Disclaimer: Ranma belongs to Takahashi Rumiko. No profit is gained from this work.
"..." English speech.
"(...)" Chinese speech
"-...-" Japanese speech.
From Jusenkyo with Love
By
Dark Master Ryo
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Chapter 2: Training Fit for an Amazon
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Michael and Arthur were not having a good day. It had been just earlier that day when the elder had decided to train the two of them and they were already knee deep in a form of physical training that was not only grueling, but downright comical. Both Michael and Arthur were currently standing in a thicket of thin stone pillars. Around the base of said pillars were numerous small and pointy rocks. The two of them were forced to jump from pillar to pillar while barefoot, meaning if they fell it would hurt a lot. Not only that, but the thicket of pillars was surrounded on all sides by young amazons, each armed with many rocks and having surprisingly accurate aim.
"Ow!" Michael screamed out, getting pelted upside the head by a small stone. She was thrown off balance from the impact, forced to leap to another pillar as a hail of rocks flew in her direction.
"You are supposed to dodge the rocks. However, I suppose getting hit would be good for your endurance." The elder commented from her position on the ground. Michael got hit by about three more rocks and had to jump to another pillar to stop herself from falling.
"Ugh. I think I'm going to die." Arthur muttered to herself as she got showered with rocks. She jumped to another pillar and then leapt again, thankfully dodging another hail of rocks.
"This is so absurd. How are we supposed to get better from this?" Michael asked as she leapt to another pillar, slipping on the edge and falling down.
"Oh shit!" She cried out, grabbing the edge. Her sides were being showered with rocks, but she had no choice but to bear it as she pulled herself back onto the pillar.
Arthur followed Michael carefully, all the while mischievously using her as a shield. "I think I'm starting to regret going with this plan." Arthur said, jumping behind Michael to avoid a hail of rocks that came her way.
"Well, look on the bright side." Michael began, ducking a few rocks so that they nailed Arthur head on. "At least she didn't tie us to a tree and throw boulders at us."
"All right! That's enough, you two!" The elder shouted. "Looking at your slow progress in dodging those rocks, I believe a more effective way to improve your endurance is to tie you up."
Arthur glared at her companion. "You need to learn to shut up."
--------------------
An Hour Later...
"That's no good! You have to hit the breaking point!" The elder shouted, glaring at Michael's limp body as she hung in her ropes from the branch of a tree. Arthur wanted to throw an insult at Michael's way out of frustration, but it took all of her power to simply keep breathing as she hung limply some distance away. She idly wondered if she was going to survive this training.
"You two are both pathetic. I knew you were in desperate need of training, but I didn't think you were this bad." The elder sighed, shaking her head. She seemed to be in deep thought for a few moments before she sighed again.
"Alright, I've decided. I'm putting you two on the most rigorous physical training program the Amazons have to offer." The elder said, before she began to walk away.
"Keep hitting them with those boulders. I'll be back around dinner time." She addressed the two attendants, who eagerly did as she asked.
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Later that night...
Arthur got hit with the same dreadful boulder for what seemed like the millionth time. The pain was almost starting to fade for her numb body. 'Are you there, God? It's me, Art.'
"Still up there I see." The elder commented, returning just in time to see Michael get nailed in another failed attempt to poke a boulder into submission.
'So this is what road kill feels like...' Michael thought, lacking the ability to put it into words. She hurt too much to speak.
"So, do either of you have anything to say for yourselves? You've been in those trees since this morning. Surely you've made progress." She asked. She said something quickly to the attendants in Chinese, causing the two to nod and walk off, before turning her attention back to the two girls tied to the trees.
Arthur tried to say something, but her voice didn't want to escape from her throat for some moments. "Y-yaah. Fwen ish dinner?" Her question nearly lacked intelligence. It took the elder a few seconds to translate what Arthur said, but when she did she chuckled a bit.
"Dinner? If I fed you now you would just vomit in a few minutes anyway. You'll get to eat tomorrow." The elder turned, seeing two young men walking towards them through the tree line.
"Ah, I see the replacements are here. They should let you down in a few hours. I'll see you in the morning." With that the elder started to walk off, leaving the two men behind to man the boulders.
