Chapter 3. The Silly Stalker

First I'd like to give a shout out to kuriboh1233. Your latest review made me laugh really hard. Thank you so much. Though I will apologize when I say that Mousse did not get a ki blast to the face. I do hope you enjoyed what did happen though. I know I did.

Also, I'd like to thank everyone for being patient with me. It's rather difficult to come up with all this as it's completely not canon at all.

Anyway guys, please enjoy yourselves with yet another chapter of "One Wild Ride"

"Jaydon" = English

'Nooooooooo!' = Thoughts

"Xian Pu!" = Mandarin

Now let it be known that when Jaydon woke up the next morning he was not expecting to feel just as tired as he was when he fell asleep. The whole night he twisted and turned as his mind raced on everything that had happened since he had come here. It was wonderful and awesome and… completely bizarre and hard to believe. But it was all true. After what happened yesterday he could not deny it. All that was left to do now was to get up and try and face it.

Of course, when he tried it Jaydon found that he was not sleeping alone. And after some observation, he discovered to his slight bewilderment… Shampoo was in bed next to him, treating him as a stuffed animal as she cuddled closer.

'Well… I see that her sneaking into other people's beds has always been a thing.' He thought to himself before sneakily trying to escape from her grasp without waking her.

Alas like Ranma, Jaydon discovered that it was not nearly that simple. Even at such a young age as she was, Shampoo had mastered the Amazon Glomp technique she had been oh so known for in the anime/manga series. Looking around for something to help get him out Jaydon caught glance of a bucket of water placed mysteriously close to them.

'That is oddly coincidental.' He thought a little suspiciously but quickly grabbed it and carefully splashed himself with it. Now a she, Jaydon could easily slip out of Shampoo's grasp. After that, she changed into the new pair of clothes that had been left in her room and exited her house into the streets of Joketsuzoku. She was surprised to find Liao Fei already outside, waiting for her.

"So it was you that put the clothes and the water in my room?"

Liao Fei nodded. "Yeah… Shampoo's very well known for her glomps. And the fact that she has no real sense of boundaries when it comes to people she likes. Lots of people hope she'll get better when she's older, but I don't see that really happening." She sighed.

Thinking back to the anime Jaydon felt she had to agree. "Yeah, I have a feeling you may be right about that. But anyway," She said, getting back on track. "what's the plan?"

"Well, Cologne did say she wanted to see you today. Though I thought you may want to change back so I brought this." She held up a kettle of hot water.

Jaydon just stared at her. "Did, did you plan all of this ahead of time? Did you somehow know that Shampoo would do this so you not only brought a water bucket and a change of clothes but a kettle of hot water as well?" The awed neo girl asked.

To that end, Liao Fei smirked mysteriously. "Let's just say I had a sneaking suspicion she'd try something like this and leave it at that."

Jaydon's stunned expression did not leave her. "You are a genius."

Liao Fei actually blushed at that. "L-look, you want the kettle or not?"

The neo girl gratefully took the kettle from her and after a quick change, Jaydon and Liao Fei went off for Cologne… at least that was the plan.

"Brother!" Shampoo shouted as she opened the door and glomped onto him again. "No can leave sister Shampoo." She complained in her broken English.

Half wishing he had something to bang his head on, Jaydon withheld his slight annoyance and held on tightly to his patience. A trait that had always been a strong point in his past life. "I wasn't leaving you Shampoo. I just didn't want to wake you up. But I'll make a deal with you. Next time, I will wake you up. If you stop jumping on me every time you see me. Agreed?" He proposed.

Shampoo concentrated as she deciphered what he had said. But in time nodded emphatically. Then, just as they went to move, Shampoo asked in a rather cute voice. "Is ok to hold hands?"

Jaydon gulped. He hoped Shampoo never realized how perfectly she had mastered the use of puppy eyes… and especially the effect it had on him. "Yes Shampoo. Hand holding is alright." He allowed, though when Shampoo promptly glomped onto his arm he thought to himself. 'Baby steps Jaydon. Baby steps.'

Liao Fei apparently found the whole situation to be hilarious, giggling to herself as they walked through town to meet with Cologne. Though that giggling turned into outright laughter when another figure glomped onto a very confused Jaydon, shouting, "Shampoo my love!" and sending them all to the ground.

Jaydon's eye twitched furiously as he found himself the victim of another one of Mouse's blind assaults. "Mousse!" He shouted angrily. "Would you mind getting off of me!"

"Stupid Mousse. Put glasses on!" Shampoo demanded.

Mousse blinked, before putting his thick glasses on again. Looking between Jaydon and Shampoo he started rambling angrily at Jaydon in Mandarin. And though he was still learning, Jaydon actually understood a fair amount of what was being said. He had caught, "How dare you", something, something, "Xian Pu", something, something, something. Then he looked at Liao Fei.

The girl actually appeared to be turning blue due to lack of oxygen. She held a finger up, trying to catch her breath. "He said, 'How dare you, defile poor Shampoo this way. You do not even have the right to glance upon her, let alone hold her hand, you outsider.'" She managed to say, albeit still gasping for breath.

