Side Story of Chapter 6
Mu Tu's Story
When Mu Tse left the village, he realized that his life as an Amazon was over, but found that had the village never really been his home. He was always the butt of someone else's joke...
"But not without good reason." he thought.
He reddened as he thought of the really idiotic things he had done. As his thoughts returned to HOME, he realized that the only place that had accepted him as who he was, but then he had always known and started walking in the direction of Japan.
All through his travels, Mu Tse was thinking about what happened.
Flashback
Around four months ago
After Ranma's injury, he was ready to finish the job, but was dragged back to the village by Elder Khun Lo. It was there that it dawned on him that his hated rival, Ranma Satome, was gone. The Council would never let him marry Xian Pu now that he was crippled.
As time went by, he felt less hatred towards his former because he had no claim on her yet. If he did recover then he would finish the job. If not then his chief rival was gone.
In odd way, he felt saddened. Ranma was by far the best of his generation. He did respect Ranma and grudgingly admitted it to himself. It also dawned on him that he was far better now than when he left the village. Fighting Ranma improved his speed and strength. Also, the beatings by Shampoo had improved his stamina, like the Bakusai Tensetsu training.
Even though he was better now, he still had to improve himself and finally prove his worth to Xian Pu. He hated his glasses and bad eyesight, which made him the laughing stock of the village. Amazons thought of anyone with a disability as beneath them, despite some who had overcome it to become great warriors.
He had to improve, but how? He thought and came up with the answer. Al Lo. She was the premiere night hunter and raider of the tribe and perhaps the only warrior who showed him higher contempt than his love, Xian Pu. He had to learn how to use his other senses to fight. He had seen Ranma do it when he and others had blinded him on many occasions. He did know the concepts, it was more with getting your senses to be more attuned to your surroundings.
The next day, he went over to Al Lo and asked her to train him in secret. She had her usual contempt, but Mu Tse swallowed his pride and kept on asking. She knew that he would do this until he got what he wanted and didn't want to go what Xian Pu did. She acceded, but asked why he wanted to improve. He said he wanted to improve to prove himself to Xian Pu, but didn't want everyone to know. After a lot of arguments, she conceded that Mu Tse needed to improve, although she still thought him an idiot. The exchange would be for fighting techniques, Night Fighting for Hidden Weapons. A fair exchange. This was to improve himself so that he can finally beat her and win her hand. With this, he dedicated himself to training to beat her.
She had tried to master the Hidden Weapons techniques, but found later that she and the Hidden Weapon's mistress, the Elder Tal Cum, Mousse's mother, didn't like each other for some reason. Tal Cum made it very difficult for her. She did get the technique to hold weapons, but wasn't correctly taught the technique of getting the weight down. She would have use the technique, primarily, to store things to make hunting easier.
About a month later
Both were progressing. Al Lo was starting to finally grasps the last principles of the Hidden Weapons and Mu Tse could had found he had the basics already, in sensing auras and sharpening his other senses, but now finally knew that he could rely on his other senses to move around and even to fight. The problem was that he just ignored the auras and his other senses before and concentrated on his sight, now he did the opposite. It real hard part was distinguishing what was coming to him and interpreting it. All he really needed was practice which he did instead of chasing Xian Pu.
He had seen Xian Pu only occasionally in six weeks. On those occasions, he still showed that he needed to improve when he was plummeted by everyone in his obsessive mode. Now that he could control it, barely, he would show her that he is strong enough for her.
Another month later
Without Mu Tse's constant interference, Xian Pu went with her new companion who courted her. It came as a total shock to him because it was his older brother, Rei Xor. They had never found out how he knew about them. They were very discreet, but his foster mother knew and even encouraged it. It started by Rei Xor had sparred with Xian Pu on many occasions and everyone was impressed at his skill and his looks. From there it progressed into a full grown infatuation.