"Haaah? The's mawr?" Arthur turned to Michael for some kind of reaction. Unfortunately, Michael was a lot less coherent then Arthur. She could only grunt and mumble in protest as the boulders started to hit them again.
"Poow betch." Arthur shook her head.
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Michael awoke the next morning in agony. Her whole body was sore to the point she wasn't even sure if she'd be able to move. As she moaned in pain, Michael opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She was in a room of some sort, meaning at some point they had gotten her out of the tree. Judging from the weight next to her, they put her and Arthur in the same bed.
"I'm starting to think this whole Amazon thing was a really bad idea." Michael muttered, sitting up on the edge of the bed. Arthur turned to lie on top of her back. The pain of simply moving caused her eyes to flung open.
"Ow! Damn." She blinked a few times at the roof. Michael turned slightly, looking at Arthur over her shoulder.
"You're up too, huh?" She said simply, turning her head away again and towards a nearby door. "Think they'll let us have breakfast?"
"Dunno. I'm starving." Arthur tried to get up with some success. It was then that she remembered something from the day before.
"Hey, how'd you do the Shishi Hokodan, anyway?" Arthur asked.
"Don't you remember? 'Anyone can do the Shishi Hokodan.' Anyone can do it, so I did." Michael responded, quoting the worker who had taught Ryoga the trick in the first place.
"You know, I was under the impression you were supposed to have good control over your chi or some other martial art anime mumbo-jumbo." Before Michael could respond, the door suddenly opened, revealing the elder standing there with a bucket of water in her hand.
"Good, you're awake. I won't have to throw water on a perfectly good bed then." She said simply, setting the pail down. "Now hurry up and get into the kitchen. I'm waiting for my breakfast."
"Eh?" Arthur blinked in confusion. "You're not asking us to cook for you, are you?" The elder turned to the blond girl, giving her a harsh look.
"I do believe we had an agreement. You would do work and I would train you. You trained yesterday, so today you work. You will be trained again tomorrow and the day after you work. It's a simple system." The elder answered.
"Don't we ever get a break?" Michael asked, causing the elder to turn a look on her.
"I let you sleep, didn't I?" The elder said, and then quietly left the room.
"Yeah, definitely a bad idea." Michael mumbled, turning towards Arthur, "You don't know how to cook by chance, do you?" She asked.
"Depends on what I'm cooking. I should be able to make something edible." Arthur crossed her arms and sighed. She was starting to get annoyed. "What about you?"
"I can follow a recipe, but I bet everything here is written in Chinese." Michael replied before turning towards Arthur. "The only thing I know how to cook off the top of my head is a pesto chicken sandwich. But I've got a feeling they don't have stoves or blenders. Not to mention their chicken is probably still alive."
"Well, let's see what they have." She turned to walk, and then turned back to Michael. "Uh, where's the kitchen?"
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"Thank god they have a stove." After wandering around the house for a few moments, the two of them found the kitchen. Luckily for them, the amazons weren't as backwater as they thought. There was a stove, a small refrigerator and a pantry. However, there didn't seem to be a sink.
"So, what the hell should we cook? What do the Chinese consider a good breakfast?" Michael asked, opening the pantry and looking at the contents.
"I don't know." Arthur took a look inside the fridge. "Hmm, eggs." She took out a small box. "This might work." Michael reached into a cupboard and found a pan and handed it to Arthur.
"I've got no clue how to cook eggs. You're on your own there." Michael said simply, still looking into the pantry.
"Oh hey, rice. That should be easy enough." She said, grabbing the large bag of rice and throwing it up on the counter.
"Heat some water while you're at it. We need to make some tea." Arthur searched the cupboards for some cooking oil. Michael nodded and set out to find some water.
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The elder simply stared at the table as Michael and Arthur placed a pot of rice and a large plate of scrambled eggs in the middle of it, as well as three cups of tea.
"Interesting." The elder said simply, taking some scrambled eggs and some rice onto her own plate while taking a sip of tea.
"I see I'm going to need to teach you more than just martial arts." She said, taking a bite of rice.
"Jeez. Is it that bad?" Arthur asked. The elder didn't bother to dignify her question with a response.