The resident aquatransexual was torn. Torn between wanting to laugh hysterically in Mousse's face and punching him. Luckily for him, the decision was taken out of his hand as Shampoo got a shot in, launching Mousse away. "Go away Mousse!"

In true form, Mousse got up instantly. But before he could go on another tantrum Jaydon cut him off. "Dude! I don't know enough Mandarin to completely understand you!"

He actually growled at that. "English then huh? Typical that someone like you wouldn't even try to learn Shampoo's language before trying to court her."

Jaydon couldn't even speak. Oh, sure he would open his mouth but words wouldn't come out. He was too stunned by the sheer idiocy that Mousse was spouting. If this was what it was like to be Ranma then Jaydon felt more sympathy for him then anyone he had ever known. Though maybe it was just that he was cursed. Maybe that was it… no… Cologne said that the spring wouldn't do that sort of thing anymore.

"Prepare yourself, Knave!" Mousse suddenly shouted as he charged at Jaydon, pulling knives out of his robe. Jaydon had just gotten into a defensive stance when Liao Fei's sharp voice spoke up.

"Mu Tsu! Stop right this instant! Don't make me tell Elder Ku Lon!" The remark about Cologne tripped Mousse up. Literally. He fell flat on his face. But when he pushed himself back up Jaydon found, to his awe, that Mousse's glasses were unbroken.

'What on earth are they made of?' He thought to himself.

Then Mousse pointed at him, that, to Jaydon, seemed very dramatic for a 12 year old to be doing, and said. "I challenge you! If I win you leave Shampoo alone!"

Jaydon stood there just staring back at him. Then he had an idea… a truly hilarious idea that would probably not work the way he hoped it to… but regardless he just had to do it. Getting into a similar stance he said in a dramatic and deep tone. "I accept your challenge. And if I win you will dress in a pink tutu and dance around the village!" Then in a far more normal voice, he continued. "Though I don't know where we're gonna get all the required hotdogs for it."

"What!" Mousse said, confused. "No, you idiot! Not a hotdog challenge! A martial arts challenge!"

Jaydon put on a faux shocked expression. "Really? Well, you should really be more specific with your challenges. They can be really confusing sometimes." He said in an innocent voice and made Mouse huff and puff, like the big, bad wolf that wanted to eat the piggies… but couldn't.

"Tomorrow. after dust. Don't be late." He grounded out. Seriously, if looks could kill? Jaydon would have died the deaths of a thousand suns just then. Then he stormed off.

"Alright see you tomorrow!" Jaydon said brightly. Brightness that suddenly became dread as he turned to Liao Fei. "Alright tell it to me straight. How dead am I?"

Liao Fei looked somewhat worried. "I… don't know. I mean Mousse's not the best but he plays with knives. Even an idiot with knives can get lucky. And to be honest… you're not the best either."

"Thanks for the confidence booster there Fei." He deadpanned. Then he shook his head and sighed. "Whatever. Let's go see Cologne and see what she thinks about all this."

When they found Cologne in the training field and told her what happened… she promptly burst into laughter. Not a cackle. Not in a mocking or demeaning tone. But actual, genuine, gut wrenching laughter. And all Jaydon did was put on a sour look and a frown as she did so. "Oh, the sheer sympathy radiating off of you Great-Grandmother is… severely underwhelming." He said sarcastically.

Her laughter died moments later and asked seriously. "Do you plan to go through with this?"

Jaydon firmed his expression, hiding his own nervousness at fighting Mousse. "Yeah, I'm sure."

Cologne nodded. "Alright, sonny boy. We've got some work to do." Jaydon moved into one of the stances Cologne had been teaching him but she waved him off it. "Not this time. In terms of hand to hand combat, you can hold your own as proven when you took down that bear. But if you want to win against Mousse your gonna need more than just that. Fight with your strengths, not your weaknesses."

"Soooo what am I learning? Some kind of super move like Destructo Disk?" He asked.

"Destructo Disk? What are you talking about?"

"W-well it's… like this um… this kind of frisbee that's supposed to cut through everything in your path." Jaydon explained haltingly.

"Do you think you could recreate something like that?" Cologne asked in wonder.

"I guess I could give it a shot… though I think you may want to step away." After Cologne had gotten to a safe distance away from him, Jaydon brought up his battle aura, putting as much ki as he could into one hand, attempting to mold it into a circle. Then he threw it. And that was when things went downhill. Not only was the attack not circular. But it also did not go in a straight line. It twisted and turned and Jaydon cringed and winced every time it cut a tree down, trenched through the ground, and almost cleaved Colognes staff in two before sailing into the sky.

"So that's why it's called a Destructo Disk." Cologne wheezed out as she, Shampoo, and Liao Fei huddled together.

"I'm so sorry." Jaydon said, before looking at the damage around them and thinking. 'At the very least we're here and not in the village.'

Cologne cleared her throat as she regained her composure. "Nonsense child. You did warn us to stay back. Though I must admit you may want to work on a much less… ahem… deadly technique."