Mu Tse knew. His new senses told him where everyone was and he could sense the paths of both Rei Xor and Xian Pu. They sparred, but even he could feel their growing affections for each other. He was still obsessed with Xian Pu, but over the weeks it dulled a little. Also it was his older brother who he idolized. He was torn and just didn't know what to do.
There was no confrontion. It was from his actions that Mu Tse served notice that he knew. They still laughed at his pathetic attempts to get Shampoo and didn't really notice the intense looks of thought after they turned away.
Another month later
Mu Tse was very happy. He found he could fight even when his glasses were knocked off. He could now feel where other people were, but his other senses were much more acute. He even developed a way to distinguish people by their auras. He couldn't see them, but he could feel them. Each person had a unique signature.
He had refined it enough for them to make a human like arms and legs. He can distinguish if they had a weapon because it resonated differently when ki went through it. It was extremely useful because he could use it in the dark as well as in the light. It was only rough and he found that when it was at a high enough level, he could use it almost to "see" things.
Unknown to him, he started sensing the ki around him unconsciously. He didn't know that it was a milestone for him, but he knew that people would ask too many questions if he started showing that he had overcome his handicap. With time, he found he could sense the flow of natural ki and that even inanimate objects were affected by ki. By the way it affected things, he could actually distinguish a shapes and even textures, but not colour.
Al Lo on the other hand had grasped the principles and was now in full command of the Hidden Weapons Style. She still sparred with him even though she mastered the technique long ago. They chose secret places to spar because she didn't want the others to know she was actually taking the village idiot seriously. Riducule was the one thing she couldn't tolerate.
Mu Tse also agreed for different reasons. He had improved so much that he had changed mentally as well as physically. He saw things like the contempt and the ways his fellow amazons treated him. He felt that this wasn't home. Nerima was his home.
He kept on surprising her. Each time he sparred with her, he beat her. It surprised her that he could do that even when he was in his cursed form. At first, She thought it would be easy win until he did some aerial attack moves, but when he had started to do some new special attacks in his cursed form like in his normal form, she knew she was in trouble.
He seem to do the moves at random intervals in a haphazard way like using a sword one minute to bare handed the next to a totally weird technique then another totally different move. She thought he was getting crazier because some of his moves were so strange that she thought it was flukes when he actually hit her at seemingly random times. In fact, it was a way for him to test his moves out without her really knowing what he was doing. He had even adapted some of the techniques when he was in duck form. He reasoned that he might get splashed and have to defend himself.
She was actually getting better as she won most of their matches.
So was he, as after the second month that he let her win. He fully tested his techniques and found the good and ready.
It occurred later to him that without Ranma being his rival for Xian Pu, he could "see" more clearly now. What Ranma actually shown him was that he was a good martial artist, but he relied on his Hidden Weapons too much. He was weak in so many areas that it really surprised him.
Had Al Lo just taken a step back, she would have seen him producing a whole new style. Had she been with him in Nerima, she would have recognized a lot of the moves or variations of them. Ki blasts, aerial and unarmed combat, different weapon techniques and such were used by him and Akane's Hammerspace. Had she stepped back, she would have seen herself falling for Mu Tse, the village idiot.
She had sparred so long with him that she didn't see the gradual reduction in his use of the Hidden Weapons Style in both his natural and cursed forms. His style with and without weapons were starting to meld. He could switch from using a weapon to bare handed in a blink. What really surprised her was that he could use his special techniques with weapons too and that he automatically changed tactics when he was splashed. That and coupled with his increasing proficiency with his weapons. He may never be master swordman, but he was a darn good one and hat goes with his other weapons as well.
A three weeks later
Mu Tse was starting to puzzle her. She had seen the confrontation between him, herself and Rei Xor over a week ago and thought he would have backed down from his brother, but didn't. He still did his normal "My darling Shampoo" thing and got pounded. What no one saw except her was that he wasn't really hurt or that he smiled.