"What are your names?" The elder suddenly asked. Michael and Arthur both blinked, not expecting the question.
"Uh..." Michael muttered, not sure what name she should give.
"It doesn't matter," The elder said, waving her hand dismissively, "I'm sure they aren't proper. From now on, your names are Mei-lin and Jie-ling." The elder said, pointing at Michael and Arthur respectively.
"Can she do that?" Mei-lin whispered.
"Apparently." Jie-ling responded.
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One month later...
Jie-ling lied down on her bed after another painful day of training. Flipping around to her back, she groaned at the ceiling idly. Her body was aching, but that wasn't her problem; she was starting to get used to extreme training, actually. Jie-ling's problem was much worse. "P-porn..." She murmured. "I need... porn. I'm so horny right now, I could..." Jie-ling groaned again. "Damn it..." Jie-ling cursed her predicament. She was excited at first for being around so many women, but it didn't take long for the situation to backfire on her. She could only watch, but not touch. It was so painful.
"I hate all this training." Mei-lin muttered, wandering in shortly after Jie-ling. She collapsed into the same bed Jie-ling was laying in, highly annoyed with the elder. Even after an entire month, she still hadn't given them a second bed.
"So, are you regretting this idiotic plan of yours yet?" Mei-lin asked, sliding out of the bed and sitting on the floor. Her whole body still ached. The training the elder had been putting them through was borderline absurd. And yet somehow, it actually worked. She never felt stronger in her life. Didn't mean she enjoyed it though.
Jie-ling grinned at her roommate like a hungry cheetah. Her question didn't even enter Jie-ling's ears. Looking at Mei-lin's sweaty figure, she drooled like a retard. "Heh heh, you look awfully delicious tonight..." Jie-ling said devilishly. She wiped her drool with her sleeve, raised her arms, and was about to jump on the other girl.
Mei-lin noticed the expression on her 'sister's' face and quickly got to her feet, wary of the other girl. "Woah, hold up. Don't even think about it, blondie." Mei-lin warned. Her body may have been hurting from the training, but she still felt up to kicking the ever living crap out of the blonde girl.
Jie-ling edged closer like a possessed zombie, and even hissed like one. Her eyes were blank, reflecting only the girl before her.
"I'm warning you! Don't come any closer!" Mei-lin said, a little bit of fear creeping into her voice. She hated it when Jie did this. It was downright creepy. "You get any closer and I promise you'll regret it!"
Jie-ling's footsteps grew louder as she walked. Her mouth let out hard breathing, like an excited hungry lion about to strike the finishing blow on his prey.
"Alright, you've asked for it." Mei-lin growled, her arms suddenly glowing. "Shishi Hokodan!" an orb of yellow/green light erupted from the green haired girl's palms, striking the blonde in the chest and hurling her against the opposite wall. Ever since Mei had attempted to blast the elder a month ago, she had been instructing her on how to improve her chi abilities on her own time. She had been sacrificing sleep and breaks to work on it.
Jie-ling growled and shook her head. "Guh..." She blinked at the angry girl across of her. "Oops. I've done it again."
"Oops, my ass." Mei-lin grumbled, sitting down on the bed. "You do that on purpose. Admit it."
"I do not!" Jie paused. "Well, actually, I guess I do." Jie admitted shamelessly.
"So, what exactly is the plan from here, anyway?" Mei-lin asked with a sigh. "We've been here for a month already, and who knows how time actually moves in the Ranma storyline. What are we supposed to do? Just wait until the Saffron nonsense happens?"
Jie-ling thought about it for a second before speaking. "Let's crash here a bit longer till we finish this supposed "training," then I'll think of something."
"Yeah, and how long is that gonna take?"
"Who knows?" Picking up a notebook from the ground, she threw it towards Mei-lin. "Anyway, Japanese homework is due tomorrow. You should finish it." Jie-ling lied down on the bed again.
"You should probably be doing this too, you know. If I'm the only one that knows the damn language, I'm leaving you high and dry." Mei-lin responded, picking up the notebook and started to read through it.
"Oh. I'm already done." Jie lazily rolled around on the bed.
Mei-lin just blinked a few times in surprise before grumbling and getting back to work.
