping on a huge cane like staff like it was a pogo stick. The old woman approached and turned to face the guide and said something in Chinese. The guide nodded his head and ran off; she then turned to face Steve.

"Come Child, you can release her now; she will not attack you at the moment." The old woman said in Japanese.

Steve looked at the old woman for a moment and then got up off Shampoo. Shampoo stood up, dusted herself off, grabbed her sword and made her way to stand next to the old woman, glaring at Steve and Ranma. As Shampoo was making her way to the old woman, Ranma made her way to stand next to Steve. So then the two groups stood and faced each other with one group wondering what the other group was going to do.

"I must say, you two have diffidently done some interesting fighting." The old woman said in Japanese.

"I am the best." Ranma boasted.

"So you say." The old woman said and then faced Steve. "What about you child?"

"I've only been training for a couple of months now." Steve said and a few of the people around gasped in surprise.

"Modest I see. So what started this commotion?" The old woman asked.

"Why should we tell you, who are you?" Ranma said.

"I'm sorry; my name is Kho Lon, Matriarch of this village." Cologne said.

"Cologne? What kind of name is that?" Ranma asked confused.

"It's her name, so just leave it Red." Steve said to Ranma.

"You're mature for your age." Cologne said to Steve.

"What can I say; I am when I have to be." Steve said.

"That's true. Now maybe you can tell me what is going on in your own words." Cologne said.

"Well, my friend and I came here hoping that someone here could help us with a problem we have. When we got here, we find out that your people are having a tournament, so we stop and watch. While I was talking to our guide about what was going on, the two bottomless pits saw the food on the picnic table and started eating it. Then from there, I guess, it went downhill from there, with the one standing next to you complaining about the food, which I found out turned out to be the prize to the tournament.

"So Red here challenges the girl for the food and wins the fight. The guide then starts panicking and talking about Kisses of Death and killings, while he was dragging us out of this village. We were then surrounded and Red and that girl face off with each other with Red telling me to stand off to the side. I was thinking about the situation when the next thing I know, I'm on top of the girl with you telling me to get off of her." Steve said when she realized that she was missing some of her memory.

"In the heat of a moment, your body may react faster then the mind can register." Cologne said to Steve when she saw the panicked look and then smiled when she saw that Steve nod her head in acceptance. "To let you two know, if your guide didn't explain it well enough, the 'Kiss of Death' states that if an outsider female defeats a female Amazon, the Amazon must give the 'Kiss of Death' and hunt down the female to the ends of the Earth to kill that person."

"But, but..." Steve started stuttering trying to say what she wanted to.

"What kind of stupid law it that?" Ranma asked in surprised disbelief.

"One that has kept this village strong for many generations." Cologne replied.

"That is just not right." Steve finally got out what she wanted to say.

"That is our way of life. Speaking of fighting, how much experience in the Art have you two had?" Cologne asked.

"My entire life." Ranma said with pride.

"As I said, around four months." Steve replied.

"Four months?" Cologne said with a raised eyebrow while several Amazons murmured to themselves.

"I only started training when I was camping out and came across another camper practicing and asked if he would train me. He started showing me the basics of it until he got lost and I came across Red here, and Red agreed to continue my training." Steve replied.

"I see. For one so young and fresh to the Art, you defeated an Amazon pretty easily." Cologne said.

"What!" Exclaimed Ranma and Steve.

" What! " Exclaimed several Amazons and Shampoo.

xxxxx

Shampoo was surprised that the little girl she dismissed as not being a threat tripped her up and pinned her to the ground when she was trying to kill the red haired girl. When her Great-grandmother showed up, she knew the two girls were going to get it. After the little girl was told by Cologne to release her, she got up and made her way to stand next to Cologne. When she saw that both of the girls were standing next to each other, she smiled inwardly, knowing that Cologne was going to get them easily. Her smiled disappeared when her Great-grandmother just talked to them.

Shampoo knew enough Japanese to get the concept of what was being talked about. She couldn't believe that her Great-grandmother was just making small talk with them. What really got to her was when she found out that the little girl had basically started to learn to fight. When Cologne announced that the little girl had defeated her rather easily, she couldn't keep her surprise in any longer.

" What! " Shampoo exclaimed, realizing several Amazons also said it.

Shampoo suddenly became enraged that her Great-grandmother acknowledged that the little girl had defeated her. She then charged the little girl before anyone could react, with the intent of running the girl through with the sword. She smiled inwardly when she noticed the little girl have a surprised look to her face. What roughly caught Shampoo's attention was that the girl's eye's seemed to have unfocused for a moment before the girl ducked the strike. Shampoo was surprised that the girl was able to react to the strike and dodge out of the way. She then felt a sharp pain at her wrist that was holding the sword, causing her to reflexively release her grip on the sword. When the moment the sword hit the ground, Shampoo felt a sharp pain at her temple before blackness came to her.

xxxxx

The surrounding Amazons gasped as they saw Shampoo charge the little girl. What really got to them was when the girl dodged the strike and used her walking stick to disarm Shampoo and then knock her out cold. All the Amazons stood in shocked surprise as they witnessed what most of them probably considered impossible, except for a few Amazons.

Cologne watched as Shampoo charged the little girl in a rage. Cologne had noticed that the girl's eye's unfocused for an instant before the girl had disarmed Shampoo and knocked her out cold. She then looked at the girl and saw, when Shampoo was out for the count; the girl had a surprised look when she saw that Shampoo was laying out cold at her feet. Cologne also looked at the girl's friend and saw that the red head was staring at her friend in surprise. She then decided to hold a council meeting with the two girls.