Over time, Mu Tse was beginning to find that Xian Pu, despite being the best warrior of her generation, may not be the best person to be a wife. He was slowly seeing that the only true friend he actually had in the village was Al Lo of all people. If this was happening to Mu Tse, the opposite was happening to Xian Pu. Mu Tse, somehow, seemed to look better than before. There were clues that should have let her know that he was changing, but her contempt of him by her and the rest of the village still lingered and interfered in her and them grasping the changes in him.
Little did she know that those changes would turn the village upside down and for good or ill challenge the very foundations of their way of life. What happened next determined the fate of the Amazon Nation.
Mu Tse week later, he left the village with Elder Khun Lo to see if Ranma was going to recover. Xian Pu protested and didn't have to go. Elder Khun Lo raised an eyebrow and did something extraordinary. She let her stay. She knew that Shampoo was seeing Rei Xor.
Later after the battle at a hotel
Carrying back the duck, Khun Lo was pensive. Son-in...Ranma was still paralyzed. She saw it when he was knocked out of the wheelchair by that idiot Kuno.
She was still mightily impressed. Even with the relative inactivity for almost three months, he still amazed her. He actually did a 'raw'chi attack, but it drained him too much. His speed at catching the weird animal was puzzling, but it was lucky for him that the Lost Boy helped him before the idiot Kuno cleaved him in half. She was surprised when he didn't attack Ranma, but wheeled him in.
She would have to report back to the Council. She hadn't felt this depressed and frustrated in years, not since Ka Heem and her family were exiled for a petty squabble. This was the sort of thing that tore apart the Amazon Queendom all those thousands of years ago and preventing them from creating another one since then.
She knew the decision that the Council would make. Xian Pu's Kiss of Marriage would be officially annulled. The prejudice against any physical disability was strong. She saw first hand that he would still be a great martial artist, not the best, but still better than most men of the village. She had the feeling that something GREAT has just slipped though her fingers.
She felt a swirling of something happen when they went in. Something was coming and it seemed that it would be a big one that will affect the village with Mu Tse at the center of it. He attacked Ranma with clubs and staffs with no knives or chains. He remained strangely quiet. No love declaration to Xian Pu or insults to her.
When she and Mu Tse returned to the village, the sensation of chaos had gotten stronger. What happened later had made her rethink many things.
As expected the Council annulled the Kiss of Marriage. After the announcement, a deep calm had descended in the village, it was weird to everyone in the village because there was no declaration of love by Mu Tse and no pathetic attempts to get Xian Pu to notice him. It should have been great for Xian Pu, but as she looked a Mu Tse, she actually feel the changes in him. It made her uneasy and fascinated at the same time.
As things changed with Xian Pu, so it did with Rei Xor. For a long time, he was unofficially acknowledged as the best male of his generation, but now it made him uneasy that Xian Pu was now the one sneaking looks at Mu Tse without her habitual contempt sometimes. The bad part was that Mu Tse wasn't returning those looks anymore. The changes didn't stop there. Others female warriors were starting to have a second look at the village idiot with tensions from the male warriors. It had taken some time, but it just occurred to them that he wasn't mistaking everything else for Xian Pu. At first, everybody rejoiced, but now it felt absolutely eerie because no one except Al Lo knew why. They felt his unconscious confidence, and most of all his good looks; but years of contempt weren't washed away in a few weeks.
Tensions built up mainly on Rei Xor's side when Mu Tse didn't back down from him. This occurred when he threatened Mu Tse to not be anywhere near his 'beloved' Xian Pu. It was he who backed down from the determination and strength in Mu Tse's eyes. When Rei Xor's temper exploded one day, everything changed and nothing would be the same again.
Everyone thought Mu Tse was pathetic and were totally surprised when Rei Xor challenged Mu Tse for an imaginary insults to Xian Pu. Mu Tse's foster mother coddled Rei Xor and turned him away in contempt, seconded the challenge. Rei Xor was full of confidence because he had battled Xian Pu to a standstill while Mu Tse couldn't last more than a few seconds. It came to a shock to Mu Tse when he actually saw the shifting of their auras that the contempt that they both had for him was real. He couldn't see any of the tolerance from his mother or the acceptance from his brother anymore.