"Keep at it. You'll never hear the end of it from the elder if you half-ass it." Jie said in amusement.
"Yeah, yeah. Just go to sleep already. I'm trying to think."
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Another month later...
"Oh, man. This feels great." Jie-ling relaxed in an old steaming bathtub. Crackling his neck, Jie sat there for a few more moments, savouring the sensation. "Don't slack off now, sweetie!" Jie called out to Mei from the other side.
"Will you keep it down, you idiot!" Mei hissed towards the barrel behind her. There was a large curtain around the bath, probably put there to prevent the males from spying when the women bathed. The two of them were glad it was there though. It meant they could turn back into guys almost daily without worry. "You may still look like a woman, but even an idiot can tell your voice isn't female."
"Jeez, take it easy, honey." Jie said optimistically in a lowered voice.
"Just hurry up, alright? You get found out and they'll probably hang us or something." Mei-lin answered back. She was standing guard, making sure no one got close enough to see or hear something they shouldn't. It originally wasn't necessary, but ever since that crazy male Amazon started taking an interest in them, they've been taking extra precautions.
Jie started cleaning himself as he listened to Mei's paranoia. "Yeah, yeah. If it makes you feel better." Jie-ling looked at the towel around his waist. "Hmm, maybe it would've been a better idea to cover myself from the chest in case of an emergency..." He pondered for a few seconds before dismissing the idea. "Nah. It'd be too hard to wash myself."
Quickly finishing up, Jie-ling dressed in his clothes and splashed himself with a glass of cold water they had brought earlier. She grabbed her things and combed her hair, looking at her reflection from the water. "Hmm, my hair's getting longer." She looked at her hair curiously, as if only noticing it now. It was almost reaching her shoulder; maybe within another month, it would go beneath it a little. "Ah, whatever. Maybe I'll look cuter with longer hair." Jie joked before finally heading back.
"Hey, it's your turn." Jie-ling looked at Mei-lin innocently.
Mei-lin looked around suspiciously, trying to see if anyone was around. It was dark out, the only light coming from the moon and the stars, but she was still suspicious. "I swear to god if you ditch me again I'll kill you." Mei-lin said, almost under her breath. Jie had only done it once, and nothing bad had happened, but Mei-lin had been far more paranoid ever since. She had even stopped taking hot baths for awhile, until the fear of having a period set in.
Mei-lin walked behind the curtain and pulled it shut. A few seconds later there was a splash and a masculine sigh, signifying that she had got in.
"Jeez." Jie-ling waited outside. "So, um, I'm kinda curious," Jie started. "Do you cut your hair regularly? Your length didn't change much."
"Not really." Mei-lin answered, stretched a little and trying to relax. "Just the way hair works. The longer it is, the slower it grows."
"Ah." Jie-ling didn't ask any further and stood quietly.
Mei dunked his head under to wet his hair, just as the nearby bushes started to rustle. Mei came back up, completely missing the sound, and continued to wash himself.
"I smell a rat..." Jie-ling warned her companion. "A big, fat, sneaky rat, I might add." Mei-lin became very still in the barrel, not wanting to move out of fear of drawing the attention of the rat in question.
"Is it Liang?" Mei-lin whispered, not wanting to be heard.
Jie-ling walked to a set of bushes and tapped her foot angrily. "(You know, I'm pretty sure I let it be known how much I hate rats at the baths.)" The bush mysteriously started to shake in fear. "(Isn't that right, Li-)" In one swift movement, she moved her arm and pulled out the rat in question. "(-ang?)"
"Squeek!" A rat complained angrily between her fingers.
"Oh." Jie blinked "It really is a rat. Whoops! False alarm."
"You did that on purpose!" Mei shouted at her. He had the good sense to try and mask his voice, but he was still shouting.
"I did not!" Jie-ling paused. "Well, actually, I did."
"Bitch!" Mei responded.
"You need to cool your head off. You're too paranoid." Jie-ling smirked. Mei-lin said nothing. He just finished bathing as quickly as he could, got out, splashed himself, and got dressed.
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A few days after that...