"Shampoo not know. Maybe good technique for Mousse. Not bother Shampoo no more." Shampoo said before cringing as Cologne's staff hit her over the head.

"I think I may be able to tweak it a little bit so I don't end up killing him in our fight."

"Then we must get to work. However, though Liao Fei, Shampoo, the two of you will leave us for this part of the training." Cologne ordered.

"But Elder-"

"No! This will be dangerous Liao Fei. I respect your wishing to remain by young Jaydon's side but you must go." Cologne's voice left no room for argument.

Jaydon turned away when Fei looked at him. He had to admit that Cologne had a point. Heck, if she hadn't made it he would have asked her to leave himself. Krillin's Destructo Disk was just too dangerous in practice to be launching all willy nilly while people were around. Cologne was only hanging around because Jaydon needed her to help out. That and Cologne would probably be able to avoid all his attempts anyway.

When she and Shampoo had gone, Jaydon turned back to Cologne and said. "Alright. Shall we begin?" Though he instantly regretted it as Cologne smirked such an evil grin that Jaydon felt that perhaps Ranma had been right all along when he called her an old ghoul.

Later that night Jaydon had her answer. Ranma had been absolutely correct in calling Cologne an old ghoul. She was currently a girl because Cologne felt it best that she train in both forms. Jaydon wasn't sure if that was true. But she did know that she hurt in places that she didn't even know she could hurt in. Her whole body was on fire and she was even bleeding in places, as a few of her disks had come back to haunt her. When she finally got back to her house, the last thing she expected was to see Liao Fei already there.

"What the fudge are you doing here…" She managed to grit out through her pain.

The other girl shrugged, holding up a jar of some kind of substance. "Elder Cologne came to me. Said you'd be needing some of this for tonight. And my help, since I was practically unable to help out earlier." She said, her ears reddening.

Jaydon frowned. "Are you telling me that Cologne not only got to you but that you got to me before I could even walk home? Man… doesn't that just make me feel pathetic?"

"No Jaydon! You are not pathetic!" She said in a loud voice, startling her. "Cologne told me what she put you through. No one else could have done it. Not me, or anyone I know!" Then she continued in a much calmer tone. "She was very proud of you."

"Thank you." Jay didn't know what else to say to that. Apart from something to change the subject "But umm… you haven't said what that stuff was, nor what you're supposed to do to help."

"Umm… well, this is a muscle relaxant. It's so you can still fight tomorrow night." She said quietly.

Which to be honest, confused her. Liao Fei did not seem the quiet kind of girl. "Alright. Then give it to me and I will put it on before I go to bed."

Jaydon felt her confusion increase when Fei's reddening doubled. "Well I would but… Elder Cologne told me to put it on you." She said, causing Jaydon's face to flush and her mind to shut down.

"What?" She squeaked. Before trying again in a deeper voice. "I- I mean… what? Why would she do a thing like that?"

"The thing is… I'm training to be a doctor here in Joketzuko. Although I've been renowned for my fighting skills, I have always wanted to heal rather than injure others. Cologne has been helping me with that, along with other Elders. So she thought that this would be an excellent time for me to practice what I k-know." She explained nervously.

By the time she finished, Jaydon was cursing Cologne in as many languages as she knew. She knew, intellectually that the Old Ghoul had a point. All throughout history people practicing in the arts of being a doctor or a medic, nurse, whatever you called it. Would in fact be given tasks like what Fei had received, in order for her to grow comfortable with the human body. I mean if you can't calmly massage a muscle relaxant into a body the same gender and of similar age to yourself… then there was no way you'd be able to, say; deal with somebody bleeding to death and have the coolness to try to stop it. She hated it but the Old Ghoul was right.

So, with great difficulty, Jaydon swallowed her pride and said. "Alright. If you're sure about this."

"To be perfectly honest, I'm not. But Cologne made too many good points for me to say no." The girl said, sounding like she would very much like to not do this, but too stubborn on her path to doctorship to say no.

Jaydon moved over to the futon and began to lay on it when Fei cleared her throat. "It would be best without your clothes on." She said squeakily.

The awkward tension Jaydon felt was beyond belief at the moment. "I-I don't have a-" She was cut off when Fei presented her with the very thing she didn't have. A bra. Sure it was a simple, white, training bra but she still didn't really like it. But she also didn't have much of a choice. Grabbing it almost mechanically she told Fei. "Turn around please." She said in a faint voice. After Fei did as asked Jay undressed, put on the bra, and laid on the futon before telling her she was ready.

It was only moments after when she felt a cold gel being massaged onto her skin. Though the coldness was a little uncomfortable at first Jay slowly grew used to it. And despite everything actually began to relax. After the day she had had, what with the training and the worrying about Mousse, Jay's body had become very stiff indeed. And that was without adding the months of stress she had been under ever since coming to this world. All in all. This was just what the doctor ordered. When Fei turned her on her back Jaydon murmured softly. "Thank you, Fei."

So softly that Liao Fei hadn't heard. "What was that Jaydon?"

