After reluctantly deciding not to use the instant Nannichuan powder on Katsu-nishiki, Akari Unryu finally managed to ask what her unexpected guests were doing on her farm. The Amazons told her. The fact they were a hunting party disturbed her. The fact they were hunting Ryoga Hibiki disturbed her more. The reasons why they hunted Ryoga disgusted her. The reasons behind that, she simply could not believe.
It was odd. Ranma actively wanting to kill Ryoga didn't really surprise her. The gap between 'rival' and 'enemy' wasn't that great. But the claim that her beloved had... raped... anyone, even an enemy, let alone Ranma, was beyond her ability to accept. So she didn't.
"You're lying," Akari ground out through clenched teeth. "You lie, you lie, you lie, you lie..."
Shampoo and Cocoa exchanged nervous glances. Every sumo pig Akari owned watched their mistress get angrier by the second.
"...you lie, you lie, you lie..."
Sheer weight of numbers and the weight of those numbers favored the pig farmer. The situation had gone from comical to dire.
"...you lie, you lie, you lie..."
Before Akari could work herself up to ordering an attack, Shampoo slide-stepped behind the pig farmer and struck the pressure points that normally began the Xi Fa Xiang Gao. Lacking the herbal shampoo required for memory manipulation, the opening maneuver from that technique still served as an adequate stunner.
Holding her victim up by the armpits, in a low voice Shampoo stated, "I am going to set her in her porch swing and then we are going to quietly, carefully, and most of all calmly, walk out of here."
"We are Amazon warriors! We do not run from a fight!" Strong Gal replied in a cross between a roar and a whisper.
Shampoo would have slapped her had she not been otherwise occupied. "We are not here to fight a herd of pigs," she hissed venomously. "We are here to find Ryoga Hibiki before Ranma kills him in order to save his genetic line. Despite my not seeing what use the Joketzu have for the genes of a rapist."
"Elder Cologne, your own great grandmother, ordered it. -That- is enough." Behind her, some of the pigs started to wander away. Katsu-nishiki was a distinct exception.
"We will discuss this later."
Later turned out to be eight minutes and over a kilometer west of the Unryu farm. Or it would have been had Cocoa not detected the approach of something coming through the forest at the same time a freight train's whistle rolled across the rugged Japanese countryside. She raised her hand in the near universal sign of 'stop'.
The impending argument was instantly set aside as the entire hunting party became motionless. Weapons ready, listening and observing with their entire beings, they quickly and silently spread out to find what was out there before whatever it was found them. It didn't take long.
Hogs raised in China are not much like the painstakingly bred, raised and trained sumo pigs of the Unryu farm. They are primarily considered sources of food with other useful products obtainable from their carcasses. So the fact that pigs are among the smartest of domestic animals (Unryu pigs being significantly smarter than average) meant little to the Amazons. They also have well developed senses of smell. This meant despite not being specifically trained for it, Katsu-nishiki was capable of tracking the hunting party by scent and had done so. Had he been a ninja pig instead of a sumo pig, he might have made a better approach.
"Look!" Jello cried while pointing back the direction they had come, "Strong Gal's husband tracked her down. It must be true love." She thought the situation very humorous and began laughing so hard, she could barely hold onto her sword.
Rage burned in Strong Gal's eyes, flaring a red battle aura into being. With a strained voice, she ground out, "That's... Not... FUNNY!" before hurling her spear-mace at her laughing tribeswoman.
Products of their own selective breeding program, Amazon warriors are stronger, faster and tougher than most. Amongst themselves, this tends to even out. But Strong Gal had been runner up at the tournament where Ranma Saotome and the Amazon tribe first crossed paths and a better fighter than anyone present except Shampoo. The spear-mace flew straight and true at her target's head. Jello never saw it coming and died before she hit the ground.
Shock ran through the hearts and minds of Soap, Susie, Shampoo and Cocoa. Jello, the tribal sister they had known and loved was gone. Snuffed out by the berserker rage of another of their tribal sisters. Individually, yet all at once, in their souls they declared Strong Gal an outsider and any outsider woman who defeated an Amazon warrior was to be killed. The formality of the Kiss of Death could be applied after the fact.
