Subject: [FFML] [Ranma]The Amazon and the Moneylender [24]
From: Thryth
Date: 4/24/2000, 7:40 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

The Amazon and the Moneylender: Episode 12, Part 2: An
Art long Unused.

-------------------------------------------------------

   The oni lunged forward at Kodachi, growling as the
girl dodged out of the way. A flurry of stings in its
side were the oni's first warning of the chi-charged
throwing knives. The chi in the blades left gaps that
the yang chi of the steam drove forward in an attempt
to balance the unnatural yin of the demon. The oni
took a moment from its pursuit of the girl to charge
the hidden weapons expert. Mousse ducked under the
huge fist that drove into the rock.
   "OH-hahahahahahahaha!!!" The laugh hadn't changed,
Mousse noted as Kodachi's ribbon slashed at the demon.
It seemed that her 'chi trick' was basically the same
as his own. A basic trick of any weapon's centered
martial artist, connected the weapon to your chi so
that it becomes a living part of you. "You have made a
very final error, demon."
   "I shall not be defeated by a pair of mortals!" The
oni kicked at the rolling Mousse, propelling the
Chinese martial artist into the rock wall. That would
stun the boy long enough, he assumed, turning his
attention back to his true target.
   Kodachi found it easy to dodge the pain-wracked
oni's attempts to grab her. If it had been intent on
killing her, on the other hand, she thought it might
have been a different story. Unfortunately, she was
too close to use her ribbon, and she had quite a while
ago lost her other weapons.
   "No more laughter girl?" the oni chuckled, despite
the shimmering waves of darkness she could see
bleeding off of it. The oni's presence made the chi
flow of the place successively more and more visible
as the natural yang fought the beast.
   "No more shouting fiend?" Kodachi smirked, rolling
under the beast and leaping away, slashing out again
with her chi charged ribbon. New streams of darkness
leaked out and was destroyed by the surrounding Yang. 
   The demon roared, charging forward, forgetting, in
its rage that it wanted Kodachi's body for a host.
Thick talons slashed across her side as she swung
around the beast's right. Kodachi landed roughly,
recovering her balance from the impact, on the edge of
the hot-spring's main pool. The glowing pool, she
noted with a viciousness that the Nerima crew was well
acquainted with, but which most demons only associated
with their own kind.
   "Mousse would this water be any help?" she shouted,
noticing that the hidden weapons expert was standing
up and ready to fight again.
   "That fool mortal can't help you now, girl," the
oni smiled. "I'm weakened, but I'm more than enough
for the two of you." Kodachi watched as the oni made
its way carefully around the pool, moving slowly to
torture her. She recognized the tactics. 
   Kodachi stood up, apparently without pain. Not that
there was no pain, but the process of pain messages
tended to take the following route. Injury reported to
mind, mind files it away to check later, mind
instructs body to continue what it was doing. The oni
noted this action and paused in its approach. Long
enough for Mousse to make a re-entry into the fight,
slashing across the front of the beast with a clawed
glove.
   "We're not going to get it in the water," Mousse
shouted. "So just keep hitting it!" Mousse dodged the
oni's counterattack and then slashed again. 
   Kodachi took long enough to notice that Mousse was
doing better than she had been when the thing had been
just trying to catch her. He could hold it off long
enough for what she had in mind. Heedless of injury
and fatigue the gymnast dived back into the water of
the main pool. Swimming along the bottom she narrowed
her eyes and smirked as she found the source of the
hot spring.
   "The girl is hiding in the pool, mortal," the oni
smiled. "And she'll probably bleed death waiting for
the yang flow to kill me after I finish with you. Then
I'll just return to what I've been doing for
centuries, such a pity to miss the opportunity she
presented, but I offered you a chance."
   "Don't be so confidant," Mousse snickered. "You are
a minor spirit compared to some of the things I've
seen." The boy tossed a series of eggs in the demons
face as he dodged another attack. The natural chi of
the resulting explosions gave the demon only minimal
pain, but the smoke did aid the steam in obscuring
Mousse's motion for a moment. "I've seen a mortal tear
a god limb from limb!"
   The oni growled as Mousse whipped around behind him
slashing down with his claw again. The oni whipped
around, catching the martial artist on his landing.
Mousse's claw blocked the talons, but shattered under
the strain and still propelled Mousse against the
cliff wall.
   "But you are not Ranma Saotome," the oni smiled as
Mousse stood up again. No room to leap, no room to
dodge, a large demon that had been getting slashed for
the past five minutes without much visible sign of
fatigue, his glasses were shattered and Kodachi still
hadn't come up from underwater. 
   Mousse was preparing for a last charge in at the
oni when the rumbling started. The oni lashed at in
the moment Mousse hesitated at the new factor. Mousse
felt ribs cracking as he was crushed against the wall,
the oni's talons pressed in as the rumbling grew. The
oni was preparing to rip the martial artist in two
when the hot spring erupted into a geyser. The cul de
sac was bombarded in Yang energies, made visible by
the demon's unwelcome presence.
   "Oh-hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!" In the flash of chi
neither Mousse nor the oni could see Kodachi, but the
source of the geyser was quite obvious by the laugh.
The oni wasn't in much of a condition to sense
anything, the darkness of its essence was thoroughly
and utterly destroyed giving one final wordless cry of
disbelief. As the demon was obliterated the natural
chi faded again into invisibility. "It did not
understand whom it was facing."
   "Kodachi�.are you okay?" Mousse asked, the gymnast
smiled and virtually bounced her way to where Mousse
was leaning against the wall.
   "You don't think I'd let such a disgusting beast
touch me, do you?" she asked, sitting down next to
him.
   "Of course not�"Mousse smiled, relieved, the oni
must have been lying about her being injured.  He
tried to pull a breath through cracked ribs and
leaning his head back. Kodachi leaned her head against
his shoulder and relaxed.