"I must say, this day has been full of surprises." Cologne started saying. "If you two would follow me, we have much to discuss."

"Uh, okay." Ranma said when she noticed that Steve wasn't going to say anything for a moment.

Ranma led a dazed Steve as they followed Cologne. Ranma heard Cologne order something to the group of Amazons and saw as two of them went over to Shampoo's body and grabbed her arms and dragged her as they followed Cologne. As they were making their way through the village, Ranma had noticed that the Amazons had caught her father and had placed him in a cage with two guards standing nearby. When Genma had noticed them, he held up a sign saying 'Help Me', which Ranma quickly ignored as they stopped in front of a building. Ranma saw that the two Amazons that were dragging Shampoo just release her so laid on the ground.

"Wait here until called." Cologne said.

"What about her?" Ranma asked, pointing to Shampoo.

"Don't worry about her, those two will make sure she is taken care of until out talk is finished." Cologne explained.

"Oh, okay." Ranma said.

"In the mean time, you might want to make sure your friend is coherent before the talks." Cologne said before she entered the building.

After Cologne entered the building, Ranma turned to Steve and grabbed her shoulder and started shaking Steve. Steve came out of her dazed out look and blinked a couple of times. Steve looked around and realized that she didn't know where she was, but could still tell that she was at the Amazon village yet. When Steve asked Ranma what happened, Ranma started laughing a little and said that she had defeated the girl again, but this time a knockout instead of a pin. Steve looked around and saw that Shampoo was on the ground out cold. After several minutes, the both of them were told to enter the building.

When they entered the building, they were escorted until they were standing in front of eleven old women, with Cologne being in the center of them. The Amazons that had escorted them in, bowed to the old women, and then left the area. Ranma and Steve suddenly became self-conscious as the old women just stared at them. After several minutes, Cologne finally started talking.

"We have several things to discuss, we better get to them." Cologne said.

"What do you want to know?" Steve asked.

"I think your names would be nice to start with." Cologne said.

"I am Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes Martial Arts." Ranma said as he then heard murmuring between the old women.

"We are familiar with that type of martial arts." Cologne said and then faced Steve. "And you are child?"

"Steve Stachowicz." Steve replied.

"Strange name for a girl." Cologne said with a slight smile.

"Uh, well I guess." Steve said blushing a little.

"I remember you saying that you were here to ask us for some help. What is it, if I didn't know by who brought you here?" Cologne asked.

"Uh yes, well, we recently were at Jusenkyo, and the guide there said that your village was our best chance of fixing our curses." Steve replied.

"What are your curses?" Cologne asked.

"You're looking at them." Ranma said before Steve could say any thing. There were many gasps from the old women when Ranma had said that.

"So both of you are really males?" Cologne asked.

"Yes and the panda is Red's father." Steve said.

"I see. This definitely puts a complication to this situation." Cologne said solemnly.

"What situation?" Ranma asked.

"We will explain that in a moment, but to answer your question about your curses." Cologne said in which caused Ranma to stop her reply and listened carefully. "The magic of Jusenkyo is strong. There have been no known cures for it; we only have temporary cures that don't last long."

"Oh." Steve and Ranma said, both looked chest fallen.

"We apologize for not being anymore helpful." Cologne said.

"Thanks anyway, just another chapter in the book of my life." Steve said with a smile that seemed a little forced.

"What's this situation?" Ranma asked when the silence got to her.

"The certain situation both of you has with a certain Amazon." Cologne said.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked confused.

"Both of you have defeated her, and one of you has defeated her twice." Cologne said.

"Wh... what about that 'Kiss of Death' rule?" Steve asked nervously.

"Well, for you Ranma, the law is on hold until the other law is annulled." Cologne said.

"What other law?" Ranma asked, happy that the death law is no longer over her head but nervous of the new law.

"The law of Slavery." Cologne replied.

"What's that?" Steve asked.

"Since you have defeated her twice, with witnesses, without giving the 'Kiss of Death' for the first time, she is now your slave." Cologne replied.

"What!" Steve exclaimed surprised, especially when she realized that now she has a slave.

"We have no need for a weak Amazon, so we give that Amazon away." Cologne said.

"So what do I do with her?" Steve asked, confused about the whole situation.

"You can do anything with or do to her as you so desire." Cologne said.

"Is there anything I can do to undo that?" Steve asked, causing several eyes of the old women to open wide in surprise. "We came here to ask a question, not screw someone's life over." That caused several of the women to start talking loudly in Chinese.

"Are you really sure you want to do this." Cologne said after the talking died down a bit. "Most people would take the slave, not fight for its freedom. If you release her, the 'Kiss of Death' on your friend will be reinstated."

"So it's either have a slave and save Red's life, or release the slave and fear when she is going to kill her." Steve said.

"Basically." Cologne said.

"Are you sure there isn't anything we can do to undo this whole mess?" Steve asked and the old women started talking again.

"There is one thing you two may want to try, but the consequences of failing would not be good." Cologne said.

"What is it?" Steve asked suddenly nervous.

"That the two of you would be willing to take a test of sorts. You pass the test, we can work something out, fail it and you two would either be the slaves, or dead."

"That's it?" Steve asked.

"Yes." Cologne said.

"Well, Red, what do you think?" Steve asked Ranma.

"If it's the only thing and you're willing to go through with it, I say let's go for it." Ranma replied.

"Okay." Steve said and then faced the Elders. "We will go through the test you have."