This was a male Amazon battle, so they didn't use the real Challenge Log, but the male Challenge Log. Out of all of the village, only five people showed up with the challengers, Xian Pu, Rei Xor's friend Tu Be and surprisingly Khun Lo and Al Lo.
Xian Pu was just supporting Rei Xor, but the real surprise was that Khun Lo and not Tal Cum came as a Elder must be here to witness and settle disputes of the match. Khun Lo seemed to have taken an interest in Mu Tse. Tal Cum didn't attend because of her confidence that Rei Xor can beat Mu Tse easily and again showing her contempt for Mu Tse. Al Lo also did attend as she thought that how much Mu Tse had improved.
Of course when Rei Xor came, he was cocky. Mu Tse, on the other hand, was calm. So calm that it was that eerie and it was like he was foreboding of a massive storm. Everyone there felt it but shook it off. After all, Rei Xor was so much better than pathetic Mu Tse. They should have known better.
The battle started and progressed like always as Rei Xor avoided and countered Mu Tse's Hidden Weapons with his own. Rei Xor was toying with Mu Tse and after a while got tired and predictably Mu Tse's glasses were knocked off.
What happened next was astounded everyone.
Precisely after Rei Xor slashed with his Great Sword at Mu Tse with both hands in a major, but not lethal blow. He was shocked when Mu Tse shifted with the smallest of margins to spare to avoid the cut. Mu Tse then unleashed moves that flowed into an intricate and lethal dance wove all around Rei Xor he forced him to back up. Even as Rei Xor unleashed his few desperate attacks, Mu Tse flowed around like air and stuck with the speed and power of a rushing river. At the end of the log, Rei Xor was sweating after blocking only some of the cuts and thrusts form Mu Tse. He was getting tired and had to use the Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken on many occasions just to keep from being skewed, but Mu Tse on the other hand was barely breathing hard. Normally Rei Xor would have shrugged it off because of his Backusai Tensetsai training, but Mu Tse was far stronger and faster due to his battles in Nerima, smacks by Xian Pu, the adventures and his additional training.
As Rei Xor lunged in desperation, Mu Tse could have slipped through his defence like a ghost and finished him, but merely jumped back.
Now coupled with the resulting revision of his new chi moves, Rei Xor didn't have a chance. Mu Tse called out the attack, Fist of the White Swan Revised, Fist of the White Eagle. The Fist of the White Eagle would have normally bee like a Mouko Takabisha or a Shi Shi Hadoken, but with this battle, it was much different and he knew it. He drew upon what he felt from Ranma in the battle when he got hit with that massive attack and focused 'raw' ki into it, which came out as big as a full Perfect Shi Shi Hadoken blast and surprising even Mu Tse that it became shaped into a swooping eagle.
Rei Xor was totally unprepared for ki attack, never mind the power behind it. He never knew that his brother, Mu Tse, was up to the level of throwing a ki blast. It wouldn't have mattered anyway as there was no where to go and Rei Xor couldn't do a ki blast. The blast knocked him out as it blew him from the male Area over fifty feet away and utterly wiped out the Challenge Log.
The four people were astounded for different reasons. Khun Lo had finally recognized Mu Tse's potential, Xian Pu was astounded by Mu Tse's level as he never used that against her, Al Lo was thoroughly impressed as she recognized some moves from their sparring. Only Tu Be thought it was a trick. Sorcery. Cheating. How could Mu Tse beat Rei Xor?.
Everyone was in shock, even Khun Lo fell from her staff in shock. Mu Tse calmly, walked away from the male Area, took out another pair of glasses and put them on then he smiled. He knew that only the people here would believe that he defeated Rei Xor. To him, it was a settling of accounts. The Village Idiot beat the best of the Male Amazons of their generation.