*******************************************************

   Nabiki relaxed, slightly, Kuno had given Ryouga a
run for his money. Mousse had beaten him easily, but
that was while Kuno was still injured. Shampoo could
beat Kuno, but it was by no means a certain victory.
   "Stick-boy dead!" Shampoo shouted angrily to the
body under her bike. The swordsman lifted himself up
throwing the bike and rider off as he did. Shampoo
flipped off the vehicle and landed between him and
Nabiki before lashing out with kick at the distracted
Kuno. The samurai barely dodged, moving to Shampoo's
side and trying to regain his balance for an attack.
   ~For once I'm glad she's here,~ Akane noted to
herself. ~What's Nabiki doing?~
   Nabiki dropped her crutches and hopped to the where
the bike had felled Kuno. She dropped herself to the
ground and picked up a piece of dark blue cloth.
Quickly smoothing out the dirt she placed the cloth
down and drew a series of circles and kanji about it.
   ~If Akane can beat Ken, Shampoo can beat Kuno
easy,~ she told herself as she continued. ~But then
Kuno won't make the same mistake Ken did, and he gave
Ryouga a good run.~
   "Ah yes, another of the girls that the evil Ranma
has under his vile control," Kuno shook his head
sadly. "Be warned fair maiden, that I am�" he had to
cut his speech short in order to counter Shampoo's
flurry of attacks. He shifted forward, jabbing into
her stomach with the hilt of his blade. 
   Shampoo lurched back, grunting with pain while
recovering her balance, she had expected something
more lethal from the would-be samurai. He wasn't as
dumb as he seemed if he could tell she would have
taken his head in such an attempt. Kuno glanced back
at Nabiki and glared. Shampoo was surprised as he
suddenly lost interest in her and charged Nabiki
again. She recovered quickly enough and leaped into
the air, passing over Kuno.
   ~Kamisama, I hope that I remember how to do this,~
she muttered, positioning her hands hesitantly. ~No
doubts girl!~
   "Witch!! You dare cast a spell upon the great
Tatewaki Kuno," he pulled up short when the amazon
appeared to fill his vision again. Shampoo swung her
foot around in a roundhouse as she landed between her
new lover and the psycho swordsman. Kuno, off-balance
took the blow full and flew out across the lot, this
time managing to control the flight and land
relatively safely. "You are a tremendous warrior, for
a gaijin." Shampoo was already on the way to where he
landed.
   "You no hurt Nabiki!" Shampoo shouted. Nabiki
glanced nervously at her the paralyzed martial artists
before finishing her drawing. She couldn't be
distracted right now, Shampoo had the advantage for
the moment, but Kuno had space and time to recover
now.
   ~She's protecting Nabiki?~ Ranma and Akane were
confused.
   ~What's going on now?~ Ranko whined internally,
glaring at the ninja.
   ~She's going to rip me to pieces when this wears
off,~ Sasuke would of swallowed nervously if he could
have done more than breathe.
   "Very well, since you leave me no choice," Kuno
lashed forward with a succession of high speed strikes
as Shampoo was still apparently out of reach. Shampoo
hadn't ever actually faced Kuno in combat, so she was
surprised when something seemed to strike her. The
impact sent the amazon off balance, a situation that
was worsened as more air waves struck and threw her to
the ground. 
   "My apologies brave one, but so must all who face
the great Tatewaki Kuno fare." He noticed Shampoo's
battle aura flaring though, and something in his brain
that faintly resembled logic realized that Shampoo was
merely stunned. Then of course there was the matter of
the Tendo witch. "By the kami the devious Nabiki is
still casting her sorcery upon me!"
   The girl in question seemed to be meditating,
holding an almost unmoving position and staring at
Kuno. Behind he could hear the sound of rushing air as
the amazon again took to the air. Kuno twisted about
in a spin, thrusting up with his sword, sending a
senpou ken whirlwind Shampoo's way. 
   ~That should stall her long enough,~ he decided.
"Oh that I should be forced to harm such valiant
woman. These sorcerers shall pay for their
misdeeds!!!"
   Kuno turned around to see Nabiki thrust her hand
into the dark cloth at the center of her drawings.
Kuno couldn't see chi flows, but he could see the
ground explode in front of his target. When the shower
of dust cleared the apprentice, Hibiki, was kneeling