Blearily looking up at her Jay spoke up. "I said; 'thank you, Fei'."

Smiling softly, now that her blush had gone away, Liao Fei responded. "Your very welcome Jaydon." Before returning to work on massaging the relaxant into Jay's muscles. Shortly after, soft snoring coming from Jaydon told her that she had fallen asleep. Chuckling to herself she said to herself. "You truly are something else. Not sure what that is but I look forward to finding out Jaydon."

Meanwhile in another house not too far away, Cologne sat with several other Elders cackling away at what they could see in her crystal ball.

"Hahaha, Cologne you sly little minx. Trying to play matchmaker even now at your old age!" The Elder Lotion teased, making the Elder shrug.

"Well, there's no harm in having a little fun with the younglings, is there? Besides. Liao Fei can use medical practice."

"That much is true. As much as I wish to be discouraged by Liao Fei's lack of desire in pursuing the martial arts I find I cannot be."

Another amazon cut in with a disappointed voice. "Bah! The girl is weak, as is the male. No matter the progress he makes that boy will never go as far as Liao Fei or any of our young female warriors." As you can see. Not everyone in the village was a fan of Jaydon's. In fact, there were quite a few of the Elders who would have loved to see him put in his place, if not outright kicked out of the village.

"I've told you before Soap! That 'boy' as you call him has no place to go. Were we to simply leave him to fend for himself he would surely perish. Oh sure maybe not by animals. But no doubt were he to wander too far into either Musk or Phoenix territory they would kill him. Or worse in the Musk's case. If they knew anything of his involvement with our people. They would treat him as one of us." Cologne shuddered at the mere thought of it. The Musk, Amazons, and Phoenix people had only just stopped fighting one another. Anything could set things off into the fiery blaze of war.

Soap humphed. "I fail to see the downside of that. But regardless of that, I do expect a good show tomorrow. As you have taken to train the gajin male I have taken to giving Mousse some last minute training of his own. The boy is good, for being a male. But after my tutelage, tomorrow's fight will surely be to die for." She then got up and walked out, ignoring Cologne's fierce glare at her backside.

Cologne was furious. It took every last ounce of her self control not to up and assault the wicked woman she had the displeasure to call a fellow Elder. Not only had she called Jaydon an outsider but also that she had been training Mousse. Mousse was dangerous enough as it was, at least where Jaydon was concerned. But with his anger problem at anyone who dared to lay a hand on Shampoo, literally, just laying a hand on her, and his choice of fighting. He may end up killing Jaydon. Accidentally or not. Unfortunately, after everything she and Jaydon did today they could not do more tomorrow before the match. Doing so would only harm Jaydon rather than help.

"I really want to whack my cane over her head." She would have snarled that but that would be below her position as an amazon.

"Then why don't you?" Lotion asked, curiously.

"I'm afraid my cane would break over her thick skull." Cologne deadpanned.

She and the other Elders had a good laugh at that. When things had all settled down Cologne took one last look at the crystal and smiled softly at the image of Jaydon and Liao Fei sleeping peacefully. "You'd best give Mousse one heck of a fight Jaydon." She said quietly to herself. "Cause if you don't. He very well may kill you."

(The Morning of the Dual)

Jaydon moaned tiredly as rays of sunlight woke her up. Snuggling closer into her pillow she hid her face from the light, hoping for just a moment more of sleep. Back in her world Jaydon always slept with a nice, big pillow. But… her 'pillow' seemed to have… hair. Jaydon's heart started to beat harder as the memories of the previous night came back to her. Liao Fei, the training, the massage, the ointment… the undressing… and then her face burned red. She tried to let go. To push herself away but for some reason, she couldn't.

Then Liao Fei apparently decided to try and give her a heart attack. "Sleep well, Jaydon?" And Jaydon did the exact same thing that Ranma always did in these situations. Panicked.

"Fei I'm sorry! I-I didn't mean to… oh I am so sorry!" She stuttered out, feeling more flustered than she had probably ever felt before.

Of course Fei on the other hand, being an actual 11 or 12 year old girl, was rather confused at her friend's reaction. "Sorry? What for?"

"I-I… I'm sorry but can you let me go? I need to… I need to stand up for a bit."

Although Fei wasn't sure what was wrong with Jaydon, she had realized that letting go was a good idea. "Jaydon? What's wrong?"

Standing up Jaydon was once again reminded of her state of dress. Backing away in search of clothes she said nervously. "Nothing, I'm just- woah!" She shouted as she fell backward, having tripped over said clothes as it was.

Liao Fei cringed as the loud sound of a skull meeting wood rang through the room. Walking over she tentatively asked. "Are you alright now?"

Jaydon groaned, but lucky for her the hit on the head had brought back her senses. "I am now. I'm sorry… I mean, I must get changed. Could you get me some hot water Liao Fei?" She asked.

Although still confused and slightly worried Liao Fei did as asked. "Alright. I'll see you in a bit." However, moments after she left the house her voice called out. "Jaydon, Elder Cologne is out here for you."