"Very well, then if you two will wait outside, I will escort you two to where you will sleep for the night, once I have finished talking to my fellow Elders." Cologne said

"Okay." Both Steve and Ranma said as they bowed and left the room to wait outside for Cologne to take them to where they were going to be staying for the night.

"Are you sure about this test, much less of them passing it." One of the Elders asked Cologne.

"They both hold promise." Cologne replied.

"Are you sure about that Steve person? He only has a few months of training." Another Elder asked.

"There is something about the both of them I can sense; I know they will both be fine." Cologne said.

Cologne then left the room and went outside to find Ranma and Steve waiting for her. As she approached them, she looked over and saw that Shampoo was conscious; sitting on her knees with the two Amazon's standing over her, with a hopeful look to her face. Cologne then frowned at her and the hope in Shampoo's eyes fell and she lowered her head to look at the ground in shame. Cologne looked up and saw that Ranma and Steve had a confused look to their faces.

"Shall we go now?" Cologne said.

Both of them nodded their heads and watched as Cologne dismissed the two guards. They started following Cologne to where she wanted them to be at. As they were walking, Steve kept glancing behind them and checked out Shampoo. She saw that Shampoo was walking with them with her head lowered. Steve felt sorry for her for putting her in the situation that was now going on. Steve then started thinking what would happen to Shampoo now that her world was taken from her.

"Here we are." Cologne said, knocking Steve out of her thinking.

Steve and Ranma looked at the place in front of them and realized it was probably the second biggest building in the whole village. Cologne smiled at their shocked looks and showed them in, making Shampoo stay outside. When they were inside, Cologne explained that the house they were in was for the Matriarch. After Cologne showed them around, she left them in a bedroom for the night with instructions for them.

"This will be your two's room." Cologne said.

"Whose room was this? It still seems to be in use?" Steve asked.

"It use to belong to your slave." Cologne said.

"Oh, but why did you say used to?" Steve asked.

"Since she is now a slave, everything that she owned now belongs to you." Cologne said smiling at Steve's shocked face. "Also you will keep everything when you pass the test."

"Oh." Steve said still in shock, looking around the room.

"Speaking of the test, you two better get some sleep, the test begins early tomorrow." Cologne said.

"Okay." Ranma said also looking around the room.

As Cologne left the room, Steve and Ranma looked around the room more carefully. They saw everything that Shampoo owned and stuff that she held dearly. After the quick look around, they settled on the bed. They saw how small the bed was, it was big enough for one person to sleep comfortably, but for two, it was just big enough if they were quite friendly. They looked at each other for a bit and then shrugged. Steve started removing her pants so she was only dressed in boxers and a shirt, and Ranma just stayed in her Gi. Ranma took the side of the bed that was nearest to the wall as Steve took the other side.

"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Ranma asked Steve after a while.

"I don't want to mess a girl's life because of your stomach and some laws I didn't know about." Steve replied.

"So what do you think they are going to do?"

"I don't know, But Cologne said that the test was early in the morning, so we better get some sleep." Steve laid there for a moment when she could some how sense what Ranma really wanted to know. "But that don't mean we shouldn't be prepared for them. Remember, Ranma Saotome never loses."

"Yeah, you're right." Ranma said smiling and then the both of them settled in and fell asleep.

xxxxx

Steve awoke in the middle of the night because of an urge to go to the bathroom. When she opened her eyes, she suddenly blushed hotly when she saw where she was laying. She realized that during the night, she had rolled over and was using Ranma as a pillow. She noticed that Ranma had not moved at all, that it was her that had moved around. So she carefully moved off Ranma and got out of bed.

"Sumthin' wrong, Stack?" Asked a sleepy Ranma, causing Steve to jump in surprise.

"No, I just need to use the bathroom." Steve replied.

"Okay." Ranma said and when Steve looked at Ranma again, Ranma had fallen asleep again.

Steve looked at Ranma in surprised confusion until the urge to use the bathroom reminded her of why she woke up in the first place. She left the room and went to use the bathroom. When she was done with the bathroom, she was heading back to the bedroom when she glanced out side and noticed that it was starting to rain. She was about to enter the bedroom when she remembered about Shampoo being outside.

Steve made her way outside and found Shampoo curled into a ball, leaning against the house to get out of the rain. Steve noticed that she was shivering because of the cold wet wind. Not wanting her to get sick because of the rain, she made her way to where Shampoo was, trying to stay out of the rain as best as she could. As she neared Shampoo, Shampoo heard her and looked up. Steve looked at her and could tell she had been crying recently. As Steve approached her, and stood in front of her, Shampoo lowered her head.

Steve then grabbed Shampoo's arm and had her stand up, in which Shampoo reluctantly did so. After Shampoo stood up, Steve then grabbed her hand and started leading her back to the house. When Steve entered the house, Shampoo realized where Steve was heading and she remembered the rules of slaves and stopped walking abruptly, causing Steve to stumble at the sudden stop. Steve looked back at Shampoo in confusion and pulled on Shampoo's arm to get her moving, but Shampoo refused to enter the house.

"I don't know if you can understand me, but it's all right, come on." Steve said to Shampoo.

"Shampoo understand Mistress." Shampoo said quietly, surprising Steve.

"If you can understand me, why didn't you talk before now?"

"Shampoo know only little."

"Oh, don't feel bad, I'm still learning this language also. Japanese is not my primary one."

"Shampoo understand."

"So why won't you enter?"

"Is law." Shampoo said. "Slave can not enter house."