before him, laughing sinisterly.
   "So do you want a real fight or do you just pick on
girls?"
   "At last I see the truth," Kuno growled. "The lowly
Ryouga is but a servitor demon of the virtuous Akane's
vile sister. Well then, fiend, I shall accept your
challenge." Kuno lunged at Ryouga snarling as the
other martial artist dodged to the side. He struck out
again, chasing the backpedaling, smirking Hibiki,
never noticing that he was being drawn away.
   "Shampoo?" Nabiki called out as Kuno ran further
and further away. A moment passed as Kuno vanished
around a corner, chasing a figment of his imagination,
and Nabiki heard the unmistakable sound of an amazon
angrily extricating herself from a pile of discarded
furniture. She released her breath in relief.
   ~Where's Nabiki?~ Shampoo scanned, about and about
and about. ~Good, there she is. Damn whirlwind, mental
note: be careful jumping around stick-boy.~
   "You had me worried, Kitty," Nabiki said as Shampoo
walked, wobbly at first but recovering her grace
quickly. She cautiously kneeled down next to Nabiki,
still watching for Kuno.
   "You okay?" Shampoo asked quietly.
   ~What's going on here?~ Akane asked herself.
   "Am I okay?" Nabiki said in disbelief, as Shampoo
methodically examined her for any new injuries. "What
about you? You're bleeding!" She took the amazon's
head in her hands, and gently brushed aside the blue
hair were it was being stained red.
   "Just a scratch," Shampoo assured her cheerfully,
but she let Nabiki examine it anyway. "See? Scratch
head on broken mirror."
   "And everything else?" Nabiki asked, doubtful.
Shampoo smiled cheerfully, with the adrenaline leaking
away everything hurt like hell, but it was nothing too
serious by her standards.
   "Is fine," Shampoo assured her, then gritted her
teeth as Nabiki poked her shoulder.
   "Really?" Nabiki noted wryly, then remembered
certain other parties. "We should get some help, soon,
Dr. Tofu's is right over there!!!!" Nabiki gripped
strongly about Shampoo's neck as the amazon picked her
up off the ground and ran for the clinic. "What about
my sister and Ranma?"
   "Kuno coming back?" Shampoo asked.
   "Not for several minutes." Akane and Ranma
meanwhile were left to consider things.
   "Plenty of time!" She declared cheerfully.
   ~She didn't glomp me,~ Ranma noted. ~Which is too
bad because that might have cured Akane.~
   ~That was weird,~ Akane thought. ~She was really
fussing over Nabiki.~
   ~What's going on here?~
   ~Dead ninja! DEAD ninja!~
   ~MASTER KUNO HELP ME!!~

*******************************************************

   "Okay are you ready to�" Ryouga looked away as the
chi flash erupted perhaps a mile away. He grabbed his
umbrella and his backpack.
   "What are you bringing that for?" Ukyou asked as
she snatched her spatula and the two of them made for
the flash.
   "First aid kit," Ryouga answered simply. Of course,
Ryouga's idea of a first aid kit would have made some
paramedics drool with envy. That is, if they had any
training in holistic medicines. Ryouga might not have
compared with Dr. Tofu, Cologne or even Kasumi, but he
believed in being prepared.
   "Oh, herb garden in bag?" the commentary passed
over Ryouga's head. Ukyou took the lead, for the usual
obvious reason. As the chi flash faded their goal was
revealed as a rapidly dwindling geyser.
   "Hey, I know that place!" Ryouga shouted, moving
faster. The spatula smacked into his head as he tried
to pass.
   "Don't try it lost boy, that pharmacy of yours
won't help in Brazil." Ryouga laughed and sweatdropped
as he fell back into line behind Ukyou. Moving with
the average speed of Neriman martial artists heading
for a possible fight, they managed the distance in
about a minute, long enough for the geyser to dwindle
away to nothing.
   "Hey, anybody down there?" Ryouga called down into
the thick pool of mist. There was no answer, and
neither waited long for one. It took very little time
to find Mousse and Kodachi passed out against the
rock, looking as if they had taken on a horde of
bears. If it had been one or two bears then they
probably wouldn't have had trouble.
   "She's still alive," Ukyou declared, checking
Kodachi's pulse.
   "They both are," Ryouga confirmed as he dug through
his pack, looking for his medicinal materials. "One of
us needs to go to a phone for help."
   "I'm gone," Ukyou said. "Just don't try to go
anywhere."