"(No, Mei-lin! You aren't doing it right! Try again!)" The elder shouted, urging the green haired girl to keep working. After the first month of work, the elder abandoned her plan to make them well rounded fighters. She had dubbed the both of them as 'hopeless and a waste of time' in that regard. Instead, she had found their strengths and pushed as hard as she could for the two of them to improve them.
"(How's the other one doing?)" The elder asked, turning towards another amazon that was watching over Jie-ling, who was currently snatching chestnuts out of a roaring flame.
"(Surprisingly well. Come on! Do it faster this time!)" The other amazon shouted, pouring twice as many chestnuts into the flame.
"(Yeah, yeah.)" Jie-ling huffed at her burned hands. "(Don't get your panties in a twist, hon.)"
"(You see that, Mei-lin? Your sister is doing better than you are.)" The elder mocked. Mei-lin only growled in response. Her current task was to form an aura around her body. It was harder than it looked, though. Thus far, she could only localize it around specific limbs. Getting a full body effect at will was eluding her.
"(She's got the easy one. This is way harder than it looks.)" Mei-lin complained, trying and failing to draw her aura out and project it around herself.
"(Just suck it up, dearie.)" Jie-ling lashed at the chestnuts, burning her hands on the last three pieces. She gritted her teeth in pain.
"(What element are you, Mei-lin?") The elder suddenly asked, throwing off Mei-lin's concentration.
"(What?)" Mei-lin hadn't quite caught that. Her Chinese still wasn't perfect. When the elder spoke too quickly, she usually couldn't understand.
"(I asked you what your element is.)" The elder repeated, slower this time. Mei-lin took it in and translated it in her head. The elder had sat the both of them down at the end of the first month to perform some kind of weird test. Apparently, the amazons believed that every soul was aligned with one of the 4 elements, or a combination of the 4. They both had to sit on a rock and meditate while breathing in a weird incense until they could tell the elder what their element was. It took Mei-lin less then ten minutes to answer.
"(Water.)" She replied.
"(That's right. Your soul is like water. It flows freely and easily, making you very proficient in the use and manipulation of your chi. That is why we are training your chi.)" The elder explained. She said it slowly, to ensure Mei understood her.
"(How about you, Jie-ling? What is your element?)" She asked. That was the way she worked, ask questions she already knew the answer to.
"(What was it, uh...)" Jie-ling was too busy waving her burned hands. "(Wind, I think, yeah?)" The elder frowned a little at the response, but continued anyway.
("Correct. Her soul moves like the wind. It moves swiftly, and cannot be easily contained. It inspires the body to move with it, making her incredibly proficient in speed. That is why neither one of you have an easier or harder task. You are both doing what you are best at, and should either one of you try what the other is doing, it'd be much harder for you.") The elder explained.
("Is this just a fancy way to tell me to stop complaining?") Mei-lin asked. The elder hit her over the head for that one. Jie-ling rolled her eyes at Mei-lin.
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Another month after that one...
Jie-ling leaned upon the window in her room, looking outside. It wasn't much of a sight, but at least the sun shone through the window. She yawned as she watched people of all ages walked around. Life at the village wasn't so bad, but incredibly boring (and painful).
Idly, Jie wondered when they'd be able to leave the village. Their training "officially ended" a few days ago, but they couldn't just walk away. Jie-ling only wished things were that simple. "I need to think of something..." She gave it some thought. Running away was out of the question; they might need the amazons for something later on. Request permission to go on a training trip? No, it was unlikely for that to work. "Hmm..."
It was then that a certain figure among the crowd caught her eye. "My God..." Jie quickly cleaned her glasses and took another glance. "Yeah, that's definitely him..." Looking around the empty room quickly, she called her partner-in-crime. "Mei! Get your ass in here!"
"What?" Mei-lin muttered, walking in with a light sweat covering her body. She had just been practicing in the other room, and thus was in the process of toweling herself off. "What's so damn important?"
"See for yourself." Jie pointed outside the window. "Is my vision getting worse, or is that Mousse?"
"Eh?" Mei-lin muttered stupidly. It took a second before what Jie said sunk in. "Mousse? As in, 'Mousse' Mousse?" Mei-lin rushed to the window and gazed out. He looked different, what with being real and all, but he certainly looked the part. It was either the best Mousse Cosplay ever, or that was legitimately Mousse. "Holy shit, it's Mousse." Mei-lin admitted, surprised.