"Alright! I'll be there in a second." Quickly getting dressed Jaydon opened the door. "Cologne! I didn't think I'd see you this early in the morning. Thought you said there wouldn't be any training today?"

Cologne shook her head with an amused smile. "You're right. I did say that. But you are wrong when you said 'morning'." At Jaydon's confused look she cackled. "It is most certainly not morning young one."

"I slept in? Not too surprising I guess but regardless. May I ask why you're here Elder Cologne?"

The older amazon sighed. "Bad news I'm afraid. It appears that young Mousse has attracted the help of one of my fellow Elders. One who does not particularly care for you."

Jaydon read between the lines and sighed. "You mean she wants me gone." There was no doubt about that.

"That does not surprise you?"

"Not really. There are bound to be people here who do not like me. Me being an outsider and all. I've already taken notice of discreet glares sent my way around the village."

"Yes… the village seems to be at odds with themselves. They all know of your story. At least that which I've told them." At Jaydon's concerned glance she explained. "Do not worry child. I have not told anyone of you being from another world. Only that you are lost. Lost your home, your family, and all who have known you."

Jaydon cringed at just how true that statement really was. She was cut off from her own world. Every now and then she would dream of it. Of them. Family and friends locked away from her in another world. Laughing, enjoying their lives there. It was a hard thing to wake from that. Like giving a man (or woman in this case) hope and happiness only to take it away. It hurt. More than Jaydon was willing to admit. "So what does that mean for the fight today?"

"It means to be careful. Mousse plays with knives Jaydon. And one of those could easily kill you if you are not. Play to your strengths. And whatever happens… keep a cool head." She warned.

At that, the neo girl put her hand on her face. She had just woken up and already wanted nothing more than to go back to bed. "How much time have I got?"

"About 5 hours."

"Oh is that all?" She laughed. Just then Liao Fei returned with the hot water, which she took graciously. "Ahh, thank you, Fei." The newly restored man thanked.

"You're welcome Jaydon. Now how would you like to see your battlefield?"

"What do you mean? Didn't you show me everything a couple days ago?"

Liao Fei and Cologne scoffed. "Please. You think the entirety of Joketzuko could be seen in a single day? This village is bigger then you give credit sonny boy." Cologne scolded softly before she shook her head and said. "But enough talk. Shall we go?"

Jaydon nodded and the three of them left for the so called 'battlefield'. Along the way, Jaydon saw many people either giving him hateful glares or looks of… respect tinged with anticipation?

Cologne must have noticed the confused look on his face (to be honest Jaydon was sure Cologne had his confused face memorized) and said. "The mere face of the kid who half of them hope to see humble Mousse, while the other half hope to see humbled by the same."

"Love and hate. They come hand in hand." Jaydon muttered.

"Truer words have never been spoken, sonny boy."

They fell silent after that and Jaydon did his best to ignore the jeers and glares. Though it was difficult, especially when one of the amazons had the bright idea to see Jaydon-chan. But luckily for the perpetrator her annoyance was brief as Shampoo took personal offence at that. Both she and Liao Fei had taken it upon themselves to bring retribution to the person responsible. After the show they finally made it to Jaydon and Mousse's 'battlefield'. It reminded her of a coliseum.

"Wow. Just… wow." She said in awe. The coliseum was simply put. Massive. The arena itself was like a football field. And the stands… well looked like they could take all the amazons in the village with room to spare. The architecture and designing that had gone into building this was beyond anything Jaydon had seen thus far.

"Jaydon. Welcome to the coliseum."

"Thanks Cologne. So what are we doing here really? I mean I doubt you brought me here 5 hours early just so I could see the stage."

"And you would be right about that. We may not be training today but that doesn't mean you can do nothing till the fight."

Jaydon was puzzled by that and more so when Cologne nodded towards her. But then her slight danger senses went off and she was instantly on the move. Jumping into a dodge roll Jaydon narrowly missed a slash by… Liao Fei? "W-what?" She asked, turning accusingly towards Cologne.

"You need practice fighting weapon wielding enemies. And people, unafraid to attack you from behind. No ki attacks. Either hand to hand or use your environment." She said, setting the rules down for this particular match. She did this every time Jaydon sparred. Setting rules that she had to follow or else. The 'or else' usually meant something rather difficult and just a bit painful. The first time she disobeyed Jaydon ended up standing on one of the bamboo poles in Jusenkyo for hours on end. Her legs burned for days after it, and they still had their daily training sessions.

"Right. Cause there's definitely an environment to be used here- woah!" She winced, as Fei hadn't waited to launch another attack. She backed away with a slight cut on her cheek. "Alrighty then. It's go time." With that she quickly surveyed her surroundings. Almost immediately she spotted a weapons rack. Dodging another slash Jay dashed for the rack and grabbed the first weapon she could. "Ah hah!" She shouted triumphantly, pointing a spear at Liao Fei.

Who stared at her with an unimpressed face. "Seriously? A spear?" She deadpanned, before promptly cutting off the spear part of the spear.