"You are to follow your Mistress' orders correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm ordering you to enter the house with me." Steve saw Shampoo still hesitate. "If you're wondering about the Elder, I'll take the heat since you will be following my orders."

So Steve grabbed Shampoo's hand again and pulled her into the house. Shampoo followed Steve reluctantly until they were in the bedroom Cologne said they could use. When Shampoo realized where they were, she became chest fallen when she realized that all her stuff was no longer hers, so she stood at the spot where Steve released her hand. She watched as Steve went over to her dresser and pulled out a shirt and pants and then handed them to her. Steve told her to change clothes while she went to get some make shift bedding.

When Steve returned with a pillow and a blanket, she noticed that Shampoo was dressed in the new clothes waiting for her. Steve handed Shampoo the blanket and pillow and told her to sleep on the floor. When Shampoo looked at Steve in surprise, Steve explained what she was doing. She told Shampoo that she wasn't going to have any slave of hers get sick on her because she left them in the rain when they didn't do anything wrong. So Shampoo laid on the floor as Steve went back to bed.

As Shampoo lay on the floor, she occasionally glanced up at Steve's sleeping face, thinking of her situation. Shampoo was glad that Steve was her Mistress, because she had seen some of her fellow Amazon's become slaves and their Mistress' were very harsh on them. She was glad that Steve didn't appear to be like them, so she smiled and fell asleep.

xxxxx

Steve felt a tapping on her shoulder that woke her up. She opened her eyes and found herself laying on Ranma again, but this time she had an arm wrapped over Ranma. She then felt the tapping on her shoulder again, so she turned over to see Cologne standing by the bed looking at her.

"It's time for you two to wake up. The test will begin after you two had breakfast, and breakfast is in ten minutes." Cologne said.

"Okay, thanks." Steve replied still sleepy.

"What is she doing in here?" Cologne said with resentment, pointing at Shampoo.

"It was raining outside and I didn't want her to get sick and be useless to me." Steve replied.

"Very well, I accept your reason. Breakfast will be ready shortly." Cologne said. She then hopped out of the room and Steve looked down at Shampoo and saw her looking at her with a surprised expression. Steve then smiled at her warmly.

"I told you it would be all right." Steve said to Shampoo and she just nodded her head. Steve then turned to the sleeping Ranma and started to shake her shoulder. "Hey Red, time to wake up." Ranma just groggily mumbled stuff, which confused Steve when Ranma woke up easily last night. "Come on Red, breakfast is shortly."

Ranma quickly sat up, surprising Steve a bit too lean back, causing her to fall out of the bed. Shampoo quickly rushed over to help Steve stand when Steve landed on the floor. Once Steve was standing, she realized that Shampoo was still holding her. She looked down and saw Shampoo's hands cupping her breasts, so she then looked upped at Shampoo.

"Um, Shampoo, I'm standing, you can release me now." Steve said and Shampoo removed her hands. "Thanks."

"What's she doing in here?" Ranma asked.

"I brought her in to get out of the rain." Steve replied.

"Oh, I was wondering why she was there when I noticed her when I was woken up." Ranma said.

"When was that?" Steve asked.

"When you decided to use me as a pillow for the second time." Ranma replied.

"Uh, I wouldn't say it was on purpose. Sorry about that." Steve said, blushing hotly.

"No problem, anyway, you said something about breakfast?" Ranma said.

"Yeah, Cologne's waiting for us. After breakfast, the test begins." Steve said.

"Okay." Ranma said as she left the room for breakfast. Steve then pulled her pants on and followed Ranma. Shampoo looked down at her hands for a moment and then smiled to herself before she followed Steve out.

When they entered the dining room, Ranma and Steve sat at the table while Shampoo knelt on the floor behind Steve. Ranma and Steve ate a quick breakfast of fruit and some bread with some fruit juice. While they were eating, Steve noticed that Shampoo wasn't eating, that she was looking at the food hungrily. So Steve grabbed a slice of bread and passed it to Shampoo. Shampoo looked confused at the slice for a moment before she then quickly took the slice and ate it quickly. When they were done eating, two Amazon guards showed up to escort them to the beginning of the test.

The two Amazons blind folded Ranma and Steve, after much complaint from Ranma, Cologne explained that it is for the purpose of the test that they don't know the route back. After the blindfolds were in place, the both of them were escorted to the starting point. Once the both of them left with their Amazon escort, Cologne turned to Shampoo.

"It's time for you to get ready for your part." Cologne said.

"Yes, Elder." Shampoo said and then the both of them left the building.

xxxxx

Ranma and Steve were being escorted for a while. They could tell that they were being lead through forests, plains, over bridges, and other places. After what seemed to be over an hour of walking, they were told to remove their blindfolds. After blinking several times due to the sudden bright light and looked around. They saw the two Amazon escorts standing off to the side, with one of the village Elders standing in front of them.

"I am Lo Shin. I will tell you what the test will be about." Said Lo Shin.

"Okay." Replied Ranma and Steve.

"This test is simple; you have until sun down to reach a finish point marked by a staff looking like this one." Lo Shin said, pointing to the staff she was holding. "To inform you, this is a test to the death or capture, in which both of you must avoid either one. Both of you must reach the peninsula that is the finish point alive, so no sacrifices for the other to make it. It is just going to be you two versus several groups of Amazon hunting parties and any traps that they have made."

"How are we going to know we are going in the right direction?" Steve asked.

"The path will have markers to remind you of the direction in which you must go." Lo Shin replied.

"So we just gotta reach the end before we get killed or captured, right?" Ranma asked.