Cocoa got the first shot off, an arrow intended for Strong Gal's heart. In her chi-enhanced state, Strong Gal snatched it from the air and flung it toward Soap, the closest target. Fortunately, arrows are not designed to be hand thrown and that fact explained why she only grazed the young woman instead of skewering her through the gut.
Berserkers were a rare, but not unknown, phenomenon in Amazon history. Stories were told that gave them the strength of hundreds and the power to destroy entire armies. How they would slay and slay until there was no one left to kill save themselves. But those were only stories. The reality was bad enough.
Strong Gal breathed hard and fast as she super-oxygenated her blood. Her heart raced ever faster to supply that fuel to her body. Left alone, heart failure might eventually kill Strong Gal without her former tribeswomen doing anything but surviving. But the situation was far worse than that.
The burning red chi that lit the forest clearing increased Strong Gal's formidable strength and amped her reflexes to Amiguriken levels. With a weapon to focus through, she could shred opponents at a distance, much like the chi-claws of the neko-ken. Strong Gal no longer felt pain, or much of anything other than a desire to kill any who stood against her.
The Amazons didn't care. Strong Gal had to die and they were going to kill her or perish in the attempt.
Confident in her invulnerability, Strong Gal stalked over to Jello's corpse to retrieve her weapon. She instinctively batted two more arrows out of the air without thinking. When Soap rushed in to strike with her twin maces, she was backhanded with enough force to lose both weapons and consciousness.
"Aim lower!" Shampoo shouted to Cocoa as she rushed the berserker. The next arrow, below easy snatching range, pierced Strong Gal's left calf. Her leader's plan was obvious: Hamstring the bitch, then they could kill her from a safe distance. But before Cocoa could fire again, Shampoo entered close combat with the frenzied woman. Not willing to risk the shot and knowing her whip wouldn't do enough damage to be worthwhile, she went to check on Soap.
As soon as Strong Gal began moving towards Jello's body, Susie knew she intended to regain her spear-mace. She knew the old tales as well as any. Strong Gal must not be allowed to retrieve her weapon. She ran toward her fallen tribal sister and on arrival took a mighty swing despite the damage it would inflict on the corpse. Jello had already gone to meet her ancestors, she wouldn't mind.
Lopping off the mace head in one blow, she turned, swung and removed the other end's spear point with a flowing chop. Not stopping to admire her handiwork, she turned toward Shampoo and Strong Gal only to see Strong Gal looming over her, fists upraised, and see Shampoo not at all. In a desperation move, she ducked with the intent of scrambling between her opponent's legs. Halfway through the maneuver, it was rendered moot as the impact of a charging Katsu-nishiki knocked Strong Gal a good twenty meters downfield.
His reasons for joining the fight would have been difficult to explain even if he'd used Instant Nannichuan to become human for the attempt. The feeling that his mistress, in the long run, would be safer if the big glowing human were ground into sausage... would be pretty close.
"BUKI!" Katsu-nishiki charged again. But this time Strong Gal was ready for him. Curling her fingers into claws, she slashed down and caught him in mid stride. The impact was still enough to knock her back a foot, but her fingers tore into the meat of his shoulders as she bodily lifted him off the ground. She slammed the sumo pig into a pine tree adding that pain to what already surged through him. The attack was repeated until the tree's trunk snapped a few feet above the ground. Tiring of her game, she threw Katsu-nishiki to where the Amazons had regrouped by Jello's body. They easily avoided the porcine projectile, who was sorely injured by the rough treatment. The fallen tree was a tougher dodge, but at least the berserk warrior hadn't thought to keep it for use as a club.
Strong Gal once more moved toward her former tribal sisters. She was in no hurry. While her body was being taxed, she had a long way to go before it would fail her. Easily long enough to kill those present with a return to the Unryu farm for dessert.
Cocoa emptied her quiver at the woman glowing from her own rage as her companions spread out. Anything above her mid thigh was batted away without conscious effort. One skilled or lucky shot pierced her target's right knee, finally putting a noticeable kink in her step. She'd been backing up after each shot the entire attack, making sure Strong Gal paid attention to her and no one else. Which had been the entire point. The damage she'd managed to inflict was strictly a bonus.