"Ah…" Jaydon blocked another power swing which broke her now staff in half. "Oh come on!" And with that she turned and ran away.

Seeing this Cologne reprimanded her. "Don't run away! Running may help against a bear but won't against Liao Fei and it most certainly won't help against Mousse!"

"Running doesn't help against a bear either Old Ghoul!" She shouted back.

Cologne would have hit her over the head if she weren't in a fight. "Then stop doing it. Turn and face her. Just don't hit the bladed part of the sword with your parts of the staff." She advised.

Jaydon had to admit that it made sense. So the next time Liao Fei struck Jaydon knocked it aside. She could tell that Fei was taking it a little easier on her after Cologne's advice. Giving her time to adjust to the style of fighting. Though not much. Because with every successful block and dodge, Liao Fei's slashes got faster and faster.

Of course that's not to say Jaydon was perfect. Every now and then Fei got through her defence, causing cuts all over her body. She was pushed back further and further back until she was pressed back against the coliseum wall. Liao Fei's next slash was faster than all her others and Jaydon acted on instinct. Using one half of her staff, instead of diverting the slash, she let the blade insert itself right down the center of the wood. Now with a firm grip on the sword Jay took the opportunity and used the other half to knock hit Liao Fei's hands.

"Ow!" She winced as the sword flew out of her hands. "Good job Jay. Is the lesson over yet Cologne?"

"What?" Jaydon said, gasping for breath. "What lesson?"

Cologne cackled as she walked over to them. "The lesson my dear was twofold. The first was on fighting and disarming an armed opponent. The second was to rely on your instincts. This battle helped to… forced that lesson into your head. I am sorry for the damage you received in learning it but it was necessary."

"Necessary… for my fight against Mousse?"

Cologne and Liao Fei glanced at each other. "Yes. But not just that I'm afraid."

"You know lately I feel like I've been doing nothing but asking questions but what else is it for?"

"Oh one can never ask enough questions Jaydon. Just make sure they are good ones." Cologne responded. "Now if you would sit down in the lotus position and meditate on your ki I will teach you a neat little trick I know."

Jaydon eyed Cologne suspiciously even as she obeyed. "Ok but you still haven't answered my question."

"Your right. I haven't."

"Will you?" She questioned.

"Eventually. But not today. Now onto the technique. You have already learned to focus your ki to use as a weapon. But right now you will learn to use it as a healing tool. I want you to channel your ki. Let it pool around the area of your wounds. Can you do that?"

"I think so." Jaydon responded, taking a deep breath as she directed her ki to her deepest wounds. It was more difficult than the other techniques she had learned but she managed to channel it around the cut on her face. "Now what?"

"Good. Now I want you to imagine your ki weaving between the broken skin. Mending it. And sealing it up again." Cologne instructed.

Jay nodded. And with extra concentration focused a more intense pooling in the area of her cut and did exactly as Cologne said. After a time she felt her cheek and found that the cut was gone. Not just scabbed but completely gone. With that she opened her eyes and said ecstatically. "It's gone!" Her excitement was washed away when she realized. It was darker outside than when she had first closed her eyes.

"Huh! Oh Jaydon your back!" Liao Fei said. Jaydon could see Cologne trying to suppress a smug grin.

"Wha-what happened?"

"Well it turns out we just learned something sonny boy. While you are very good at the more damaging aspects of ki. The healing arts will apparently take some time."

"Sonny-oh…" It seemed that Cologne had changed her back to his original form while he had been busy. "It took hours for me to heal a little cut?"

"Apparently. But that's not important right now. We can practice that technique at a later date. The crowd is gathering."

Looking around Jaydon saw all the people Cologne was talking about. And also noticed one big thing… there was a great big divide. On one half of the coliseum there were people rooting for Mousse to win. And on the other half there were rooting for Jaydon… but still. "Cologne… how many people are rotting for me just cause they don't like Mousse?"

"Why do you ask, child?"

Pointing at the crowd Jaydon said. "Because half of those signs that say my name are misspelled."

"Well your name is very strange among us Jaydon."

"And there are many signs that say things like; 'Beat that blind, assaulter, jerkwad.' 'Send him packing.' 'That evil, evil man.'." That last one made Jaydon laugh. He guessed that Mousse's blind glomps had upset a lot of men. Whether that was because he had glomped them or their girls Jay didn't know.

"Yes… wait you can read them?"

"Well not entirely but I know enough to fill in the blanks. You're a very good teacher, Cologne."

"Well thank you Jaydon. And about the signs… I would say about a third of the people there are actually supporting you. The other two thirds… just really dislike Mousse." Cologne said with a sigh.

"You know what… I'm ok with that I think."

"So I see you had the guts to show up after all."

Turning around Jaydon saw Mousse and… another Elder. Jaydon had to wonder if every asian martial artist turned out the same as Cologne and Happosai. Cause the Elder in front of him was about as short as Cologne was. With the same wrinkle lines on her face… in fact the only real difference between the two of them was how this Elder looked at him. With hatred. Like she would like nothing more than to see him suffer.