"The one and only." Jie-ling rolled her eyes.
"What's he doing here? I don't remember him ever coming back to the village." Mei-lin was confused. As far as she could recall, Mousse never went back to China after Herb's arrival, not counting the whole deal with Saffron. So what was he doing here now?
Jie-ling shrugged. "Don't ask me."
"This could either be very bad or very good." Mei-lin suddenly said. "It either means Mousse came back to the village at some point I don't remember, or we're well past the whole deal with Saffron."
"If it's the first, then we can probably tail him and hitch a ride back to Japan." Mei-lin was pacing now, trying to think about what they should do. "But if it's the second... well, we can kiss all our plans of mischief goodbye."
"...Either way, this will get us out of here." Jie-ling smiled mischievously.
"Yeah, you're right." Mei-lin added, smiling herself. "Let's just get the hell out of China. We'll figure the rest out later." Mei-lin returned to the window, watching as Mousse strolled through the village.
"First, we'll need to speak with the elder." Jie was grinning now. "I have the perfect excuse to get us out of here."
"You do?" Mei-lin asked, suspicious. "Like what?"
"Oh. You'll see." Taking Mei's hand, Jie pulled her along.
-----------------------
The elder sighed and looked at the newcomers in annoyance. "(What do you want this time?)"
Jie-ling looked at her seriously. "(Elder, we would like permission to leave the village.)"
The elder looked at Mei, then back at Jie. "(Oh? What for?)" She asked skeptically.
"(Well, we...)" Jie-ling averted her eyes to the ground, giving off a depressed expression. "(Grandmother's anniversary coming up in a few weeks, so we... We'd like...)" Jie gave in and cried on her fake sister's shoulder. "(Oh, God... Every time I just can't...)"
"(Oh, for crying out loud.)" The elder shook her head at the display of drama before her. "(Fine. You may go visit your grandmother.)"
"(Really?)" Jie-ling sniffed, wiping her tears with her sleeve.
"(Yes. Now go; I have important matters to see to.)"
"(Oh, thank you, elder!)" Grabbing Mei-lin's hand, she forcefully pulled her out of the room.
Once far enough, Jie-ling let go of Mei chuckled at her handy work. "See?"
"Well, that worked, I suppose. But don't you think she'll be slightly annoyed when we never come back?" Mei-lin said sarcastically.
"We'll deal with that later when we have to." Jie-ling said with her usual optimism.
"Let's just hope 'when we have to' doesn't involve her hunting us down."
"Relax." Jie shrugged. "You're just being paranoid again."
"If it wasn't for my paranoia, we'd probably be dead by now." Mei-lin snapped back. "Now come on, we've lost track of Mousse."
"Yeah." Turning around a corner, Jie-ling bumped into someone. "Oof!"
"(Excuse me.)" A tall long-haired man bowed slightly before taking off.
Jie-ling blinked at his back for a few moments, all the while the teenager kept bumping into random walls with another mutter of "Excuse me" every now and then. "Talk about luck." She smiled at Mei.
"Yeah." Mei muttered, watching the display. "You'd think he'd learn to wear his glasses after running into stuff all the time." The green haired girl watched Mousse continue his journey. She didn't know where he was going, but that didn't really matter. "Come on, we should start following him."
"Okay." Jie-ling nodded.
They walked behind Mousse causally. There wasn't even any need for anything remotely close to stealth; Mousse was oblivious to everything around him. After following the boy for a few minutes, and chuckling along the way at the apologies he made to inanimate objects, Mousse finally entered what appeared to be a flower shop.
Baffled, the duo waited for Mousse to come out. When he finally did, he carried an absurdly large set of a certain type of flowers.
"-Haha!-" Mousse laughed like a moron. "-With this amount of her favorite flowers, Shampoo will surely see how pure my love is!-"
"Well, I'll be..." Jie-ling chuckled. "He came all the way to China for that? How typical of Mousse."
"No way. That's it? Flowers? Hell, he could have gotten that in Nerima." Mei-lin muttered, shocked by this turn of events. Was Mousse really that stupid?