He was walking away when Tu Be challenged him. He called him a cheater and attacked. Anticipating such a thing, one seconds later, a GIGANTIC HAMMER which he promptly applied to Tu Be. The use of the 100 ton hammer was more than enough to impress anyone. How Mu Tse actually pulled it out without using the Hidden Weapons and wield it was a true mystery to the Amazons, except Khun Lo and Xian Pu as they saw Akane do it all the time to hit Ranma.
Xian Pu was shocked and was angry that Mu Tse beaten Rei Xor so easily, but in the back of her mind, she wondered when had he gotten so strong and not used the Hidden Weapons Style. The telltale feeling of ki wasn't used in the same way when the Hidden Weapons Style was used.
Khun Lo looked thoughtful at Mu Tse. He had overcame the problem with his sight and his obsession with Xian Pu, mostly. She had a thoughtful look when she saw him take several solid hits by Rei Xor and not flinch. The heavy dents in Rei Xor's Great Sword attested to the strength and speed of Mu Tse. She was surprised that she even recognized an even bigger verison of Akane's Hammer from Hammerspace when he hit Tu Be. As she looked back to the battle, she saw that his coordination improved and that he used an unknown flowing style that had mainly the techniques that were used when they were in Nerima. Something like the Anything Goes...
She smiled and shook her head, so this is Ranma's gift to Mu Tse. Ranma never really considered Mu Tse his enemy and now looking back, saw him teaching Mu Tse to use his brain and speed instead of relying solely on his weapons. She even remembered in some fights that Mu Tse fought far longer than his skill level at that time. Ranma thumped his head and body and Mu Tse had to adapt to close his holes in his defence.
As she thought it over, it occurred to her that she shouldn't have been surprised that he beat Rei Xor. He had changed from his trip to Nerima. His fights with Ranma had to have improved him. He was hardened by hundreds of battles with Ranma and other powerful opponents while Rei Xor only trained with the occasional battle with the Musk or the People of Mount Pheonix. Mu Tse should be consider as one of the best if not the best of his generation in the village now and that doesn't include the enormous strength in overcoming his vision and obsession problems.
The other Elders and the rest of the village were coming now as they sensed and heard the last attack, but would they ever believe that MU TSE would be that good. Probably not. They would probably think that Rei Xor did the technique or that Mu Tse cheated...somehow. Her word wouldn't be taken because of her enemies would want to ridicule her that Mu Tse would actually be a good warrior.
As she looked at Mu Tse, she felt a melancholy in him that the village wasn't his home anymore and that he would shortly leave. Despite her still low opinion of him, she felt he had grown up a bit that he was right in that his place wasn't in the village anymore.
In a grove, he wrote a very long letter later that night. It took him until dawn to finish it and then he gave it to the postmistress. Her eyebrows were raised when she saw it posted for Nerima, Japan.
After sending the letter, Mousse went to see Khun Lo to talk with her. She was impressed with the way he handled things and also impressed that he could walk to her without mistaking anyone else for her. He had indeed overcome his problems. When he gave up on Xian Pu, the long thorn in her side was gone and she looked at him with new eyes. He could have been a great asset to the village, but it seemed his destiny lay elsewhere. It was then she decided that it was time to tell Mu Tse of his heritage and for him to decide what he was to do about it. It took her the rest of the night to do just that.
The next day, a petition that was drawn in front of the Council for Mu Tse to be exiled for cheating in the challenge. The Council like Tal Cum still thought what Mu Tse did was a fluke or that he cheated as Tu Be thought and was glad to get rid of someone who was unfit to be an Amazon. The other Elders still couldn't believe that Mu Tse beat Rei Xor. They considered Rei Xor the best of his generation and always thought Mu Tse was weak as Tal Cum had always thought that.