However as unnerving as that was, Jay put it to the back of his mind, along with a mental note to ask Cologne what that was all about, and replied to Mousse. "Yeah well I didn't have anything to do today so I thought, 'Hey! Why not come on down and beat on a poor blind guy.'" He then paused at his words. "Huh… that makes me seem like such a bully."

"Don't think I'm some kind of weakling! I'll show you to look down on me Gajin!" Mousse shouted angrily.

"Wha?" Jay was confused until he realized exactly what he had said. "Ahh… yeah that was not the right thing to say at all." Cologne and Liao Fei seemed to agree, judging by the pair of "You think?" and "No… it wasn't." coming from behind him.

The Elder then walked to the center of the coliseum. "Brothers and Sisters of the Amazon tribe! Welcome to this battle between Mu Tsu and the outsider known as Jaydon!" She shouted, which made Cologne and Liao Fei bristle. Jaydon though just shrugged it off. Though that was partly due to not understanding all of what she said.

"If the two combatants would come to the center." This Jaydon could understand. Both he and Mousse walked to the center of the arena with Soap between them. "Now this fight will be a no holds barred match. Anything goes. Do you both understand?" Mousse nodded but as it was Jaydon did not understand. But agreed after it was explained in english. "Good. Now to your places!" After they moved to their spots and got into their stances, Soap nodded. "Start!" She shouted, leaping away just as volleys of weapons flew towards Jaydon.

Jaydon, instead of dodging, threw 2 disks of ki towards the onslaught of weapons. The two mini destructo disks collided and an explosion dispersed the weapons away. Not wanting to give Mousse time to recover Jay ran forward, grabbing up another spear (this one from Mousse's stash), and struck with it. Though as his weapon of choice was suddenly used to fling him into the coliseum wall. 'Maybe not a good idea to use his own weapons against him.' He thought to himself, getting off the ground in time to see another volley of weapons hurtling at him. Using a similar strategy as he did against the bear, Jaydon launched himself away towards another wall. He never stopped moving after that, merely bouncing from wall to wall around Mousse. Because if he stopped Mousse would launch another volley of weapons. 'Seriously! Just how many weapons does he have in that robe?'

Mousse for one was getting very annoyed at Jaydon. "Stop jumping around like some jack rabbit and face me like a man! Woah!" He shouted as a small destructo disk barely missed him. "Trying to end this fast huh? Well I already know just how deadly your so-called 'destructo disks' are and you get me with those so easily."

It wasn't surprising that Mousse knew about his technique. The whole village knew about his technique and really wanted him to teach it to them. Thing is though… the destructo disk he used that first time and the destructo disks he was using now were different in terms of destructive power.

As a way of conserving energy and not risking the lives of bystanders, Cologne had Jaydon working on ki control and making smaller, less life-threatening disks.

But if Mousse wanted to think they were deadly then Jaydon decided to let him. And to be honest… Jaydon immensely enjoyed making Mousse dance around, dodging his little disks like his life depended on it.

Of course the world decided to make this fight even more stereotypical as thunder rang out and rain fell, turning Jaydon into her more feminine self. And Jay found herself actually grateful with Cologne always splashing him/her at random during spars and training. Otherwise she may have been left without a head as a new weapon slammed into the wall beside her creating a deep gash into her cheek. That was when she knew it was time to end the match.

The rain and Jaydon's continuous onslaught of ki disks however, made Mousse even angrier. "Stop toying with me!" He shouted, having brought out two Kusarigamas which he whirled dangerously… that is until Jaydon severed the chains with two disks.

Then before Mousse had time to process the loss of his weapons, he found himself being assalted by a girl instead of the male he had been fighting.

Jaydon gave her opponent no quarter. No chance to pull another weapon from his Ki-space. Cause she knew if he did... she wouldn't stand a chance.

While Mousse was one of if not the best weapons user in the village, his grasp on hand to hand combat certainly left much to be desired.

That being said. Jaydon's own hand to hand wasn't that great either. At the moment the match would be a match of stamina more than pure skill. And with all the jumping around and ki disks she'd been throwing. Jaydon was reaching her peak.

She would have to end it fast. And therefore did something no one expected. She gave Mousse an opening.

One he promptly took head on. "You're mine!" He shouted maliciously as he lunged forward with a spear.

Jaydon's response was to sidestep the lunge, barely dodging it. Mousse's lunge left him open an attack. Forming a reduced Destructo disk in her hand Jay attacked wth a palm heel knocking Mousse onto his back.

When Mousse came to the girl he'd been fighing was on top of him. With one hand on his chest and the other in the air summoning a massive, full powered destructo disk above the two of them. "Do you yield?" She asked breathlessly.

When he hesitated Jaydon repeated herself. "Do you yield!" She yelled, panting heavily. Having finally stopped moving Mousse, Cologne, Liao Fei, Soap and the rest of the audience could see that Jaydon had not had as easy a time as it had looked.

Her clothes which apart from the cuts that Liao Fei herself had put in them looked more like ribbons now. The lower half her shirt completly gone. And her face now looked more menacing with the deep gash bleeding from her cheekbone, up to her hairline.