*******************************************************

   "Cease your cowardly retreat fiend!" Kuno demanded
as slashed again at the dodging Ryouga-illusion. He
failed to notice all the people watching him strangely
as he seemed to be flailing against thin air.
   "Come on Kuno, you have to save your loves don't
you?" The samurai slashed again, and finally managed
to connect, or he would have connected. The lack of
anything to connect with sort of ruined that
possibility.
   "What is this?" he demanded. "Ah ha, further proof
of the fiend's true nature. It is obvious that he
cannot remain long in this world without his
mistress's power to sustain him. All this time I have
been a pawn in the battle of these two demonic
servants. Well, that shall continue no longer. As of
this moment I vow to continue in my quest to free my
loves and Nerima itself from grips of these vile
villains." He scanned the street about him, and the
people staring at him.
   "Ah they are terrified of the fiend that I did
battle with and now, of course, the gaze in awe upon
the majesty of Tatewaki Kuno. Yet I know not these
buildings, where has the sorceress' servant led me?"
The sound of approaching police cars attracted his
attention. "Perhaps the witch has followed through on
her threat to call the authorities down upon me, best
not to engage. Some innocents escape not the
thunderbolt, but if there is no need for the
thunderbolt�" Kuno faded into an alley and made for
the rooftops, he did not usually partake of the
martial artist's highway. For the moment, however, he
would take an exception.

*******************************************************

   "Hey thanks doc," Ranma declared as the paralysis
flowed away from his body. 
   "It is certainly no problem," Tofu smiled. "After
the last few years mixing the antidotes to Kodachi's
powders has become almost second nature."
   "Well at least SHE isn't tossing them around right
now," Ranma hmphed. "What happened to Kuno anyway?"
   "I don't know," Akane said flexing to make sure
everything still worked. "The freak was charging
Nabiki when he suddenly just ran off yelling about
Ryouga being Nabiki's demon servant."
   "Yeah, I was wondering about that," Ranma noted.
"But knowing Kuno he probably just took another dive
off the deep end and imagined the whole thing." 
   "Okay, Kuno I won't bother trying to explain,"
Akane put in. "But am I the only that noticed Nabiki
and Shampoo acting kind of weird." 
   "You ask them yourself, they're on the other bed
behind you," Dr. Tofu said as he moved on to Ranko.
Akane sweatdropped as she turned around to face an
annoyed looking pair of girls. 
   "Define 'weird' sis," Nabiki said levelly. She was
hardly in a mood for more of this.
   Nabiki had called around for reports while Shampoo
and Tofu were relaying paralyzed fighters to the
clinic. Apparently a rather large monster had chased
Kodachi and Mousse out of town, only a few minutes
ago. That was the last anybody had seen of them. That
was moderately disturbing news.
   Kuno had also managed to disappear, again. He had
chased her illusion out of the Nerima district where
her minions had only minimal safety and she had to
rely on less trustworthy means of acquiring
information. The police were now after him as well,
for property damage and public endangerment it sounded
like. Nabiki hoped they wouldn't actually try to
capture him themselves, that would be a disaster.
   "You know, like flirting and stuff," Ranma said in
his normal subtle fashion. A stream of violent Chinese
filled the air as Ranko felt herself again in control
of her body. 
   "Miss Ranko, that is hardly appropriate language,"
Dr. Tofu lectured.
   "Is too appropriate language," Shampoo argued.
"Stick-boy and toad-ninja need die very painful
deaths!"
   "Very painful," Akane agreed, then started to turn
back to her sister and the amazon. They were sitting
awfully close, really close.
   "Wait, how water girl know amazon dialect?"
whispered more to herself than anyone else.
   ~Ahh, confirmation,~ Nabiki smirked and crossed her
arms, chuckling quietly to herself. The other people
in the room glanced at her nervously, Nabiki laughing
like that was rarely a good sign.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" - 
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom

Signed
He of Too Many Names (Thrythlind/Thryth/Luke/Hyperbole/Pika/Pooka)

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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