"Do you recognize those flowers?" Jie asked Mei, as Mousse kept ranting about his undying love with Shampoo in the background. "That may be a clue to the current time line."
"Hmm..." Mei-lin thought pretty hard about it, trying to remember any scene in which Mousse gave Shampoo flowers. "Wait a sec, Musk arc. Mousse jumped over a wall with a bunch of flowers. I'm pretty sure he gave them to a mailbox or something, right before Mint showed up and kicked his ass." Mei-lin slammed her fist into her palm as she came to this realization. It matched up with what they saw in the guest book, too. "I'm not sure if they're the same flowers, but that's all I can remember."
"Interesting." Jie crossed her arms, while Mousse started some sort of victory dance in the background. "So the whole Herb fiasco may not have started yet. That's good."
"Yeah, I guess. Though, I really don't want to get involved with that. Last I checked, Herb was practically on DBZ level." Mei-lin frowned at the thought.
"Neither do I." Jie-ling agreed. She had no intention of getting slaughtered by the overpowered prince. "At least we'd have time to plan things out till it's over."
"Good. Skipping that is good. I'd much rather stay in Nerima during all that anyway."
"-And now! Onward to victory!-" Mousse finally decided end his one-man party and began to move again.
"Oh, look! He's finally moving again." Jie-ling pointed at Mousse with her thumb. Mei-lin just nodded and the two continued to tail him.
---------------------
"Would you move your delicate ass faster, Mei!" Jie-ling looked behind her, where the other girl was struggling to keep up. Mousse had pulled a fast one on them. Shortly after leaving the Amazon village, the blind warrior pulled a bicycle out of his sleeve and started riding off into the wilderness. Now the two were doing their best to keep up with him.
"Easy... for you to... say...Little miss...speed...freak..." Mei-lin was running so hard her legs were burning from the effort. She was practically breathless, while Jie looked like she hadn't even broken a sweat yet. Damn that mousse, how dare he ride a bike so fast?
"Ah, what the hell." Slowing down a bit, Jie-ling lashed a sweep kick, sending Mei flying off the ground for a moment before picking her up into her arms and making a break for it as fast as her legs could take them. Mei lin shrieked like a little girl from the stunt.
"GAH! What the hell are you doing! Let go! Put me down!" Mei lin protested, but she wasn't stupid enough to struggle. She didn't trust Jie-ling not to drop her, and considering how fast she was moving, Mei sure as hell didn't want to hit the ground this fast.
"Holy shit, how the hell are you going this fast?" Mei muttered, astounded. She had to hand it to that old bat. She sure as hell knew how to train a person.
"What do you know? All that training actually worked." Jie-ling mused, not taking her sight off Mousse. "Now I know what being Sonic the Hedgehog feels like!"
"Just to let you know, if you try to run up a wall, I will kill you." Mei muttered, shielding her eyes from all the wind.
"I'm not an idiot, don't worry." Jie-ling suddenly noticed where she was grabbing. "Man, you have a nice soft ass, if I do say so myself." Mei-lin was doing her best not to punch Jie in the face. Oh, she was so going to hurt her when they stopped.
"LOOK OUT!" Mei suddenly shrieked, seeing that they were on a collision course with a rather large tree.
Jie-ling made a sudden turn, avoiding the tree in question. "No need to shout, jeez. What is this, George of the Jungle?"
"Just...watch where you're going...please..." Mei-lin muttered, trying to get her heart rate under control. That is, until she felt another squeeze. "And damn it, stop squeezing my ass!"
"Ah, all right, but it's so good!" Jie-ling softened her grip around her behind and squeezed with her other hand, which lay atop Mei's breast. 'There IS a god.' Jie thought to herself. Mei growled, clearly upset with Jie's groping. She was even glowing.
"I swear to god, Jie. You don't move your hand and I'll smash you into the forest floor. I don't care if we lose Mousse, it'll be worth it." The glow started to build some more, accompanied by a weight that started to bare down on them.
"Now now, honey. I can only imagine the pain resulting from falling down at this speed." Jie-ling decided to knock it off before the situation worsened, though. Mei-lin cut off the aura and the weight lifted, allowing Jie to pick up the pace again.