Later, in front of the village and through the Ritual of Banishment, Mu Tse was stripped of everything Amazon, even his clothes. Neither he or any of his children will be admitted to the Amazon Tribe again, ever. Khun Lo, herself, had given Mu Tse the Xi Fang Ga to take away his Hidden Weapons Style in front of the village, but not what he learned from his encounters from Ranma or his own style that he perfected. Since he never shared it with the Amazons and the Council never knew about it then it was his by right. That was her last gift to him. The gratitude in his eyes made her eyes misty. Here was a fine warrior about to be banished for something that wasn't even his fault.
After the Ritual of Banishment, Mu Tse left the village and never returned.
Of course, Khun Lo had the last laugh at her rival Tal Cam. She said that as Mu Tse was the sole originator of the Hidden Weapons Technique then he gets to keep it.
Tal Cum was speechless, but seething as she couldn't do anything about it. None could dispute that Mu Tse did originate it despite Tal Cum campaign that said that she was his inspiration. Everybody knew that was crap.
Also, it was another victory for Khun Lo because she knew that Tal Cum encouraged Mu Tse behaviour to her Xian Pu. The move was to precisely to keep people from her and to get her with Rei Xor, who would keep the pest, Mu Tse, off her because he was stronger than him. It partially worked in that Rei Xor had gotten Xian Pu, but that he wasn't stronger than Mu Tse. She had to smile to see how the tables had been turned.
Rei Xor was in seclusion as he remembered the final look on Mu Tse's face before Mu Tse's final attack. The breaking of the family bond that had bound them both together and the sadness of what will never be again. His mother casually dismissed it as being a fluke and it was then when he realized his mistake and the mistake of the village. He had subconsciously, like the others, ignored the signs of the emerging warrior in his former brother because of what he knew of him. The habitual contempt of Mu Tse had blinded him as to what he had become.
The worst part as he hung his head down that he had loved him as a brother and at the same time failed in being a brother. As he remembered the good times before his obsession with being a warrior and Mu Tse's with Xian Pu when they talked and confided in one another, he felt again that the village had just made a mistake that will never be rectified.
Al Lo was different. She realized the moves he used because he used the same ones against her, except the ki blast. When she saw how his style came together, she was more than impressed. She was in awe. It was a powerful style that fitted him. It was graceful and strong, but also fast and deadly. She then noticed that his ki had increased when he was unloading his weapons. She wondered how much more powerful he was if he carried only a minimal of it.
It also occurred to her that she wouldn't have a sparring partner anymore. With Mu Tse gone, she found that all of the males warriors and even most of the females ones weren't even at her level, except the Elders. She was nearly the best of the village. Before her training with Mu Tse, she would have been ecstatic. It was what she always wanted. Now, it was hollow as she realized that if she chose to win any challenges that she would become a prize like Xian Pu. Not to mention that the only male to convincingly beat her was now gone. She wondered if her chances in finding a strong husband had just went with him. She had a great deal to think about.
It would take the Council many months before they would really 'listen' to the full story, but it would take even longer for them to admit their mistake. Of course by then it would be far too late for the Amazons to do anything about it.
Khun Lo shook herself out of the feeling of losing something else of great value and that they would never see again. She looked around the village. Even to her aged eyes, she knew they were dying. Stubborn and unwilling to change are now costing them people. Males escape and even now, husband hunting parties were coming home with less and less mates. Fewer children were born since she was a child. Will the Amazons survive? Do they deserve to survive?
At the same moment, as a certain blind boy stepped off the ship in Tokyo harbour. Mu Tse finally found what he was looking for when he returned to Nerima when he ended up on the steps of the Hospital.
Author's note:
I felt that the treatment of Mousse was unfair. Both Shampoo and Cologne treated him badly, but I felt that Cologne would have warmed up to Mousse once he stopped pursuing her granddaughter.
Mousse was not the best of his generation in this alternate, but he did become it. He had grown beyond the scope of the village. If he had stayed, the 'baggage' that he had would never go away.
I don't know, maybe Al Lo will be there for him.