"That is correct, for if you are captured, you will become slaves. The route begins that way down the path, so you better hurry, times a wasting." Lo Shin said. "I hope both of you make it."

Steve and Ranma looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders and started down the path, failing to see the Amazons smiling at them.

xxxxx

They ran down the path for a half an hour before Steve needed to take a break. While Steve was trying to catch her breath, she asked Ranma what they were going to do, while Ranma was on look out for any ambushers. Ranma didn't know except to get to the end and pass the test so they could get the Amazons off their backs. Steve asked if doing this was really a good idea to do. Ranma thought for a moment and told her that either way the Amazons were going to try and kill them, just this way they had a chance of annulling any death treat they had created.

"Well, let's get going before they come upon us." Steve said after she caught her breath.

After hurrying down the path for a couple of minutes, they came upon a big clearing. Right before they entered the clearing, Steve grabbed Ranma's arm, stopping her in her tracks. Before Ranma could complain about being stopped abruptly, she noticed Steve telling her to be quiet with a finger over her lips. Ranma quickly picked up the meaning and quickly surveyed their area. After not finding any thing, she looked at Steve in confusion. Steve bent down and placed her finger gently on a string that was two steps away from Ranma. Ranma realized that is was a trip wire to a trap.

Steve pushed Ranma back a bit and grabbed a nearby tree branch. She then tossed the branch so it landed on the wire. The moment the stick landed on the wire, two logs came swinging by and both of them realized that if they had tripped the trap by walking over it, then they would be dead by being hit by the two logs, or at least severely injured. Steve then told Ranma that they probably set traps last night, so there was probably several more along the way, especially along the path. Ranma nodded in agreement and they decided to go around the clearing, being very cautious of any traps that they might encounter.

Being careful along the way through the forest, they only came across three more traps. The thing that got to them was that the traps were becoming more deadly and harder to spot. The last trap that they came across had used vines to set the trap off in which Steve was the one that set it off by looking any more trip wires. When Steve tripped over the vines, a pit opened in front of the vines, and Steve started falling into the pit. It was only Ranma's quick reflexes that saved Steve when Ranma grabbed Steve's right arm.

Steve was grateful that Ranma was able to save her, especially when she looked down and saw a bunch of wooden spikes at the bottom of the pit. Ranma pulled Steve up and Steve thanked Ranma once her heart rate slowed down, in which Ranma said to Steve thankfully that Steve was now in a lighter body, Steve couldn't agree more with that statement.

When they realized that the traps were changing, they decided to head toward the path and hope the traps would end soon. They found the path easily enough, and started following it off to the side of the path, while keeping an eye out for any more danger. By this time, Steve came across a decent sized stick to use as a walking stick and to use it to help detect any more traps that they might come across.

They walked down the side of the path some when Ranma suddenly stopped and grabbed the back of Steve's shirt to stop her. Steve turned to look at Ranma questionably when she noticed Ranma get into a ready stance. Steve whipped around just as five Amazons jumped out of the trees and bushes and started attacking.

Ranma went and started defending against three of the Amazons that started attacking, while the other two went after Steve. The Amazons that were attacking Ranma were hard pressed to over come her. Ranma was dodging and weaving around all the attacks that the Amazons were throwing, which angered the three Amazons because they weren't hitting their target. Ranma went on the offensive when she heard a scream of pain from Steve which caused her to glance over at Steve and saw that she was on the ground, in the fetal position, holding her left side. Ranma realized that the ones Steve was fighting hit her ribs that were injured from when she had hit her.

The distraction gave the Amazons a chance to hit Ranma, but Ranma's danger sense warned her of the attack and was able to move out of the way, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the Amazon from cutting through the sash of her Gi, causing her Gi to open up and reveal that she wasn't wearing anything underneath it. When Ranma did quick sides glance over at Steve, she noticed that the two Amazons that were fighting Steve, were going for a death blow, so Ranma then started attacking the three she was facing.

With the distraction of Ranma's bouncing breasts, the three Amazons froze just long enough for Ranma to knock two of them out cold with punches and use the third one as an item to throw into the two attacking Steve. Ranma quickly followed through with her throw so when the two got back up, Ranma quickly rendered them out cold. Ranma did a quick survey and smiled when she saw that all their attackers were out cold, she then went over to check on Steve.

"Hey Stack, you okay?" Ranma asked in concern.

"Except for reaggravting my bruised ribs, I'm fine. Thanks for the save." Steve said to Ranma, not noticing the way Ranma was dressed at the moment.

"No problem." Ranma smiled, and then went and helped Steve to stand up, who hisses in pain, but stood up without much trouble, except favoring her left side. It was then that Steve noticed the condition of Ranma's Gi and started blushing at the sight she was seeing.

"Um, Red, what happened to the sash of your Gi?" Steve managed to say without stuttering.

"Your scream of pain distracted me enough that one of them was able to cut my sash off." Ranma replied not knowing what Steve's problem was.

"Well, as much as I'm enjoying the view, how about closing your top until I find a new sash for you." Steve said.

"Huh?" Ranma was confused at what Steve was saying and looked down at her top and saw her breasts hanging out in plain view. "Oh." Ranma quickly closed her top and held it shut in her hand; she then looked at a smiling Steve. "Pervert."

"Hey, I'm not the one advertising." Steve said smiling at a fuming Ranma.