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"Alright, tailing mousse was way harder than I thought it'd be." Mei grumbled. They'd been following the blind martial artist for days. It seemed the amazon village was a hell of a lot farther from the coast of China than he had originally thought. At least Mousse had made a few stops in some towns. It allowed them to get new clothes
and change back into guys.
"Huf... Yeah." Jie's legs were shaking like crazy from fatigue. "Damn that Mousse..." Unfortunately for Jie, Mousse's main form of transportation was still a bicycle. The blonde boy had been force to run for nearly an hour at a time, all the while having to carry Mei.
"Ah, suck it up, ya big baby. We've been training for the past three months! Just look at this as stamina training." Mei replied. He was way too pissed at Jie to go easy on him.
"Easy for you to say, you ass." Jie-ling exclaimed in annoyance. "This feels tougher than running a marathon." Mei just rolled his eyes.
"Like you've ever run a marathon." He replied, sweeping a strand of green hair behind his ear. Having long hair was annoying, but at least it was long enough that he could push it out of the way. "Come on, I think Mousse is finishing up with lunch. He's probably going to head out again soon."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." The long-haired blonde shakily followed his companion. The two teens started walking through the crowd, drawing closer to the building that Mousse was quickly leaving. Mei still couldn't believe he came all the way to China for a bunch of damn flowers. It would be a miracle if Mousse could get back to Nerima before they died. He must have a vase of water hidden up his sleeve or something.
"Damn, he's getting back on his bike. Come on, we need to catch up!"
"Screw you!" Jie-ling puffed. "There's no way I'm running anymore. I need a fucking break." Mei was about to protest, but Jie looked half dead.
"Damn..." Mei muttered, watching as Mousse was starting to get away. 'I know I'm going to regret this later, but desperate times call for desperate measures...' Mei thought to himself.
"How about this, I'll change back into a girl to lighten your load. Deal?" Mei asked, grabbing a bottle of water someone had left unattended on a nearby bench.
"Man, what a great sunny day!" Standing up, Jie-ling exclaimed with lively passion. "Nothing like a good jog to make my day complete!" Mei glared at Jie, growling a little under his breath.
"You bastard, you were faking it!" Mei exclaimed.
"I was not!" Jie grabbed the bottle before Mei could react, and then swiftly splashing him with its contents. "Well, actually, I was." Jie chuckled evilly.
"Jie..." Mei growled. Man, she really wished she hadn't purchased a white shirt when they bought new clothing. At least she had the foresight to leave her sports bra on.
"You were wearing a bra while male?" Ignoring Mei's reaction, Jie asked in amusement.
"What? It's essentially a really tight tank top. Better then having my breasts bouncing all over the place." Mei lin answered, squeezing some of the water out of her shirt while doing so.
"Right..." Jie-ling nodded before giving himself a light splash on his face. "We're wasting time." Grabbing Mei-lin again, she ran off after Mousse. Mei-lin yelped a bit at the sudden movement, but after a few days she was getting used to it. She took the time to mentally thank Jie for turning back into a girl first. She'd have to resist hitting her later on.
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To Be Continued.
Ryo: Hooray for another chapter! It only took us half a year.
Schmidt: This is like one day after updating The Wild Falcon for me, though. What an accomplishment.
Ryo: Yeah. That's pretty good. I haven't done anything in two months.
Schmidt: Well, you should.
Ryo: I know, I know. I've been busy. By the way, what's up with all the freaking perversion? I swear, Jie's got serious issues.
Schmidt: What can I say, we're perverts. Don't deny it.
Ryo: Yeah, you've got a point there. I'll admit it, I haven't exactly been discouraging it. In fact, I find it hilarious.
Schmidt: I knew it!
Ryo: Anyway, you readers are probably in for a treat with the next chapter. Whenever we end up writing it, that is.
Schmidt: Actually, I think I'm going to be writing this more often now. I pretty much don't have anything else to work on, besides TWF.
Ryo: Well that's certainly good. So Read it, people! And don't forget to review! Every time you don't review, Schmidt kills a kitten.
Schmidt: Sharpens knife
Ryo: He's serious people. He'll do it.
Schmidt: Please think of the kittens! Or else...
-Dark Master Ryo-