Mousse gulped. He was now regretting his decision to pick a fight with Jaydon. "I yield!" He conceded.

Everyone in the coliseum watched attentively as the enraged girl took a deep breath… and slowly let it out, letting her destructo fizzle out. She got off from on top of Mousse, expression carefully blank. Jaydon scoffed. "You know... you shouldn't have aimed for the face. Oh and... good luck finding a tutu." She said before walking away, making Mousse sigh in relief that he was still alive and then blanch at the idea of finding a tutu.

Cologne met Jaydon immediately. From on top of her staff she took a look at the gash on the younger girl's face. "It'll leave a scar." Was her mournful report.

"I know." Was her only reply.

"If it had been just an inch to the right…" Cologne didn't want to finish that sentence.

"I know." That time Jaydon's voice cracked. She tightened her fists in an attempt to keep from doing what she wanted to do. It helped that she didn't even know what she wanted to do.

Part of her wanted to run back to Mousse and rip him to pieces with a full powered Destructo disk. Another part wanted to run away from him and find a place to hide away and cry both out of pain and relief.

An amused, taunting voice cut in. "So you won this round, outsider. But if you had this much trouble against Mousse then I fear just how much you will struggle in the times to come."

Anger overtook Jaydon for just a moment and in a flash she whirled around, a full powered destructo disk forming in her hand. Just as she was to launch it, however, Cologne grabbed her wrist making her wince in pain. "No, child. This is not the time, nor the place."

After the Destructo disk faded and Jaydon had calmed down she asked, scathingly. "What are you talking about?"

Soap looked confused, before taking one look at Cologne and realized. "Oh ho ho, so Cologne has yet to tell you. If I were you Cologne I'd tell her. Before it's too late."

This time it was Jaydon's turn to look confused. "Stop talking in riddles and tell me what you're talking about!" Confusion and anger… not a good combination.

"If she doesn't wish to tell you about it then why should I? No, I think I'll leave you to figure it out. But if I were you, outsider, I'd watch my back." And with that, she walked out of the Coliseum.

Although still angry Jaydon was starting to feel worried. When she looked around nobody would face her, thus increasing her worry. Not even Cologne or Liao Fei would look at her. "Cologne, what was she talking about?" Though when she turned back to Cologne to ask… she wasn't there. She turned to Liao Fei with the same question.

"I was told not to tell you Jaydon. I'm sorry." The guilt on her face was enough to concern her even more.

After that the crowds dissipated, Liao Fei left, and Jaydon was left standing in the rain. Alone. Feeling exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally. Throughout the course of the day she had been excited, terrified, excited again, pissed off, glad, pissed off again, and now was left with a growing terror.

As she limped back to the place she called home, Jaydon's mind was swirling with questions. What was so bad that nobody, not even Cologne who had never been afraid to tell things to her straight, would run away from her.

What exactly was going on in the Chinese valleys? And why was it that nobody looked at her anymore? Ever since she came to the village, people would sometimes glare at her wouldn't even glance at her anymore.

Other people who would smile cheerfully and greet her, even joke with her being in her cursed form, wouldn't look at her either. If Jay was honest with herself. She preferred the glaring to being ignored.

What could possibly rip away the smiles and joy from the entire village? Of course what had happened that night might have done it. But that wouldn't make people who hated her, pity her all of a sudden.

While she didn't know any of that. A part of her hoped, prayed even, that she never had to find out.

That night would prove to be one of the worst she had ever had since her stay. Kept awake by the memory, and subsequent pain of Mousse's blade flying past her face. And also by the memory of herself. Standing over Mousse's body moments later with a destructo disk primed to strike.

Of course, that memory was fought back often enough with the promise Mousse dancing all around the village in a pink tutu.

End of chapter 3.

And that is that! I hope you all enjoyed the fight between Jaydon and Mousse. It seems that Jaydon is picking up a bit of a habit of just jumping around his/her opponents. I know that things got a little dark kinda suddenly but I just felt like it was right. Though I hope that was combated with the thought of Mousse prancing around in a pink tutu.

This version of the Ranma Universe is rather different from the anime/manga. Those questions Jaydon had… may or may not be answered in the next chapter. I'm not sure. I would like to keep things at least semi-slow. Instead of just throwing Jaydon into the fray and just him losing his mind. Lol.

But on that note, I would like to see what you guys think. What your thoughts and opinions are for what has everyone acting so weird. So please review and I will let you know if you're close or not.

Anyway guys, take care out there and I will see you again when the next chapter comes out. Please review.

See ya!

P.S. Nothing is going to happen with Jaydon and Liao Fei for some time. Just letting you all know in advance.

(Edit: I lengthened the battle between Mousse and Jaydon. Didn't like how quickly it went from Jaydon getting her but kicked to kicking Mousse's.

And thank you Hermione Blackwood for pointing out that bit about Jaydon and Liao Fei. Honestly I hadn't liked it either but just forgot to change it. So thx for bringing it up.)