The danger sense that warns warriors of attacks they cannot see functions, is even enhanced, during a berserk state. But even an early warning is sometimes not enough. An attack came toward her back and Strong Gal turned to meet it. But she had to turn on her left leg, not her significantly damaged right and thus into the attack instead of away from it. Despite that, Strong Gal caught one of the throwing knives appropriated from Jello's gear and thrown by Soap even as the other entered her left side to pierce her spleen. Copious amounts of blood flowed from the wound once she pulled the dagger free. Strong Gal's return throws of those weapons would have split Soap's skull in half had Shampoo not blocked them with Jello's sword. Her own battle aura glowed purple around her and her borrowed weapon.
With Strong Gal's attention focused on Shampoo and Soap, Susie was able to dive in, slash her foe's right leg with her axe, shoulder roll and leap away barely ahead of massive retaliation. Although she felt no pain, the damage had been done. She took a step toward Shampoo only to have her right leg buckle underneath her.
By chi-enhanced will, she didn't fall, but knew it was only a matter of time before she did.
Strong Gal knew she could still crush her enemies if only she could lay hands upon them. But she couldn't reach them on legs that didn't work. And all her strength was useless without a way to use it. And there wasn't even anything she could throw. So she fell to her knees and cried until she was too weak to support the rage that had both fueled her and failed her.
Shampoo cautiously lead the remaining Amazons forward to surround the mortally injured woman after her aura winked out.
"Am... Am I g-going t-to die now?" Strong Gal asked with the voice of a little girl.
"Yes, yes you are," Shampoo told her.
"I-I'm s-sorry... But I t-told y-y-you... I-I'm n-not ma-marrying that d-damn p-p-pig." With a final spasm, Strong Gal pitched forward and departed this life to join her ancestors. Reverently, Shampoo bent forward and gave Kiss of Death to a woman who had already died.
After shattering a few appropriate boulders, which they were glad Strong Gal hadn't thought to use as weapons, they built a cairn for Jiao Lu, burying her with her weapons. After a short discussion, they began building a second cairn for Sihong Gao.
Katsu-nishiki lay dying. He'd managed to crawl away from the battle site, but didn't get far. He hurt and he bled and he couldn't move anymore and he knew, to the extent he could understand the concept, that he was going to die. Not even all his Mistress' love and care could save him. With his last breaths, the wind brought a familiar scent. It was his Mistress' beloved. The one she hoped to mate and litter the next generation of Unryus to raise the next several generations of sumo pigs. Tiny feelings of hope and contentment ran through Katsu-nishiki as he took his last breath. But that last breath carried the hint of another scent, one he almost knew, but changed, twisted. The scent of a woman cruelly used. Joy transformed to despair and the 14th Yokozuna of Pigdom died.
---
Ryoga Hibiki hopped off the freight train at what he hoped was the right point for a visit to the Unryu farm. As the train moved south, the presence of chi in the air captured his attention. It didn't feel quite right, but it was still possible that someone had a new technique he could learn.
As he went to investigate, he briefly got lost. Twice. The only thing that kept him from getting completely lost was remembering to not cross the railroad tracks. As he wandered vaguely in Akari's direction, a shift in the wind brought the coppery odor of blood to his nostrils. He picked up the pace.
"What the hell?" Ryoga Hibiki asked of no one in particular when he found the body of Akari's prize sumo-pig. Massive bruises covered Katsu-nishiki's flanks and large bloody gouges had been torn into his shoulders. Nothing he couldn't have done were he so inclined, but it was clear to him that whoever killed the animal was both powerful and cruel. It was with some worry that he began running in what he hoped was the correct direction through the semi-familiar countryside.
---
"What do we do now cousin?" Soap asked Shampoo after the burial cairns were finished.
With two dead and nothing to show for it, Shampoo replied quietly, "I don't know. I just don't know. I don't know anything anymore." The mechanics of burial she could handle, that didn't require her to think. But the task of leading what was left of their expedition was, at least for the moment, beyond her. She couldn't notify Cologne of what had happened, or even ask for instructions, as the satellite phone had been destroyed in the fight with Strong Gal. The burden was quite rightly hers and it wasn't one she could bear.