Steve then managed to walk over to one of the unconscious Amazons and removed a red silk sash from her and handed over to Ranma. Ranma started complaining about wearing women's clothes when Steve pointed out it was either the sash or go around holding the Gi shut. Ranma grumbled about the situation but reluctantly grabbed the sash and tied it around her to hold the Gi top shut. While Ranma was tying the sash around her, she noticed that Steve was going around each of the girls and started taking things from them. When Ranma asked about it, Steve mentioned that she wasn't going to go unprepared during the next fight and was taking some things to help out.

Ranma took a look at the things that Steve was collecting and saw that it was a couple bundles of rope, a couple of knives, some trail mix of some sort, and a bow staff from one of the Amazons. When Steve loaded herself with all the gear, Ranma saw that Steve could barely stand due to all the weight being pressed on her sore ribs. Ranma knew that Steve had something planned; she just hoped that Steve was able to pull it off. When Ranma saw Steve stumble for the third time in also the same amount of seconds, Ranma went over and scooped Steve into her arms. Steve gave a startled gasp when Ranma picked her up and just looked at Ranma in confused surprise.

"I figured we better get going before they wake up or reinforcements arrive. But with you being injured and deciding to carry all that stuff, I figured I would help you out." Ranma said.

"Oh, thanks." Steve said and then gasped again when Ranma started running through the forest.

As Ranma was running through the forest, Steve held onto all her things that she had collected, and pulled herself into a tight ball to help be less of a drag on Ranma's running. After running for several minutes, Ranma had stopped running and set Steve down so she could catch her breath. When Ranma was catching her breath, Steve did a quick look around and saw that they had traveled a great distance for such a short amount of time. So once Ranma had rested enough, she asked Steve if she was ready to get going again, in which Steve told Ranma to rest for a little bit longer.

"Hey Red, you're not upset about me using you as a pillow?" Steve asked.

"If you don't start doing that when you are in your guy form, I won't have a problem, just don't get to frisky on me." Ranma said.

"Hey!" Steve exclaimed.

"Got you." Ranma said smiling at Steve's expression.

"Fine, you got me on that one." Steve said and looked up towards the sky at the position of the sun. "Well, I guess we better get going, the sun is setting soon. I can't believe we've been wondering around this forest for most of the day."

"That is what I think part of this stupid test is about; to see how fast we can finish it. It practically seems just a test of speed while trying to avoid time delays." Ranma said.

"I guess so." Steve said and then past some of the trail mix to Ranma. "Here, when we finish with this lets get going."

"Okay." Ranma said and started eating the trail mix.

When they finished eating what they had of the trail mix, Ranma gathered Steve in her arms again and started running again. After running for a bit, they came across a path and they realized that it was the path that they were suppose to be traveling on. After following the trail for a bit, they came to a top of a hill, in which Ranma pushed Steve off to the side. After Steve commented on being shoved about, Ranma pointed to the bottom of the hill.

Steve looked down and saw that the bottom of the hill opened to a river gorge. The path down that they were going to follow ended up to a rope bridge wide enough to fit one person. The gorge was wide enough that trying to jump it would be out of the question. But the thing that caught Steve's attention and the reason that Ranma pushed them out her out of the way was that surrounding the bridge on both ends was a group of twenty Amazons. Steve glanced over at Ranma and saw that Ranma was thinking of a way to cross the gorge without having to deal with all the Amazons. Steve started thinking of ways but couldn't think of anything to help their situation. Steve then glanced down river and suddenly started thinking of an idea that came to her.

When an idea came to Steve's mind, Steve got Ranma's attention and signaled for Ranma to follow her. Ranma had a confused look but saw that Steve had an idea and followed her as she made her way along the gorge. After several minutes of walking along the gorge, Steve stopped at a point and looked around. Steve saw that they were far enough away from the bridge so the Amazons that were there wouldn't see them, and it was the first section of the gorge that was narrow enough to do what Steve was thinking. When they stopped, Ranma asked Steve what she was thinking in which Steve started explaining the idea she had.

Steve explained to Ranma that she was thinking of creating a rope bridge of their own. Ranma looked confused at the idea and Steve then explained that Steve was going to have Ranma throw a knife tied to the rope to the other side and use the rope to cross the gorge. Ranma then got what Steve was saying and thought through the idea and reasoned that it was a good idea. It would help them cross the gorge and it was done away from the Amazons so they wouldn't see them going across the gorge, so Ranma agreed to help out.

So Steve then grabbed the rope she had and tied both of the ropes together and one end of the rope to a knife. Steve then handed the rope over to Ranma and Ranma then tested the rope and started guessing how she should throw the rope. She looked on the other side of the gorge and saw a sturdy enough tree to throw the rope at. Ranma then gripped the rope and started swinging the rope and then threw it towards the tree. Both of them watched as the knife sailed across the gorge and wrap itself around a thick branch the knife stuck into the tree. Steve looked at what happened in surprise as Ranma was tying the other end of the rope off on their side.

"How'd you do that?" Steve asked Ranma in surprise as Ranma was tying of the other end of the rope.

"'Cause I'm that damn good." Ranma said smiling to Steve when she finished tying off the rope.

"Uh, sure." Steve said and decided to drop the subject because she knew she wasn't going to understand it anyway.

Once they had made sure that the rope would hold their weight, they started crossing the gorge. Once they got to the other side of the gorge, Ranma had to help Steve get across from the half way point because Steve was getting tired and sore from trying to cross the rope. But once they were on the other side, Steve laid on the ground and thanked what every God was listening for letting her make it across. Ranma just chuckled and told Steve how out of shape she was if she got tired from crossing the gorge, Steve just told Ranma that she wasn't as active as Ranma when she was young.

Ranma told Steve that time was running out and they still had to back track to find the path that would take them to the finish line. Steve reluctantly got back up and griped the only thing she had left from the group of Amazons, which was the Bo staff, to help her stand up. Ranma was there to help steady Steve whenever Steve stumbled. They had made their way back to the point that they could notice the Amazons at the bridge. So they made sure they didn't make any noise and took the long way around the group of Amazons and made it to a point they found the path again. Once they found the path, they kept an eye open for any Amazons and continued down the path.

After several minutes of walking, they came across what appeared to be the end of the path, for it ended in a big clearing. Once they got there, they looked around and saw that at one side of the clearing was at a plateau and it was a drop off for a long ways down. They backed up a little ways and wondered what they were suppose to do, they both figured this is where they were suppose to be for the end of the test, as far as they could tell, but both of them had this feeling that there was one more thing that was going to happen. Just as they both thought that thought, they heard a rustle of leaves and when they turned towards that direction, a figure jumped out of the bushes.

When the figure landed in front of them, the both of them noticed that the figure was Shampoo, and she had an apologetic look to her face as she held a sword at them. Once Ranma and Steve got over their shock of seeing Shampoo, they reacted in time to dodge her initial attack at them. When Steve got back to her feet, she tried to find out what was going on and try and reason with Shampoo. Shampoo told Steve she was sorry for what she was doing said that she must do what she was doing. Once she finished talking, she started attacking again.

Shampoo knew that the more dangerous one to fight with was Ranma, so she centered her attacks on Ranma, but didn't totally ignore Steve this time. Ranma mainly was just dodging her attacks as Shampoo kept striking with her sword. Ranma had glanced over at Steve and saw a look that Steve had in her face that Ranma didn't like, because she realized what the look meant. The look meant that Steve knew the final stage of the test was to prove Shampoo didn't lose on accident that Shampoo was fighting to kill the both of them or die trying. With talking to Steve last night about the situation, Ranma didn't want to mess with someone's life and she finally realized that it was her stomach that had gotten her in this situation to begin with. Also Ranma saw this look in Steve's eyes that made Ranma think of a way to finish the fight before anyone was killed.

Ranma smiled inwardly at the thought that Steve had created feelings for the girl she was presently dodging the strikes from. She started thinking of a way to end this fight so that no one would have to be killed. An idea popped in her head and decided to go for it, the only thing that the idea would cause if it failed was someone's death. So when Shampoo did a strike towards Ranma, Ranma reversed the attack which caused Shampoo to be thrown towards the cliffs edge. Shampoo was able to stop herself before she slid off the edge. Steve stared in shock as she saw Ranma toss Shampoo towards the edge and sighed in relief as she stopped herself before she went over. No one noticed the sigh of relief that Ranma did as the attack she did didn't toss Shampoo over the side. She then watched as Shampoo stood back up on her feet.

Steve and Ranma watched as Shampoo stood back up and got into a ready stance and got ready to attack again. Suddenly a noise was heard and the ground beneath Shampoo's feet suddenly gave out of under her. As she fell down, she dropped her sword and was able to grab the edge but the ground was too loose and her hand holds were crumbling in her grip, causing her to slide down the edge. When the ground started to give under Shampoo, Steve was in motion to try and catch her, so when Shampoo was sliding off the edge, Steve did a flying leap to catch Shampoo's arm as she was slipping off the edge, so Steve was laying on the ground, holding Shampoo's arm as she was hanging over the cliff's edge.

Ranma seeing what was happening, rush towards Steve to help her out before the ground gave out again. Ranma grabbed the back of Steve's pants and used it to help leverage Steve so Ranma can help them up. Ranma was pulling Steve back which was helping pull Shampoo back up. Once Shampoo was over the cliff's edge, she was able to help pull herself up and when they were far enough away from the edge of the cliff, the realization of what just happened dawned on Shampoo and she saw that Steve was next to her wondering if she was alright. Shampoo realized that Steve was concerned for her, which she couldn't understand because she was there to kill them, but Steve had risked her life to save Shampoo's and the realization of everything else, Shampoo just busted into tears.

Shampoo wrapped her arms around Steve and just started crying on Steve's shoulder. When Shampoo started crying and grabbed onto Steve, Steve just wrapped her arms around Shampoo and just rocked her as she continued crying and was mumbling things in Chinese. After a minute of Shampoo's crying, they heard another rustle of leaves and turned to face the noise. Ranma and Steve saw Cologne with two Amazons enter the clearing and looked around. When Cologne rested her look on the three of them, she sighed and started talking.

"Congratulations, you have passed the test." Cologne said.

"What was this about?" Steve asked. "Why was Xian pu trying to kill us again?"

"If you will follow me, we will explain everything to the both of you." Cologne said and then turned around and started hopping away but stopped suddenly. "Also, bring your slave with you." And then continued hopping away from the clearing.

Ranma and Steve looked at each other and just shrugged their shoulders. Shampoo in the meantime had stopped crying when Cologne entered the clearing and stood up and stood behind Steve with a lowered head. Steve stood up and both of them started following the two Amazons toward the trail back to the village, with Shampoo following behind them all. Steve and Ranma were surprised at how close the village was to where they just were at; in fact, they could see the cliff's edge when they had entered the village. While en route to wherever they were going, Ranma had noticed that Genma was still in his panda form and was still in the cage, with some bamboo shoots in the cage. After a few minutes of walking more, they stopped in front of the council building. The Amazons showed Steve and Ranma in as Shampoo stayed out side.