The wallowing in self pity came to an abrupt end as Ryoga Hibiki stumbled into the clearing where the remnants of the Amazon hunting party mourned their dead. Suddenly calm, she said, "Cocoa, take Soap and Susie back to Gero Spa and wait for me. If I do not arrive in a day, go to Nerima and inform Cologne of what has happened."
Ryoga saw Shampoo talking to some Amazons that looked vaguely familiar from the trip to Jusendo where Akane had nearly died. From the smell, he guessed the two cairns contained fresh bodies, of whom he didn't want to guess. But if by chance one of them were Akari, he planned to slaughter the lot of them.
Three of them were heading into the forest before he found his voice. "What the hell happened?" he demanded of Shampoo as she turned to face him.
Shampoo crossed her arms in front of her, grabbed the hem of her short dress and peeled it off in one movement. Dropping it on the ground in front of her, she took an additional second to remove her panties, leaving herself naked in front of a man whom she would have much preferred to kill than seduce.
"Hey pig-boy, wanna fuck?" she asked in a parody of seductiveness.
---
Cocoa headed south with Soap and Susie, staying well away from the Unryu farm. Stepping out of the woods onto the road from Kanayama to Takayama, they looked north to see a young man in a sleeveless red silk shirt, carrying a heavy pack, walking down the road toward Akari's. Having a reasonable idea of what Shampoo was doing, one she had expressly not told the fifteen year old Soap, Cocoa chose to help in the manner most conducive to Amazon goals.
"Oy! Saotome! Over here!" she cried.
Allowing for the speed of sound, Ranma turned around almost immediately. He didn't recognize them individually, but as a species, they were clearly Chinese Amazons. Mousse had mentioned a hunting party searching for Ryoga, but it was supposed to be larger than three people. Maybe they'd split up. On the off chance they might have news of Ryoga's location, he trotted toward them at a brisk pace.
---
"I can't even say I'm mad anymore," Ranma explained moments later. "I just want ta get this over with and get back ta my life, or what's left of it."
Cocoa nodded sagely as she ticked another minute off her mental clock. "There is an old saying, so old it's not even Chinese, 'The best remedy for anger is delay.'"
"I'll havta remember that one," Ranma replied. "It... fits."
"When we last saw Hibiki, about twenty minutes ago, he was with Shampoo in a clearing containing the graves of two of our sisters. It is about 2 kilometers north of here and a little over half that west of the Unryu farm. You will know it by the stench."
Ranma's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets. "Did he..?"
"No. It was... an internal dispute. Tragic, but not..." The word 'related' died on her lips. Had they not been searching for Hibiki, they would never have been in Japan in the first place. But they were looking for him because of what he had done. Which had been in revenge for something else, which could be traced back to prior causes years in the past. "...anything he did," she eventually finished.
Ranma left without a word, moving at a dead run through the forest, dodging trees, but nothing smaller. Far behind him, Susie whispered, "Good hunting Saotome-san."
Minutes later, his nose told him he'd found the right place. Neither Ryoga nor Shampoo was anywhere in sight, but someone, presumably Shampoo, had left a note scratched into the dirt between the two piles of stacked stone. 'He went that way' and an arrow pointing toward the Unryu farm.
Ryoga searched the farm for Akari and had come up empty. Mildly annoying, but after finishing with Shampoo and verifying that Akari wasn't either of the two corpses he'd found, not a particularly urgent problem. The pigs were gone too. Whether off training, or at a match, or perhaps absent for some other reason, he didn't know or care. It was their owner he wanted.
Giving up the search for Akari as a lost cause, he raided her refrigerator for a snack knowing she wouldn't mind. Washing the cold chicken and rice down with some soda, he got ready to leave the farm. Maybe it was time to find Ranma and get it over with. No, he realized he should probably avoid Nerima for the time being. Home. Yes, home sounded good. South until he reached the ocean, east until he reached Yaizu. As long as he kept east and west straight, it should be a piece of cake.
Before he could head the wrong way down the road in front of Akari's house, an explosion from the direction of the pig barn got his attention. Instead of having to look for Ranma, Saotome had obliged him by finding him first. Looked like he wanted a fight too.
"All right," Ryoga said to himself as he doffed his pack. "Let's get this done."