Once inside the council room, Ranma and Steve were facing the Elders and was wondering what was going to happen. After several minutes of the Elder's talking to each other in Chinese, Cologne then turned to face the both of them.

"I guess you two want to know what is going to happen." Cologne said.

"It would be nice." Ranma said.

"Very well." Cologne said nodding her head. "As part of our agreement of you passing the test, these are the terms we have come up with and hope you will approve of them."

"Go ahead." Steve said.

"By passing the test, we have made the both of you members of the Amazon tribe, but only in your female forms. If you will let me finish before interrupting me, all will be explained." Cologne started saying when she saw Ranma was about to argue with her. Ranma decided to let Cologne explain before she started complaining. "As I was saying, as for the rest of the village, they just think that what you went through was just a test to become members of the tribe. So as I said, it is only in your female forms that we will recognize you as members of the tribe. But just in case either of you are splashed with warm water; the story the two of you will say is that you both were splashed with heated Jusenkyo water.

"Any threats upon you before this meeting is now no more, you have a clean slate as far as we are concerned, but we will expect you to honor our laws for as long as you are in China. So what we are asking is if the both of you are willing, we will teach you some of our arts to you if you are willing to stay for a minimum of two weeks with us, so we can also teach you what the laws of our people are. Do the two of you find this acceptable?"

"Why was Xian pu trying to kill us at that clearing?" Steve asked.

"It was her last chance to prove herself an Amazon rather then a slave and she failed. Do you find our terms acceptable?" Cologne replied.

Both Ranma and Steve looked at each other and they could practically know what the other was thinking and they both thought that it was going to be the best that they could get for what has happened. So the both of them agreed to stay two weeks to allow them what the elders had in store for the two latest members of the tribe. Once the agreement was made, Steve realized that they hadn't talked about the reason Steve had suggested the test in the first place, and that was to free Shampoo from her slavery.

"What about Xian pu and her slavery?" Steve asked.

"I will speak with you in private about that." Cologne said and looked at her fellow Elders.

The other Elders nodded their head in respect and left the room by a side door. Steve had turned to Ranma and told her to wait outside for her to return. Ranma nodded since she knew that whatever was said was going to involve Steve and Shampoo's future. Ranma left and after a few moments, Steve turned towards Cologne and waited for her to speak on the matter that Steve had asked about.

"So you want Xian pu freed from our slavery law." Cologne said.

"Yes I do." Steve said.

"We have agreed to your terms and have freed her from our slavery law."

"But why is she still outside as a slave?"

"It is the reason I wanted to talk to you in private. I have seen how you have treated her in the past day. You have brought her in from the rain before she could catch a cold, gave her some of your food in which she should not have been as honored to have, and when she was trying to kill the both of you in that clearing, you both risk your life to save her from death. So even if she was not a slave, she now owes the both of you a blood debt of honor. Before I ramble on to much, to let you know, Xian pu is my great-granddaughter and I am glad you have treated her well these past two days, with the exception of the time at the tournament."

"She's your granddaughter?" Steve said surprised as Cologne nodded her head in agreement.

"So speaking of such, since you have fought for her freedom, it lies on her family to decide if they want her back with them or find her a disgrace and make her stay as a slave."

"So my fighting for her was for nothing?"

"No, it was for something, it was to prove you were sincere in what you wanted. Because of that, I have a request to ask of you."

"What is it?"

"As you know, I am the Matriarch of this here village, which would make my great-granddaughter my heir to that position, but I fear that because of her skill in the arts, it has made her not stable to take the position. My request is for you to play along with the idea of her still being your slave in order for her to learn some humility. Once I figured she has learned enough humility, I will announce to the rest of the village that her slavery is over and she is an Amazon warrior again."

"So basically you want me to have her be a slave so she can see the views of the other side of the world so she doesn't react too harshly to certain circumstances?"

"That is basically what I was saying."

"I guess I have no choice about this, so I accept your request."

"I thank you for willingly take care of her and not be the harsh master to a slave that has been seen here, but I want you not to tell anyone about Xian pu's situation until I deem it necessary to tell."

"Your welcome I guess and I promise not to tell anyone about this."

"Here you go and have fun with her for a while." Cologne said as she handed Steve a leash and collar. "When you are done having her show the two of you around the village, the place where you stayed at will be your two's room for the next two weeks."

"Okay. But what's with the leash and collar?"

"The first step in teaching her humility begins with it." Cologne said smiling.

So Steve walked out of the building and saw Ranma standing off to the side waiting and Shampoo nearby looking a little defeated. Steve felt sorry for what she was about to do and walked over to Shampoo and held out the collar to Shampoo. Ranma was confused at what was going on as she saw Shampoo look surprised at the collar but reluctantly placed the collar around her neck and Steve fasten a leash to the collar. Steve then walked over to Ranma while bring Shampoo behind her by the leash.

Ranma had asked what went on and Steve explained that the Elders found Shampoo unworthy to be released from the slavery law. Ranma nodded at Steve and Steve told Ranma that the Elders told him that they should have Shampoo show us around the village so we could become familiar with it for training to start tomorrow. Steve also told Ranma that they had the same room to sleep in while they stayed in the village. So Steve had Shampoo start showing them around and inwardly winced as she saw the other Amazons laugh at Shampoo as she was being lead by a leash as she showed Ranma and her around the village. Once the tour was finish, they went to the room and went to bed to get well rested before the training began in the morning. While Steve and Ranma slept on the bed again, Steve had Shampoo sleep on the floor in the room.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

To Be Continued